So is Texas gonna elongate the pandemic?

edited March 2021 in General

I mean, when people don't wear masks, and they gather without restriction... that increases the spread of the virus, and because viruses mutate, that increases the chances that vaccine-resistant variants spread and become dominant.

  1. Will Texas be the originator of COVID-21?43 votes
    1. Yes
      51.16%
    2. No
      48.84%
«1

Comments

  • Hi, I’m in Austin, Texas. Plenty of us are just as upset as everyone else in the country. And we are actively ignoring our governor. Some of us are still wearing masks especially in the blue larger cities. Hell, I got my first shot and I’m still wearing a mask. I don’t think I’ll stop.

    So please don’t group us all together. Some of us aren’t awful monsters. :)

  • I can't believe you didn't make this a poll.

  • I ask the same thing about Alberta in Canada.

  • @ShaneMTB I concur. Just because the powers that be declare it gone doesn’t make it so and it doesn’t mean everyone is living in an echo chamber. I had my first shot and I still wear a mask, even though it is mandated here. Even if it wasn’t, I would wear it.

    Likewise, I was speaking to a client in Massachusetts which is a very locked down state and he was giving me a hard time for getting the “Chinese” vaccine and complaining that the state of Massachusetts is bonkers for being locked down.

    The moral of the story? There are idiots everywhere and in every country, and you become an idiot when you paint places in broad brushstrokes.

  • Just because it's not mandated anymore doesn't mean you can't dehumanize yourself and wear a mask, or lose connection with people by staying away from them.

  • edited March 2021

    Brian I’m going to wear my Hutto Hippos mask at the H-E-B just for you. (Well not just for you. It’s to protect everyone. Because I want everyone to be healthy.)

  • edited March 2021

    @CuddleDuncan There, I made a poll.

    @BrianL Do you consider death less dehumanizing than wearing a mask? I consider ending this !@#$ pandemic more humanizing than keeping it going like not wearing a mask does.

    Also you don't have to avoid people in a pandemic, you just follow medical professionals' advice, not perfectly, just well, and we can all get over this in some months, not extend it into next year :/

    Don't make short-term gain cause you long-term loss.

  • edited March 2021

    We seem to get extremes on both ends in decrees related to Covid-19. Fauci and CDC are necessarily cautious about making premature statements about the protective value of antibodies from having it, although they are likely to last well beyond the three month mark. Yet, if we ever open up, we are going to have to accept that we will be living with Covid strains bouncing around for the foreseeable future. Does that mean we'll always need to distance and wear masks? I assume that we are going to get a critical percentage vaccinated and then go forward, accepting the risk for the minute percentage who will inevitably not survive. When we started closing everything, the first priority was in keeping hospitals from being overwhelmed. With widespread vaccination and previously infected having antibodies, that primary goal should be accomplished.

  • The quicker everyone gets vaccinated the sooner variants will slow their mutation rates. That comes from Fauci.

  • edited March 2021

    @davebutton It won't end though. It'll become the next flu or cold. It'll always be here. Unless the powers that be deem otherwise, we will always be locked down. There is no going back to normal, especially if you follow the "experts" (how can you be an expert when it comes to a novel virus?) advice. Also, we've been following their advice for the past year, nothing has changed. Consider that maybe their advice isn't working.

    @FunCartel In the beginning Fauci also said that regular people don't need masks. He said that so that medical professionals can get it. He's lied before, why wouldn't he lie again? As far as I'm concerned, Fauci lost all credibility when it came out he intentionally and maliciously deceived the American people.

    Reported, reviewed, and I'm keeping the comments intact only for the sake of warning, @BrianL - opinion is one thing, but these forums are no place for conspiracy theories and arguments not based on science. [-Sid]

  • @BrianL I disagree. A lot of people said a lot of things in the beginning because it was a developing situation. Trump said it would all go away in two weeks. I mean, a respected virologist who has served this country for fifty years is just going to lie because he wants to see people wear masks? Doesn’t add up.

  • @BrianL

    nothing has changed.

    Apart from a significant increase in our understanding about how aerosol viruses spread. And the development of several vaccines.

    In the beginning Fauci also said that regular people don't need masks.

    At the time that was our understanding. We did not fully appreciate the efficacy of non-medical masks in preventing transmission. Now that we do, the advice has changed. There is a difference between "changing your mind in view of new information" and "lying". Also the advice he gave was the same as in many other countries.

    (how can you be an expert when it comes to a novel virus?)

    Because it's 99.99% the same as a whole bunch of other viruses.

    dehumanize yourself and wear a mask

    If you think that wearing a mask is dehumanising, do you also believe that somebody holding a burger in front of their face with both hands is dehumanising? From the point of view of another person, the effect is pretty similar.

  • edited March 2021

    @BrianL OK so you're one of the conspiracy theorists; whatever makes you feel comfortable not wearing a mask or social distancing and ultimately elongating the pandemic for all of us by ignoring the medical field. I'm sure they appreciate it every time you use their services. I hope you've cancelled your health insurance and don't visit doctors, they're all just part of "the powers that be" making up the pandemic 😆😆😆

    You know, infections and hospitalizations and deaths have been declining because we were toughing it out wearing masks and social distancing; but just like every time things open up prematurely throughout the last year, Texas will watch those numbers go up again, watch their hospitals overflow again, and then we'll probably see the news stories of new vaccine-resistant variants spreading from there... a new epicenter.

