The only way you can get it publicly is through your mucus membranes (mouth, nose, and eyes). If you cover those, you can't get it. — Hanover
Do you think the worry people have is primarily for their own safety? — Hanover
If that is true, then you're saying we're all selfish and that those unconcerned just don't accept the virus will have a significant impact on them or feel they can endure it. — Hanover
There does seem to be a correlation between political ideology and concern, with the right caring far less than the left. I don't believe that comes from leadership, but I think it comes from worldview. — Hanover
The qualification is "at the very least". If China and NZ etc end up with 60% infected or any way near that ever, I'll eat your hat and if they don't, you can eat mine — Baden
Because the elderly don't shop where you do and everybody is aware of any comorbidities they might have? I get it, statistically you personally pose a very insignifant risk. But how many people need to think like you that those insignificant risks taken together become significant? — Benkei
I fully expect to get through this thing having been infected exactly 0 times and having infected exactly 0 people. — Hanover
From a utilitarian point of view, if everyone thought like me, the world would be a utopia for reasons too many to count. — Hanover
You make decisions based on the best information available to you at the time. — Baden
The best information available has been that in the absence of the type of voluntary cultural reaction (due to experience of previous pandemics) and track and trace mechanisms (not to mention the highly focused outbreak) that applied, for example, to South Korea, locking down hard and early is the most effective option available to save lives in, at the very least, the short term. — Baden
I've got an open mind on it, but I think it's right to bat for the most likely approach to save lives rather than dither in the pursuit of an answer that isn't yet there — Baden
faced with arguments void of reason from extremes of the opposing side. — Baden
While other nations announced lockdowns to deal with existing crises, Vietnam enacted one to prevent one. — Baden
- my bold. Dietrich Rothenbacher, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at the University of Ulm in Germany.the current figures are not at all directly comparable between countries, currently we have a huge bias in the numbers coming from different countries – therefore the data are not directly comparable.... What we need to really have valid and comparable numbers would be a defined and systematic way to choose a representative sampling frame
I've been arguing consistently for a less panicky response — Isaac
There was also a very authoritarian/anti-authoritarian dichotomy. The ease with which so many people in nearly every country accepted authoritarianism surprised me. It is now the prevailing orthodoxy. — NOS4A2
Are people who wear seatbelts "terrified" of crashing their cars and people who don't just all relaxed and cool. You can take precautions because it's the rational thing to do without feeling much about it one way or the other and you can refuse to take precautions simply because you're ignorant. You realize that, right? — Baden
Wasn't referring to you specifically but making the point that what's important is what a rational response is not what's 'authoritarian', 'panicky', 'being terrified' etc. These are efforts in my vote to skew the debate — Baden
But to say this already assumes a more lackadaisical attitude towards the virus. If this were the black plague killing everyone in its path, then I think even the most staunchly anti-authoritarian people would balk and would adhere to whatever demands were placed upon them and they'd be just as vocal in their criticism against others who weren't doing their share to limit the disease.
The point being, you don't think this virus is all that dangerous, so you therefore don't think it deserving of a response as if it were the black plague. I truly don't think those who are taking this virus so seriously are just mindless sheep, willing to cede all authority to their leaders, but they think this virus is much more akin to the plague than you do. And, from what I'm discerning from listening, they are at a complete loss how you (and me) can callously just let people die (as if that's what we're advocating).
There's a guy in my office who wears a mask every day, he wipes down everything in his path with Lysol wipes, he closes his office door, and he walks the other way when you approach him in the hall. It's taken some real convincing some here that he's not being passive aggressive and just trying to look holier than thou, but that he's really terrified of the virus.
When I asked about the psychological differences between those like him and those like me, I really was curious. I don't think it comes down to authority versus non-authority types, but perhaps a "don't worry, be happy" attitude, which might just be how some deal with chaos and the unknown.
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