I'm trying to wrap myself around some of these statements. And, remember, I have no problems with regular vaccinations.
1) Every citizen has a responsibility for public health? Yes and no? Cigarette smoking? Vaping? Alcohol consumption?
However, if you are sick, you should stay home to protect others.
Remember, you don't want to get sick. Period.
You don't want to be killed by a drunk driver, so the government stepped in.
You don't want to be exposed to second hand smoke, so the government stepped in.
You don't want high speed car crashes, so the government stepped in and set speed limits.
You don't want to get food poisoning at restaurants, so the government stepped in and set food safety standards.
You don't want your child to be shot and killed at school, well the government hasn't stepped in.
You don't want to be exposed to Covid, well the government and some businesses are stepping in.
The bottom line is there's a lot of freedom out there but just enough citizens who are NOT responsible enough to do the right thing, so government has to step in to help protect the common good.
2) Healthcare system offset poor judgment? No.
"“Super-users” with complex medical needs make up a small fraction of U.S. patients, but they account for half of the nation’s overall health-care spending."
The Super-Users Dominating Health-Care Spending
Adult Obesity Facts - CDC
- From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –2018, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.
- Obesity-related conditionsexternal icon include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These are among the leading causes of preventable, premature death.
- The estimated annual medical cost of obesityexternal icon in the United States was $147 billion in 2008. Medical costs for people who had obesity was $1,429 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.
Obesity is a Common, Serious, and Costly Disease
And with universal healthcare push, it will definitely not adjust for poor judgment
I'm an athlete and I have a bit of prejudice against people who do not have good eating and exercise habits. There are many Americans who are obese and don't care. When i was in college I studied health psychology and was stunned how many people are indifferent to their health. They just don't care.
These are bad habits and poor judgment. This sort of indifference to health could be related to people not caring about Covid or being vaccinated.
3) No problem trying to reduce covid... but use regularly made vaccines that go through the regular process.
As we have previously noted, it isn't a political right and left... there are people for and against on both political sides.
I posted stats earlier in this thread and Democrats were about 90% vaccinated while Republicans were about 55%. That's a dramatic difference.
4) To say that 662,000 have died of covid. - I still may have a little problem with statistics.
According to CDC - Influenza deaths 2018-2019 - 34,200 deaths
According to CDC - influenza deaths 2019-2020 - 22,000 deaths.
Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States — 2018–2019 influenza season | CDC
Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States — 2019–2020 Influenza Season | CDC
“So, hospitals get an extra $13,000 if they diagnose a death as COVID-19,” a
widely sharedmeme on Facebook claimed. “And an additional $39,000 if they use a ventilator!” One
postof the meme, shared by hundreds, was captioned: “And then we wonder why the numbers of deaths are embellished…”
The figures cited by Jensen generally square with
estimated Medicare payments for COVID-19 hospitalizations, based on average Medicare payments for patients with similar diagnoses.
Hospital Payments and the COVID-19 Death Count - FactCheck.org
There may be some truth to that and would explain how influenza suddenly dropped and Covid expanded.
There are not exact numbers. But what is notable is how the annual death rate increased dramatically during Covid. these extra deaths can be attributed to Covid. I've heard these conspiracy theories about money and Covid and I'm not sure it's credible. It's not as if hospitals aren't overflowing with patients way outside of the typical numbers.
As a healthy athlete who had Covid I can say it is worse than the flu. What is worse is how Covid affects all the senses. You do lose your taste and smell, but also there is a constantine ringing in your ears, the skin is super sensitive, vision is affected in a weird way. For example the first time I got back on the bike after my Covid was easing up I went for a KOM on Strava. That is a timed effort that is pinged by GPS on devices we have mounted on our bikes. So i was climbing this hill going for the fastest time and about 2/3 the way up it got really steep and my vision got really wacky. Almost as if you have a video camera and shook it as you recorded. I about threw up. I got the KOM but it hurt. And by head was really pounding and vision got blurry.
This aint the flu. And I've had residual lung problems since. My fall race season might be shot. Don't know yet.