DU Poll: Is it time we accept Covid is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives

[Tom Rinaldo]

31. The question is vague to the point of almost having no meaning for me

The concepts of "accepting it" and "getting on with our lives" obscure a whole spectrum of real life choices that get shaped by changing circumstances. Answering "Yes" or "No" makes no sense to me. I'm usually in favor of "accepting reality'", but not always. Sometimes I favor fighting to change reality. Do I "accept" cancer and heart disease? I suppose so but, to an extent I still want to manage risks. Stay away from carcinogens and radioactive exposures etc.

For me it is more a question of when I should and should not feel it worth the inconvenience etc, to wear a mask. When I will and will not eat in restaurants, or travel extensively. And that all depends on being knowledgeable about relative risks. Covid 19 , even Omicron, still ain't the flu. A bad flu year kills 50,000. Covid is still killing several hundred thousand a year. Like the flu, Covid seems to come in waves. When there isn't a wave hitting where I live, when community transmission is low, I am getting to the point where I will functionally treat Covid like the flu in the sense that I will resume what had been my previous daily life. Get my Covid shots, stay away from people who are obviously sick, etc, but live my normal routines. When we are experiencing a Covid wave though I will take measures to lessen my risk, depending on how high I think the risk of contagion is .

Is that "accepting Covid"? Is that "getting on with my life"? Right now I am still wearing a mask indoors in public, but just starting to have vaccinated friends back over to my home.