We're not hiding, we're covering our faces to reduce the risk of infecting others and being infected ourselves, in order to reduce deaths which can be avoided.
I'd agree that overwhelming the NHS should be avoided but the virus doesn't look like it will go away any more than Spanish flu went away. Maybe this one will take 2 years to settle down to a new normal too but whatever the timescale I'm not wasting resources on extending it any more than necessary, for personal reasons at least. There's a sticking plaster to come off and it's going to sting either way.
It's a complex and difficult situation. I just think we shouldn't be blasé about building up antibodies for a disease that isn't yet fully understood. And we shouldn't shame people for wearing masks. And we shouldn't shame people for being frightened and concerned and trying to decrease their chances of catching something which has killed 10's of thousands of people in the UK who would otherwise have survived this year. Having antibodies means you've had the disease. Having the disease was fatal for ~40,000 people in the UK so far. Assuming you'll get the disease and not die is okay for a single person to take on board the risk, but having the disease, not knowing about it and killing other people as a result seems a little bit sociopathic.
I'm afraid the numbers are rubbish......initially the numbers were inflated which may have helped scare people into complying with restrictions and more recently lowered to more believable levels. It's a global problem and I don't believe it is going to go away. Last year I could have had another flu strain without knowing and killed people. The situation is pretty normal in that respect.
It's not about you. It's about other people's family. There's so much in what you've written which is frustrating to me, but I'm in the car outside our vets for our new cat checkups so I can't write much on my phone. But my main point is that your approach is about you. Some of us are doing this for others.
For me, I am careful and considerate, but I do feel like I've lost three months waiting beside a busy road, knowing I have to cross it eventually.
It's different for everyone and there are complex emotional challenges on all sides. But here's the thing, if I discovered that, through my own behaviour, I had infected someone who was vulnerable but who would have otherwise been okay, even if they survived, I would feel utterly terrible. In weeks and months we may discover increasingly effective treatments, which reduce the risk of people suffering long term or fatal effects, and as understanding grows it might become an illness that is tragically still deadly but affects very small numbers of people.
Evidence? The government is trying to get us out of lockdown as quickly as possible, they never wanted us to enter in the first place and they're the ones best place to manipulate the figures, so who was trying to do the scaring? Who's inflated the numbers? That one statement, makes no sense in the global context.
Unfortunately since the ones who have been tested are ones who either showed symptoms, ended up in hospital or were eventually tested in Care Homes and hospital staff, we do not have an accurate figure. It's like analysing insurance claims and dissatisfaction of those who claimed. Then quoting those figures from insurance companies and saying that's the global position. What about all the ones who never claimed? Could you say that 25% of the population is dissatisfied with insurance companies? No, not until the whole population was asked. We have not tested sufficient people in this country to make any assumptions other than those which pertain to those already affected and tested. They are not a representative sample of the population.
On sites like the NRS they include any mention of it on the death certificate without testing and the government site has moved towards giving numbers where the virus was tested for. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/covid19stats The overall monthly deaths gives a clearer picture and I can assure you I have others in mind.....the sooner the masses are not transmitting an infectious virus the sooner the vulnerable can get out again. 2 years is a long time to be stuck inside....let's not make it 4 unnecessarily as it is driving folk potty after a few months.
I do note that in Scotland, 77% of the deaths were people 75 and over. Just saying. I read an analysis for England, where the statistical probability of those affected is stated as 7%. Strange to say, the same figure as those who have tested positive in Scotland (from all tested to date) - ie 7%.
It's not racism , it's an ignorant prejudice . Islam is a religion , not a race . Anyone can become a Muslim , just as they can become a Christian or Jew . Regardless if what you were born into . Anyway , I think it's a a load of bull , and you'd need to do more than close all the pubs to dry me out !
