AIBU to ask if people still think COVID-19 is fake

[doodledo92]

Just heard my elderly neighbour speaking to a mother neighbour saying "it's about time all this SHITE come to an end now". The other neighbour agreed saying "yes, people should have realised by now it's all FAKE"

AIBU to ask do people still believe this virus is fake?
I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the 2 of them.

Isn't this sort of outright denialism due to being scared and unable to deal with it? So pretend it doesn't exist.

^This. It's called wishful thinking.

@ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN

Yes the lockdown increased anxiety. It could have been handled differently. While we were in lockdown most of the people who died contracted it in hospitals and care homes. Lockdown did not change that.
Sweden did not lockdown but everyone took it seriously. They are in no worse a position than we are now with the important difference that their economy took a 6% hit while ours is on its knees down 20%. That is what you get with an upper class known head like Johnson running the country with his famous quote being ‘fuck business’.

Johnson made sure the Coronavirus cure will be a whole lot worse than the virus due to his incompetent ‘leadership’.

So many people point to Sweden. The government's strategy received a lot of criticism as well. They had a far higher death rate than the other Nordic countries that did lock down.

A better example is South Korea, who operated a careful track and trace strategy.

Sadly any virus can trigger relapse in people with conditions like CFS, ME, fibromyalgia, etc. Any virus can also cause post-viral syndrome, and respiratory ones are more likely to do so. I got post-viral syndrome and pneumonia from influenza.

@InDeoEstMeaFiducia As I said, so did I last year, that's why I had CFS in the first place. That's not so worrying. What worries me more is that I seem to have developed allergies as a result and neurological issues. I'm hoping that these aren't permanent changes.

Anyway, those who say that Covid is 'just flu' think that flu is a bad cold. It isn't, it can be very serious. The difference is that there's a vaccine, which is what we're hoping will happen with Covid.

The difference is that there's a vaccine,

Even then, it has limited effect, flu vaccines, in fact they've been known to get it nearly entirely wrong. It's a virus, and we have to learn to live with many viruses, even with vaccines.

I developed a lot of things seemingly overnight with age. It's difficult to pin down the origin.

It's not fake, but the level of reaction to it, that is continuing, is, IMO, an overreaction.

Even then, it has limited effect, flu vaccines, in fact they've been known to get it nearly entirely wrong. It's a virus, and we have to learn to live with many viruses, even with vaccines.

True enough. The winter of 2017-18 was a case in point, with a huge number of deaths.

The problem with Covid is that there's so much we don't know about it, as it's a new virus. It also spreads far more rapidly than flu, because of the asymptomatic carriers.

With no restrictions, we only need to look at what's happening in the US and Brazil. It does need to be controlled.

I don't think it's fake but I'm a pragmatist and I think it's been sensationalised.

My brother told me "if you read some of the stuff about 5g it makes a lot of sense. I think it could be true". Not sure how it thinks covid exists in countries without 5g!

And an old friend I follow on Instagram is always posting selfies of herself in face masks which say "fake" or "hoax" or similar.

I was in the US, last month in fact. I was actually in a supposed hotspot where it was supposedly rife and all the hospitals were overrun and it was out of control. That simply was not true and it was in proportion to the massive population. It was pretty much business as usual, with no mass hysteria.

I don't know about Brazil, I haven't been there in decades (because the one time we had to live there, it was shit even in the 80s), but it has very, very huge problems with extremes so it's unsurprising if it's rife there.

This level of overreaction is very, very, very harmful, to the economy, to those with other diseases, to education, to all sorts and is out of proportion to the true, actual danger of it to the vast majority of people. It's an inconvenient truth, but one nonetheless.

The true ramifications of all this will be felt in October when the furlough scheme ends and the job losses move from the odd 5,000 here or there to staggering.

is this why I can't buy tinfoil?

Seriously.

Fact. Governments only care about money, not people.

Fact. Nobody who cares about money closes down the economy. Nobody.

This virus is quite handy really. It kills off the old freeing up housing stock. It kills those with long term health conditions that cost the NHS. it reduces DLA/PIP claims. I mean if you are going to have a conspiracy theory, make it credible FFS.

It is crazy shit. I have one friend who tries to oooohhhhhh i dont know what to believe, me, but whatever.

I have also heard that the vaccine is going to be compulsory and implant a microchip in all of us.

Let's face it, if our government did, they would leave the details on a train. In Russia.

They wouldn't know what to do with that data.

My life isn't that of an international spy, its boring mundane parenthood.

We all have smartphones, microchips are pointless.

Amazon Alexa etc pretty much know everything already.

I think I am pragmatic about it too but think some of the risks are being undersold.

171,000 deaths in the US and over 100,000 in Brazil. That's pretty bad however you look at it, and in the space of 4 months. Obviously there will be large areas that haven't been affected as they are vast countries.

