
‘I was stupidly overconfident’: a South Korean coronavirus survivor’s tale - chewz
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3075170/i-was-stupidly-overconfident-south-korean-coronavirus
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throwawaysea
Here in America what I’ve observed is that most people are overconfident, or
just lazy, with regards to the coronavirus. Even though the epicenter of US
outbreaks is here in Seattle, many are going about business as usual -
attending dinner parties, going skiing, traveling, or whatever else. It’s even
worse when I speak to friends in other parts of the country, where there they
are exercising no caution whatsoever except when forced to (by businesses
closing responsibly or by local governmental action). The mortality rate and
R0, along with asymptomatic qualities for many incubating humans, are causing
people to not take it seriously even though we have all the information access
to know better. I’ve seen coworkers and friends ridicule others for
overreacting only to realize weeks later (when it is probably too late) that
this is a very serious situation.

I am not sure what the solution is, or what the problem even is. The easy
answer is that most people lack intelligence. Maybe a more generous answer is
that most people are bad at evaluating anything beyond the short-term. But my
gut tells me this is a cultural and social problem, rather than one cause by a
lack of (innate/biological) intellectual capability or access to information.
But if complacency can be so ubiquitous then how can a democracy hope to
function, knowing the same crowds wield votes? I don’t have the answers, just
thinking out loud.

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
It's not a matter of intelligence or complacency. Humans are just obligate
social animals. Most people _can 't_ voluntarily shut themselves away from the
world, in the same way that a depressed person can't be happy or someone with
ADHD can't sit down and focus.

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Noumenon72
It's not _that_ stupid to feel overconfident (aka normal) when there are no
cases reported in your vicinity. After he got the disease he didn't do
anything dumb.

There are 26 known cases in my state. I started self-isolating yesterday.
Hopefully that wasn't too confident.

~~~
interfixus
In my country of roughly 5.6 million people we now have > 800 cases.
Diagnosed, so multiply at least by 10 or 20.

Day before yesterday, colleague handing over company car to me. He gets out,
and needing hands for both his bag and the doorhandle he holds the key between
his teeth. And is vocally offended when I refuse to accept it dumped into my
gloved hand.

30 people use that car. I will not enter it without first rolling down the
windows, and I will not touch anything in it without wearing gloves.

Those are the ends of the spectrum.

