coronavirus

Rick said:
When you go back and forth between saying the virus ain't all that, and it's the greatest bioweapon in history, you don't need anybody else to argue with. You can just fight yourself.

Rick said:
The death toll for Covid a hundred years ago would have been horrific. Essentially everybody who needed hospital care would have died.

dannyboy73 said:I dont agree. This is no black death.
Even if that were the case...still far less than 1% of the population. Would have been recorded as bad flu year or two?

luki said:My Mrs got Astra Zeneca vaccine yesterday evening and is really sick all night. Did you guys who've had AZ have fever and severe headaches and if yes for how long please? She took some ibuprofen and that seems to have let her get to sleep now at least.

Fatpete said:
(the symptoms, not the neighbours :-) )

We are living through a time of fear – not just of the virus, but of each other

Welcome to the age of fear. Nothing is more corrosive of the democratic impulse than fear. Left unaddressed, it festers, eating away at our confidence and empathy.

We are now firmly in a time of fear – not only of the virus, but of each other. Fear destroys solidarity. Fear forces us to turn inwards to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Fear refuses to understand or identify with the concerns of others.

In fear societies, basic rights become a luxury. They are viewed as a threat, as recklessness, as a distraction that cannot be afforded in this moment of crisis.

Once fear takes hold, populations risk agreeing to hand back rights, won over decades or centuries, that were the sole, meagre limit on the power of elites to ransack the common wealth. In calculations based on fear, freedoms must make way for other priorities: being responsible, keeping safe, averting danger.

Worse, rights are surrendered with our consent because we are persuaded that the rights themselves are a threat to social solidarity, to security, to our health.

Nimble said:Counterpoint(s) to Rick — a significantly younger population and much lower levels of obesity, diabetes and other complications may (in this hypothetical) serve to balance the effects of the poorer medical care a century ago.

The relatively mild impact on African countries (hopefully this is not a premature observation) might serve to illustrate this point.

WILLSAN said:https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2021-03-23/fear-police-protest/
a great essay on the dangers of exchanging freedom for safety.

dannyboy73 said:ive also noticed a tremendous amount of peer group pressure to have the jab.

PROFESSOR BRENDAN WREN: Britain cannot be held to ransom by the vaccine refuseniks who risk a third wave

AdamT said:Why the hell would I take a vaccine for an illness that I'm over 99% sure I would recover from?

Billwest said:
The owner of the gym I train caught Covid, March last year. Fit strong guy in his 40s (competitive bodybuilder) spent 5 weeks on a ventilator, nearly died. Lost 35kg in weight. He recovered. I wonder how he'd answer that question.

WILLSAN said:
personally, I dont think anecdotes of this type are appropriate for this thread. im sure many of us have individual stories which could illustrate the effects of both covid and the lockdowns in an extremely emotive way - I certainly do. but this subject is contentious enough without cranking the dial up even more. not my call obviously but that is my view.