COVID discussion

[Crazy Hand 2001]

Would banning people in china from visiting be the solution?

 

[CapitaineCrash]

This has to be satire.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

For a serious response, acting sooner would have been the ideal course of action. I say this speaking from the UK, where our own response was, by my own admission, pretty lacklustre at best compared to that of other countries around the world. An overall rapid, logical, and effective response would have been useful to handle this - especially when you consider how the UK government were, and still are, constantly giving mixed messages as to what the ideal course of action might be.

Whilst I recognise that it's an unprecedented situation to be in, I don't understand how a state of international emergency could possibly have recieved such a lacklustre response in some cases, and even to the present day. I know people will say it's down to the individual, but I feel that a strong lead from governmental powers would have been a better thing to have, and frankly that was lacking.

I can't speak for other countries, however, and I don't want to consider myself a professional in the field, because I'm not. I'm sure there's various other aspects to this that would have been beneficial to handling the situation better.

 

[Linkmain-maybe]

This is a troll. It has to be. This has got to be the lowest quality bait I have seen in years.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

This is a troll. It has to be. This has got to be the lowest quality bait I have seen in years.

why is this a troll?

if we handled things a certain way, covid wouldn’t have caused a lockdown

 

[Sucumbio]

There's honestly no way to have prevented a lockdown. All countries everywhere got hit because sars-cov-2 is highly virulent and novel meaning it spreads rapidly and no one had any natural immunity. This isn't actually unique... What's unique is COVID 19 which turned out to be a far deadlier disease than what you'd expect from similar coronavirus.

As for your op, we did actually ban travel from China back in January of 2020. Unfortunately it amounted to closing the barn door after the horse escaped. If you're suggesting we should have always banned travel from China eh... No. For better or worse US policy has always been an open and free trade globally. China emerged from WWII as a powerful economy and restriction or bans on travel wouldn't have made any sense considering the billions of dollars spent and received between the two nations.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

we should have always banned travel from China

no, once china realized they had a virus they should've banned

 

[Sucumbio]

no, once china realized they had a virus they should've banned

Ah well that clarified it. And as I said we did actually do that and continue to impose travel restriction but of course it's just impossible to keep everyone locked out of travel from other places as our own government employees for instance or what is termed "essential travel."

 

[StoicPhantom]

Locking things down is when you have early warning, the infrastructure to track and target virus paths, actually competent "experts" and leadership, and a properly informed public. Most of the countries that tried to implement them had none of that and that's why they didn't do much of anything other than cause misery and various detriments.

There's nothing that could have prevented them because incompetent leadership defaulted to them for lack of better ideas and they were never going to be effective because China didn't even know what it was dealing with for a while and wasn't very forthcoming about the situation to the world when they did.


As far as banning travel from China goes, there's been lots of travel bans all around. China is the central hub of the world's supply chain, so no amount of travel bans were ever going to prevent any kind of virus potentially originating from there from escaping.

Whilst I recognise that it's an unprecedented situation to be in, I don't understand how a state of international emergency could possibly have recieved such a lacklustre response in some cases, and even to the present day. I know people will say it's down to the individual, but I feel that a strong lead from governmental powers would have been a better thing to have, and frankly that was lacking.

Quite a lot of it was simply countries lacking the ability to implement these responses you desire. Viruses are inherently dangerous to humans and are our biological nemesis. If societies can't get the yearly flu seasons under control they aren't going to do that with a supposedly more contagious one. That goes double when you have no advance warning and a lot of initial confusion as to what exactly is happening.

I think COVID-19 is more overblown than anyone gives it credit for (look at the actual death statistics), but it does showcase what an actual universally deadly virus could do. We've come a long way since bubonic plague ravaged Europe in the 14th century, but even all of our current knowledge and technology still doesn't fully compensate for the fact that viruses target our social networks that humans depend on for survival.

Inadequate measures stemming from a complete ignorance of proper infrastructure sure, but viruses are a force of nature that human society will likely be inherently bad at dealing with for the foreseeable future.

 

[VreyIsGrey]

This has to be a joke, right?

