Originally Posted by
Shaman
Today my family just learned that its newest member died yesterday. She was 1.5 weeks old. She was born at 1.5 lbs 5 months prematurely to an intubated mother with COVID-19. The stress on her mother's body caused her to go into premature labor and she likely is unaware that her child has passed. So while you doubt the veracity of data being provided by research scientist in favor of what you've chosen to believe, this disease is having real consequences for real people. They're not statistics they're real people that mean something to someone.
The folks who dedicate their time and efforts to finding methods to mitigate the effects of this disease shouldn't have to contend with "guy who has "researched" @#$% on the internet" as SMEs. But here we are, thanks internet.
Ultimately this is why I took things so cautiously when Covid hit. While most I flew with went around saying, "My body. My choice" I had a wife who'd had a ton of miscarriages, a failed IVF and we'd wasted $50,000 on it all. Thankfully I have a beautiful son who's 15 months old now and a healthy wife. I was wearing masks as soon as the CDC said to do so and was very careful. As soon as everyone was safe following the birth my father in law who was on dialysis wanted to come see his grandson. He didn't have long to live so we were as careful as we could be. He passed a few months ago but thankfully not because of us giving him Covid. My wife lost her grandmother in a nursing home to Covid in July of 2020. My 92 year old grandmother had to go to an ER in January and picked up Covid from the "My body. My choice" people and it almost killed her. My uncle works in an overloaded ER in Pensacola and saved her life with a new treatment. Covid has affected everything for our family. Ultimately I feel lucky that it's "only" killed one family member.