Covid-19 And Venn Diagrams -- October 25, 2021

Updates

November 22, 2021: this is so incredibly cool. The Venn diagram has crystallized a bit further. Three circles that do not overlap with regard to Covid-19:

• scientific
• investing
• emotional (includes "political," talking heads, even those with science backgrounds; also "irrational")

It's difficult to figure out in which circle one places Dr Fauci, for example. Dr Fauci would argue he's in the scientific circle, whereas his detractors would place him in the "emotional" or "political" circle.

Over the weekend, many readers sent me the mRNA (Moderna) - myocarditis association study. I believe the article was linked at The Drudge Report; otherwise it was hard to find. I was unable to find any "investing" stories over the weekend regarding Moderna put in a bad light. This morning Moderna (MRNA) surges on the stock market. Corroborates my "Venn diagram" conceptualization.

Original Post

Just so you all know where I stand at the moment on Covid. This was in reply to a reader who sent me an interesting article on Covid in Ireland:

This takes me back to my days in pediatrics with regard to immunizations.  I think I might have mentioned that --- a Venn diagram -- pediatricians were in the "science" circle; parents were in the "emotional" circle; and schools were in the "administrative" circle.

In a Venn diagram, the circles were all supposed to overlap and some "common ground" was found. But over time, the circles moved farther apart and everyone stayed in whatever circle they started in or belonged to. Parents selected what vaccines (if any) their kids would get; schools did their thing; and pediatricians broke up into two groups ... those who maintained some semblance of integrity and kept to the science; others, just let the parents decide. The former (those who tried to remain some semblance of integrity) remained pompous and became very bitter, angry, frustrated, and refused to go out for a beer on Friday night; the latter (those who no longer cared, LOL) looked forward to a Michelob weekend.  I was in the latter group and absolutely enjoyed my time in the Air Force.

The same thing has happened to Covid. At the end of the day, we all have our own thoughts on the subject and probably no one is going to move much. Whatever circle we are in, that's where we will stay: the mask/no mask circle; the vaccine/no vaccine circle; the herd immunity works/herd immunity doesn't work circle; etc.

I still follow certain metrics but not much any more. The whole thing has become incredibly absurd. Tomorrow I will be on a plane, admonished over and over to wear a mask or risk going to jail or worse, being put on the no-fly list, and tonight I'm watching 100,000 unmasked fans in a stadium watching the New Orleans Saints play the Seattle Seahawks. [Oh, the craziness -- a close up of the NFL Saints cheerleaders -- wearing masks. Why? No one else is.]

By the way, speaking of wearing a mask in the airport, those who really refuse to wear masks, will wear a mask around their neck and then walk through the airport with a huge bowl of stir-fry and eat noodles and rice with chopsticks. They have learned to check all their baggage so as to leave both hands free.

For me personally, I carry my mask and wear it on my neck and put it on whenever it seems the "socially-accepted" thing to do, like going into Walgreens to pick up some photos. I particularly enjoyed visiting our granddaughter in Nashville, TN, some weeks ago where no one wears a mask and I wore my mask everywhere. Just to drive them nuts. Oh, I forgot, that's right -- on campus everyone was supposed to wear a mask; off campus no one wore a mask. The virus apparently stopped at the street separating the campus from the rest of the city.

I will get a booster every four to six months. Even though the rules say just one booster at six months, my hunch is that the pharmacy tech at the grocery store no longer really cares who gets what when. I don't know whether the vaccine will make any difference but like the folks who aspire to visit every Starbucks in the Lower 48, I'm going to see how many boosters I can get.

I'm hoping the WSJ will interview me.