No, “safety first at all costs” is a mistake.
In the interview, Dr. Collins acknowledged that.
We would do some many routine things differently if “safety first at all costs” were valid.
I am sorry that you were so frightened during the pandemic.
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I need to reinforce, the thing that frightened me most was the failure of others to do the right thing…in the middle of a pandemic, hundreds of people jossling for position in a supermarket and me not knowing if or which one of them might be the selfish idiot carrying the virus and not caring who they gave it too. That was what was frightening.
This will sound like a bit of a weird analogy, however, ill go with it anyway…
i do a lot of work in shopping centres. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid and completely unaware of their surroundings the average person really is when it comes to common sense safety.
One day I had my scissor lift out on the footpath working about 2 metres up, with witches hats all around it, clearly marking out the danger zone. You will not believe it that on the particular day in which this example im citing took place, over a period of a few hours, at least half a dozen people walked inside the bollards/witches hats between my elevated machine and some windows i was working on, at least one individual walked into the side of the machine following google maps on his phone…and quite a number of others ignored the bollards/witches hats and walked into the danger area.
Another example…
recall in my earlier post i said i fly (up until 2 years ago) paragliders and powered paragliders (paramotors).
One occasion, when i was wanting to take off with my paramotor and a few small groups of people were standing about 50 metres away directly in front of me, watching intently on this fella about to “parrot-shoot” Despite my every effort, do you think i could get them to understand that they were standing directly in my take off path? In the end, i gave up trying to get them to understand they needed to move and just “threaded the needle”…it sent people scurrying in all directions. Thats what we humans all do…some are stupid, others get the shits with stupid and do dangerous stuff like i did that day.
The point is, people are generally “street unwise” when it comes to common sense safety…even when prompted!
That is what i was frightened of during COVID. It made me realise how much more attention i need to pay to safety myself…so it annoys me when others crow about unfair covid restrictions.
BTWS, the reason why i dont fly paragliders right now is because my wife and i have taken on debt in the form of two new cars. She is completely reliant on me being able to service that debt. If i hurt myself in a dangerous sport (which paragliding is believe it not), then she suffers enormous financial harm. So i chose to give up a sport i love because the risk is too high…there are other safer options…such as lawn bowls or darts or something
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The most frequent mandate in the Bible is “Do not be afraid” or one of its several variations – “Fear not!”, “Be anxious for nothing”, “Fret not”, and the like. We need to trust our Father for our wellbeing, but that does not mean be reckless or to not take reasonable precautions.
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absolutely Dale, i agree 100%.
I just think if people had of just all worn masks, socially distanced, kept their bloody hands clean/santised, none of the lockdown restrictions needed to be that severe. We may have still had restrictions, but not complete lockdowns surely?
This reminds me of another pet hate i have these days…blokes who go to the urinal, and then leave without washing hands! Ive got that way these days i try to wait for someone else to open the bathroom exit door first, try to wash it whilst washing my own hands, or use a paper towel to open the door!
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That is a funny thing. In our church bathroom, it is interesting to see some walk out without washing. I wonder if they warn the people they shake hands with what they just shook with that hand.
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I remember freaking out running into people who wouldn’t wear masks and acted superior to everyone else. One instance stands out, though, at a grocery store: this group of three people had no masks and were ignoring the designated spacing; the checker saw them coming and told them they could either follow the spacing or they could just leave the store. The anger on their faces was incredible, but they complied. When they got to the checkstand the checker asked if they were together; when they said yes she told them that two of them needed to leave – and that next time they needed to go shopping to just send one person. What was frightening was that they were from out of town and plainly didn’t care if they were carrying the virus around the state.
I was very hesitant to go shopping again the next week, but relief hit when I got to the store: there were big colorful signs stating that no one without a mask would be allowed to do any shopping. But even then – and with free masks being supplied by the store – there were people complaining about their freedom being trampled.
This reminds me of the day I had to dash into a store fast and forgot to put on a mask; I think it was about mid-April. I was halfway to where I was headed when some guy came up to me and thanked me for not wearing a mask! That I’d forgotten shocked me enough I didn’t even think of telling him how stupid he was until I was already back at my truck grabbing mine. It showed me just how scary this was going to be and made me not want to go anywhere around people if there were some out there who were just that uncaring about other people or even themselves.
[That was when I planned my next shopping trip for early morning when hardly anyone was in stores, and I picked up enough to not need to go out again for at least a month.]
I think it was shortly after my carefully-planned shopping trip in mid-April 2020 that I saw on the news some preacher telling his people that wearing masks was a sign of not trusting God. My thoughts immediately went to:
Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’;
and
‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’”
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’”
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If everyone had followed the lockdowns for just a month the virus would have been stopped cold. That was evidenced in my county: we had just one case until the governor loosened up travel restrictions; then outsiders swarmed in and our case count surged. I wasn’t the only one wishing we still had a county militia that could have blocked the highways!
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My friends that were most cautious avoided Covid for months, some for years.
But they all eventually got the disease. For most it was just a few days of discomfort.
All they did was delay their contracting the disease.
I continued to live my life. Eventually I contracted Covid, after living my life without fear and restrictions. I followed the law and wore those useless masks where required by law. I was on a tour of Columbia when I tested positive. I had to quarantine in the El Dorado Hotel in Bogota for 6 days, but I only felt sick for two days. My wife of 49 years had the same experience.
The health care professionals, whose focus was on physical health care rather than the good of society in general, drove an unreasonable and ill-advised plan to shut down the world.
I respect that Dr. Collins is admitting that was a mistake. but I’ll turn it back on and we’ll see.
This would lead to never driving anywhere except out of absolute necessity, never letting kids play outside out of fear of them being abducted, and about 6,000 other things we probably do on a daily basis. I mean, you weren’t born with wings.
We all have to find a balance between living responsibly and letting fear be our master. Only the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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If everyone had done that, many people would have starved, died from other factors, or otherwise caused disasters.
People need to run power plants, water systems, gas-delivery systems, health care, and other essential services.
Lockdowns simply delayed the spread, They did not eliminate and could not have eliminated the virus.
In God’s providence, Walmart grocery delivery had just started in our town in December of 2019, and our our place is outside of city limits on the opposite side of town, but just within their delivery radius. Yay! We started measuring fuel efficiency in our little car not in miles per gallon but in months per tank. 
And they people who delivered your groceries took the risk. Kudos to them
My thoughts were brought back to this due to a news piece about the coming election where someone was musing over the changes in party registration numbers due to COVID deaths and noting that given Trump’s margins last time the loss of Republican voters would flip the election the other way.
This isn’t even in touch with reality – no lockdowns shut such things down.
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The pickers, not the drivers, were at more risk. With fewer people in the store, overall risk goes down.
No, the lockdowns did not shut down such things, so your conjecture that lockdowns would have stopped the pandemic is not even in touch with reality.
All lockdowns did was delay the inevitable
States with lockdowns still had Covid cases as did states that were more open.
Society cannot survive locked in their houses with no interactions. And the ones providing essential services are incubators.
Getting the disease is delayed, not stopped
Only hermits avoid the pandemic
Wrong. I haven’t had it yet, nor has my wife. Call me a hermit. If fewer people get it, ever, then it is not merely delayed. And even if only delayed, it’s likely to be a less severe variant. Vaccinations do actually prevent disease as well.
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My statement was a general one. A few exceptions exist to almost any true statement.
But you may have had Covid and simply not shown symptoms. Some people do that.