The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

[LawBeefaroni]

The indoor range was 100% mask free when I went a week or so ago. I was surprised when they stringently enforced masking early but not surprised that they ended as soon as allowed to do so.

The funny thing, I have always kept a stash of N95s in my locker there for when it is crowded and people are shooting dirty ammo. It's the only public place, outside of the hospital/clinics, that I had worn a mask.

[Skinypupy]

This is the final week of elementary school for my kids. They've somehow managed to get through the entire school year of in-person school without a single COVID-related shutdown, which is an absolute miracle.

Predictably, the school has decided to completely toss aside the mask mandate for the final week. They've been through an entire year, and have only just now started getting vaccinations for some of the 6th graders. Would it really hurt to keep them masked for 4 more days?

After not having so much as a sniffle for the past 18 months, both of the twins started coughing on Saturday night and have been running a mild fever since then. I'm taking them to get COVID tests in about an hour.

Yay for 4 days of maskless school!

[stessier]

SC ended all emergency orders today as the governor said that the current situation does not require them. 38% of the state is vaccinated. I think it has been going up about 1% a week for the last month.

Interestingly, 48% of my zip code is vaccinated - that's against total people, not just the eligible - and we are the third most populous zip code in the state.

[YellowKing]

I've had to start putting the IGNORE stamp on anti-vax FB friends. Most of the posts are a joyful glee that they're not getting the vaccine, and a kind of snarky laughter at those who did. It would be amusing to see people so proud of their own ignorance if the stakes weren't so high.

[Max Peck]

Interestingly, 48% of my zip code is vaccinated - that's against total people, not just the eligible - and we are the third most populous zip code in the state.

The NYT has a good US vaccination tracker that tunnels down to individual counties and breaks the numbers out by age groups as well (total, 12+, 18+ and 65+).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... doses.html

[Smoove_B]

I'm beginning to think TX has a problem:

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a law on Monday that will prevent Texas businesses from requiring customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to the legislation, businesses that require proof of vaccination will be denied state contracts and could lose their licenses or operating permits.

Party of small government!

EDIT: Interesting - according to the bill, this is only impacting businesses that have state contracts but it's being presented like it's all businesses? What a douche.

[Skinypupy]

COVID tests for the twins came back negative today. Whew.

[Zaxxon]

COVID tests for the twins came back negative today. Whew.

Woot.

[hepcat]

Great news!

[hepcat]

I'm beginning to think TX has a problem:

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a law on Monday that will prevent Texas businesses from requiring customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to the legislation, businesses that require proof of vaccination will be denied state contracts and could lose their licenses or operating permits.

Party of small government!

EDIT: Interesting - according to the bill, this is only impacting businesses that have state contracts but it's being presented like it's all businesses? What a douche.

And now Texas has joined forces with Florida to in their attempts to become antivax states.

What really pisses me off is when these friggin' morons try to equate this to instances of state sponsored racism or being forced to carry "papers" in a communist regime. That's so far off the goddamn mark as to be insulting to those who actually did experience such things.

[Grifman]

The insanity continues. The Covid vaccine is magnetizing people (spoons and forks) and sending info via 5G:

https://twitter.com/JoyTaylorTalks/stat ... 90176?s=20

I read that this person is supposedly a doctor.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, I've been following the OHIO story a bit because it's truly pants-on-head insane. What's even worse is that they're not just putting COVID-19 in the crosshairs - they're looking to pass legislation that bans *all* vaccine requirements. So no more vaccinating your kids in school or having hospitals that require annual flu shots for patient-facing staff.

[LordMortis]

Had to travel for work yesterday. I was in rural northern Ohio. No one was wearing masks anywhere I went. It was almost uncomfortable to wear one. It was obvious the pandemic has no residual response through the areas I in which I had to leave my car. This was only reinforced by driving by so many rural homes on main roads proudly waving "Trump/Pence No more Bullshit" and "Fuck Biden" in the Trump flag style.

At the same time, I can only assume these are small communities where news spreads fast, so it is likely they haven't felt much of the burden of COVID infection causing death or debilitation. That assumption might be poor but I hate to think of the alternatives.

Also, I had no idea how many Dollar General stores there are until driving across rural south Michigan/north Ohio.