 

[kiteinthesky]

No one ever should have panicked about it in the first place. That's how you prevent extreme, draconian stuff like lockdowns. When serious problems arise, you don't rile people up, you calm them down.

The media should never have been allowed to run what basically were PR campaigns in practice making the situation look like the zombie apocalypse. Their actions put humanity down a dark path.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

No one ever should have panicked about it in the first place. That's how you prevent extreme, draconian stuff like lockdowns. When serious problems arise, you don't rile people up, you calm them down. The media should never have been allowed to run what basically were PR campaigns in practice making the situation look like the zombie apocalypse. Their actions put humanity down a dark path.

China putting export restrictions on N95 masks. Shanghai municipal government putting restrictions on American companies located there like 3M to prevent medical grade supplies from leaving the country. US manufacturing being woefully inept. Not enough ventilators for positive pressure ventilation for airway protection. Nurses forced to reuse masks, reuse blue plastic gowns, reuse any other form of PPE. Patients who were normally on contact precautions for things like C. Diff or any other form of contact/droplet had a "no gown" policy because were prioritizing equipment for COVID rooms. The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) filled with medically supplies that were expired with their own masks filled with mold and broken straps since they were initially bought with funding in the early 2000s and left neglected due to Congress not reinstating budgetary means for new products to be stocked. No COVID vaccines and no understanding of the pathophysiology of the virus which honestly still remains at large in terms of understanding the full disease process.

This is such a hindsight take it hurts. We are still heavily reliant on China for medical grade products, American manufacturing is still practically nonexistant in comparison. Still pervasive and chronic shortages on test tubes, lopez valves, and other critical pieces of day to day medical equipment. Still an issue with providing incentive for nurses with the shortage being so severe that intubation, sedation, and long term airway management being conducted in the ER instead of the ICU with nurses who are not as familiarly equipped or have to deal with patients having psychotic breakdowns in four point restraints literally steps away from a patient sedated and being stabilized on drip paralytics and pressors. The reality is that nationally we are still not prepared to handle COVID if another outbreak happens again or if we get hit by another variant of the virus.

What's even worse is that the precedent is now placed individually and squarely on healthcare workers for system failure. RaDonda Vaught ****ed up, no doubt. But the fact that was operating within a system like Vanderbilt University Medical Center and not a rural health center is alarming. If millions of dollars can't properly train staff and place a system to protect patients, then what system is there that will assist nurses in properly treating patients. The newest articles that come up regarding the facility indicate that they are now training truck driver to become medical assistants. How frightening.

"Everyone's walking around like they're in a damn Enya video." - Steve Carell "The Big Short"

 

[Sucumbio]

No one ever should have panicked about it in the first place. That's how you prevent extreme, draconian stuff like lockdowns. When serious problems arise, you don't rile people up, you calm them down.

The media should never have been allowed to run what basically were PR campaigns in practice making the situation look like the zombie apocalypse. Their actions put humanity down a dark path.

Hot take: Long COVID is the zombie apocalypse.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

Hot take: Long COVID is the zombie apocalypse.

I mean. We've arguably just been dealing with SARS variants since 2002. The name is literally severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus with MERS which occurred around early 201X being Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Just because we don't live in Foshan, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, or Saudi Arabia doesn't change that this has been a virus that has potentially evolved over the span of two decades. Which is interesting because most zombie apocalypse movies involve everyone dying within 5 seasons.

 

[Sucumbio]

I mean. We've arguably just been dealing with SARS variants since 2002. The name is literally severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus with MERS which occurred around early 201X being Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Just because we don't live in Foshan, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, or Saudi Arabia doesn't change that this has been a virus that has potentially evolved over the span of two decades. Which is interesting because most zombie apocalypse movies involve everyone dying within 5 seasons.

It's all good! I live in miss sippy. We got all the guns and fetuses you can stomach and then some.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

One of the interesting things that I think that the pandemic has sort of highlighted is our modern dependence on technology as a sort of "cover-all" band-aid to a lot of systemic disenfranchisement and breaking of the system. People are increasingly less and less able to buy physical goods. Used cars are more costly, housing prices have gone up, raw materials like lumber and copper which are critical for construction and semiconductors respectively are now scarce which now constitutes a sort of self-obvious "rate limiting effect" in which we can now longer use tech as a cover all bandaid anymore.

