Thread by @GicAriana

Of the 1.607 reported cases in Ontario today, 864 are 2x dosed, 623 are unvaxxed, 31 are partially vaxxed, & 89 have unknown vax status.

This should tell us that double dosed are taking far too many risks because they don’t understand the risks.

Massive communication failure.

Many are to blame here, including every single person who states simply without all necessary caveats that “vaccines work”.

No, they HELP prevent severe illness & death.

That’s important. But it isn’t enough considering the long term effects after even asymptomatic cases.

It was wrong and plain old unethical to present vaccines as a panacea. As every expert worth a lick will tell you, they are important tool of *layered* protection.

But vaccines been presented as all the prevention one needs, and as thorough “mild” COVID is trivial or harmless.

People feel invincible. They go to restaurants, bars, gyms, meet up with their “fully vaxxed” friends. People dropped their guards too much because they have been lied to by too many people about what COVID is, how it spreads, and how to deal with the pandemic.

Even parents who wear N95 respirators in public places will still bring their young, unvaxxed children in maskless, “because kids don’t get COVID, and if they do, it’s mild so it’s fine”.

Again - a result of a colossal failing by many on many levels.

The messaging about the reality of how the virus spreads, the reality of what even “mild” or asymptomatic cases does to our bodies, and how to adequately protect ourselves against infection need to change NOW.

I cannot handle listening to people complain about “pandemic fatigue” and how they just want to “get on with living”. They are inevitably the same people who take unnecessary risks and prolong and worsen this hell.

It should not be up to individuals to hunt down information from experts to be adequately informed about the truth of the virus and how to protect ourselves.

Experts shouldn’t have to scream on Twitter for simple facts to be heard.

It is incumbent on organizations like @WHO and @CDCgov to speak the facts clearly and unambiguously about COVID.

Every living being should know and understand that it is an airborne virus and what protection is needed to end the spread.

Our governments shouldn’t be playing eugenics, especially with children. They shouldn’t be clamouring to live like COVID is over while it is still raging, and causing wave after wave and new variant after variant.

And as individuals, we should be taking personal responsibility for our actions.

Experts with big social media voices need to speak responsibly as well. Pics from restaurants with their kids and friends is not that.

And I want experts who are justifiably raging on social media about the current state of affairs to stop offering everything up as a solution to then retract or modify a week later.

Stop pushing everything as the solution to turn around and undermine yourselves with facts.

Don’t present rapid COVID tests as perfect tools when they have a 30-55% false negative rate.

People need to understand their value, and their LIMITS in order to behave safely.

The gold standard for testing is 3-5 tests. Why are we telling people that one rapid test is enough to get together with double dosed friends and family? Irresponsible.

Why keep repeating messaging about how “you’re safe with X” when we find over & over & over again that these measures aren’t foolproof?

Be HONEST. Present the facts. Share the benefits, the limits, the risks. And explain so the slowest of us understands it perfectly.

And to decision and policy makers:
This isn’t a popularity contest.

Everyone with policy making power needs to focus on saving lives and ending the pandemic, not “living with it”.

“Living with it” means destroying ourselves and our societies. Ending it means saving it all.

I know people are tired. Though in all honesty, some of the “fatigue” is just immaturity and entitlement.

You do not “deserve” to go out to restaurants and on vacations. But if you want these things, you should hold off a little so you can actually do things SAFELY.

And your WANTS and DESIRES to live as though there is no pandemic should not translate into action which jeopardizes our very existence as we know it.

If you’re “tired” of it, live in a way that will help END it sooner, not prolong it.

We deserve to have safe environments. We deserve to live without constant fear of infection and the next worse wave. We deserve to have children grow up normally.

Actions which will END this are hard but quick. Actions that will prolong this are easy, but can last a lifetime.

It’s infuriating that this pandemic could have been OVER if it had been addressed properly from the beginning. Instead, we have behaved our way into Delta and now Omicron.

Why can we ask what we will have to turn to for new variant names when we run through the Greek alphabet?

I’m angry.

We sacrificed the old, the young, & everyone in between.

We’ve done the easy things because of liars, corruption, idiocy, entitlement, & immaturity instead of doing the right thing.

It could be over.

Instead, we’re debating how “mild” a new variant of concern is.

Maybe those “mild” brain lesions have clouded too many minds.

I would remiss if I didn’t thank all those experts who spend countless hours of their time to provide us with honest and accurate information and analysis here on Twitter. I genuinely believe that you make a difference. You have for me. Thank you. 🙏