I'll never forgot that the UK's answer to constantly rising excess deaths since the beginning of the pandemic was to calculate excess deaths as the number of deaths above "expected" deaths, and then to just start expecting more deaths
I have three separate jars of onions fermenting. All are taking longer than expected to sour but one just doesn't seem to be doing it at all while the others are effervescent and definitely starting to taste sour. It's been 7 days. Should I toss the one that isn't going sour?
It's a brine fermentation with 4% salt by weight of both onions and water, which is pretty high, I know...
@PacificNic Hopefully this punitive and heartless overreach will backfire spectacularly. I would love to see more parents and teachers taking more drastic measures, for health and future.
It's odd, knowing what we know about COVID and where this is very possibly - maybe probably headed.
Like, here I am simultaneously holding the belief that business as usual is going to carry on indefinitely and it will be fine-ish, AND the belief that everyone will die or be completely disabled within the decade.
Rational me believes the latter is likely.
Emotional me just hums along through daily life like everything is normal.
@PacificNic when people complain or ask about why I don’t go to events I explain how easy it is to front load with basic Covid precautions to make many of us feel welcome. Hold it outside, if you can’t: Purify air, ask folks to test before coming, ask folks to avoid coming if sick, and to mask if they’ve been in large crowds, travelled or been around sick people. not that hard really
@seachanger@PacificNic I'm about to take the plunge on requiring this for an event I'm planning and I'm dreading reactions but hoping it will be actually fine. Many people will have traveled for the event so it's absolutely essential to insist on masking indoors (and, there is plenty of outdoors here, so people can choose their own thresholds there more easily)
There's a common pattern people follow as they abandon COVID-caution.
They start attending more risky events.
They may or may it catch COVID from attending said events.
They start talking about "balance" and mental health as if caution and mental health are incompatible.
They start blaming NOVIDs for their own choice to protect themselves until recently, claiming the NOVIDs made them do it and that it "destroyed" their mental health.
They project onto NOVIDs, saying they are hopelessly unhappy and nobody could possibly live like that and be mentally well. Often this is where the mental illness accusations come in.
They get angry that people call them out on their minimization.
They completely abandon precaution, often while harboring resentment and hostility towards NOVIDs.
The next step is where they get mad we "didn't warn them".
People really want a safe space for rationalizing unsafe behaviour in an airborne, disabling pandemic and they get very upset when you don't give them it.