How are you all doing in COVID-19 times?

[ByeBye]

So this is links to news?? Well, then, I am doing worse than before I entered this thread.

I'm doing well. One of the best years of my life but I don't watch news. Every flu type of season I avoid crowds and was social distancing before it was a term. Masks is the only difference for me and I don't wear those unless I'm around a group closer than arms length or so.

You know, a rattlesnake is more of threat to me than corona and I don't let them occupy space in my head either.
Folks act like if ya just stay safe enough, lol, you won't die. Maybe but you won't live either, you'll survive.

 

[crofter]

....Folks act like if ya just stay safe enough, lol, you won't die. Maybe but you won't live either, you'll survive.

Wearing the mask is to keep from killing others, like your elders. Many people do not care about their elders which is why some areas have such high levels of community spread and their elders are dying.

I get it Matala, you are an island. Except that in reality you are not an island, no one is.
-crofter

 

[Sofisintown]

I'm sick and tired of masks and the whole corona charade.
I can't wait to get out of here and isolate with other non-masked people.

 

[ByeBye]

No, not an island and the 'protect elders' rings hollow to this one. I am 68, is that old enough to qualify?

Most elders, in my world, get discarded or warehoused away, waiting on occasional visits from the too busy.

I don't think elder benefit is primary concern as much as pushing a social agenda.

The best lie is wrapped in 99% truth.

Ad hominem attack, crofter, usually a sign of emotional reaction, it seems.

There seems to be a lot of suffering, I am a compassionate fellow but I won't suffer the suffering or join the "Let's all pull together" club out of fear. I am not a herd type.

Don t mind if someone else is. Coexist, tread not

I assist anyone in need, that I cross paths with, that does not set off my toxicity detector

No smugness needed.
May all your dreams be true.

 

[Freelander]

Theres a whole lot of bad info out there, from 'were all going to die' to 'its just the Flu'.

With a +98% surviver rate, I tend to believe the latter.

 

[bullfrog]

The main problem I see is that over 300,000 people have died and many more will suffer because of long hospital stays and disabilities after, not to mention loss of jobs or the physical ability to work. Even a great nation like ours cannot afford a hit that is several times harder than other countries that we compete with. Covid 19 needs to be controlled better and stopped or the surviving 98% will be doing just that surviving. We sure seem to take for granted than our freedom doesn’t cost and that cost is born by us all as a nation.

 

[crofter]

US has over 135 thousand more deaths from covid 19 than any other country. Why is that? 
-crofter

 

[crofter]

This article is proposing a link to melatonin. Got it.
-crofter

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/12/covid-19-sleep-pandemic-zzzz/617454/

 

[ByeBye]

US has over 135 thousand more deaths from covid 19 than any other country. Why is that? 
-crofter

How do we 'know' this? Can it honestly be stated as fact? If we're wrong and it's fewer deaths, we're fearmongering, not intentionally, of course. If we're wrong and it MORE deaths, we'll empowering a false sense of security, no?

May I, politely, offer that having a link to a page, viewing a page, hearing a vid/podcast isn't "knowing"...that's reading/hearing.

It's a terrible confusing time for me to try to interpret media offerings, during all this, as. So no intention of being argumentative, because I have no idea how many people have died, who died primarily from covid or was there underlying, long term/short term health issues that any moderately, from big picture perspective (my words only), severe illness would potentiate? 

In the gray areas of diagnosis, what tips the scale in favor of listing as covid death? Medical guidelines, right? Well, it's a gray area, comorbidity, going to require some subjective interpretation. What if it's undeterminable what really caused the death, too many unknown variables with no time for expensive autopsies?

Does it really hurt to go ahead and list it as covid death, to perhaps keep spreading the message of "stay home" "be safe"...or maybe healthcare industry is benefitting from a windfall of gov assistance when they deal w/ a covid death, per death, and, you know...they're just giving it away, anyway.

And that's just the financial end, not to mention the promotion of social/political change agendas.

We need more accountability than people repeating things as facts, when all they're doing is reading and parroting what they read/hear, if we're ever to be cohesive about this.

No matter what, though, the suffering, whether from real or unsubstantiated sources, is evident, to me.

May we all come thru this metamorphosis with newly acquired, beautifully colored wings to fly with!!


