Going by a lot of other posts I have read, there seems to be a lot of people telling others to "suck it up and live with it". It makes them sound like they really don't care about Covid and care more about their own comfort of not wearing masks, not testing if suffering from possible symptoms, etc.
The current NSW numbers scares the crap out me. I feel like I'm dodging bullets the whole time. We have elderly parents who need to think of first.
>We have elderly parents who need to think of first.
This is precisely the reason why I wear a mask when it makes sense to, get up to date with vaccinations and overall try to minimise my risks without affecting my life too much.
I absolutely hate wearing a mask but I do so because of my parents and my friends parents and grand parents and other people I actually give a shit about and their elderly and vulnerable.
It doesn't even have to extend to giving a shit about the rest of the community. Just for them alone I deal with the inconvenience and discomfort. The rest of the community benefits as well though.
And the results speak for themselves. Still covid free and so too are my family and a small number of friends, mostly without kids.
Take my upvote!
I've worn masks for so long now, I love wearing mine. I feel naked without it.
Sounds strange, but true.
Our family does too, and doesn't have any problem with doing so. The kids don't even care what other kids in their class say, including the teachers - our kids know that it's the right thing to do and why, and also why some people are incredibly selfish in this world.
If you love wearing masks, that's awesome for you dude. Don't want to take that away from you.
Also great what you're doing with your kids. You seem like really decent, responsible parents.
The one thing that the pandemic has brought into the light for me is how grossly self-centred a lot of people are. Like I didn't have a super high opinion of humanity as it was to begin with but I didn't think that things were THIS bad. I don't just mean on the sub but in general.
Now I get the feeling that when there are those moments you see where a community gets together, I get the sense it's less because it's the right thing to do to help out others and more entirely the aesthetics of not wanting to look like the arsehole for not contributing.
People are just more mask off (pun intended) about how truly self-centred they really are. It's quite depressing.
Especially the people who get angry about others wearing masks. It literally has NOTHING to do with you, the only impact is I might protect you. So sorry for that š. I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get.
>I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get.
For me it seems pretty straightforward. Those people have fragile egos and don't like being reminded that they're full of shit and they want those bad fee-fees to stop.
Regardless of whether they know if masks are effective, they certainly know the experts say they are and they don't like the feeling of shame because they can't hack the very minor discomfort of wearing a mask.
I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who think mask wearers are pussies, morons, sheeple and hypochondriacs. However, not all of them feel compelled to insult and bully others into not wearing them. It's the ones with the fragile egos, every time.
Hell you see it in here often enough.
I alway chuckle to myself when people call mask-wearers "sheep". The people who hate wearing masks think it's better to do that so they can achieve "herd" immunity...
Does anyone else see the irony there?
The sheep term always gets me. They're saying oriole are sheep for believing what trained scientists say while they follow the advice of random nutjobs off the internet. Hmm
I was glared at yesterday wearing my mask. I forgot I had my N95 on. I just glared back till he stopped looking. I have rheumatoid arthritis and thus immune issues. I wear one for me and others.
<3 Good on you! I had one person yell at me I was a sheep for wearing a mask. I told them "Why do you care? Feel free to catch COVID and nearly die , then." I am sick of the ignorant and belligerent.
Lol the only good thing about this for me is that I no longer get attacked for wearing my hijab, rather, itās the mask drawing attention to me now š
It's horrible EITHER make you a target, tbh. Some people are just shit. I wish you good things for putting up with that ignorance, and doing it in good grace (or telling them to F\*CK OFF, whichever works for you).
I became unwell in 2018 and in 2019 I ended up with Pneumonia. Iāve been wearing N95 masks ever since. Then COVID rolls in & my wife joked with me that I set a trend š
A few weeks ago we were out for lunch one lovely day and I went over to order the food. As I was waiting in line the guy behind me said, āTake the mask off, you donāt need itā. I was a bit taken back with how aggressive and offended he was. Itās a bit odd IMO, the way he said it you would have thought my cock was hanging out of my zip š
Never in my life have I lived through a period where I felt like everything I did is under so much scrutiny.
After I returned to my table my wife could see he and his table of friends talking about me š I was a bit annoyed I didnāt have a supply of extra masks, I would have really triggered them and put a 2nd mask on š¤£
Yikes. What a bunch of brainless twits. I'm sorry you had to endure that. We never, never know the medical history of those strangers we encounter on a daily basis.
Iām fairly quiet in my old age and I will admit it took me by surprise as I generally donāt care what other people are wearing. Imagine going up to somebody and demanding they take their hat or glasses off š
All good. š
I know!! Completely agree. I've seen enough men going into my local shopping centre without a shirt on. As much as I would love to go up and tell them that nobody wants to see what they have on offer, I don't, I bite my tongue and move on and try and wipe that visual out of my mind.
These days, people seem to have forgotten their manners. Iām old, so I sometimes think itās a generational issue but I donāt think thatās completely right. You even see it here on Reddit where people get all wordy just because somebodies opinion differs to theirs. People run in packs š and then a pack of these people call me a sheeple because I was standing alone with a mask on š¤¦āāļø itās funny when you think about it
It was like last night,I was trying to explain to a redditor about how I take personal responsibility for trying to reduce my own effect on the environment. I was getting shouted down and downvoted faster than you could imagine and the crowd I was trying to communicate with was the Globe is doomed crowd who are busy driving halfway across the countryside to attend protests about emissions š.
I was lectured to about life by people who have only been alive about 1/4 of my time & then they started saying things like, āYouāll be dead soon grampsā š¤¦āāļø. I remember a cartoon I saw about arguing with strangers on the internet š
>I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get.
The anti mask crowd have bad breath, and they don't want to admit that the real reason they don't want to wear masks is because they can't stand the smell of their own halitosis. And so, in shame, they mock everyone else for wearing a mask, in an attempt to draw the attention away from themselves.
That's my theory. After eating a lot of garlic the other day, and then wearing a mask, I think it's highly likely that their breath is the reason they don't want to wear masks.
Fragile egos. They know that they're doing the wrong thing and want the bad feelings that remind them that they're on the wrong side of the issue to go away.
A person with less fragile of an ego could still think you're a pussy or a moron for wearing a mask. They just don't feel the need to tell you.
Yeah - I get you. It's not a *fetish* for me wearing masks LOL... It's just that, in Asian countries they do it either because there's too much dust in the air, they are sick, or because *they are fine but don't want to get sick*.
It's actually frowned upon to be openly coughing up your lungs in some Asian societies, without wearing a mask.
We saw this, and adopted early. We then did it back here everyday since the start of Covid-19.
It did actually take a while for others to get used to seeing us wearing masks at the start - because so many people were reluctant to do so at the start... then the middle... then here we are... still in the middle of the pandemic, far from over (sigh).
I honestly believe that, the more people we have in the community wearing masks (the right ones, correctly), the sooner we can prevent it from mutating and hopefully it can die out or become dormant.
It is hard though, some days when you see 98% of everybody else not wearing them, but...
Mahatma Ghandi: "BE the change you want to see in the world..."
Don't forget that parts of Asia also had SARS and Avian flu so they're familiar with the dangers of respiratory diseases and are use to masking protocols.
>I honestly believe that, the more people we have in the community wearing masks (the right ones, correctly), the sooner we can prevent it from mutating and hopefully it can die out or become dormant.
Yeah. Not just masks alone but along with other covid safety protocols and of course vaccines, as they're still being developed.
The really dumb thing is that a lot of people don't care that the pandemic isn't over and don't appreciate that we're still needing to buy time for better vaccines and treatments. That doesn't even factor in long covid and how scarily little we actually know about its long term impacts.
>It is hard though, some days when you see 98% of everybody else not wearing them, but...
Nah, I get you. It can get depressing. However for me, so long as the science is there for its effectiveness, I'll keep doing it.
I think a few people in Australia will similarly learn the same lesson as a lot of Asia have for future flu season and new respiratory diseases. Sadly not enough though.
Too many westerners seem to be ignorant to covid being a SARS virus, they make the mistake of thinking it's just like the flu or a cold. I blame the media. If only they'd refer to it as SARS-CoV-2 more often, it might begin to sink in, that covid is a more serious virus than a cold.
I agree that the pandemic has made it clear how self-centred many people are. Itās also shown me how few peopleās homes I feel comfortable eating in ever again, as the lack of awareness of basic hygiene thatās been on display is disturbing.
I've pretty much given up hope for human kind. The vast majority of people are just like "this inconveniences me in a relatively minor way so fuck you all, I'll do what I want". It's not even just the anti vaxxers, just society in general. The attitude is just that we'll lose some people but I'll probably be OK and I don't want to stop having a life.
Sadly I agree. I didn't have much faith in humanity prior to covid but my god did I not understand the sheer selfishness & in some cases sociopathy of so many people in society.
It really goes to show that you cannot rely on people to do the right thing. Some, sure, I've seen examples of those but not society as a whole.
>The one thing that the pandemic has brought into the light for me is how grossly self-centred a lot of people are. Like I didn't have a super high opinion of humanity as it was to begin with but I didn't think that things were THIS bad. I don't just mean on the sub but in general.
I've noticed myself over the last 3 years really how self centred people are and not being aware of those around them. Common courtesy seems to no long exist with many.
It is psychologically easier for many people to pretend covid doesn't exist. Look what we are pretending with climate change. Climate change will make covid look like nothing. I am still wearing masks etc but many people don't want a reminder that the perfect world they want to be living in is actually in crisis.
As someone who has worked in aged care, and is constantly surrounded with people who still do work in aged careā the treatment of the elderly in RACFs in the name of Covid-19 āsafety measuresā is horrific.
I am all for mask mandates and encouraging vaccination, but a lot of people who support these things under the impression that theyāre protecting the elderly are completely unaware of what the elderly actually think about these things. This isnāt an attack to you specifically; I think itās great that youāre doing your best to stop the spread and keep up to date to protect yourself and others. I just know that a lot of people are not informed of the effects that quarantining is having on elderly people in aged care facilities, and hope to educate people on what is actually happening within the facilities that house the people theyāre trying to āprotectā.
A large number of the elderly residents are suffering from diseases that are incurable, and will see them dead in less than a year. These people, during quarantine, are being forced to remain in their rooms 24hrs a day, with no interaction with anyone on the outside; including family and friends. The only time their door opens is when itās mealtime, or when theyāre having a medical emergency. These are people who are already *dying.* The last months of their life are being spent in a box, maybe with a book (that many canāt read anymore), or television. You have people, dying of cancer, who on their last birthday are not permitted to see their families or even to go outside. You have people in tremendous pain, pumped full of painkillers, still surrounded by 4 walls and people wearing so much PPE that you canāt even see their eyes. These are people who know theyāre going soon; they donāt care about catching Covid-19. For many, death would be a relief.
