The Spreading (And Potentially Deadly) Coronavirus Epidemic....

[Californication | 1,477]

For the record, I am the representative of California.

Edited January 27, 2022 by Californication

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

7 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

I'm in the heart of Redneck Fucking USA and guess what?  We've got kids in school too, without masks, because our asshole governor gave shitty parents the option to say no to masks, then prevented schools from being able to require them at all.

Dude, you were the worst bullshit name caller of the bunch.  If you had such damning evidence of Tanooki being Rush Limbaugh's jock strap, then quote the shit and drop the bomb--nut up or shut up.  The way you fucking rah rah over California and how nobody is good enough for it but you makes you the shining beacon as to why the stupid fuckers around me who cut themselves at the polls to show how they bleed Red (not literally, but I've heard morons talk) can't stand and won't talk to anyone with a differing political opinion.  I'm the "damned Democrat" of my wife's family because I won't kowtow to the fucking Republican line, call them out on their bullshit, and demand they cite sources and facts.  Everybody overlooks when I disagree with Democrat policies or am still pointing out how the Democrats fucked up when correcting some eggregiously made up, exaggerated bullshit spouted by the relatives.  If you weren't trying to hard to rub peoples' noses in their own shit versus having the discussion you seem to claim to want, you might actually have it.

Instead of pointing out whatever factual error you believed was going on in regard to science/policy/whatever, you had to loop in bullshit about how everybody acts and where their political affiliations fall, and what channels they get their opinions from.  Literally none of that matters, whether it's true or not.  We, as humans, are trying to all live through this shit, and should be collecting valid data from all sources, and distributing it to everyone, everywhere, and making sure they properly understand and are able to utilize it where possible.  I speak to my own family, who are all vaccinated, and relatively well versed about all of this, just like I do my wife's family, who are virtually all non-vaccinated, and who regularly "hang up" on me IRL, in texts, etc., when I ask them to cite the source of whatever conspiracy theory they're spouting that week, then proceed to have a rational discussion about why it's nonsense (not in those terms, but it usually comes down to it either being a meme versus any sort of real statement or the person making the statement isn't actually a doctor, scientist, etc.).

If you're that enraged by them, either don't engage, or do so only factually, then put them on blast in DMs.  Anybody who's pissed off enough at you about it will ping a mod/admin either way, so it really doesn't matter where you blast them, but doing so privately keeps muck racking nonsense like this from fucking up the arena of actual discussion.  Let the cooler head prevail, and if you can't, at least cite your sources (provide quotes!).

This on the other hand, makes no sense. I dont have to provide evidence to prove a nonsense statement incorrect. Google search “right wing talking points about fauci” if you want. Most of the people reading this get the idea from my comment. 
 

 This is the thread to discuss anything political related, not just what you think should be allowed. Im not breaking any rules. 
 

And rubbing people noses in the stupid shit they say is the fun part. I dont give a shit about convincing anyone of anything. People can believe whatever stupid shit they want, just be prepared to get called out on nonsense statements like “Fauci in the pocket of the CCP” (lol).  
 

Switch to decaf dude, you are approaching world salad territory. And as a proud Californian, I will pimp this amazing state to internet neckbeards until the day I die. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

15 minutes ago, Californication said:

For the record, I am the representative of California.

Fake news, we all voted for me!

[Californication | 1,477]

The second Fox clip around the 5 min mark sounds strangely familiar to what people have been saying here about covid being worse after the vaccine. 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Californication

[guillavoie | 1,208]

6 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This is the thread to discuss anything political related, not just what you think should be allowed. Im not breaking any rules.

Actually Corey, this is not the political thread, this is the coronavirus thread. There's a nuance to grasp here, I think.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

23 minutes ago, Brickman said:

We need darkchylde to join the next Werewolf. Zeldafreak and him would be writing the next war and peace together.

