Poll of the Day > Did we overreact to this whole pandemic thing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm just looking back at my messages from early on in the pandemic and they just seem insane. Like I stayed in my house for a good three months and then went on a little secluded vacation with just my friends and no other humans involved, brought our own food up, stayed at a cabin by ourselves the entire weekend. But my brother absolutely LOST it on me for doing it and kept on texting me about how I need to be social distancing and wondering why my friends aren't masking up and getting all pissed off that nobody tested before coming.

Was the alpha variant that bad? Or is it just that the vaccine has made it so people don't care as much? When I went on that little vacation (June 2020) things were arguably the best they have been all pandemic with the lowest amount of cases.

Some did, others did not. Some still do, others do not. Depends the person.

wwinterj25 posted...

Some did, others did not. Some still do, others do not. Depends the person.

Yea. Some woman in China, who was 8 months pregnant and bleeding, got refused admission to a hospital because her negative covid test was 4 hours expired. So instead of giving her medical help they left her to suffer until a new test could be taken and she lost the baby as a result. The hysteria/overration is seriously bad with this.

IMO, I think the big reason why is that it's the first time in decades that there's been anything resembling a 'threat' medically to most of these first world countries. No one cared if you had a cold or the flu unless you were, like, handling food products. Even then your boss would still try to force you to work. Even if you were bedbound with something they'd try to pressure you to come in. Now, with Covid, you don't even have to be SICK (just unvaccinated) and, if someone finds out, they'll flip out like you were carrying the bubonic plague.

I remember someone posted recently something like 'now your co-worker in the next cubicle is free to do anything and can come into work sick and get you sick as a result'. Ignoring the supreme court ruling this was about, do these people remember life in 2019 or earlier? Cause it's been that way forever!

No. I still have not gone out in 2 years.

I would not say something absurd like 30% of the country currently having COVID is healthy.

Unbridled9 posted...

Yea. Some woman in China, who was 8 months pregnant and bleeding, got refused admission to a hospital because her negative covid test was 4 hours expired. So instead of giving her medical help they left her to suffer until a new test could be taken and she lost the baby as a result

I really don't believe this since most stories you hear about China are just propaganda.

Judgmenl posted...

No. I still have not gone out in 2 years.

I would not say something absurd like 30% of the country currently having COVID is healthy.

30% of the country does not have COVID. Maybe 2% has it lol.

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

30% of the country does not have COVID. Maybe 2% has it lol.

Please tell that to the 800k cases per day over the past week.
That is 5.6m cases. That is 1.8% of the population testing positive of those who actually bothered to get tested (why would you even bother getting tested?).

Underreacted is more like it

The baca to on probably wasnt as bad as your brother made it seem. Especially if you always around those friends Like I went to my friends house all the time. But we literally shared a desk at work. So, we were pretty much always together and in close proximity

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

Maybe 2% has it lol.

Im almost positive more than 2% has it. The real number isnt known. Many people dont get tested. And there are plenty of asymptomatic people. And the vaccine make symptoms milder, which could also mean many vaccinated people wont know if they get it

y'all took 2 years to do what every other nation did in 2 months... and then you reinfected those nations after the fact

Lokarin posted...

y'all took 2 years to do what every other nation did in 2 months... and then you reinfected those nations after the fact

Except most countries have a reliable vaccine thanks to a vaccine program funded by American taxpayers

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

I really don't believe this since most stories you hear about China are just propaganda.

Most of the stories are pro-chinese propaganda. I.E. A story like this is immediately censored unless it blows up so big so fast that they can't censor it. Even then it's gonna get blamed on a local official instead of whoever actually gave the ruling/guideline to do something like this so that the CCP doesn't take any blame.

The best way to deal with Chinese news is to assume that the CCP is always lying to make themselves look better.

Why are you immediately shifting to China? Isn't the current Russian aggression a result of poor COVID-19 response by the Russian government and their need to show force to energize their populace?

I rarely even see people saying anything negative about China anymore so I'm inclined to agree with unbridled. I've seen so many people lately be like "We ShOuLdVe DoNe WhAt ChInA dId"

Well, this whole thing is China's fault lest anyone forgets about that fact. Sometimes I wonder if china released it on purpose so that other countries would have to start clamping down on their citizens in a similar fashion

Yes. Lockdown was meant to flatten the curve, not eradicate the virus.

There was no lockdown here.

OhhhJa posted...

Well, this whole thing is China's fault lest anyone forgets about that fact. Sometimes I wonder if china released it on purpose so that other countries would have to start clamping down on their citizens in a similar fashion

How could anybody forget it when blaming China is literally the only thing the alt right did to hinder the pandemic

Shameless virtue signalling lol

Nope. It's just regular old end of the world

Blightzkrieg posted...

