Persephone

You know, I want to be wrong about #COVID. I want to learn that my degree of caution is unnecessary. I would love to stop alienating the people I love because their "careful" and my "careful" aren't the same.

It's just that the stakes are so high. The misinformation is so high. The good information that we do have indicates that to be truly confident, you need layers of protection (eg vax + mask + ventilation + distance + testing). My comfort zone is for a lot of those layers, more than most people feel is necessary.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

@novid #pandemic #CovidIsAirborne #LongCOVID #HighRisk

Dec 23, 2022 at 4:01pmWeb
Show threadEd SuominenDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @novid I’d love for that, too, but you’re not wrong and we both know it.
Show threadTatiana TrifanDec 23, 2022
@edsuom @nicedragon @novid
Where I live, hospitals are in staff mode due to infections in health care staff and in the population.
CEV and #chronicallyill are thrown under the bus for a 3rd winter. People fail to understand that a health care in which ER is not accessible is not a functioning health care. Vulnerable people can have an acute bout or progression or their illness that often needs rapid intervention to save their lives. This is not possible when health care is in staff mode.
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022

@Tatiana_Trifan I'm not familiar with the term "staff mode," and Google isn't helping.

But I do know that hospitals are struggling right now. A pediatrician I know is having a terrible time getting beds for patients who need them. The children's hospital that has cared for my kids sent out an email basically saying "don't let your kids get sick, and if they do, try to take them somewhere else."

Show threadTatiana TrifanDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon Sorry for the technical terminology. Staff mode means they are understaffed and have to cancel all non-essential care. For ER, this means increasing triage.
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022
@Tatiana_Trifan I see, thank you. I can only imagine how stressful that is for the staff, and of course trying to get care under such circumstances... scary all around.
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022
@edsuom Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I'm especially worried about people finding out that their "mild" case of COVID led to a sudden stroke or other catastrophic health event.
Show threadAnnForJusticeDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @novid The capacity for denial is huge, even in people I thought I knew.
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022
@AnnForJustice True. I think there's also the problem that there's been so much misinformation that even people who aren't in denial, even people who are trying to be safe, are still coming down in different places as to how safe is safe enough. Is it masks? Masks plus rapid tests? Masked and outside? Masked, outside, distance, and PCRed? We haven't had good official guidance on this, so we're all just trying to figure it out on our own.
Show threadPhil Stevens Dec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @novid This is just a little too reminiscent of how many of us have talked about #climate for the past three decades. Deja vu all over again.
Show threadPersephoneDec 23, 2022

@phil_stevens Yup, right there with you. I remember 20 or so years ago, a pollster asking me what my biggest voting issue was, and when I said "climate change," she had no idea what that meant. When I said "global warming," she understood what that meant, but was clearly astounded that anyone took it seriously. Just one example.

Of course, I will say that our climate desperation is to the point where, were it COVID, it would require every single layer of protection available plus the invention of a few more. With COVID, I feel less confident in how reasonable I'm being, but I'm still choosing to err on the side of being unreasonable.

In both cases, the consequent regrets of choosing to err the other way...

Show threadMartineDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @novid
My Sisters and Mother aren’t into masking and I am (love my respirators / don’t even notice them) and haven’t had Covid. Sadly not getting together with them as it seems that my standard is the problem. This article helped me soften my response to them. https://jessicawildfire.substack.com/p/its-not-cool-to-overreact-how-normalcy?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
It's Not Cool to Overreact: How Normalcy Bias Will Define Our Future

Psychology explains our greatest weakness.

OK Doomer
Show threadJanet MacKenzieDec 24, 2022
@nicedragon @novid @martineinedmonton Thank you for sharing this interesting article.
Show threadJessie G BrownDec 23, 2022
@nicedragon @novid Absolutely, being high risk changes all those misplaced assumptions that this is somehow not still a threat. #PAH #HighRiskCovid