"You probably had a #covid19 infection and just didn't notice" to me seems one of those attempts at avoiding cognitive dissonance.

Because if it were possible not to have caught it yet, that'd mean we could have prevented ... pretty much everything, and it's impossible we did something wrong! So clearly, the person who didn't get infected is incorrect.

Sigh.

@failedLyndonLaRouchite Yes.

The dismissive assumption that someone already was infected with #sarscov2 #Covid19 even when they say they were not is offensive.

I'm 95%+ sure I was not infected yet. Because it is quite possible to avoid most infections, if one tries.

The people who go "Ah surely you must have been", in my considered opinion, merely don't want to admit that it would have been possible.

@larsmb @failedLyndonLaRouchite As far as I know, I am one of those people who has never has Covid. I've tried to be careful about it, and it seems to have worked.

I, though, feel that I can only be so confident in any pronouncements that I have never had the disease. I know other people who have been very careful and who have been nailed anyway... that and the prevalence of asymptomatic cases says that there is a reasonable chance that I've hosted that virus at some point.

Saying that I may have had it despite the lack of evidence to that effect doesn't strike me as offensive, it's just an acknowledgement of the uncertainties around this whole thing.

@corbet @larsmb @failedLyndonLaRouchite I'm in the same boat, if I ever had it, it was in Dec 2019 when I was in Asia, but no way to ever know for sure. Still mask in public though 🤷

@larsmb

In this study, 72% of people had been infected at least once
The data is for people around Geneva Swiztzerland from over a year ago, so YMMV but ??

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.27.22278126v1

@failedLyndonLaRouchite You're entirely missing the point.

I'm not disputing that the vast majority of people have been infected.

I am disputing the point that *I* (and others) have been infected, and I'm offended and very, very annoyed by this dismissive "ah you just didn't notice".

You're arguing a different point and missing mine.

@corbet Sure. But I try to be very careful, and because I try to protect the people close to me, I also still test regularly (and definitely after any reasonable exposure events).

Sure, there's uncertainties about everything. But I'm very confident, and have reason to be. I know my situation - they do not.

I'm deeply annoyed and offended by these dismissive claims because they're used to dismiss protective measures.

Nobody has ever said this to me with any other intent.

@corbet And yes, of course you can catch it despite being careful yourself (because the entire world around us has mostly given up and there are no social/collective/"community" attempts at curbing the spread anymore). That is again a different aspect, and one that is also ... uh ... mildly infuriating 🙂

@larsmb
as, sorry
but unless you have done a PCR test every week (!) or have looked at the antibodies in your blood, how can you tell if you have been infected ?
RATs are not very good for that

@failedLyndonLaRouchite Not all RATs/LFTs are the same. Some of them were shown to be very sensitive indeed, when applied properly.

I know this is not widely advertised, and again, instead of "oh the majority of RATs aren't very good" leading to the conclusion that they should be held to higher standards and people should be educated on how to use them best, we end up with "oh we might as well not bother".

This probably makes sense _somehow_.

@larsmb It doesn't really say that though. The fact that people don't know if they got it or not is the reason why prevention is even more important.

So they're not avoiding cognitive dissonance.
They're displaying cognitive dissonance.

@salixdubois Oh. You're not wrong. Yet I'd argue that's an additional thing they're avoiding to realize.