# Am I missing something here? (re: reopening of bars, etc... now) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [October 6, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356 "2020-10-06T17:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 126
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356/126 "2020-10-11T17:15:20Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > It’s funny, experts look at the data and trends and say, “If we don’t do anything, it could be this bad.” So we do something, and the results are better than the prediction. So then people start saying the experts are alarmists and their predictions are no good because things aren’t as bad as they said. But these people are ignoring the fact that the basis for the prediction was deliberately changed _because_ of the prediction. I mentioned this way back in March: > [@How do I counter the the flu v COVID-19 argument?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-counter-the-the-flu-v-covid-19-argument/849427/23): > > Also, my ‘fear’ is that when this all blows over, people are going to running around saying that it was a huge over reaction. We cancelled just about everything and for what? Every time someone calls it an over reaction, I’ve been trying to explain that if this all blows over without amounting to much that they shouldn’t think of this as an over reaction, instead they should consider that it didn’t amount to much _because_ of how we reacted. A discussion ensued comparing it to Y2K, or rather discussing how other people compared it to Y2K. When nothing happened on 1/1/00, people complained that all the panic was for nothing, when in reality, nothing happened because of the endless hours that programmers spent patching software and then collectively crossing their fingers while they were on call when that night. It’s unfortunate that Covid spreads the way it does. It would be a lot nicer if the protections we’re using (specifically masks) helped to prevent you from getting it rather than prevent you from spreading it. That way when people said ‘if you’re so scared YOU wear a mask/stay home, I’m not going to’ and it would be fine, because they’d catch it, not spread it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356)._