I'd be down

[Link | 2,709]

fyi: the submit button works sometimes even when it doesn't seem to, lol

10 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This is the thread to discuss anything political related, not just what you think should be allowed. 

I was informed on page 37 this is not true

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

32 minutes ago, Brickman said:

We need darkchylde to join the next Werewolf. Zeldafreak and him would be writing the next war and peace together.

Because I get fired up and rant or because I become Captain Rational with facts and figures when I do?  lol

18 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This on the other hand, makes no sense. I dont have to provide evidence to prove a nonsense statement incorrect. Google search “right wing talking points about fauci” if you want. Most of the people reading this get the idea from my comment.

Quote what Tanooki said--he's literally said he doesn't know what you're talking about, and that he doesn't watch the type of stuff that you say he does.  You "know" he does, but unless he admitted it somewhere, you've got an unproven theory, and an educated guess at best.  And bashing someone for their politics is very different than taking apart whatever bullshit argument their politics has made them put out in a statement.  If you want to take them to the mat, then do it right, or not at all, otherwise you're basically just throwing an online tantrum.  How do I know?  Because I recognize the behavior when I basically did the exact same thing on BBSes when I was first a teenager.

16 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

This is the thread to discuss anything political related, not just what you think should be allowed. Im not breaking any rules.

Wrong?  It's not about politics at all.  Its' about the pandemic, and COVID-19 ("the coronavirus").  Not what someone's political delusions or aspirations are, whether they would last in your heavily Democratic (currently?) home state, etc.  Attack the false "facts" in someone's statement about the general topic at hand.  If you want to attack their politics, theirs a club specifically for that type of nonsense, as well as direct messaging.  You really ought to try it sometime.

16 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

And rubbing people noses in the stupid shit they say is the fun part. I dont give a shit about convincing anyone of anything. People can believe whatever stupid shit they want, just be prepared to get called out on nonsense statements like “Fauci in the pocket of the CCP” (lol). 

Wow, so one of us is no longer acting like they're 15.  Which one of us is it?    Reading this quote right here, it's obvious you don't care anything about facts, or discussion, but only about who's "wrong" and that it's you that's "right," and that it's totally immaterial what "right" is, so long as you get to put someone else down at all costs, relevant to discussion or not.  That's some seriously fucked up, high school level, immature bullshit right there.  And how do I know?  Because I was the local troll king for a good long while, and it's like looking in the mirror.  Tell me, did your (first) girlfriend recently cheat on you, but you didn't have the heart or courage to dump her ass too?

16 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Switch to decaf dude, you are approaching world salad territory. And as a proud Californian, I will pimp this amazing state to internet neckbeards until the day I die. 

One of my best friends was an actually proud Californian.  You really do your state a disservice wrapping yourself up in its flag then bragging about why you do and say the shit that you do.  As for shifting down, you're one to talk.  I'm verbose, but all of my shit actually makes sense, whereas yours is normally just a bunch of personal attacks and unsupported nonsense, where you "win" arguments most often because people just get tired of talking back at you versus you actually "proving" anything.  Remember the bits about how I remember what it was like being a troll at 15?  Yep, that's how I can recognize that's what's going on.

Edited January 27, 2022 by darkchylde28

[Link | 2,709]

Do I need to start posting about going to the grocery store again?

I went today but that was mainly for hardware. I got a piece of 4" PVC pipe and a vent for it, the smallest available container of mortar (10 pounds), and a 5" hole saw. Oh, and some ¼" tubing for an unrelated use. 

But since the hardware store is next to the grocery store, I went there too, although with the 4" pipe and concrete, there wasn't a whole lot of room in my backpack. So I only got cheese, a tomato, a loaf of bread, and two handles of liquor. 

Nothing was out of stock at either store. I didn't even see any empty shelves when I walked past the pharmacy and paper goods areas. Although it was rush hour, so I spent a little more time in line than I would have liked. It might have been like 8 whole minutes to get to the register!

