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

[LongRoad]

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 spread

In Star Trek, The Borg could morph to address new dangers. If this virus were not so frightening, to people, to the economy, etc., and if I had even a smidgen of interest in infectious diseases, I would find it fascinating. As it is? I find it frightening. Death is inevitable, but I'm not in any rush to meet it. And I try to eat right, exercise, engage with friends, etc. All the things science says are healthy practices. If I can eat oatmeal (blah!), I can wear a mask, etc.

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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.

I remember my mother telling me about her father. He was at a train station during the Spanish flue. There were coffins piled up on the platform practically covering the whole thing. We're more fortunate at this part of the outbreak than at the beginning because we've come up with some ways to mitigate the disease in some cases. That said, I'd prefer avoidance to mitigation.

I know how the Europeans feel, though. I love to travel. Most countries aren't letting us in. When I think of going on a road trip, I ask myself if it's worth dying for.  After grinding my teeth, I turn away from the idea.

I suspect dentists will be doing a booming business after COVID is dealt with because of all the teeth grinding!

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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.

I don't think most people here or even most Republicans have a problem with mask wearing. The last time I saw stats, 70% of Democrats thought masks were beneficial, 60% of Republicans, and 65% of Independents, but even where I live, a red part of Texas, literally everyone is wearing a mask in public unless they're eating or exercising. There was even a BBC article a few months back about how in spite of all the complaints about Americans not masking up, we had like 75% compliance across the board compared to the only 65% compliance in the UK.

Most of the people I know from all walks think that this is a sham because the approach is to shut everything down, which is causing mental health crises in young people, while telling people who criticize this that they want innocent people to die and suffer. I know this because when I said, "Why not push for masks and distancing but keep the economy open to avoid a depression and stave off major mental health issues," I was blocked by two family members and three long-term friends who claimed that's what I wanted.

Is shutting everything down the answer? I don't know. Especially at the beginning, however, we just didn't know what we didn't know. In that ignorance, it was probably a good idea to react in that way, and then, when it was determined that the response was too aggressive, back off, bit by bit, to a level where we could control it better. I think politics and intransigence got thrown into the mix and made things worse than they needed to be.