robhunter

I was today years old when I learned that.

Fellow Canadian here - I think the suggestion that restrictions were tied to hospital capacity is a bit off. Restrictions were largely political - driven extensively by polling - and changed frequently with minimal or nonexistent reasoning.

Here in Ontario, the McKinsey-driven "Science Table" frequently referenced hospital capacity in their reports, but their modelling often ended up being off by orders of magnitude.

While I concur that preventable deaths are unfortunate, I don't think there's evidence to suggest that most - all? - of the restrictions put in place had any noticeable impact on preventable deaths from Covid.

If anything, those restrictions very much enabled other deaths - from mental health challenges, isolation, depression, substance abuse, delayed medical screening - that very much were preventable.

While we don't have a full picture yet, it's telling that excess mortality remains heavily elevated even though most of the population has had Covid and been vaccinated.

What data is there to suggest that going to hockey games was "high risk behaviour"?

I enjoyed Invisibilia, but it seemed like every episode ether directly or indirectly just had to touch on - or directly focus on! - how terrible Trump is/was.

I don’t particularly love Trump either, but it would also be nice to be able to listen to an NPR podcast without hearing about him on a regular basis.

Great email from Jack, but I have to wonder about the strike price of any options issued 6-12 months ago - they're likely underwater at this point, and may still be even 3 years from now when the exercise window closes. Not much anything Jack can do (I think?), but I worry there may be individual employees paying out of pocket for equity that is not worth what it was when originally granted.

Can you give some examples of Asian norms?

Differentiating between a hypotheses and facts

Having transparent, open, equity-based discussions about costs & benefits

Frequent, honest, humble admitting of mistakes

As I mentioned in another comment, the President of the United States literally said that if you take the vaccine, you won't get Covid, verbatim.

To your broader point - I think skepticism about the efficacy of the Covid vaccine is a very different (and rapidly evolving) thing than traditional anti-vaxx rhetoric.

If you don't think public trust has declined - why did fewer than 50% of people who got 2 doses go on to get a booster? What changed for them?

What are those attitudes and behaviors, exactly?

What would you consider to be "taking an insane risk WRT Covid" ?

No, it's probably that the public was lead to believe the vaccines eliminated or materially & permanently reduced transmission of the virus.

Boosters have been available for nearly a year; vaccines for 5-11's for ~6 months.

I think the booster rate is a reasonable sign that trust in "the science" has been lost - why do you think such a large % of people who initially "followed the science" (and got 2 doses) chose not to "follow the science" and get a booster? (Again, keeping in mind boosters have been widely available since late 2021)

I'm not sure the public - at least in North America - has much of an appetite for any more Covid vaccines. In the US:

- Only about 2% of kids under 5 have had a 1st dose since they were introduced nearly a month ago

- Only 30% of the 5-11 year old population has had 2 doses

- < 50% of people w/2 doses went on to get a booster

So much damage has been done to public trust - "You will not get Covid if you get the vaccine; the vaccine eliminates the spread of the disease; the vaccine is more effective than natural immunity; healthy 18 year old males need a booster to go to school" - that I think it will be a real uphill climb to get more buy-in, even if the actual underlying product is more effective.