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What’s your honest opinion on the coronavirus?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Andrew99, Mar 22, 2020.

  1. Mihael

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    My university went online, but half of my classes consist of projects to do anyway, so that’s not that much of a change for me. Other than that, I study a lot, so I don’t go out, social life at my uni is nonexistent, not much change in that for me. However, I miss my extracurriculars. I also miss shopping (the only “going out” passtime that I have), but I have flu that doesn’t quite want to leave me, so I wouldn’t do it anyway, I don’t feel well enough to spend long hours out of home.

    I don’t know if this is overblown or not, but I’d err on the side of caution. So I’m not sure if shutting down every business is a good idea, but it’s good that large gatherings of people are cancelled. I also don’t think masks are stupid idea. I spent some time in the lab and there is nothing wrong with protective clothing - I think it’s much worse to injure yourself somehow than to look stupid and withstand some sort of discomfort for a limited period of time.

    What also worries me is that people need to be told to wash their hands and keep their hygiene. It’s 21st century, they’re ignorant and extelemety lazy (Is this really that much of an effort to wash hands? Really...?) and hurting themselves and others because of it. Not only because of the Covid, there are thousands of diseases that can be prevented by stupid water and soap, minor and not so minor.

    The impact of all this on mental health of many individuals is also concerning. I’m not feeling well either, not seeing people is so down-putting. There is fear about relatives. There is the earnings issue. There is media that tries to feed on the tragedy too much and only spreads fear. Depression, anxiety, panic, all that is going to escalate.
     
  2. Nightlight

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    Schools here are running online courses for time being. It's probably going to be extended further. It's good that it's possible to receive a form of education without commuting through nightmarish traffic jam. (Apartments near by school is SO overpriced. I could never move out without being in debt)
    I always wear a mask before going out, and once I come home I disinfect my phone, wallet..etc. It's such a waste of time to disinfect every single item I took outside.
    Not worried about mask supplies since apparently it's fine to use washable ones instead of N95's. I'm running out of disinfectants now. So instead I'm using "phone wipes" that says "antibacterial" on it. The label doesn't say what % of alcohol is contained and I can't quite figure out if it's effective at all.
    I'm starting to get tired of keeping a social distance, but as for being a loner, it didn't change my life drastically except for staying home for school.

    It was funny the other day I bought a N95 mask for kids, because the store didn't have any adult ones in stock. It fit perfectly to my face. I'm not taking advantage of that now, I got my hands on adult ones and a reusable one.
     
  3. bubblesh204

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    I'm glad that my state is being proactive, but I hate that my last semester of college is now online. I'm not good at online classes and I'm worried about my grades because I suck at managing my time with online classes. Many of my professors have never done online classes before and it's honestly just going to make for a rough last month of the semester. In addition, I work for a starbucks/deli in a grocery store and we are all working almost full time because there's 8 people out sick in my department.

    Again, there's not another option but I worry for all of my friends who are now unemployed due to the university closing and all of the local businesses in my area. I'm bummed that I can't finish out my senior year with my friends but I'd rather have to take precautions than have all of this last longer than it has to.

    The only quarantining I'm doing is not going home and staying with my girlfriend instead. My parents are 60 and 56 and my mother has asthma so I don't want to risk passing anything to her that I may pick up at work. Most of my friends and my girlfriend all work at the same place so we are all continuing to see each other since we come in contact with the same stuff.
     
  4. Shorthaul

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    I think the public reaction to it along with the way governments have handled it has been so poor that it has become awe inspiring in how stupid its been handled by everyone. China handled it poorly, the US handled it poorly and I can't comment on Iran. Italy I think tried and if they had caught it a bit sooner might have had more success.

    Closing schools and limiting visitors to senior living places do make a great deal of sense. I think sporting events could have continued in closed venues without allowing the public into them. They are already televised so people could have watched them from home. Postponing concerts, festivals and things like that is probably a good precaution.

    I generally don't go to big events so I don't need to really change anything to get the social distancing people suggest. The production facility I work at has a big staff, but I only interact with five people at most. I only ever have someone riding with me in the truck if I have to pick trusses up to take back to the yard, and that is rare. People still want their houses built so construction will carry on, with the only delay being the contractors have a harder time getting permits with government offices mostly closed.
     
  5. Tightrope

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    + 1 on Trump

    I am despondent right now as well. I am organizing a lot of things I have ignored for a good while. But, when I'm done organizing , then what? Possibly, summer will allow for more time outside as long as people are far, far apart from each other.
     
