Does Anyone Think We Rushed Into Going Back To Normal For Memorial Day?.....

[global1]

When many Covid restrictions were lifted to welcome in Memorial Day and the summer - I was skeptical. I thought we were rushing through to normalcy because people were getting antsy to get back to normal and businesses wanted to open to recover from their months of being down or running at 50% capacity.

July 4th wasn't too far away after that. All sorts of super spreader events held and people out in droves without masks, not social distancing and really not knowing who was vaccinated and who was not.

We were told the vaccinated didn't need to wear masks - but the non-vaccinated needed to wear their masks.

Now come on now. Do you trust anti-vaxxers to wear a mask.

Well - we knew of the threat of the 'delta variant' back then - but because it wasn't that prevalent in the U.S. - we threw caution to the wind.

And now we're getting back to where we started. Only this time - people have become more distrustful of the experts that are making the rules.

Why couldn't we just stay cautious at the start of summer and not open things up all the way like we did. We're paying for it now.

I wonder if the CDC had it to do over again - if they would have made a different decision?

[marble falls]

1. Not only yes, but hell yes - trying to normalize was/is a horrible mistake.

[Wingus Dingus]

2. Vast majority of vaccinated people will be all right even if infected.

The numbers seem to be bearing that out, in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. We have to resume some semblance of normalcy at some point.

[uponit7771]

5. +1, ... and it has to be based off facts and data and not the way people feel. The CDC has been ...

... tracking hospitalizations because just getting infected after vaccination the sickness's weren't severe.

[unblock]

3. Plenty of people were saying at the time that it was premature

Including plenty of folks on du.

It was blatantly not a purely medical decision.

[meadowlander]

10. A purely medical decision

would be nobody ever leaves their bubble for any reason.

What's needed is realistic risk assessment which balances health and safety with the need for people to live their lives.

If vaccine effectiveness + vaccine uptake rates reach a level where the vast majority of people if they do catch Covid will not suffer significant risk of death or long term illness then at some point we have to start experimenting with opening up again. There will definitely be set-backs. But I don't think "this wasn't purely a medical decision" is a particularly damning accusation to throw at policy makers who never claimed that it was in the first place.

[unblock]

22. Yes, that's what I meant.

Couldn't come up with a concise way to say it so I left it inaccurate. I'd have said everyone knew what I was getting at but maybe not.

I often see it said as "based only on the science" which is similarly inaccurate.

[uponit7771]

4. Not based on what the CDC said was their top concerns which was hospitalizations and deaths ...

... not infections.

Fauci said the virus changed and so did the data so I can trust that.

Even with the new delta symptomatic infections are low and so are hospitalizations and deaths of the vaccinated.

on the other hand for those unvaccinated ...

70% of 280 million (> 12) vaccinated in the US leaves 84 million people left to infect with CV19 Delta and NEARLY close to the same amount of people getting infected a month as last August !!

I agree with Macron though, fuck em ... they need to take precautions and hurry up doing it

[SWBTATTReg]

6. No. The Delta variant wasn't even around when we started masking up, taking precautions.

Who knows what else might be around the corner too? I think masking and safe distancing will now be a thing going forth from now on. Besides, I think masking and safe distancing is also cutting down on the flu, and other such things, but on the other hand, people have been somewhat neglecting other things that they need to take care of (with their health) being that Covid has taken such a predominant role in people's health. With the scumbag djt mocking Covid and other things associated w/ Covid, can one be surprised that so many have chosen to disregard the safeguard steps one can easily take to safeguard the health of them and their families? I never realized that so many don't give a damn about nobody else but themselves. What a selfish Country (you all know what / who I mean)...the vast majority of us do in fact, give a hoot.

[global1]

18. The Delta Variant Was Identified Before The Memorial Day Holiday....

The first Delta case was identified in December 2020, and the strain spread rapidly, soon becoming the dominant strain of the virus in both India and then Great Britain.

This is what I was saying in my original post. They knew that the 'delta variant' was out there - even though it wasn't present in any major way in the U.S. at the time - and instead of being more cautious until we knew more about this 'd variant' - they relaxed most Covid restrictions to coincide with the Memorial Day holiday and start of summer.

Then they further confounded things by saying those vaccinated didn't need to mask up and the un-vaccinated did need to wear their masks.

This was a total miscalculation on their part. How could anyone believe that anti-vaxxers (of which most probably 99% were also anti-maskers) would actually mask up.

Even though I am vaccinated - I continued and til today - still wear my mask in public because I've learned since the start of this thing not to trust or rely on other what other people are saying or doing.

