No Karen, vaccines and mask DOES help during COVID-19 pandemic
I was browsing through the different part of this fabulous internet this morning, when I stumbled across a narrative (which some would, rightfully, call conspiracy theory) about COVID-19 and how mask and vaccine provides little utility in the pandemic.
These argument are presented by people who claim to have education in health and bioscience, and who types with weird numbers in between the line (i.e. 2do, 2be, have2 etc.) I have no problem with freedom of expression, but reading in to the text I started running into a bit of a small problem with LOGIC.
So, in the spirit of freedom and expression, let me present why these narratives are BULLSHIT.
Lets start with the most wonderful mask argument. “My MaSk TrApS CO2 aNd iT dOeSn’T sToP COVID-19”. Fabulous. Now sit down please, Karen von Karenberg.
Here is why this is bullshit. Carbon dioxide is made up of 2 oxygen and 1 carbon atom, which give it a molecular radius of 0.33nm. Being a biological structure, Coronavirus is also partly made out of carbon from its amino acid (protein). The only problem is, there's MUCH MORE of them. Coronavirus is much much BIGGER. The reported average diameter of a coronavirus is between 80–120nm, with the two extremes at 50nm and 200nm. Lets say we go with the smallest extreme, 50nm, I’m in a generous mood today. Even this makes the COVID-19 virion 151.52 times bigger than a CO2 molecule.
Can someone explain to me, how the mask can trap (or if your more scientifically minded, show utility preventing the passage of) something 151 times smaller, the CO2 molecule, but couldn’t do something similar to the larger COVID-19 virion? Could it be, that this whole narrative is… BULLSHIT?
Now, the second of these precious little innocent childhood stories. “VaCcInE ShOuLd Be OpTiOnAl. I’m In ChArGe oF WhAt GoEs In My BoDy”. Fantastique, now stop dripping your essential oils everywhere will you Karen? The scent is coming into my body and I bloody hate it.
Yes, you should be given the freedom to what goes in your body, in the same way you should be given the freedom to what you use your hand for without government intervention. These rights stems from your “right to life, liberty and security in person”. But the beauty of common law (if you live in a English speaking country, you most likely have common law in your nation) is that written law only defines the boundary and principle, but the immediate judgement is given by judicial precedence.
Freedom to use your hand for whatever you want, however, doesn’t imply you can use it to hack the kitchen knifes through someone's neck. That is called murder. Technically, the motions of lifting your arm and holding a knife are both legal. But because they result in bodily harm of another human being, this is clearly illegal and immoral.
Yes, you should be given the freedom to what goes in your body, BUT, if the result of these choice involves death of another human, your choice is ‘unrightful’. COVID vaccines are known to demonstrate utilities preventing the spread and hospitalization of COVID-19. Taking the vaccine thus prevents the death of other human by reducing the infection and the healthcare system overload.
Yes, we understand there are slight risks associated. Out of 51,241,615 doses given in Canada, 3310 serious adverse event are reported, or 0.006% of all. (Having any serious adverse effect, not dying, is then about the same of dying from dog attack for the general population, which is in fact a risk you might want to mitigate, Karen).
All of us CLEARLY SHOULD take the vaccine.
The last one of my favorite little fairytales. “ThE RoNa Is NoT ThAt DeAdLy, DoN’t TrUsT tHe TV”. Our Karens are not only adamant in standing against a oppressive government, they are also adamant in standing against MATH and BASIC HUMAN RATIONALITY.
As of the time of writing, there have been a total of 211,730,035 COVID-19 cases in the world. Out of these COVID-19 have resulted in 4,430,697 deaths in total. That, if you’re like me and still believe in math, works out to about 2.09%. After about a year and half, its safe to assume this is about the average death rate we can expect in a while given anything short of a medical science miracles.
This means, given we all adopt the narrative and laugh off COVID-19 as a hoax, 160,386,600 people around the world (2.09% of 7.674 Billion) will die. And this is bloody optimistic, assuming COVID-19 never mutates or you can never catch it twice. From experience, we knew neither are true.
In reality, the more lax our attitude, the higher the total case number is going to be. This means the more likely a dangerous mutation will occur and more people will die.
I could end this article like every other with a higher message. But honestly, Nah. Come on, just wear you mask and don’t be a prick, so we will all live in a better world.
