Posted on 12/04/2020 4:23:27 PM PST by cann
The New York Times asked 700 epidemiologists to describe their COVID-19 habits, how their thinking has changed since the pandemic began, and when they think it will be safe for normal life to resume. Dismayingly, several answered that last question with a resounding never.
"I expect that wearing a mask will become part of my daily life, moving forward, even after a vaccine is deployed," Amy Hobbs, a research associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Times.
Marilyn Tseng, an assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University, said life would never revert to the way it was, though the preventative measures currently practiced—masks and social distancing—will feel "normal" in time. Similarly, Vasily Vlassov, a professor at HSE University in Moscow, said life was perfectly normal now because this is the new normal.
Others disagreed. Michael Webster-Clark of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said he expected "further relaxation of most precautions by mid-to-late summer 2021" following widespread availability of the vaccine. Some epidemiologists said their own risk aversion would decrease after they were vaccinated, but many said they would remain just as cautious until "80 percent or more" of the entire population had received the vaccine.
On the whole, the epidemiologists were less wary of touching surfaces than they were at the start of the pandemic, and some thought young children could go back to school. But just 26 percent said they either had or would have allowed their children to return to the classroom, or even attend an outdoor play date with friends. Only 29 percent were willing to get a haircut, even though the most infamous case involving two hairstylists who had COVID-19 resulted in not a single infection among their 139 clients. A mere 11 percent were willing to ride the subway.
Epidemiologists are free to take whatever precautions they deem necessary in their own lives, of course—as are the rest of us. But for too long, their pessimistic dictates have provided cover for politicians and government employees to make people's lives miserable. To take just the most obvious example, schools are still closed in many major cities, even as new scientific information has generally found that resuming in-person education would be perfectly fine. Teachers unions have echoed the choruses of the most alarmed public health experts, scrawling not until it's safe on their school reopening protest signs.
One of the blessings of liberty is that everybody shouldn't have to follow the same script. If a person has reasons to be extra cautious, or even just prefers the feeling of knowing that he is doing absolutely everything to reduce his own risk of catching the disease to as close to zero as possible, then he is free to live in accordance with that goal. Other people may decide their own circumstances don't require the same level of zealotry, or that their extremely low chance of having a negative health outcome justifies a greater degree of flexibility. Others may say they are fine with certain precautions—masks, avoiding large events—but need to resume small in-person social gatherings for the sake of their mental and emotional well-being. Still others may take larger risks but test themselves frequently and quarantine aggressively before traveling or visiting the elderly. The circumstances on the ground matter tremendously; a person's willingness to relax his social distancing habits should track with the rate of infection in the community, which will necessarily be different in different areas of the country.
But these choices need to devolve to individuals to the greatest extent possible, especially in the coming months, as the population becomes vaccinated and we move past the crisis point of the pandemic. The order of the day should be respecting people's preferences. If a convenience store doesn't want customers to enter unless they've been vaccinated, the store owner's wishes should be respected just as if the matter were shoelessness or shirtlessness. If a restaurant decides it really needs full capacity dining in order to stay in business, the government shouldn't deploy the police to stop them.
We all have to work it out for ourselves, and everyone who wishes to recapture the old normal is within their rights to dissent from the epidemiologists' contentment with the way things are now.
Pussies.
Screw THAT noise.
It probably does.
Simple. They’re all thinking if they didn’t lose their virginity until they were in their late 30s mid 40s nobody else should...
To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
That’s why we have sane people to reign these naval-starers. You cannot allow people like this to make any kind of policy decision.
Only a b.tch would be worried about this.
Any real man or woman knows already they will never do it.
And they would fight.
But many here love to go to bed shivering in fear.
Me, I sleep fine cause I couldn’t a #### what the un (don’t deserve caps), dems, the deep state, soros, gates or any other jerkoff in the NWO says or wants.
And if it comes to an all out fight, then it comes.
It is what it is.
We fight in courts and legislatures until they can no longer offer any recourse.
Now those of you who were crying or MAKING SAD FACES, as in the thread title, resume.
Some people are truly idiotic.
Everyone of these epidemiologists is a socialist loving democrat (communist) or a spineless RINO.
I suggest these epidemiologists want in one hand and crap in the other. See which one fills up first...
Screw thus stupid bug
Screw lockdowns
Screw masks
Screw social distancing
Double triple screw vaccines!!!!
How in the world did life persist on this planet for the 3 billion years before it was discovered that masks were essential?
“The panicked clerk - a twenty-something woman - said, “No! I’ll do it!”
This gave me a good laugh. Have had many such experiences like this at places like Costco. Their ridiculous checkout process expectations are posted nowhere, yet they instantly react with domineering scolding of anyone who “steps out of line.” One Costco lady raised her voice at me when I tried to hand off my membership card at the start of the conveyor (they evidently changed the normal practice and now scan it through the plexiglass, don’t you know!).
My favorite experience was checking out at a Food Lion grocery store in May. I have kids who drink tons of milk. Had 3 gallons in the cart. Angry store manager “caught” me trying to abscond with 1 gallon-too-many (did not see any signs limiting to 2). She smugly told me there was a 2 gallon limit. I loudly told her, “I have 5 young children.” She immediately took the covid-infected container out of the cart...and probably had to throw it away by store policy. Fools.
I am waiting for the dems to call for walking and bicycles to replace autos, buses and trucks. Once they can force you to do something for “health” reasons, they can force you to do anything for health reasons. For them, an added bonus, walking and bicycling are environmentally helpful. But the politicians will still be riding in SUVs.
So on that basis, what is going to happen to bacteria, virus, etc. with the excessive use of hand sanitizers?
What is going to happen to the human immune system with perpetual face mask use?
Are there unintended consequences that may exceed the societal costs of not wearing masks?
When Jesus walked the earth he touched the untouchable, talked with the unspeakable, forgave the unforgivable and made the outcast His family.
This is a power from The Creator that they want to destroy. The last vestiges of hope in community of brothers and sisters. . Of course churches will be shut down forever.
For your own safety. Traditions that involve gathering and love erased and replaced with virtual gatherings.
No smell of home baked cookies, no feel of the soapy dishes as you wash them with someone you dont see.
We will be reduced to china.. chained to our productive abilities and deprived of joy in family.
Many people are into s&m. So what. If you want to wear a mask, I’m not stopping you.
Eff them. I like to snuggle, hug, shake hands, stand real close and I don’t use my elbow to cough.
GFY
bump
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