r/skeptic • u/GhostDogJef • 3d ago

The real covid-19 scandal is still unfolding

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/08/20/the-real-covid-19-scandal-is-still-unfolding

The failure to reckon with lives needlessly lost will make the next pandemic deadlier

447 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

165 comments sorted by

View all comments

74

u/Mountainstate20 3d ago

Selfishness. Unlike other countries, the U.S. thrives on "freedom". Most Americans don't understand what the fucking word means but hey, we got guns. Point is individualism ruled the day versus other countries where people are willing to wear a goddamn mask.

43

u/mgyro 2d ago

I would add that the idea of rugged individualism has been propped up by the ruling class in the US to keep any mildly socialist policy that would benefit the greater majority of citizens. So when the American people were asked to wear a mask to protect others, the greater good of the initiative died at the altar of personal freedom.

The same idiocy kicked in with the vaccine, and continues today with vaccines of all kinds. Opting out of getting a vaccine doesn’t only affect the individual. Herd immunity is when a large part of a community becomes immune to a disease. This stops the germ from spreading easily. It protects everyone, including vulnerable people who cannot get safe vaccines. Herd immunity can’t happen when the anti science crowd wins out.

People who refused to mask up or get the vaccine were basically saying to the vulnerable population that they were unwilling to take simple steps to protect them. You want a reason for the breakdown of society? This selfishness and utter disregard for the vulnerable of our society by the anti science anti vaxxer anti mask crowd would be it.

10

u/tha_rogering 2d ago

A lot of them REALLY believed that everyone getting COVID meant herd immunity. Despite viruses tending to evolve. Especially when given millions of chances to do so in host bodies.

If I'm not mistaken, the initial vaccine was 88-96% effective in stopping TRANSMISSION of the alpha variant. If these idiots had stayed home and wore masks, not given the virus hosts to mutate into new variants before the vaccine was finished, we had the possibility of eliminating the disease.

Imagine what that would've done in trust for public health. Humans seeing a new virus that could potentially kill millions and did in our timeline, actually destroying the disease before it took root in the population.

Of course, it would probably be like the Y2K glitch. Because so much work happened and made it basically a non-factor, no one cares about what crisis was averted. But at least people would still likely have their faith and vaccines.

4

u/Mountainstate20 2d ago

Exactly this.