This allows them to disproportionately value individual freedoms over the greater good with little to no personal risk.
You don't see this level of anti-mask/anti-vaxx nonsense on forums for Uber drivers and grocery store workers, for example.
If anything, the people who are the most ungrounded and fearful are also the most privileged people I know. All the working class folks I know called bullshit on this a long, long time ago. It takes a hell of a lot of privilege for a bunch of spoiled work-from-home tech people to run around shaming everybody about trying to live their lives.
No one is calling for lockdowns now, especially now that we have a safe, working vaccine and that we're seemingly close to actual treatments to reduce the death rate of COVID. Vaccines are free. So how is a vaccine mandate fucking over the working class? Or are you just disingenuously using them a cudgel to argue against policies which have the potential to save lives?
Forcing restrictions of any kind is complete crap. And masks == restrictions. So does vaccine mandates.
And feel free to downvote me and call me names. I’ve taken heaps of verbal abuse and tons of gaslighting from plenty of real world people. Online people I don’t get phased by at all. Y’all need to realize that “the other side” has very rational arguments and is, quite frankly, correct in those arguments.
The most important reason there are mask and vaccine mandates is that hospitals are already overloaded with unvaccinated COVID patients, which means no one else can get health care. Cancer patients (like my family member) are dying due to lack of treatment. People with sudden injuries (like from car crashes) can't get a bed in a hospital. If we completely remove all restrictions it would get much worse.
Another reason is that not everyone can get vaccinated. My kids are under the age limit for the vaccine. Obviously their risk of death is low, but their risk of long COVID may not be. It bothers me that people who interact with my daughter on a daily basis (like two of the mothers of other children at her daycare) refuse to get vaccinated.
And the kids argument is plain wrong. Unlike many respiratory viruses out there, covid doesn’t really affect kids. Full stop.
Full hospitals don’t matter. They are private companies who had more than a year and a half to prepare for this. Expecting all of society to bail them out? No thanks.
First, science (and medicine) and "believe" don't go well together. The data we have currently shows that the vaccines are moderately effective at preventing covid and very effective at preventing hospitalization.
> Unlike many respiratory viruses out there, covid doesn’t really affect kids. Full stop.
You need to provide some serious source for your full stops, because I'm sure I've seen papers that said otherwise.
Also covid is not a virus, and it's these subtle misunderstandings and unclear statements that I hear more often from the anti-vaxx crowd, that also make me want to align with the other crowd a little bit more.
> Full hospitals don’t matter.
Until you or someone you love needs medical attention of any kind.
Man, you said earlier that the other side "has very rational arguments", is that supposed to be it?
I know you think we should all just drop our masks and stop caring if the unvaccinated get COVID. I get it, and I'd love to not care. But they fill the hospitals, wasting my tax dollars and affecting my family's ability to get treatment.
> Full hospitals don’t matter. They are private companies who had more than a year and a half to prepare for this. Expecting all of society to bail them out? No thanks.
This is so backwards I don't even know where to start.
First of all, hospitals in my country, like many (most?) Western countries, are not private companies. Here they are owned and operated by municipalities.
Second of all, you can't expect all hospitals to prepare for a massive temporary influx of patients. Where are they supposed to get the doctors and nurses? You think a whole country can just double or triple the amount of nurses in a year, and then lay them all off afterwards when the pandemic is over? Where are they supposed to get the space for these patients? You think it's quick to build a hospital? Where are they supposed to get the money to do this?
Third of all, are you not worried about getting in a car wreck and having no ambulance available to come save you because they're all busy picking up unvaccinated COVID patients? Because this is a real thing that is happening right now. I'm guessing you're a fan of private health care; are you not worried about your costs spiking because you're now in competition for medical care with countless unvaccinated COVID patients? "Full hospitals don't matter" is the most backwards and ignorant comment I've seen on this. This absolutely matters to you. It directly affects your ability to get care.
You do understand that lockdowns are basically the opposite of mask and vaccine mandates right? Masks and vaccines help us avoid lockdowns and get back to normal. Yet all of the people I see complaining about lockdowns are the same people I see refusing to wear masks and refusing to get vaccinated.