Thread by @1goodtern

Ten things people say about Covid and what they really mean.

1
"I'm done with Covid now"
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"I have a short attention span / compassion span"

2
"We've all got to get it"
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"I don't understand how Covid transmission works"

3
"Covid is over"
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"My head is firmly stuck in the sand like an ostrich but even deeper"

4
"It's just a cold"
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"I don't understand delayed severity"

5
"I don't know anyone vulnerable"
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"I don't care about anyone vulnerable"

6
"Covid is a hoax" (archaic)
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"I have difficulty evaluating information sources"

7
"You need to catch it for your immunity"
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"I am not capable of critical thinking"

8
"This is just hayfever"
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"My anxiety is so high that my brain has automatically entered into intense denial mode"

9
"I don't want to live in fear"
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"I don't want to think"

10
"No one's getting ill any more"
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"I refuse to look at easily available government data"

11
"I've got a strong immune system"
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"I don't know how viruses work"

12
"It's not covid"
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"It might not be covid"
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"It could be covid"
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"Yeah, it's covid"

13
"I'm fully protected"
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"I'm partially protected by vaccinations that don't prevent catching covid or transmitting it, that only reduce the chance of death and serious illness and long term disability"

14
"I bounced back straight away"
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"I've given up most of the things I used to love doing that involved standing up or walking"

15
"It was mild"
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"I was treated by paramedics at home, had a fourteen day course of antivirals and couldn't work for all that time, but didn't get admitted to hospital"

16
"Covid isn't the only virus, you know"
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"I need to distract you"

17
"I didn't go anywhere and still caught it"
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"I popped into the shops, hairdressers, my friend's house and a session of pilates and could have caught it anywhere"

18
"I'm very careful"
=
"PAAARTY"

19
"We've got to learn to live with Covid"
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"We're just going to keep catching it repeatedly without learning anything"

20
"I can't handle Covid on top of everything else right now"
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"I'm soon going to have to handle having Covid on top of everything else right now"

21
"You're just anxious"
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"I'm just ignorant"

22
"I've lived my life"
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"I don't care if my illness is a burden on healthcare resources"

23
"You just need to catch it and then you'll stop worrying"
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"Join the podpeople"

24
"What can you do about it, eh?"
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"I lack imagination, discipline, compassion, or common sense"

25
"I've moved on"
=
"I don't like reality"

26
"We have the tools"
=
"I am rich and entitled"

27
"God will protect me"
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"I don't know how God works"

28
"No one's dying any more"
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"I like to be ignorant and ill-informed"

29
"Was it with covid or by covid?"
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"Please block me"

30
"Don't forget to wash your hands"
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"I should not be allowed anywhere near public health"

31
"We don't do Covid"
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"Covid is about to do us"

32
"It's just a sniffle"
=
⬜️❗️❗️⬜️

(that was supposed to look like a positive test)

33
"Even Covid has to obey physics"
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"I don't understand Covid or physics"

34
"We've got to protect the economy"
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"I haven't grasped that making people ill damages the economy"

35
"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"
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"This is the exit wave"

36
"You're just a scaremonger"
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"I am impressed with your firm grasp on reality, but I would like to live in fantasy land"

37
"It's becoming milder"
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"I love wishful thinking, it makes my heart glow"

38
"Why would they lie to us?"
=
"I regret that I have never had an independent thought in my life"

39
"Long Covid is people being lazy and anxious"
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"I deserve very little sympathy next time I'm ill"

40
"Lockdowns were terrible, the disease is better than the cure"
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"I have deliberately avoided the testimony of people who have been affected by Covid"

41
"Slowing the spread will prolong the pandemic"
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"I do not deserve to be a professor"

42
"There are a lot of bugs around"
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"Covid has damaged my immune system"

43
"I don't know anyone who has died from Covid"
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"Where's Lewis's dad? And that guy I used to sit next to at work? And that lollipop lady?"

44
"Masks make no difference"
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"Please point me towards some quality research on fluid dynamics, convection diffusion, and particle filtration, my good man, because I'm in desperate need of education"

45
"People have always died suddenly"
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"oh sh*t oh sh*t oh sh*t"

46
"You don't need that mask, you know"
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"I'm not doing a single thing to protect myself or anyone so you absolutely do need that mask"

47
"but you look really well"
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"I have less than no idea what you or anyone suffering long covid is going through"

48
"My risk is low"
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"I do not understand that:
Covid can damage my immune system,
I will likely infect people if I am infected,
Covid damage is cumulative.

and

I do not care about people whose risk is high"

49
"No one is interested in your fear mongering"
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"I have a sneaking suspicion your observations are accurate, but I would like to pretend they're not in the hope that it will all go away without me having to do anything"

50
"We're going to put a wall of protection around the vulnerable"
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"I'm going to chuck billions of pounds of easy money to my friends and other random rich people"

51
"Don't you trust your body to heal itself?"
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"Please tell me about how viruses work."