Re:The cruel, ridiculous reality of 'virtual learning'
by nradov on Thursday January 06, 2022 @10:53AM
(#29825110)
Hospitals have been overwhelmed during bad flu seasons many times before 2019. We didn't use that as an excuse to impose mandates and restrictions on the rest of society. Omicron is so contagious that your odds of avoiding infection for the next 5 years are approximately zero. Fortunately the vaccines and other therapies we already have are quite effective at preventing deaths. The notion of acting based on the hope that something better might appear at some indefinite point in the future is just absurd.
While reinfections can occur (just as with any coronavirus), symptoms are typically mild. The number of deaths due to reinfections are so low as to be statistically irrelevant from a public policy standpoint.
This panel discussion by several leading physicians provides a good scientific overview of the current situation. It's long, but worth a listen.
Re:The cruel, ridiculous reality of 'virtual learning'
by cannaceo on Friday January 07, 2022 @10:09AM
(#29839972)
I’d like to add that we did wait about a year for the vaccines. That was the treatment that was “good enough” for life to return to normal for me. I don’t need to wait 5 more years. That treatment relieved ~85% of the original risk for me.
What's worse, is a lot of people have long-haul COVID where they suffer severe symptoms that never seem to go away. We have no idea why. Maybe if you get COVID in 5 years we will have figured out why and you get to avoid ruining your life.
Also. COVID is not one and done. You can get it multiple times. People have gotten COVID twice, the first time they were fine, the second time they died.
Not only are you totally misinformed for wanting to "face those odds" you are risking the lives and well-being of those around you.