re: Moderna Phase 3 Vaccine clinical trial concludes October,2022

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I’m not judging any individual who doesn’t take it. I’m just pointing out that others may suffer severe consequences as a result. I wouldn’t want to live with something like that on my conscience.

Again, you do you.

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You can bet your arse I’m taking it as soon as it’s available. I’m not judging any individual who doesn’t take it. I’m just pointing out that others may suffer severe consequences as a result. I wouldn’t want to live with something like that on my conscience.

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I’m not judging any individual who doesn’t take it. I’m just pointing out that others may suffer severe consequences as a result. I wouldn’t want to live with something like that on my conscience.

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He’s also the only expert I know of who hasn’t walked back his numbers, reconsidered his position, or moved the goalposts with regard to what we must do, what we can do, and what he expects to happen next. I say all of this because Dr. Osterholm also predicted that we could easily see 100 million COVID cases in this country, with a very strong possibility of 480,000 fatalities – even if we successfully “flattened the curve.”

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It took me a few weeks to accept this scenario, because 480,000 fatalities is a frightening number, and lot of other experts were saying lots of conflicting things. But eventually, I came to the conclusion that Dr. Osterholm was probably correct, and quickly navigated the four stages of grief that usually precede acceptance – denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. By late April, I had come to accept Dr. Osterholm’s predictions as a matter of fact. Since then, I’ve had three full months to come to terms with the fact that, a) I am probably going to get COVID-19 at some point, b), I am almost certainly going to survive it, and c), I might very well give it to someone else.

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Thus, for the last three months, I’ve been operating from the assumption that this is a year-round virus that’s eventually going to infect 100 million people and kill roughly 1/2 of one percent of those infected. I’ve gotten used to those numbers in much the same way I’ve gotten used to the fact that 40,000 people will likely die on the highways this year. That’s why I’m not panicked or surprised by tens of thousands of daily COVID cases; I’ve been expecting them. Unfortunately, many others have not. Every day, millions of people watch the same breathless coverage by the same breathless journalists, who seem determined to do all they can to foster uncertainty. And so, millions of people are still paralyzed by fear, because they haven’t been given a chance to digest the truth, (or, what I believe to be the truth.) Fact is, we can accept almost anything if we’re given the facts, and enough time to get our heads around them. But if we don’t have an understanding of what’s really happening, we simply can’t get past denial and bargaining, where so many seem to be stuck, understandably so.

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Imagine for a moment you had no idea how many people would die in car accidents this year. Now, imagine that every single accident – over six million a year in the US alone – were reported on the same way that every new COVID case is reported today. Imagine every day you were told in hysterical tones, that another 16,000 accidents had occurred, resulting in another 90 deaths per day. What would that do to your willingness to drive? Six million accidents is a lot of accidents, and 40,000 annual fatalities is a lot of death – especially if you don’t know how high that number could get. But we DO know the dangers of driving, and we’ve accepted those numbers. Consequently, we’re able to make a grown-up decision about whether or not we want to assume the associated risk of operating a motor vehicle.

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Again, don’t misunderstand. I’m not ignoring COVID, and I’m not pretending the risks at hand aren’t real. I don’t want to get this disease and give it to someone else, any more than I want to be in a car wreck and hurt someone else. So, I take precautions. I get tested often. If I can’t distance, I wear a mask – especially around higher risk people. I also wear a seatbelt, obey the speed limits, and check my mirrors before changing lanes. I’m aware that we’d all be a lot safer if we kept our cars in the garage. I’m also aware we’d be a lot safer if we all kept ourselves in the house. But that’s not why cars, or people, exist.

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