Robinson Maureira 
GG"I guess we should retire the expression "avoid it like the plague" given how little effort people put into avoiding an actual plague."
#CovidIsNotOver #WearAMask 🥴​
daryl 
🤡@gemelliz maybe update it to "avoid it like a mask" avoid it like legitimate science" avoid it like ethical public health professionals"
🤖 The Droid Engineer
Simonoid@droidengineer @gemelliz that's when Darwinism kicks in. Thinning of the stupid so to speak.
Shuff@gemelliz @smudgiesmom, it does help population control. You gotta give it that.
SmudgiesMom
Frank Bennett 🇯🇵@gemelliz "Deny it like the plague."
Graydon@gemelliz If it was a little more lethal or obviously disfiguring, or if they weren't so happy it was differentially killing non-whites more, then maybe.
But mostly, if it wasn't going to cost the rich to fix it. Cost is unbearable and intolerable beyond any considerations of death or maiming; all the money goes to them, forever, and never leaves. (The mammonite relationship to money would be much healthier if it was merely an addiction.)
Same thing with the climate; money is better than life.
Lies Van Rompaey@gemelliz I'm pretty sure people would put a more effort in it if the mortality rate were 50% and symptoms would include pus oozing buboes and vomiting blood.
Jabsonik@gemelliz "Plague it with your avoidance"
uoou@gemelliz I respect how the letters get smaller as it goes down. That's how I plan, too.
Zorin =^o.o^=@gemelliz And if you don't want to wear a mask, at least get vaccinated and don't go out when sick. :/
Alexey Merz@gemelliz You might want to look into the infection fatality rate for the black death versus COVID, particularly following COVID vaccination and boost.
The black death killed about a third of the people in Europe. COVID-19 has killed a bit less than 0.3% of the people in the US, and most of those were unvaccinated.
COVID-19 is a terrible disease and a pandemic. It is not the plague.
gerdcastan@gerdcastan @gemelliz I don't want to get COVID so I do mask in most public settings, but I'm fully vaccinated and boosted, which greatly reduces the risk of long COVID.
Again, COVID is bad but we needn't pretend that with current vaccines and therapeutics it's bubonic plague or AIDS.
@gerdcastan @gemelliz Nope. There is a strong dose-response relationship for vaccination and boost and the protective effect of vaccination + boost against long COVID — once you’ve hd acut COVID — is closer to 3X.
Additionally, vaccination and boost substantially decrease odds of getting acute COVID in the first place, meaning that overall protection against long COVID is substantially better than 3x.
@gerdcastan @gemelliz 10-20% of acute disease cases, not infections. And most long COVID cases resolve after a few months.
Yes, COVID is serious business. But in 2023 we have good tools to decrease both the likelihood and severity of infection. Comparing the current situation in industrialized countries with good vaccine and therapeutic access to a plague is disempowering and unhelpful.
@gerdcastan @gemelliz Also your claim of “several infections per year” being “likely” is nonsense.
one nonplus one equals one@gemelliz change the end to "...given how much effort people put into exposing themselves and others to the plague"