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  1. The AtlanticEd Yong8/12/2121 min
    18 reads8 comments
    8.6
    The Atlantic
    18 reads
    8.6
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • EZ19693 years ago

      Great view of how we exit this.

      • Karenz3 years ago

        I agree!! Any escape possible.

    • jeff3 years ago

      I find it very sad that there's not a single word on the importance of individuals taking responsibility for improving their own health and therefore dramatically decreasing the potential of having a severe reaction to the virus. This might not be the flu, but it's also not smallpox or polio.

      Almost half of the US population is obese and about 80% of US patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 across age ranges. These are numbers directly from the AMA based on a CDC study.

      Unfortunately this article is par for the course in its grossly incomplete view of the pandemic. The only takeaways are that we can't stop being afraid yet and to be prepared for a future of booster shots and mask alerts from your phone. The author asks multiple times what the point of all this is, but the answer, "to buy more time", completely neglects the devastating human costs of being told to stay home and living in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety.

      Far from defeat, endemicity to me feels like freedom, a light at the end of the tunnel. To the extent that it's a state of mind I'm already there.

      • kellyalysia3 years ago

        What we need, Scarpino argues, is a nimble, comprehensive system that might include regular testing, wastewater monitoring, genetic sequencing, Google-search analyses, and more. It could track outbreaks and epidemics in the same way that weather forecasts offer warnings about storms and hurricanes. Such a system could also monitor other respiratory illnesses, including whatever the next pandemic virus turns out to be. “My phone can tell me if I need to carry an umbrella, and I want it to tell me if I should put a mask on,” Scarpino said. “I’d like to have that for the rest of my life.”

        I had a similar thought, Jeff, when I read this part of the article that sounds like science fiction to me. The innovation and human ingenuity that has come up against this virus is staggering, and yet if you try to bring up things like: nervous system practices which are scientifically proven to supper better immunity, stipends and financial supports to provide access to nutritious foods, public health care plans that subsidize gym memberships/other supports for mental health/physical fitness, you are categorized in the popular narrative as being dismissive of the severity of the issue, dismissive of people who are immuno-compromised or even, fat-shamey. To point out that we should ALSO implement these supports (bc fundamentally we live in a very sick society, and this virus is exposing that handily) is to simply do that: broaden our perspective regarding safeguarding the health of all people.

        We can’t keep living in constant state of fear outrunning a virus. That’s just not a life. And I wish it wasn’t so controversial to come out and say, listen I believe in vaccines, I got the vaccine, and I’ll continue to do so like I have always gotten them since I was a baby. But I also believe in the basics: sleep/rest, play/connection, SOCIALIZATION/sex, good nutritious food, spiritual connection, all the things that make us human, all the things that make a life. The fact that we are designing deeply complex solutions when very simple ones are available is I think a great disservice to those on the frontlines of this.

        • jeff3 years ago

          I'm 100% with you. I'm glad you highlighted that quote. Who needs a secret cabal of New World Order globalist lizard people when we've got plenty of real-world nightmare control freak technocrats like that guy?

          The thing that bums me out the most is that I don't think there's any big conspiracy going on. It would be nice if we could blame this all on "Big Pharma" or the medical establishment or the government but I feel like they're just responding to what most people want which is to write off prevention altogether and be able to get a prescription to fix every problem that arises.

    • DellwoodBarker3 years ago

      “It’s the combination of the virus and a naive immune system. Once you don’t have the latter, the virus doesn’t have to be so scary.”

      👌

    • crystalhanakim3 years ago

      I am a fan of Ed Yong. This piece about Delta and the pandemic was informative, action-driven, and it gave me hope.

      • sjwoo3 years ago

        Thanks so much for sharing this -- yes, it's absolutely reassuring that there is an end! It might not be the end we dreamed of (zero COVID), but I'll gladly take this muddled-petering-out...