D&D and the rising pandemic

[Zardnaar]

This relativism is really not helpful.

When I read about people flying or taking cruises and shopping at malls and over and over again express surprise at getting infected, I despair for humanity. Deep down, they knew they took actions that flies in the face of science. THEY KNEW. They just choose to act recklessly and stupidly, despite not wanting to admit that.

Yes, you should manage risk.

But you should not talk yourself into believing indoor structures is a containable risk. Entering airplanes/ports, malls, shops, boats etc WILL get you Covid, full stop. Why? Read on...

It's not that there's a risk you reason yourself into a "small" one.

But a tangible prominent real risk you're actually going to get much more trouble than you bargained for when you decided those hand-picked vegetables or that 'con trip was worth the risk you somehow told yourself was abstract and small.

Do it once and you might luck out. But nobody acts like that. Once you've decided you "deserve" restaurant dinners (or cruises etc), you're going to stop making covid a decision point, and that's when you will have stopped managing risk, in a sensible measured manner.

The individual trip will not 100% give you Covid. But taking that trip indicates you are no longer taking actions that protect you from Covid, and that's what will get you in the end.

TL;DR: Tell yourself the pandemic is over for you and it very likely won't be, for you.

Well most of us can't head for the hills. I've looked into it if things really hit the fan.

I wouldn't be going to cons and concerts though not that I've had much social life for the last two years.

Mask use is also very good here went to a cafe in a public holiday yesterday and everyone was masked for example.

Is the risk 0 no but this month the Covid death toll was in the 20's.

That's less than normal flu deaths pre Covid (500+ a year close to 50 a month). It's not much more dangerous atm as crossing the road or getting in a car in terms of death.

Double vaxxed and boosted so was everyone who was there.



Plan B if things really go to hell.

 

[JEB]

Managing risk is reasonable, but @CapnZapp isn't wrong that for a lot of people, "managing risk" has turned into "act like everything is safe and keep pushing my luck until I get sick." That's how my brother caught Covid, one unrestricted social event too many.

Total isolation may be impractical, but far too few folks are managing risk, and far more are ignoring risk. And that's what keeps Covid going, and going, and going...

 

[Zardnaar]

Managing risk is reasonable, but @CapnZapp isn't wrong that for a lot of people, "managing risk" has turned into "act like everything is safe and keep pushing my luck until I get sick." That's how my brother caught Covid, one unrestricted social event too many.

Total isolation may be impractical, but far too few folks are managing risk, and far more are ignoring risk. And that's what keeps Covid going, and going, and going...

Covids gonna keep going regardless.

Most likely it will mutate into something else less dangerous.

 

[JEB]

Covids gonna keep going regardless.

Covid requires humans to transfer it to other humans, the less cautious and the more careless the better. Conversely, the more folks do to reduce their chances of sharing Covid, the harder it will be for it to spread. Our personal choices absolutely matter here.

Most likely it will mutate into something else less dangerous.

Maybe, but how much more damage will be inflicted along the way?

 

[Cadence]

I'm not sure what's less helpful in the long term - making it sound like we should mask, distance, and stay home for all of eternity if that's what it takes, or making it seem like we shouldn't bother doing anything. Finding compromise and weighting risks realistically don't seem like human strong points. :-/

That being said, I really probably shouldn't have gone to a concert this past week. Doesn't fit well with masking and avoiding eating out we've been doing again now that we're in a CDC orange area.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A bit of perspective:


This is my church’s narthex, which is used as seating/crying room during our more heavily attended services. Those were taken at the 5PM Saturday vigil service— the one we attend- which is the first of the weekend and the most sparsely attended. There’s not another service until 8AM, so there’s no crowd trying to get in after we’re finished.

That space is about the size of a basketball court and small gym. Those doors are about 10’ tall. And that bun of hair you see on the bottom? That’s Mom’s head. We’re sitting in the corner of the room, fully masked. As the stragglers came in, nobody got closer than 10’ to us other than the Eucharistic minister.

 

[Umbran]

Covids gonna keep going regardless.

Pretty much. We do not have the worldwide political or economic will to eradicate it, and never did.

Most likely it will mutate into something else less dangerous.

Unfortunately, this is a view founded either in a misconception of how natural selection works, and/or survivor bias. Over the course of a handful of years, or a human lifetime or two, there is no such specific likelihood or tendency in nature.

 

[niklinna]

The next one is coming.

Monkeypox is not a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, but perhaps it should be

Over the weekend, the WHO did not declare Monkeypox (MPX) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

 

[CapnZapp]

On the contrary, it is required. Absolutism is not practical for most people. The overwhelming majority of us cannot perfectly isolate forever - we do not have the situation, means, or the psychological makeup to support that kind of life. In addition, it is well known that perfect, eternal vigilance fails. It fails every time.

Thus, a focus on managing risk becomes key.

Yeah, now you're juxtapositioning your preferred stance to "absolute absolutism".

I couldn't have made up a better showcase of relativism if I tried.

 

[Janx]

Guess who got a call from the friend whose house I visited for a small b-day party (like 5 folks) because their spouse got told a cow-erker got covid and now they tested positive and aren't feeling smurfy?

Yep, the birthday gift I didn't want. We're all fairly careful, but a chance is a chance. So...now I get to spend some quality time at the house. Which is what I usually do after I do anything social just in case.

As for severity of the disease, another friend in another state just got over Covid and it wrecked them pretty good while being mild for other in-house family members. You just never know how bad it could hit somebody.

We're vaxxed and boosted, so hopefully it'll pass us or be mild. Hopefully my friend who hosted stays mild.