How could anybody forget it when blaming China is literally the only thing the alt right did to hinder the pandemic

Shameless virtue signalling lol

Funny, what I remember is people trying to say 'it came from China.' and being told they were being racist/discriminatory/etc and making hurtful comments about a regime that had done it's best to stop the spread (which is about as true as fire being good for puppy health).

Yeah people been apologizing for China since the beginning

If it was so taboo why was the president and every single one of his cronies leading the charge? How can you possibly think of yourselves as some oppressed minority while wielding so much fucking influence.

Can you list any other meaningful ways you reacted to the pandemic, or is that it and you think it's enough

Blightzkrieg posted...

How can you possibly think of yourselves as some oppressed minority while wielding so much fucking influence.

You say the weirdest things sometimes

The US government spent two years getting big mad about Xi online and yet it didn't stop COVID at all, what a shocker.

The simple fact is that, when it comes to China, the best thing to do is assume any news coming out of China that makes the CCP look good is, at best, heavily filtered if not effectively outright fabricated to make the CCP look good. Meanwhile, any news coming out of China that makes them look bad is, more likely than not, either true or much, much, much, closer to the truth. Sadly we've seen time and time again that western companies, like Blizzard, are more than willing to censor stuff if it means getting some of the Chinese Chedder.

Blightzkrieg posted...

The US government spent two years getting big mad about Xi online and yet it didn't stop COVID at all, what a shocker.

Yeah the public figures apologizing for China didn't stop it either. I think case numbers are higher than ever now with a dude in office who did nothing but apologize for China since the beginning of this

Considering there are people calling for the non-vaccinated to be fired from their jobs, evicted from the homes, shunned from society, deported, and moved to their own island, yes.

BEERandWEED posted...

Considering there are people calling for the non-vaccinated to be fired from their jobs, evicted from the homes, shunned from society, deported, and moved to their own island, yes.

Isn't that basically how Australia started?

Unbridled9 posted...

Isn't that basically how Australia started?

They were criminals and Australia seemed like a good prison at the time.

Later on, it was threw staging ground for the US to retake the Philippines from the Japanese during WWII.

It's also the home of the amazing aboriginal people.

BEERandWEED posted...

Considering there are people calling for the non-vaccinated to be fired from their jobs, evicted from the homes, shunned from society, deported, and moved to their own island, yes.

you don't even have to wear a mask in the grocery store in the US anymore and you think this is what's happening?

Kanatteru posted...

you don't even have to wear a mask in the grocery store in the US anymore and you think this is what's happening?

There have posters saying such things in this forum. So yes, there are people thinking and suggesting it.

oh ok posters on a message board are saying it. not anyone who has any power to actually do that. ok

THEGODDAMNBATMA posted...

Did we overreact to this whole pandemic thing?

No, we underreacted to it. And continue to underreact to it. Which is why it's still a problem, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

No, we underreacted to it. And continue to underreact to it. Which is why it's still a problem, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

Well... I mean you ARE named ParanoidObsessive....

At this point it is pretty much endemic.

Those who are vaccinated have mild symptoms. They can still get it & spread it - so the vaccine isn't a true vaccine.

Those who aren't vaccinated have their own issues. It is a problem that should sort itself out in due time.

11110111011 posted...

so the vaccine isn't a true vaccine.

I heard that vaccines are suppose to provide protection, meaning thats it is still a true vaccine. Plus, no vaccine is 100%

Seeing as whenever it gets annoucned we may see snow down here in georgia everyone flips out and buys shit like the apocolypse I'd say probably.

People didn't react enough when it counted. I remained locked away in my apartment for nearly 3 months, leaving once every 2 or 3 weeks just to get groceries. If everyone had done that, this pandemic would have been over by June 2020 at the absolute latest.

But nope, selfish and stupid people refused to be mildly inconvenienced for the greater good. They had one challenge to rise to in their generation and they failed, so the rest of us have to pay the consequences along with them.

This pandemic only really has one way to end now: hospitals refuse admittance to those that are both unvaccinated and COVID positive. Ignorance is the only way out of this. Shouldn't be that fucking hard, ignorance is why we're still in the pandemic anyway.

Cruddy_horse posted...

Seeing as whenever it gets annoucned we may see snow down here in georgia everyone flips out and buys shit like the apocolypse I'd say probably.

I live in GA as well. My band's manager sent a pic of people going nuts at the grocery store lol

faramir77 posted...

ignorance is why we're still in the pandemic anyway.

This reminds me how a bunch of people were on Facebook saying that COVID didnt exist And then got Covid and went silent for a couple of weeks

LinkPizza posted...

I heard that vaccines are suppose to provide protection, meaning thats it is still a true vaccine. Plus, no vaccine is 100%

The fact that we were able to develop a vaccine so fast, or even at all, is incredibly lucky. I was stunned by how many people in early 2020 (even important authority figures) were saying we just needed a lockdown for a few months until a vaccine was developed.