  6. Halolala

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    My honest opinion? Too much panic around.
    Yes, I know people die from this. But not all of them. Some people are very prone to viral infections, some are just being "passed by". I have never had any viral infection in my life, even while being surrounded by infected people. This is why I'm not scared of corona. Viruses don't stick with me for whatever reason.
    I stayed home when it was recommended, though. I wear a mask outside, but only because it's mandatory in my country right now and not obeying to the rules may result in a fine, anc I really have more important things to spend my money on.

    Just a thought, when there was that bird flu or whatever, the effect on humans was more or less the same, but nobody has stopped or closed anything. Why? Certainly corona is not the first and not the last plague that has affected Earth.
     
  7. Chierro

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    Because this is new. It's not a flu, it's something we haven't had to deal with before. We have ways of dealing with flu strains.

    But we need to care even more because it's new. Everyone focuses on how many people die, but little focus on the lingering side effects that we don't know fully about yet because...it's new. A person may recover...but what's the long term effect on their lungs? Their body? We don't fully know yet. Look into Post-Polio Syndrome.

    Also, the idea that "this is just another plague" is...disturbing?
     
  8. PatrickUK

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  9. Loves books

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    I live in a household where my dad and I would be in danger if we got it due to a genetic muscular condition. I think I could survive but I think it would kill my dad. My mother has had recent health problems that make her high risk too but none of seem to worry too much. My father and I adapted to staying home in the beginning very well because our daily routines barely changed. In the beginning my mother didn’t want me in public and she used to fill a sink with disinfectant and dunk our shopping. She ruined a tub of margarine and I wasn’t too keen on the grapes after that. The stuff that couldn’t be washed went in a separate mini fridge. Now it’s different she doesn’t bother to disinfect food anymore. Also if I want to go to a shop, we go, The only difference to pre COVID is wearing masks in the shops. I’m not worried for me and my family. I do think re opening schools is going to be difficult or a complete disaster. Can you put a high risk kid in a classroom and think they are safe? I only have one cousin still in school and she’s excited but her last school year she was in transition year which in Ireland doesn’t matter. In some schools it’s mandatory, some schools (like my old one) don’t offer it and some schools give you a choice. I think you just do a project or something, so really she missed nothing. Now it’s going to be hard to maintain social distancing in schools. My school had 200 students and a bunch of empty classrooms, but her school is a lot bigger. There is a super market across from my school that has a counter where you order sandwiches, rolls, wraps and some hot items. They need a new plan for that because most of the girls from my ( all girls ) school as well as a lot of students from the co-ed school get lunch there crowded in a line. The all boys school is the other side of a very small town but kids are going to have to bring lunches, and when I went to school no one did that.
     
  10. Fishtail

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    It baffels and annoys me how many in my age group don´t make an efford to create a distance when i pass them on the sidewalk.
    Most of the time i´m the only one walking half a circle around them.
    And also how many don´t hold a distance of all age on the shopping area even thoug there are big signs written "Keep a distance of others".
     
  11. justinf

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    Except coronavirus appears to be different. My dad is the same as you, he hadn’t had a flu or a cold in over 40 years, but he got very, very sick from coronavirus.

    I’ve actually heard similar stories from other people as well - those who frequently get colds and flus do not get sick from coronavirus, whereas those who never get colds or flus are affected by it.

    That’s just what I’ve personally noticed, though. I have no clue if there is any actual clinical evidence to support my claim.

    All this, for the record, has nothing to do with my personal opinion on the subject. I’m sure the issues will be different for each country, but over here, I wish we would focus more on saving whatever is going to be left of our economy.

    I also think the “victims of coronavirus” should include those with deteriorating mental health issues as a result of the lockdown, people who have been afraid to visit the hospital and have gotten sick or have died as a result, etc. Those lives are equally important, but for whatever reason no one seems to be entering those into the equation.
     
  12. Joe2001

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    I wonder if that has to do with the immune system. If you get colds/flus more, your immune system may be in better shape to fight off COVID?


    Totally agree but sadly the world is just so COVID centric that this will never happen. Who cares about mental health, cancer etc when there is a big deadly virus that will kill us all? (sarcasm intended)
     
    #32 Joe2001, Aug 27, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2020
  13. Tightrope

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    They are now releasing numbers on recoveries. They have been for a few months. It's not known whether the recoveries were no big deal or difficult.

    I don't know how worried I am about it. What I'm worried about is that it might behave differently on someone than other viruses they contracted before. They say that some side effects linger or come back around. The other thing is that people who are healthy and younger are getting it and they could pass it on to more vulnerable people in the population. The number of positive cases in the first few weeks of people returning to universities is unsettling. Most will get through it.

