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I just want to say something, quickly and anecdotally, about the pandemic and about COVID-19 specifically. I am extremely not a doctor.
However, I notice a lot of the conversation is about the mortality rate, which is hugely important. And I am devastated every time I think of the lives lost. Which is something like every five minutes.
But there is a real range to what it means to survive this disease and I feel like without that discussion, people are still not getting the full scope of what we’re dealing with.
Anecdotally, friends who’ve had legit mild cases (i.e., were never close to being hospitalized) have still felt the effects over a month later. Friends who have been hospitalized are no where near “back to their full health”, and may not ever be.
This is important when considering the human toll. It’s also important when considering the economic outlook. This isn’t just a question of will businesses be open and will people be willing to patronize them. It’s a question of will people be *able* to?
Can you run your business effectively with staff out sick for a month or more? Who will come to your restaurant if they can’t get up a flight of stairs without stopping to catch their breath?
I just wish I saw more discussion, especially in the media, of the entire picture. People say we shouldn’t live in fear, but being afraid of scary shit is perfectly reasonable from where I sit. Certainly more so than just claiming it’s not scary
God knows we all need triumphs and good news. But we’ll never get them if we don’t really look at what’s in front of us.
