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I'm not about to crawl into a cave and hide for the next 4 or 5 years out of fear of Covid. That's just one more thing to add to the list of things that can kill you. So far, we've had about 425,000 deaths attributed to Covid in the US in the past year and that was largely with no vaccinations (until just a few weeks ago) and very little in the way of treatment (although the treatments seems to be improving).
At least with the Covid vaccine and the limited immunity from many people having already caught the virus so far, the next year or two should see a reduction in the number of deaths and serious illnesses from Covid.
By comparison, there are far more fatal illnesses from other diseases in the US. "Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the US. About 1,400,000 people die from cardiovascular disease annually."
So it pays to be prudent and try to keep yourself in good health, but I'm not going to stop living and hide in a cave just because there's yet another thing that can kill me. I'll just add it to the list of things to worry about when I get around to it. Meanwhile, the golf course is calling me today. See ya.
Who has said it will be four to five years of this? Most reports say sometime this year we should see the beginning of the end and our return to normalcy.
At this point, I take it like any other routine hazard in the environment.
I'm in my mid-30s. My odds of dying of COVID in my state in my age bracket are about 1/1,100. I'm vaccinated now, and while I still mask where it's socially expected and distance, it's just a routine hazard at this point.
I don't think it will be eliminated. It's simply too well-established in the population and too contagious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimrob1
I know what you mean it definitely wears on a person. Yes hopefully by summer things will be better. I sure as hell hope when summer comes, we are not saying maybe by the spring things will be better. I know I have never seen a time in life that feels so empty and hopeless as this past year has been. I bought a house last Feb just as things were getting ready to shut down. I feel like I have been locked in this house for a year, and the joy of it has never been felt. It feels like a prison to me at times. Stay Safe
When all this started up in March, I did the stay-at-home, hide under the bed thing for a month or two. Remember all the images about the dead bodies in the streets and crematoria running 24/7 in Wuhan? It felt like the apocalypse.
There was very little open here until Memorial Day. I started, slowly, going back out, masking and distancing. Large portions of the economy, which employ millions of people, cannot continue limping along at this limited capacity indefinitely. We have to find a better way to manage the threat going forward.
Last edited by Serious Conversation; 01-24-2021 at 07:29 PM..
Who has said it will be four to five years of this? Most reports say sometime this year we should see the beginning of the end and our return to normalcy.
There are several stories out the last few days that seem to indicate Covid-19 will be with us for years to come. The pandemic will likely end this year but it will still be spreading around the world since it appears that you can catch it and give it to someone else even after getting the vaccine. Its just unlikely you will get severely ill from it. As far as normalcy. Going back to a world pre covid where everything is like it was before. Probably not for a long time. We are in a different world now.
From the Nat-Geo link in the OP:
But this transition won’t happen overnight. Experts say that SARS-CoV-2’s exact post-pandemic trajectory will depend on three major factors: how long humans retain immunity to the virus, how quickly the virus evolves, and how widely older populations become immune during the pandemic itself.
Depending on how these three factors shake out, the world could be facing several years of a halting post-pandemic transition—one marked by continued viral evolution, localized outbreaks, and possibly multiple rounds of updated vaccinations.
In the developed world this is going to fade into the background by next winter. As more people are vaccinated, and the incidence rate falls, this will end up the same as measles. Occasional outbreaks, either in the 3rd world or in anti-vax communities. The vaccine is as effective as the measles vaccine too. Provided it breaks transmission the way we expect it to, and does not evolve faster than expected, we got this. But it does take buy in and cooperation. That last part I'm not sure of. Too many dumb people living in this world...
At this point, I take it like any other routine hazard in the environment.
I'm in my mid-30s. My odds of dying of COVID in my state in my age bracket are about 1/1,100. I'm vaccinated now, and while I still mask where it's socially expected and distance, it's just a routine hazard at this point.
I don't think it will be eliminated. It's simply too well-established in the population and too contagious.
When all this started up in March, I did the stay-at-home, hide under the bed thing for a month or two. Remember all the images about the dead bodies in the streets and crematoria running 24/7 in Wuhan? It felt like the apocalypse.
There was very little open here until Memorial Day. I started, slowly, going back out, masking and distancing. Large portions of the economy, which employ millions of people, cannot continue limping along at this limited capacity indefinitely. We have to find a better way to manage the threat going forward.
How did you get vaccinated already if you are a healthy person in your 30s? A friend of mine in a wealthy tourist town in Colorado got vaccinated too, and he's only 70. Meanwhile my 90 year old aunt in assisted living still hasn't been vaccinated.
And she was just rushed to the hospital with covid.
I have read the same thing. Of course there is a chance it could mutate itself into extinction.
This pandemic is a world altering event. Our way of life will probably never be the same as it was pre-covid 19.
It is more likely to mutate into a form the vaccine is no longer effective against, and in any case I am sure it will now become an annual seasonal outbreak like the flu, as long as one person has it they will infect others again, it only took ONE jet passenger flying to the states to infect the whole country, all 50 states in a few months, that's all it will take- ONE, thats how all these diseases survive, everything from flu and mumps to polio chicken and smallpox- the latter we eliminated, but in order for these to survive SOMEONE somewhere in the world has to have it and they passit to someone else.
How did you get vaccinated already if you are a healthy person in your 30s? A friend of mine in a wealthy tourist town in Colorado got vaccinated too, and he's only 70. Meanwhile my 90 year old aunt in assisted living still hasn't been vaccinated.
And she was just rushed to the hospital with covid.
I work for a hospital system. I'm not a clinical team member - I'm actually in IT working from home. They offered vaccines to any employee who wanted one, said it wasn't taking a dose from a frontline worker, etc. At the time, there were plenty of vaccines available as many clinical team members were turning them down. Since then, the supply of available vaccines seems to have declined.
My reasoning was that if I didn't get the vaccine then, who knows when my next opportunity might be.
I work for a hospital system. I'm not a clinical team member - I'm actually in IT working from home. They offered vaccines to any employee who wanted one, said it wasn't taking a dose from a frontline worker, etc. At the time, there were plenty of vaccines available as many clinical team members were turning them down. Since then, the supply of available vaccines seems to have declined.
My reasoning was that if I didn't get the vaccine then, who knows when my next opportunity might be.
I'm in a similar position and I'm 41. I work for my town's police dept, but I'm not technically a 'first responder'. I was given the opportunity to get the vaccine though, so I'm going to get it tomorrow.
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