The overall public ignorance about everything to do with this coronavirus is just amazing to me
JustGrateful
Member Posts: 72
I continue to read post after post online from people that I used to think were average, intelligent people. But when I read things like, this is all a hoax that was brought on by the democrats and it will magically disappear after the election. Or one person said that "they heard" that an unused box of 10 testing swabs was turned in and they all came back positive. Or masks don't help, I'm not wearing one. Big brother is forcing themselves on me. They are forcing everyone to do this, then once we agree they are going after our guns! I just want to turn off and read a book.
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I'm with you on this JustGrateful. It's like stupid has become the latest trend and everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Well, not everybody but sometimes it seems that way. America should be better than this. I think of the WWII era and the sacrifices people made for the war effort - without complaint. No gas, no sugar, no coffee, no meat unless you were lucky and lived on a farm. All we're asking of people now is to wear a mask and be smart about gatherings and it turns out it's asking too much. When did America become the home of the greedy me, me, mes?0
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Me too, Just Grateful & Bengal------our country has become dumb and divided.
Our dear leaders do every thing they can to set us against each other. They refuse to listen to scientists and well-educated doctors. They hold events and dare the attendees to wear masks
and distance each other. "Be a man", don't let "them" take away your freedom!
What is really scary, these followers believe them.
Are we returning to the Dark Ages? When will we start burning books & witches?0 -
The government needed to be serious when this started. A check to each person for $1,200 is not enough to sustain us for months. They pushed businesses to reopen before there were plans in place to keep us safe. Now they have really big hot spots in Florida, Texas, California and other states and their healthcare services are basically at maximum levels.
I live in Illinois and our governor took it very seriously. He and his staff held updates on tv each day, telling about the new cases, deaths, and who to call for assistance. I think he did a good job yet others think he didn't do enough. We are still at a low rate of new cases but with this holiday weekend and everyone acting like there is no pandemic, who knows what the next couple of weeks may bring.
I'm still staying home and reading books! Because of cancer and other things, my chance of survival is probably pretty low.
How do you guys feel about how this was handled?0 -
No matter the wing that hysteria and conspiracy theories come from, I find that disconnecting from the media is very relaxing. Don't miss it at all as time goes on and if something big happens, I'll hear about it anyway.0
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I agree, if you want to learn how intelligent someone is, just read what they write. It's like opening a book.0
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Today a post started floating around with the latest conspiracy theory. It says, "what if instead of testing everyone, they are infecting everyone? Something to think about".
If anyone believes this type of stuff I want to know who they are so I can not be on the highway at the same time that they are. I don't even want to be in the same city where they are. That kind of stupidity is dangerous for them and everyone around them.0 -
OK, OK, OK, just when did common sense go down the drain? It seems like not enough people are using it these days. I have a friend who thinks this whole corona thing is blown way out of proportion, and he refuses to wear a mask. Therefore, he cannot attend meetings at the social club for the blind of which we are both members. I've heard someone say the virus was deliberately made as germ warfare to force us all into lock down so the government can take over. I may watch the news to keep informed, especially since I live in a hot spot county, but I take a lot of it with a grain of salt when opinions are sneaked in. When people come up to me and start telling me one of their conspiracy theories, I politely tell them I don't want to hear it and could we please change the subject. The one thing that has kept me going through all this with lock downs, no more hugs at church, lots of recreation places closed, trial and error when finding a mask that fits me properly, and the loneliness, I can only cling to my faith and believe that God may not have created the virus, but He is using it to teach us something, and He can stop it when His plan is completed. This helps me in knowing that I am in a loving and merciful God's hands and not in the hands of man, which many conspiracy theories suggest. HUGS and God bless.0
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Aw'w'w'w'w'w'w'w'w'w, legaljen1969, please don't leave. I don't know what happened to your first post, but I do agree we need to use our common sense and ask questions rather than robotically follow what the news says, especially when it changes over the course of a day. We have to ask questions and even get second opinions when we're diagnosed, so what is so darn different about this? OK, it's an invisible virus with lots of variables, but isn't cancer? Don't the doctors and nurses tell us each patient is different when we get our treatments and want to know the side effects? legaljen1969, we all hate to see you go, and we don't want you to have to go through cancer or the pandemic alone. HUGS and God bless.0
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@legaljen1969, I'm kind of lost as to what you're talking about "taking down a post". I am the sole person responsible for taking down, (deleting) any posts, or for monitoring the conversations. I let most everything go, until it reaches a point I believe is out of line for our community and I then take action. As for any post that you made about asking questions, I've not seen it. It is likely that you never got it posted. There are many times that I will type out a post, review it, be happy with it, hit the enter button, and then I can't find it because it went off into internet land to never be found and I have to repost it.
