Why can't science change a thing when it comes to national policies? Like immigration, energy policy, guns in society or police?

@Elessar Or....people have been saying the sky is falling forever and it never has. Weren't we supposed to be underwater by 2000? Countless predictions like that have been made and were never even close to being accurate. With regards to climate change alone, overpopulation, scarcity of resources, etc. We were supposed to run out of oil by the 1940s.

@Rolexeo We've all seen how 2020-21 ended up thanks to politicians worldwide who decided to neglect science until the very last moment. Here we are, over one year and a half in a pandemic we could've probably been resolved/de-escalated in a couple of months.

@Elessar Do you know that or are you just assuming? Experts can't even agree on whether cautionary methods are effective and if they are by how much?

@Rolexeo There isn't much to "agree with", viruses spread from host to host and containment measures necessarily curb them. It'd be like asking "are we sure putting water in the freezer will freeze it?". Also, data speak better than words. Go check 2020 U.S. (no lockdown), Italy (during and after the first and only serious lockdown) and Taiwan (quick initial response, never a lockdown) curves.

@Elessar But it's not though. Florida has been consistent with and without, is doing better than most states, and logically should be doing the worse but it isn't. There is no consistent variable

@Rolexeo Last time I checked Florida has never gone 200 days covid-free, unlike for instance Taiwan.

@Elessar You'd still see a big difference by now if there was going to be

@Rolexeo Florida reported 5,400 new cases yesterday alone, and the next highest states had 3,500 new cases yesterday. That doesn't sound like it's doing better than most.

@Rolexeo Yeah, as I said, you'd see a big difference if the world took the situation seriously from the beginning like Taiwan did. For instance, you wouldn't be arguing about containment, and I would be free to be at the bar sipping some brandy without having to deal with your nonsensical implications about Florida going on from the other day.

It is though, look at the stats. You have no proof that'd be the case. The flu is weaker and it's been around forever. You can't just quarantine it out of existence. @Elessar @FaeLuna

@Elessar You're not understanding, the flu is less severe but still around, you can't get rid of covid, it'll be here forever. We have flu vaccines but tons of people still die of the flu, locking down is pointless. There is no consistent variable with regards to covid numbers. Florida has been consistent for months, you're moving the goalposts with this ridiculous 200 day thing.

@Rolexeo [quote]Or....people have been saying the sky is falling forever and it never has. Weren't we supposed to be underwater by 2000? Countless predictions like that have been made and were never even close to being accurate. With regards to climate change alone, overpopulation, scarcity of resources, etc. We were supposed to run out of oil by the 1940s.[/quote]

We were supposed to run out of oil by the 1940s? No one said that. But you seem to have a vivid imagination.

As to the "never has", surely you kid. When was the last time you took a tour of India's largest cities? Or any third world country that we use to "hide" our garbage? How about any third world country?

Perhaps you don't remember when the Cuyahoga river caught on fire?

Yes, you're right, the most radical scenarios that were predicted in the 1970s, did not happen, in the Western world, because we DID something about it, but the latter is the part that you're ignoring.

@Rolexeo Isolation works against all communicable diseases.

@Rolexeo Viruses can be eliminated if caught early and if the response is adequate, by isolating the infected. SARS-CoV was pandemic in the early 2000s and right now it's nowhere. SARS-CoV-2 is going to stay because we've all decided to do nothing about it until too late.

Influenza has been spreading for millennia, SCV2 since late 2019, for the record.

@Rolexeo [quote] tons of people still die of the flu[/quote]
At least here in Norway hardly anyone has died of the flu in the last twelve months. Our excess death rate is negative. This is, as far as anyone can tell, because the hygiene measures taken against COVID are also effective against other common diseases.

The question is only whether it can be done without destroying the economic well being of the country. The answer here seems top be that it can, Norway's economy suffered a few percent decline and has mostly recovered.

@ninalanyon [quote]At least here in Norway hardly anyone has died of the flu in the last twelve months. [/quote]

This is true in the bulk of the Western world.

@ninalanyon And that's how you know the covid numbers are inflated, my point still remains tho, the flu still exists

@Rolexeo Not everyone lives their lives believing that their government exists only to mislead and misuse them.

I have no reason to disbelieve the statistics here in Norway nor to distrust the government.

And anyway, our COVID numbers (expressed per unit population) are one or more orders of magnitude less than in the US, UK, France, etc.

@ninalanyon No, but historically they haven't exactly been trustworthy either. Case by case basis