Suppression of Free Speech on Covid

[Kathryn]

You're missing the point. It's not about whether you wanted to follow the safety protocols. That's irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that you DID follow safety protocols, which most likely contributed to the infections and/or deaths in your area remaining low. Which was the entire point of the safety protocols in the first place. So, you all successfully followed safety protocols, and as a result, you were successful in keeping infections and/or deaths very low. It's almost like scientists and doctors actually know what they're talking about.

Oh, it's not because we were following safety protocols, because the rate of death was ALREADY LOW and just remained low.

 

[SkepticThinker]

As I have said, people wore their masks wrong. You know what I found to be disturbing? The fact that churches were shut down but mass demonstrations weren't.

Every person wore their mask wrong? Nah. You wouldn't have had such positive results if that were the case.

It's not disturbing when you realize the reason why that is. Mass demonstrations take part outside in the open air. Church services are generally done indoors where there is far less air flow. In the area I live in, churches started holding outdoor and online services instead of indoor ones.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Oh, it's not because we were following safety protocols, because the rate of death was ALREADY LOW and just remained low.

That makes zero sense. You're seriously claiming that adherence to safety protocols had nothing to do with the death rate remaining low? That's absurd and counter to the facts of reality.

Again demonstrating why anecdotes aren't evidence.

 

[Kathryn]

That makes zero sense. You're seriously claiming that adherence to safety protocols had nothing to do with the death rate remaining low? That's absurd and counter to the facts of reality.

Again demonstrating why anecdotes aren't evidence.

OK whatever you say, dear.

 

[Kenny]

I did report my negative reaction to the shot, for the record. I also stopped getting them and I feel great. When was your last COVID shot? I got COVID just a few weeks after my last shot, by the way, which (COVID) was a big fat nothing. People can say that was because I had the shot but the thing is, I also knew people who got COVID before the shots came along and they were fine too. Like I have said before, the only person I know who died of COVID was 1) elderly, 2) had COPD, 3) had five shots against COVID.

I’ve looked at the evolution of Covid Vaccine.

1) Stay six feet away, don’t touch anyone and wear a mask and you will prevent to spreading of Covid. It didn’t stop it.
2) Take the vaccine and you won’t get Covid and just trust us. - people still got Covid
3) Take the booster and you won’t get Covid - people still got Covid
4) Take the vaccines and it will lessen the effects of Covid - it was lessened already because those who got Covid without vaccine had natural immunization and the next generation of Covid was not as impactful
5) Take a vaccine every year.

A far cry from “it will stop it” to “take a vaccine every year” - and still get Covid.

 

[Kathryn]

I’ve looked at the evolution of Covid Vaccine.

1) Stay six feet away, don’t touch anyone and wear a mask and you will prevent to spreading of Covid. It didn’t stop it.
2) Take the vaccine and you won’t get Covid and just trust us. - people still got Covid
3) Take the booster and you won’t get Covid - people still got Covid
4) Take the vaccines and it will lessen the effects of Covid - it was lessened already because those who got Covid without vaccine had natural immunization and the next generation of Covid was not as impactful
5) Take a vaccine every year.

A far cry from “it will stop it” to “take a vaccine every year” - and still get Covid.

Well, I am pretty sure my immunity or whatever has worn completely off since I haven't had a COVID shot since about 2021.

Here's the really crazy thing - a few months ago, COVID raged through our workplace. Did I get it? Nope. Did anyone die from it? Nope. Did anyone even get very sick from it? Nope. But everyone who tested positive did get a week off from work, vaccinated or not. I remember that I was actually sort of jealous.

Right after that, the powers that be relaxed the COVID protocols, I believe. I mean, I wasn't keeping up with it since I never tested positive for COVID.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

the only person I know who died of COVID was 1) elderly, 2) had COPD, 3) had five shots against COVID.

What's your point? That one can die of Covid even if vaccinated? If so, that's not an argument against being vaccinated just as that one can get Covid if vaccinated is not a reason to not be vaccinated.