You are welcome to post whatever you like, I think I know you enough based on reading your posts over the last several months that whatever it was, it was not objectionable.
We value your participation here and hope you will reconsider your decision.0 -
Each of us, well, most of us, were given a brain and presumably taught to use it. Somehow, along the way, some folks choose to follow certain charismatic leaders, politicians, "preachers", and others who have no education or decent morals and quite often have a hidden agenda. These followers have drunk the Kool Aid, or in more current times, the Clorox. The newscasters lap this up like cats drinking cream.
There are many intelligent medical leaders-- Dr. Fauci is one, that most of us can believe and trust. He wants the Virus to be under control, he is always searching for a cure, he constantly touts the use of masks & distancing and is not out looking for your vote. There are many medical workers just like him, all over-worked and with our best interests at heart.
We have a choice who to listen to.
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The more I read the posts of others online about their thoughts on a variety of topics, the more I question our education system. There's no way these people could have come through any quality education system and be that stupid! And one of the amazing things is that they don't know it! I just shake my head and go on. I've stopped trying to fix their years of failed education and have decided to let them just go on like they are.0
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I don't know where my post went before. I have no idea. All I know is that it was here early this morning and not here after a few more posts were made.
@Molly72, you are right. We all need to use our brains. We also need to use our hearts and minds and compassion. Just because someone questions the beliefs you ascribe to does not make them an idiot or kool-aid drinker/clorox drinker. It's interesting that people talk about "drinking the koolaid" when someone says something that they don't believe personally.
It truly is a lack of common sense. Why was it necessary for the government to tell us basic things about how to stay safe. I am astounded that "washing your hands" is something that is "trending." Like how many unsanitary people were wandering around before coronavirus? Were there really that many people going around coughing on other people, especially on purpose? People roaming around sneezing on people? Did it really take the government telling us not to do those things? That's disgusting behavior and I certainly hope it doesn't take government intervention for people not to cough and blow snot on each other. There is almost nothing, other than mask wearing, that is out of the ordinary for what public health officials recommend during a normal cold and flu season. Use disinfectants or antibacterial agents, avoid crowds, wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze/cough.
Whether it was intentional or not, how this crisis was handled, the government and media have learned a great deal about how to use such a situation for political and social gain. They have certainly learned a lot about what a society will accept. I think we all have learned a lot. We have learned that if society will not comply, we will legislate its compliance.
I never believed that my cancer would be the least bad thing to happen in my life in 2020. I thought it would be front and center of the bad stuff to happen to me in 2020. Cancer actually lit my a desire to fight and live. It showed me that I CAN fight and hope for better things. Then came COVID and showed me the depravity of this world, which broke that hope like nothing I have ever known. It has done a horrible thing to our country's mental and emotional health. It has fractured famiies, friendships, businesses, towns, homes. The ravages of COVID? I fear the actual illness will be the least damaging thing this virus does to our country.
I believe COVID is very real. It is a very dangerous illness and we must do all we can to fight it. I wish it were not so politicized. I believe that the politicians are completely taking advantage of the crisis. The moment any of them made this about political gain is the moment all of us should have recognized how little they care about us. No need to let a tragedy or crisis go unused. That the motto and oath of any politician.
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One might think that it would not be necessary for the government to tell us how to stay safe, but we all are seeing that people, especially the young ones, just don't give a rat's patootie if they are safe or not - Party on!!! When they end up on a ventilator or kill their grandparents, then they wise up. The parties and gatherings of yesterday, the Fourth, will come to roost home in 2 weeks.
As for my phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid and the Clorox", that is not just my lack of compassion, but my total disbelief that anyone would literally drink poison because some high up person suggested that just possibly might be a cure. Way, way beyond my understanding. Poison Control Centers received dozens of calls about it. As you noted, this is another example of damage done to our country by the Virus-- the dumbing down of America.
The politicizing of COVID is simply terrible, it is breaking our country apart.
