I honestly think there's a small percentage of society which would, we've all come across people out there with the personality trait of being utterly unable to resist wagging their fingers at their fellow human beings. Whatever your opinion on the restrictions and their effectiveness, nobody with eyes can deny that this social finger-wagging has been a huge part of the zeitgeist of the last two years.
I'm hoping that this attitude starts to die off as covid becomes endemic because aggressive moral authoritarianism rarely ends well for people who have a less black-and-white view of the world.
Honest question: Why not?
2019 is not some magical single gold standard Right Amount Of Personal Freedom. Behaviors become subject to restriction all the time (and also some other restrictions become lax or disappear over time). Taboos come and go. Society changes and the set of acceptable behaviors can also change with time.
I remember similar arguments being used back when seat belt laws were introduced. "I'll never wear those things!" "They wrinkle my clothing!" "They're tyranny!" "People will not tolerate making them mandatory!" But... now we do tolerate it. Same with anti-smoking laws. Society is very flexible and capable of changing.
There are a lot of dangerous things that were regularly done in the past, but are now forbidden, or even taboo. I don't see why things like masks, distancing, and limits to indoor occupancy are un-changeable special cases.
We tolerate all kinds of restrictions indefinitely - that's quite literally what laws are. Well, most laws that aren't based on age criteria.
> In September, unvaccinated persons had a 5.8X risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 14X risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to vaccinated persons.
Source: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-s...
Medical research indicates VE against infection of about 50% after 6 months, which is 2:1.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/t...
* People who have symptoms of COVID-19.
* People who have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19 should be tested to check for infection:
* Fully vaccinated people should be tested 5–7 days after their last exposure.
* People who are not fully vaccinated should get tested immediately when they find out they are a close contact. If their test result is negative, they should get tested again 5–7 days after their last exposure or immediately if symptoms develop.
* Unvaccinated people who have taken part in activities that put them at higher risk for COVID-19 because they cannot physically distance as needed to avoid exposure, such as travel, attending large social or mass gatherings, or being in crowded or poorly-ventilated indoor settings.
* People who have been asked or referred to get tested by their healthcare provider, or state, tribal, localexternal icon, or territorial health department.
And suddenly, I'm not worried anymore, unlike now where the regional hospitals are massively backed up or closed due to low vaccination rates.
My compassion is completely fatigued. All I can think about now is getting back to the gym when my youngest is fully vaccinated.
That's really not going to fly from a political, legal, or medical ethics standpoint. Like, just letting the unvaccinated die and shielding the health system would be an option if societies worked completely differently than they actually do, but given how societies actually are, this is simply not an option.
Thankfully, this is wrong on both counts.
1) Vaccinated people are significantly less likely to contract the virus
2) Breakthrough infections are significantly less contagious than infections in nonimmune persons
There's a good article diving into this at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/22/most-pern...
Recently vaccinated people are significantly less likely to contract covid than totally naive folks. Efficacy against infection seems to wane pretty heavily over time.
> Breakthrough infections are significantly less contagious than infections in nonimmune persons
This seems to be in dispute (by a study referenced in your linked article). I think it would be fair to say they are at least contagious for a shorter duration though.
I think fixating on the limits of vaccination rather then the benefits is misleading. Vaccination works, yet many people think it does not due to this rhetoric.
"Vaccines work" (or the constantly repeated "these vaccines are safe and (remarkably/fantastically/stupendously) effective) isn't trying to educate you on the vaccines so you can make the right decision on your own, it's meant to get you to take the vaccine. They're stronger statements than are justified, and they make people suspicious as a result.
Some people are going to read " vaccinations work" as "you take this vaccine and you can't get covid, can't spread covid", which is not even close to accurate. We're all better off (IMO) being honest and humble and careful with our language, so we don't get caught overplaying our case and further galvanizing people.