[stessier]

The insanity continues. The Covid vaccine is magnetizing people (spoons and forks) and sending info via 5G:

https://twitter.com/JoyTaylorTalks/stat ... 90176?s=20

I read that this person is supposedly a doctor.

These responses are pretty good -

https://twitter.com/Marcella_Jonas/stat ... 2309093379

[El Guapo]

Love the blue tape.

Now I want to go back and get vaccinated again to post one of these. There's always the booster shots, I guess.

[hepcat]

https://twitter.com/Texas_Thinker/statu ... 8684907526

[Grifman]

This demonstration didn’t go so well:

https://twitter.com/worldofisaac/status ... 99594?s=21

[Grifman]

Love the blue tape.

Now I want to go back and get vaccinated again to post one of these. There's always the booster shots, I guess.

I just posted one of myself on Facebook for all of my non-vaccine friends - though to be honest, I only know of an admitted few.

[Smoove_B]

Royal Caribbean reveals their plan for how to deal with unvaccinated guests:

During a webinar with travel agents, Royal Caribbean said it plans on handling unvaccinated guests differently, which may include extra costs and different protocols onboard.

Royal Caribbean will not mandate the Covid-19 vaccine due to the fact they are a family cruise line, but local laws in Florida and Texas make verifying who is or who is not fully vaccinated difficult.

Royal Caribbean cautioned their plans could change, but as of now, unvaccinated passengers sailing from Florida can expect extra testing costs that will not be part of the cruise fare.

I'm guessing the cruise protests will start soon.

[Isgrimnur]

Covid Cruises! Book your ventilator now!

[YellowKing]

[Kasey Chang]

Bunch of antivax crazies and Trumpettes invaded a peaceful California Congressman's town hall meeting in Marin County, north of San Francisco. 100 people RSVP'ed, then the place was swarmed with the crazies chanting "medical freedom now!" and all social distancing and vax card honor system obliterated when they basically rushed the doors bypassing security. The congressman refused, however, to summon police to eject the protesters. He tried to use microphone to simply shout over them about "being civil" and stuff. It's clear the antivaxxers are nuts.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/protesters-di ... acy-rights

[El Guapo]

Royal Caribbean reveals their plan for how to deal with unvaccinated guests:

During a webinar with travel agents, Royal Caribbean said it plans on handling unvaccinated guests differently, which may include extra costs and different protocols onboard.

Royal Caribbean will not mandate the Covid-19 vaccine due to the fact they are a family cruise line, but local laws in Florida and Texas make verifying who is or who is not fully vaccinated difficult.

Royal Caribbean cautioned their plans could change, but as of now, unvaccinated passengers sailing from Florida can expect extra testing costs that will not be part of the cruise fare.

I'm guessing the cruise protests will start soon.

FWIW the basic approach here makes sense to me. Basically don't mandate vaccination (because that will get you in trouble with DeSantis and the MAGA base) but do make it more cumbersome / difficult for the unvaccinated. Honestly seems like a $100 fee or something would probably be enough to get a lot of reluctant people vaccinated (since the vaccination is free).

[Unagi]

You think the ‘be honest and sign up for the cumbersome method that costs you money’ will be something that works ?

[LawBeefaroni]

You think the ‘be honest and sign up for the cumbersome method that costs you money’ will be something that works ?

How's this:

Everyone who boards has to wear a bracelet. One bracelet says ,"I am vaccinated" and is free. The other days, "I am not vaccinated" and costs $100.

[gilraen]

You think the ‘be honest and sign up for the cumbersome method that costs you money’ will be something that works ?

No, but there's a catch. Many ports will not allow someone to disembark without proof of vaccination. You may have lied about your vaccine status when first getting on the ship, but the foreign port doesn't care about Florida laws. They may require the ship to present the vaccination proof of everyone who's going to be disembarking in their country, and if you don't have the proof - you don't get off the ship. At that point, you can complain all you want, you are not on U.S. soil anymore and not under their jurisdiction. The cruise line can turn around and charge you all those extra fees you thought you were so smart at avoiding, and if you really piss them off, they'll just kick you off the ship in the closest port that will take you (and people have been kicked off cruise ships for less).

[Daehawk]

Cruise ships...the petri dish of the ocean.

