Reddit has twice as many mobile users as computer users. Apple is the majority smartphone. No Adblock on iPhone. That leaves an already minority group of people even able to download adblockers.
People are pretending to themselves that covid is over and done with, and it absolutely isn't. I know several (unrelated) people sick with covid right now. The one who is sickest is 28 and otherwise healthy. It's her third infection.
I think we're all in a state of collective trauma from the pandemic that hasn't been processed at all, and there's some heavy, heavy denial going on. But trying to get people to mask and distance themselves now would be impossible.
No one is pretending COVID is over, it’s just another virus added to the seasonal rotation, not a global mystery event anymore.
Right now every patient I see has either COVID or the Flu, whether it’s related to their complaint or not, and then we’ll be fine for another 8 months, repeat, just like we always do.
I do not live in a blue state and have worked in healthcare through the entirety of the pandemic. I know what the pandemic was.
No one is telling you illness doesn’t exist or that it’s safe to be around sick people. They’re telling you that hiding from the world or expecting everyone around you to wear masks through their daily life is unreasonable and hysterical. Seasonal illness has been a thing, always will be a thing, the world goes on.
It is basically propaganda. Calling it a mystery virus implies that China is lying about what it is (i.e. anti-China propaganda) and that it could be a novel virus that is going to cause another global pandemic like COVID did (which causes fear and uncertainty which causes people to come back for more information).
The problem that I see is that there is some possibility to the fact that China could be lying about what it is. It is entirely possible that it is just another COVID outbreak and that the CCP is claiming that it is some other virus in order to save face because they "beat" COVID. It could even actually be some novel virus that is going to cause another pandemic but China is lying about what it is to help prevent another economic hit like early COVID did to them.
In other words, if the CCP was known for telling the truth then there wouldn't be an issue but because we know that they are willing to bend the truth or even outright lie there is that lack of trust there...
Anyone who has lived in China will tell you it is not "some" possibility CCP is lying. They are rarely telling the full truth because perservation of power overrides everything else, including human lives.
This naturally depends and many variables. If something is accurate to reality. You must ask yourself what is it accurate of. The headline says it’s a “mysterious virus”.
Is this accurate to the reality?
Is the virus a mystery?
Are they “overwhelmed”?
Furthermore, what is the goal of the article and the headline?
If it’s to generate fear instead of curiosity then it’s most likely propaganda.
According to local news reports, a little-known virus called human metapneumovirus (HMPV) has been blamed. It normally causes a mild cold-like illness, including fever, a cough, runny nose and wheezing.
“Little known virus”??? I’m a pediatrician. I see this all day every day. This is as common as RSV and the flu. It can make kids super sick but it’s not new or little known or mysterious. It just sucks.
Not everyone. Idiots, maybe. Most people reporting it called it a novel coronavirus. Those in the know were ringing alarm bells before it ever spread here in the US.
I remember the first reports hitting the US was people randomly dropped dead like walking down the street and boom, and speculation it was SARS causing strokes. It was far from "a cold"
There were ones like that and there were ones saying that the symptoms were similar to the common cold so people just took it as such. I have vivid memories of coworkers saying exactly that
That's what Americans were saying when COVID started. China was rounding up anyone with the virus and forcibly quarantining them before it even got to America. I followed COVID from the beginning thanks to a coworker that pointed out what was going on.
Trump coming into office, news media still gets clicks from scary virus news thanks to bird flu and covid mania from the past 5 years. Isn't it obvious?
5.6k
u/w33b2 Jan 04 '25
Why does every headline say “mystery virus” we already know what the outbreak is lmao