For instance, the whole EV hype in the stock market for the past two to three years was predicated on the ability of lithium being easily available for manufacturing batteries. However, now that has come under supply crunch difficulties. More recently companies that benefited hugely from mass consumption of "discount servicing" like Netflix has had their stock price go from an ATH of $672 per share to currently $198 per share evaluation because people are no longer as attached to their screens as before with us having mixed working models or the stigma of being overly screen dependent has settled in to even the millennial/zoomer population. This will likely impact the end user in the form of higher subscription fees, lock down on account sharing, and advertisements. We saw similar changes with Uber in the way they started squeezing drivers in term of compensation, started raising standards for drivers in order to attract users with higher average income so they could rake in more profit, and also charged more for rides from users on the platform.

I brought this up back in 2019 that UI development of social development has pushed people into burrowing deeper into sort of an individualistic, tribal, and narcissistic mind set where basically you get what you want because you join the group that fits your ideology. You don't really need to **** with other people who don't agree with your bull****. Forum boarding is now a relatively dead medium compared to Discord and other media that offers you targeted social media grouping where you can get feeds from the people you want to be fed from and you can look for fights at your own discretion with people who disagree with you when you feel like it. There's no unadulterated, mixed, nuanced takes that sort of exist in long format. It's all under 280 characters and it's all the premo **** that you want to be drip fed.

It's not surprising that in the two years since then there has been a hyper acceleration of using such platforms (twitter, Discord) for NFT investments like BAYC, crypto kongz, V-fiends, ****er kittenz, or whatever you threw your money into and a social group that self affirms that the investment is well-awarded rather than using external market forces as the metric for decision. Everyone outside of the hype range is spreading FUD or is some form of neophyte when the whole market (stocks included) is just a glorified form of scalping and quantification of funds should be the standard. It also doesn't help that correlating with this rise in scalping and for some gambling also correlated with the Fed printing stimulus checks en masse to the population for use. Fox ran a narrative and continues to run it that Powell's money went into NFTs and sports gambling, meanwhile CNBC and other platforms point towards the money being used for day to day necessities like rent, food, or savings. I do think that 2017 was an interesting change in which personal finance channels began to overtake code bootcamp/software dev channels in terms of educational/financial content in which people went from talking about SEO optimization, agile, and front end development to now talking about the difference between 401k and Roth IRAs to more esoteric investments like Solana, UST, staking, etc.

I think that it's important when we reflect on the effects of the pandemic as individuals to reconsider our thoughts pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic. I think that it's incredibly naive to think that this is a singular event in time just because it's not the first time we've had a run in with coronavirus** and it's certainly not been the only virus that has affected us nationally as a country. It's gonna happen all over again and we're gonna be woefully under prepared. Everything in this **** post is kind of stale and reaffirming what's currently meta in terms of current thoughts. Even the government has had its Haugen moment where it is now government discourse that Facebook/Instagram are probably more of a net evil to mental health, especially to key demographics that dependent on it and are affected by social media perception. I guess what I haven't mentioned is that most of the events we are facing now correlate with the events following the tech crash in early 2000s in which people got screwed over from investing millions into Pet.com and now seek refuge in brick and motor stores, physical goods like houses, and other forms of investments that can be touch and felt. Simply put, it's going to be the same **** show in a different form with people overleveraged because of greed and the people who always get hurt are the people who can't afford healthcare, food, and a quality of life that keeps that safe from the madness.

 

[Sucumbio]

Inkling Man

You asked:

C/D: COVID-19 is pretty much under control by now.

My answer:

Not yet but close.

Reason:

This new coronavirus is on a similar path toward average risk akin to it's brothers aka the common cold. However, because the COVID disease is actually quite serious so unlike complications from common cold like pneumonia etc we have loss of mental capacity, fibromyalgia-like pain, etc and in some patients recovery is ongoing and not absolute (as is generally accepted in medical fields to be of good odds.)

