Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[vivster]

RolStoppable said:

vivster said:

Doesn't really matter. A virus is way easier to combat than established bad habits. You could say the same about smoking and drinking, but it's moot to talk about it. It's only logical to tackle the easier to solve problem first or maybe do both at the same time? It's not like people have stopped caring about other issues during the pandemic.

A virus is only easier to combat because politicians have no spine. If they weren't servants of capitalism, then it would be clear to everyone that combating a virus is not easier.

A good example of this is sugar tax. The reason why a lot of sugar is added to processed food and drinks is because sugar tastes good and is a cheap ingredient, making it a win-win for producers; the downside is that it's unhealthy which in turn puts a lot of strain on healthcare. With COVID-19, politicians came up with a lot of measures that were often inconsistent and illogical, and which will ultimately cost the people of all countries a lot of money, because all variants of relief bills consist of a combination of taxpayer money and states taking on more debt which will have to be paid back with taxpayer money. On the other hand, sugar tax is a single easy to implement measure with longlasting positive effects and on top of that it isn't detrimental to the common people. Sugar tax makes sugar a more expensive ingredient, so producers will refrain from adding a lot of sugar for the sake of profitability; it really is that easy.

The coronavirus made peoples all around the world unite together because it was played up to be an immense threat despite being something that the vast majority was easily going to survive without any lasting drawbacks for their health. Meanwhile, there are much bigger problems with more severe consequences that keep leaving people cold. That makes it very easy to be cynical about humanity's grasp of common sense. Just like the high approval ratings of politicians who ordered strict corona measures, simply because not a lot of people died, completely ignoring that there was never going to be a big number to die because of COVID to begin with. But what can you do when the media has hammered the threat of corona into people's heads by continuously highlighting the worst cases instead of pointing to how many people got off easily.

The thing that bothers me the most about all those corona measures is that no country went with the simple idea of isolating its risk groups from the rest of the population instead of isolating everyone. The cherry on top is that old people are the most likely to not go along with the measures for reasons like having no faith in politics because they've become numb over decades of lies and deception, or having already experienced so many other crises that they know that it's always made out to be much worse than it really is.

Thankfully, the vaccines are coming. Because otherwise we would have politicians repeat the same thing again and again.

If most politicians worldwide did the lockdowns properly instead of half assed measures we wouldn't have a problem right now. Temporary lockdowns are absolutely fine. But if everyone is only doing a half assed job it will be as ineffective as a negligible sugar tax. The initial plan in Germany was solid; isolating local outbreaks. Sadly Angie had to wank off on her beloved federalism instead of actually enforcing the local lockdowns herself and let the individual states do nothing. God, I hate federalism so much.

Though I admit I could be a bit biased here since my introversion allows me to enjoy lockdowns, which are probably much harder on the general population. Which would make any measures against a virus a hopeless endeavor, just like trying to combat other harmful things that have become habits to people. But that means we're fucked either way and no point to complain about it.

Only isolating risk groups is not gonna work, mainly because there isn't a clear cut risk group. Imagine isolating only old people and letting the virus roam free amongst young people. You will cross a point where the virus will kill more young people than old people and then people will start to become worried again and demand action. Media hysteria aside I have plenty of colleagues who are genuinely worried about themselves or their loved ones because it really could hit them, no matter how small the chance and it could have irreversible lasting effects. That's legitimately scary. Much more scary than becoming fat but always having the option to do something about it.

Last edited by vivster - on 03 January 2021