One of the stupidest ways to try and downplay it. It was like the flu. The flu is no joke, keeps many people bedridden for days, and kills. And getting vaccinated for the year’s flu strain with minimize those effects. Yeah, it was a lot like the flu, and some people are medically ignorant.
Realistically it was worse because of things we’re still learning about. But for the time it was a dumb analogy by people who obviously never had the flu.
The flu is a familiar disease, and young people with strong immune systems rarely die from it or experience long-term health consequences from having had it. So it’s not scary to most people, because they’ve never lived through a flu outbreak as bas as the spanish flu, and because they don’t know anyone for whom getting the flu would be a death sentence.
But Covid was a worse pandemic because when it infects, it can be completely benign or completely suffocating, and there’s very little way of knowing which will happen to you. And if you do get it, there’s a much higher chance it leaves serious scars that you’ll carry for the rest of your life.
People need to treat bad things as bad and be willing to set aside familiarity and comfort for the safety and well-being of others. Instead they downplay how bad something they don’t understand is going to be, because they want others to believe the same and not change their behavior, because their own comfort is more important than protecting the people who will be hurt the most
They had the flu, obviously a weaker strain of it, got better quickly or barely noticed it, and decided to “well, it wasn’t bad for me; obviously, everyone is making a big deal out of COVID too,” not realizing they are an exception and not the rule.
Conservatives and Republicans make all their decisions based on personal experience alone, not putting themselves in other people’s shoes.
It’s why their go-to is “pick yourself up by your bootstraps.” And they mean it unironically 🥴
A lot of people have never had the 'flu but think especially bad colds are the 'flu. As someone who has had the real deal, honest-to-god influenza, that shit is not like having a bad cold. It’s no joke.
A lot of people have never had the flu? Feels like everyones had it in the last couple of years at least. My office has been ravaged by it, as well as all our local school systems. People down for a week, or more.
My first proper flu was about 2017 and it was miserable, but i cant help but wonder if i had it more when i was younger and kicked it without noticing. One of my kids has had it twice (confirmed via dr tests) and has shown little more than an ear ache and a grumpy attitude. I used to test postive for strep without symptoms, but got tested because my brother had it.
Like you were saying, these hit people different, and even proper influenze a/b can be mild to certain people
One of the stupidest ways to try and downplay it. It was like the flu. The flu is no joke, keeps many people bedridden for days, and kills. And getting vaccinated for the year’s flu strain with minimize those effects. Yeah, it was a lot like the flu, and some people are medically ignorant.
Realistically it was worse because of things we’re still learning about. But for the time it was a dumb analogy by people who obviously never had the flu.
What most people think of as “the flu” is just a cold. Full-blown influenza is no joke at all indeed.
The flu is a familiar disease, and young people with strong immune systems rarely die from it or experience long-term health consequences from having had it. So it’s not scary to most people, because they’ve never lived through a flu outbreak as bas as the spanish flu, and because they don’t know anyone for whom getting the flu would be a death sentence.
But Covid was a worse pandemic because when it infects, it can be completely benign or completely suffocating, and there’s very little way of knowing which will happen to you. And if you do get it, there’s a much higher chance it leaves serious scars that you’ll carry for the rest of your life.
People need to treat bad things as bad and be willing to set aside familiarity and comfort for the safety and well-being of others. Instead they downplay how bad something they don’t understand is going to be, because they want others to believe the same and not change their behavior, because their own comfort is more important than protecting the people who will be hurt the most
They had the flu, obviously a weaker strain of it, got better quickly or barely noticed it, and decided to “well, it wasn’t bad for me; obviously, everyone is making a big deal out of COVID too,” not realizing they are an exception and not the rule.
Conservatives and Republicans make all their decisions based on personal experience alone, not putting themselves in other people’s shoes.
It’s why their go-to is “pick yourself up by your bootstraps.” And they mean it unironically 🥴
A lot of people have never had the 'flu but think especially bad colds are the 'flu. As someone who has had the real deal, honest-to-god influenza, that shit is not like having a bad cold. It’s no joke.
A lot of people have never had the flu? Feels like everyones had it in the last couple of years at least. My office has been ravaged by it, as well as all our local school systems. People down for a week, or more.
My first proper flu was about 2017 and it was miserable, but i cant help but wonder if i had it more when i was younger and kicked it without noticing. One of my kids has had it twice (confirmed via dr tests) and has shown little more than an ear ache and a grumpy attitude. I used to test postive for strep without symptoms, but got tested because my brother had it.
Like you were saying, these hit people different, and even proper influenze a/b can be mild to certain people