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I read the mysteriously disappearing post legaljen so I was here and then it wasn't. Where did it go? I have no clue. As far as the ever changing information we get from the media; under the circumstances that is completely understandable. We are dealing with a brand new never before dealt with version of a novel virus. Everyone is learning as we go. New symptoms and side effects being discovered everyday. The fact that people can show no symptoms yet be carriers.
Strange side effects in children. The list is never ending. As scientist continue to study this phenomenon they learn new things everyday. And from what they learned can develop new strategies to fight it. At first the mask was thought to be ineffective. Then wear a mask to protect others from your droplets. Then wear a mask to both protect other and yourself. Then wear a multilayer mask. Yes! Information changes daily but that is a good thing. It means we are learning and applying what we learn. As for politicizing a worldwide health crisis, it's despicable. And nobody is more guilty of that than the present administration. In NYS, although I do not agree with everything Gov. Cuomo has done in his administration, I think he deserves Kudos for his handling of a desperate situation in our state. With his guidance we went from epicenter in the nation to very low incidences of new cases. I only fear that as people tire of cooperating we will see another deadly surge.
People who look to YouTube and other web sources are doing themselves a disservice. As someone said, Dr Fauci is a professional with the highest standing and regard in his field. He has NO political agenda. As a doctor his main focus is trying to keep people alive. Yet, we see less and less of him on the news because the administration doesn't like what he has to say. It is very sad and extremely frightening.
'Nuf said.0 -
Social media is the most virulent disease there is--because it is unregulated, unfiltered and people tend to believe anything they read online (heck, anything not scrawled on paper or chalked on a sidewalk) so lonf as it reinforces their own biases and wishful thinking.
The WHO did drop the ball (and they continue to do so), because of its rigid academic and often even theoretical model of "absence of evidence=evidence of absence." (I.e., "we don't have conclusive proof that x works or y is spread this way, so therefore x does not work and y does not spread this way"). Their hidebound inertia is paralyzing. They have to cover the entire world, including un-and-underdeveloped nations for whom even the most basic protective measures (face coverings, physical distancing, etc.) and treatments are utterly out of reach--but because of that alphabet-soup of an acronym, First World skeptics often mistakenly believe those academic non-real-world standards apply to us too. The CDC, NIH, (to some extent) FDA, Nat'l Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disese (God bless Fauci) are the only credible authorities at this point. The rest of the "coronavirus task force" (including Birx, Giroir, and the Surgeon General) are fawning Trump lackeys who fear for their jobs more than they do for the country.
And unfortunately, the combination of undereducation, fulminating long-term resentment of "experts" (medical, legal, scientific) and authority, and the notion that personal responsibility should apply only to others who would take our tax dollars has led to our being, per capita, the most ignorant nation on earth. It's the culture wars, pure & simple. (Emphasis on "simple").
Our Gov. (IL) and Mayor (Chicago) are among the most heroic & courageous in dealing with this pandemic, especially in the face of an indifferent Fed. Admin. that delights in pitting state against state, party against party, and people against each other--a modern gladiator arena on a grand scale, while Trump & his minions sit back in the gallery and watch for their amusement.
I always thought it would be cancer that would kill me. But now at my age and with Type A blood, COVID almost certainly will--especially if the Trumpublican plan is "Go for herd immunity: live with it, get on with 'normal' life, infect 60% of us, sicken 100,000,000 and sacrifice >4,000,000." In other words, "Give me liberty and you drop dead."0 -
Wait, there is one more thing. Those who refuse to cooperate with CDC guidelines are in effect spitting in the face of our army of health care workers, hospital support staff, EMT, etc...who have given above and beyond, literally put there lives on the line, in too many instances actually sacrificed their lives , to fight this war while many sit on the sidelines and complain how their lives have been disrupted and wearing a mask is "uncomfortable". It is despicable. Get over yourselves and think of someone other than yourself for once.
OK, now I'm done. Let's get back to discussing cancer related issues, the reason we're here.0 -
legaljen, I too, saw your post early this morning. I didn't read it right then, or any of the responses because I needed to get ready for church (my husband had the sermon today so I didn't want to risk being late). Turned out, I had some time before I had to leave so I pulled up this site to read the responses and noted yours was gone? After church, at breakfast, I told my husband about the posted question and how disappointed I was to see you had deleted your post before I could read it (I always like to read yours) - so now this? I figured you had taken it off because I know it is possible. But, if you didn't it must have been some snafu and I hope you will reconsider and stay with us. I like your posts and I can see, from the response you get, that so many others do too.
