COVID-19 COVID Fatigue, Coping, Support, Venting, etc.

[Tessa120]

It's the fact that we're having to live an unnatural lifestyle. Human beings weren't meant for this, which is why there's mental breaks happening. No one's gone to this extreme for previous pandemics.

I partially blame scientists. They aren't used to conducting science with a timer counting down so they haven't changed that much of their habits for analyzing over the course of years or decades. A year has passed so they should know everything long before now, yet they are still giving feel good words like "probable" or "viruses like this but we're not sure of this virus." They should have known Lysol is a winner in the first 60 days, how hard is it to smear it on things then spray and then sample? They easily should know if immunity is more or less than one year. They should know the reason some people are hit harder and be well on their way for a countermeasure or already have one.

But nope, science is refusing to speed things up, so part of the death and disability toll should be dropped on their door step. I heard in the US only 20 million vaccines will be made first batch. Doubt it will be most at risk first. Partially because scientists are dragging their feet and won't quickly figure out who is at risk for a ventilator and who will have a mild cough.

 

[dannyy315]

It's the fact that we're having to live an unnatural lifestyle. Human beings weren't meant for this, which is why there's mental breaks happening. No one's gone to this extreme for previous pandemics.

I partially blame scientists. They aren't used to conducting science with a timer counting down so they haven't changed that much of their habits for analyzing over the course of years or decades. A year has passed so they should know everything long before now, yet they are still giving feel good words like "probable" or "viruses like this but we're not sure of this virus." They should have known Lysol is a winner in the first 60 days, how hard is it to smear it on things then spray and then sample? They easily should know if immunity is more or less than one year. They should know the reason some people are hit harder and be well on their way for a countermeasure or already have one.

But nope, science is refusing to speed things up, so part of the death and disability toll should be dropped on their door step. I heard in the US only 20 million vaccines will be made first batch. Doubt it will be most at risk first. Partially because scientists are dragging their feet and won't quickly figure out who is at risk for a ventilator and who will have a mild cough.

I know 20 million doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a step closer to herd immunity. So it will at least slow the spread.

 

[Tessa120]

I know 20 million doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a step closer to herd immunity. So it will at least slow the spread.

The US has 328 million people. That is 6% of the population.

Here's a comparison. When vaccination rates for measles drops below 92-95%, there is too little herd immunity to keep outbreaks from happening. Using the low number 302 million people in the US must be vaccinated or measles survivors to keep an outbreak from happening, rates evenly spread out, no clumping of non-vaccinated rates.

6% is nothing. They can do better and they should do better, not make it seem champagne worthy celebration that they can make 20 million vaccines by the end of the year.

When science wants to, when it has the will, it can move mountains quickly. It just doesn't have the will. There was an admittedly half fictionized movie about the AIDS epidemic, where one of the scientists had a board with the butcher's bill every single day to get colleagues to work fast. It's so needed today.

 

[happygoth]

We should definitely stop blowing things out of proportion yes. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse 😂

Wow. Alrighty then...🙄

 

[SallyHoover]

Over 260k have died from COVID in 9 months, but I’m sorry if anyone is “fatigued” by having to wear a piece of cloth over their mouth into a grocery store

Fatigued by the stress of it all, including not being able to visit family and loved ones, not by wearing the mask.

 

[SallyHoover]

ttr001 said:
We should definitely stop blowing things out of proportion yes. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse 😂

Wow. Alrighty then...🙄



Everyone knows its the vaccine that will set off the zombie apocalypse not the virus.

 

[ttr001]

Fatigued by the stress of it all, including not being able to visit family and loved ones, not by wearing the mask.

Ladies and gents, we have a winner

 

[dannyy315]

Fatigued by the stress of it all, including not being able to visit family and loved ones, not by wearing the mask.

I was referring to a specific recent post, the one about showing up to a grocery store without a mask and not wanting to go back home to get one.

 

[Tessa120]

Honestly, that is an accurate outlook. COVID-19 will not end civilization. It didn't prevent an election. We still have water and electricity and gas. We still have plenty of good food coming in from farms and slaughterhouses.

