If you’re keeping score at home, the latest Science™ is that even after receiving both doses of the COVID19 vaccine, you shouldn’t expect to stop having to wear a mask. You shouldn’t expect to be able to return to any sense of normalcy, basically.
Because it’s just too risky, you know? They have to keep shifting the goalposts to protect us. It’s for our own good.
Or maybe that’s not what it’s really about anymore.
There’s nothing wrong with carefully assessing risks when it comes to matters of public health and safety. Obviously it’s beneficial to the public to behave responsibly, but when the costs start to outweigh the benefits, it’s time to do some serious reassessment.
For the life of me, I don’t know why the public health messaging is to talk down very effective vaccines with “probably shouldn’t change anything you’re doing after you’re vaccinated.”
Be a person who does things, *especially* after vaccination. https://t.co/q8IplXzCac
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Mary Katharine Ham understands that there’s a lot more than just “risk” to consider when it comes to how people live their lives.
Many, many people have heard me preach on this in real life, & now y’all will, too. We can do better risk analysis than this. When facts on the ground change, our behavior can adjust without being jerks or menaces! We know more than we did in spring of 2020 about how to do that.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
A lot of people (and I’m talking low-risk, healthy folks, not high-risk, whose calculations are necessarily different) have been convinced that they must reach an impossibly low risk threshold to do things, even post-vaccination.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Ham has very personal experience with risk assessment:
Now, here’s my frustration, & indulge me in a personal story many of you know. A one-in-a-million very bad thing happened to me in 2015. My young, healthy husband died at 34 years old in an organized cycling race, despite his skill and precautions.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
That was an extremely low-probability event. But there was nonetheless a temptation to organize my life around fear of another such event. It’s not totally irrational! The one-in-a-million thing happened to me. But if I lived trying to avoid that level of risk, I’d live no life.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
I knew that was the fight I was up against, in my own head. I knew it was the thing that would keep my kids from doing normal kid things. I asked my friends & family to hold me accountable for living boldly. Not recklessly, but boldly.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Coming back from trauma is not easy, & this year has held some form of trauma for everyone. I worked hard, w professional help, to train myself to calculate risks and take tiny steps through, say, getting on a plane, when my brain told me it was more scary & dangerous than it was
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
“Can I pack my suitcase?” Yes. “Can I get in the car and drive to the airport?” Yes. “Can I make it to the gate?” Yes. Tiny steps, fighting through, getting easier and easier.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
And still sometimes I’m really bad at assessing my risk accurately! Most humans are! But the facts are truly a gift on the question of vaccinations. They can and should change your life. You have less risk and you *pose* less risk! Vanishingly, blessedly small levels of risk.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Assess your risk, get a vaccine when you can, and go get your life! This is not some loony, reckless idea. It’s not disrespectful or menacing. It is pro-vax and pro-reason. We’re all gonna have issues coming out of this season, but every single day you have here is a gift.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Use every gift you have at your disposal to go live all of them.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) February 22, 2021
Ham’s approach to recovering and learning from adversity is the correct one. And would certainly go a long way toward reassuring a skeptical public that it can and will get better.
Excellent thread here. https://t.co/9jYIfxlxoo
— WitCoHE (@E__Strobel) February 22, 2021
Such a fantastic thread. https://t.co/GTSQpAVt8P
— Anita (@Anita423) February 22, 2021
This is a really, REALLY, really good thread about assessing our risk moving forward. I hope you'll take a second to read it and live boldly: https://t.co/wn9QZj29Qs
— Becky Kevoian (@BobsFunGirl) February 22, 2021
MKH bringing common sense to the discussion. https://t.co/BH6mJBimBX
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) February 22, 2021
Thank you for speaking out on this craziness and sharing how you dealt with your personal tragedy.? You are truly an awesome person. ❤ https://t.co/HvtfQb1IkW
— Fay (@fewunc1982) February 22, 2021
