Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

yup

tipsy, I'm really sorry to hear that. everything crossed for a good outcome.

If the vaccine has to be kept at -80 does your arm go cold when it's stuck in you.

Are there any alternative means of delivery for those squeamish about needles?

My brother shared a story about people not turning up for their jabs meaning people further down the waitlist being offered the jab with little notice . seemed to be happening quite a bit at the moment. I know I'd rather have something more tried and tested injected in me so would probably wait a while given the choice. So can see that being a factor for others. That and fear of being used as a guinea pig. Pfizer ve a reputation for having made tests in the past in dodgy ways.

while my other brother apparently tested positive but hasn't been feeling that bad. Has to take a lot of tests while doing extra work.

sorry about your friend, tipsy. hoping for the best.

The way I see it, there is more evidence of ham by getting the virus than ham from the vaccine. I mean harm.

Partner got the jab Friday. Other than his arm being very very sore, he's felt fine.

Is it reasonable for me to think that, 9 months into this pandemic, grown adults should perhaps be familiar with the list of three symptoms that are printed EVERYWHERE that are the basis for getting tested for COVID? And maybe even have looked into the process for getting tested when you're 'really ill' with one of them and no it isn't book an appointment with your GP?

I get that I'm probably living in somewhat of a bubble of responsible friends who isolate and test at symptoms and actually know what the guidelines are for our areas re mixing households, travel etc but am I really unusual in knowing the basics?

I really bloody despair at the passivity and ignorance displayed by my family who make all the noises about "being careful" and "really worrying" about getting it after seeing what it's done to poor old Sue and yet don't do anything differently whatsoever.

Is it reasonable for me to think that, 9 months into this pandemic, grown adults should perhaps be familiar with the list of three symptoms that are printed EVERYWHERE that are the basis for getting tested for COVID?

Yes

But it was ok, you see, because it was a high temperature due to "flu" not fever due to Covid, they decided but will never actually know

I see today The Discourse has whiplashed yet again from "stop shaming people for their individual decisions, it's the government's fault that the pandemic is this bad and individual decisions don't matter" to "stop traveling, your individual decisions matter and you are putting things at risk," I just wish that it would make up its fucking mind one way or the other so I know what the correct thing to believe is

maybe different people are saying different things?

it's the same people

(and no, I'm not traveling, I am just attempting to do the right thing, but that's hard when "the right thing" changes every 2 hours and yet you are expected to have always known and been doing it all along, or else be mocked forever)

Sounds like you know what the right thing is in this instance. Why focus on the noise?

because it is logically impossible to comply with "you are wrong if you think individual decisions matter" and "you are wrong not to think individual decisions matter"

the govt fucked up AND individual decisions matter. doesn't seem too out there!

if they completely changed the thing they're saying since yesterday, hit 'em with a "this u?" receipt and forget about them

it is not a binary thing and some individual decisions matter more and have greater consequences than others, is that okay

You can pick one and stick with it to the best of your ability, if you so wish. But on a more abstract level, it makes for an interesting philosophical debate:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/

I mean, the idea that it isn't a binary thing does not seem too far-fetched, but the options according to The Discourse do not allow for it

like, for instance, everyone today is saying "your personal set of circumstances for traveling doesn't matter, you're still wrong for doing it and you should not do it and if people shame you for it, you deserved it," which seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to think. however, when the exact same people, a few weeks ago, were saying "don't shame people for their individual decisions, the government has created this crisis, individual decisions do not make a difference in that context and you're just looking for a reason to shame others, karen," I don't know how to reconcile that. I just don't. especially since both of these are prescriptive things. they are telling you what to do and what to think.

What dyou think yourself

I don't fucking know, but I also know that I am also not equipped to know, because another thing you are not supposed to do is pretend that you know the answer instead of listening to others (see: nate silver)

Humans aren't particularly self-consistent. They change their minds and contradict themselves all the time. It's always been like this.

xps - let me clear up any possible confusion. individual decisions matter because that is the nature of infectious diseases. governments can educate, assist, and attempt to regulate the decisions of individuals via various degrees of coercion. and these government measures can be confusing, misleading, misguided, or ineffective quite apart from the question of whether the doofus next door is wrong to ignore those measures.

and all this combined with the parallel "it is always wrong to snitch" discourse which would seem to be logically incompatible with the "shaming people for things they said about traveling" discourse, as well

id say theres an inbetween course that could be navigated, or that whatever decisions between the two extremes you make in each context that arises will be fine

What more can one do

Agreed, Aimless, but I'd add "negligent" and "homicidal" to the description of government (in)action.

What is The Discourse?

It’s the only thing that matters!

it's truly impressive that you can do this bit about anything from a pop album to a fucking pandemic

sorry? I shouldn't have said anything I guess. I really just am trying to do the right thing

Have you considered religion

It’s certainly not a worse way of figuring out the right way to live than “what some people posting today happen to say”

is that a serious question

Yes

then the serious answer is yes but but for some combination of "I would have to believe something that is morally abhorrent," "I would have to experience some profound mystical revelation/transcendent state that I have not, even when the religion said it was impossible not to," and "I would have to believe I am going to hell, in which case, why not just skip the middleman"

Allow me to suggest liberal Judaism, where the first two are at worst optional and the third is certainly absent. Downside is the conversion process has much more homework than Islam, which could suit your needs but I am in less of a position to recommend.

except that if I think the wrong thing I doubt explaining that I converted to a religion would make people understand

See when you have a religion it doesn’t matter what other people think anymore only what god thinks.

Whose advice do you trust, exactly? Whose do you distrust? Is 'mine' ever an answer to the first question for you?

I don't trust anybody's advice since so much of it contradictory, but I know that everyone thinks everyone is obligated to trust their advice

There's something to be said about weighing the pros and cons and then owning your decision regardless of what a person on the internet thinks.

like with the covid thing I got lucky that "you have an obligation to go out and ~support the economy~" never got that much traction, so staying inside/quarantined was a relatively safe option that nobody could object to

There's plenty of internet outrage for anything you may choose to do in life. At a certain point it becomes so much white noise.

until you do something wrong and become the target of it

Are you required to broadcast all your personal decisions online?

no, which is why I largely don't, because I just don't know what all the rules are, there are more every day, and more contradictions in them are also created every day

Generally speaking, wearing masks and avoiding sustained contact, indoors or outdoors, with people outside your trusted zone -- this works.