Personal thoughts about COVID-19 situation

[This post is not about investment]

COVID-19 and Vaccination

Every other day, I check on the number of COVID-19 cases detected in a few countries
Israel is one, whose number is unpleasantly high. However this is attribute to reluctance to continue masking. Israel is in the fore-front of all COVID-related measures-- from vaccination, opening up and its measures (passports), and now very unfortunately booster shots. 

The lesson to take away from Israel is that masking is not going to go away anytime soon for Singapore. The world should adsorb this free lesson-- vaccination is not going to be enough.

The second country that I pay attention to is Vietnam. It has low vaccination rates, a rather disappointing effort by both the administration and its citizen to control the disease. Yet the people are known to be very resilient, and I do like the country very much. I hope they will emerge from this terrible ordeal soon. It does look like, from the numbers, that things are not turning for the better.

I have just watched a video from Alabama regarding how COVID-19 is wrecking havoc on the healthcare system. Apparently, a doctor claimed that 95% of the patients in hospital are not vaccinated, and among them, the obese are not doing very well. I guess everyone should read beyond the perplexing headlines of increasing Israelis infections-- the prevailing science of masking and vaccination has not been disproved.  

Vaccination has its risks, but there are certainties and uncertainties. It is certain that for now, vaccination does work. It is also certain for now that there is no good way to cure someone of COVID-19. I think the choice is very clear.

When the infections are low, the motivation to get vaccinated is weak. Singapore does not enjoy any inherent advantage against Delta. We will get the same high numbers that every other nation experiences when we open up.

We have to accept that masking and vaccination is here to stay.

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COVID-19 reveals a particularly tricky part of human nature-- rational self-interest. When it is clear that the objective of wearing a mask is not to protect the wearer, but those around him, the motivation to don one, drops due to discomfort. I am pretty sure that if masking protects the wearer, the attitudes out there will differ.

Academics argued that there are not enough data to support the need for booster shots, and that the economic losses are severe if the world in general does not get vaccinated together soon enough.. Yet wealthy nations decided to go ahead with booster shots, and the impoverished ones around them could not get enough single doses. Vietnam's rate is about 16% iirc. This is another sign of self interest in play.

Despite the clear advantage of democracy and two-tier system (in toppling regimes peacefully), many nations with such systems struggled to move quickly to control the situation, either through inertia or pure incompetency. 

There was a research about how optimists and pessismist cope in concentration camps, and it appear that the latter actually has a higher survival rate than the former. I think it might be wiser to just live day-by-day... and just do our best.