Soon. Pax works, the shots work, masking works... Just gotta be smart. The new normal will start to feel like pre pandemic but it'll never actually be that. We call this nostalgia seeking and it's actually quite destructive.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

I got a lot of flak from both my family, friends, and even strangers for my own decisions. My health is important to me and, as I work a job that requires me to be constantly available during the week, I couldn’t afford to be sick as I wouldn’t get sick pay.

This whole past year, I never took a sick day or a day off. In fact, for the past 7 years I never once took a sick day or a day off with the sole exception of a month off as we were moving internationally.

That being said, my parents constantly made fun of me for wearing masks while we lived under their roof. Like going to the supermarket together during 2021. They would get upset when we had our kids wear masks. I have been chastised in public by strangers for masking my family and “cHiLd AbUsE” for doing so. My kids would regularly get made fun of my strangers on Facebook when their preschool would post pictures of the students during the day. They would say “love seeing those pretty smiles except for that one kid who is illegally masked!!! SHAME ON YOU!!”

Still, I have yet to get covid. My wife and kids have yet to get covid. My wife and I are vaxxed and boosted but we all still mask up. I lost a friend and a family member to covid. My sister and my parents all got covid and my sister and dad have health complications due to covid but, thankfully, that are living free and without fear /sarcasm.

I don’t mean to brag but within this past year, I traveled abroad, hugged people, met new friends, worked at schools, worked at UPS, worked in supermarkets, did events, had kids friends over, and tons of other things but managed to not get sick. Not the cold. Not the flu. Not even a cough. Why? Because I took precautions because I value the health of myself, my family, and the community. From someone who comes from a culture where mask wearing and cleanliness is common place; it’s mind boggling just how controversial it is just to wear one.

Back in 2012, I would wear one if I went to work but forgot to brush my teeth lol.

 

[Sucumbio]

Still, I have yet to get covid. My wife and kids have yet to get covid.

Me and my wife are also in this category well except other common affliction.

Back in 2012, I would wear one if I went to work but forgot to brush my teeth lol.

It's fascinating how people tend to forget over time. When bird flu got crazy huge in China the Western impressions especially in America was "oh wow look everyone has to wear masks ah ha" and then we had to and that pissed so many people off deep down and during the political climate Trump made. Yeah don't be an Asian right now, and in many places don't wear a mask or you're fixin to find out.

Kinda sad really but at least my family was fortunate enough to land in an area where no one does that ****. It's more about why I gotta do it? Why YOU don't go do it? Nahhh man I ain't doin that. Aite. Aite I see how it is den I guess you don't want ____ .... Oh... Nah man I was jus foolin

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

Me and my wife are also in this category well except other common affliction.



It's fascinating how people tend to forget over time. When bird flu got crazy huge in China the Western impressions especially in America was "oh wow look everyone has to wear masks ah ha" and then we had to and that pissed so many people off deep down and during the political climate Trump made. Yeah don't be an Asian right now, and in many places don't wear a mask or you're fixin to find out.

Kinda sad really but at least my family was fortunate enough to land in an area where no one does that ****. It's more about why I gotta do it? Why YOU don't go do it? Nahhh man I ain't doin that. Aite. Aite I see how it is den I guess you don't want ____ .... Oh... Nah man I was jus foolin

View attachment 355218

Back when my wife came to visit my family (well, before marriage), she wore a mask the next morning. My parents was so disturbed and I felt this left a lasting impression as, well, my mom and wife don't often see eye to eye.

 

[Sucumbio]

Back when my wife came to visit my family (well, before marriage), she wore a mask the next morning. My parents was so disturbed and I felt this left a lasting impression as, well, my mom and wife don't often see eye to eye.

Ouch. See in my house it's whatever but in my folks house, my sister runs the show on safety cause she's a healthcare provider. So masks for everyone and they sit in opposite corners of a stadium.

Well it was that. Then she got it anyway lol. They still haven't "touch wood" but my mom masks always being almost 80. My Dad not always but at 85 and a combat veteran himma do wut he do. And at gatherings like the one we plan for end of August prolly no masks. But it's like 5 of us with my sis mom n dad and wife and me.