BADecker,
many people on this site alone have directed you to copious amounts of data, papers and studies that you don't care to read or lack the ability to understand,
which is fine; most of us (lay people) lack the basic skills applied to scientific methods nevermind the ability to comprehend the complexities of research that a specialist may have, after years of education spent the rest of their life researching, undergoing the scrutiny of peer review and now have politicians who want to have politicized debates instead of even having a clue of the right questions to ask to get us plebs out of this.
I've sat through hours of what I thought were tiresome, boring lectures for a service club that already had me at "eradicate Polio and do good work in your community"
and it is now that I appreciate the service they did
for me.
There seems to be a growing body of opinion that accepts that the virus is endemic
---not even reposting that---
monoclonal antibodies seem to be one of the ways to overcome the disease.
The greatest problem with Covid is nothing to do with health, it is that it is being used to usher in a number of radical political and social changes.
Yes, do you have any idea of how many endemics we are currently living with throughout the world? We probably should figure out how to live with this one.
Probably posted these before (non tech versions of discussions, articles)
(you can read about some of them by searching for "endemics" on CDC.gov)
"Influenza and the four human coronaviruses that cause common colds are also endemic: but a combination of annual vaccines and acquired immunity means that societies tolerate the seasonal deaths and illnesses they bring without requiring lockdowns, masks and social distancing.
Feb 16, 2021
The coronavirus is here to stay — here's what that means
https://www.nature.com › news feature"
October 2020
Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Paul Mecurio answer your fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about vaccines for COVID-19 with the help of their guest,
Dr. Paul Offit, MD, Director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eTXnL4uEsE&t=77s&ab_channel=StarTalkWhat’s up with the COVID-19 vaccines? On this episode of StarTalk, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice talk about getting vaccinated for COVID-19 with
Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOOBUixiiac&t=1680s&ab_channel=StarTalk you could skip to halfway through
Yes, they should keep exploring monoclonal antibodies and find a way to better communicate its levels of effectiveness if it's going to be continually discussed in the public domain.
"radical political and social changes"
This is true on so many levels and from too many different angles, it deserves longer conversations.
While I don't want to see a "tyranny of the majority" with vaccine mandates, looking back on the history of vaccines: it is a radical shift for so many to be resisting based
on political punditry.
I read this book from another one of my favorite science populists (about 25 years ago)
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
"How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions."
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
I feel like this has extended beyond us citizens and into our politics and not just in America.
We don't seem to value intelligence and integrity in our leaders---that IS on us "freeworld" citizens to challenge and change.