"He, who controls the spice, controls the Universe" ~ - Baron Harkonnen "Dune"

"S/he, who controls the media, controls the pop culture hive mind" ~ me

 

[bullfrog]

I think it comes down to trust and having faith in your judgement even more than what people say, it is what they do. The deaths are real, whether from Covid or not an excessive number of people have died after being hospitalized, many times more than many nurses and doctors thought possible. Doctors are to a point they are having to let people die something they have never had to face in their entire career. My daughter who works in a clinic never had long lines of sick people for blocks in double rows in cars waiting hours to get tested for a sore throat. Do I trust politicians? No not really. This to me is just like war in many ways. I have to trust the person next to me to do what is necessary for both of us to survive. You form a bond with those that do what needs to be done to keep you alive and you despise the ones that got you in this mess because of their stupidity.

 

[user 423]

These days there are so many media outlets that have so many conflicting views it makes your head spin.

A healthy mistrust of 'the media' is one thing but ignoring reality is another.

Death solely from COVID or death with COVID and co-morbidity? Either way, you're still dead.

 

[ByeBye]

Healthy distrust of the media is one thing but ignoring reality is another.

Defining the term 'healthy distrust" and "reality", across the board, is problematic. That usually means, how I see it, which is just as valuable as anyone else's opinion.

Which is what I was referring to in last post. Can't trust numbers and anecdotal evidence isn't universally accurate.

Link for an opinion, offered for diversity of perspectives
The Incredible Belief That Corporate Ownership Does Not Influence Media Content

"Given that “90% of the United States’ media is controlled by five media conglomerates,” "

 

[Freelander]

I tend to look at the facts and decide what to believe, the Government has been lying to us for years.

 

[user 423]

Sure the govt. lies to us but the news about what's happening comes from many different sources.

You probably get your 'facts' from one or more of those sources. Yet other sources will differ and may even be completely opposite from your source(s).

Whose to say your 'facts' are correct?

For a lot of people it comes down to what they want to believe because opposing views are too inconvenient.

And that applies to a lot more than COVID.

 

[Freelander]

That is why to need to look at both sides carefully. I can post anything as 'news' but without hard data to back it up, its still fake news.

 

[ByeBye]

Whose to say your 'facts' are correct?

EDIT: I missed the mark on that, I thought you were referring to me but the rest rings true for me. Peace

What facts? I'd argue that 'facts' are only what we agree on till the majority of us change our minds.

I'll readily tell you I don't 'know' anything except how things seem to me, some times, and that's susceptible to change at any moment. 

Don't believe you'll find a post from me posting "facts" because I don't believe in them.

There's usually exceptions to everything. It's the nature of the world we live in, it seems. For every this, there is a that.

The egoic mind ignores that as it loves for things to be nicely put in their place all orderly so we can go about our business of trying to survive, or something.

 

[Freelander]

Of course there a thing called Cognitive dissonance basically its that no matter how many facts you give to someone, they will still have have certain biases against it.

Probably the best example is 'Baghdad Bob', he was telling on live TV that Baghdad was not under attack by the collation forces, and at the same time a M1 Tank was moving behind him in the background. Baghdad Bob later admitted he was starting to believe his own story.

 

[VanFan]

I have a great deal of respect for diverse points of view on any topic.  I will add that yesterday 30 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 occurred in the county I live in.  They were not all "elders," by any definition.  Please, do what you can/what you will.  Thanks.

 

[bullfrog]

It is hard to make up the long lines waiting at hospitals emergency rooms and testing centers. It is hard to imagine funeral homes taking a chance on loosing business due to delays. The demand for nurses and doctors by companies that have a reputation of not hiring more than necessary is a sign as well. This isn’t like the man on the moon event, with this you can go see for yourself if you don’t trust the media. Once you have then you can make a decision. It can mean whether someone survives so well worth while to do. Fortunately or unfortunately for me I have family involved that I trust to help me decide.

 

[crofter]

...May I, politely, offer that having a link to a page, viewing a page, hearing a vid/podcast isn't "knowing"...that's reading/hearing...

I listed a statistic based on a body count derived from the signed statement of trained doctors on death certificates of those who died. No I am not going to do my own independent body count, that would not be believed either. 

In determining cause of death of soldiers who die in battle, how do they really know that the soldiers did not die of fright? Maybe the bullets, shrapnel, and bayonets were just extra? I'm going with the bullets, shrapnel, and bayonets as cause of death because that can be proved scientifically and medically even though the soldiers did not receive an autopsy.

When I list a fact here, it is a scientifically provable fact. If you want to debate science, then use science as your argument.
-crofter