Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2020-08-08 18:43
Matt74 wrote:
> We don’t have the right to take music away from kids. When
> your kid stands up for the first time, they’re going to fall.
> When they fall in love, they’re going to be heartbroken.
> They’re going to break legs, get chickenpox, make mistakes,
> get sick, and some of them are going to die young.
>
I think "take music away from kids" is an overstatement. Temporizing for a year isn't a permanent withdrawal of music training. And the consequences of contracting this particular illness are potentially far more serious than the passing inconvenience of a broken limb or chickenpox (so long as those of us who actually *had* chickenpox have since been vaccinated against shingles). So, I think you're overstating the consequences of prevention and understating the possible risks of exposure.
Acute Respiratory Distress (ARD) syndrome has killed even very young children apparently as a direct consequence of COVID-19 infection, and young adults of college age are as susceptible to the virus as older adults. Most childhood deaths are caused by other than communicable diseases, at least in the "1st world" nations. Cancers and congenitally defective organs or genetics, while tragic, aren't contagious. If an outbreak of virus occurs in a specific region, like a college campus, it tends to spread out of control very quickly, affecting large groups, not just individuals. And the anecdotal reports of COVID-19 victims' recoveries suggests that there are serious long-term residual effects that may (the evidence won't be in for years) affect their health for the rest of their lives.
> I’m not sure what the point of trying to keep people
> “safe” is if they don’t have a life to live.
The limitations will last as long as the virus remains a pandemic-level threat. Medical interventions will at some point help to limit either the spread or the severity of the disease (or both) so the risks become less potentially catastrophic. This is not a permanent change in global lifestyle. People, including young college students, will eventually resume their lives, with luck and the help of medical science sooner than later.
> They could have
> addressed the immediate problems with targeted solutions.
Such as, specifically?
> Instead they told everybody to hide, and then killed off their
> jobs and took rest of their life.
Again, temporarily. For those business and service providers who were permanently put out of business by the closures, the shut-down has been catastrophic. Many people's workplaces simply shifted to their homes if they were able to do their work online. But once the epidemic has been brought under control by the medical folks in the labs and people can again move freely, new opportunities to thrive will, hopefully, present themselves. This is not an extinction.
> It’s a virus, it’s not
> going to magically disappear.
But sooner or later it will be chased or at least limited to a manageable illness. The prediction of a magical disappearance has basically only a single source. Overcoming the virus in finite time is a realistic hope.
> “Virtual” music is not a substitute for the real thing.
I think we can all agree on this. Neither music nor teaching will need to be done at a distance forever. Give science some time to work.
> I have epilepsy, but I don’t hide all day long. I go
> swimming in the ocean because to me it’s worth doing.
> Fortunately it’s possible for me, some things aren’t.
> I’m scared every time I get on my bicycle, but I do it.
> It’s worth doing. I go to the store, have a seizure, get up,
> and get on with it. I might have been a musician if I didn’t
> have a stupid brain tumor. I can’t change that, but living
> in fear is not acceptable. People will either realize this or
> they won’t. We can live prudently and rationally, but we
> have to live. You don’t have any choice.
Neither epilepsy nor brain tumors are, as far as we know, contagious. I don't think there's any real equivalence. And the risks you take are that something will happen *you,* which are absolutely valid for you to make. The risks of bearding an epidemic are that individual choices (like yours) can catastrophically affect others as well.
My 2 cents.
Karl
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