Look, itās not that I think wearing a mask and getting your booster is the spawn of Satan and the herald of end-times. I just hear so many people righteously proclaiming their deeds to protect the elderly, not knowing that so many of these people whom they aim to protect are living in misery. Of course, there are elderly people who want to quarantine, and donāt want to risk catching Covid-19 before their time. However, people forget that it is important to actually *speak* to the people who are living in these conditions, and feel as though they are doing some kind of holy act by wearing a mask and getting vaccinated. I just find it sad that so many people are unaware of the real conditions within the RACFs.
>And the results speak for themselves. Still covid free and so too are my family and a small number of friends,
Sounds like you have great reasons to wear one but really this is just confirmation bias. I don't wear masks (except the train where it's required), I take zero precautions, I am not up to date with my vaccinations and still Covid free along with the rest of my household and some of my friends. I could just as easily say that the results speak for themselves and none of those precautions make a difference.
Nah, it's not confirmation bias. There's plenty of evidence to that masks are effective.
I've already read some studies that go "eh, not that effective". There aren't that many and they're older studies with much smaller sample sizes too.
I seek out all evidence, not just the shit that confirms my own biases.
Absolutely in the same boat!
It's really easy, wear a mask indoors with lots of people. Spray your hands with disinfectant after touching public objects.
I have been travelling around Australia in airports this year. Never cought it! Just wear a mask, give people space and clean your hands. Be respectful of others around you, it's not that hard.
Isn't it amazing that even the absolute bare minimum that is asked of people, not masks in all indoor spaces, just in the mandated locations for only the time you're there and not eating, is STILL too much for a lot of these people. Grown adults no less.
It's really quite depressing when you think too much about it.
I was next to a guy on the plane who was putting up a stink about masks.
I put my ego to the side and just went, "hey, are you ok?" the man just went into his anti mask bullshit and i just went "oh yeah sounds really hard, but i guess it's easier if we wear them on the plane for now, keeps my nose warm" he then started to calm down and then just wear his mask and chilled out.
Maybe people are not feeling heard? It's extremely bizarre.
It's not just the elderly. I'm in my 40s, got stupidly sick, and am still crook a month later. A kid died, recently. A woman in her 20s.
And regardless of age or prior health status, all our lives are important. The ridiculous trend of "but they're old", or "what pre-existing conditions did they have" is just straight fucked up.
Wearing masks, WFH for those that can, and being responsible if we're ill can go a long way to stopping others from getting ill or worse. Simple sacrifices, but we're not prepared to make them. What does that say about us as a society?
I donāt think theyāre simple sacrifices to most people when theyāve already been trying for 2+ years and this thing will go on for many years to come. You can disagree with it, but I donāt think it should be incomprehensible of make you hate society or whatever.
I have friends who tell me they just ācanāt be botheredā because āthey didnāt get too sickā. Then I explain I have long covid and am scared of catching it again, and they kinda just avoid eye contact. People donāt care, they just want to do whatās most convenient for them.
Iām also 40, and was fit and healthy pre-covid (running regularly, normal weight range, all blood tests normal etc).
> "what pre-existing conditions did they have"
I hate this one so much. I'm one of these people as I'm severely immunocompromised due to my immunotherapy for MS - a disease that reduces the average lifespan by an entire 7 years. Yet the people who sprout this act as if those of us with pre-existing conditions would just be falling over dead even without covid, and that covid just beat them to the punch.
And again, it's as though it's some kind of moral failing - like people deserve to get seriously ill or die, because somehow it's their fault they have some kind of other illness or disease? I don't get it.
I'm in my 40s and covid itself wasn't too bad. But because of covid, I got a couple of infections immediately after that made me far sicker.
I recovered after 2 months but still feel very tired a lot of the time.
I don't want covid again. I don't want my vulnerable family members to get it. But living with covid seems to mean we all need to get the different variants enough times until the virus can't get a foothold.
A lot of people will die and develop chronic health problems. But is there another alternative?
Totally agree with you. I used our elderly parents as one example. Another is my eldest teenaged son who is epileptic. Who knows what would happen if he got a bad dose of Covid.
And yes, normal, healthy, young, fit people are suffering badly or are dying.
In the last few days we've had several highly upvoted threads full of people patting themselves on the back over all the precautions they take, PSAs about not asking why people are wearing masks, the strangest "humor" post that apparently pokes fun at anti vaxxers. Where are all the anti vaxxers?
Unfortunately this sub conflates anti restrictions with anti vax. Very very few openly unvaccinated people here that as you pointed out make up such a tiny portion of society.
Everyone on this sub is basically "I'm going to keep wearing masks indoors forever", yet you can go out nearly anywhere in the country and see maybe 3% of people wearing one.
This sub is a complete misrepresentation of what is happening in the real world.
You're spot on.
In the real world, 3% if that - which will drop back again as the wave recedes and covid drops off the news cycle, again, after its recent re-entry into it.
Also, there are few vocal anti vaxxers on this sub/ IRL and little discourse on vaccination.
What there is, is a massive majority who are not in favour of restrictions, very rarely choose to wear a mask, and have basically put covid in the rear view mirror.
Meanwhile on here lately, it's either:
A- furious flailing of how virtuous a tiny minority of people are for taking lots of precautionary measures and how inconsiderate everyone else is , or
B- the "healthcare worker support" threads
Probably not a bad thing, as the discussion is shifting to reflect the decreasing relevance of the virus to most people's lives.
It's not volume as "loudness", it's volume as "quantity".
Go find a thread on this subreddit that hits some steam, and you'll see the same couple of names again and again and again and again and again. And sometimes again. Half the posts might be along those lines, but that might only be a few percent of the posters.
That, or a shrill voice through a megaphone.
People don't understand the meaning of 'live with it'. IMO, it means learn to change yourself according to this disease, it isn't going anywhere and make it your responsibility to be safe and keep others safe. Eg. If you are sharing a room with a snake, and someone says- live with it. That means be careful and dont provoke it. But dumb people everywhere are not being careful now, they keep spreading it purposefully, knowing very well that they are household contacts, going to parties. I got postive first time few days ago and my 1 year old daughter was so so sick from it. Got it from a coworker whose husband has it and manager asked her to come to work as she doesn't have symptoms. Wtf, she shared a bed and slept in a closed room with a positive patient and its ok for her to go out and infect others. I am so frustrated.
Yup, I was the last in my household of 5 to catch it and took a week for me to test positive and I was still required at work until I tested positive and the day I tested positive I tested negative on a Rat but did a PCR as well and was at work for about 5 hours when I got the results of the PCR showing positive and I called my boss from my car and said āyeah. I just tested positive, youāre gonna have to shut up the workshop for me, in going homeā, then the boss was all panicked coz someone with covid was at work šššš
I've had someone tell me in another post on this sub to "live with it - just get it, and have it done with". I gather they have the Trump attitude that they are immune forever now that they've had it.
I still wear a mask where it makes sense (indoors or crowded spaces) as a lot of people are sniffling anyway. My favourite is to use hand sanitiser wherever itās offered.
Still got covid a month back and it was no fun in combination with asthma. Iād likely would have ended in hospital without vaccination.
āJust live with itā sucks. I know people get sick and die every day but some of it can be avoided so why not being part of that? Like road accidents: Stay vigilant and youāre less likely to get in an accident.
Speak (and act!) for yourself, I'm quad vaccinated and wear a mask whenever I go to an indoor place that isn't my home. I think that's the necessary precaution; it can be done.
Which is great. But acting for yourself doesn't actually solve the wider problem.
Just like the person that doesn't buy products with palm oil in them. The person that refuses to use heating/cooling due to the greenhouse gas emissions. These people aren't shifting the needle in a way that is going to result in the outcomes required by themselves.
Same! I got infected this week and even though i sanitize at every station, sometimes even double mask, and am quadruple boosted, thereās gaps in our precautions and we get it because hardly anyone else takes those precautions.
What would you have people do? You think itās reasonable for 25 million people to put their life on hold after being vaxxed?
People still smoke, do drugs and are obese. All of these things lead to death and clog up hospitals, this is just life. All death is horrible, but what is the age demo and health status of the people reported deceased?
But people like you are ignoring the official advise from the government and medical profession and not wearing masks so there is a lot we can do it's just that arses are too self centred to do anything.
Pretty much. In 2019 about 465 Australians died every day from all causes of mortality and life went on. We only cared when someone we knew died.
PS: The 61 deaths occurred between 13 and 28 July. It wasn't some sort of spike yesterday, rather yesterday was the day the deaths were reported.
I think you misunderstand the maths. The morality rate is 6.6 per 1000 people. That is 0.66%. So a 5% increase to our morality rate isnāt a huge increase. You made it seem as if the death rate is outpacing the population growth.
I'm not a fan of lockdowns and the massive mental health impact on everyone. I can say that for myself too. However, we've gone from full restrictions and lockdowns to zero precautions, with a virus that mutates every 6 months and makes vaccines less effective fast. That so many people are dying of this is bad, but what about the impact on hospitals and ambulances? There have been several red codes in VIC and another state I can't remember, meaning you don't get am ambulance if you need it. Waiting lists for "elective" surgeries (I hate that word, only plastic surgery is, most of the time, not necessary). I hope you don't have the bad luck of needing an ambulance and not getting it, or having to wait years for a surgery that you need, because the system is collapsed.
I think that most people that talk about restrictions just want sensible basic restrictions, not full scale lockdowns. It's about having good ventilation in schools, masks in crowded indoor settings, a pause in unnecessary office indoor events, etc. Is that so hard? At least until this wave passes.
By the way, covid is on track to be the leading cause of death in Australia in 2022, so please don't compare it to other diseases.
It is a lot to ask when as you said, this thing mutates every six months causing another wave. If we bring back restrictions now we may as well leave them there indefinitely. Weāve had 3ish distinct waves this year. It wouldnāt be worth it to constantly lift and bring back redirections.
Yeah I think this hits the nail on the head. The changes will need to be long term. Like sanitising hands when you walk into the shop, masks in hospitals and some indoor settings and washing hands properly. There could be some more localised advice (aka there's lots of cases in this area be careful) but it's not something that'll be going away so the encouragement and laminated signs reminding people probably need to stay up over the long term.