There's an excellent chance that that person was immunocompromised and didn't respond to the vaccine adequately. Being elderly is such a risk factor, and bone marrow disturbances are common in the elderly as well and impede the immune response following vaccine or infection. Colin Powell died at 84 fully vaccinated as well. He had a bone marrow condition. His vaccines neither hurt nor helped him.

I saw your message about being done with this topic. That's fine. No need to respond. It's fine that you never get vaccinated again or that @Ebionite won't take a vaccine, either. It doesn't affect others anymore as it did when the vaccines first appeared and there was no herd immunity to speak of. By now, just about everybody has taken the vaccine or had one or more cases of Covid, so the average antibody level in the population is now sufficient to say that unless a new variant arises that is unaffected by those antibodies, the risk others pose to us with this virus is about the same as influenza - a lot of people will get the vaccine, many won't, deaths will occur in both groups but will concentrate in the unvaccinated.

One benefit to being meticulous about distancing, masking, hand washing and avoiding indoor spaces with many people and then getting vaccinated before contracting one's first case of Covid is that when eventually does get that infection, the viral load will be lower and the duration of the active infection briefer. You don't want to be unprotected the first time this virus enters your blood stream.

Why? Because it infects the organs and tissues, and you don't want it in the blood very long nor having it make a permanent home in you. This not only reduces the risk of getting long Covid after the active infection and of organ damage (brain lungs, heart, and kidneys are commonly chronically damaged), but the risk of new long-term diseases such as cancer and dementia, which is common with viral infections. Viruses like hepatitis C and the human papillomavirus invade tissues and organs such as the liver and cervix leading to cancers there years later. And you know that the chickenpox virus does the same in the nervous system to return as shingles.


But that's not as relevant as it used to be. By now, probably 95+% of people have some antibody in them whether from vaccination or prior infection while unvaccinated. If you were/are vaccinated for your first Covid infection, then you got/will get the benefit of relative organ protection. If you already had an infection before vaccination, then you didn't have any antibodies for the first part of your infection, which was longer and generated more individual virions than would have been the case if vaccinated or previously infected.

Well, I am pretty sure my immunity or whatever has worn completely off since I haven't had a COVID shot since about 2021. Here's the really crazy thing - a few months ago, COVID raged through our workplace. Did I get it? Nope.

It is unlikely that your immunity has totally disappeared, especially in light of having been exposed but not contracting clinical illness.

 

[Magic Man]

As I have said, people wore their masks wrong. You know what I found to be disturbing? The fact that churches were shut down but mass demonstrations weren't.

I'm sure some people did wear their masks wrong, but most didn't. And what does that have to do with anything? You said your area took the steps they were supposed to take, so great.

Which "mass demonstrations" weren't shut down?

 

[Magic Man]

Oh, it's not because we were following safety protocols, because the rate of death was ALREADY LOW and just remained low.

The protocols were put in place very early on. If it hadn't hit your area hard, that's great, but the death rate in your area being low and staying low doesn't mean it wasn't because of following those protocols.

 

[Kathryn]

The protocols were put in place very early on. If it hadn't hit your area hard, that's great, but the death rate in your area being low and staying low doesn't mean it wasn't because of following those protocols.

It never hit my area very hard at all. I mean, like at all.

 

[Revoltingest]

That makes zero sense. You're seriously claiming that adherence to safety protocols had nothing to do with the death rate remaining low? That's absurd and counter to the facts of reality.

Again demonstrating why anecdotes aren't evidence.

Still a glutton for punishment, eh.
Anti-vaxers & Covid deniers will always find
factoids on the internet to justify their views.
You cannot sway them with epidemiological
studies. You cannot cite Johns Hopkins or
Mayo Clinic. They're all part of the conspiracy.

 

[Magic Man]

I’ve looked at the evolution of Covid Vaccine.

