When Portland resident Jessica Rogers-Hall came down with COVID last month – her third time – she followed the Oregon Health Authority’s advice.
She isolated when she truly felt sick. And after a day, when she began to feel better, she donned a mask and returned to her job as a life coach for people experiencing homelessness.
Others in her circle of friends and associates, including a restaurant worker and an airline pilot, who tested positive around the same time, also followed Oregon’s recommendations: Those with fevers or other debilitating symptoms stayed home for a couple days, but returned to work after that.
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But Oregon’s policy went unnoticed by many until last month, when California followed suit and a much more public national debate erupted among epidemiologists and regular folks alike. Many are pondering the question: Is COVID so mild for most that the public needn’t stay home when they still might be contagious? And further, should public health officials give their blessing for residents to return to their daily lives – to work, school, public transit, the gym, stores, social gatherings and the like?
This week, The Washington Post reported that the CDC may follow Oregon’s and California’s lead by revising its guidelines in coming months – possibly airing the idea for public feedback in April. The move would be what’s seen as a more practical approach toward what people are willing to do, in an era when COVID doesn’t pose a serious threat to most because of vaccinations or previous infections.
We’re not ignoring COVID. There are vaccines and they are updated according to the virus’ mutations. The flu killed tens of thousands of people every single year even before COVID and all we did was work on vaccines. As of right now COVID is quite similar to the flu, so why should we treat it any different? Anyone who is worried can still wear masks and distance themselves. But it’s crazy to ask that of everybody when there is so very little to gain. We would lose way more in the process, it’s simply not worth it.
if we killed this by universal immunization and easy precautions (masks, handwashing) that would make sense. 1,190,000 dead in the us alone? It didn’t need to be this bad. And the system is still dealing with covid patients. People are still dying of it today.
lose what exactly? please lay it out, because weighed against the dead and the shit still circulating, what does that mean?