[Link | 2,709]

1 hour ago, darkchylde28 said:

unproven theory

Honestly, though? "Fauci was kowtowing to the CCP, period"? You cool to let that lie?

As he fucking clicks the on guillavoie's comment saying this ain't the politics place? He knows exactly what he's doing. As usual.

I'll be on that shit tagging mods and reporting like a bulldog for any future occurrences

Edited January 27, 2022 by Link

[doner24 | 1,195]

Ok, everybody take a deep breath. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, no need to make it even more stressful by fighting about it on here. Please keep it classy so we don’t need to lock it. Thanks 

[fcgamer | 4,723]

I agree with @darkchylde28 on basically all of his points. Ice been wearing masks since the whole thing began, wear them at work, wear them outside, wear them at church or in shops or wherever I go. 

Regarding the cloth masks: I think Corey probably doesn't know what I'm referring to, I'll take a picture if I can remember, if I see one in a shop. 

While those masks are better than nothing (same with any sort of covering), there's a point where it's like tying a napkin onto the end of your penis and using it as birth control. If it's all you have, it might be better than nothing, but it wouldn't be very efficient at all. That was my point, and I think we're at the stage where we should be wearing the sort of masks that have been proven to work.

Regarding opening up, the end of the pandemic, and everything else: I'm in a very different situation than everyone else, only @OptOut is in a similar situation. 

With a large portion of the people double vaxxed, and many boosted (not so many here in Taiwan but we're working on it), it's time people start learning to live with the virus. Taiwan is still striving for a "zero cases" policy, but one has to ask him or herself if this is the wise or even reasonable approach to take, locking down parts of a country, disrupting lives and jobs, especially when most of the recent cases haven't been particularly serious. If you own a restaurant or work in a school, you're the first to take the hit with each lockdown, not receiving much government help either. These sorts of things need to be considered.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

One moment, @doner24.

I want to point out something in regards to the said "Conservative" politicians, and their support that is a fraction of who they work for, are making an effort to compare those who support state-wide vaccination mandates to the Nazi Party.

And to be brutally frank, hearing that level of bullshit makes the thought of me waxing my balls sound less painful.

While they are eagerly overjoyed by the reality they ignore those who point out that their rhetoric is both incorrect and anti-Semitic. Simply because they are promoting a more modern narrative that helped Adolf Hitler win his "Make Germany Great Again" campaign. As well as shut out the voices of who opposed that.

Just like how the Chinese Government, to this day, will deny any wrong doings they have allowed during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Which also makes those who claim to be anti-Chinese do the same tactics whenever their party is caught red handed.

With the source of anti-Semitisms being that they show zero emotional regard for why those acts happened in the first place simply because they have happened. Thus making those who experienced those events be nothing more than pawns and tools for whatever game they chose to play.

And I will not go into the rest because their actions literally contradict what it means to be a Patriotic Conservative. Which will have me post a quote from Adolf Hitler himself, as published in pages 16-17 of 'Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant':

"Aren't these liberals, those reprobate defenders of individualism, ashamed to see the tears of the mothers and wives, or don't these cold-blooded accountants even notice? Have they already grown so inhuman that they are no longer capable of feeling? It is understandable why bolshevism simply removed such creatures. They were worthless to humanity, nothing but an encumbrance to their Volk. Even the bees get rid of the drones when they can no longer be of service to the hive. The Bolshevik procedures are thus quite natural."

In the end... The intolerant do not consider the fact that a mandate is nothing like the days when there was a military draft. Maybe that is the answer to fix the United States -- The revival of a draft that forces people into the military, even against their will, every moment talks of war (or even risks of an invasion) are brought up.

And at this point, I am burnt out because those who are acting both intolerant and often self-entitled (as I had a good chunk of my life ruined by those types) need it. Simply because they are too busy ignoring the reality that those they support are preaching that type of rhetoric. All because they prefer shutting out those who have suffered, as well as those who have anxieties tied to our new reality.

