Even if it kills (which it likely will), our track record shows that didn't care enough about that, and in a decreasing manner. So it'll only be worse.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Pretty sure every virus has killed people, from the cold, to flu, and of course covid. It feels like now the death rate for the latest variants of covid are pretty comparable to the flu, the virus has lost a lot of its killing power over time.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Death rates aren't a feeling. I want some hard numbers.

I feel like we just don't care if we live or die anymore.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I know I've read reports about the latest variants being much less deadly. I did see one study recently which for patients presenting to hospital covid was a few percentage points more likely to result in death compared to hospitalized flu patients. There were a lot more covid patients though.

Found it:

death rates among people hospitalized for COVID-19 were 17% to 21% in 2020 vs 6% in this study, while death rates for those hospitalized for influenza were 3.8% in 2020 vs 3.7% in this study

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2803749

So there is some data backing up the feelings I've gotten from everything I've been hearing and seeing.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So that's almost twice as bad as the flu.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean, that's one way to look at it. I looked at it as only a couple percent higher death rate than the flu. Either way, a little less than 2x is way better than like 5x worse.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Obviously it's better than before, but it's also worth keeping in mind these deaths are in addition to the flu.

Also, there are good and bad flu seasons. I see no reason for COVID to not be the same.

[–] SkepticElliptic 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

That's the same shit that businesses were pushing last time because they didn't want to close for a few months, ended up making everything worse.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

I know I am a bit biased here because I didn't get sick and didn't really try that hard to avoid it either. I only wore a mask when I had to, I went to bars with friends, really didn't take any extra precautions, and I washed my hands normally. If I got covid I didn't notice it.

Personally I would hate if we went into lockdown again, but again, I didn't get sick, the worst I felt was when I got the vaccine.

[–] Piers 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yup. More effective action faster would have had a higher same-day-you-make-the-decision cost but would have been tremendously less harmful economically to all the entities blocking it for fear of the economic impact to them. They were digging a mass grave and then leaping into it.

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[–] Piers 1 points 2 years ago

The issue is that it happens out of sight out of mind so it's just an abstract statistic that it's easy to ignore or pretend away. If Covid-19 killed you by making your head spontaneously fall off we'd have eliminated it or reduced it to a few tiny isolated pockets simply by the change in the public's attitude to it. But because it kills you "quietly" out of sight in a hospital bed or at home, people were able to just convince themselves everything is basically normal.