Post
@eniko
> a large quantity of covid infections are asymptomatic (but can still spread) with figures quoted at 25%, 45% even up to 60% of infections
Which means that COVID is now part of everyday life, like colds and flus are, and most pandemic measures are now pointless. So it's time to divide them into;
a) part of our daily hygiene forever more
b) emergency measures that have done their dash, and need to be put back in the drawer for the next epi/pandemic
The debate now is, which is which?
1. covid has not shown a seasonal pattern
2. covid is far more severe and has a much higher chance of severe long term damage, even from mild infections, than either of those
3. covid is not a respiratory infection, it's a circulatory infection, so unlike colds and the flu it infects every organ in the body, not just the respiratory system, including the brain
Sensible. I wouldn't draw an equivalence between a cold and a flu either. Each virus has distinct symptoms and epidemiology that differs from the others.
As I hope was clear in the context of the whole post, what I'm saying is that because COVID is now ubiquitous, and unsymptomatic in about half of all cases, the time for emergency measures is over. Just like it's over now for the flu, even though it's still around.
(1/2)
@eniko
> there haven't been any emergency measures anywhere in the world for years
But not for lack of people clamoring loudly for them. For a return to lockdown, where society is an open-air prison. Where only large corporations get classed as "essential" but community greengrocers do not.
(2/2)
TBH I think it's like a couple of years after a natural disaster. When people start getting nostalgic about the way everyone put aside their differences and pulled together.
Of course, the nostalgia is not for the disaster, it's for the together. It's for that sense of ubiquitous care and cooperation. A couple of years later, when capitalist BAU has returned, we wonder why we can't have functioning human community all the time.
It's a good question.
I tried to move the focus to a more general discussion of disaster solidarity vs. disaster capitalism. Which might be more interesting for both of us, and less likely to get us grumpy.
Can we talk about that, or are we done here? Either is fine with me : )
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
