Comment by cooper_ganglia
3 days ago
>an N95 is a good idea in a pharmacy on a college campus, where the Covid factories that are college students will go
Did I just step into a time portal to 2022? Have you... been in a coma for the past several years? haha
My wife is diabetic, which means she is at higher risk from covid. My parents are old.
I have a duty to my family to protect them, and if that means wearing a mask to reduce my risk of getting covid, then their safety overrules my own comfort.
I have a duty to protect my fellow citizens. Some of them are also vulnerable to covid, though I don't know them personally.
The scientific proof of association between school (esp school start) and the spread of disease goes back over 100 years. I see no reason it would be different for covid, perhaps even stronger for covid where many college age people would be asymptomatic or low symtpoms.
In a town of big-name universities, where people are constantly coming and going from all around the world, and the reality of students living and socializing heavily, in cramped conditions, often with little sleep... Covid still seems to be "in the air".
Most people no longer wear masks in stores here, but there are some. And some employees do as well. Including the person at/near the customer service desk of the grocery I mentioned, I think the last 2 times I was in there.
meh if you don't have kids and really want to experience highly contagious viris then take a stroll through a day care. You'll be feeling symptoms before you get back to your car.
Wearing a mask when in a building of sick people remains a good idea
Peak COVID never ended. It's more important now than ever to stay vaccinated, maintain social distance, and mask up.
COVID is down from its peak, as I understand. It's just very much not gone, and by no means less nasty. We had the opportunity to wipe it out with a short, synchronised global lockdown, and we squandered it, and now it's like plague.
We never had that chance because you cannot coordinate 8 million people, much less 8 billion. And nobody was going to shut down all the coordination points of society such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and hospitals.
The CDC knew this at the time. The "flatten the curve" message was "slow things down enough until we know more and can avoid our hospitals from being overwhelmed and more people dying."
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A short global lockdown? China pursued the zero COVID policy for two years. Even highly restrictive measures weren't enough to stem it.
COVID is no longer a novel virus and its deadliness has vastly decreased. Yes it is by any reasonable understanding of the phrase, COVID is "less nasty". At its peak, 20,000 people were dying each week due to COVID in the US. Presently that figure sits around 200.
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From all accounts, it appears to be "less nasty". Espically with the advent of vaccines.
COVID is also nothing like the plague, that is a major illogical jump. Early pandemics, such that in the Sasanian Empire, had a 25-50 million deaths (depending what century you draw the line). The Black Death was particularly deadly, with an estimated mortality rate of 70%.
How you can suggest COVID is now the plague is just absurd. You also make a very unfounded conclusion that if we "just stayed in doors a little bit more guys!" we would of solved it. Delusional.
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sarcasm detector broken