> It is my belief that the best cure for any disease is to avoid the disease.
That's not a cure. That is prevention.
> As such, I want to avoid ever catching this virus. I’m optimistic that we will eventually have a good vaccine, but until then I need to avoid those who are contagious.
Completely unrealistic. Same person would have said in 1918 that they want to avoid ever catching the flu. Maybe back then some HN users would think it sounds smart, but today we know it sounds just silly, because it's unrealistic, unnatural, against how life works and simply unnecessary.
Try your best to stay healthy, but please stop compromising life in ways which are completely unnatural because there is a possibility that your immune system has to do a bit of work. Our immune system has to work all the time, we are exposed to viruses all the time. This is how nature works. If there's a vaccine then yes let's all get it, like we should with other vaccines. Only a fool wouldn't get vaccinations, but until we have a vaccine let's just respect nature and how nature works and please live life like animals like us are meant to live. Freely.
The author doesn't understand the virus and makes many dubious statements about it.
> Catching this virus is a bit like playing a round of Russian roulette. You’ll probably be fine, but you could end up dead.
This is a poor analogy. In Russian roulette you have a 1 in 6 chance of getting a bullet in the head. The overall infection fatality rate of COVID-19 is under 1%, and the vast majority of fatalities are people with comorbidities.
It's more accurate to say that catching the virus is like Russian roulette only if you have a serious pre-existing condition.
> It is my belief that the best cure for any disease is to avoid the disease.
Avoiding the disease is not a cure. The only cure we have at this time is in fact the opposite: exposure and resulting immunity. This is the population level cure too; as immunity in the population grows, the reproduction rate of the virus declines.
There are still valid reasons for encouraging people to isolate and avoid infection. Like keeping the hospitals running, and minimizing the exposure of vulnerable individuals while the rest of us develop immunity. But curing the disease isn't a reason. And it also postpones the only true cure we have, which is the thing dying off due to herd immunity.
> The great challenge with avoiding this virus is that people with minimal symptoms are responsible for much, if not most, of the disease transmission.
This is true simply because people with minimal symptoms are most of the people who have it. So of course they represent the largest number of transmissions; they are the largest number of cases. Again, getting COVID-19 is not the same as Russian roulette, unless you're already sick.
> It appears that the virus travels through the air, so whenever possible, it’s important to avoid crowds of people or indoor spaces with shared air.
One authority after another has said that the main way this virus is transmitted is through respiratory droplets. Can it aerosolize? Yes. Can someone get sick from inhaling it in that aerosolized state? Probably yes. Is this a common form of transmission? Despite endless media coverage of studies in which the virus was deliberately aerosolized or found to be aerosolized, the answer is no. It is not. Neither the WHO nor the CDC has changed their view on this. Most transmission occurs at home or in tightly packed public transport.
There's no evidence that we need to avoid indoor spaces with shared air. There's an abundance of evidence that we should stay six feet away from each other and wear masks, wherever we are. (Since day one, all health authorities have acknowledged that wearing a mask reduces your risk of spreading the disease to other people.)
Thanks! No witch hunts yet, but I don't think a lot of people saw the comment.
At the outset of the infection surge and subsequent lockdowns I was saying stuff like this and being crucified for it. We should have followed the Korean model from day one and in the US its existence was almost totally ignored. I have continued to say all these things and over time the lynch mobs seem to be dissipating. Hopefully we will see more level-headed critical thinking as the next step, which will lead to solutions.
> just respect nature and how nature works and please live life like animals like us are meant to live. Freely.
Given a ridiculous argument like that, why do you get vaccinations? That's also unnatural and we're not meant to live like that, we're meant to die from certain diseases (your reasoning, not mine, if I understand you correctly).
That's not a cure. That is prevention.
> As such, I want to avoid ever catching this virus. I’m optimistic that we will eventually have a good vaccine, but until then I need to avoid those who are contagious.
Completely unrealistic. Same person would have said in 1918 that they want to avoid ever catching the flu. Maybe back then some HN users would think it sounds smart, but today we know it sounds just silly, because it's unrealistic, unnatural, against how life works and simply unnecessary.
Try your best to stay healthy, but please stop compromising life in ways which are completely unnatural because there is a possibility that your immune system has to do a bit of work. Our immune system has to work all the time, we are exposed to viruses all the time. This is how nature works. If there's a vaccine then yes let's all get it, like we should with other vaccines. Only a fool wouldn't get vaccinations, but until we have a vaccine let's just respect nature and how nature works and please live life like animals like us are meant to live. Freely.