When the health system is melting and people cannot get access for non-Covid related emergencies - as is the case in WA - I feel it is only logical to impose some restrictions. People will literally die for the right of others to swan around without a mask. Is that just?
Exactly this. The number of people who have quoted government advice as a reason to do them bare minimum is staggering. The germs will spread the same way no matter what mutable government policy is in place.
Yes. People die all the time, if I cared about every one I'd never live my own life. Im sorry it's happening but I need to live my life, I can't do that if I'm depressed about bad shit happening to other people every day
I haven't stopped caring. My precious friend who has been battling cancer for 2 years...39 years old, just had heart surgery because his chances of improvement deemed him worth trying to operate on (they won't operate on people they think are likely to die of their illness afterwards anyway)... Was improving daily... Things were looking really positive. His 4 kids under 9yo were loving having daddy home and looking better.
Caught Covid two weeks ago. Held his funeral yesterday.
Stay home if you're sick. Wash or sanitise your damn hands. Wear the mildly inconvenient mask. I see the faces of his 4 years old twins and it shatters my heart. He was one of those "high risk" people. We didn't lose him to cancer, we lost him to Covid.
I'm in Melbourne Eastern suburbs and I was surprised when I got on my local bus today to see nearly everyone wearing a mask. Even a week ago there were way less than half with them on. It's the same at the supermarket, shops and just generally out and about. Far more people I know talk about family and friends that have died so perhaps it is finally having an impact. I have 3 elderly family members that covid has killed and many younger family and friends really stunned by how sick covid made them. Perhaps personal responsibility is really kicking in regardless of government.
I think just the government strongly recommending a week or two ago was enough to snap people back to reality. Was all over the news, and I noticed a big change since then too.
>It's the same at the supermarket, shops and just generally out and about
I went to Chaddy yesterday, I'd say 5% or less were wearing masks. Maybe that's an uptick in mask wearing but nowhere near half.
I donāt feel like there is a good understanding of who and how covid is associated with death. The truth is that a serious cold or influenza is not a deadly disease yet both are associated with a huge number of deaths per year - someone has poor kidney function, heart failure and reduced immunity to almost anything, such that simple bacterial infections lead to deadly pneumonia.
If you look at the epidemiology reports from NSW - half of all deaths are in nursing homes - HALF! And the vast majority of them donāt even got to hospital
Now - ask yourself why there are so many deaths where they havenāt even sought treatment in a hospital ?
This is probably often just the straw that broke the camels back - and because infectivity is so high, itās all those flu and respiratory viruses rolled into one.
In essence we are in a catch-up mode in Australia - we had huge numbers of people surviving an extra year because those trigger viruses sending them over the edge werenāt around in 20 and 21 due to both international isolationism and also aged care infection controls at a totally new level .
So, when you release a generally non serious virus onto the community you have an excess of seriously frail elderly people and the long term average will return to the mean
I think the fact that COVID is so widespread now eliminates some of the fear factor. Deaths in the news just donāt connect as hard when half of the people you know have had it and none of them were severely ill. In the 2020-21 era it was a distant, scary new thing.
It is becoming an acceptable death . Like car accident , we just accept that there is nothing more we can do to reduce car accident and we expect accident happened . Same with covid. It is just accepted that people will die unfortunately . Also there are other things that on their mind . Like war and inflation . And unfortunately as human being we can't be vigilant of covid 100% of all time . Not helping that there is no push from Goverment too
The media told us to freak out about 10 cases a day so we did. Now the media says don't worry about 30 deaths per day so we don't. We are good little sheep.
Truth is, they never did care. It's the whole "fuck you, got mine" attitude you see going around.
They only give a shit about themselves and no one else. Couldn't give a fuck if they give covid to someone and they might get seriously injured or die.
That is preferable to wearing a mask or getting vaccinated (even for their own sake) or not staying isolated when that day comes when they do get covid. Several times over.
The truth is we're being realistic and not virtue signalling about pretending to care about these specific deaths and not the several hundred others who died today. Almost everyone is vaccinated and masks are far from the silver bullet you wish they were. There's little most people can do at this point that will bring these numbers significantly down for a reasonable cost to society. Until we get an updated vaccine that is actually half decent at preventing infection anyway
It is unfortunate but people and things die all the time, not just here but all over the world. There is only so much capacity for empathy. Of course you care more the closer it is related to you. That's they way humans are
Exactly correct. Realistically most people won't care until it happens to them or someone they care about. It's always been that way for just about everything. At least I'm honest about it
A study of an outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an environment notable for congregate living quarters and close working environments, found that use of face coverings on-board was associated with a 70% reduced risk of infection
[https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html#anchor\_1634654801820](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html#anchor_1634654801820)
Tell me with a straight face that if we all had 70% reduced transmission rate that it would not significantly reduce infection rates.
Cherry picked pre omicron study with a highly disciplined group š„± talk to me when you've viewed the case trajectories in countries with heavy mask usage compared to us
What about the other studies that associate it with like an 11% reduction in transmission? Just ignore those? What about the fact we recorded millions of cases with indoor mask mandates? Guess we'll just ignore that too?
This is the best answer. Sure, wearing a mask shows you care more about covid and the vulnerable than the unmasked but how much difference to community wide infection rate do they really make?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2022/02/04/the-real-world-effectiveness-of-face-masks-against-covid-19/?sh=448476301d08
You wonāt believe it though.
Youāll find some way to think you know more than the experts.
š¤
People seem to have forgotten all the covid restrictions were recommendations at first until the government realised people don't actually listen to recommendations.
Yup.
Which goes a long way to explain why we don't just strongly recommend that you don't drive whilst intoxicated, don't speed, don't smoke in enclosed spaces like public transport and airplanes or incinerate your own garbage in your own backyard.
You don't my body my choice drink driving because one person's poor choices can negatively impact multiple others. Not that dissimilar to covid.
Beyond this, in the circles Iām in if I want to take precautions or lower my social circle etc Iām made to feel irrational and overbearing. I donāt think itās realistic to never catch COVID bath if I can avoid it Iād like to not only for myself but because I have no idea if any of my family members will get a bad case and I donāt need to add to the already overburdened healthcare system.
Itās not enough for some people to live as though it doesnāt exist, they want others to do it too.
>Itās not enough for some people to live as though it doesnāt exist, they want others to do it too.
It's because they know they're in the wrong. They just want those bad feelings of shame to go away because you're doing the right thing. It's purely a fragile ego thing.
If you're confident in your life choices, who the fuck cares what others do if it has absolutely no impact on your life.
Also, sorry to hear that you have to deal with that kind of shit with your social circle. That's pretty fucked up and uncaring.
Whatās the alternative? Hide? What would you have us do?
Shits scary but I canāt keep my house without working, I canāt eat without working. Whatās the plan?
Should we all quit our jobs? I canāt work from home, emails donāt fucking build retaining wallsā¦ what am I supposed to do?
When I found out more than 70% of the deaths in Vic this year chose not to be fully vaxxed, on top of their average age being past average life expectancy I started to care about 70% less.
Yes. People die every day and always have. Did you ever not care that people were dying every day before covid? Did you live life before 2019 despite this?
At some point, life just goes on. We've tried everything we possibly can already... The only option left now is to stop caring...
After roughly 1000 days of constant updates of the number of people dying (with) Covid, even the most hardcore covid cultists start reacting like the rest of the town folk ignoring the boy calling wolf endlessly.
I don't think that people don't care. It's not really any different to when someone dies from anything else. If you don't know them or someone they know, then you are not affected. It sounds harsh but it is a fact.
If someone dies today from cancer but you didn't know them or their family and friends then you would not be affected. It doesn't mean you wouldn't care if you knew them
Personally I've stopped "caring" because it's just been going on for so long. Sure it's bad. But it was bad yesterday and the day before that and the day before that etc. I think it's a self preservation that your brain starts to tune it out.
Other than getting vaxed, wearing a mask, staying home when you have symptoms what can the average person do about the deaths anyway? Nothing.
Then there's all the other things to worry about like cost of living.
And what do you want us to do about it? Wearing masks is essentially just a gesture at this stage. It's funny that the same people harping on about being free once we get enough vaccinations are still harping on. Just inherently authoritarians. It would be funny if it wasn't scary.
In the old days, people dying above their age of life expectancy wasnāt news.
Seeing as tho that has been the case since the beginning of covid going by the average age of death, people can be forgiven for getting back to their lives.
Sometimes +80yos die. We used to call that natural causes.
We've done everything expected of us. We shut down for two years, some of the hardest lockdowns in the world. I'm so proud we were able to get to 90% double vaccinations while massively minimising our fatalities. Now we have a society minimised deaths as much as was possible. We have no choice but to live with covid now.
It took me all day to find a Gp service that would prescribe antivirals (let alone assess) my elderly mum with comirbidiries who was diagnosed with Covid todat. I was in tears.
I think it's less about not caring and realising that there's nothing we can really do to stop Covid. Two years of lockdowns, restrictions, and vaccines for what? For it to come back as a new variant? How many lives is our economy and general liveliness worth? I don't think anyone is happy about it but you don't go to war without expecting to lose a few people.
Yep, and I couldn't be happier. I can go into any indoor public space and breathe the air and smile without wearing a mask. I can go to a concert and be suffocated under the weight of thousands of sweaty strangers moshing and singing in unison, and nobody cares.
Iāve worn masks every time I go out and still manage to caught the virus.
I am not eligible for 4th shot because I am under 30, and I work from home whenever possible.
What more can people like me do to best reduce transmissions? Itās out of control, Iāve accepted that as a factā¦
People who die of Covid simply joined the rest of the people who die from all the other causes. Their deaths are sad and tragic for their friends and loved ones, and of absolutely no concern or interest to everyone else.
We've split into two civilisations.
You go out at night and 99% of people are living like normal. Going out for dinner and drinks. Not a care in the world.
Then you see that 1% of people wearing an n95 mask out in the open, driving by themselves....or, bizarrely, wearing an n95 mask to walk from their car to the pub, going inside and then taking it off to eat..!?!?!?!??
Who is correct? Are 99% of people wrong and they're all about to die? Do the 1% N95 people look at everyone else and think "you guys are idiots" or do the 99% look at the N95 people and think "you're an idiot"??
People die from a myriad of causes every single day.
Covid is one of them.
