[dfxm12]

Looking at the key recommendations, there appears to be a policy aspect playing into this as well. If you feel lonely, consider this at the polls - Who is advocating for social infrastructure and having a commitment to more than ourselves, including those who are vulnerable?

On the flip side, be wary of those pushing personal liberty above all else and those who are trying to damage public health campaigns and institutions like health care and education.

[dave78]

What about the policy aspect of telling people to isolate at home, avoid friends and family and other social gatherings, etc. for nearly 2 years now?

I'm not a fan of making everything a political issue, but since you went there - I see one group of politicians actively trying to cut us off from each other (well-intentioned or not) with venue closures, capacity limits, travel restrictions, event cancellation, recommendations to avoid gatherings, etc. and the other side trending more towards encouraging people to get back out there in the world and start interacting again.

[dfxm12]

State lock downs in the US generally lasted on the order of months (some amount of time between March-May of 2020), not years. If you're under the impression that you're still under a stay at home order and you can't see your family, or if you think your local music venue isn't putting on concerts, I would urge you to verify if that's truly the case. I mean, you can watch a football game on Sunday and see this. Also, treating a reaction to a global pandemic like it's an evergreen policy plank is disingenuous.

[swayvil]

Everybody you see now is a potential infectious disease vector.

And when everybody is wearing a mask, faceless, it sorta takes the human out of human-interaction.

And those guys not wearing masks, they're all filthy trumper qanon goblins. So ramp up the fear for that.

An obedient citizen rolls his eyes in terror.

[mountainboy]

oh yeah, that personal liberty is so dangerous. gotta be wary about that.