>>11841492There may be some deaths attributed to COVID-19 when it wasn't actually the primary, or even a significant, cause of death, but I don't think there's evidence it happens that much, and you also have to offset it by all the deaths (from anyone in any environment) that were primarily or significantly caused by COVID-19 and which just never got reported.
It's still just as dangerous and serious. It's hard to get a good feel for this because 1) the lockdown has temporarily stymied spread in many areas (because that's the point) and 2) humans are bad at stuff that works at time scales like this. The changes in growth rates change at the scale of weeks and months. You only feel the effects (positive or negative) after a significant and semi-random (not actually random but basically unpredictable by most or all people) delay.
If you see a lot of people walking around right now and not that many deaths, you may possibly be seeing a kind of "ghost" of what's really happening in that moment and what things will look like in a few weeks. Not the best analogy but hopefully that makes sense.
And also, don't forget a significant reason for all of this is to prevent you spreading it to others, not to keep yourself safe. If you're posting here you're very likely to not suffer major harm from it, but you're far more likely to spread it to someone who is at risk of that, or to spread it to someone who spreads it to someone who is, etc.
If you're not near people, do whatever, but if you're near people anywhere, wear a fucking mask, people.
