Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[mordant]

As to the other points ... is this the time to doggedly "keep schools open"? And businesses? You be the judge. The attitude now seems to be (and this is another recent white house statement, in so many words) "the unvaccinated are just going to suffer and die this winter but we're going to keep business and schools open for the vaccinated" which sort of ignores that the vaccinated, even if boosted, can still get sick. I personally know two people (front line workers) who are down with it after being boosted around Thanksgiving. Yes, both are "mild" ... and lucky ... and hopefully will not later have Long Covid symptoms crop up. The political discourse around this is SO simplistic ... and oversimplifies "didn't land in the hospital" to "mild". This is serious shit, and not being treated as such.

Now that we know that the vaccines don't prevent covid, they just lessen the effect, the fact is that most everyone's going to get it eventually. You can't close the world down forever.

I have always pointed out that these vaccines are not sterilizing vaccines; they aren't a once-and-done permanent total immunity. They do however lessen the probability of contracting the illness, as well as the severity. And in some ideal world where the whole world had been properly locked down at the start and were fully vaccinated or nearly so now, it would have either eradicated the disease or made it a manageable endemic illness. The way it is now we will just mint a new variant every few months (or weeks).

Even so-called "mild" covid is a total misnomer. In the government's parlance, it just means "wasn't admitted to the hospital". It says nothing about how severe the symptoms, or how long-lasting. 10 to 30% of the sick go on to have Long Covid, some permanently. It is a vascular illness with numerous manifestations. It is creating expensive permanent disability via post-viral syndromes.

It is true that the vaccinated are just as infectious as the unvaccinated during the early stages, even if ultimately asymptomatic, which is why masking, social distancing, and lockdowns are still appropriate.

Finally ... even assuming it is right to capitulate and resign yourself to getting it sooner or later, it is in everyone's interest to delay getting infected as long as possible, to give treatments more time to improve and become available, if nothing else.