We will never have a perfect flu vaccine. We don't have an HIV vaccine decades later and it's more than possible we never will. And we'll certainly never have a perfect COVID vaccine.

The extent to which science can progress is finite, and most people don't appreciate that. Problems should be addressed strongly with the tools we have available, rather than waiting on a miracle cure. We didn't take COVID nearly seriously enough and have likely permanently lowered average life expectancy as a result.

Blightzkrieg posted...

The fact that we were able to develop a vaccine so fast, or even at all, is incredibly lucky. I was stunned by how many people in early 2020 (even important authority figures) were saying we just needed a lockdown for a few months until a vaccine was developed.

I heard it was about the same time (maybe a little faster) as other vaccines. But they did staggered testing to help with the timeline. Plus, unlike other stuff that has to wait in line for years to get approve, the Covid vaccine got to cut the line Which is why people were distrustful of it

Blightzkrieg posted...

We will never have a perfect flu vaccine.

Makes sense since they never even know for sure which one will be the big one each year. And its like constantly mutating

Blightzkrieg posted...

We don't have an HIV vaccine decades later and it's more than possible we never will.

We dont have a vaccine. But we do have PrEP

Blightzkrieg posted...

And we'll certainly never have a perfect COVID vaccine.

With the way its mutating, this is most likely true

Considering the US is almost up to a million COVID deaths, I think *maybe* the handling could have been better. And keep in mind most of the deaths were AFTER the vaccine came out. There have been almost twice as many deaths under Biden as there were under Trump, so something hasn't exactly gone right.

Keep in mind at the height of the pandemic you had idiots packed in the street for protests.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

No, we underreacted to it. And continue to underreact to it. Which is why it's still a problem, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

This. In many areas, the initial reaction was exactly what was needed to get case numbers under control while the health care system scrambled to develop the capacity needed to handle all the incoming Covid patients (mostly ventilators and PPE). Those areas got a handle on things and were able to safely resume at least some semblance of normalcy, albeit with a few extra precautions (like masks) while they waited for vaccines to become available.

Many other areas, however, did not react sufficiently and did not manage to get things under control (whether by a lack of political will or by poor compliance with restrictions), then proceeded to infect the regions that had done well once they relaxed a bit. Those areas reacted properly again, got things back under control, and then the cycle repeated. With each successive wave, however, people are getting more and more complacent, both in the regions that are doing well . Things were indeed in much, much better shape in June 2020 than they are now, but the fact that people were taking it more seriously back then wasn't an overreaction, it's a reflection of just how tired everyone's gotten of trying to solve the problem and how subsequently comfortable they've become with assuming they're safe because of vaccines and/or the belief that Omicron is a mild infection.

Zeus posted...

And keep in mind most of the deaths were AFTER the vaccine came out.

Between Delta and the US' extremely slow vaccine adoption rate, that's not overly surprising. Even less so when you throw in the CDC's idiotic proclamation that masks are no longer necessary for vaccinated people at a point when barely 30% of the country was vaccinated, as though there were any chance at all that wouldn't result in everyone giving up on them.

Zeus posted...

There have been almost twice as many deaths under Biden as there were under Trump, so something hasn't exactly gone right.

Also not surprising. Again, Delta, plus Biden's been handling this for longer than Trump did and took power while the the deadliest wave was in full swing.

LinkPizza posted...

Plus, unlike other stuff that has to wait in line for years to get approve, the Covid vaccine got to cut the line

It still hasn't been approved as far as I know. Just authorized for emergency use

The US hasn't managed herd immunity in 2 years, they underreacted.

Oh Dear God, This is Margaret, Yes.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

The US hasn't managed herd immunity in 2 years, they underreacted.

Every single iota of reported data has completely ignored the portion of the population that is naturally immune. The vaccine may help but it is not the only factor to herd immunity.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Every single iota of reported data has completely ignored the portion of the population that is naturally immune.

You can't be naturally immune to something you never had, and natural immunity dissipates with time, which is why there's 2 doses and multiple boosters.

If you dumbasses let it get to herd, it would die out and we wouldn't need boosters all the time and life could start proper again. But no, you have to keep it around long enough to evolve in to an issue like flu, a million variants and a new formula every year to minimise deaths.

No

It was spreading like wildfire in Italy and Spain before it was a major issue in the US. Everyone wants to blame the US but much of the rest of the world barely did any better with this

OhhhJa posted...

It was spreading like wildfire in Italy and Spain before it was a major issue in the US. Everyone wants to blame the US but much of the rest of the world barely did any better with this

Both spain and italy has 15% more of their population fully vaccinated, and the US is as big as Europe, it's a bit more people being handicapped.