Ah...well thanks for being honest because everybody else want's do do silly stuff like downplay deaths. The thing is the government has a responsibility for stuff like this and it's better to be safe than sorry (for the government).
I don't know anymore, Americans will still fight the flow of whatever. Maybe the reason why it didn't get like the Spanish flu is because of........get ready for it....the lockdowns? We are more advanced and have better living standards, as well as not being engulfed in conflict.

It's a tricky one because some places are more impacted than others, like you don't want to blab to an Indian person how EASY it is. If they have a MAGA hat on? Oh heck yeah tell them all about it.
Too bad you went with Bars and old people instead of what he said, hahaha.

It's as if there are forces at work in the American economy and society that see unity among the common folk as an existential threat to their interests, so they sow division in every circumstance, no matter how dire, in order to stave off any whiff of unity. Otherwise, it might spread or become normalized.

That is revisionist. New York City ICUs filled up early in the pandemic, several states filled up their ICUs subsequently, and Southern California's ICUs filled up more recently. In New York's case it was a terrible surprise, but in the rest, non-compliance with health and safety guidelines proved that, when it comes to novel pandemics, individual Americans are too irresponsible to be trusted to manage the risks to their own health and safety, let alone to the nation's.

Maybe what the population really needs is fewer Midwestern misanthropes with fake British accents.

Fun fact: the Spanish flu was considered "mild" during the first year, and many people thought the reaction was overblown. But most of the deaths occurred during the second year of the pandemic, and that's also when it became more deadly for younger people.

It's hard to compare this to the Spanish Flu and determine which one was worse, because obviously in 1918 they just didn't have anywhere near the amount of medical technology that we have now

Maybe!

But if a virus arises that they are particularly susceptible to, I won’t expect you to ruin your life and career because they can’t stay the fuck at home.

And I don’t speak with a British accent (or a Chicago one) ;)

Yeah, they didn't have ventilators anti viral medications or a vaccine a year into the pandemic. It appears that Covid may have been a lot worse to the population in 1918 than the Spanish Flu. It is also documented that the Spanish Flu viral infection was no more aggressive than other influenza strains and that overcrowded hospitals and medical camps with poor hygiene coupled with the timing of the war caused bacterial superinfections that killed most people.

People? In this country? SMART?!?!?!?! You're kidding me, right? No, people weren't taking their own risk assessments about the pandemic, twister244. You know what most were doing? They were performing a political dance to show off their ideology! Nothing more, nothing less. You think the average American knows a damned thing about statistics? Seriously? You think the average American knows how to analyze the kinds of data which have been spread across all types of media non-stop for the past year? Seriously doubtful.

I think you give WAY too much credit to the average American. It was a political stunt for the most part, with Trumpers being by far the most likely to stay unmasked and/or bitch, moan and complain incessantly about them. If not Trumpers, the second faction is the younger age group who were only looking out for their own selfishness and inherent need to only do what's best for them and not for others around them.

This entire pandemic drama/novel we've lived through for about 15 months now has proven one thing to me: People are selfish, arrogant and generally pretty damned stupid. They generally only look out for their own self-interest and don't give a damn about society at large. We're woefully uneducated in both math (ie: statistics) AND science, and seem to do nothing more than worship the cult of personality.

Honestly, we're a pathetic race.

Aaron (Glowrock)

^ :shrug:

https://i.imgflip.com/wslr8.jpg

These rants grow more and more meaningless when you see what is happening in India, Brazil, Japan, etc.

America is far from perfect, but I'm very happy with how our nation is pulling itself out of the pandemic with science, vaccines, and is now exporting excess vaccine to the rest of the world.

Just hating on America all day is really getting so passe....

The moment I knew this pandemic really wasn't all that dangerous was when we didn't start seeing homeless bodies piling up on the streets all across America by April 2020. Those guys eat trash, live in homeless camps, share needles, shit in the street, wipe their ass with their hands, don't shower, wash their clothes and definitely don't use hand sanitizers, lysol wipes, gloves, masks and social distance with every encounter they had and they're still out there and we didn't have city dumps full of dead homeless people that we set on fire.

By May, most Americans knew this wasn't dangerous to 99% of the population.

The Spanish flu killed young people. The population of 1918 was much younger than it is today. The life expectancy of 1920 was around 50 years of age. People back then wouldn't have even noticed Covid.

There are a number of reasons why the homeless weren't as affected by COVID. The main general reasons could be:

1) They're outside (Many of the homeless that did catch COVID caught them in shelters).

2) The more likely people to spread COVID (people like you and me, who have jobs and congregate in enclosed spaces like stores, restaurants, friends'/relatives' parties, etc.) generally "socially distance" from homeless people anyway.

Here's a Los Angeles Times article from last August:

Have L.A.'s homeless people dodged a COVID-19 catastrophe?

Link: https://www.latimes.com/california/s...omeless-people

On a lighter fun note....

Lollapalooza is back this summer.... near FULL capacity in Chicago!

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coro...ounce/2512939/

i heard that full vaccination will be required for Lolla attendance (how that gets proven, who the hell knows?), but it's at least a pretty good carrot to dangle out there to get some of the vax-hesitant zoomers/millennials to just bite the fucking bullet and get vaxxed already.

^ I think it’s a good idea

I’ve got my laminated “vaccine passport” ready

I hesitate to call these younger people “anti-vaxxers”. They just don’t need to be vaccinated, just like they don’t need to be vaccinated against flu. It’s not like they’re boomers who think vaccines are a hoax or a plot by Bill Gates to microchip us. It’s just not worth their time because there’s no benefit to them.

But you’re right, governments will probably try to blackmail the young into being vaccinated for a while (that’s why I got the shots), until finally everyone gets over the idea that taking the virus out of circulation is even a possibility, and it becomes something that older people get every year like the flu vaccine.

Yet again, you are thinking only of yourself and advocating that other people think only of themselves. People of all ages who can be vaccinated "need to be vaccinated" to reduce the prevalence of this virus in our society (and the world) as much as possible which prevents its mutation, possibly into a strain that has a predilection for younger people. Any significant unvaccinated population serves as a reservoir of infection and a breeding ground for mutant strains and the self-centeredness of people like you could ultimately turn on you.

Even if it can't be "taken out of circulation", the amount of it circulating can be vastly reduced just as has been done with numerous other viruses and that's almost as useful.

Frankly, you are pathetic.

^ This is where you part ways with science, and make yourself sound kinda clueless.

Vaccines are not really an individual treatment (although they partly are). They are a public health measure. Their true benefit/effect comes to fruition when a large proportion of the population (of all ages) becomes inoculated. That's when the magic happens.

Unfortunately, with too many people inclined toward the selfishness of 10023, we need to emphasize the individual benefit in order to get them to be vaccinated even though, as you say, there's a lot of benefit that accrues to others when someone does get a shot as well.

I get that "I don't really need the vaccine, I never get sick" line from patients all of the time. It's just a complete misunderstanding of science at all levels.

I also have a patient who had COVID Pneumonia, fully recovered, and now is getting her 1st Pfizer shot this Friday. Her job called her back into the office, and she is scared to go because 40% of her coworkers refuse to be vaccinated ( :koko: ). She asked me to write her a note excusing her from having to go back into the office.

I told her politely that such a letter would be inappropriate and not consistent with current recommendations. If she is so afraid, just wear a mask daily until she is 2 weeks post her second shot. Plus, she's already HAD Covid so she is pretty immune already!

She eased up and now is willing to go.