1) Stay six feet away, don’t touch anyone and wear a mask and you will prevent to spreading of Covid. It didn’t stop it.

No one said it would stop it. It was meant to lessen the risk.

2) Take the vaccine and you won’t get Covid and just trust us. - people still got Covid

There were a couple instances of politicians misspeaking, but other than that, no one said you wouldn't get Covid once you got the vaccine. It was meant to lessen symptoms, so that if you got it, it wouldn't be severe and especially wouldn't send you to the hospital.

3) Take the booster and you won’t get Covid - people still got Covid

See above.

4) Take the vaccines and it will lessen the effects of Covid - it was lessened already because those who got Covid without vaccine had natural immunization and the next generation of Covid was not as impactful

The vaccine did lessen the symptoms. Whether the latest strain was already better than the original one is irrelevant. The "natural immunization" people got from contracting Covid wasn't as effective as the vaccine's, and it wasn't the reason subsequent strains were less severe.

5) Take a vaccine every year.

No one said this. Booster's were recommended for a while. Then at a certain point, they weren't.

A far cry from “it will stop it” to “take a vaccine every year” - and still get Covid.

Yes, your wildly inaccurate depiction of the situation is indeed wildly inaccurate.

 

[Magic Man]

It never hit my area very hard at all. I mean, like at all.

Again, that's great! Count yourself lucky. The reaction to that isn't "Well, it didn't hit here, so it wasn't that bad for anyone". The reactions is "Wow, this hit the whole world pretty hard. I'm glad I live in an area that didn't get hit hard." Also, if your area did follow the protocols, as you say, that contributed to it not hitting there.

 

[Kathryn]

Interesting that no one has responded to my post about the fact that churches were shut down but mass demonstrations weren't. Also, my post asking specifically about when a person's last COVID "vaccination" happened.

 

[Kathryn]

Again, that's great! Count yourself lucky. The reaction to that isn't "Well, it didn't hit here, so it wasn't that bad for anyone". The reactions is "Wow, this hit the whole world pretty hard. I'm glad I live in an area that didn't get hit hard." Also, if your area did follow the protocols, as you say, that contributed to it not hitting there.

So someone tells me so of course I believe it.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Still a glutton for punishment, eh.

LOL Why do I do this to myself??

Anti-vaxers & Covid deniers will always find
factoids on the internet to justify their views.
You cannot sway them with epidemiological
studies. You cannot cite Johns Hopkins or
Mayo Clinic. They're all part of the conspiracy.

Simple logic doesn't work either, apparently.

Excuse me while I go continue to beat my head against a wall.

 

[Magic Man]

Here's the really crazy thing - a few months ago, COVID raged through our workplace. Did I get it? Nope. Did anyone die from it? Nope. Did anyone even get very sick from it? Nope. But everyone who tested positive did get a week off from work, vaccinated or not. I remember that I was actually sort of jealous.

Yes, it's so crazy that a few months ago at a time when Covid is no longer as dangerous as it was in the beginning of the pandemic, one person at your workplace didn't get it (you), and no one died from it. I'm also unclear on how you managed to get a record of each person who got it and whether they had symptoms. Can you elaborate on that?

 

[SkepticThinker]

OK whatever you say, dear.

Seriously, think it through for a second. It's not rocket science, dear.

 

[Magic Man]

So someone tells me so of course I believe it.

Yes, that does seem to be how you obtain your beliefs, at least on this subject. Someone you trust (a right-wing source) tells you something, so you believe it.

 

[Kathryn]

Yes, it's so crazy that a few months ago at a time when Covid is no longer as dangerous as it was in the beginning of the pandemic, one person at your workplace didn't get it (you), and no one died from it. I'm also unclear on how you managed to get a record of each person who got it and whether they had symptoms. Can you elaborate on that?

Sure. I asked them and they all answered me. They had a low grade fever and a bit of coughing, and I never said that only one person didn't get it - most people didn't get it, though a fair number did.

I had a smallish workplace, under 50 employees max.