    The news focuses on the few that don't - like the guy who went to a coronavirus party and then wound up in the hospital and died. I think that was in Texas. For the thousands of others his age, they recover in a week or two.
     
  14. QuietPeace

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    I live in a country that has not been as affected.

    I may very well have had it in late February, I definitely had some virus that then affected my lungs and I needed steroids to get over it. I was not tested specifically for it though as the tests were not common at the time.

    At this point I am getting a divorce so I now live alone. I do go to grocery stores as needed but that ends up being about once a week. Masks are not required and are only recommended in close contact situations or for health care workers, you do see people who are taking care of elderly persons wearing them. Hand sanitizer is freely available in most places and most people use it.

    I only have close interaction with one friend, both he and I accept the risks. Though his room mate was suspected and then tested, while waiting for the tests we stayed apart. (test came out negative)

    I personally am not worried, if I die I die and I interact with few people and none who are at high risk so I don't see myself as endangering anyone. If I did get sick I would absolutely isolate.

    I am somewhat offended that everyone freaks out about the COVID pandemic but ignore the other pandemic which has been going on for decades and kills about a half a million people each year. HIV/AIDS, they don't care because it is seen as only killing brown and queer people who don't matter.
     
  15. Sparky2002

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    I am going back to in-person school and I think poeple who don't wear masks are extremely dumb. I also think that Trump just wants to win the 2020 election and he's just making everything worse. I'm not at high risk at all, I'm a healthy kid. My dad, who is 60, and has lung problems and isn't that healthy so he is at high risk of dying from it. I think the US was really stupid in the beginning and since I've been quarantine in a rural area, people everywhere are anti-masks and anti-science. When me and my mom went to the hardware store, 90% of the customers weren't wearing masks inside and the workers weren't either. Those people just drive me crazy because it's because of their stupidity that all these people are dying.
     
  16. justinf

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    Actually, there are a lot of scientists who say wearing masks has zero effect on the spread of the virus. In fact, some say the opposite is true: that wearing masks creates a false sense of security, leading to more “risky” and irresponsible behavior. That also happens to be the official stance the government over here in the Netherlands is taking: they’re literally saying that wearing masks doesn’t affect the spread of covid-19, which is why no one here has to wear them (there are a few people that do wear them, but the overwhelming majority don’t).

    Two local government bodies did decide we had to wear masks in a select few super busy streets for about a month, but because there was zero credible evidence to support the idea that this was actually effective, lots of people refused to wear them, and they are now reversing that decision.

    Now I am by no means trying to say I know who’s right in the debate on whether or not we should wear masks, but calling those who don’t wear them dumb and saying they’re the reason people are dying doesn’t make sense at all. We simply don’t know.
     
  17. Sparky2002

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    You are correct and there is little evidence that masks do anything. But the people who don't wear masks in my area also think the coronavirus is a hoax and do not social distance at all. Not social distancing or taking any procautions whatsover is causing people to die. Also, even if there is very little evidence of masks doing anything, it is still worth it to try to combat the virus in any way possible.
     
  18. HM03

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    My two cents on masks - I see them like seat belts and airbags. They don't prevent accidents. They can greatly increase your safety, but if you do dumb stuff then of course you can get in an accident and get hurt. We wouldn't say airbags are useless because someone still got hurt stunt driving.

    Just because the general public can be unintelligent in terms of wearing/handling a mask properly and pandemic hygiene doesn't mean the masks are useless.

    I'm putting my trust in the people with medical PhDs. And to me it makes sense, the tiny virus particles can obviously fit through masks, but can get the furthest on spit and moisture particles that the mask can easily catch /end rant
     
    #38 HM03, Aug 30, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2020
  19. justinf

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    I put my trust in people with medical PhDs too. But almost all of the ones I have listened to have said they believe that masks have no effect on the spread of the virus, or may even increase the chances of being infected for those wearing them (due to the fact that particles of the virus get stuck on the mask, which means your chance of inhaling them gets bigger the longer you wear one).

    Again, I am not saying I know who’s right or wrong here. I’m clearly not an expert. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I don’t think any opinion is “wrong” or “dumb”. But I do have an issue with people who suggest that those who are anti-mask don’t base their opinion on (medical) science. They do. They just happen to listen to different scientists, apparently.
     
    #39 justinf, Aug 30, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2020
  20. Destin

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    Depends on the type of mask. N95's are good, surgical masks are alright and work maybe half the time, cloth masks are more or less useless, and those fabric things people wear over their whole neck and mouth cause more harm than good.