I’ve had a pet theory for a long time that society loses it’s collective mind every 10ish years or so, usually starting with a good reason, but the outcome is mass stupidity followed by mass forgetting leading to a new cycle. War on terror, GFC, crypto, covid, now AI. Although the cycle does seem to be shortening.
Also we’re just so damn stupid to learn from history, or even just people 10 years older than us, that we repeat the cycle.
And there I guess is where saying a new sucker is born every minute is from.
I have a more sympathetic view, I thought covid could have been much worse. Of course there were silly moments like the existential panic from a toilerpaper shortage but it seems like the vast majority of people acted responsibly and kept their heads over the long haul. In the meantime, we developed revolutionary vaccines that solved the problem.
There's the lingering societal PTSD to consider, but I think most of the challenge in the aftermath are latent issues that preexisted covid and it just brought them to the surface. I think our world a couple decades from now will be stronger than it would have been in a universe where covid never happened, and actually has a better chance at dealing with the next covid-level threat. Perhaps that is this, in a way.
Covid proved that a healthy looking society is not always so healthy, and I think it works in reverse too. The outcome of the upcoming election will tell us something about how far we have to go.
This might be Australia specific, but I think a lot of the movement restrictions were unnecessary. And long term damaging to not just adults but there’s a whole cohort of kids/teenagers who just missed out on certain things and we’re patting ourselves on the back we survived?
The places that needed restrictions such as hospitals & nursing homes still got covid by & large. We didn’t necessarily need to close down the whole show.
I’ve had my jabs, also had covid multiple times. I’m not a disbeliever, I just think the collective reaction was completely OTT.
1. no one knew that much about COVID. Even the authorities and experts!
2. It was a respiratory thing kinda like a cold or flu that killed some people. And then more people. And of course the news hyped that. So many theories and crackpots and experts and armchair-experts spouting all kinds of shit. It was tiring to open a web browser.
3. No vaccine. No vaccine for at least a year. You just have to wait for this tidal wave of sickness to hit you and everyone around you.
4. I recall seeing on the news what was happening in Italy.
March 2020, something like 600 people a day dying of covid. Italy's hospitals were being overrun with covid patients. It wasn't obvious who needed treatment and help to survive the night and who could just go home and be (quite) miserable for a bit. There were so many unknowns! Hospital overrun resulted in not just covid patients dying but also anyone else who needed to go to the emergency department was affected to some degree. Partly because the system didn't have the capacity and partly because you'd catch covid on top of the reason you were there. The systems were choking.
I was in Melbourne the whole time, through every lockdown. Everyone has an opinion on whether it was the right thing to do, but for me, it was the society agreed upon (via authority and literal epidemiologist expert guidance) way to avoid killing a single digit % of the population.
Don't get me wrong, I was so fucking sick of being couped up... but I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I had've put some of my neighbours through that first wave harsh covid. I couldn't say as to whether it would have killed some of them.
Yes, many people had it rough in so many different ways. Bureaucratic shit was being made up almost day to day and people were also trying to scam it day to day. So it isn't surprising shit happened. Everyone has a story.
However, to say "We should have.." belies the fact that hindsight is easy and recollection is rose tinted.
1. They still don’t, you just lived through an episode though so you feel good because you survived and it feels like you’re prepared.
2. Cool story.
3. Another cool story.
4. Yeah. People lost their minds because people got sick and gate crashed the ED for what’s to mostly normal person a bad flu.
You’re proving my point that people lost their minds. Our hospitals are more up the creek presently. I can’t emphasise that enough. All the billions upon billions of dollars spent during & since on R&D, staff, resources, beds. PRESENTLY - no covid outbreak - thank the lord.
These people always insist on literally ignoring the body count. Drives me insane. It was so far removed from a normal flu and everyone in the medical field will tell you that emphatically yet here people are acting like it was nothing.
grebc · · focus · HN ↗
Also we’re just so damn stupid to learn from history, or even just people 10 years older than us, that we repeat the cycle.
And there I guess is where saying a new sucker is born every minute is from.
doginasuit · · focus · HN ↗
There's the lingering societal PTSD to consider, but I think most of the challenge in the aftermath are latent issues that preexisted covid and it just brought them to the surface. I think our world a couple decades from now will be stronger than it would have been in a universe where covid never happened, and actually has a better chance at dealing with the next covid-level threat. Perhaps that is this, in a way.
Covid proved that a healthy looking society is not always so healthy, and I think it works in reverse too. The outcome of the upcoming election will tell us something about how far we have to go.
grebc · · focus · HN ↗
The places that needed restrictions such as hospitals & nursing homes still got covid by & large. We didn’t necessarily need to close down the whole show.
I’ve had my jabs, also had covid multiple times. I’m not a disbeliever, I just think the collective reaction was completely OTT.
_carbyau_ · · focus · HN ↗
1. no one knew that much about COVID. Even the authorities and experts!
2. It was a respiratory thing kinda like a cold or flu that killed some people. And then more people. And of course the news hyped that. So many theories and crackpots and experts and armchair-experts spouting all kinds of shit. It was tiring to open a web browser.
3. No vaccine. No vaccine for at least a year. You just have to wait for this tidal wave of sickness to hit you and everyone around you.
4. I recall seeing on the news what was happening in Italy. March 2020, something like 600 people a day dying of covid. Italy's hospitals were being overrun with covid patients. It wasn't obvious who needed treatment and help to survive the night and who could just go home and be (quite) miserable for a bit. There were so many unknowns! Hospital overrun resulted in not just covid patients dying but also anyone else who needed to go to the emergency department was affected to some degree. Partly because the system didn't have the capacity and partly because you'd catch covid on top of the reason you were there. The systems were choking.
I was in Melbourne the whole time, through every lockdown. Everyone has an opinion on whether it was the right thing to do, but for me, it was the society agreed upon (via authority and literal epidemiologist expert guidance) way to avoid killing a single digit % of the population.
Don't get me wrong, I was so fucking sick of being couped up... but I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I had've put some of my neighbours through that first wave harsh covid. I couldn't say as to whether it would have killed some of them.
Yes, many people had it rough in so many different ways. Bureaucratic shit was being made up almost day to day and people were also trying to scam it day to day. So it isn't surprising shit happened. Everyone has a story.
However, to say "We should have.." belies the fact that hindsight is easy and recollection is rose tinted.
grebc · · focus · HN ↗
2. Cool story.
3. Another cool story.
4. Yeah. People lost their minds because people got sick and gate crashed the ED for what’s to mostly normal person a bad flu.
You’re proving my point that people lost their minds. Our hospitals are more up the creek presently. I can’t emphasise that enough. All the billions upon billions of dollars spent during & since on R&D, staff, resources, beds. PRESENTLY - no covid outbreak - thank the lord.
_carbyau_ · · focus · HN ↗
Nah, minds were not lost. Italy simply had the bad luck to show us what "zero response" looked like.
> mostly normal person a bad flu
Nope.
Italy now: flu season for the year = ~3000 deaths
2020 Italy COVID for the year = ~74000 deaths
Bit of a difference. And that was with Italy also trying lockdowns and everything else once they realised how bad it was.
queenkjuul · · focus · HN ↗