Read on Twitter
I've seen increasing doom + gloom, or fear "COVID restrictions will never end," from some of Team Reality, at the same time as others like @19_phd, @Montaigne01, @samclark2225, and I have never felt more optimistic.
Brief thread on echo chambers and why you should be hopeful. 1/
Brief thread on echo chambers and why you should be hopeful. 1/
2/ First and most importantly, remember that Twitter is not the real world. Data indicates that the majority of political content on Twitter (of which COVID is a subset) is produced by a very small subset of people who are far-right or far-left. https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/23/just-6-of-u-s-adults-on-twitter-account-for-73-of-political-tweets-and-they-disapprove-of-trump/
3/ In the real world, most people don't care as much - either way - about issues that media/Twitter makes into a big deal. If you spend too much time on here, you lose the plot - see the recent election.
4/ There is some small subset of people (including many blue-checks) who seem to derive sick pleasure from COVID mitigations now and forever. That's fine - because most ordinary people want their lives back; they just need to feel safe enough to do it.
5/ Don't worry about polling (again, see election.) Big gap between what people say and what they do - I personally know many people who are "concerned about COVID" who nonetheless do lots of "risky" things.
6/ The truth is that in the near future, as we hit HIT and vaccines and therapeutics become broadly available, very few people will care much about COVID, because they'll be protected from contracting severe COVID and will have confidence in getting better if they do fall ill.
7/ While there may be some hopeless states (CA, NY, MI, IL) - the vast majority of the country is not like these, nor is most of the world, either. Restrictions are already seeing fraying compliance... by spring/summer, it's done. Stick a fork in it.
8/8 Some elements of human behavior are very predictable, like our fundamental need for socialization.
Far fewer people are hiding today than were hiding in spring, and almost none will be willing to once COVID is no longer a (perceived) threat.
We'll see "normal" soon.
Far fewer people are hiding today than were hiding in spring, and almost none will be willing to once COVID is no longer a (perceived) threat.
We'll see "normal" soon.