This is a great post. I’m not wearing my mask to the gas station because of fear anymore than anything else I would do that may keep me or other people safe. When did preventative measures for things become fear based only? Most factories have preventative measures. Most people who work with items that can de dangerous have preventative measures. It’s not like this is some new thing that we have to say is dominating everyone.
It’s not fear to wear protective eyewear or helmets in many jobs. It’s simply not being a dumbass. Does social distancing and masks eradicate the chances of getting this completely? Of course not. But people who know way more than me say it can help reduce the risk. Considering both of these steps are super easy and we’re in a pandemic I don’t see the big deal. And if we all agree that getting back to normal is what we all want I really don’t see the point of being against it at all.
You were right it’s not hard. Not even remotely. And yet here we are in this thread talking about it like it’s deadlifting 800. I would have thought listening to health professionals during a pandemic would just be common sense.
Fortunately I’m not relying on our big government to spoonfeed me anything because if I was, I’d die of starvation before before I died of COVID-19. There’s never been any clear plan put out by the biggest government around here so we’re left on our own.
However, even if we had a big government spoonfeeding us anything useful, it wouldn’t be needed. All one needs is a basic knowledge of how colds spread, and adherence to the Golden Rule…which is otherwise known as the Don’t Be An Asshole rule.
The irony here is that while you bitch and moan about big government, one necessary precondition for an effective small government is a populace that takes responsibility for itself. You want a small government that’s not in your business? That’s great! Me too. Which is why I’ve always supported conservative candidates in every election, up until the last one.
But even a small government should intervene when your behavior hurts or endangers others. This is why we now have even deep red states mandating mask laws in public. They’ve tried to get people to take responsibility for themselves, but it didn’t work, so now assh…I mean wannabe small government paladins will have to follow some rules enforced on them by… small, conservative state governments.
What amazes me about all of this, is that the lot of you (save for a few), blindly follow EVERYTHING the government tells you. “Fauci suggests 200K more deaths by October!”…MUST BE TRUE!..“New Gates model predicts XYZ. New John Hopkins model predicts ABC.”…MUST BE TRUE!
I mean, come on. Do you ever, for more than a second, think for yourself? I’m not trying to stir up conspiracy bullshit here, but when Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, release news models, predictions, and suggestions almost by the DAY…does that not, I don’t know, concern you? Or at the very least, just make you laugh? It’s rather stupid, is it not? World renowned health organizations with billions upon billions of dollars cannot even remotely settle on one model? I understand it isn’t going to be exactly perfect - nothing is when it comes to infectious diseases, but Christ, at least try and be halfway in the vicinity of something believable.
Nobody who is paying attention to the models and recognizing them for what they are is blindly following them. There’s a fairly well used quote in scientific circles that goes: “All models are wrong, but some are useful”. The reason that there is variability in the different models is that the groups of people who are creating them are using slightly different data sets, weighting specific data sets differently, etc. Aragorn has a post upthread about models and their shortcomings. I think it’s in this thread anyways, but if not it’s in another related thread and maybe he can chime in here again.
It’s not 'big government" who are producing these models. In most cases it’s universities. One of the biggest reasons they change often is that states have often changed their reopening status, mask guidelines/mandates, etc. We know that these actions affect behavior, rate of new infections, etc, so the model predictions change. See this article on FiveThirtyEight about 16 different models and how and why the differ. Where The Latest COVID-19 Models Think We're Headed — And Why They Disagree | FiveThirtyEight
Why were the models more dire in the first few weeks? Because we had almost nothing in place to prevent the spread of the disease and because we didn’t know as much about how fast it spreads. Now that most states have or have had varying degrees of mitigation strategies in place, the models have changed a lot. But every time a state, county, big city changes its strategy, the models change accordingly based on the best information we have available now.
If you take a look at the link you’ll notice that 16 different groups have come up with different models and most are remarkably similar. So right now I’m not bogged down thinking about whether or not any specific model is 100% correct. I know it’s not likely that any of them will be. But I recognize the usefulness of the models and take action in ways that make those models trend down.
Beyond some common misunderstandings of how and why models my be useful, there seems to be mistrust of “big government” in some circles because the way the press reports on them. Rarely have I seen the press explain models and how to absorb what they predict. Usually it’s a sensational report, to which we may be becoming somewhat desensitized to. As a group of people on this forum who are probably more knowledgeable than most about weight training, diet, etc. I’m sure you and others here have seen similar sensational reporting regarding topics near and dear to us. These news tidbits are usually something that’s so obvious to us that’s there’s a “no shit Sherlock” reaction by us, or it’s based on a single study that’s kinda’ “out there” in comparison to most research results on a given topic. But that’s how the press is and we know that watching CNN, or Fox, etc will not give us a complete picture of what’s going on. So no, you don’t blindly follow them or the government. You recognize models and research for what it is and recognize limitations.
Skyzyk…just checking in on how you are doing health-wise. I know you posted several days ago about the pneumonia and I believe you said you’ve been waiting to get a Covid test result. I haven’t seen you mention anything since then regarding this so I was just seeing how everything has been going with that. If you don’t want to share that info, no problem, just ignore this post. Anyways, God bless and get better.
Thanks for asking. Viral pneumonia. Lungs cleared up and symptoms tapered off over the course of the week. Doc did a CT scan of lungs and nasal swab for covid-19 on Friday. There is some scarring, but the swab came back negative, which was expected at that point. He explained that at that point in the cycle it was unlikely to get a positive on the test because my immune system was successfully defeating it.
So I’ve been in isolation this week, till Sunday. I can still kinda tell there are some lingering effects on breathing at this point. Nothing major, but when I started pushing it on some biking and rope jumping I could tell. That might even just be from being depleted.
You’re a badass if you can bike and jump rope on the tail end of pneumonia. I think I’d be flat on my back for a month. Anyways, good to hear you are on the mend.
Took a short sawing class to get certified to clear trail (real basic stuff on how to not de-limb yourself, and when to recognize a complicated cut and leave it for someone else). Thats where i first heard that term haha- “if you dont have your safety glasses with you, throw your safety squints on”. Those puppies are very reliable and always handy haha.
Dead falls can be extremely dangerous. I prefer to call if “fundamentals” because without them, you won’t make it to the tricky stuff.
Ive had trees roll and unload all of the tension in them a few times in ways that if you were on the wrong side it would knock the life right out of you.
After a few trips to the ER and seeing a dude melt his eyelids together, I’m pretty obsessed with having a pair of glasses at all times.
