How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive

Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by pdimitar on Sunday February 14, 2021 @08:44PM (#26138136)

No, of course this is not asking too much, and my family has been doing it diligently ever since the regulations started.

But I can't help but wonder if there wasn't another way, like making only that most vulnerable part of society go in lock-down -- and nobody else. Most of the elder people aren't exactly spending hours outside every day anyway (by my observations at least which can of course be wrong). And many of them don't have the physical energy to be active outside, so maybe making only them go in lock-down would have been the best outcome for everyone?

Who knows. But in general the COVID pandemic has been handled extremely poorly almost everywhere. And businesses are closing down forever.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by paulryanrogers on Sunday February 14, 2021 @09:37PM (#26138447)

You might be surprised how many people have underlying conditions putting them at increased risk: obesity, poor sleep habits, immune system disorders. And we've yet to see the long term effects of this flavor of SARS for those who survive. Hindsight will be 20/20, so hopefully we can learn and prepare better next time.

Thankfully it appears the vaccines will be effective if enough people get them for life to return to normal soon.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by esotericn on Sunday February 14, 2021 @09:44PM (#26138487)

"Next time", I and many others will simply refuse the lockdown strategy, and if it so happens that it's a virus that has high lethality across all age groups, loads of us are going to die before the evidence is clear and we start to voluntarily reduce interactions.

"Just a few weeks to flatten the curve" was a once in a generational play. I did my bit, and so far I've been punished for it.

I really hope for our sake it doesn't come down to this again, because this time it really will be a bloodbath, rather than a particularly bad year or two.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by pdimitar on Sunday February 14, 2021 @09:49PM (#26138516)

You are spot on. People around here are at the brink of rioting. The limitations are becoming too much for everyone.

You are absolutely correct that there might not be "next time" even if that means humanity's doom.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by loopz on Monday February 15, 2021 @01:09AM (#26139645)

Get better leaders.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by pdimitar on Monday February 15, 2021 @05:11PM (#26148192)

Well, I mean, we have been trying to do that ever since democracy was invented. At which point "get better leaders" becomes a discussion shutdown technique and not an answer given in good will?

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by pdimitar on Sunday February 14, 2021 @09:55PM (#26138551)

Same can be said about any illness you go through life though. The SARS virus isn't special in this instance. It got exorbitant amounts of attention and I can bet my life that there are much worse things out there to look out for.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by paulryanrogers on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:39PM (#26138787)

How many illnesses are as novel and contagious as COVID appeared to be during its ascent?

Careless reasoning risks under reacting just as much as over reacting.

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Re:How Poverty Makes Workers Less Productive by pdimitar on Monday February 15, 2021 @05:19PM (#26148285)

Agreed -- both extremes are harmful. My point was that this particular disease has been blown way out of proportion.

I've read a study in my home country about children suffering from bronchopneumonia (I was one of them) at early age and how does that affect their adult life -- and how much does it reduce their life expectancy (especially in terms of increasing the chance of pulmonary diseases in elder years).

I mean, all diseases are awful -- especially those that leave lasting negative effects.

The whole thing seemed to turn into a campaign to gain political capital at one point. Enforcement was loose, rules changed many times (the WHO organization didn't help matters there), and data gathering was unreliable for months.

What are we to do? Just bow our heads and pretend that the people in power are oracles? I am willing to obey well-informed decisions but at least where I live clear facts were extremely hard to get throughout at least half the 2020.

I don't necessarily disagree with you -- making this clear here. It's just that the pandemic was handled in a rather totalitarian manner and results have been... questionable.

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