To me, "want" is a strong word. You can disagree and that's fine.
So if he'd said "I disagree with my co-worker going on a cruise" instead of "I want my co-worker to not go on a cruise", there wouldn't have been any conversation?
Again: in the absence of any power (which he does not have), it doesn't matter how strong a word
want is.
I probably shouldn't have said anything, as I wasn't referring to this other dispute...but no I don't think needing to step out of the house should be equated with cruise ships...I was mostly just saying that no amount of complaining about people not fallowing the rules is going to change the current situation, I'm sorry that you feel trapped with people who aren't being that considerate.
And I apologize for being a bit snarky. I do think that socializing and exercise is important. I've been working out with friends and family over Zoom. At the start of the pandemic, a friend invited me to a virtual D&D/game-playing group and we've met every Friday for the lats two years. It is important, yet I think there are ways to get exercise and social time that are more or less risky. Now is a good time to pick the less risky options.
(Yet, I've been sick more in the last two years after wearing masks, social distancing and living an isolated lifestyle with infectious illnesses - so how I'm getting them, I don't know if these measures are supposed to prevent transmission of contagions. SEEMS like I've caught more viral infections with the consistent use of these mitigation efforts than I ever did before using them.)
I've had perfect attendance every marking period for the last two years, because for the first time in 11 years of teaching I haven't gotten sick in the fall or the spring (which at this point has become a predictable annual event).
Protect yourself and your mother the best that you can because focusing on other people is a waste of time and stress.
But you understand that the behavior of other people directly impacts his ability in terms of protecting himself and by extension his mother, right? Because if the people around you aren't taking precautions (masking, hand-washing, etc), that increases your risk. He doesn't have the luxury of not caring about his co-worker's behavior. And he's allowed to vent about that a bit.
My curiosity is not how many "cases" are out there now, but how many hospitalizations and deaths are happening. I was surprised to learn, for instance, that the first Omicron death in the U.S. happened only a few weeks ago. If you'd listen to only the wording of news headlines ("surge," "outbreak," "overwhelming," etc.), you'd have thought people were dropping like flies.
The "death wave" always follows a bit after the infection wave. Hospitalizations are certainly up, hitting record highs in many places.
There are two variables pulling different directions in terms of how many deaths there might be: the number of cases is higher (more deaths), but the general severity of the Omicron variation is lesser (fewer deaths).
Go read the chain of post. You made a challenge to what I said in my post and I asked for hard stats. If you can't prove hard stats then you're just venting.
You are misreading her assertion. She is asserting that cruise ships are not a necessity, while grocery shopping is. And that comparing them in terms of risk therefore doesn't make sense. In other words, going to a hospital waiting room right now because you are having a heart attack is probably more risky than attending a concert where all attendees are masked and vaccinated. But one of those is a necessity and one isn't. I would look askance at someone for the latter (in this current moment), but not for the former.
You're asking her to prove that cruise ships are more dangerous than grocery shopping, but that's not her argument.
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