I'm sorry if I sound like one of "those" people who is stopping people from having fun, but there is no way you are going to convince me that the hundreds of thousands of fans gathered for NFL and college football games are all vaxxed and not risking further mutation. I get that it's outside, but again, these people are shoulder to shoulder, maskless, yelling for 2+ hours, going to and from the bathroom, etc. I just really don't understand how the script has flipped so abruptly from "an outside gathering of tens of thousands of people is definitely a super spreader event" to "nahh it's OK because people are outside."

So it seems like we're back to business as usual, and I won't be surprised if we see another mutation. Or who knows, maybe this thing will just fizzle out.

  • wombat [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    the only things americans care about are fast food, marvel movies and super bowl commercials

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    the exec order for a vaccine mandate took me by surprise, because otherwise almost every institution I deal with has seemed to have fully embraced "Mission: Accomplished" officially.

    aside from that, there is a sharp unease rumbling among the workers I speak to directly of public facing institutions. union reps, worker organizations, non profit service providers, healthcare/education workers... almost all are haunted by burn out, widespread job vacancies, and extreme frustration with leaders.

    if we had an ounce of class consciousness, there would have been a general strike already of teachers and healthcare workers with sympathy strikes all over.

    even with all the circuses and atomization, it still feels like something is going to explode anyway. there's a fragility in the air around everything.

    • BruceWillis [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      tick tick tick tick. it's coming.

      they just ended the eviction moratorium and unemployment benefits too.

      we need to radicalize people that all the homeless people everywhere that everyone hates seeing are going to grow and the more homeless people you see, the more it reflects a failure to deal with the pandemic justly.

      tick tick tiBOOM.

      • LilComrade [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        We need people, every time they see a homeless person, to think “wow capitalism really left us to fucking die on the streets during a pandemic didn’t it?”

    • Biggay [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I agree, its been very weird that I'm also having the same experiences since going back to college and work. Everyone is happy to be back, but I think that fragility feeling is everyone has also now realized that America is not an unstoppable ceaseless goliath; That something as small as a virus or CO2 can completely destroy our lives. Maybe that our way of life also needs to be destroyed.

      • LoudMuffin [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        To be honest, I thought our response was going to be....decent. I wasn't a pinko yet, but I was getting there just from coming to my own conclusions given my experiences but man it was fucking incredible to see how ridiculously badly the US got spanked by one germy boi

        • Biggay [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I knew the responce was going to be dogshit because there is no profit incentive in properly enforcing the quarantine rules. There's a negative incentive to it, quarantining costs money but saves lives. We dont do that, we burn people for money.

  • LangdonAlger [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Had to get my first test recently cuz of work exposure and realized how much we've given up. No aid to those infected, no payment for treatment. If you can find a free test within 24 hours you're lucky. Assistance stops there

    • emizeko [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      there wasn't even a vax requirement at the college football games (no idea about NFL)

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Libs, conservatives, and everyone in between... there is a deep sense of "Protestant Responsibility" in the American psyche. Americans broadly believe that your circumstances in life generally reflect the choices you make. So now that a vaccine is readily available, this sense of "Protestant Responsibility" kicks in. Do people think these events will spread a bunch of COVID? Yeah, probably. But at this point they believe if you get COVID it's entirely your fault, so whatever, ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOOOOTBALL!!!

  • GVAGUY3 [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I feel like shit for it, but even I have basically given up. I've gone to concerts, I have plans on going to concerts as well as playing shows with my project. My only hope is most of the people at shows are vaccinated. Covid is endemic now because of our bullshit freedom. I legit can only hail Mary.

    • FidelCashflow [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The gimmick is there is no singular action you can take. So you dont even have to feel bad.

      So your lumpen prole doesn't, and we get dragged along for the ride

    • Parenti [comrade/them,any]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      No yeah, same here. I'm just kinda surprised because it was only a couple weeks ago I was hearing about how bad delta was going to be, but suddenly it's all good. I really just don't know

      Just so many mixed messages

      • GVAGUY3 [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It's plateauing here in my area so idk. As for the mixed messages, pretty much everyone agrees with that. No one knows what is going on. No wonder everyone just decided it's over.

        • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Once COVID was basically signaled to be over back around June, there was really no putting that toothpaste back in the tube.

        • Biggay [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I for one, blame the media. There is no centralized narrative around the end of the pandemic, in much the same way there was for the war in Iraq. Did it end? When? Or is it still happening in some different form that you dont really have to think about?

    • CanYouFeelItMrKrabs [any, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      My friend went to a concert and they required vaccination status or a negative clvid test like 24 hours prior. I'm sure someone in the crowd might've tried to lie but probably a small minority

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It's gonna get bad. This is currently a texbook case of producing vaaccine resistence and more deadly and fast killing strains.

    • Parenti [comrade/them,any]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      This is fucking bonkers to me.

      But I don't know, maybe it doesn't spread outside at all? But that wouldn't make sense because I know people who've gotten it while outside in big groups

      Again, like I said, completely mixed messages

      • Mardoniush [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It is less likely to spread outside, with proper separation and masks. And encouraging outdoor excercise has public health knock on effects. This is utterly horrifying though.

        You can still get it though and people here in Aus are not taking things seriously.

        • SonKyousanJoui [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Europe has also been easing restrictions by a lot, not because healthcare experts said they can, but because the business owners demanded it.

    • BigLadKarlLiebknecht [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A vaccinated friend of mine in his 30s ended up in the ICU a couple months back. He’s undoubtedly a rarity, but it certainly made me reevaluate the growing sense of “back to normal” I had. I do hope I’ll get a booster shot before too long, it’s nearly been 6 months for me :sadness:

    • BlueMagaChud [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      lol, the west is just going to be rugged individuals fleeing from storm-wracked hovel to burnt-out hovel just high-fiving a cornucopia of disease diversity amongst themselves

  • Mike_Penis [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    a ton of people have stopped caring. but our hospitals are getting fucked by anti vaxxers using all their resources and anti vax staff choosing to quit due to burnout or not wanting to get vaxxed. i visit /r/medicine a lot and that shit's fucked

    • happybadger [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/pmesxv/dont_have_a_heart_attack_or_break_your_leg_or_get/

      It's very interesting watching them radicalise against antivaxxers.

      • spectre [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        At a get together tonight where cuts chuds are straight up complaining about vaccine and mask mandates (and Biden in general lol)

      • Parenti [comrade/them,any]
        hexagon
        ·
        3 years ago

        Reading some of those posts, and it's pretty laughable that people can claim doctors have a duty to treat everyone regardless of their decisions

        Of course, that would be true anywhere else, but in the US healthcare is clearly a commodity. And rich anti-vaccination republicans get equal (if not better) treatment.

        But this is what really gets to me. Health professionals should be free to turn away anyone who has not taken COVID seriously in a country where healthcare is not a right

        • happybadger [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Triage necessarily comes into effect at some point. The treatment outcomes are better in vaccinated patients than unvaccinated. That makes it legitimate grounds for prioritising care to save the most people. Every person with MAGA Lung is depriving any other patient with any other issue of that bed and the myriad of supplies that go into their care, all for a virus they don't believe in and actively spread as bioterrorists.

          Fuck around and find out :covid-cool:

  • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I'm convinced that we're keeping covid alive as a way to wage war against China. All of us in the US are desperate to die, and China can't afford to do lockdowns forever.

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Not sure what you're talking about. They recovered and their economy was the only one that grew in 2020.

      It does way more damage to the US than it does to China, even if you make the most conservative estimate of the American impact and the most :LIB: estimate of the Chinese impact.

        • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          The difference in growth/contraction is greater than any other year. Plus, honestly, it's very satisfying to me to see the US take a hit to its economy, even though that economy still sustains me 99% (I hope to get that down to 30% in the next 5 years).

    • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      holy shit it's like when lunatics say shit like "China has a gagillion people so they can just drown their superior trained enemies in bodies" but like, reverse