Combined with the protection against serious illness, this pretty much makes COVID a non-issue for vaccinated people, especially the young and healthy. Yes, some risks remain, but car accidents and the consequences of processed food, sugary drinks, a lack of exercise all seem much, much more relevant for a majority of the population.
You do count the ‘costs’ of getting a vaccine, but not the costs of getting a mask, because “everybody already has one”. The costs of always having a mask with you (and the costs of getting rejected because you forgot your mask), and especially the costs of wearing a mask (for long periods of time, while exercising and socializing), seem much higher than the costs of ‘being vaccinated’.
I live in the Netherlands, and we have an easy, reliable app on our smartphones with a QR code related to our vaccination status. This makes “check vaccine cards” pretty painless.
“Not allowing food” seems very costly as well. You could skip it for 1 − 1.5 hours of dancing, but if it’s a longer event and people are socializing, food seems quite valuable.
For COVID, I would solely focus on vaccines. Get everybody vaccinated, done, allow normal life to resume. Removing food and wearing facemasks all the time seems way too costly.
Air purifiers / ventilation / a focus on air quality do seem worth it, but not just for COVID. It helps prevent the spread of other diseases as well, and good air is pleasant and healthy.
The costs of always having a mask with you (and the costs of getting rejected because you forgot your mask)
I proposed organizers have surgical masks available, which at $0.08/each is very reasonable. On the other hand you probably already need a mask to get to the event: both public transit and taxis require masks here.
The costs of always having a mask with you and especially the costs of wearing a mask, seem much higher than the costs of ‘being vaccinated’.
I agree. The cost of being vaccinated (allocated to a single event) is super low, because it divides across so many activities/events.
“Not allowing food” seems very costly as well.
It depends a lot on the event. Most contradances here already don’t offer food; the one I organize is unusual in that it (in normal times) did put out some snacks (usually popsicles) at the midpoint.
Thanks for the detailed analysis! I massively disagree with your conclusions though. Your claim:
I’m seeing transmission x0.35 (https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/vaccinated-people-are-less-likely-spread-covid-new-research-finds-n1280583) and x0.11 for reception (https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/science_updates_7_may_2021.pdf), for a total of x0.0385.
Combined with the protection against serious illness, this pretty much makes COVID a non-issue for vaccinated people, especially the young and healthy. Yes, some risks remain, but car accidents and the consequences of processed food, sugary drinks, a lack of exercise all seem much, much more relevant for a majority of the population.
You do count the ‘costs’ of getting a vaccine, but not the costs of getting a mask, because “everybody already has one”. The costs of always having a mask with you (and the costs of getting rejected because you forgot your mask), and especially the costs of wearing a mask (for long periods of time, while exercising and socializing), seem much higher than the costs of ‘being vaccinated’.
I live in the Netherlands, and we have an easy, reliable app on our smartphones with a QR code related to our vaccination status. This makes “check vaccine cards” pretty painless.
“Not allowing food” seems very costly as well. You could skip it for 1 − 1.5 hours of dancing, but if it’s a longer event and people are socializing, food seems quite valuable.
For COVID, I would solely focus on vaccines. Get everybody vaccinated, done, allow normal life to resume. Removing food and wearing facemasks all the time seems way too costly.
Air purifiers / ventilation / a focus on air quality do seem worth it, but not just for COVID. It helps prevent the spread of other diseases as well, and good air is pleasant and healthy.
I’m using microcovid.org’s numbers here. If you think they’re giving out the wrong numbers you could file an issue at https://github.com/microcovid/microcovid/issues, but they’re probably going to want citations in papers and not in news articles.
I proposed organizers have surgical masks available, which at $0.08/each is very reasonable. On the other hand you probably already need a mask to get to the event: both public transit and taxis require masks here.
I agree. The cost of being vaccinated (allocated to a single event) is super low, because it divides across so many activities/events.
It depends a lot on the event. Most contradances here already don’t offer food; the one I organize is unusual in that it (in normal times) did put out some snacks (usually popsicles) at the midpoint.