2 COVID Vaccines Approved, End to Pandemic in Sight??

[LongRoad]

He, he, he. Those who think that COVID-19 is a scam? You're right! It's all a vast left-wing conspiracy. The idea of COVID19 was cooked up by a bunch of libitard-globalist-participation trophy-demanding-PC- snowflake- latte-drinkers who all got together at the local Starbucks and convinced the MSM to puff up a common flu to GIGANTIC proportions to win the election.

Now? The election's over. Why are you folks discussing this?

Hmm. Well, I THOUGHT that was the plan. The Republicans seemed to have seen through us, so I don't know why a bunch of Republican governors are NOW saying masks, social distancing, etc. is the way to go. Don't they know the election's over?

[dfrecore]

He, he, he. Those who think that COVID-19 is a scam? You're right! It's all a vast left-wing conspiracy. The idea of COVID19 was cooked up by a bunch of libitard-globalist-participation trophy-demanding-PC- snowflake- latte-drinkers who all got together at the local Starbucks and convinced the MSM to puff up a common flu to GIGANTIC proportions to win the election.

Now? The election's over. Why are you folks discussing this?

Hmm. Well, I THOUGHT that was the plan. The Republicans seemed to have seen through us, so I don't know why a bunch of Republican governors are NOW saying masks, social distancing, etc. is the way to go. Don't they know the election's over?

I don't think that's what most think - it's the response to it that's the scam.  I'm not really certain this ranks as a pandemic, since more than 99% of people will be fine.  It's WAY overblown.  We should not be decimating our economy over this virus.  Our kids should not be out of school, it's crazy.

[rachel83az]

99% of people will not be fine. 99% of people may live. But that is not the same thing at all. Not by a longshot.

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4470

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nco...fects.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54296223

[StoicJ]

99% of people will not be fine. 99% of people may live. But that is not the same thing at all. Not by a longshot.

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4470

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nco...fects.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54296223

Those links don't really say much.
CDC link- CDC is actively looking at possible long-term effects associated with Covid-19. "some patients can have symptoms that can last for weeks or even months after recovery from acute illness." Really? Imagine.
BMJ link- I would encourage anyone who reads that to look at it with a critical mind. Correlation/Causality and that type of thing. Logical inferences.
BBC link summary- People are experiencing fatigue, aches, and depression months after testing positive.

I know I've felt like $^%& a lot of this past year. Maybe I had Covid-19 at some point. Don't know. But I do know it's been depressing to see the response. I know it makes me very sad to see my young sons being kept from the activities they enjoy so much. The two long trips we made to the beach, only to find the entrances barricaded. If I or my wife and sons had experienced some illness during this stretch (cold, flu, etc), and then had to deal will with all this insanity on top of that, yeah, recovery would probably be a lot more difficult.

[rachel83az]

What percentage of the world's population will be fine?

Honestly, I don't think anyone knows at this point. And that's scary. I've seen things suggesting that anywhere between 10-20% of symptomatic sufferers will have Long Covid. But there is also an unknown number of asymptomatic people who are getting lung/heart damage that might not be discovered for years (because they are young and currently feel fine). I saw a German SCUBA magazine warning people not to go diving without getting checked by a physician first because the dive could trigger the currently-hidden lung damage and kill the diver.

[StoicJ]

What percentage of the world's population will be fine?

Honestly, I don't think anyone knows at this point. And that's scary. I've seen things suggesting that anywhere between 10-20% of symptomatic sufferers will have Long Covid. But there is also an unknown number of asymptomatic people who are getting lung/heart damage that might not be discovered for years (because they are young and currently feel fine). I saw a German SCUBA magazine warning people not to go diving without getting checked by a physician first because the dive could trigger the currently-hidden lung damage and kill the diver.

I agree with proceeding with caution. I caught a cold many years ago that led to pneumonia. Took me 4+ months to shake the coughing, and I wasn't close to 100% for a good 8 months or so. I had an allergic reaction to cat hair a couple of years ago. Was hospitalized. After that asthma attack I couldn't go more than a few days without some allergen getting to me. It was well over a year before I was able to consistently take full, deep breaths.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that I had sustained damage to my hearts and/or lungs as a result of those battles.

[Merlin]

Those links don't really say much.

