I Know I’m in The Minority But I Have To Ask

IMO, taking covid seriously means different things to different people. For me, it’s masking up, being vaxxed and boosted and not sharing other people’s air. I keep my 6 foot distance, wear my mask and go about my life. I think a rational amount of caution does the job and if everyone did it? We probably wouldn’t be where we are now. 

I’m concerned about healthcare workers but I’m also concerned about small business and restaurant owners. This sucks for everyone. So, I’m still shopping and living - just not with total abandon. 

I think people who go about "not living in fear" are very selfish. It is all about me, me, me. They won't be convinced this is a real, deadly problem until they personally are dying or their child dies. Some people never understand this. I just get so angry with "life isn't worth living unless I go to The Nutcracker". Seriously?

An aside: My dad has some kind of weird covid denial. He thinks covid isn't a big deal but he also got his shots and booster, thank God. I don't understand what the disconnect is. I tell him he won't believe it is a real problem until me or one of the grandkids dies. He denies that, but I swear it is true. Too much Fox News. He also denies he only gets his news from one source, but everything he mentions is on Fox. But he is always "it isn't that bad, only people with other health issues are dying, etc." It is maddening.

I base it all on the levels of virus in my community. When we have high community spread, I am much more cautious. I stay home more, I avoid large crowds, I do not eat inside restaurants…

When we have a low community spread, although I still mask up, I live my life much more “normally“.

Based on what’s happening in NYC, I think Omicron is going to be a game changer. I also think it’s going to move through the population fast. Let’s just hope another variant doesn’t pop up…

Agreed - we took out last night. I likely won’t be eating in restaurants for the foreseeable future. 

“We took out last night.”

Love it. Language is indeed an interesting thing. I hereby adopt the phrase. In honor of it, I pledge to order Thai tonight just so I can say it tomorrow. 

I freaking love swimming with sharks 🤣 We’ve done it multiple times.

There’s huge stretches of highway in my state where the legal speed limit is 85 mph, so I find myself going 100 without even realizing it.

I just thought it was funny that the things you picked to be extreme examples happen to be things I do as well.

We were vaccinated and boosted as soon eligible - even when I had to wake up at 2 am when walgreens opened up appointments last year to get my husband an appointment. I have zero issue wearing a mask. But we travel, we go out to eat and yesterday my daughter went to a concert and next week we will all go to see a Christmas Carol. We test before visiting our high risk family members. If it's not enough so be it -judge away.

That's actually one of the things that concerns me - I completely understand judging the unvaccinated, it's been shown over and over and over again that the very best thing one can do to stay out of the hospital is be vaccinated.  Our health care system is overwhelmed because people would not vaccinate - the latest stats in my state say 90% of those in ICU are unvaccinated. Why are we now throwing stones at those who are vaccinated and mask, but don't chose to take the same precautions others have decided?  My parents are ultra high risk and no, they're not going to concerts or other venues where there are a large groups of people - but they're not judging others. Honestly this is why it continues to be politicized imo. 

You know who else is dealing with a similar issue? Teachers. The number of teachers leaving the profession is staggering. If you browse the r/teachers and r/nurses forums, these professions are BLEEDING OUT and nothing is being done to stop it.

What will happen when there are simply not enough nurses to take care of patients? People will die, more people than was necessary. What will happen when there are not enough teachers to teach the children? Children will not be educated and then so many professions will be hurting - without a basic level of knowledge, you aren't going to have any nurses, engineers, doctors, etc.

These professions are being gutted by covid and the side-effects of the pandemic. So many people are just burned out and the callous disregard for the safety and well-being of others does not bode well for the long-term survival of the nation and society.

I live and Florida. Our so-called self-centered governor's money over life attitude is appalling. Due to his mandates, our hospitals are a mess. The burden this has placed on our medical personnel and system is selfish and astounding. Just hope when you are visiting Disney World or snowbird relatives that you, your children or other family members do not have an accident or other medical emergency.

For example, a friend's healthy 39 year old husband fell off a ladder had what they thought was a minor head injury, but a few days later had a stroke. At the hospital there were no rooms available and medical personnel did their best to treat him in a hallway. I know several other in hospital incidents involving both adults and children where patients were treated in hallways and waiting days for a room. Can you imagine a sick or injured child in that situation?

There are so many issues stemming from this Florida's attitude and behavior and it has nothing to do with fear, just tremendous social irresponsibility and lack of common sense. Also, living in fear is a ridiculous statement, living in reality is more accurate. Under normal circumstance Florida is a magnet for every flu and virus brought to us from people all over the country and the world. Now with COVID and the state's flippant attitude toward precautionary mandates, visiting here is at your own risk. And again, don't get hurt or ill if you are visiting.

Another issue or reality is I work at a university where the only mandates are COVID testing every two days for unvaccinated staff and masks for unvaccinated staff, students and visitors. Vaccination status for staff is the honor system, no proof required and inquiries for others are not permitted. The reality is we have been impacted by the reality of COVID losing staff, students and their children or other family members.

On a final note, it may be difficult for some people to understand why others are cautious and responsible and they interpret that behavior as fear. Please do not confuse those of us facing reality as fearful, but as mature and socially responsible people.

I'm confused, are we supposed to take reasonable precautions and live our lives or are we supposed to pretend Covid doesn't exist anymore or are we supposed to lock ourselves in our homes and never interact with other human beings again?  In your complaint about handslapping, which "lack of self-awareness" people are you actually handslapping yourself? 

Was this a secret, coded message, because I don’t know what you are saying. I DO know that lack of self-awareness is something that we all are guilty of at times. For example, repeatedly telling people who are taking sensible Covid precautions that they are-what was that phrase- oh, right, “living in fear,” and ignoring the responses from medical workers on this very thread who are saying that hospitals are overwhelmed, shows a certain lack of self-awareness that’s troubling. Do you not agree?

FFS the difference is the likelihood of ending up in the hospital or dead. Why are people so fucking dense. Get the goddamn shot and stop pretending your choice to not is the same as someone vaccinated that caught covid - IT'S NOT THE SAME!

I’m not in FL or TX, but from what I’ve seen in my part of IL people have moved on many months ago. People still need to earn a living so they’ve gone back to their jobs (for those whose employers don’t have a WFH option), children are back in school, etc. Most restaurants and theatres are open. People are travelling.  But my county also has close to a 75% vax rate.  Our guv recently signed a law that will insulate employers who want to mandate vaccines. (I’m a proponent of vaccine mandates because I’m convinced they work.)

In everyday life, no one is really incessantly talking about COVID, at least in my experience so far. Our mask mandate was lifted for a short time and was reinstated for indoors because of a spike in new cases so businesses have required them again. I really don’t see anyone getting angry when in stores or restaurants or anywhere else. Everywhere I’ve gone, people are just going about their lives. I think you’re equating caution with fear.

Unless I’m mistaken, I think the point of your posts is that outcomes prove there’s no correlation between COVID measures by state and case rates/death rates. That FL and TX have proven that strict measures/mandates were unnecessary, and their laissez faire COVID governance was the best way. But that’s not what really happened, right?  When Delta was raging, CA’s case rate was below national average, about half of TX’s and FL’s rates. TX and FL also had some of the highest numbers of COVID-related hospitalizations and death.

Who knows what Omicron will do? For example, just looking at FL’s data, in just the past week, their case numbers more than doubled. In TX’s news: “As the omicron variant of COVID-19 quickly spreads across the United States, public health experts fear that Texas’ health care system could once again be overwhelmed by the disease within weeks.”

So, IMO, it’s pointless to get into a pissing contest.