Covid-19 A look back.

[Pappy13]

I just went back and read through the below thread from March 2020 and it was pretty interesting. Now that we are coming up on the 2 year anniversary of when this Covid-19 thing started, I think it's an eye opener to think where we were then and where we are now.

http://www.thedolphinsmakemecry.com/forums/index.php?topic=26128.0

By the way I hadn't really thought about this before reading through this thread but there was an influx of holiday air travel just before this latest surge of Omicron variant. Perhaps people got a bit over confident and decided to get out and be with family for the holidays and are now paying the price for that? Just a thought.

[ArtieChokePhin]

I just went back and read through the below thread from March 2020 and it was pretty interesting. Now that we are coming up on the 2 year anniversary of when this Covid-19 thing started, I think it's an eye opener to think where we were then and where we are now.

Let's just say it has divided the country and brought out the worst in people.   The infighting in my family and amongst friends is something I've never seen the likes of before.  There are quite a few people whom I won't name who ended longtime friendships with me as a result of this.

[Dave Gray]

I've been waiting for this thread -- meant to make it myself.

Funny enough, I think we're kind of in a place now where I was very critical of people at the start of the pandemic.  It was wrong then, but I think it's becoming correct as the variants change.

Anyone who wouldn't wear a mask, submit to testing, or get vaccinated (aside from special circumstances) was 1) acting against their person interests and 2) acting like an asshole.  They were stupid because they weren't taking the best steps to mitigate their risk and they were an asshole because they weren't doing what they could within reason to stop the spread to others.

That was back when getting vaccinated greatly stopped the spread of the disease.

With Omicron, that doesn't appear to be the case anymore.

Now, if you refuse to get vaccinated, outside of special circumstances, I still consider you to be a dingus, but the asshole-quality doesn't matter to me anymore.

Now, I'm kinda at a place where the COVID deniers were before --- "it's just like a bad flu", "you can't stop living your life", etc.  Because I'm vaccinated, that's kinda where I'm at.  I have gotten the vaccine and booster, as have (most) people I care about and all of those I have influence over.  At this rate, it appears that the vast, vast, vast majority of deaths are those who are refusing the vaccine.  I find that unfortunate and bad for overall society, with health costs and orphans and stuff, but not bad for the health of my loved ones, so I'm much less likely to make a fuss over it.

I still wear a mask when I go to places, but I've switched to an N95 since it's more about my own protection.  I am not worried about it, but this pandemic has opened my eyes to germs and infection in general.  Wearing a mask can help me from getting a common cold, flu, covid....whatever.  But also, I don't do a lot of things and I don't find a mask very restrictive.

When I go to the office or to a movie theater or whatever, I generally remove my mask once I'm situated and have reduced the number of people I'm gonna be exposed to.  I just also think it's kind of a polite thing to do.  I have friends that have different levels of care and I will err up to their level, whatever it is.  If I go to a sporting event and the person next to me has a mask, I wear one out of respect.  I don't expect others to do that at this point, but it's where I'm at.

[Spider-Dan]

Anyone who wouldn't wear a mask, submit to testing, or get vaccinated (aside from special circumstances) was 1) acting against their person interests and 2) acting like an asshole.  They were stupid because they weren't taking the best steps to mitigate their risk and they were an asshole because they weren't doing what they could within reason to stop the spread to others.

That was back when getting vaccinated greatly stopped the spread of the disease.

With Omicron, that doesn't appear to be the case anymore.

Now, if you refuse to get vaccinated, outside of special circumstances, I still consider you to be a dingus, but the asshole-quality doesn't matter to me anymore.

Now, I'm kinda at a place where the COVID deniers were before --- "it's just like a bad flu", "you can't stop living your life", etc.  Because I'm vaccinated, that's kinda where I'm at.  I have gotten the vaccine and booster, as have (most) people I care about and all of those I have influence over.  At this rate, it appears that the vast, vast, vast majority of deaths are those who are refusing the vaccine.  I find that unfortunate and bad for overall society, with health costs and orphans and stuff, but not bad for the health of my loved ones, so I'm much less likely to make a fuss over it.

The problem is that the overwhelming majority of people still being hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated.  So you and your loved ones had better make sure that you don't get in a car accident, or have an asthma attack, or a kidney failure... because if you do, the medical services that you need may be delayed or unavailable due to the hospital being overrun with unvaccinated COVID patients.

And that's before we get to all the "elective surgeries" that are being postponed.  Elective surgeries are not just nose jobs and tummy tucks; joint replacement surgery for patients who cannot walk due to degenerative arthritis is classified as elective surgery, as are other procedures like gallbladder operations or hernia repair.  All of this backup of services is pretty much entirely caused by the number of unvaccinated COVID patients in our hospitals.