While the links don't give the whole picture, I'm pretty sure the point of them is to give some idea of why Covid is much more dangerous than people are giving it credit for. Surviving the virus doesn't guarantee that you will be 100% when you recover... you may end up with lasting problems that could affect you for months or years. We don't even know the extent of the damage for sure at this point, but there are plenty of examples of people who have a much-diminished quality of life months after recovery. Some of the people end up with blood clots and/or strokes. Others end up with cardiac, pulmonary, or nervous system damage and are at higher risk of death or other complications. This disease is nothing to mess around with.

If I didn't know people who are still suffering from the long-term effects of Covid, I might be more skeptical as well. If we only look at the fatality rate, it doesn't seem that scary, but for every person who dies, there are tens or hundreds of people who recover with lasting complications. Some of which may never completely recover, or will be at higher risk for other medical issues down the road.

And we wouldn't have had to shut down our economy if people would just do their part to keep it from spreading.

[LongRoad]

The first death in the US from COVID19 was February 6, 2020. As of today, 248,687 have died in the US from COVID19. That many people have died in two hundred and eighty-six days.

Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-seven people died on September 11, 2001. I'm bad at math, but isn't the number of deaths from COVID19 like having a 9/11 attack every 4 days?

We went to war over 9/11. Don't seem to see the same attempt at shock and awe over COVID19 and I can tell you I'm darn tired of it. Maybe, if we'd been like Canada, New Zealand and Australia and not politicized this thing, we might still be where we are today, but at least I'd have the comfort of knowing folks are TRYING. That we're doing whatever we can to fight it. That just isn't the case. And I have to think it's political

A bunch of Republican governors came out AFTER election day to get serious about mask wearing seems a bit - just a bit, mind you - coincidental to me. I'm sure that they're not a bunch of hypocrites.

Yes, I sound angry. It's because I am. You want to think that the world is flat? Fine. You want to believe in astrology? (That's a dig at some liberals.) Fine. You think that this virus is bunk? Fine. You don't want to wear a mask, social distance, or wash your hands? THAT is where I draw the line. Kill yourself if you want to, but keep your blinking germs with you. You're shouting, "Fire" in a crowded theater as far as I'm concerned, and I don't want to be trampled.

[rachel83az]

Another thing to put things into perspective, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 actually lasted about 2 years (according to Wikipedia, it was 25 or 26 months depending on how you reckon things). During that time (according to https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resourc...istory.htm) it killed about 675,000 Americans. This was a time BEFORE advanced medicine like ventilators or even antibiotics. Assuming 25 months, that's an average of 27k per month. For covid? 250k over 8 months is 31k per month!

Since we don't even know if the vaccine(s) will work, it's possible this could last at least as long as the Spanish Flu epidemic. At current rates, that's more than three-quarters of a million Americans dead over 2+ years because people can't be bothered to wash their hands and wear a mask.

In Europe, the infection rates are going up again because people couldn't be bothered to have a staycation this year rather than go traipsing across the continent. And the anti-mask rhetoric is spreading. It's disgusting. I, too, am salty about the whole situation.

[Seagull]

He, he, he. Those who think that COVID-19 is a scam? You're right! It's all a vast left-wing conspiracy. The idea of COVID19 was cooked up by a bunch of libitard-globalist-participation trophy-demanding-PC- snowflake- latte-drinkers who all got together at the local Starbucks and convinced the MSM to puff up a common flu to GIGANTIC proportions to win the election.

Now? The election's over. Why are you folks discussing this?

Hmm. Well, I THOUGHT that was the plan. The Republicans seemed to have seen through us, so I don't know why a bunch of Republican governors are NOW saying masks, social distancing, etc. is the way to go. Don't they know the election's over?

The truth is if there had been no socialism/communism in China, there would have been no world pandemic now.
So in essence socialism is culpable in that it keeps the truth hidden, it keeps doctors hands tied, it keeps the news from spreading the truth and this not only in China.
And, at the government level there is no difference between republicans and democrats anymore, they are all on the same page and it is up to the people to sift truth from lies and look at the facts, numbers and realize some of the measures are a little too extreme.Lots of the measures are politically motivated and the aim is to bring the world economy to its knees. Even the plague didn't completely ruin the economy of Europe, but that is because leaders at the time didn't have ulterior motives. Unlike nowadays.