Perhaps some good news from a paper out of Japan: https://twitter.com/SystemsVirology/status/14747596949717278...
"The 6th preprint from G2P-Japan - #Omicron is less infectious and pathogenic than #Delta and even an early pandemic SARS-CoV-2 in infected hamster model."
Note: less infectious here means intra-cell, it's still more transmissible than Delta.
It's interesting that Japan has had far fewer cases than comparable countries. The difference can't be explained by infection control measures; there seems to be some other factor. So it's not clear how well data from Japan generalizes to the rest of the world.
Having spent time in several East-Asian countries how masks during a pandemic became some political hot topic in some places still confuses the hell out of me.
Japan is a very conformity based society which has plenty of its own problems, just not this one. Countries often have a broad common ethos which are quite variable around the world and each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Americans quite like splitting into factions, telling the other factions what the moral imperatives of the day are, and rebelling against what other factions tell them to do. It is a part of a somewhat broken sense of anti authoritarian bent which doesn’t recognize that authoritarian actions by your own group are equally problematic. Just a signal that once quite good ideology is degrading into something a bit strange, mostly just because of how information is distributed and education done.
The problem in America is that the other side really doesn’t believe in American values, but instead wants to take away our constitutional freedoms. They preach a hypocritical sense of morality while inflicting violence on those who cannot defend themselves. They use gerrymandering and political tricks to hold on to power, even when most people hate what they’re doing. Because of their incompetence, we’ve become a laughingstock on the world stage. And their response to the coronavirus could not be more misguided or dangerous.
And almost all Americans agree with this, because I didn’t actually name a political party. If there’s one thing that brings Americans together, it’s knowing that the other half is pure evil.
I would disagree that there is a side that doesn’t believe in American values. American values are instead being interpreted in disagreeing ways, and are being applied to different circumstances. (For example, the sovereign citizen movement clearly at least attempts to take on aspects of the American constitution, and interprets them very differently to the court system.)
Right now, who is ordering who to stay home, to not go to the gym, to church, to a restaurant, to a private gathering - by force of law - and even imposing curfews?
For context, these might be some of the most broad and assertive challenges ever made on constitutional freedoms.
--- "They preach a hypocritical sense of morality while inflicting violence on those who cannot defend themselves."
There is one group of people in America who are killing themselves at 6x the rate of other Americans, and about 20x the rate of people of other countries.
They have hypocritically 'blamed' (at least in terms of populism) the issue on policing, which is very demonstrably not a direct cause, requiring police to pull back in many areas, and now we see the result, a 150% increase in violence among those same poor and vulnerable communities, that were already extremely violent. The major increase in lives lost is directly measurable in the thousands.
The #1 cause of death among this group, is violence from their own group.
Not 'some other group' assaulting them.
--- "They use gerrymandering and political tricks to hold on to power"
One group is trying to give voting rights to huge numbers of non-citizens at every level of government, because that group feels the new voters would vote for them, which is in terms of raw numbers, the most gigantic form of election gerrymandering ever conceived.
--- "Because of their incompetence, we’ve become a laughingstock on the world stage. "
New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire etc. are some of the worst hit by COVID in terms of deaths per capita, as for 'laughing stock' the Governor went down on sexual assault allegations, and charges of misrepresenting COVID information. Despite the careless populist rhetoric of some political fools, frankly, there isn't much of a serious political pattern across the nation in terms of outcomes - there's a pretty big 'obesity' pattern, which correlates strongly with race, but it also points to an issue in America overall vis-a-vis the rest of the world (i.e. obesity). But that isn't really a politically 'sided' issue so much.
...
I think you really did make the OP's point by pointing out how 'each side likes to blame the other' - I couldn't even fathom who you were talking about for sure.
However much I personally might support mask, separation and other restrictions, it's pretty oddly lacking in self awareness to talk about the 'Authoritarianism Of The Other Side' when literally politicians are ordering the most assertive transgressions of basic rights in history however legitimized or not.
As for Omicron ... we really don't know yet. Maybe this is the last real lockdown wave before lethality, treatments and vaccines provide enough protection.
It’s less confusing to me because I specifically do not want to live in a society where people willingly cover half their face. And I most particularly have no interest in living in a country where I am shamed, ridiculed, or outcast for not doing so as well.
Im ok with the repercussions that society may face (eg, higher covid counts etc) to avoid such a society. Call me a monster but I want my daughter to know a world much more similar to what I knew 2 years ago than the one in black mirror, which I believe we tend to be accelerating towards.
I specifically do not want to live in a society where people cannot willingly cover half their face, especially when they’re sick or it’s flu season. (Not to mentioned during a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in my country.)
Luckily my country is also a representative republic where we can vote for what policies we want. (Although I certainly have issues with the many ways my vote is subverted or rendered less-than others votes based on land.)