Think of the last major natural disaster you lived through. Think of all that you lost temporarily. Think of what it was like to not have any means of calling out to get information and let others know you are safe. Not have any means of replenishing your pantry so hope you stocked up well. No power, so even with the ice cold showers you are still covered with stink and you have to go to bed with the sun. Thankful that your water supply is clean enough to drink and shower in as your emergency radio is saying which parts of the metro area have to boil due to contaminated water. Grateful that the little corner store hooked one register and emergency lights to a generator because while the entire store makes you want to vomit (they threw out the bad meat but the smell remains) they are the only store open for miles and their boxed items are still edible. Grateful that a week has gone by because there isn't a week left of no electricity, no meaningful amount of food replenishment, questionable water and an absolutely shattered supply chain. Grateful you live near a hospital because while the number of deaths directly attributed to the disaster is sadly high, being near a hospital means power before other parts of town.

And that's mild. Other disasters don't measure destruction in a matter of only weeks. They measure in months. Sometimes years.

I haven't seen that level of destruction at any point. Quite the opposite. I have clean water, power, *and internet*. The grocery stores are stuffed full of food. Civilization will survive. This is not the apocalypse.

Look at earlier plagues to see how lucky we are in this.

 

[seasonaldude]

The US has 328 million people. That is 6% of the population.

Here's a comparison. When vaccination rates for measles drops below 92-95%, there is too little herd immunity to keep outbreaks from happening. Using the low number 302 million people in the US must be vaccinated or measles survivors to keep an outbreak from happening, rates evenly spread out, no clumping of non-vaccinated rates.

6% is nothing. They can do better and they should do better, not make it seem champagne worthy celebration that they can make 20 million vaccines by the end of the year.

When science wants to, when it has the will, it can move mountains quickly. It just doesn't have the will. There was an admittedly half fictionized movie about the AIDS epidemic, where one of the scientists had a board with the butcher's bill every single day to get colleagues to work fast. It's so needed today.

That's not really the fault of science. That's the fault of government. Scientists have the resources that they have to produce vaccines. They can't magically conjure up more production. Government, however, could initiate a WWII like mobilization effort to build/retrofit facilities to produce more quickly. But, that would cost a lot of money and we might be able to build a few less toys for the military or we might have to increase taxes on wealthy campaign donors. So, it's unlikely.

 

[Tessa120]

But what they do have are pharmaceutical companies that aren't in competition on the R&D portion because they produce generic medicines, including generic injections. So how hard would it be to rent space and people in all manufacturers' production areas? Those companies aren't racing for an alternative vaccine, so they've nothing to lose and money to gain.

 

[seasonaldude]

But what they do have are pharmaceutical companies that aren't in competition on the R&D portion because they produce generic medicines, including generic injections. So how hard would it be to rent space and people in all manufacturers' production areas? Those companies aren't racing for an alternative vaccine, so they've nothing to lose and money to gain.

That's not a complaint against SCIENCE. That is a complaint against pharmaceutical companies. That is something they might be able to do, but it's probably not all that practical. People do still need other medicines that those other companies are producing. We can't just stop production of everything else. (Well, I'm cool with stopping Viagra production, but that's a different type of facility.) If you're talking about switching out production of a facility that produces vaccines, what are you going to stop? Measles? Polio? Malaria? You'd be stopping one pandemic sooner, but possibly creating another one.

 

[IWishIKnew]

But nope, science is refusing to speed things up,

That's not how science works. The fact that they do know as much as they do about this virus that's literally only a year old is pretty amazing. Yes, everything is "probable" for awhile because until experiments are performed, reviewed, reviewed again and tested by other people that's all you've got. Otherwise you have people going off the handle about, say, hydroxychloroquine being some sort of miracle drug based on one tiny study. When "science" goes too fast people die, particularly in situations like this. Would you rather they have just rushed out the first vaccine-like thing and said "there! all fixed!"? Even if it didn't work? Even if they don't know if it was safe? Even if all of the ancillary parts of the vaccine manufacturing process (glass, needles, et. etc.) would have been nowhere near prepared for a large scale rollout?

Yeah, we're all fatigued and it sucks, but that's not a failure of scientists. If the federal gov't (and many state & local gov'ts) was even the slightest bit competent about managing this pandemic we would be in better shape right now. It's been a monumental failure of leadership at almost all levels.