[stillcool]

7. they jumped the gun

one day was mask, the next day was no-need to mask, and nothing had changed. States were already doing their maskless, vaccineless, freedom thing, so I'm not sure announcing masks unnecessary for the vaccinated changed anything. And then, who knows what a variant is going to do until it does it? I'm sure they did not expect the vaccine rate to slow down, but I'd think in the world of science what one thinks is not what is, until it is.

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. We? Maybe way too many, but that number didn't include me and my wife. WE have too much sense for

that kind of nonsense.

[zuul]

9. Yes. The CDC naively thought the anti-vaccine assholes

would behave honorably.

[LisaL]

11. Is that even under debate?

Last week we posted most covid cases in the world.

[Takket]

12. we didn't rush but we severely underestimated how fucking stupid this country is

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Restrictions were lifted here on 15 June; I don't know why you're talking about Memorial Day (n/t)

[Deuxcents]

14. Scientific data changes all the time

Just like the weather..depends on many elements. After the data is interrupted, things will probably change. Just use common sense n get the shots, mask up, wash up and distance. This hysteria is dumbing us down and we will continue to live like this until the virus has run its course. That’s gonna be hell for all of us if these people don’t stop with the misinformation and hysteria.

[gratuitous]

15. Yeah

There was no doubt in my mind that relaxing the countermeasures was going to result in a new wave of infections. Fully a third of the population is determined not to give an inch on the pandemic, they won't get vaccinated, won't wash their hands, won't maintain a healthy distance from each other, and most decidedly won't wear a mask.

As the restrictions eased, I knew those people would simply stop doing anything - little as it was - and let down their guard. Others would follow their lead even if they weren't ideologically conformed to the shirkers. In addition, I could see that confusion was the order of the day, as every pissant little tyrant with a fiefdom was going to go his own way in the face of changing recommendations. A lot of people were legitimately confused and others dropped all precautions claiming they were confused. For example there was a family that got together at a resort in Central Oregon for a combination Independence Day/family celebration at the beginning of July. You guessed it, 16 of the attendees including children too young to be vaccinated got sick. The family claimed confusion (I have no reason to doubt them) and that they would have taken precautions if they had received clearer instructions from the powers that be. Combine those legitimately confused persons with those eager to drop all precautions, and you've got a bubbling cauldron of pestilence ready to go again.

There's also precaution fatigue, which I don't think has gotten nearly the scrutiny it should. People are tired of the precautions. I know I am. But I'm also wary enough that even though I'm fully vaccinated (more than three months now), I know that I could still get infected. The virus may not affect me because I'm vaccinated, but I could pass the virus on to someone who isn't vaccinated (and I'm done with that conversation - I simply don't care why someone isn't vaccinated), and I'd feel terrible if they got sick or even died because I passed the virus on to them.

And now, thanks to the people who have been so dismissive of the simple, safe, effective, and CHEAP countermeasures available to practically everyone in the country, we're back to wearing masks in my county (or in my case, continuing to wear masks in public buildings). Frankly, it's exhausting. But it's also necessary because of the stone-brained stubbornness of a certain segment of our population.

[dclarston13]

16. YES

[AngryOldDem]

17. Of course, yes.

Not surprised at all by this. The CDC should have set a target for the number of people vaccinated, instead of relying on a decrease in cases, which was going to be a false number as soon as the vaccination rate plateaued.

Biden wanted — what? — 50% by July 4? Not an unreasonable goal.

And Christ on a crutch — what is the BFD about wearing a mask? Just do it, if asked or required, vaccinated or not.

I can’t help but wonder, too, how different things might have been if that genius Trump hadn’t thrown out Obama’s pandemic response plan.

[Baked Potato]

19. The partisan side of me says it was a master stroke of strategic

politicking. The President trusted folks to be honest with themselves and their fellow citizens and have cautious but fun family get togethers. Republicans were chomping at the bit to fully reopen everything and were ready to go all in on declaring that Democrats were destroying the economy.

President Biden “trusted” Americans were going to do right by each other. Now, it appears some folks were less than honest and not patriotic at all. As a country and world citizens, we are paying a price. Republicans are slowing our recovery and causing healthcare costs to rise. They are killing each other.

So, now Fox puts links on their page to find vaccines. They have failed miserably and are part of a larger conspiracy to kill people and somehow try to blame Democrats. It is vitally important to win elections from now on.

[brooklynite]

20. Based on what we knew? No.

[IcyPeas]

21. The virus does not recognize holidays.

It rages on until it can't find a host.