All I can say is that if you knew my family history, you would know that those who call themselves Conservatives and Republicans are shunning their contributions to this nation.

Because of that... At risk of permanently losing my permanent disability (benefits included), and have my future "Import Games" badge revoked... I am hoping that I can leave the United States soon. With one reason being that even Fauci is being bullied for every human-level error he has done by those who do not care about the human-level issues they are giving us (as a whole).

And I should note that my Great-Great-Grandfather was part of the 8th Michigan Infantry. Out of the 1,715 that had enrolled... 134 died in action, 87 died from their wounds, 7 died in Confederate prisons, and 181 died from disease. The only number higher than that is the number who were discharged either due to their wounds or disease (278). My point with that is he fought for a Republican party that would have enforced this mandate if it was needed.

That is all I can say. Right now I am close to visiting Lloyd because it is a slow night and my anxieties had me write this much. So expect me to eventually post good news about that previous situation. And goodnight.

Edited January 27, 2022 by FenrirZero

[OptOut | 8,883]

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Regarding opening up, the end of the pandemic, and everything else: I'm in a very different situation than everyone else, only @OptOut is in a similar situation. 

With a large portion of the people double vaxxed, and many boosted (not so many here in Taiwan but we're working on it), it's time people start learning to live with the virus. Taiwan is still striving for a "zero cases" policy, but one has to ask him or herself if this is the wise or even reasonable approach to take, locking down parts of a country, disrupting lives and jobs, especially when most of the recent cases haven't been particularly serious. If you own a restaurant or work in a school, you're the first to take the hit with each lockdown, not receiving much government help either. These sorts of things need to be considered.

 

Personally, I've been very impressed with Taiwan's handling of this entire pandemic. The government here has been taking very firm, decisive actions and has kept the virus under control within our borders. A FAR cry from the outcomes we have seen in almost every other country on Earth.

So, I am willing to continue placing my trust in the government advice, and doing everything necessary to keep people in this country safe and healthy, for as long as we can. Certainly, I'd rather take another couple months of lockdowns than see the virus run rampant and unchecked like we have seen in the US and UK.

Can the virus be contained forever? Probably not. But we've come so far and done so well, it is absolutely not the time to let our guard down. Evidence suggests that the economy is IMPROVED long-term by lockdowns and containing the spread, and this is a big factor in why Taiwan's economy has been massively outpacing most of the rest of the world over the last two years.

Besides, even putting aside the economic factors, I'm not ready nor willing to see people die en-masse on our shores from either covid itself, or from other illnesses as our hospital beds are overrun with the sick. Stay the course. We did the right thing, we are doing the right thing.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

DC seriously I'm staying out of it, not even replying to that CCP bot there, just dave, it was more nice letting those two go at it.  I know well that's what it is and that the masking was meant as a catch all, not an outside barrier, as that's nothing new asian countries have done it for a long time when you get even a simple cold or fever.  But you know you put it well at the end, wunderboy there still is trying to bait a fight with no inch of self control in his left coast politics and troll baiting.  I'm sure this will get some stupid comment as a come back, so be it.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

1 hour ago, OptOut said:

Personally, I've been very impressed with Taiwan's handling of this entire pandemic. The government here has been taking very firm, decisive actions and has kept the virus under control within our borders. A FAR cry from the outcomes we have seen in almost every other country on Earth.

So, I am willing to continue placing my trust in the government advice, and doing everything necessary to keep people in this country safe and healthy, for as long as we can. Certainly, I'd rather take another couple months of lockdowns than see the virus run rampant and unchecked like we have seen in the US and UK.

Can the virus be contained forever? Probably not. But we've come so far and done so well, it is absolutely not the time to let our guard down. Evidence suggests that the economy is IMPROVED long-term by lockdowns and containing the spread, and this is a big factor in why Taiwan's economy has been massively outpacing most of the rest of the world over the last two years.

