The same people who were posting here many months ago that the dangers of infection with Covid was fake news and no worse than the flu are now posting that efforts to contain it are useless or simply a way to limit your freedom to infect others, and that vaccines are useless or dangerous. Meanwhile, well over 600,000 people have died and multiples of that number may be left with lifelong damage to their health.
Some insisted that we would have herd immunity by the peak of the first wave so we should do nothing and let natural immunity take over. You paid no heed to the warning that it would take far higher percentages for herd immunity while hospitals and morgues would be overrun and variants would appear more quickly. You are still eager to find trivial nonsense to refute the conclusions of the scientific consensus and equally eager to quote arcane sources of quackery to challenge these conclusions.
Hospitals in states that refuse to comply with common sense precautions are now being swamped, requesting help from other hospitals. and setting up tents to care for the sick as well as turning away other sick people they can't care for properly under these conditions.
You decry the damage to the economy of any restrictions. What do you think will happen to the economy with the virus running rampant? And what will the costs be for healthcare now and in the future? Do you have any idea how much it costs for a hospital stay for Covid treatment? The average is $78.000. Do you believe that those hospitalized who refused vaccinations should pay for this - or should it be subsidized by the government or wind up leading to all health insurance costs go up to cover this?
Do you believe you should have the right to infect others freely because masks offer less than perfect protection? Why not eliminate DWI laws? And what about no masks for children who will be returning to school and are more vulnerable to the Delta variant. If we wait long enough to limit the spread of Delta, the next variant may not work at all to protect those who are vaccinated which will probably lead some of you to conclude that vaccinations don't work.
We are fortunate enough to live in a wealthy nation that had the means and ability to contain this virus, and we are especially fortunate to have produced vaccines that are so effective with miniscule danger. Yet, we have among the highest rates of infections and deaths worldwide because we have thrown monkey wrenches into the works to thwart every effort.
The Delta variant is far more contagious and more deadly, even to the young and healthy. It seems that some people with no preexisting conditions have a genetic proclivity to produce a strong reaction. This isn't understood and can't be predicted, leading to surprisingly severe illness and death to some who are young, healthy and fit. The more cases there are, the more likely it is that variants will occur, and the next iterations of this virus can be even worse.
I have no expectation that those of you who hold fast to your vaccine and mask conspiracy theories will continue to keep those convictions. My only reason to post is the hope that just one person reading this post may reconsider some of thing they've heard or read. If may save your life or those who are close to you.