D&D and the rising pandemic

[Filthy Lucre]

So, as we look at this, we should remember that it isn't just simple schadenfreude.

Generally speaking, the people we are talking about aren't just rejecting vaccines now, for example. They have broadly been resisting and eschewing any and all approaches to controlling the issue - masking, avoiding group gatherings, lockdowns, and so on. So, these people are not just victims. They are not just victims of their own bad choices. Many of us, and our families, and our economic situations, are victims of their choices. The entire pandemic would have been under better control if not for their recalcitrance. A great many of the nearly 700K deaths in the US were preventable, but for them.

Basically, in aggregate, they have been committing a kind of assault against the rest of us. Pardon us if we don't care much when they commit assault against themselves too.

And here you thought we weren't going to get along.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

And here you thought we weren't going to get along.

Umbran's generally very reasonable, if a little lecture-y (I mean it with all love, Umbran!)

 

[J.Quondam]

Looks like they're having some pretty decent success developing drugs to treat covid directly. In a strange pop cultural twist, they're naming it after Thor's Hammer, Mjolnir.

Meet molnupiravir, Merck’s Thor-inspired pill that hammers COVID

In Phase III trial, the drug smashed hospitalization and death rate by about half.

arstechnica.com

As these sorts of treatments come out, it will be interesting to see if antivaxxers (or their political media manipulators) accept them or avoid them, because reasons.

 

[Umbran]

And here you thought we weren't going to get along.

And here, you thought it was personal.

 

[Eltab]

Looks like they're having some pretty decent success developing drugs to treat covid directly.

As these sorts of treatments come out, it will be interesting to see if antivaxxers (or their political media manipulators) accept them or avoid them, because reasons.

One of the problems we face is distrust (often earned) of Experts Telling People What To Do, so a product you can buy when you find out you were exposed and take at home without having to get Official Permission first, will be a good thing.

If this can be advertised to the public in the same vein as "take your vitamins" (One-A-Day, Flintstones, Geritol), it will help break the current dysfunctional cycle.

 

[Zardnaar]

Survived 1918 flu, fascists in Italy WW2, Covid gets her aged 105.

Stuff

i.stuff.co.nz

Looks like Covid containment here is failing. Cases aren't skyrocketing but to many unknown cases turning up and people aren't following the rules.

Seems to have gotten into the gangs and homeless elements. Vaccination rates also slowed as everyone who wants one has gotten it I suppose. Wife got her second shot last night.

Went from around 25% to 80% in a couple of months for first jab,second jab rates not as high die to the 3-6 week wait between jabs.

Aucklands spend two months in lockdown but this is the 4th one for them diminishing returns sets in.

 

[J.Quondam]

One of the problems we face is distrust (often earned) of Experts Telling People What To Do, so a product you can buy when you find out you were exposed and take at home without having to get Official Permission first, will be a good thing.

If this can be advertised to the public in the same vein as "take your vitamins" (One-A-Day, Flintstones, Geritol), it will help break the current dysfunctional cycle.

I could be mistaken, but I think this particular med would be prescription only, at least at first? If so, the deniers will still have to deal with the experts.
I suspect it will boil down to whether antivaxxers' get permission from their trusted* political pundits to take the "untrusted" experts at face value and accept the treatment. Unfortunately, if there's any hint that this could be politically convenient for the wrong people, I won't be surprised if there continue to be a lot of refuseniks.

* pretty much always unearned.

 

[Umbran]

I could be mistaken, but I think this particular med would be prescription only, at least at first?

Indeed. With an emergency use authorization, you'll need a prescription, and will only be able to get it if you have tested positive and are under a doctor's care.

Unfortunately, if there's any hint that this could be politically convenient for the wrong people, I won't be surprised if there continue to be a lot of refuseniks.

Well, in this case, the drug isn't a preventative. By description, it is administered only once you already have the disease. So, refusing this isn't making you more of a direct threat to others - just the indirect threat of burden to the healthcare system when you need hospitalization.

 

[Hussar]

Legally or in the moral/ethical sense?

Legally, the US Code defines domestic terrorism as activities that...

• involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
• appear to be intended—
  1. to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
  2. to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
  3. to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
• occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States;

My point was a bit more rhetorical than this, but, sure. So, can someone explain to me how these people are not terrorists. Other than the really, REALLY big elephant in the room?

 

[Garthanos]

I'm not sure this kind of judgment is useful. As much as I may disagree with the politics of communities who are refusing vaccines, celebrating their deaths isn't helpful.

I think a lot of people in these communities are victims of false information. While we have always known that disinformation can be damaging, but I think we are truly seeing now how deadly it can be. I'm hoping this helps us see misinformation as an equality issue, not just a partisan issue.

Not just false information ... poor distribution of valuable tools like the vaccines. Access is far worse in red states