Besides, even putting aside the economic factors, I'm not ready nor willing to see people die en-masse on our shores from either covid itself, or from other illnesses as our hospital beds are overrun with the sick. Stay the course. We did the right thing, we are doing the right thing.

Disagree 100% on this, and I'm honestly not surprised at all by our differing of perspectives here, so please don't take anything I will say later in this post personal. But my point still stands that our situation is quite different than what anyone in Europe or North America is / has experienced, hence the reason I tagged you. And I appreciate your viewpoints as well, despite differing from mine, as the reality generally lies somewhere in the middle.

Taiwan did a great job handling the pandemic initially, though since the whole pilot / Lion's Club fiasco last summer, they've done a terrible job going about things. Here is what I saw back then, up until now:

1. In Taichung, a large portion of people are not socially distancing.

2. In Taichung, every other person is not doing the required QR Code registration.

3. The virus and lockdowns last summer were literally caused by grandpas visiting prostitutes and then covering things up to try to hide embarassment from the community, paired with greedy corporations trying to run discount hotel stays into a high-risk area.

4. Chinese New Year is soon upon us, and once again, lo-and-behold, 1 in 7 (?) returning Taiwanese is testing positive for the virus. Some of those cases brought about the recent commbsuunity cases.

5. Those same returning Taiwanese hold two or three passports, and have lived and worked abroad for years, maybe even decades. So they can "return home" and bring the virus here, yet our parents can't even visit us, despite us actually residing and working here. 

6. It's odd how the community outbreak cases closed us down last summer, despite being few and all contained in the north, yet now with Chinese New Year upon us, similar numbers of cases (again mostly in the north) and yet things are "safe enough" to go about business as usual. Quite convenient.

7. It's odd that the SEA workers that stepped out of their quarantine for a minute in search of food got slapped with $$$$ fine, yet the Taiwanese celebrities, the health guy Chen (seen smoking a cig with mask lowered during level 3), etc didn't receive such hefty fines.

8. When people did get vouchers to help assist them due to the virus, there were stipulations in place excluding those that needed it most. SEA folks once again were essentially herded up in cages, whereas their bosses didn't have such restrictions. Folks working in banks and businesses didn't get shut down, yet they got government assistance. 

Many foreign school teachers, restaurant owners, SEA workers, they were all forced to enter quarantine - and oddly enough, got no vouchers, no government assistance.

A. And that's why the whole thing is bullshit. Omnicron  is here, thanks to the doings of government policies catering towards the selfish desires of locals (I'd love to have my parents come visit me ...). In the end, zero case policy will just mean more lockdowns. Again, it won't hurt most industries, but school teachers will be hurt, as will hotel owners, restaurant owners, etc. Why would those not involved in such industries give a crap?

B. The recent Tasty Case, it's quite odd that the recent headlines all pin the blame emphasizing the SEA workers spreading the disease, yet the whole thing goes back to the airport case's daughter going to work and spreading it. But who is honestly hurt the most through it all?

C. So no, Taiwan government recently hasn't been doing a good job with the whole situation. That's why so many people are leaving the country. Maybe it's nothing to you to lose a few months' more work in quarantine, but I honestly don't want to lose the pay, nor spend the time stuck without human contact for month on end, just because a few old folks refuse to wear their masks, and a few "fake" Taiwanese come home to celebrate a holiday. I mean, Christmas has been cancelled so many times, why not CNY?

Total shit for brains short-sighted attitudes as always. 

If you vax it's likely we aren't going to see this en-masse death scare party that some outlets keep presenting, and if it is likely, why are we letting folks into the country to risk overflowing our hospitals, anyways?  

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

@MrWunderful is pimping California so hard, he quadruple posted!

 

Masks are getting hard to find around here, especially children sizes. They are required for school up here, so it's frustrating going to 4 stores looking for them. All I could find were cloth masks at big lots. Disposables were out everywhere it seems. We ordered kid masks from Amazon, but they would up being adult sized instead. At least they fit my oldest if you twist the ear loops.