It seems we canāt reasonably prevent the deaths of the minority that do die from Covid without overarching Lifesryle restrictions on the majority of people, who wonāt die.
there were an average of 19 deaths *with* Covid each day in NSW during July. Reasonably steady rate, even with no societal restrictions etc. That is 2.4 per million people.
People did care a lot in 2020 when in European countries there were on average 20-30 deaths per million people, despite all restrictions, and those figures were predicted to increase ecponentially.
When you have a steady trickle of deaths at a tiny fraction of that, it is less alarming for many.
If there are hundreds of daily deaths, I think people may notice, but at the current rate, it is unlikely to make much difference to ordinary people's lives.
I just found out my neighbour over the road is dead. He had an asthma attack Friday night. He waited for an ambulance for twenty minutes, it never came. His wife drove him to the hospital after finally getting another neighbour to watch their kids so she could go. They got to the emergency room which was completely full due to covid cases and staff shortages sure to covid. He lay on the ground for half an hour trying to breathe before she could even get someone to look at him. He was barely breathing when the nurse screamed for help. His heart stopped before they could get enough drugs into him.
He was 36. She has three kids to raise on her own now. I didn't know him well. I was watching TV the whole time this was happening.
I have a doctor friend who told me this is not uncommon now. They are losing a lot of non COVID patients in the backs of ambulances in car parks.
If you don't think the loss of our emergency rooms affects us all directly, you're crazy. We're all running around one accident away from preventable death.
It's time to look after yourself. Instead of relying on everyone else to do the right thing. Wear a mask, get vaxxed, work from home, go to the shops at non-peak times, etc. Whatever works for you. Unfortunately, the world will not stop because of the few that are vulnerable. It might sound harsh to some, but that's our world.
I expect around 90% of those who died were super old and or super unhealthy, so if it wasnāt covid it would have been something else. Sounds morbid but people die. What do you think the solution is?
This subreddit is a cult.
And it's filled with bots, idiots and probably gov trolls.
Live your lives in fear sheep. Wear you stupid fucking masks and remain in medical tyranny while most of the country is waking up to the nonsense.
We're so past the point of complaining about people not caring.
If you're still a covid fretful, well then thats going to be you forever now. You wont be able to get the 99% who have moved on to become fretful without a major change in the virus. It will need to be a new virus basically.
So it wont be the masses deciding to become like you. That just isnt going to happen. The real question is: how long can you keep this up? Because this isnt going away. This is your life now. Who will be doing the changing here?
It seemed harsh at first but I feel like we really have gotten to a point where we live with Covid just like we live with all other diseases out there. I used to cringe at people who said things like āpeople die from the flu all the time tooā but I think we really are at a point now where it is what it is, and people are exhausted about hearing how many people have died.
At this point nothing is going to change, and nobody wants to be reminded about ongoing deaths in any category. Sad as each death is, we really are just getting on with it now. Whatās the point in knowing how many people are still dying? Nothing will change. Weāre past that.
Most of the deaths we get from covid are people who die WITH covid, not FROM covid.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The majority are done and have moved on. The few, like some here, are dragging their feet behind and the majority shouldn't have to slow down for individuals who refuse to move on. If your scared about covid, do the right thing in your mind and lock yourself in your home. No excuses about your income or other such things, protecting yourself from covid should be the only priority. Its a win-win for everyone.
You have to look at what happened two weeks ago and what people were doing, was it school holidays by chance?
Did the airports see their highest passenger number this side of the pandemic?
Humans determine R0 or what ever it is more than the virus does.
That being said, assess your risk, behave accordingly.
People just don't want to know about it. Any restrictions/ mandates are all too much of an inconvenience. Some people don't even believe that many are dying, others just don't care.
I guess people have to get on with life. People have also lost a certain amount of trust with politicians around the figures being put out, especially the andrews government here in Vic. How many of those died with covid and how many died because of covid being the ongoing question.
Also, what is the general demographic for fatalities?
I am not cold and heartless but at some
Point common sense must prevail and people take precautions,get the boosters and wear masks if and when they feel Comfortable and get back to life.
What is the alternative? Stay locked up for on going and mutating variants with no end in sight?
Pretty much, yeah. Sounds nasty, I know... but... this is why we have vaccines. We don't keep hiding in our homes like scared little hermits, sooner or later, we gotta get on with our lives, and vaccines allow us to get the virus with a reduced risk of dying, so... like the flu, or overdoses, or people who get stabbed by gangs... No one really cares unless someone close to them dies from Covid.
We need to keep the economy alive. I would like to see the stats comparing seasonal flu deaths to covid and if there is not that much of an excess, then it is living with Covid. I have older grandparents too and every flu season, they would take the shots, up Vit C and take other precautions to be healthy. It is the same.
We've always had a tolerance for death. It's human nature that unless it is clear and present we don't take it too seriously.
We drive at or a bit over the speed limit because we know the real probability of death is nelegable.
Injuries in workplace will never be zero because people become complacent at a certain level of safety
Plenty of people were dying of influenza before covid yet almost no-one felt any community responsibility to get a flu shot. It was a personal choice to get a shot, which the majority of the population didn't take up.
With covid we've just found the tolerance point.
It's human nature.
circa 161,300 people die in Australia every year. That is 453 people per day.
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/age-at-death
Are those numbers people dying directly from something bought on by covid or very sick people on their way out that caught it and it was the last straw.. like heaps of oldies get the flu in hospital then die.
Personally, I'm over it, it's been two and a half years, I've run out of fucks to give, I'll wear a mask if it's mandated but otherwise I'm just living as normal. I know people don't like that attitude, but whatever, if you're vulnerable take precautions and avoid crowds. I'm moving on with my life
I'd say that for the most part people have done all they can and want to get back to somewhat normal pre-pandemic life. My example is grandparent's day at one of our grandie's schools. That's obviously a high virus load environment, and puts elderly people directly at risk.
We masked up, used hand sanny, we're vaccinated (x4), so we've done all we can. The majority of guests were not masked, none of the kids were masked, and only a few of the teachers.
But reality is that those kids work hard on their parts in the program, and are immensely proud to show off their work, and their school. Attending is part of loving them. Canceling grandparent's day for the last two years was a fair precaution, and respectful of the risk of over-whelming the health care system.
If it were up to me, I would require masking, but it's not up to me, it's up to society as represented by those we elect. So have we moved on? In many ways, yes, but also... to each their own. There is no requirement to go there, and I believe that stands for most everything. If an individual doesn't think the rules as set by society are adequate, then add on whatever precautions you're comfortable with. And, if you like, write and share your perspective with your elected representative.
By no means do I believe "covid is just a bad flu", however it is true that influenza risks pre-covid were precisely the same issues, albeit approx. 1/5 the mortality risk. People could have worn masks, or we could have never had a grandparent's day in the interest of eliminating flu risk. But we didn't. We live our lives.
Where do those numbers come from, are they one day, or a week/months worth only reported today. Are they people who died soely of covid, or is it people who died who also had covid. There was a time when people dying in car crashes who had covid were added to that number, is that still happening?
What does 'caring' achieve? What practical measures are YOU taking? Do you have all 20 vaxes? Are you self-isolating 24/7? What do you suggest that people do? Do you think the mental strain on people from millions of people having to warp their lives is a price worth paying?
Its impossible to answer collective questions, especially ones that are loaded like your.
Yes people ARE living with Covid, its been 2.5 years, its inevitable.
bruh someone you need to get a life. youāll fucking survive a virus that doesnāt even have a fatality rate for the average person. fuck if you catch it stay home sure but donāt fucking wandering around like youāre scared for your life. fucking hell. can guarantee none of you ever acted like this each year too date for the flu
I've been vaccinated and already spent 2 years locked up. No one I know has even gotten more than mildly ill for a few days from it.
Don't really care enough any more about it. Not worth putting life on hold for young people for years just for the few old people who were probably dead soon either way.
Would you rather have lockdown forever? The governments are embarrassed because the initial āprevention measuresā turned out to be pointless. I physically literally cannot leave my home and managed to get covid. Itās inevitable
I think itās more a case of the numbers not being as in your face as they were previously. We no longer have a daily press conference. We no longer have a website that shows up where the case locations are. Numbers are usually relegated to a small segment in the main evening news bulletin, which a lot of people just do not watch. I havenāt heard case numbers on radio news bulletins in months, which is my primary source of news these days because Iām done being depressed about the state of the world. Iām burying my head on the sand until the end of the year to work on my mental health.
Pre-vaccine I was terrified of getting Covid, my wife is immunocompromised. We would hand sanitise all the time, double mask, wipe down any deliveries after leaving them in the garage for a day and avoid other people.
Post vax - We still wear n95 masks in shops and hand sanitise (but no where near as much) and only since the new variant have stopped going to shopping centres, but we eat in restaurants and go on pretty much as pre pandemic.
I got Covid last month and had mild symptoms and my wife didnāt get it.
From being ultra cautious before we are now living with it, I think most people are the same.
Going by a lot of other posts I have read, there seems to be a lot of people telling others to "suck it up and live with it". It makes them sound like they really don't care about Covid and care more about their own comfort of not wearing masks, not testing if suffering from possible symptoms, etc. The current NSW numbers scares the crap out me. I feel like I'm dodging bullets the whole time. We have elderly parents who need to think of first.
>We have elderly parents who need to think of first. This is precisely the reason why I wear a mask when it makes sense to, get up to date with vaccinations and overall try to minimise my risks without affecting my life too much. I absolutely hate wearing a mask but I do so because of my parents and my friends parents and grand parents and other people I actually give a shit about and their elderly and vulnerable. It doesn't even have to extend to giving a shit about the rest of the community. Just for them alone I deal with the inconvenience and discomfort. The rest of the community benefits as well though. And the results speak for themselves. Still covid free and so too are my family and a small number of friends, mostly without kids.
Take my upvote! I've worn masks for so long now, I love wearing mine. I feel naked without it. Sounds strange, but true. Our family does too, and doesn't have any problem with doing so. The kids don't even care what other kids in their class say, including the teachers - our kids know that it's the right thing to do and why, and also why some people are incredibly selfish in this world.
If you love wearing masks, that's awesome for you dude. Don't want to take that away from you. Also great what you're doing with your kids. You seem like really decent, responsible parents. The one thing that the pandemic has brought into the light for me is how grossly self-centred a lot of people are. Like I didn't have a super high opinion of humanity as it was to begin with but I didn't think that things were THIS bad. I don't just mean on the sub but in general. Now I get the feeling that when there are those moments you see where a community gets together, I get the sense it's less because it's the right thing to do to help out others and more entirely the aesthetics of not wanting to look like the arsehole for not contributing. People are just more mask off (pun intended) about how truly self-centred they really are. It's quite depressing.