Personally, I am with po18guy - sometimes it is best to disconnect for a while. I sought this site because I was confused and frightened about follow-up pills once I was through with treatment, and the people here came right to my side and told me their experiences and helped me make an informed decision. I have stayed ever since and find myself being cheerleader for people like me (like you) and there is a comfort in knowing this a a source of information and support - a comfort also in knowing I can help too.
But, I am sad to see this site turn into political debate and decision shaming and lecture. To be fair, I don't think it has completely, but it is changing. If I want this kind of discussion there are other sites I could frequent. There is so much about this pandemic we don't know. Like there is a lot about cancer we don't know. But, one thing we DO know - anxiety, anger, pontificating, and and fear are not good for us. They cannot produce anything positive because they are not positive emotions. A thistle can never grow a rose no matter how well meaning it might be. Like produces like.
So, like Bengal I am through with my rant on the subject and I echo her in saying, "Let's get back to discussing cancer related issues, the reason we're here."
Hang with us, legaljen!!0 -
@MarcieB, I am thinking either I pressed a wrong button or there was just some glitch. I don't know. Is your husband a minister? I ask because you said he had the sermon today. I hope you had a lovely time at church. Thank you for saying you enjoy reading my responses. I am glad to know I am not completely out of my mind and it was actually on the site earlier. I was beginning to think maybe I just dreamed it.
Regardless, I have too much to learn from you all. I guess I will stick around for a bit longer.
Disconnecting is definitely something I have done from Facebook. I have deactivated my account and haven't been in a few weeks now. The world is just too much. I find myself much more at peace.
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One professor of philosophy at Boston college laments the fact that, as a culture, our critical thinking skills are woefully under-developed. We believe what we see or hear simply because we see or hear it. "It's on the web (TV, radio etc.) so it must be true" The emotions lead us to react, but our intelligence 'should' lead us to ponder and investigate. It seems that our ability to speak far outweighs our desire to think.
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i know this is 100% anecdotal, but as a stage 4 cancer patient who ended up getting COVID-19, I can say that it is not necessarily an automatic death sentence for those with compromised immune systems.Yes, be as safe as possible and be smart, but realistically (at least for someone at my stage) I know that cancer is most likely what is going to kill me, so when I found out I had COVID-19 I was frustrated (because I had self-quarantined except for an emergency room visit for pneumonia, where I did not test positive for COVID-19 yet and going to the cancer center multiple times). Which btw I need a new oncologist, bc my oncologist actually made fun of me for being concerned about COVID-19 and wanting to tele-conference and instead kept having me come in for multiple visits that, honestly were at times unnecessary and excessive it seemed. That's it, the only places I went. I didn't even buy groceries, my mom was kind enough to buy me mine (since she was worried for me too) and would leave them at my doorstep. I don't live with anyone and let everyone know that I was going to take this time to self-quarantine and work on my hobbies, writing, etc. Still got it (likely from the ER I would think since practically no nurses there were wearing their masks correctly if at all and the nurse that worked with me the most was so haphazard with his job that he actually wouldn't listen to me when I said I cannot have ANYTHING done to my left arm because of lymphodema and neuropathy that would harm me more and interfere with results. He still treated my left arm like a pin cushion and the swelling hasn't gone down all the way yet which is very distressing tbh since that was a good 3 weeks ago.
Anyway, we shouldn't judge people who get the disease, because even people who tried to do their best can end up with it. After all, that's why so many of us here worry about it (paired with many of us having compromised immune systems). Also, there's no reason why we shouldn't ask questions. Honestly, I'd rather hear "dumb" questions than that people are blindly accepting false information or, even worse, passing it on as fact. I recognize that my experience with COVID-19 will not be the same as everyone else's, but I just want to show an example of someone being fine (well, not from cancer, but you know what I mean) after experiencing COVID-19. Even though the last time I was checked I had antibodies, I still wear my mask, wash my hands (which I hope if people weren't before they do now anyway, bc that's such a simple thing to do and it's kind of gross to think people don't), and would never do anything that could potentially make someone feel uncomfortable about this disease. I mean, the news makes it super scary and I am sure that many people who ended up worse off were very scared and no one wants to end up being harmed or dying from the disease. I'm not saying that just because the disease wasn't too hard on me (mostly made me really fatigued, but that's not nearly as bad as what other people have gone through) that no one should worry and that everyone will be fine. I'm just saying, there is no reason to put down others for asking questions, that we should all be safe but not paranoid, and there are plenty of examples (not just me, but I am one) where a person with an absolutely horrible immune system was able to get better.