Going into a panic isn't good, I'm not saying that we should stop living. I gave 2 DDs who need to be in school. But without precautions, the virus would have spread far more rapidly. It's about being cautious without being over the top. (With the media that's hard to achieve.

But underplaying it is just as ridiculous.

I was asked if my cousin REALLY died of covid or was it just one of the fake deaths that were recorded as covid (I assume she meant actual death but died from something other than covid rather than him playing a massive practical joke on everyone)

Our favourite 5g conspiracist is currently blaming wifi... so assuming this will be the last time we get called ‘sheeple’ as presumably she won’t be able to get online...

iolaus that is true commitment to a prank (sorry for your loss btw)

I know a few people who don't believe that it's a real virus, they've gone down the 5g etc route.

I used to play FB games and because of that I have a lot of Americans on my FB. A lot call it the scamdemic/plandemic, but then it doesn't make sense why Trump (who they love) would go along with it.

The Chip thing came from the US, because some employees have to consent to a chip being implanted in their hand. Likewise their vaccines and medicine isn't as regulated as ours, so I wouldn't say that all of their fears are unfounded. I support Bill Gates but he has made statements about wanting the world chipped, before Covid, which hasn't helped. Then he wanted people to be given digital pasports via an ink tattoo for Covid.

We have people in power who don't think that access to water is a human right. Turkey is trying to take DV out of criminal law. Which is just one of many, going-backwards, global policies. So I don't think we should laugh at everything that conspiracy theorists come up with. Who'd have thought that women could be imprisoned for a miscarriage in 2020 etc.

This virus isn't as deadly as we thought. I wonder if world leaders are happy that it didn't wipe out refugee camps etc. A lot of people died because they didn't get early enough treatment. It is true that a large percentage of those people would die if they wasn't treated for flu, pneumonia, bronchitis and vascular flareups etc. So I do think now we need to relook at what we know.

I haven’t known anyone with it (or if they have had it it wasn’t worse than flu) so whilst I believe there is a new virus it’s also been hard to get overly alarmed about it from personal experience. Without access to the media I’d have been oblivious in my part of the world.

I don't think it's fake. I Do think however governments are beggining to realise it was never anywhere near as deadly as they first thought. Again I'm not saying it was wrong to lockdown as we didn't know much at all at the time.

I think it is now time for the healthy and young to get back to normal.... Is that harsh on the vulnerable and elderly? Yes it probably is but surely it's better that the majority get back to normal to restart this economy.

It is pretty serious in other parts of the world. The ONS death figures are pretty staggering given nobody was out being run over or stabbed etc for months.

Yes there is an absence of critical thinking indeed.

The Chip thing came from the US, because some employees have to consent to a chip being implanted in their hand

Really?! Where?

Likewise their vaccines and medicine isn't as regulated as ours

How so? Having parented in both countries I'm curious about this statement.

Then he wanted people to be given digital pasports via an ink tattoo for Covid I must have missed this, can you share a source? Google isn't turning up anything apart from a group of MIT researchers who aren't Bill Gates.

@chickenyhead just for some context... On average over 35000 people a year die from lung cancer.... Just lung cancer not all cancers. I'm not saying its not a large amount of people... But if we are just talking numbers and not bringing in feelings to it then it is a tiny to y percentage of people dying of covid.

Current infections add up to 0.0028% of the population of the world.. That's cases not deaths... The numbers are minescule and there is no argument against that!

It's definitely not a fake virus. I know two people who've had it (and survived).

There is no conspiracy.

However, in hindsight I do wonder if the hysteria it caused was done on purpose. It was being compared to a disease where 20% of the world's population was wiped out. In fact there were claims it would take more lives. It was being touted as a slow trot towards death for most people who caught it. I remember a statistic saying we would all know at least 5 people who died from it by the end. I was fully expecting daily funeral cortèges in our street every day.

I also think it's been an unintended (yet interesting) exercise in public compliancy. It's made me realise how easily we could slip into a totalitarian society. Not only are people happily and blindly complying, they're eager to show how much of a Stasi wannabe they are - shouting at disabled people for not wearing masks, reporting neighbours for walking the dog twice a day, etc, bellowing STAY THE FUCK HOME every 5 seconds. It's rather alarming IMO

I also think it's been an unintended (yet interesting) exercise in public compliancy. It's made me realise how easily we could slip into a totalitarian society. Not only are people happily and blindly complying, they're eager to show how much of a Stasi wannabe they are - shouting at disabled people for not wearing masks, reporting neighbours for walking the dog twice a day, etc, bellowing STAY THE FUCK HOME every 5 seconds. It's rather alarming IMO
Indeed. Now that's what I find utterly terrifying, much more so than the virus itself; and this is why I think we should at the very least be questioning the hell out of the government.

There are people who believe the earth is flat. Or that Boris Johnson is a good man.

More people I think believe that the harm it can do, especially to them if they are under 50, is not worth the restrictions.