[OptOut | 8,883]

@fcgamer yeah I agree that they are letting too many people back in, and that the restrictions are currently not tight enough! But they are monitoring the situation closely and the current outbreak seems to be under control, at least we haven't seen a major spike yet.

As I understand, if we DO see a doubling and tripling of the daily cases reported like we saw last May, then we WILL be back into lockdown again, and the more stringent restrictions will be back in place. As tough as that may be to bare for a lot of people (including myself of course), I see it as FAR preferable to the alternative.

Covid is a nasty thing, and it does nasty things. Lockdowns and masks and all kinds of other restrictions are nasty too. Losing money isn't fun either, and I certainly lost my fair share of that last time, believe you me. But I don't want people dying in our hospitals, I don't want parents taking their kids out of my school indefinitely due to fear of contagion, I don't want to see the complete destruction of the fragile heath security we have managed to maintain here in Taiwan over the last two years.

I can't say it's FAIR, and I can't say it's GOOD. But neither is covid. I am willing to put up with the sacrifices that are entailed in keeping a lid on it to the furthest possible extent that we can, I cannot understand the philosophy behind letting all the sacrifices we HAVE made just suddenly go to waste.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

8 hours ago, guillavoie said:

Actually Corey, this is not the political thread, this is the coronavirus thread. There's a nuance to grasp here, I think.

 

8 hours ago, Link said:

fyi: the submit button works sometimes even when it doesn't seem to, lol

I was informed on page 37 this is not true

Fair enough. That is my bad. So im curious why “Fauci is in the pocket of the ccp” is allowed in a non political thread?  It looks like its ambiguous enough, but of course someone had to call me out on my phrasing. Everyone knew what I meant though. 
 

@darkchylde28 Im not actually reading that lol. You make up for missing the point by writing words. Somehow, I have been spewing unsupported facts, when this whole thing has been about me asking people to defend their conspiracy theories. Full stop. The rest of the back and forth is because people started personally attacking me, which I dont lose sleep over, but I will troll back. Its just weird how obsessed you are with me being proud to be from CA, because i agree with most of what you said about the virus and masks. 
 

@Tanooki defend what you said like a man. Ignoring me and saying I am in the CCP? That is clown shit lol. Stop being obsessed with fauci and I will stop quoting you. 
 

So to end this back-and-forth, just so everybody knows in this thread if you come here with bullshit conspiracy theories be prepared to be called out on them. If that’s a problem moderators let me know.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Oh and @darkchylde28 here is your proof :

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/business/media/fox-anthony-fauci-jesse-watters.html

Normally I wouldn’t bother, but since you do put effort into your posts I will respond with 15 seconds of googling. 
 

Saying “but I don’t watch Fox News!!!” is irrelevant if you were still regurgitating the same thing they are saying.

 

Hopefully Now we get to see the proof of this massive government conspiracy where Fauci is profiting off telling us to wear masks from the CCP. 
 

Just for fun, hers some more about Fox News misinformation and how it spreads

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/08/unique-role-fox-news-misinformation-universe/

 

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-media-misinformation-health-b59e98ca50f37ddeea217903915a53fc

 

 

[fcgamer | 4,723]

2 hours ago, OptOut said:

@fcgamer yeah I agree that they are letting too many people back in, and that the restrictions are currently not tight enough! But they are monitoring the situation closely and the current outbreak seems to be under control, at least we haven't seen a major spike yet.

As I understand, if we DO see a doubling and tripling of the daily cases reported like we saw last May, then we WILL be back into lockdown again, and the more stringent restrictions will be back in place. As tough as that may be to bare for a lot of people (including myself of course), I see it as FAR preferable to the alternative.

Covid is a nasty thing, and it does nasty things. Lockdowns and masks and all kinds of other restrictions are nasty too. Losing money isn't fun either, and I certainly lost my fair share of that last time, believe you me. But I don't want people dying in our hospitals, I don't want parents taking their kids out of my school indefinitely due to fear of contagion, I don't want to see the complete destruction of the fragile heath security we have managed to maintain here in Taiwan over the last two years.

