Rant... you can’t fix stupid

[Al Agnew]

Sigh...NOBODY says masks are perfect protection.  But the SCIENCE says that the virus particles are carried in water droplets.  Are the droplets small enough to go through a mask like most are wearing?  Some are.  Some aren't.  And of those that are, they aren't intelligent, they don't seek out the holes in the weave of the mask.  Many, probably most, will be caught by the mask.  Now...maybe in the next 15 minutes as you breathe in, you'll pull a few more off the mask and into you.  But the viral load you end up receiving will be lessened overall.  So yes, wearing a mask does provide you with some protection.  Not nearly as much as others wearing one protects you, for the reasons we've already stated.  So yeah, you wear a mask for three reasons.  Biggest one, to reduce the likelihood of you spreading it to others if you're infected.  Second reason, not as big but part of the whole strategy, to protect yourself a bit.  Third...BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO IN A CIVILIZED SOCIETY.  Since your refusal to wear a mask puts others at more risk, AND makes those of us who understand the whole thing a lot more uneasy about the danger you're putting us in, to not wear one is the height of selfishness. 

Here's a piece I wrote last night on my Facebook page...I think it's time to start thinking about an end game in this thing, which starts with the vaccines. 

I get a limited number of free articles online from National Geographic...I really should subscribe to it. They have been posting a lot of articles on Covid, and the one I read tonight I found very interesting, and somewhat encouraging. It was talking about re-infections in people who have already had it. The numbers of reinfections are rising, and probably being under-reported. But they are still quite rare, in the tens or hundreds per country. Some apparent re-infections end up being more serious than the original infection (more about why I said "apparent" later), while others are less serious or asymptomatic.

Apparently the experts mostly expect re-infections to keep happening, but many think that some cases of re-infections, including some of the worst, are because the virus itself remains in the body, so they aren't technically re-infections. And in some people who have such re-infections, the body simply didn't develop enough B cells and T cells, the cells that produce the antibodies, to have a robust response to the virus when it flares up again. They think most people with healthy immune systems will develop enough of those cells to fight off the virus in future exposures.

Early evidence is that the vaccines being developed will force the body to produce enough of those cells to ward off the disease, and that enough of those cells will remain in the body to produce antibodies for a long period of time. So while you probably won't develop complete immunity to the disease, you will, if you have a healthy immune system, produce enough antibodies to fight it off with fewer and milder symptoms when you are exposed again.

Of course, the rub here is that you CAN get it again, and even if you have mild or no symptoms, you are still contagious and can pass it along to someone who doesn't have as strong an immune system, or who may have never been exposed to it before. Which means a couple of things....unless and until it is shown that most people have enough immunity response to fight it off, such measures as masks and social distancing might be around for a long time. Unless, of course, enough people actually take a vaccine, at whatever time intervals is deemed necessary, to achieve the kind of herd immunity needed; because herd immunity otherwise will require at least 60% of the population to actually contract the disease, according to other experts I've read. That's 180 million people in the U.S. alone. And if 1% of those 180 million people die from it, that's 1.8 million people dead in however long it takes to get that percentage infected.

The nice thing about getting an effective vaccine is that, at least, it becomes more a matter of the stupid being weeded out, instead of the innocent along with the stupid. If there is a vaccine and you don't take it and I do, I no longer have to worry about you spreading it to me. You can get it and suffer however much you will, but you'll only spread it to others as stupid as you were in not taking the vaccine. Right now, your irresponsibility in not social distancing and not wearing a mask in public indoor places or other crowded places can adversely affect others.

At least, though, maybe this article explains in more depth what the future may hold. Science isn't perfect, but it's a heck of a lot more reliable than internet "experts" with agendas.

[tjm]

N-95 is the thing! those fashion masks just mask the problem! wait I got a hanky I'm OK

If you don't wear the things at home, and maintain social distance in the house you are endangering your loved ones.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, Devan S. said:

2-3,000 people a day are dying. 200k+ new infections daily. 

EVEN if those numbers are wrong and its actually half then its multiple magnitudes larger than tick bite deaths. 

So 1 in 100 are dying.  And of those infected, probably only 1/10 of those are actually dying strictly because of the Covid.  

Don't ya think that's a more realistic way to look at it?   

So if 1000 people got bitten by ticks, how many do you think might be near fatal?     At least 1 right?     Yeah.

So what were you saying? 🤔

[Devan S.]

Your missing my point. 

 

There is not 200k+ new cases of tick borne illness everyday. 

I'm not making the claim that tick borne diseases are more or less deadly. Only making the claim that the frequency with which they happen is magnitudes less (on average there is only 50k cases a year).

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Devan S. said:

I'm not making the claim that tick borne diseases are more or less deadly. Only making the claim that the frequency with which they happen is magnitudes less (on average there is only 50k cases a year).

How could you possibly know that.  Not everyone that gets bitten by a tick goes rushing off to the hospital/clinic.   

I tested RMSF positive, and would have never known had it not turned up in a blood test for a totally unrelated issue.   I studied everything I could find on RMSF and I had never experienced a single symptom that was listed.   They tried their damndest to start me on "treatment" for it (very expensive) but I resisted.   That was almost 8 years ago.   Still not a single issue.  

[Chief Grey Bear]

35 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

How could you possibly know that.  Not everyone that gets bitten by a tick goes rushing off to the hospital/clinic.   

 

That is probably the most bazaar comment you’ve ever made. 
You know with all your scientific data that you expunge on society daily. 

[fishinwrench]

31 minutes ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

That is probably the most bazaar comment you’ve ever made. 
You know with all your scientific data that you expunge on society daily. 

Seriously?   Of all the crazy crap that I've posted here, you chose THAT as the most bizarre?    

I think you might need more than a Covid test.   😂 

[Chief Grey Bear]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

Seriously?   Of all the crazy crap that I've posted here, you chose THAT as the most bizarre?    

I think you might need more than a Covid test.   😂 

Oh, we are so close to getting you there!! 😆😆

As side note, I didn’t realize spellcheck helped me out. Thanks spellcheck, but please, one lost soul at time. 

[tjm]

2 hours ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

That is probably the most bazaar comment you’ve ever made. 
You know with all your scientific data that you expunge on society daily. 

nope he posted that a guy in the Ozarks might get a dozen ticks in a year -I think that is a more marketable comment

[fishinwrench]

40 minutes ago, tjm said:

nope he posted that a guy in the Ozarks might get a dozen ticks in a year -I think that is a more marketable comment

I was referring to EMBEDDED ticks. 

Nobody counts the ones you knock off that are just crawling. 🙄