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Comment by mmastrac | Hacker News Reader

Thank you for putting random third-party individuals in your social circle at risk.

COVID is not going anywhere. It is here with us and is not a light switch to be turned off. Eventually, everyone will get it. By hiding in your closet and afraid coming out is not the solution. I live in here in Mountain west where there is a lot of skepticism about everything with COVID. Not that it's not real, but how to approach get past it. For example, I believe that flattening the curve means staying open and going on about your normal lives. As we have seen, shutting down and then reopening only seems to cause spikes again.

If you get it, you get it. It sucks. It sucks a lot worse for some than others. But so does heart disease, cancer and any number of things I could get and die from.

To live your life in constant fear is no life at all.

As the article shows, your choice to take the risk may have effects far beyond your immediate circle.

I don’t begrudge you for making the choice but wish you well and hope your family stays safe.

This approach makes sense for something that's random and not easily preventable, like lightning strikes and pancreatic cancer. It makes no sense for COVID, where there are very simple things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of spread: Namely not going to large gatherings, and wearing a little piece of cloth on your face. It's just like wearing a seatbelt. People don't wear seatbelts because they live their lives in constant fear--they wear them because they are simple, low-effort ways to greatly reduce risk of death.

> Eventually, everyone will get it.

Is there any good reason to think this? The 2009 swine flu epidemic is estimated to have infected around 20% of the world population, and that was a big one (it was also probably less deadly than COVID-19, and was met with much less resistance from lockdowns).

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