I can't say it's FAIR, and I can't say it's GOOD. But neither is covid. I am willing to put up with the sacrifices that are entailed in keeping a lid on it to the furthest possible extent that we can, I cannot understand the philosophy behind letting all the sacrifices we HAVE made just suddenly go to waste.

The problem is sacrifices are only being made if / when they suit. CNY is the classic example, everyone knew that this would happen...

[OptOut | 8,883]

20 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

The problem is sacrifices are only being made if / when they suit. CNY is the classic example, everyone knew that this would happen...

Yeah I agree with this, I feel like we should lockdown now tbh. But, unfortunately, economic and political interests are keeping the hotels and restaurants open another couple weeks just to squeeze in the Chinese New Year anyway.

I can understand where the government is coming from in terms of maintaining their political goodwill with businesses while the caseload is technically below the threshold for the full immediate lockdown. There is massive pressure on them to keep everything open at this time, and it sucks and I FULLY DISAGREE with their decision. As I said I would lockdown immediately. But I can see why they are doing it, nonetheless.

Meanwhile, after the New Year break there IS almost certainly going to be a proper lockdown, unless we get a miracle. We are prepared over here to take our classes online again, and take a MASSIVE hit to our revenue AGAIN, if and when it happens. All I hope is that the political gamble the government is making will pay off, that the caseload doesn't spiral COMPLETELY out of control after the New Year...

Obviously they are hoping that cases WON'T spike over the New Year and that they can just do another short lockdown to tamper down any that did spread. It's DUMB, let me be frank about that. But, I won't use that as an excuse to just throw my hands up and give up on the whole thing.

The zero-case policy WILL fail at some point, we will have to open back up fully to the outside world again at SOME point. It is inevitable that covid will become a normal part of life here in Taiwan, just like the flu, and just like the rest of the world. But, that doesn't need to be now, and it doesn't need to happen all at once.

We keep fighting and we keep working on building towards a fully vaccinated population, and we wait as long as we can before we give in to the inevitable. The advantage to this strategy has ALREADY paid off. We have survived two years without a mass outbreak and mass deaths, and our population is already getting their vaccines. The virus has mutated to be weaker, so if it DOES break out now WAY fewer people will die than would have.

But, I reckon Omicron isn't weak enough. I don't want that shit here. Wait and fight, another year another two years, wait for another couple of mutations until covid is even LESS deadly. Then we'll talk about lifting the policies and what have you.

Anyway, that's just where I'm at with it right now, personally! I can accept we have differing perspectives etc. Unfortunately BOTH of us don't seem to be getting what we really want in this situation, but hey that's life eh, isn't it? 

[guillavoie | 1,208]

2 hours ago, MrWunderful said:

 

Fair enough. That is my bad. So im curious why “Fauci is in the pocket of the ccp” is allowed in a non political thread?  It looks like its ambiguous enough, but of course someone had to call me out on my phrasing. Everyone knew what I meant though.

I don't think it is an appropriate statement for this thread either, at least without further explanations to demonstrate how one would come to this conclusion, be it a reasonable statement or not. I'd also add that criticizing or praising Fauci's statements/policies here is definitely allowed, as long as it is not just blanket statements and it comes with developed arguments. Not agreeing 100 % with Fauci is not a stance exclusive to Fox News or right wing propaganda, you can criticize Fauci from a progressive point of view just as well (and vice versa). But, Ideally, leaving alone any political affiliations is the way to argue opinions and ideas in this thread, even though I recognize that it is hard to  do sometimes as these subjects are usually served to us politically charged by mainstream medias (but we are better than them, aren't we ).

Anyway, the point of my post was really about reminding you, but also everyone else at the same time, that this was not the political thread, cause you were literally saying that it was (while I fully understand that it was just a fair error from you saying so).

