I’m having trouble thinking of a feasible and ethical way to get Covid intentionally. Don’t think the hospital would take kindly to a random person showing up and wanting to hang out in the Covid ward. I could increase my level of risk by going to unmasked protests or illegal parties or wherever crowds are, but if I got infected doing that, seems like in the time period between infection and test there would be a significant chance of infecting someone else, and I’m not sure that’s ethical. (Not sure it’s unethical either, given that others who engage in high risk activities have chosen the risk voluntarily, but it’s enough to give me qualms.)
Not sure it’s unethical either, given that others who engage in high risk activities have chosen the risk voluntarily
Two other reasons it may be unethical: many of the people taking on unusual risk are uninformed (which from my perspective, makes it feel at least a little more like I’m tricking them if I fully indulge them); and increasing their exposure puts one more COVID-infected person in the world, which can put third parties at risk who didn’t intend to throw caution to the wind.
I would say the ethical aspect comes from what you do after your effort to become infected. Since your intent is to become infected, your next action is to self-quarantine for (up to?) 14 days and test. Without imposing your quarantine after the infection attempt you are shifting some risks to third parties.
I assume your goal is to avoid the rush and get your immunity sooner rather than later and not wait until you are eligible for a vaccine. Perhaps an alternative would be to try the RadVac.org DIY vaccine and then test for antibodies.
Why get it intentionally? Surely you should just “stop caring about it” and then you might get it, but you also might not, and that’s the best of all possible worlds.
“Just not caring” means you might catch it during the peak of a fourth wave, which (a) increases the risk that you won’t be able to get hospital care if required, and (b) may increase the risk you get a higher viral load. (Though it’s confusing to me that the higher viral loads of the new strain have reportedly not been accompanied by worse symptoms.)
“Just not caring” also has the disadvantage that you may spread COVID-19 to others before you realize you’re sick. If there were instead a maximally safe and ethical way to catch it at a known time and place, then you could immediately lock down hard after catching it.
Of course, some of the above advantages go away if your way of catching COVID-19 involves getting a higher-than-typical viral load. So I also don’t see a good way to do it, especially compared to the relatively trivial alternatives. (“I know, I’ll try the crazy munchkiny solution of… just sitting at home for a few months until I get my vaccine booster.”)
I tried a hard lockdown in March-June with no friends, no restaurants, no travel, limited shopping, and it certainly was not a “trivial” loss. Our lifestyle and our sanity matters. I could feasibly lock down for a month or two, but I have no faith in my ability to accurately assess when that month would matter.
Where I’m coming out here is that it is not going to be feasible for most people to either lock down hard or intentionally get COVID. It’s not a comfortable conclusion, because we as humans like to pretend we are in control, but aside from the extreme I-will-never-leave-my-apartment outliers, who are never going to be more than a small minority of the population, we are not in control of whether or when we get Covid.
I’m having trouble thinking of a feasible and ethical way to get Covid intentionally. Don’t think the hospital would take kindly to a random person showing up and wanting to hang out in the Covid ward. I could increase my level of risk by going to unmasked protests or illegal parties or wherever crowds are, but if I got infected doing that, seems like in the time period between infection and test there would be a significant chance of infecting someone else, and I’m not sure that’s ethical. (Not sure it’s unethical either, given that others who engage in high risk activities have chosen the risk voluntarily, but it’s enough to give me qualms.)
Two other reasons it may be unethical: many of the people taking on unusual risk are uninformed (which from my perspective, makes it feel at least a little more like I’m tricking them if I fully indulge them); and increasing their exposure puts one more COVID-infected person in the world, which can put third parties at risk who didn’t intend to throw caution to the wind.
Also there are people who can’t isolate (essential workers and such); I wouldn’t want to increase their risk willy-nilly.
I would say the ethical aspect comes from what you do after your effort to become infected. Since your intent is to become infected, your next action is to self-quarantine for (up to?) 14 days and test. Without imposing your quarantine after the infection attempt you are shifting some risks to third parties.
I assume your goal is to avoid the rush and get your immunity sooner rather than later and not wait until you are eligible for a vaccine. Perhaps an alternative would be to try the RadVac.org DIY vaccine and then test for antibodies.
Why get it intentionally? Surely you should just “stop caring about it” and then you might get it, but you also might not, and that’s the best of all possible worlds.
“Just not caring” means you might catch it during the peak of a fourth wave, which (a) increases the risk that you won’t be able to get hospital care if required, and (b) may increase the risk you get a higher viral load. (Though it’s confusing to me that the higher viral loads of the new strain have reportedly not been accompanied by worse symptoms.)
“Just not caring” also has the disadvantage that you may spread COVID-19 to others before you realize you’re sick. If there were instead a maximally safe and ethical way to catch it at a known time and place, then you could immediately lock down hard after catching it.
Of course, some of the above advantages go away if your way of catching COVID-19 involves getting a higher-than-typical viral load. So I also don’t see a good way to do it, especially compared to the relatively trivial alternatives. (“I know, I’ll try the crazy munchkiny solution of… just sitting at home for a few months until I get my vaccine booster.”)
I tried a hard lockdown in March-June with no friends, no restaurants, no travel, limited shopping, and it certainly was not a “trivial” loss. Our lifestyle and our sanity matters. I could feasibly lock down for a month or two, but I have no faith in my ability to accurately assess when that month would matter.
Where I’m coming out here is that it is not going to be feasible for most people to either lock down hard or intentionally get COVID. It’s not a comfortable conclusion, because we as humans like to pretend we are in control, but aside from the extreme I-will-never-leave-my-apartment outliers, who are never going to be more than a small minority of the population, we are not in control of whether or when we get Covid.
Yeah, I should have said “relatively simple” or “relatively straightforward” instead of “relatively trivial”.
great points, thanks.