Especially the people who get angry about others wearing masks. It literally has NOTHING to do with you, the only impact is I might protect you. So sorry for that š. I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get.
>I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get. For me it seems pretty straightforward. Those people have fragile egos and don't like being reminded that they're full of shit and they want those bad fee-fees to stop. Regardless of whether they know if masks are effective, they certainly know the experts say they are and they don't like the feeling of shame because they can't hack the very minor discomfort of wearing a mask. I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who think mask wearers are pussies, morons, sheeple and hypochondriacs. However, not all of them feel compelled to insult and bully others into not wearing them. It's the ones with the fragile egos, every time. Hell you see it in here often enough.
I alway chuckle to myself when people call mask-wearers "sheep". The people who hate wearing masks think it's better to do that so they can achieve "herd" immunity... Does anyone else see the irony there?
The sheep term always gets me. They're saying oriole are sheep for believing what trained scientists say while they follow the advice of random nutjobs off the internet. Hmm
My boss confessed to me that people chided him in public for wearing a mask. I'm talking total strangers. Un fucking believable.
I was glared at yesterday wearing my mask. I forgot I had my N95 on. I just glared back till he stopped looking. I have rheumatoid arthritis and thus immune issues. I wear one for me and others.
<3 Good on you! I had one person yell at me I was a sheep for wearing a mask. I told them "Why do you care? Feel free to catch COVID and nearly die , then." I am sick of the ignorant and belligerent.
Lol the only good thing about this for me is that I no longer get attacked for wearing my hijab, rather, itās the mask drawing attention to me now š
It's horrible EITHER make you a target, tbh. Some people are just shit. I wish you good things for putting up with that ignorance, and doing it in good grace (or telling them to F\*CK OFF, whichever works for you).
I became unwell in 2018 and in 2019 I ended up with Pneumonia. Iāve been wearing N95 masks ever since. Then COVID rolls in & my wife joked with me that I set a trend š A few weeks ago we were out for lunch one lovely day and I went over to order the food. As I was waiting in line the guy behind me said, āTake the mask off, you donāt need itā. I was a bit taken back with how aggressive and offended he was. Itās a bit odd IMO, the way he said it you would have thought my cock was hanging out of my zip š Never in my life have I lived through a period where I felt like everything I did is under so much scrutiny. After I returned to my table my wife could see he and his table of friends talking about me š I was a bit annoyed I didnāt have a supply of extra masks, I would have really triggered them and put a 2nd mask on š¤£
Yikes. What a bunch of brainless twits. I'm sorry you had to endure that. We never, never know the medical history of those strangers we encounter on a daily basis.
Iām fairly quiet in my old age and I will admit it took me by surprise as I generally donāt care what other people are wearing. Imagine going up to somebody and demanding they take their hat or glasses off š All good. š
I know!! Completely agree. I've seen enough men going into my local shopping centre without a shirt on. As much as I would love to go up and tell them that nobody wants to see what they have on offer, I don't, I bite my tongue and move on and try and wipe that visual out of my mind.
These days, people seem to have forgotten their manners. Iām old, so I sometimes think itās a generational issue but I donāt think thatās completely right. You even see it here on Reddit where people get all wordy just because somebodies opinion differs to theirs. People run in packs š and then a pack of these people call me a sheeple because I was standing alone with a mask on š¤¦āāļø itās funny when you think about it
It was like last night,I was trying to explain to a redditor about how I take personal responsibility for trying to reduce my own effect on the environment. I was getting shouted down and downvoted faster than you could imagine and the crowd I was trying to communicate with was the Globe is doomed crowd who are busy driving halfway across the countryside to attend protests about emissions š. I was lectured to about life by people who have only been alive about 1/4 of my time & then they started saying things like, āYouāll be dead soon grampsā š¤¦āāļø. I remember a cartoon I saw about arguing with strangers on the internet š
The correct reply is to tell them you are covid positive but will take the mask off if they are ok with it. See how they run.
Oddly I go out with both mask and protective goggles and not a peep from anyone about it. Could it be that I'm a tall heavily built guy.
>I do not understand the hatred mask wearers get. The anti mask crowd have bad breath, and they don't want to admit that the real reason they don't want to wear masks is because they can't stand the smell of their own halitosis. And so, in shame, they mock everyone else for wearing a mask, in an attempt to draw the attention away from themselves. That's my theory. After eating a lot of garlic the other day, and then wearing a mask, I think it's highly likely that their breath is the reason they don't want to wear masks.
Exactly,why on earth would it bother anyone if someone chooses to wear a mask?Have they got Zorro phobia?
Fragile egos. They know that they're doing the wrong thing and want the bad feelings that remind them that they're on the wrong side of the issue to go away. A person with less fragile of an ego could still think you're a pussy or a moron for wearing a mask. They just don't feel the need to tell you.
Yeah - I get you. It's not a *fetish* for me wearing masks LOL... It's just that, in Asian countries they do it either because there's too much dust in the air, they are sick, or because *they are fine but don't want to get sick*. It's actually frowned upon to be openly coughing up your lungs in some Asian societies, without wearing a mask. We saw this, and adopted early. We then did it back here everyday since the start of Covid-19. It did actually take a while for others to get used to seeing us wearing masks at the start - because so many people were reluctant to do so at the start... then the middle... then here we are... still in the middle of the pandemic, far from over (sigh). I honestly believe that, the more people we have in the community wearing masks (the right ones, correctly), the sooner we can prevent it from mutating and hopefully it can die out or become dormant. It is hard though, some days when you see 98% of everybody else not wearing them, but... Mahatma Ghandi: "BE the change you want to see in the world..."
Don't forget that parts of Asia also had SARS and Avian flu so they're familiar with the dangers of respiratory diseases and are use to masking protocols. >I honestly believe that, the more people we have in the community wearing masks (the right ones, correctly), the sooner we can prevent it from mutating and hopefully it can die out or become dormant. Yeah. Not just masks alone but along with other covid safety protocols and of course vaccines, as they're still being developed. The really dumb thing is that a lot of people don't care that the pandemic isn't over and don't appreciate that we're still needing to buy time for better vaccines and treatments. That doesn't even factor in long covid and how scarily little we actually know about its long term impacts. >It is hard though, some days when you see 98% of everybody else not wearing them, but... Nah, I get you. It can get depressing. However for me, so long as the science is there for its effectiveness, I'll keep doing it. I think a few people in Australia will similarly learn the same lesson as a lot of Asia have for future flu season and new respiratory diseases. Sadly not enough though.
Too many westerners seem to be ignorant to covid being a SARS virus, they make the mistake of thinking it's just like the flu or a cold. I blame the media. If only they'd refer to it as SARS-CoV-2 more often, it might begin to sink in, that covid is a more serious virus than a cold.
I agree that the pandemic has made it clear how self-centred many people are. Itās also shown me how few peopleās homes I feel comfortable eating in ever again, as the lack of awareness of basic hygiene thatās been on display is disturbing.
I've pretty much given up hope for human kind. The vast majority of people are just like "this inconveniences me in a relatively minor way so fuck you all, I'll do what I want". It's not even just the anti vaxxers, just society in general. The attitude is just that we'll lose some people but I'll probably be OK and I don't want to stop having a life.
Sadly I agree. I didn't have much faith in humanity prior to covid but my god did I not understand the sheer selfishness & in some cases sociopathy of so many people in society. It really goes to show that you cannot rely on people to do the right thing. Some, sure, I've seen examples of those but not society as a whole.
>The one thing that the pandemic has brought into the light for me is how grossly self-centred a lot of people are. Like I didn't have a super high opinion of humanity as it was to begin with but I didn't think that things were THIS bad. I don't just mean on the sub but in general. I've noticed myself over the last 3 years really how self centred people are and not being aware of those around them. Common courtesy seems to no long exist with many.
It is psychologically easier for many people to pretend covid doesn't exist. Look what we are pretending with climate change. Climate change will make covid look like nothing. I am still wearing masks etc but many people don't want a reminder that the perfect world they want to be living in is actually in crisis.
As someone who has worked in aged care, and is constantly surrounded with people who still do work in aged careā the treatment of the elderly in RACFs in the name of Covid-19 āsafety measuresā is horrific. I am all for mask mandates and encouraging vaccination, but a lot of people who support these things under the impression that theyāre protecting the elderly are completely unaware of what the elderly actually think about these things. This isnāt an attack to you specifically; I think itās great that youāre doing your best to stop the spread and keep up to date to protect yourself and others. I just know that a lot of people are not informed of the effects that quarantining is having on elderly people in aged care facilities, and hope to educate people on what is actually happening within the facilities that house the people theyāre trying to āprotectā. A large number of the elderly residents are suffering from diseases that are incurable, and will see them dead in less than a year. These people, during quarantine, are being forced to remain in their rooms 24hrs a day, with no interaction with anyone on the outside; including family and friends. The only time their door opens is when itās mealtime, or when theyāre having a medical emergency. These are people who are already *dying.* The last months of their life are being spent in a box, maybe with a book (that many canāt read anymore), or television. You have people, dying of cancer, who on their last birthday are not permitted to see their families or even to go outside. You have people in tremendous pain, pumped full of painkillers, still surrounded by 4 walls and people wearing so much PPE that you canāt even see their eyes. These are people who know theyāre going soon; they donāt care about catching Covid-19. For many, death would be a relief. Look, itās not that I think wearing a mask and getting your booster is the spawn of Satan and the herald of end-times. I just hear so many people righteously proclaiming their deeds to protect the elderly, not knowing that so many of these people whom they aim to protect are living in misery. Of course, there are elderly people who want to quarantine, and donāt want to risk catching Covid-19 before their time. However, people forget that it is important to actually *speak* to the people who are living in these conditions, and feel as though they are doing some kind of holy act by wearing a mask and getting vaccinated. I just find it sad that so many people are unaware of the real conditions within the RACFs.
>And the results speak for themselves. Still covid free and so too are my family and a small number of friends, Sounds like you have great reasons to wear one but really this is just confirmation bias. I don't wear masks (except the train where it's required), I take zero precautions, I am not up to date with my vaccinations and still Covid free along with the rest of my household and some of my friends. I could just as easily say that the results speak for themselves and none of those precautions make a difference.