[fcgamer | 4,723]

49 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Yeah I agree with this, I feel like we should lockdown now tbh. But, unfortunately, economic and political interests are keeping the hotels and restaurants open another couple weeks just to squeeze in the Chinese New Year anyway.

I can understand where the government is coming from in terms of maintaining their political goodwill with businesses while the caseload is technically below the threshold for the full immediate lockdown. There is massive pressure on them to keep everything open at this time, and it sucks and I FULLY DISAGREE with their decision. As I said I would lockdown immediately. But I can see why they are doing it, nonetheless.

Meanwhile, after the New Year break there IS almost certainly going to be a proper lockdown, unless we get a miracle. We are prepared over here to take our classes online again, and take a MASSIVE hit to our revenue AGAIN, if and when it happens. All I hope is that the political gamble the government is making will pay off, that the caseload doesn't spiral COMPLETELY out of control after the New Year...

Obviously they are hoping that cases WON'T spike over the New Year and that they can just do another short lockdown to tamper down any that did spread. It's DUMB, let me be frank about that. But, I won't use that as an excuse to just throw my hands up and give up on the whole thing.

The zero-case policy WILL fail at some point, we will have to open back up fully to the outside world again at SOME point. It is inevitable that covid will become a normal part of life here in Taiwan, just like the flu, and just like the rest of the world. But, that doesn't need to be now, and it doesn't need to happen all at once.

We keep fighting and we keep working on building towards a fully vaccinated population, and we wait as long as we can before we give in to the inevitable. The advantage to this strategy has ALREADY paid off. We have survived two years without a mass outbreak and mass deaths, and our population is already getting their vaccines. The virus has mutated to be weaker, so if it DOES break out now WAY fewer people will die than would have.

But, I reckon Omicron isn't weak enough. I don't want that shit here. Wait and fight, another year another two years, wait for another couple of mutations until covid is even LESS deadly. Then we'll talk about lifting the policies and what have you.

Anyway, that's just where I'm at with it right now, personally! I can accept we have differing perspectives etc. Unfortunately BOTH of us don't seem to be getting what we really want in this situation, but hey that's life eh, isn't it? 

If we weren't letting in the CNY crowd, we wouldn't have had the current outbreak. The current outbreak is then going to get worse over the CNY, we both already see that happening. In the end those that essentially caused that outbreak will go back home to their own countries, leaving ours in lockdown and many people in ruins. And for what? In how many places was Christmas cancelled, or other holidays? We shouldn't be in lockdown now, as we shouldn't have ever gotten to this point to begin with.

The same people and industries are going to take the hit yet again, while the others aren't (and therefore couldn't care less).

One of my main issues is that of accountability and responsibility. Maybe it's better in Changhua, but in Taichung, no one social distances, hardly anyone aside from Mr Yorkshire and I use the QR tracking, a large portion of the old people and a smaller portion of young people aren't masking up, etc. It's the same in Taipei, Taoyuan, from what I've seen. Unless we resort to welding people into homes and beating them with batons, a large portion just aren't willing to follow the rules anymore. 

For the younger ones, they're just thinking of themselves, likely not to die. For the older ones, it starts becoming weird, of course I don't want people to die, but if they aren't following protocol and I end up losing more salary and sanity for the sake of protecting folks who don't even want to protect themselves, then I find there to be something extremely wrong with this.

And that's why I personally feel we just need to accept to live with it, as the vast majority of people here are double vaxxed, they're rolling out the booster currently, and since older people were in the first tier to get vaxxed, if they aren't, they didn't/don't want it, which ties back in with the personal accountability thing. 

Oh well, I've said my piece, hopefully things in reality are better than what we both are speculating.

[Estil | 1,264]

I don't know how much if anything this has to do with covid but is anyone else here noticing it's getting much harder to find freedom fries?  They were almost all gone last time I went to the store