[dolphins4life]

I want us to go back into lockdown because of how wonderful of a time it was for me, and not just because of the environment.   

[Dave Gray]

The problem is that the overwhelming majority of people still being hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated.  So you and your loved ones had better make sure that you don't get in a car accident, or have an asthma attack, or a kidney failure... because if you do, the medical services that you need may be delayed or unavailable due to the hospital being overrun with unvaccinated COVID patients.

And that's before we get to all the "elective surgeries" that are being postponed.  Elective surgeries are not just nose jobs and tummy tucks; joint replacement surgery for patients who cannot walk due to degenerative arthritis is classified as elective surgery, as are other procedures like gallbladder operations or hernia repair.  All of this backup of services is pretty much entirely caused by the number of unvaccinated COVID patients in our hospitals.

I know this to be true.  And people should get vaccinated. 

But there is enough distance between their unvaccinated status and my ability to maybe not get seen as quickly for a different emergency that probably isn't going to happen anyway that I just can't put too much concern into it.  Yes, they should do it.  But they're just gonna have to pay with hospital bills and death...there's nothing I can do for them anymore.

I think that some of the things that we're doing now, in terms of forcing masks and things like that, don't really make sense anymore.  I get COVID notices warning us when someone on campus has COVID, which is every single day, so I just don't think it matters anymore.  We've missed our opportunity to fend this off and so now, it's just "protect yourself" mode and let this kill the people its going to kill that haven't done what they should.  There will be some collateral damage, but I think it's unavoidable at this stage.

[Pappy13]

The problem is that the overwhelming majority of people still being hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated.  So you and your loved ones had better make sure that you don't get in a car accident, or have an asthma attack, or a kidney failure... because if you do, the medical services that you need may be delayed or unavailable due to the hospital being overrun with unvaccinated COVID patients.

And that's before we get to all the "elective surgeries" that are being postponed.  Elective surgeries are not just nose jobs and tummy tucks; joint replacement surgery for patients who cannot walk due to degenerative arthritis is classified as elective surgery, as are other procedures like gallbladder operations or hernia repair.  All of this backup of services is pretty much entirely caused by the number of unvaccinated COVID patients in our hospitals.

While I absolutely agree with you on the above, I think the world will be better off in the long run. If that sounds crass, it is. People have the right to make their own decisions about most things even if it's the wrong one. I sure wouldn't want the government telling me that I COULDN'T get the vaccine because it might cause sterility, I'll make that judgement for myself thanks.

[Dave Gray]

For the record, I think that we should have mandated the vaccine for most things when this first happened, but we should've done that in order to prevent transmission.  Once it stopped reducing infection anyway, you're on your own.

There is a rights issue here.  You have the right to swing your fist until it hits me in the face.  It stopped hitting me in the face.  Swing away.

[Pappy13]

There is a rights issue here.  You have the right to swing your fist until it hits me in the face.  It stopped hitting me in the face.  Swing away.

The government has the right to restrain my arms when it can be shown that I'm GOING to hit someone in the face (or already have) if they don't. Until they can show that they can't restrain my arms. The rights work both ways Dave.

[Dave Gray]

The government has the right to restrain my arms when it can be shown that I'm GOING to hit someone in the face (or already have) if they don't. Until they can show that they can't restrain my arms. The rights work both ways Dave.

I don't necessarily that every American should have had to get the vaccine if they didn't want it.

But for things like air travel, going to school, working for the government -- I think that there is a reasonable risk to public health.  ...same stuff we do for MMR.  You might not get measles and give it to me.  But you still gotta get an MMR shot to go to school.

We should've done that as soon as a vaccine was available.  Things moved so quickly though, I don't even know if we could've stopped it.

[Spider-Dan]

While I absolutely agree with you on the above, I think the world will be better off in the long run. If that sounds crass, it is. People have the right to make their own decisions about most things even if it's the wrong one. I sure wouldn't want the government telling me that I COULDN'T get the vaccine because it might cause sterility, I'll make that judgement for myself thanks.

But that's not the decision we are talking about.

If anti-vaxxers were opting out of the entire healthcare system, that would be one thing.  But they aren't; they don't want to get vaccinated, but they also want to be treated by the evil and corrupt hospital system when they suffer serious symptoms that were easily preventable by the vaccine they insisted on rejecting.

[Pappy13]

I don't necessarily that every American should have had to get the vaccine if they didn't want it.

But for things like air travel, going to school, working for the government -- I think that there is a reasonable risk to public health.  ...same stuff we do for MMR.  You might not get measles and give it to me.  But you still gotta get an MMR shot to go to school.

We should've done that as soon as a vaccine was available.  Things moved so quickly though, I don't even know if we could've stopped it.

Agree with you there. Certain things should require it, but it should not be mandated otherwise.