Top 5 Reasons I Hate This Pandemic and Social Distancing
I may be in the major minority here, but I’m going to say it anyway, I’m sorry if this offends some of my friends and I’m not trying to disrespect you, but numbers and statistics don’t lie.
As a precursor, I’d also like everyone to understand that I’m not upset about it because it is affecting my life personally. Because for me, life is strikingly the same now, as it was pre-pandemic. My business hasn’t really suffered, and to be honest, outside of not being able to go to the gym (which I solved that problem by ordering a PROFORM bike, which I absolutely LOVE), my daily life is not that much different. So, for those of you who have said you want my life, welcome to my world! (Pretty sure I won’t get asked this question anymore after this subsides!)
I feel I can classify myself as a nice person. I really try to have love and respect for all human beings, not just those in my own country or family. I always try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But I’m sure after saying this, many of you will think I’m a horrible person and maybe I am, but this is my belief.
I’m just over this pandemic and social distancing, here is why.
1. Enough with the niceties already!
I’m tired of playing nice. If one more person tells me to stay safe and well, I’m going to ninja kick them straight through my keyboard!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about being nice to one another and loving all people. What I’m not into is what has triggered this. Just because you are now faced with fear, you will send me a hope you’re well message? That is not real, and certainly not genuine. A genuine person doesn’t need to be feared into anything. If you have always told me to be safe and well, then I love you for that, and think that you are truly a loving and caring person deep down. I feel this shows me who’s real and who’s fake, because I guarantee most of you are just saying this because that’s what we’re “supposed to do right now”.
Just stop! I don’t want to hear it anymore. If you’ve had some sort of awakening that is going to last beyond this virus and this truly is the new you, then I’m happy for you and please continue, otherwise, give it up and stop following the herd.
2. We need to be responsible for our own selves and actions.
I’m done trying to pretend like I’m okay with what’s happening with our halt on the economy and social distancing. I’m not, I think it’s severely wrong. And here’s why. (If you hate me for saying this, I understand, and I apologize if I offend my friends)
I think it’s time we start taking responsibility for ourselves. It is not up to others to save me or any of my family members. It is well known now that this virus, just like any other illness such as the flu, a cold, norovirus, Ebola, MERS, etc. predominately takes down the ones with pre-existing conditions. And yes, I know there are documented cases of people dying who don’t have pre-existing conditions, but that percentage of people is miniscule in comparison.
What do I mean by taking responsibility?
First off, if you have a pre-existing condition, it’s up to you to protect yourself. I would never expect someone else, let alone the whole world, to stop what they are doing because I am more vulnerable. And just so you know, I feel this same way even for family members. Sure it would kill me if one of my children died from this, and in fact my son had to get on inhalers yesterday because he is having lung issues, which they are saying is more than likely asthma, not Coronavirus. But I feel my son has put himself in this situation. I have warned him for years now that he needs to stop vaping and wear a mask when he’s working (he does construction, so he’s around a lot of dust and harmful chemicals). He has ignored those warnings. He has therefore, put himself in this situation. Again, does that mean I wouldn’t be deeply saddened by him getting gravely ill or passing from this? No, I would be devastated. But I certainly wouldn’t blame the person he passed in the grocery store who transmitted this to him.
Do I think now that he is having issues with his lungs that he should do everything he can to be safe, wear a mask and stay at home as much as possible, yes, absolutely! I feel it’s up to the immune compromised individual to limit their own exposure. If I had a health condition, and knew that I would have a hard time fighting this disease or any other disease, I would quarantine myself or take the extra precautions necessary to avoid catching something from someone else.
3. We are ignoring the real issue, the fear of the unknown.
According to the CDC, the pneumonia and influenza mortality rate this season is at 10% which is above the epidemic threshold of 7.1%. And yes, there’s a possibility that those numbers are off because some of the pneumonia deaths may very well have been due to COVID and not influenza, but imagine this number is accurate, we wouldn’t flinch or even consider shutting down our economy because of the flu. But because we are afraid of the unknown, we panic.
To put this in context, let’s look at some statistics1. Here are the survival rates by age group:
10–39 99.8%
40–49 99.6%
50–59 98.7%
60–69 96.4%
70–79 92%
80 + 85.2%
Based off-of these numbers, about 84% (population in the U.S. under the age of 65) of us have less than a 1.3% chance of dying from the virus. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to take that chance and in fact welcome it, I’d rather get it and get it over with then go through months of isolation. Plus, we would build up herd immunity which many doctors have said would be one option to keep the virus under control. And if I was in the 70 plus category or had a pre-existing condition and I was worried, I would do everything I could to decrease the likelihood I would get it.
