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To all the young people out there: I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that this year sucks and I j knew that you don’t want to hear the bad news and do the have to listen to more bad news and that you don’t want to have to not see your friends and family and have parties and go to bars and restaurants and on lots of dates.
I’m sorry that you’ve been lied to by the contrarians and grifters and sycophants. I’m sorry that what they are saying is easier to listen to than the bad news because they’re saying what you want to hear: you aren’t going to die from COVID so you don’t have to care.
I get it. I do.
And you know what, based on probabilities - yes, you likely aren’t going to die or even get serious long term side effects, though both are very much still possible even if you’re young, they’re less likely.
And you know what, based on probabilities - yes, you likely aren’t going to die or even get serious long term side effects, though both are very much still possible even if you’re young, they’re less likely.
And you know what, I get even being selfish and not recognizing that you might be part of the chain of transmission that gets other people sick and that some of them may die. That kind of abstract thinking about distant possible scenarios won’t necessarily be top of mind.
It’s hard, this many months in to a pandemic to see the distant and removed possible consequences thst won’t necessarily impact you. I get that, I do.
But when you come in to the emergency department short of breath, with fevers and chills, you and lost your sense of smell and taste, your appetite, and the muscle aches are the worst you’ve ever experienced, don’t be shocked when I tell you that you have COVID.
You see, the trick that the liars and sycophants pull with their grift of spreading disinformation is that you’re the pawn. They use a straw man fallacy with a sliver of truth - if you get COVID, you very much most likely will not die - to avoid the realities of the situation.
When you tell me that you’re more short of breath than you’ve ever been, that you’re healthy and an athlete and you feel like you can hardly walk a block without having to catch your breath, that this shouldn’t happen to you, there’s the hidden part of the lies of disinformation.
This is exactly what we know can happen. This is exactly what we know to expect, even if you’re young and healthy. The difference is that if you’re young and healthy, you’re more likely to get through those symptoms, not have no symptoms.
And no, we don’t have a way to make this somehow suddenly better and no there is no magic treatment, despite your pleas.
This is what we have been trying to warn you about. This is why prevention matters, because there is no cure.
This is what we have been trying to warn you about. This is why prevention matters, because there is no cure.
You won’t die, sure. Trying to warn you that you might clearly doesn’t get your attention, because in your mind you’re invincible. I was too once upon a time. Youth will deceive you in that way, and for so many evolutionary reasons that often works out as an advantage.
But not this time. Not in a pandemic of an highly infectious viral illness.
There is no end until enough people get vaccinated to reach herd immunity, but that will take many more months. We cannot let up now. In fact, we need to focus harder on prevention now more than ever.
There is no end until enough people get vaccinated to reach herd immunity, but that will take many more months. We cannot let up now. In fact, we need to focus harder on prevention now more than ever.
