Reply to When are you going to stop wearing masks indoors (stores, etc)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It makes perfect sense to still avoid Covid. You idiots are trying to normalize the belief that Covid is like the flu.[b] It isn't.[/b] I'll wear a mask as long as I want to.[/quote]

You're right. Covid wasn't nearly as bad as the flu when I had it in December as it did not prevent me from working working or doing vigorous exercise. Last time I had the flu I was asleep for a day.[/quote]

Your anecdote is not data but you are too ignorant to understand this. [/quote]

Actually, this anecdote mirrors the data we have for omicron-- and in fact, even the original variant caused flu-like illness or less in many. (Its potential to be mild or asymptomatic is what helped it spread so easily.)

The anecdotes are actually what helped obscure sensible risk assessment when it came to covid. The stories about healthy, young, fit people hospitalized and struggling for their lives sold papers and made a huge impression on all of us. It's not that these anecdotes aren't tragic and important, but perhaps many of us are too ignorant to understand that they were stand-out stories and that covid is not an equal-opportunity killer. In some cases it is not well understood why a particular individual was vulnerable, but there are very obvious trends that tell us who is vulnerable.

There are a bunch of conspiracy theories floating around about why the CDC hasn't been transparent about the raw numbers of people in the U.S. hospitalized for covid who are vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, but the ultimate reason why is likely because the vaccines were not able to change the "vulnerable" cohort as much as we would have wanted-- and this group still weighs down the others enough to make vaccines appear substantially less effective, since these were the populations at greatest risk of hospitalization and death in the first place. If you are above 80, your risk of being hospitalized for covid is many times the risk of a 40 year old, even if you're boosted and the 40 year old is unvaccinated. The CDC likely doesn't trust us with that data, but I think they likely could have made it clearer-- it might have helped us focus our restrictions on those who need it most and even saved some lives.

So, if you look at the covid data by age it is clear that, in part, anecdotes-- not data-- have shaped our attitudes and policies when it comes to this virus. But don't just trust me, look at it and make your decisions from a place of empowered information, not fearfulness OR reactive imprudence:[url] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2918-0[/url]

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Well you can argue about what data matters and if you should look at things from an individual rather than a societal viewpoint.  Sure, if you are just considering your own person risk, your risk of dying omicron is pretty low.  However, if you look at the data from a societal perspective, the pure numbers alone are overwhelming our health care system.  And if you want anecdotes, just ask my next door neighbor who is an intensivist in an ICU in one of our DC hospitals. She is one of the toughest, most competent and caring people I know and she is basically on the verge of collapse.  The many MANY pregnant moms she couldn't save is what has put her over the edge.

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