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Comment by circleit | Hacker News Reader

That’s a cool stat, but whatever…Just traveled (USA) via airplane. When I arrived at the airport, people were sneezing and coughing everywhere. On the plane, same thing. I’m my Uber, same thing with the driver. I tested positive after all this, albeit with mild symptoms. Seems everyone has it. Also seems like no one cares anymore (at least all these people). If Covid was a more serious issue, we’d all be doomed. Doesn’t seem USA govt thinks this is a big deal because otherwise they’d shut everything down. Know why there are no flight attendants and flights canceled, because everyone on planes is spreading it. And now the quarantine days has been reduced. Carry on people…

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Here is what I think (US-centric):

- Most people are tired of masks and even if they use them, they are neither wearing them nor cleaning them adequately

- Vaccination/boosters are the only reliable defense for the average person

- In 3 years or less, people will wonder what all the fuss was about and simply will treat COVID-19 like a common cold. Your management and colleagues will expect you to show up for work, COVID or not.

I'm not justifying this behavior. Just stating what I think we'll see in the future.

This is right. Whether masks work or don’t is irrelevant. The policy failed.

If an individual wants to not get Covid, the only solutions are vaccination and distancing.

At this point with Omicron, it's also that the messaging has gotten so damn muddy and contradicting. Here's what I mean.

* Get vaccinated to protect yourself. Well now we know you can get a breakthrough infection.

* Get vaccinated to protect others. Well now we know you can still infect while vaccinated.

* Wear a mask to protect yourself. Well now we know that masks don't really do a damn thing unless you wear an N95 properly, even then it's not super effective against Omicron.

* Wear a mask to protect others. Again, we now know that masks do little to protect others with this variant.

The frustration in all of this is, as a young and healthy person, I'm not worried about COVID. And if there is nothing I can do to protect others, please just let me sign the liability waver already. If I get sick and die, that's on me, just please stop enforcing mandates "for my own good".

Just because something is not 100% effective does not mean that it should be abandoned entirely. All of the measures you mentioned still have some degree of efficacy.

The fact that breakthrough infections sometimes occur is not a valid counterargument against vaccination.

People have moved on precisely because it's not that big of a deal. It's over thankfully. Time to move on.

> If Covid was a more serious issue, we’d all be doomed.

Or maybe people stopped caring because they realized that it's not a serious issue?

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