I've said this before but let me clear: to judge the risk of COVID-19 solely by the mortality rate is, at this point, a form of willful ignorance. The long-term affects of covid on the lungs is still unknown--but first cuts of the data show that they could be significant 1/-

Permanent lung damage, inflammatory syndromes, and damage to the heart are all things we've seen in people "post" COVID. These are effects that may frankly be more of a risk to young people and children who are more likely to survive. 2/-

Imagine willfully sending your child back to school to contract a virus that gives them a permanent heart condition.

Imagine having to tell that young person that they'll live the rest of their lives navigating a chronic condition because you wanted to go to Olive Garden. 3/-

And that's before we get into the system level issues. Hospital surge and ICU depletion is real and only takes about 150-200 serious cases to overwhelm systems in most jurisdictions.

For every ICU bed that's full that's a person who can't have a serious accident or illness 4/-

When you fuck up in your tool shed and give yourself a raging staph infection off a dirty nail and die because the ICU beds were full and no one could stabilize you your death won't be recorded as COVID related--but it will be. 5/-

If you don't understand this by this point the only responsibile policy response is to assume you never will and to restrict your movement accordingly for the well-being of the general public. That's the decision facing leaders now.

And they're too spineless to make it. 6/6