I hope none of you have to deal with COVID-19, but if you do, don't just assume you will die. We deal with uncertainty every single day as cancer patients, unfortunately this is another area off uncertainty we just have to deal with for the time being.
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Here's a spin most people do not like.
What is a pandemic? Something that will kill most (i.e., over 50%) of the population.
In my county we have 1/10th of 1% of the population diagnosed (not dead - 7 people in several hundred thousand population).
Is that a pandemic?
No. Take the 'dem' out of pandemic and what do you get? Panic. That's what it really is.0 -
Amended: I am hedging my bets, though, because the pandemic is for a certain group of people. Who? (or is it whom? OMG I hope this nit pick goes away soon.)
Who's infected:
...over 60
...mostly male
...mostly Black (yes, Sandy, I agree about the press in this one - they work us up into an ...emotional lather - sure it was wrong of the officer to choke him to death, but saint he wasn't, by a long shot, yet it's an international movement because the creep died end of rant)
...horribly poor
...no running water
...comorbidities
......obesity
......lung disease
......heart disease
......high blood pressure
......diabetes
For those people, we need to be respectful and mindful and wear our masks. It's not for us (without those comorbidities).
I am over 60, have asthma, and had a heart attack, so I wear a mask. It's called prevention. But should a healthy 2-year-old do the same?
We all have cancer cells in our bodies all the time, yet how many people develop 'cancer' and die from it? Now that's a pandemic, as well as obesity and diabetes.
But COVID? No.
PLEASE prove me wrong. I wanna believe in this pan(dem - no jab at politics)ic0 -
Oh yeah -
...mostly Hispanic!0 -
It sounds like those who do not want to wear a mask want, among other reasons, things to be "normal". We may never return to "normal". But wearing a mask does help the wearer in that the more people wear masks, social distance, etc., the sooner we'll have fewer infections and the sooner we'll be able to return to something at least a little closer to normal.0
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fiddler- you are very lucky you live in a fairly safe area.
The thousands who have died and those now "living" on a ventilator aren't quite as fortunate.
The other thousands of healthy people who have lost their jobs or small businesses and are making do on food handouts from various organizations sure don't feel so great either.
That $1500 handout that most of us got is long gone. I gave mine to my jobless daughter.
Husband gave his to Forgotten Harvest- a food bank.
I live in a county that has one good sized city, many small towns & a large rural population.
We were hit pretty badly by the Covid Pandemic. Our demographics are mainly white, with
many foreign students from the large university. Not a lot of poverty, mostly middle-class and well educated folks.
Sorry, where I live doesn't quite jive with your list. Thousands have died here. And we have sympathy for them.0 -
Molly 72
I am sorry for all your losses; we're all pretty much in the same boat. What I'm saying is that the ILLNESS is not a pandemic. The economic strife brought on by the panic is the (non-health) pandemic.
There's always a possibility of something BECOMING a pandemic, but we're not even close to that one, except maybe in a NYC borough.0 -
Bug ... you brought up a thought. How does the virus in us die, or does it? S---!
If the virus never leaves our systems, will we return to normal in the future?0 -
Molly72
Do me a favor? Divide the # of deaths in your county by the county's population and let me know the result. Thanks!0 -
Hmmm... no one took me up on correcting an error. I stand/sit corrected!
Pandemic:
The plague was the cause of the Black Death that swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century and killed an estimated 50 million people.[1][7] This was about 25% to 60% of the European population.
That's a pandemic because an epidemic crossed a country's borders into another country.
Epidemic:
An epidemic disease is one “affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent.” The World Health Organization (WHO) further specifies epidemic as occurring at the level of a region or community.
COVID is an epidemic that became a pandemic when it left China and headed to other countries.0 -
Found these stats for my area:
My county: 2200 cases 290 deaths
The county next to mine (scary!!) : 23200 cases 2700 deaths
These are approx. figures
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