Also, another set of numbers to look at and compare to, as of now, the number of COVID-19 deaths worldwide are at 146,000, compare that to 17.79 million deaths (655,381 in 2018 in the US alone) from cardiovascular disease in 2017. Where is the panic in that? We are somehow only severely panicked by dying from COVID-19? My belief is we are panicked by this virus because it is unknown. We always fear the unknown. It’s human nature, but we need to educate ourselves on the actual numbers, more on that in a minute.
And I’m not saying that the deaths from this don’t matter because they do. But deaths from any cause matters, and in my eyes, if we’re going to panic from deaths from COVID-19, shouldn’t we be panicking a bit more for something (such as cardiovascular disease) that kills over 100 times more people each year?
4. The consequences of the social distancing and shutting down the economy are just as severe.
By shutting down the economy we are creating more fear, panic and anxiety. Not to mention the consequences of social distancing and social isolation. I’m typically not a fan of the gibberish out of our president’s mouth, but I have to say I agree with him on the fact that we need to consider the question, Is the cure worse than the disease?
As I’m writing this right now, word came out that the funds for the PPP loans for small businesses have ran out. People are having problems getting through to their unemployment offices. People are scared. My friend right now is messaging me because he’s scared he’s not going to be able to feed himself or pay his bills. He’s been crying all day. He fainted and passed out and hit his head. He’s just one of many of people that I know, who are so panicked about how they are going to have enough money to weather this storm.
I know we think we are saving lives, and undeniably we are, but only if we look at lives lost from COVID-19. What are going to be the consequences on the other end? Is it fair to say that if I save your life from COVID-19 that it’s okay for you to cause the death of my family member because they lost their job and committed suicide?
In a 2015 meta-analysis performed by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a research psychologist at BYU2, she determined that chronic social isolation increased the risk of mortality by 29%. And a study conducted on hospital workers in Beijing during the SARS outbreak in 2003 reported higher levels of alcohol abuse three years later than workers with less intense exposure to the outbreak.
According to Damir Huremovic who co-wrote the book Psychiatry of Pandemics, says that the secondary effects of a pandemic such as recession, social unrest and unemployment could trigger unpredictable and widespread mental health challenges.
There are reportedly a significant increase in the number of calls related to domestic violence in the home during this crisis.
Some people with loved ones dying from this virus aren’t even able to say goodbye to their loved ones and may not even be able to have a funeral to cope with the grief.
How or why do we think this is all okay? I get it, it’s in the name of your loved one or yourself not dying from this virus, but statistically, you or your loved ones are not going to die from this virus. At what point do we realize the fear being created is the real problem here?
So when you get mad at me (and I say this hypothetically, because I am abiding by the current stay-at-home restrictions, I am still a law abiding citizen and want to respect others) for not protecting your life, when do I get to be mad at you for not caring about and protecting my life? I have lost my mother and sister to suicide, so I understand the consequences of mental health on someone’s well-being, it can be equally as devastating.
5. The numbers are skewed
The numbers we have right now are skewed. Basically junk. First of all, we are told if you have minor symptoms, don’t go to the doctor, just stay home and rest as there’s no treatment anyways. And up until recently you were also told unless you came into contact with someone who tested positive or had been out of the country then you shouldn’t go in to get a test unless your symptoms are severe.
I can vouch for this as I was sick after traveling by air (domestically) last month with symptoms that were similar to those listed for COVID-19. I didn’t go in to get tested because I didn’t meet the qualifications. But I very well could have had it. How many people are out there that have experienced this same scenario? I’m gonna bet a heck of a lot more than have actually received a test.
If we really want to get our numbers accurate, we need to consider doing a random lottery of people to get tested. Just the same as we do random samplings for any sort of statistics, such as political polling, etc. This is typically incredibly accurate with a slim margin of error. Then and only then will I potentially change my mind on my feelings about this “pandemic”, depending upon the findings of course.
In conclusion, if we insist on these drastic measures to fix this problem, then we need to all come together and get serious about the other more statistically serious problems such as heart disease, obesity and climate change.
