TIME Thread Contains Some of the Worst Fear Mongering in Answering COVID Question 'Can I Go Back to Normal'

Townhall.com ^ | 29 January A.D. 2022 | Rebecca Downs

[lightman]

On Friday, TIME shared a thread on Twitter to do with "COVID Questions," sparking very little confidence that we can get back to normal when it comes to the Wuhan coronavirus. The person asking has been fully vaccinated, received their booster, and has had the virus.

The lengthy thread from TIME is full of the most fear-mongering answers, despite how this person has done everything they could have done to protect themselves, from vaccines to natural immunity.

The experts referenced in the piece do not appear to answer the question, based on the points made, such as how "there doesn’t seem to be a point at which the risk of infection completely disappears."

As the piece also mentions:

But you shouldn’t ignore COVID-19 completely. While you may be well protected—at least for a few months—others in your community are more vulnerable, which makes it important to slow COVID-19’s spread as much as possible. It’s always smart to limit your exposure to sick people, stay home if you develop respiratory symptoms and keep an eye on hospitalization trends in your area. If the health system is struggling, authorities might ask everyone to temporarily resume some precautions, like indoor mask wearing, to avoid a collapse.

There’s also no predicting if or when there will be another new variant that challenges your hard-won immunity. And researchers are still learning about long-term complications from the virus that could affect both unvaccinated and vaccinated people, like Long COVID.

If a zero risk is what it takes for us to "go back to normal," which TIME could be suggesting here, then we can never expect to be able to do so. It's also worth pointing out that the person, referred to as A.B., asks whether he or she "can go back to normal," not when COVID will disappear completely.

The piece does advocate for the benefits boosters provide, which includes breakthrough cases being "mild," as well as benefits of natural immunity for those who do get COVID, though one should not purposefully try to become infected with the virus. Another point discussed is a "grace period" of when people are unlikely to get sick again.

The most reassuring advice is not mentioned until the end of the piece, though, and is left out of the Twitter thread completely, a thread that emphasizes fear-mongering.

It's already a long thread. They couldn't make it a little longer?

As the piece closes with:

Still, many Americans are far more protected than they were in 2020 or even last year, thanks to vaccines and prior exposures to the virus. If you’re generally healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted and have recently recovered from a breakthrough infection, you are currently about as safe from COVID-19 as you can be.

“For a lot of people, the risk is kind of the same as the risk of getting a cold or a mild flu,” [Dr. Rachel Presti, an infectious disease researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis] says. “We used to live with that.” And before too long, we will again.

It's worth noting that, as Matt reported earlier this month, the virus could become endemic.

[lightman]

Warming the cockles of every Chicken Little's heart.

/s

[Trillian]

I don’t ask. I never listened to them.

[jdsteel]

Obviously the fear porn has become counterproductive.

[DoodleBob]

As I said previously, this all comes down to managing personal risk, and the reality that some risks can't be avoided.

For example, in the world of investing, there is a concept of risk-minimization whereby you lower your risk of loss or volatility by spreading your eggs across several baskets. However, one risk you cannot diversity away is the "systematic risk" or the risk inherent in the system...call it market risk or whatever, the basic reality is some baseline level of risk will ALWAYS exist, and you can't avoid it.

Let's extend this to the pandemic. There is a risk of infection and death from this very nasty thing called COVID19. It's a real thing. This isn't the flu - many people get it without too many problems and for others it's terrible - this isn't a boating accident.

But it's not Ebola.

So after two years of controls like lockdowns, masks, emotional distancing, and criminalizing freedom to "flatten the curve" blah blah blah, then shots developed under Warp Speed and approved under an Emergency Use Authorization, we STILL are seeing deaths.

This bug is now a systematic risk. Trying to eliminate it is like eliminating systematic risk...it's impossible.

We need to accept that this bug will be here forever, and move on with life. Normal for some will be endless boosters and frequent masking. For many others, it'll be none of that.

[ThunderSleeps]

Worst kind of fear mongering. With that mindset you could convince yourself to never leave home again.

Personally, covid is over for me. No longer a factor in any decision I make. I'll play along, for now, with the occasional mask BS, but it is long past time we recognize this for what it is. An excuse to expand totalitarian control.

[Ikeon]

ITS GONNA TAKE YEARS, MAYBE DECADES , Every sniffle, every sore throat, every cold used to be, I dont feel good, or I need a couple of days off, wheres the aspirin, i need a shot of JB and some hot tea, now its - WHO the H£[[ GAVE THIS TO ME? I need to self isolate, nobody come near me, Ive got the plague.

otho, cough and they clear the isle for you at walmart..and wont steal your empty cart.😆

[lightman]

EXCELLENT analogy!

Very well presented.

[lightman]

Yup, a coughing fit will gain you a private shopping experience.

[lightman]

+1

Reality check.

COVID-19 is airborne.

That means, “in the air, everywhere”.

It is ENDEMIC.

We will ALL get exposed..over and over.
MANY of us will “test positive”, mostly without symptoms.
SOME of us will be “symptomatic”, and a subset will be really sick.
And (unfortunately) a FEW of us will die.

This is NOT the Bubonic plague.
This is NOT the Spanish Influenza.

You can’t mask it away.
You can’t [anti]”socially distance” it away.
You can’t even “deep clean” it away.
And {{{shudder}}} YOU CAN’T EVEN VACCINATE IT AWAY!

Tear off that face diaper.
Breathe deeply. Inhale some COVID.
Breathe deeply again. Inhale some more COVID.
Build up your immune system.
And LIVE!

[ThunderSleeps]

Love the shot reference. Checked my time log. Not a day off work for illness since February 2015. No flu shots, no vaccines. Yes, liberally self medicated with whiskey.

[alexander_busek]

It’s always smart to limit your exposure to sick people [...]

Right! I have limited my exposure to only sick people. Won't have any truck with healthy people!

Regards,

[ronnie raygun]

May I have another? please? held captive by their own stupidity and inability to question and demand answers. “You are a sniveling, quivering, worthless sod” thank you but is it safe to go outside now?

[ExGeeEye]

Stolen

[lightman]

Make it go viral ;-)

[ExGeeEye]

No mask in the ‘verse can stop it.

Stay shiny.