During this time of mass COVID hysteria, I thought it would be a good thing to take a moment and to remind people of some very important things with regards to the virus. No, I'm not going to tell you to take off your mask, or to completely self isolate, but I am going to tell you some things that will hopefully help you to keep a balanced perspective on it.
First, it is dangerous. Yes, there is a survival rate of over 99%, but that doesn't mean that it's not more dangerous for people with underlying health conditions. This article should not be interpreted as a license to be reckless with your own or someone else's health, but rather is intended to help you understand some realities that will give you time to prepare for what's coming. It's better to be prepared than not.
First - You Will Get It (Or Should Be Prepared To):
One of the biggest misconceptions that I find with regards to COVID is that people believe that they can avoid getting it. Here's the reality, there is no longstanding results survey that says that any vaccine will give you permanent immunity, or even that you will not get COVID. In fact, the CDC's website directly says that you can still get COVID during the period between getting the vaccine and developing the immunity from it. That also needs to be viewed in conjunction with the CDC's earlier proclamation that the infection vector rates show that everyone will get it similarly to the common cold or other corona viruses.
I know that people want to believe that they aren't going to get it, but that just flies in the face of what we already know and it's pinning your hopes on things that we can't count on yet. Not that you shouldn't get vaccinated, but you shouldn't treat that as if it will completely immunize you against COVID. A simple mutation could render all of these vaccines untenable anyway. In the end, you need to prepare to get it at some point and make whatever plans and provisions necessary for that eventuality. If you prepare, and you don't get it, then you're good. If you don't prepare, and you do get it, you're stuck.
Second - A Mask Doesn't Change The First Point:
I know, this one has people fuming, but read on before you grab your pitchforks, eh? Mask wearing is really for the sake of the "essential employees." The likelihood of you getting a "Critical Infection Exposure" just walking through a store is very unlikely. Now, because we want to protect those working, mask wearing in stores and crowded areas is a good thing, but lets not pretend that wearing a mask means that you won't get it (another common misconception).
You're FAR more likely to to be exposed by someone that you know and spend a significant amount of time with who got it from someone who also falls in that range. It could be a co-worker, it could be a family member, it could be any number of people, but the even if you were wearing a mask, the amount of time you spend within the room with that person often means that masks aren't effective. At least not against that type of long term exposure. What I'm saying is that you can wear a mask, wash your hands, use sanitizer, AND social distance in public and still get it.
Believing that mask wearing makes you safe is a comforting mental placebo that I find people engaging in, yet it isn't any more real than sugar pills except in a very rare case when an infected person coughing in your face in public would have given you a "Critical Infection Exposure."
Third - So What?
So, If I'm not against vaccinations, and I'm not against wearing masks in stores or crowded locations, then why am I bothering to write this? Good question.
The simple answer is that while I'm not against those things, I am against the grotesque and inexhaustible virtue signaling and public shaming / hamulating of those who are. I could write you the stories, but I'm sure you have enough of your own that I don't need to. But WHY is there all of this going on? What is the purpose? What is the point?
Simple, people are scared, and they're holding on to their placebo. "If we can just hang in there and not get it until "X" date, then we won't get it because we'll have "X" vaccine, or immunity, or pixie dust to protect us. I'm sorry, but that's just wishful thinking, and the longer we hold out hope that we won't get it, as opposed to flattening the curve and what that is actually supposed to do (spread cases out not reduce infections), the more hostile and volatile we become to one another. We're doing far more damage to each other and our relationships than the virus itself is.
Be responsible, protect yourself, but remember that not everyone agrees with you. The sooner we accept the inevitability of the virus the way we do any other corona virus or regular illness the less angry and hostile we'll be. When we dispel the illusion of not getting it, and treat such an outcome as a serendipity, then we are able to be far less hostile towards each other and far less self aggrandizing than society has been lately with all of their "look how 'responsible' that I am."
Do your part, and ask others to do theirs if you feel you must, but do it in a way that we'll have some kind of social fabric left rather than picking a fight for the sake of expressing your... "righteous" **eye roll** anger and frustration about the fact that there's a virus on someone else.
Otherwise is might not matter if we can gather at the Thanksgiving table again, there won't be anyone left with whom we have a relationship to come.
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