    But go ahead, be a tough guy by refusing to do a few easy but annoying things, and propagating bad counter-productive behavior, and showing your weakness by caving to irritation and not being able to tough it out like the rest of us.

    A paranoid conspiracy theory doesn't excuse your behavior. I'm holding you personally accountable for COVID-21.

  • Well Texas will be like Florida now. You compare Florida which has been open for everything vs California which has been closed for everything. Florida’s economy, unemployment numbers and deaths have been better in every aspect. So Texas will be fine. People that have been wearing masks will continue to so now worries. And if you don’t live in Texas you just do what you have been doing and nothing will change for you.

  • No worries, not now worries.

  • Because obviously 'covid' 19 is the only thing that people can ever die from. Never mind car accidents, diabetes, heart disease, influenza, obesity, plain old age, etc... I guess if they ever bring back that show '1000 ways to die' they will have to rename it '1 way to die'. So go ahead put on your double masks with holes 400x the size of covid to save me if you want if it makes you feel better about yourself. Because we are just about feeling better about ourselves anyway, right?

  • [Deleted User]mentor11 (deleted user)

    Why is Mississippi not in this Poll, they will be reopening one day before Texas. Their Governor made the announcement yesterday.

  • edited March 2021

    Thanks Ironman and Brian L. Great points.

  • I am in my 60's. I have survived a lifetime of viruses. Plandemics don't bother me. What others think, or try to push on you, should not make a difference. Make your own decisions, no matter what you decide, and carry on. Life is too short for self appointed "experts".

  • edited March 2021

    @livinlife Your attitude is irresponsible because of the nature of virions. They didn't get the memo that we are each in charge of our own destiny. You might not suffer from the viruses that your cells produce but somebody else might.

  • edited March 2021

    @Catloaf unless I am living in the wrong part of Alberta . I see over 95 % of people wearing masks .
    Today I had to go to a shopping mall 100 % wearing masks.

  • edited March 2021

    @Rocket_Man
    I don't mind dying, it's the surviving with complications, that scares me.

    A friend (couple, actually) caught it before lockdown, had recovered by lockdown, and she spent 6 months with debilitating seizures, as a result, before dying terrified (the texts she sent to her husband while he was working, are heartbreaking) Now, widower and 9 yr old daughter are struggling to move forward without her.

    It was a very confusing, painful 6 months she lived, while multiple drs ran numerous tests, and came up with nothing.

    If you have no empathy, or conscience about negligent damage you may inadvertently cause, please take it a step further, and stop reminding those of us trying to mitigate issues, by not advertising your ignorance.

  • @hawker69 My family is staying in Brooks and has shared some horror stories. The further out east and southeast you go, the more radical and uneducated people seem to get about COVID-19.

  • [Deleted User]squeakytoy (deleted user)

    @MaullySterling Holy crap, I knew about the increased risk of blood clots, but not about the chance of seizures. I'm just reading up a bit on this. Thank god it's rare, but that makes it even sadder that your friend was one of the unlucky ones. I'm so sorry for your loss.

  • @mentor11 I didn't know Mississippi was opening up when I posted, and I can't change the title.

    @livinlife Do you have a career, and when do you consider yourself an expert? I'd see zero problem with you calling yourself an expert in a career you've specialized in for decades.

  • [Deleted User]Snuggle_Burrito (deleted user)

    This is a relief to the disabled, homless and mentally ill that are constantly harassed for being unable to wear masks.
    No one has the lawful right to force a medical device an individual, especially if they are not in the medical field.
    Doing so could put a life in immediate danger, with the non-medical professional who could be held responsible for harm or death.

  • edited March 2021

    @Catloaf In one of my past careers I was a surveyor " Brooks is really bad for The problem like you say " The further out east and southeast you go, the more radical and uneducated people seem to get about not only COVID-19. but just common sense " ( don't any one dump on me for this ) They reminded me of the Movie Deliverance . Seriously not only brooks but a few towns in S.E. Alberta

  • @squeakytoy Thanks.
    I made sure the widower got work (my dept, but new, unknown, so nobody was hiring him) so at least they'll keep their home.

  • [Deleted User]DarrenWalker (deleted user)

    I'm originally from Colorado—a liberal state.

    There I was surrounded by people who refused to wear masks for much the same reason they, their parents, and their grandparents once refused to wear seatbelts: the government has no right to regulate what we do with our own bodies (unless it's forcing us to carry to term and give birth to kids we don't want, in which case it's obviously fine)!

    Somehow, despite being raised by and among people like this, I got the idea that it's a good idea to wear a seatbelt (lest you go flying through the windshield should an accident occur).

    Extrapolating logically from this, I also got the idea that it was a good idea to avoid breathing, coughing, sneezing, etc. on people when you're sick, just in case their immune systems can't fight off what you're dishing out and they get sick too (and maybe worse than you, who knows)... and so when I heard there was a disease out there killing people which I, say, might be carrying around and handing out without knowing it, well.

    I'm the kind of person who wears a mask when I've got a cold, for Pete's sake, because I'm not the type to spread that kind of misery around.

    Now I live in North Dakota—a conservative state.

    I haven't noticed much of a difference in mask-wearing among the people I interact with. So while like-minded people may tend to congregate in the same states, I'd say it probably is more about the people than the location.

  • Private businesses can still enforce the use of masks, right? And can still refuse service to those that don’t wear?

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