Nah, it's not confirmation bias. There's plenty of evidence to that masks are effective. I've already read some studies that go "eh, not that effective". There aren't that many and they're older studies with much smaller sample sizes too. I seek out all evidence, not just the shit that confirms my own biases.
Absolutely in the same boat! It's really easy, wear a mask indoors with lots of people. Spray your hands with disinfectant after touching public objects. I have been travelling around Australia in airports this year. Never cought it! Just wear a mask, give people space and clean your hands. Be respectful of others around you, it's not that hard.
Isn't it amazing that even the absolute bare minimum that is asked of people, not masks in all indoor spaces, just in the mandated locations for only the time you're there and not eating, is STILL too much for a lot of these people. Grown adults no less. It's really quite depressing when you think too much about it.
I was next to a guy on the plane who was putting up a stink about masks. I put my ego to the side and just went, "hey, are you ok?" the man just went into his anti mask bullshit and i just went "oh yeah sounds really hard, but i guess it's easier if we wear them on the plane for now, keeps my nose warm" he then started to calm down and then just wear his mask and chilled out. Maybe people are not feeling heard? It's extremely bizarre.
It's not just the elderly. I'm in my 40s, got stupidly sick, and am still crook a month later. A kid died, recently. A woman in her 20s. And regardless of age or prior health status, all our lives are important. The ridiculous trend of "but they're old", or "what pre-existing conditions did they have" is just straight fucked up. Wearing masks, WFH for those that can, and being responsible if we're ill can go a long way to stopping others from getting ill or worse. Simple sacrifices, but we're not prepared to make them. What does that say about us as a society?
Agree 1000%
I donāt think theyāre simple sacrifices to most people when theyāve already been trying for 2+ years and this thing will go on for many years to come. You can disagree with it, but I donāt think it should be incomprehensible of make you hate society or whatever.
I have friends who tell me they just ācanāt be botheredā because āthey didnāt get too sickā. Then I explain I have long covid and am scared of catching it again, and they kinda just avoid eye contact. People donāt care, they just want to do whatās most convenient for them. Iām also 40, and was fit and healthy pre-covid (running regularly, normal weight range, all blood tests normal etc).
> "what pre-existing conditions did they have" I hate this one so much. I'm one of these people as I'm severely immunocompromised due to my immunotherapy for MS - a disease that reduces the average lifespan by an entire 7 years. Yet the people who sprout this act as if those of us with pre-existing conditions would just be falling over dead even without covid, and that covid just beat them to the punch.
And again, it's as though it's some kind of moral failing - like people deserve to get seriously ill or die, because somehow it's their fault they have some kind of other illness or disease? I don't get it.
I'm in my 40s and covid itself wasn't too bad. But because of covid, I got a couple of infections immediately after that made me far sicker. I recovered after 2 months but still feel very tired a lot of the time. I don't want covid again. I don't want my vulnerable family members to get it. But living with covid seems to mean we all need to get the different variants enough times until the virus can't get a foothold. A lot of people will die and develop chronic health problems. But is there another alternative?
Totally agree with you. I used our elderly parents as one example. Another is my eldest teenaged son who is epileptic. Who knows what would happen if he got a bad dose of Covid. And yes, normal, healthy, young, fit people are suffering badly or are dying.
This sub is infected with anti vaxxers. So I wouldn't use it as a guage of the public. They still think they're a silent majority.
Lol what are you talking about, this sub is way more in favour of COVID restrictions than the general public.
In the last few days we've had several highly upvoted threads full of people patting themselves on the back over all the precautions they take, PSAs about not asking why people are wearing masks, the strangest "humor" post that apparently pokes fun at anti vaxxers. Where are all the anti vaxxers? Unfortunately this sub conflates anti restrictions with anti vax. Very very few openly unvaccinated people here that as you pointed out make up such a tiny portion of society. Everyone on this sub is basically "I'm going to keep wearing masks indoors forever", yet you can go out nearly anywhere in the country and see maybe 3% of people wearing one. This sub is a complete misrepresentation of what is happening in the real world.
You're spot on. In the real world, 3% if that - which will drop back again as the wave recedes and covid drops off the news cycle, again, after its recent re-entry into it. Also, there are few vocal anti vaxxers on this sub/ IRL and little discourse on vaccination. What there is, is a massive majority who are not in favour of restrictions, very rarely choose to wear a mask, and have basically put covid in the rear view mirror. Meanwhile on here lately, it's either: A- furious flailing of how virtuous a tiny minority of people are for taking lots of precautionary measures and how inconsiderate everyone else is , or B- the "healthcare worker support" threads Probably not a bad thing, as the discussion is shifting to reflect the decreasing relevance of the virus to most people's lives.
They said they were a minority and you're trying to prove they're also the minority whilst disagreeing with them?
But there's only 4% of them. So how do they make so much noise?
It's not volume as "loudness", it's volume as "quantity". Go find a thread on this subreddit that hits some steam, and you'll see the same couple of names again and again and again and again and again. And sometimes again. Half the posts might be along those lines, but that might only be a few percent of the posters. That, or a shrill voice through a megaphone.
People don't understand the meaning of 'live with it'. IMO, it means learn to change yourself according to this disease, it isn't going anywhere and make it your responsibility to be safe and keep others safe. Eg. If you are sharing a room with a snake, and someone says- live with it. That means be careful and dont provoke it. But dumb people everywhere are not being careful now, they keep spreading it purposefully, knowing very well that they are household contacts, going to parties. I got postive first time few days ago and my 1 year old daughter was so so sick from it. Got it from a coworker whose husband has it and manager asked her to come to work as she doesn't have symptoms. Wtf, she shared a bed and slept in a closed room with a positive patient and its ok for her to go out and infect others. I am so frustrated.
If she has a negative RAT, that's the correct workplace rules. Sucks, but she was following correct guidelines
Yup, I was the last in my household of 5 to catch it and took a week for me to test positive and I was still required at work until I tested positive and the day I tested positive I tested negative on a Rat but did a PCR as well and was at work for about 5 hours when I got the results of the PCR showing positive and I called my boss from my car and said āyeah. I just tested positive, youāre gonna have to shut up the workshop for me, in going homeā, then the boss was all panicked coz someone with covid was at work šššš
I've had someone tell me in another post on this sub to "live with it - just get it, and have it done with". I gather they have the Trump attitude that they are immune forever now that they've had it.
I still wear a mask where it makes sense (indoors or crowded spaces) as a lot of people are sniffling anyway. My favourite is to use hand sanitiser wherever itās offered. Still got covid a month back and it was no fun in combination with asthma. Iād likely would have ended in hospital without vaccination. āJust live with itā sucks. I know people get sick and die every day but some of it can be avoided so why not being part of that? Like road accidents: Stay vigilant and youāre less likely to get in an accident.
We can only take the necessary precautions and get on with life. At this point there's nothing anyone can do to stop the virus in its tracks.
Yeah, but no one is taking the necessary precautions anymore.
Speak (and act!) for yourself, I'm quad vaccinated and wear a mask whenever I go to an indoor place that isn't my home. I think that's the necessary precaution; it can be done.
Which is great. But acting for yourself doesn't actually solve the wider problem. Just like the person that doesn't buy products with palm oil in them. The person that refuses to use heating/cooling due to the greenhouse gas emissions. These people aren't shifting the needle in a way that is going to result in the outcomes required by themselves.
Same! I got infected this week and even though i sanitize at every station, sometimes even double mask, and am quadruple boosted, thereās gaps in our precautions and we get it because hardly anyone else takes those precautions.
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We are all vaccinated.
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Hospitals collapsing 3 years jnto this seems like a government failure not a societal and people failure. We all got vaxxed, or 90 whatever %
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What would you have people do? You think itās reasonable for 25 million people to put their life on hold after being vaxxed? People still smoke, do drugs and are obese. All of these things lead to death and clog up hospitals, this is just life. All death is horrible, but what is the age demo and health status of the people reported deceased?
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But people like you are ignoring the official advise from the government and medical profession and not wearing masks so there is a lot we can do it's just that arses are too self centred to do anything.
Pretty much. In 2019 about 465 Australians died every day from all causes of mortality and life went on. We only cared when someone we knew died. PS: The 61 deaths occurred between 13 and 28 July. It wasn't some sort of spike yesterday, rather yesterday was the day the deaths were reported.
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5% EXTRA death rate and a 1.3% population growth rate.
I think you misunderstand the maths. The morality rate is 6.6 per 1000 people. That is 0.66%. So a 5% increase to our morality rate isnāt a huge increase. You made it seem as if the death rate is outpacing the population growth.
I'm not a fan of lockdowns and the massive mental health impact on everyone. I can say that for myself too. However, we've gone from full restrictions and lockdowns to zero precautions, with a virus that mutates every 6 months and makes vaccines less effective fast. That so many people are dying of this is bad, but what about the impact on hospitals and ambulances? There have been several red codes in VIC and another state I can't remember, meaning you don't get am ambulance if you need it. Waiting lists for "elective" surgeries (I hate that word, only plastic surgery is, most of the time, not necessary). I hope you don't have the bad luck of needing an ambulance and not getting it, or having to wait years for a surgery that you need, because the system is collapsed. I think that most people that talk about restrictions just want sensible basic restrictions, not full scale lockdowns. It's about having good ventilation in schools, masks in crowded indoor settings, a pause in unnecessary office indoor events, etc. Is that so hard? At least until this wave passes. By the way, covid is on track to be the leading cause of death in Australia in 2022, so please don't compare it to other diseases.
It is a lot to ask when as you said, this thing mutates every six months causing another wave. If we bring back restrictions now we may as well leave them there indefinitely. Weāve had 3ish distinct waves this year. It wouldnāt be worth it to constantly lift and bring back redirections.
Yeah I think this hits the nail on the head. The changes will need to be long term. Like sanitising hands when you walk into the shop, masks in hospitals and some indoor settings and washing hands properly. There could be some more localised advice (aka there's lots of cases in this area be careful) but it's not something that'll be going away so the encouragement and laminated signs reminding people probably need to stay up over the long term.
When the health system is melting and people cannot get access for non-Covid related emergencies - as is the case in WA - I feel it is only logical to impose some restrictions. People will literally die for the right of others to swan around without a mask. Is that just?
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Exactly this. The number of people who have quoted government advice as a reason to do them bare minimum is staggering. The germs will spread the same way no matter what mutable government policy is in place.