 

[Tessa120]

You are right about government/leadership. But what empowers a person, what gives a person strength to make it through a tough time. Accurate information. If you don't have accurate information you are trapped in a sea of nothingness with no way out.

Think about it. Serious sickness, you research the crap out of it until you know as much (and sometimes more) about that specific condition. You go to buy a home, you research how to read a HUD and how the interest works and everything else until you know walking in that you can figure it out. That computer you are sitting at, you didn't just buy one, you figured out what you need, what you don't need, and the best way to balance that and money. Appliance busted and not covered by the lease, you make sure you know so well that you could do it on your own if you had the tools and manpower, and you know for certain you won't be cheated.

Is a year a long time or a short time? How long does it take a virus to reproduce and spawn the next generation? If it takes a while I could see a year being a short time. If viral replication happens quickly, then anything that affects the virus will be apparent long before a year.

People will handle everything a lot, lot better if the CDC and other organizations give lots of hard information on the hows and why, rather than "not sure yet" answers. If the answers aren't there, then someone is screwing up or taking their sweet time.

 

[happygoth]

You cannot rush a vaccine out. It has to go through the proper testing, and that takes time.

 

[happygoth]

A quick Google search shows that most vaccines took years to develop.

 

[commiecorvus]

We should definitely stop blowing things out of proportion yes. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse 😂

I know two people who have died from Coronavirus.
I hope you are lucky enough to never have that happen.
I know people who have been sick with it and are still dealing with long term effects.
I hope you are lucky enough to never have that happen.
I am currently working with my team making plans for how we are going to deal with the influx of people who have long term disabilities because of coronavirus.
I am sure you will never have to do that.
Of course this isn't the zombie apocalypse but all the movies and TV shows about zombies aren't about zombies as monsters (at least not the good ones).
They are about man's inhumanity to man.
And this pandemic has done an amazing job of bringing that to the forefront.
If you ever had any doubt that we would be wiped out in a zombie apocalypse, our behavior during this pandemic has pretty much proved we would.

 

[Tessa120]

You cannot rush a vaccine out. It has to go through the proper testing, and that takes time.

If they are saying 20 million doses by the year's end, then they did go through all the testing and are set for release to the public. Which, yes I checked, they did.

And for older vaccines, scientific ability was not nearly as advanced as it is now. Better science = better speed while maintaining accuracy.

It can't possibly be too much to ask that they actually release information to medical professionals that can save lives, such as why some people need a ventilator, because that means super early not yet known treatment could make a ventilator unnecessary.

It can't possibly be too much to ask that hard facts are released in a timely manner. Especially since that is what people need to feel empowered to emotionally survive the pain now and know exactly (no guesswork) what measures are good and what aren't.

 

[redeye58]

We should definitely stop blowing things out of proportion yes. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse 😂

Tell that to the folks who have lost family members to COVID & see how far that gets you.

 

[Captain Orca]

If (when) some asshole coughs a cubic foot of vaporized C19 waterlogged snot close to your face it ain't any of this 15 min close contact shit, you got blasted and hopefully you're not infected. Wash and rinse immediately, drop whatever the hell you're doing. This is why you have to avoid the dick heads who refuse to mask up. Let them know, get loud, and just do it, your health depends on it. Tell their snowflake "my rights" horse shit to take a hike and be firm.

 

[ttr001]

Tell that to the folks who have lost family members to COVID & see how far that gets you.

Died *from*, or died *with*. I could die *with* a cold but it doesn’t mean I died *from* that cold

 

[Captain Orca]

My glasses fog, I carry a piece of Kneenex with me. Mask on in stores, mask off in the airplane, on the golf course or at the trout streams. Wearing one while shopping is simple. I'm not a shopper per se, I know what I want, I know where it is, I grab what I need and head for the SCO. Done...elapsed time from parking the Maserati to leaving the store--------> <10 mins.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Died *from*, or died *with*. I could die *with* a cold but it doesn’t mean I died *from* that cold

You could die from it.

 

[ttr001]

You could die from it.

Could. But I could also die in a car accident. Shall I isolate from cars and roads because of the distinct possibility of death and/or injury?

 

[Captain Orca]

ttr True dismissiveness at it's finest. Foolish statement.