This whole covid thing reaffirmed what I always knew. It has brought it to full light- People are ****ing selfish and think of nobody else but them ****ing selves.
It is interesting to look at data, and this pandemic has created tons of it, both good and bad. I was just reading to where the CDC isn't even really looking at "new daily positives" data anymore because testing has blown up so much (quintuple even 3-4 weeks ago in many parts of the country), you'll naturally raise the daily positives. The real numbers they are looking at: 1. Hospitalization rates: regardless of testing, if people get sick enough, they'll go to the hospital. This has been falling in most of the CDC "regions", even in a lot of places where "new daily cases" has increased. Some exceptions are Chicago and DC apparently. 2. Positivity rate. The number of positive tests per X tests. This helps control for the huge increases in testing. If you test 3X the number of people and you're new daily positives only incrementally rises (while your positivity rate falls X percentage), you know pretty well if you are actually seeing more cases or catching more cases. 3. Daily deaths/mortality: This is fairly constant, because you basically know who has died. You may miss a few here and there, but from a trend analysis perspective, its pretty darn constant. The biggest issue: its a lagging indicator of 2-4 weeks, and its also cumulative to a certain extent. People can be sick a long time before they eventually die, so you can see big bumps in daily deaths from people that were infected 3, 4, 5, even up to 8 weeks before. It is interesting to see the CDC, Fauci, and Birx not even talk about new daily cases anymore, and really focus on Hospitalization and Postivity rates.
I don't think many people follow the statistics, I think a lot of people hear that we have re-opened therefor - things are better now. We also live in Texas, which means we have a prominent narrative of people saying things like "it's just a cold" "It's just to make Trump look bad" "Something something freedom" going around amongst a significant number of our population. Selfishness is a factor, but I'd argue ignorance is a greater factor.
empathy is just as big of a factor. everyone's situation is different from the other. the people without jobs, constant income, other illnesses, etc aren't looking through the same lens as someone is doing just fine with a safe job that is generally healthy. And one side is always going to look at the other as if they're doing something absolutely wrong, whatever that may be. It's a constant cycle of who thinks they're right and who's not. A person will never see things objectively without empathy and taking everything as a whole into consideration.
This is the biggest thing I've learned from watching all of this - just a sheer lack of empathy and ability to understand other perspectives across the board on both sides.
Agree: its a good exercise to put yourself in other people's shoes, even if they are straw men. "I need to get back to work because I'm about to lose my house" "I take care of 2 special needs people that are at high risk of respiratory disease" "The business my wife and I have spent 25 years building is being crushed, I'm about to lose everything" "My Grandmother caught COVID and is in the ICU" "I was just laid off from my great job because of the shut down" "My wife is a front line nurse and is constantly exposed to sick people" Notice how none of those is: "I need to party bro"
Corona-viruses cause colds among other viruses that can as well. What makes COVID-19 not the worst by far cold so far experienced by the current generations? In other words, is COVID-19 the Spansih flu of colds or is there something that technically makes COVID-19 not a cold? Is it symptom-based or just things cease being colds when they reach a certain level of deadliness?
I've repeatedly posted data and research. I'm not trying to craft a narrative for myself to justify something. The data is what it is. It bluntly shows what the risks are, who is at risk, and who is dying. If you have data or studies to indicate to the contrary I'd love to see them. However, it doesn’t make sense to me if you are saying that I’m biased because I’m looking at data and becoming less fearful than I was before when this all started. If I saw more reasons to be concerned then I would post them. I mean geez I was out stocking up on food for the long haul right when this thing first started and trying to convince people around me that this was a big deal. I've been posting in this thread for nearly the entire time trying to share what I believe to be accurate, helpful information. That said, nearly everything that comes out tends to indicate we (and myself specifically) should be less fearful of this virus when considering various factors. I'm not high risk. I'm not around high risk people. I'm not around large numbers of people everyday. I live by myself and work from home. I'm not in a high risk city or county. I can't change the reality that this virus is not a major risk factor for someone like myself. I'm fine with contracting covid at the gym and I'm almost 100% certain multiple guys I train with had it back in Feb/March. I'm more worried about staph and other skin infections from the gym. I’m aware of the symptoms and I would act appropriately if I feel I was infected.
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments.
Thanks. It's also extremely acceptable to be worried about ALL of those situations. The person worried about the economy and the person worried about the virus and the person worried about some of the crummy government response and the person worried about uncontrolled government over-reach and person worried about needing to stay home and the person worried about not opening soon enough can all be the same person.
So 5 medical facilites will be closing down because they lost a lawsuit due to some Ponzi scheme Enron type scam. I'm wondering if I should file for unemployment for 6 months or just work part time and make the same as being unemployed. Anyways, that loser should be in jail but he's too rich with all the money he stole from the investors, white collar crimes.