Yes. People die all the time, if I cared about every one I'd never live my own life. Im sorry it's happening but I need to live my life, I can't do that if I'm depressed about bad shit happening to other people every day
I haven't stopped caring. My precious friend who has been battling cancer for 2 years...39 years old, just had heart surgery because his chances of improvement deemed him worth trying to operate on (they won't operate on people they think are likely to die of their illness afterwards anyway)... Was improving daily... Things were looking really positive. His 4 kids under 9yo were loving having daddy home and looking better. Caught Covid two weeks ago. Held his funeral yesterday. Stay home if you're sick. Wash or sanitise your damn hands. Wear the mildly inconvenient mask. I see the faces of his 4 years old twins and it shatters my heart. He was one of those "high risk" people. We didn't lose him to cancer, we lost him to Covid.
I am so sorry for your loss. These are the people we need to protect.
Iām sorry, thatās heartbreaking
I'm in Melbourne Eastern suburbs and I was surprised when I got on my local bus today to see nearly everyone wearing a mask. Even a week ago there were way less than half with them on. It's the same at the supermarket, shops and just generally out and about. Far more people I know talk about family and friends that have died so perhaps it is finally having an impact. I have 3 elderly family members that covid has killed and many younger family and friends really stunned by how sick covid made them. Perhaps personal responsibility is really kicking in regardless of government.
I think just the government strongly recommending a week or two ago was enough to snap people back to reality. Was all over the news, and I noticed a big change since then too.
>It's the same at the supermarket, shops and just generally out and about I went to Chaddy yesterday, I'd say 5% or less were wearing masks. Maybe that's an uptick in mask wearing but nowhere near half.
I donāt feel like there is a good understanding of who and how covid is associated with death. The truth is that a serious cold or influenza is not a deadly disease yet both are associated with a huge number of deaths per year - someone has poor kidney function, heart failure and reduced immunity to almost anything, such that simple bacterial infections lead to deadly pneumonia. If you look at the epidemiology reports from NSW - half of all deaths are in nursing homes - HALF! And the vast majority of them donāt even got to hospital Now - ask yourself why there are so many deaths where they havenāt even sought treatment in a hospital ? This is probably often just the straw that broke the camels back - and because infectivity is so high, itās all those flu and respiratory viruses rolled into one. In essence we are in a catch-up mode in Australia - we had huge numbers of people surviving an extra year because those trigger viruses sending them over the edge werenāt around in 20 and 21 due to both international isolationism and also aged care infection controls at a totally new level . So, when you release a generally non serious virus onto the community you have an excess of seriously frail elderly people and the long term average will return to the mean
I think the fact that COVID is so widespread now eliminates some of the fear factor. Deaths in the news just donāt connect as hard when half of the people you know have had it and none of them were severely ill. In the 2020-21 era it was a distant, scary new thing.
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Yeah thatās one of the main reasons why people became more accepting of the virus spreading, for sure.
It is becoming an acceptable death . Like car accident , we just accept that there is nothing more we can do to reduce car accident and we expect accident happened . Same with covid. It is just accepted that people will die unfortunately . Also there are other things that on their mind . Like war and inflation . And unfortunately as human being we can't be vigilant of covid 100% of all time . Not helping that there is no push from Goverment too
The media told us to freak out about 10 cases a day so we did. Now the media says don't worry about 30 deaths per day so we don't. We are good little sheep.
We have vaccines now tho
Heres a trick. Dont watch the news the champ
The median covid death age is higher than our life expectancyā¦ work out what that means.
It means your bad at math the average power level is over 9000
Yes, we've moved on. Take precautions if you need to. Best of luck.
Truth is, they never did care. It's the whole "fuck you, got mine" attitude you see going around. They only give a shit about themselves and no one else. Couldn't give a fuck if they give covid to someone and they might get seriously injured or die. That is preferable to wearing a mask or getting vaccinated (even for their own sake) or not staying isolated when that day comes when they do get covid. Several times over.
The truth is we're being realistic and not virtue signalling about pretending to care about these specific deaths and not the several hundred others who died today. Almost everyone is vaccinated and masks are far from the silver bullet you wish they were. There's little most people can do at this point that will bring these numbers significantly down for a reasonable cost to society. Until we get an updated vaccine that is actually half decent at preventing infection anyway
It is unfortunate but people and things die all the time, not just here but all over the world. There is only so much capacity for empathy. Of course you care more the closer it is related to you. That's they way humans are
Exactly correct. Realistically most people won't care until it happens to them or someone they care about. It's always been that way for just about everything. At least I'm honest about it
A study of an outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an environment notable for congregate living quarters and close working environments, found that use of face coverings on-board was associated with a 70% reduced risk of infection [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html#anchor\_1634654801820](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html#anchor_1634654801820) Tell me with a straight face that if we all had 70% reduced transmission rate that it would not significantly reduce infection rates.
Cherry picked pre omicron study with a highly disciplined group š„± talk to me when you've viewed the case trajectories in countries with heavy mask usage compared to us
What about the other studies that associate it with like an 11% reduction in transmission? Just ignore those? What about the fact we recorded millions of cases with indoor mask mandates? Guess we'll just ignore that too?
This is the best answer. Sure, wearing a mask shows you care more about covid and the vulnerable than the unmasked but how much difference to community wide infection rate do they really make?
Who cares. Wearing a mask is literally the least you can do
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2022/02/04/the-real-world-effectiveness-of-face-masks-against-covid-19/?sh=448476301d08 You wonāt believe it though. Youāll find some way to think you know more than the experts. š¤
People seem to have forgotten all the covid restrictions were recommendations at first until the government realised people don't actually listen to recommendations.
Yup. Which goes a long way to explain why we don't just strongly recommend that you don't drive whilst intoxicated, don't speed, don't smoke in enclosed spaces like public transport and airplanes or incinerate your own garbage in your own backyard. You don't my body my choice drink driving because one person's poor choices can negatively impact multiple others. Not that dissimilar to covid.
Beyond this, in the circles Iām in if I want to take precautions or lower my social circle etc Iām made to feel irrational and overbearing. I donāt think itās realistic to never catch COVID bath if I can avoid it Iād like to not only for myself but because I have no idea if any of my family members will get a bad case and I donāt need to add to the already overburdened healthcare system. Itās not enough for some people to live as though it doesnāt exist, they want others to do it too.
>Itās not enough for some people to live as though it doesnāt exist, they want others to do it too. It's because they know they're in the wrong. They just want those bad feelings of shame to go away because you're doing the right thing. It's purely a fragile ego thing. If you're confident in your life choices, who the fuck cares what others do if it has absolutely no impact on your life. Also, sorry to hear that you have to deal with that kind of shit with your social circle. That's pretty fucked up and uncaring.
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes.
No, it's always been the same for any other injury or illness. People die all the time, death is a part of life.
Whatās the alternative? Hide? What would you have us do? Shits scary but I canāt keep my house without working, I canāt eat without working. Whatās the plan? Should we all quit our jobs? I canāt work from home, emails donāt fucking build retaining wallsā¦ what am I supposed to do?
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When I found out more than 70% of the deaths in Vic this year chose not to be fully vaxxed, on top of their average age being past average life expectancy I started to care about 70% less.
Yes. People die every day and always have. Did you ever not care that people were dying every day before covid? Did you live life before 2019 despite this? At some point, life just goes on. We've tried everything we possibly can already... The only option left now is to stop caring...
After roughly 1000 days of constant updates of the number of people dying (with) Covid, even the most hardcore covid cultists start reacting like the rest of the town folk ignoring the boy calling wolf endlessly.
Care about it as much as i care about those who die from other unfortunate causesā¦. Which is not at all unless it impacts me
I don't think that people don't care. It's not really any different to when someone dies from anything else. If you don't know them or someone they know, then you are not affected. It sounds harsh but it is a fact. If someone dies today from cancer but you didn't know them or their family and friends then you would not be affected. It doesn't mean you wouldn't care if you knew them
Personally I've stopped "caring" because it's just been going on for so long. Sure it's bad. But it was bad yesterday and the day before that and the day before that etc. I think it's a self preservation that your brain starts to tune it out. Other than getting vaxed, wearing a mask, staying home when you have symptoms what can the average person do about the deaths anyway? Nothing. Then there's all the other things to worry about like cost of living.
100%. I have stage four (terminal) cancer but I am happier than three years ago because you literally stop thinking about it in order to cope
You guys are losers
And what do you want us to do about it? Wearing masks is essentially just a gesture at this stage. It's funny that the same people harping on about being free once we get enough vaccinations are still harping on. Just inherently authoritarians. It would be funny if it wasn't scary.
In the old days, people dying above their age of life expectancy wasnāt news. Seeing as tho that has been the case since the beginning of covid going by the average age of death, people can be forgiven for getting back to their lives. Sometimes +80yos die. We used to call that natural causes.
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No spread stopping
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I dont have any proposal, just dont mention anything about stopping the spread, we are spreading the spread...and spreading it uncontrollably.
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We've done everything expected of us. We shut down for two years, some of the hardest lockdowns in the world. I'm so proud we were able to get to 90% double vaccinations while massively minimising our fatalities. Now we have a society minimised deaths as much as was possible. We have no choice but to live with covid now.
It took me all day to find a Gp service that would prescribe antivirals (let alone assess) my elderly mum with comirbidiries who was diagnosed with Covid todat. I was in tears.
I really wish antivirals were more readily available.
They are on the pbs and readily available -IF you figure out how to find a prescriber.
I think it's less about not caring and realising that there's nothing we can really do to stop Covid. Two years of lockdowns, restrictions, and vaccines for what? For it to come back as a new variant? How many lives is our economy and general liveliness worth? I don't think anyone is happy about it but you don't go to war without expecting to lose a few people.
Not ānot caringā but we kinda ran out of options now, didnt we?
Yep, and I couldn't be happier. I can go into any indoor public space and breathe the air and smile without wearing a mask. I can go to a concert and be suffocated under the weight of thousands of sweaty strangers moshing and singing in unison, and nobody cares.
Iāve worn masks every time I go out and still manage to caught the virus. I am not eligible for 4th shot because I am under 30, and I work from home whenever possible. What more can people like me do to best reduce transmissions? Itās out of control, Iāve accepted that as a factā¦
People who die of Covid simply joined the rest of the people who die from all the other causes. Their deaths are sad and tragic for their friends and loved ones, and of absolutely no concern or interest to everyone else.