[Unagi]

You think the ‘be honest and sign up for the cumbersome method that costs you money’ will be something that works ?

How's this:

Everyone who boards has to wear a bracelet. One bracelet says ,"I am vaccinated" and is free. The other days, "I am not vaccinated" and costs $100.

Right. And the answer is always. “We will take the free ‘vaccinated’ bracelets, thanks “

[El Guapo]

You think the ‘be honest and sign up for the cumbersome method that costs you money’ will be something that works ?

How's this:

Everyone who boards has to wear a bracelet. One bracelet says ,"I am vaccinated" and is free. The other days, "I am not vaccinated" and costs $100.

Right. And the answer is always. “We will take the free ‘vaccinated’ bracelets, thanks “

The article mentions "extra testing costs" as well as different protocols. If I had to hazard a guess, they'll require something like daily COVID testing on the cruise, which is mandatory and which they will charge you a fee per test. But you can exempt yourself from the testing (and cost) if you present proof of vaccination.

So you can go on the cruise without being vaccinated, but you'll have to pay an extra $50 per day to have someone shove a Q-tip up your nose.

[Unagi]

Or make your own vaccination card?

I’m not sure what you all were given, but what I have is not hard to produce. And I don’t think it’s ‘official’.

Perhaps all I’m trying to say is that we don’t have such thing as ‘proof’ or ‘vaccine passports’ here.

[LordMortis]

/wonders if the people isolated on Celebrity Cruise Lines yesterday were vaccinated... They are reported as asymptomatic but isolated just the same, presumably to protect the unvaccinated? Is data beginning to come together on how well vaccination is protecting against severe illness in vaccinated people contracting COVID?

[El Guapo]

Or make your own vaccination card?

I’m not sure what you all were given, but what I have is not hard to produce. And I don’t think it’s ‘official’.

Perhaps all I’m trying to say is that we don’t have such thing as ‘proof’ or ‘vaccine passports’ here.

That's another question. Though that would be an issue for mandating vaccinations as well. While forgery is an issue, I don't think that totally invalidates either mandating vaccination or giving incentives to vaccinate, as I think there are a non-trivial number of people who are vaccine hesitant but who are also forgery hesitant. I imagine that cruise lines would also include a provision allowing them to kick off the cruise anyone who they suspect of forging their proof of vaccination.

[Smoove_B]

I imagine that cruise lines would also include a provision allowing them to kick off the cruise anyone who they suspect of forging their proof of vaccination.

I imagine once they're out of TX or FL and pat of international waters, it's anyone's guess how they could handle it. I am personally becoming a big fan of the idea that they keep a small boat in tow where they can banish violators until they can be officially dealt with.

[Smoove_B]

I'm starting to see more and more chatter about the OHIO story (probably thanks to the insanity surrounding the magnetic key demonstration), specifically related to the "experts" that have come to testify about how dangerous all vaccines are. Many have started to realize that there's money to be made in the anti-vaccination lifestyle, regardless of whether or not someone actually believes the nonsense they're slinging.

I can't link to it without hitting a paywall, but the short of it is that Dr. Tenpenny apparently held some type of seminar earlier this year on the evils of the COVID-19 vaccines and charged $623 a person, with 400 people in attendance. That's $250K to tell a bunch of lies. You can read about that here, thanks to the CBC.

These are evil, manipulative people.

[Kasey Chang]

Tenpenny had been at it for quite a while. Back in 2015 Aussies heard that someone invited her to speak, and had a petition to cancel her visa. The Aussie host location wisely canceled the venue reservation.

[Smoove_B]

Ok, just one more. Story coming out of St. Maarten. Unlike FL or TX, everyone is required to demonstrate proof of vaccination prior to cruise and submit to testing prior to the start and end of the cruise. Cruise left last Saturday (6/5) and prior to the passengers final disembark today, two of them tested positive.

I can only imagine what's going to happen on a cruise that doesn't require vaccination.

[LordMortis]

<BAM>

[Smoove_B]

You had no links. You were just asking questions?

[Zaxxon]

I can only imagine what's going to happen on a cruise that doesn't require vaccination.

I'm sure it'll be fine. They're all just making individual choices and picking themselves up by the bootstraps.

[LordMortis]

You had no links. You were just asking questions?

At least your link answered my question. They were vaccinated.