Anyone out there still think COVID-19 is "no big deal" or not even remotely as bad as seasonal 'flu (which for many countries, including the US, is a big deal)?
Best of luck to you all, even including Ron.
Thank you for your concern. I'm sure it is sincere and heartfelt.
As I said before, I think that a lot of people are finally realizing that they live on Pandora. The difference being that there are very few large toothy creatures stalking us, most of them can only be seen in a microscope. H2N2, H3N2, H1N1, H5N1, SARS, MERS, Marburg, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, Cholera, various Plagues, Zika and now Covid19. When coupled with the plethora of insect born diseases, cancers and dangers of our own making (automobile accidents, heart disease...), it becomes clear that death is constantly stalking us all. Nothing new here, it is the reality of the planet we live on, the environment we've created and a largely unspoken part of the rich tapestry of the human condition that has existed as long as man has existed. Should we give each of these possible threat vectors its due worry, even the youngest among us would not live long enough to give each its proper degree of concern. We can thank the media and government response for this new found knowledge that has frightened the ignorant among us and possibly created a generation of xenophobes.
Having said that, when we know a threat is present, it would be imprudent to not take the proper precautions and protect the vulnerable (myself being part of that vulnerable demographic). The argument is over the definition of the word "prudent" (or "imprudent" if you prefer). In China it was deemed prudent to weld the doors on apartment complexes shut, let people starve to death and police the bodies after the fact. In the US and other parts of the world it was deemed prudent to order people to stay in their homes under threat of monetary penalty up to and including men with guns showing up at your door if you refuse to comply. The latter implementation of "prudent" being the same as the former Chinese implementation given time. In Sweden the implementation of prudent was to implement all but the lock down of the population. They have pursued what many would consider the appropriate level of prudence and their outcomes are roughly the same as those who overreached.
Though this pandemic was not the global killer many feared, the interesting thing about this exercise to me is the discoveries. The discovery of just how vulnerable the worlds supply chain is. Basing the worlds production in the country responsible for the source of this and likely the next pandemic has proven to be an act of stupidity. What if they decided to cut off the drug supply to the US and Europe because they are pissed off about being called out for shutting down travel within China while letting international travel continue as they cornered the world supply of medical supplies to fight the virus? Would the result be WWIII? Another discovery that I find fascinating is just how unprepared the world was for this in spite of having faced similar threats a dozen times in the last 30 years. Yet another interesting discovery is in the efficacy of pandemic models, their accuracy in predicting death counts, death rates, supplies needed and a number of other predictions. Even more revealing, we now know just how concerned the political left is with the well being of their constituents. What did the green new deal, boardroom diversity and union power have to do with people dying and loosing their jobs? Was the delay in aid worth the gains on these fronts? What does bailing out mismanaged states have to do with keeping businesses (the source of jobs) viable during the government mandated shutdown? New York was billions in the hole before the pandemic hit and now they want the tax payer to make them whole? Perhaps they don't realize that the source of their revenue is still under lock and key with threat of monetary or physical violence if they don't comply.
All and all, it's interesting enough to make me want to head for the shop and crack open a beer. Gotta be noon somewhere right...