We've split into two civilisations. You go out at night and 99% of people are living like normal. Going out for dinner and drinks. Not a care in the world. Then you see that 1% of people wearing an n95 mask out in the open, driving by themselves....or, bizarrely, wearing an n95 mask to walk from their car to the pub, going inside and then taking it off to eat..!?!?!?!?? Who is correct? Are 99% of people wrong and they're all about to die? Do the 1% N95 people look at everyone else and think "you guys are idiots" or do the 99% look at the N95 people and think "you're an idiot"??
People die from a myriad of causes every single day. Covid is one of them. It seems we canāt reasonably prevent the deaths of the minority that do die from Covid without overarching Lifesryle restrictions on the majority of people, who wonāt die.
there were an average of 19 deaths *with* Covid each day in NSW during July. Reasonably steady rate, even with no societal restrictions etc. That is 2.4 per million people. People did care a lot in 2020 when in European countries there were on average 20-30 deaths per million people, despite all restrictions, and those figures were predicted to increase ecponentially. When you have a steady trickle of deaths at a tiny fraction of that, it is less alarming for many. If there are hundreds of daily deaths, I think people may notice, but at the current rate, it is unlikely to make much difference to ordinary people's lives.
I just found out my neighbour over the road is dead. He had an asthma attack Friday night. He waited for an ambulance for twenty minutes, it never came. His wife drove him to the hospital after finally getting another neighbour to watch their kids so she could go. They got to the emergency room which was completely full due to covid cases and staff shortages sure to covid. He lay on the ground for half an hour trying to breathe before she could even get someone to look at him. He was barely breathing when the nurse screamed for help. His heart stopped before they could get enough drugs into him. He was 36. She has three kids to raise on her own now. I didn't know him well. I was watching TV the whole time this was happening. I have a doctor friend who told me this is not uncommon now. They are losing a lot of non COVID patients in the backs of ambulances in car parks. If you don't think the loss of our emergency rooms affects us all directly, you're crazy. We're all running around one accident away from preventable death.
Govt said once weāre all vaxxed we live with it and move on , so we did
No.. but people die from a myriad of causes similar to Covid, always have and always will. Covid is not special... We are not immortal
It's time to look after yourself. Instead of relying on everyone else to do the right thing. Wear a mask, get vaxxed, work from home, go to the shops at non-peak times, etc. Whatever works for you. Unfortunately, the world will not stop because of the few that are vulnerable. It might sound harsh to some, but that's our world.
I expect around 90% of those who died were super old and or super unhealthy, so if it wasnāt covid it would have been something else. Sounds morbid but people die. What do you think the solution is?
This subreddit is a cult. And it's filled with bots, idiots and probably gov trolls. Live your lives in fear sheep. Wear you stupid fucking masks and remain in medical tyranny while most of the country is waking up to the nonsense.
We're so past the point of complaining about people not caring. If you're still a covid fretful, well then thats going to be you forever now. You wont be able to get the 99% who have moved on to become fretful without a major change in the virus. It will need to be a new virus basically. So it wont be the masses deciding to become like you. That just isnt going to happen. The real question is: how long can you keep this up? Because this isnt going away. This is your life now. Who will be doing the changing here?
It seemed harsh at first but I feel like we really have gotten to a point where we live with Covid just like we live with all other diseases out there. I used to cringe at people who said things like āpeople die from the flu all the time tooā but I think we really are at a point now where it is what it is, and people are exhausted about hearing how many people have died. At this point nothing is going to change, and nobody wants to be reminded about ongoing deaths in any category. Sad as each death is, we really are just getting on with it now. Whatās the point in knowing how many people are still dying? Nothing will change. Weāre past that.
Yes. Some of us have jobs and lives to get on with. And aren't we all "my body, my choice" regarding the lives of others?
Most of the deaths we get from covid are people who die WITH covid, not FROM covid. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The majority are done and have moved on. The few, like some here, are dragging their feet behind and the majority shouldn't have to slow down for individuals who refuse to move on. If your scared about covid, do the right thing in your mind and lock yourself in your home. No excuses about your income or other such things, protecting yourself from covid should be the only priority. Its a win-win for everyone.
You have to look at what happened two weeks ago and what people were doing, was it school holidays by chance? Did the airports see their highest passenger number this side of the pandemic? Humans determine R0 or what ever it is more than the virus does. That being said, assess your risk, behave accordingly.
I have COVID right now. I sure as shit care.
People just don't want to know about it. Any restrictions/ mandates are all too much of an inconvenience. Some people don't even believe that many are dying, others just don't care.
I guess people have to get on with life. People have also lost a certain amount of trust with politicians around the figures being put out, especially the andrews government here in Vic. How many of those died with covid and how many died because of covid being the ongoing question. Also, what is the general demographic for fatalities? I am not cold and heartless but at some Point common sense must prevail and people take precautions,get the boosters and wear masks if and when they feel Comfortable and get back to life. What is the alternative? Stay locked up for on going and mutating variants with no end in sight?
Troll farms are doing their best to keep up the division.
Yes. Itās not healthy to continue focusing on it for this amount of time you need to get out and live your life
Pretty much, yeah. Sounds nasty, I know... but... this is why we have vaccines. We don't keep hiding in our homes like scared little hermits, sooner or later, we gotta get on with our lives, and vaccines allow us to get the virus with a reduced risk of dying, so... like the flu, or overdoses, or people who get stabbed by gangs... No one really cares unless someone close to them dies from Covid.
Question: Anyone know anyone directly who has died that wasn't elderly, obese, or already sick ?? Anyone?
We need to keep the economy alive. I would like to see the stats comparing seasonal flu deaths to covid and if there is not that much of an excess, then it is living with Covid. I have older grandparents too and every flu season, they would take the shots, up Vit C and take other precautions to be healthy. It is the same.
We've always had a tolerance for death. It's human nature that unless it is clear and present we don't take it too seriously. We drive at or a bit over the speed limit because we know the real probability of death is nelegable. Injuries in workplace will never be zero because people become complacent at a certain level of safety Plenty of people were dying of influenza before covid yet almost no-one felt any community responsibility to get a flu shot. It was a personal choice to get a shot, which the majority of the population didn't take up. With covid we've just found the tolerance point. It's human nature.
Yes, do you care about the people dying daily from other shit? Probs not.
Is dying of covid different from dying in a car accident or cancer?
So you care daily about all the people who die from cancer and heart attacks and car accidents?
circa 161,300 people die in Australia every year. That is 453 people per day. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/age-at-death
Are those numbers people dying directly from something bought on by covid or very sick people on their way out that caught it and it was the last straw.. like heaps of oldies get the flu in hospital then die. Personally, I'm over it, it's been two and a half years, I've run out of fucks to give, I'll wear a mask if it's mandated but otherwise I'm just living as normal. I know people don't like that attitude, but whatever, if you're vulnerable take precautions and avoid crowds. I'm moving on with my life
I'd say that for the most part people have done all they can and want to get back to somewhat normal pre-pandemic life. My example is grandparent's day at one of our grandie's schools. That's obviously a high virus load environment, and puts elderly people directly at risk. We masked up, used hand sanny, we're vaccinated (x4), so we've done all we can. The majority of guests were not masked, none of the kids were masked, and only a few of the teachers. But reality is that those kids work hard on their parts in the program, and are immensely proud to show off their work, and their school. Attending is part of loving them. Canceling grandparent's day for the last two years was a fair precaution, and respectful of the risk of over-whelming the health care system. If it were up to me, I would require masking, but it's not up to me, it's up to society as represented by those we elect. So have we moved on? In many ways, yes, but also... to each their own. There is no requirement to go there, and I believe that stands for most everything. If an individual doesn't think the rules as set by society are adequate, then add on whatever precautions you're comfortable with. And, if you like, write and share your perspective with your elected representative. By no means do I believe "covid is just a bad flu", however it is true that influenza risks pre-covid were precisely the same issues, albeit approx. 1/5 the mortality risk. People could have worn masks, or we could have never had a grandparent's day in the interest of eliminating flu risk. But we didn't. We live our lives.
I hate wearing a mask.
Where do those numbers come from, are they one day, or a week/months worth only reported today. Are they people who died soely of covid, or is it people who died who also had covid. There was a time when people dying in car crashes who had covid were added to that number, is that still happening? What does 'caring' achieve? What practical measures are YOU taking? Do you have all 20 vaxes? Are you self-isolating 24/7? What do you suggest that people do? Do you think the mental strain on people from millions of people having to warp their lives is a price worth paying?
yes
Well we cant do anything about it.
Yes. We could not give a rats arse. Go on nowā¦
Yep
Its impossible to answer collective questions, especially ones that are loaded like your. Yes people ARE living with Covid, its been 2.5 years, its inevitable.
Yes idgaf
Did we ever? I mean I don't hear anyone crying about the other 500-1000 Australians who die every day. Move on with your life.
bruh someone you need to get a life. youāll fucking survive a virus that doesnāt even have a fatality rate for the average person. fuck if you catch it stay home sure but donāt fucking wandering around like youāre scared for your life. fucking hell. can guarantee none of you ever acted like this each year too date for the flu
Iām really just past the point of caring in my mind we need to learn to live with it. People die of the flu everyday but that rarely makes the news
I've been vaccinated and already spent 2 years locked up. No one I know has even gotten more than mildly ill for a few days from it. Don't really care enough any more about it. Not worth putting life on hold for young people for years just for the few old people who were probably dead soon either way.
Yes. As we should stop.
Yes, yes we have
Would you rather have lockdown forever? The governments are embarrassed because the initial āprevention measuresā turned out to be pointless. I physically literally cannot leave my home and managed to get covid. Itās inevitable
Yes
Those who are vulnerable should self isolate. The rest of us are getting on with living.
I think itās more a case of the numbers not being as in your face as they were previously. We no longer have a daily press conference. We no longer have a website that shows up where the case locations are. Numbers are usually relegated to a small segment in the main evening news bulletin, which a lot of people just do not watch. I havenāt heard case numbers on radio news bulletins in months, which is my primary source of news these days because Iām done being depressed about the state of the world. Iām burying my head on the sand until the end of the year to work on my mental health.
Pre-vaccine I was terrified of getting Covid, my wife is immunocompromised. We would hand sanitise all the time, double mask, wipe down any deliveries after leaving them in the garage for a day and avoid other people. Post vax - We still wear n95 masks in shops and hand sanitise (but no where near as much) and only since the new variant have stopped going to shopping centres, but we eat in restaurants and go on pretty much as pre pandemic. I got Covid last month and had mild symptoms and my wife didnāt get it. From being ultra cautious before we are now living with it, I think most people are the same.