You don't really have to vote on whether you're allowed to wear masks for health reasons, only on telling other people the have to. Just wear them if you want, don't if you don't.
Before a couple of years ago, masks were often banned at the local level in the US. There's no good reason for bans or mandates in normal circumstances, and that includes being a democracy.
> Call me a monster but I want my daughter to know a world much more similar to what I knew 2 years ago
I think you have your causality mixed up a bit.
When I was younger I would take my coat off in the cold early spring to protest the fact that it hadn't warmed up enough, and, mostly in jest, insist that it was taking your coat off that harked warmer weather (when obviously the reverse is true).
In this case you are trying to do this same with masks, hasten the end of something you don't like by pretending it isn't happening. Unfortunately this ultimately makes a worse world for the both of you.
You obviously aren't the "monster", the monster is the thing that scares you so much you lose all reason, and confuse your causal arrows so much.
It's unfortunate that the world is in a state of decline right now, and I understand wanting to turn it back. But like all people who have tried to stop change by resisting you only ultimately end up making it worse.
It's because you can't accept the way the world is changing that it will progress this way faster.
That's fine, but in some places, that's basically saying you're the type of person to walk through dirty streets barefoot. No matter how #freethefoot and for personal choice you may be, people won't want you bringing your dirty feet and whatever they carry into their home.
Walking in the world barefoot is a natural and normal thing. We should all probably be doing more of it, not shaming people for it.
The issue is mostly one of public health that has materially adverse affects on others.
Maybe it would be like driving on the highway without snowtires in the winter: it's reckless and you're going to hurt people. I think if most of us saw that happening (it happens) it kind of makes you mad to see how irresponsible it is.
Also the commentor above wrote about 'voting' concerning masks - it's not such a simple issue.
Democracy is not a 'Tyranny of the Majority'. It's why we have Constitutions etc.. Requiring people to do stuff in the normal course of their day is a pretty big step, we have to be mindful of regulating normative behaviours. It's easy to let rights slide away, we should have a bit better of a process for these kinds of things, and maybe tuck in a couple of laws after this is over for that purpose because the Courts don't have a lot to work with on a lot of these things.
Someone could start by giving me data points that show if I’m asymptomatic and not exposed to someone with covid that I’m being “selfish” for not adopting your disposition of fear.
Yeah, when we are two years into the pandemic, with 5.4 million deaths and over 280 million infections by COVID, with tens of millions of health workers globally working long hours and overtime in their sweat-filled protective gowns and gears, all you could care about is whether your daughter can see a world with faces uncovered.
If people can just stop their BS, get vaxxed, cover their face, and avoid gatherings, the pandemic would be over in a month, and we wouldn't need to do all this shit, would we?
That is misinformation. While I encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated, the vaccines don't reliably prevent infection or transmission. The main benefit is in reducing severe symptoms. Likewise face masks only marginally reduce the risks of transmission in individual interactions. But since the virus is endemic it will never be "over". Everyone can expect to be exposed periodically. You can't expect people to wear masks forever.
I completely agree. It’s concerning how eager and compliant people are with these nonsensical mandates. These last two years hammered home to me that there are way more people than I thought who either enjoy dominating other people or who like being told what to do.
It's a little bit weird if you ask me. I totally get you and your parent's sentiment of "they push me, so I push back". I think that's a natural reflex of many people and a good one as well. I'm much the same in many situations. If you simply tell me and push me to do X, I will push back, simply because you did not explain yourself. It's a principled thing. We're not in the military and I didn't sign up for this.
Explain yourself, give me reasoning and talk to me about pros and cons of various things and we can probably get along very well.
Now there's a problem here. While you can debate such things with me and you and and many other people, there are also a lot of people out there that just do not respond at all to that. I would argue it's actually most people and that is what politicians have to deal with. That sucks for you and me.
I think wearing a mask indoors makes absolute sense. We can debate whether a cloth, surgical mask or N95 mask are in order but some type of mask that goes over mouth _and_ nose just makes sense given the airborne nature of this and other viruses. I will readily admit that I always found it weird seeing Asians running around w/ a surgical mask when they think they're sick w/ something but I've come to realize that it just made sense. They're doing the right thing.
I don't think putting alcohol on my hands multiple times a day is great for my skin or the natural skin bacterial flora at all but I really like the fact that I've seen less people run past the hand sanitizer at the store than people leaving the washrooms without washing their hands.
Are you telling me that you're one of those people that go to the toilet and don't wash up? I'm sorry but I don't want to second hand touch your junk! Ever!
Japan under-tested a lot pre-Olympics in a desperate attempt to salvage the event. After that point they had no more reason to hide the data. Tests that have been carried out since show very low positive rates, so there likely aren't too many hidden, untested cases out there.
Meanwhile Japan it’s hard to get tested and they now have community transmission happening in major cities with unknown origin. Given the Japanese governments propensity to save face, they’d never admit it if they did have a problem.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/japan-covid-...