Should introverts feel bad that they loved the plague year?
Can you spread COVID once vaccinated
Hello friends,
On today’s episode of the podcast I rail on the FDA pausing the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. I think it’s dumb, likely deadly, and puts people at MORE of a risk for blood clots. We interview Dan Newhauser (formerly of Vice amongst other places) as he was set to get the shot before the feds pulled the plug.
J.D. Durkin also joins the show to talk congress, infrastructure and much more. He’s got a big announcement coming soon so make sure to follow him on Twitter.
And now… on to the feedback!
COVID
I know I need to relax because my wife and I have been vaccinated. But (and this is ever since the beginning) I cannot shake this fear that if I let my guard down too much, I will somehow carry this thing back home to my one and three year old kids, and I’ll end up one of the extremely unlucky ones whose kids actually got really sick from this plague. Everyone tells me I am crazy, the chances are astronomical low, and I might as well not take them out in the car either. But the chances aren’t zero.
I feel like I can sit out my social life at least until the kids get their vaccinations... I hate it, but I tell myself I am being a good parent... I guess? - CHASE
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I saw the Rage Against the Machine announcement and instantly thought of you. Also, I went until around 2005 thinking that it was Rage Against the Machines. I just thought that it was so cool that they had a scifi name like that. I even had one of their albums on my computer, and I still didn't know their actual name. - KYLE
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So a thought i have been kicking around based on "florida has done about average and hasn't been a shit show" talking point... florida is a tourist location, what if the numbers you "should" associate with florida aren't included because folks go back home. i don't think there would be an easy way to quantify that, but it could be a "stealth" data point. - PAYNE
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If there were one ‘lie’ we could keep up from Covid, I would want it to be surface transmission. You have flown during the pandemic, had you ever seen such pristine clean planes and airport facilities? I’d love my hotel bed to be made every day, but I’ll give that up (though Iceland hasn’t). Please let’s keep this intense surface cleaning up. It may not work against Covid, but it is working against the common cold, maybe the flu. I’m probably going to continue to have a mask with me when flying and wear it some of the time. If I avoid one seasonal cold per year by wearing a mask indoors in public, like parts of Asia, it will be worth it. Now we just need transportation services to keep up the GREAT work of keeping their products super clean! - SEAN W
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I'm 71, fully vaccinated and (sort of) looking forward to going back to work on April 13 doing masked and socially-distanced Star Wars cosplay at an obscure little amusement park in Anaheim. So things are looking up.
Wife is also vaccinated, but we're not ready to go out and party until our immunosuppressed daughter gets her shot(s). We don't want to bring anything home. - GARY
Depending on which shot you got I would recommend reading up on transmission rates post vaccination. While the operative phrase is “we don’t know” the prevailing wisdom is “we don’t.”
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I refuse to go back to the way things were, personally. I hated eating out, I only went because my office wouldn't stop harassing me until I did. I only go to family or friends houses because they won't shut the fuck up and then the entire time I hated it. I welcome a future in which I never set foot in a theater again!
Seriously though, I don't know how to handle that the year of lockdown has been my greatest year. With so much tragedy I have little pangs of guilt that this has been an amazing year for me. I got COVID, laid off from a job I absolutely hated and found a job I adore. I moved back to Seattle from Phoenix. I'm closer to my kids and wife than I've ever been. Before this year I never had a savings, now it overflows.
I never liked going out. So you can have your world of "back to normal" but please don't take away drive up grocery pickup, curbside restaurant takeout, and having an excuse to not talk to the neighbors. - DOMINIC
YES! DOMINIC!
I am so glad you wrote in!
Let’s have the real conversation. The conversation that a lot of this is built on. We fight with each other using terms like “science” and “freedom” but this is about something far more elemental.
“Introverts” and “Extroverts.”
I think it’s clear now that the society we lived in leading up to 2020 was run by extroverts. Then the plague hit and introverts (specifically germaphobe introverts) ruled the world overnight. Now, we are in a power struggle.
If you never want to leave your house again, great! Let’s just not make that the rule for everyone. Let’s keep all the perks you described as long as we also keep the relaxed enforcement on open container laws so I can continue to drink on long walks.
To tell the truth, 2020 had some real benefits for me as well. I lost weight, focused on my craft and started producing some of the best stuff I’ve ever made. If the time in solitude has given us anything it’s hopefully a better idea of who we are and what we want.
- Justin