FWIW, influenza infections without symptoms are common – in fact, I believe asymptomatic influenza infections outnumber symptomatic ones fairly handily. It’s just that “infection” does not equal “sickened”.
I’d like to hear her explanation for this:
She thinks it risky and questionable for her but it’s okay for your kid to take the risk?? 
I think a lot of that started off due to comparisons (rightly or wrongly) at the very beginning to the flu. I learned that instead of explaining anything, it was easiest to just say ‘but this isn’t the flu’.
This has been floating around for the past few days.
It’s a bit harsh, but maybe not altogether awful with some tweaks. That is, if someone comes in with Covid, you treat them like anyone else, but when resources get scarce, those that got the vaccine get first dibs, the unvaxxed risk getting bounced. Like losing your place on the transplant list for not following the rules. If your name gets called for a liver transplant and you show up to the hospital drunk, there’s a pretty good chance the liver goes to the next person on the list. It might be less of an issue if there was a surplus of spare organs, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’ve encouraged my entire family to get the vaccine, and my son, who is very mature for a 15 year old, felt strongly that he should get it. My wife is not AGAINST the vaccine, she’s just afraid to get it, for her own reasons. She respected our son’s wishes, though she did worry about him getting it, especially when there were reports of young people getting some cases of heart inflammation after receiving the vaccine, in-between him getting his first and second shots.
Yeah…not to target your wife in particular, but people are generally bad at math, especially when it comes to statistics and risk evaluation.
How does she feel about the chances of the kid finishing his growing up with no mom?
Also you need to point out to her that “reports of” something happening, these days, is not the same as “something happening”, sadly.
Statistics and risk evaluation are cold comfort when you’re afraid and emotional about something. I know that flying, statistically, is the safest form of travel. Yet, whenever I get on a plane I always think “how does this thin metal tube blasted 5 miles into the sky with exploding jet fuel going to bring me to my destination safely?!?”
I’m not defending my wife, I’m just saying I think the attitude of “let 'em all die if they refuse the vaccine” is a bit harsh. I love my wife and I want her to stay alive and healthy for a long time. Again, her refusal to get the vaccine so far has been out of personal misgivings, not any rabid pro-trump, anti-vax stance. She certainly hasn’t been trying to discourage others to get the shot.
I’m someone who got the vaccine as soon as I could-- I constantly refreshed vaccinefinder.org until I got the very first appt. I could back in April-- which turned out to be the J&J vaccine, which 2 days later was temporarily shelved for the brain clot issue. That freaked me out a little, though I wasn’t in the apparent demographic for that particular issue. It definitely gave me a guinea pig feeling. But I’m glad I got the shot. I hope my wife will come around.
And even with flu, the symptomatic cases often aren’t tested. It’s not like it’s quick, easy, and free to get tested for the flu. If someone is sick, they’ll often stay home rather than deal with the hassle of trying to get into a doctor’s office. And even if they do get in, the doctor may not order a test since the treatment is the same either way. A lot of the flu case numbers are estimates. The hospitalization and death counts are going to be verified, but the overall flu case count is from estimates rather than number of positive tests.
People such at statistics. The danger in getting a vaccination is not the shot but driving to and from the location.
The whole anti-vax argument reminds me of a friend who refused to wear his seat belt because he’d heard about a woman who died in a vehicle fire when her husband couldn’t unfasten her seat belt. No amount of statistics could sway him from this utterly illogical position.
I agree. What’s your stance on the “let them stay home and be refused admittance to all public buildings and events” attitude? I’m hoping your wife is smart enough to limit her public interactions (and wear a mask) since she’s not getting vaccinated.
Really, the problem is that the unvaccinated often take no additional precautions to account for their unvaccinated status. I can understand someone having a legitimate concern over taking the vaccine, but the unvaccinated often seem to just be going about their normal lives without any concern for catching the virus. They typically forego all precautions like masks, avoiding crowded places, and so on. I’d have a lot more respect for someone who said they were waiting on the vaccine but in the meantime they were wearing N95 masks whenever they were in public.
I have a lot of empathy for people like your wife and I think your comparison with fear of flying is a good one. We’d like everyone to get vaxxed but none of us are completely rational. Unfortunately it will probably take a death (or maybe a stay in the ER) of someone she knows to change her mind. Good luck solost.
Yes, as I mentioned upthread, otherwise she’s been very conscientious about mask-wearing and following all protocols during the lockdown and going forward. She understands Covid is a serious disease and has always acted accodingly, the admittedly huge exception of not getting vaxxed yet aside. I still have hope that she’ll come around, and hopefully before she gets one of the variants.
Thanks, Deeg.
Good to know – and sorry I missed that earlier.
I was going to respond to the original post as ignorant but decided I would be feeding the trolls.
No problem, and I meant to answer the first part of your question to me as well:
I’d be all for that, and maybe it would help convince her to get vaxxed-- “hey sweetie, our vaxxed son and I are going out for some delicious Thai food and then to see a movie— umm, we’ll bring you back a doggie bag if any’s left over…”
Unfortunately, no.
Infection rates in the US are way down from last year; a large portion of the US has been vaccinated. However, a large portion of the WORLD is not vaccinated. We’re lucky - we’re in a wealthy country that has a surplus of vaccines. Meanwhile, COVID will continue world-wide. The longer it can last globally, the longer that people like this remain vulnerable. The more un-vaccinated we have, the more spikes will show up in the US, and the slower the move to herd immunity.
I will agree with what others have said, that people are bad at statistics and risk assessment. However, I can’t hate them for not getting vaccinated - they’re being fed a bunch of lies by Faux News and others that should know better. Yeah, fear mongering is their stock in trade, BUT THEY’RE KILLING THEIR OWN PEOPLE! Same thing with the fundamentalists.
Done.
There is a case to be made for choosing your news sources and being responsible for those choices. Nobody is blocking their access to fact based, reliable news sources. They wallow in mis-information. It’s a choice.
Just think about how precarious it is to live on the planet. It’s basically a speck of dust in a huge void, relatively speaking. It is constantly falling through space, barely tethered to a huge exploding ball. You’re protected from deadly radiation, asphyxiation, and the frigid temperatures of space by this really thin bubble of atmosphere, and magnetic fields covering the world. The whole thing is so fragile, like living on the sole of a giant’s boot. Some random meteor could wipe you out at any time and you can’t do anything about it. You think planes are improbable?!