This is the kind of thing we should have been doing from the start. Not at a local, city level. Not at a state level. At a federal level.
Yes, except there's no legal ability for the federal government to enact that type of restriction on a state or local level - public health is delegated to the States. Which is also why the vaccination mandate is being offered through OSHA and is focused on workers and workplace safety. The federal government can require masks and vaccinations on federal property or transit, but after that...it's the wild west.
It's likely now that some businesses are going to file lawsuits suggesting there is a "legal taking" by restricting their business operations to only people that have been vaccinated. Quite similar to what they tried back in the early 2000s when early smoking prohibitions hit restaurants and bars.
This is why it is so critically important to put pressure on state and local officials that are standing around and taking a laissez-faire approach to a pandemic.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, reported owning stock in three different COVID-19 vaccine makers during 2020, according to financial disclosures she submitted on August 13.
Greene, who has been critical of vaccine mandates since the start of the pandemic and last month told a town hall she was not vaccinated, held the investments in the companies as Congress was determining how best to manage pandemic relief efforts. Trillions of dollars were funneled into COVID relief bills in 2020 and 2021, including several billion to help drug companies develop, produce and distribute vaccines.
I dont think members of Congress should be allowed to own stock in anything.
--------------------------------------------
I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
When in doubt, skewer it out...I don't know.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, reported owning stock in three different COVID-19 vaccine makers during 2020, according to financial disclosures she submitted on August 13.
Greene, who has been critical of vaccine mandates since the start of the pandemic and last month told a town hall she was not vaccinated, held the investments in the companies as Congress was determining how best to manage pandemic relief efforts. Trillions of dollars were funneled into COVID relief bills in 2020 and 2021, including several billion to help drug companies develop, produce and distribute vaccines.
I dont think members of Congress should be allowed to own stock in anything.
Then why would anyone want to be in Congress? Or, as Nancy Pelosi said on the topic, it's just free market capitalism - get over it.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Israel will recommend a 4th booster shot to people above the age of 60
I'm already starting to see some chatter that we should be giving a 4th shot to health care workers right now to help them get through the next few months.
What else do you do though? When the US says "If you take anti TNF get your 4th booster" I'll be looking to get in line that day. Pfizer getting rich off me.
Smoove_B wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 5:26 pm
I'm already starting to see some chatter that we should be giving a 4th shot to health care workers right now to help them get through the next few months.
Right now? Most healthcare workers have received boosters within the last 1-2 months. After being unboosted for 9-10 months. It seems like, just get jabbed whenever you can each time you can?
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Yeah. I think there's some debate about numerous studies that are trying to determine how long people have protection against Omicron after the 3rd shot - when does it start to diminish. From what I was reading there is evidence that protection lasts 9+ months or maybe only 3 months, so I was waiting to see more evaluation and commentary from the big brains.
How the Koch Network and @USChamber built a sprawling campaign to undermine workplace safety laws, kill the eviction ban, and promote a “herd immunity” policy that wildly enriched billionaires and boosted the COVID death toll.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Whenever I see something like that I always get that fear that the left uses Koch as a boogeyman like the right uses Soros. In this case, they've documented every source and it's crazy how much work they've done to not only tell the story but essentially build it on a mountain of facts.
I can't wait until all of them die off. They have all the money that they will ever need and spend every waking moment trying to repress everyone else.
Capitalism tries for a delicate balance: It attempts to work things out so that everyone gets just enough stuff to keep them from getting violent and trying to take other people’s stuff.
Charles Koch Net worth of $59.9 billion. Dude you won. Go home. Go home to your many many many many homes.
Capitalism tries for a delicate balance: It attempts to work things out so that everyone gets just enough stuff to keep them from getting violent and trying to take other people’s stuff.
Octavious wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:37 pm
I can't wait until all of them die off. They have all the money that they will ever need and spend every waking moment trying to repress everyone else.
You’re assuming there isn’t an heir of both the fortune and morals.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
The Supreme Court says it will hold a special session in just over two weeks to hear arguments on the Biden administration’s vaccine or testing requirement for large employers and a separate vaccine requirement for healthcare workers, an announcement that comes amid rising coronavirus cases.
The high court announced late Wednesday that it would hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7. The court had not been scheduled to hear cases again until Jan. 10.
An appellate panel ruled on Friday that the vaccine or testing regime for workers at larger companies could take effect. The plan requires workers at larger companies to be vaccinated or wear face masks and get tested weekly. The requirement could affect some 84 million U.S workers. The court will have to grapple with whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the authority to impose such a requirement. The requirement had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 4.
Prediction - it will need to be virtual because America is about to get clobbered by Omicron.
Trump continues to take no responsibility and push blame onto the rubes who listened to the propaganda.
"A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." -Terry Pratchett, The Truth "The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to those who think they've found it." -Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
On today's grocery run about 50% of the people in the store were masked, which is way up from previous weeks but still 50% below where it needs to be to thwart the virus. Since my town is about half Republican, 50% is about the maximum masking I'm ever going to see without a mandate -- in other words, compliance was near 100% among people who are paying attention and give a shit. Being two days before xmas, the store was pretty crowded, and I was in there for most of two hours. I'm sure omicron was in the house and can only hope that my mask kept me safe.
Went I went into the (also busy) packie next door, I was the only one wearing a mask. I was only in there for maybe 10 minutes.
A North Carolina police chief has been placed on unpaid leave and probation for telling officers about a "clinic" that would issue them a COVID-19 vaccination card without actually receiving the shot, local officials said.
T.J. Smith -- the police chief of Oakboro Town, North Carolina -- violated policies including, fraud, willful acts that endanger the property of others and serving a conflicting interest when he allegedly told officers about the scheme, according to a letter addressed to him from Town Administrator Doug Burgess.
The alleged violations stem from "detrimental personal conduct including notifying law enforcement officers to attend a 'clinic' where they would be able to obtain proof of COVID-19 vaccination cards without being vaccinated," the letter said.
A North Carolina police chief has been placed on unpaid leave and probation for telling officers about a "clinic" that would issue them a COVID-19 vaccination card without actually receiving the shot, local officials said.
T.J. Smith -- the police chief of Oakboro Town, North Carolina -- violated policies including, fraud, willful acts that endanger the property of others and serving a conflicting interest when he allegedly told officers about the scheme, according to a letter addressed to him from Town Administrator Doug Burgess.
The alleged violations stem from "detrimental personal conduct including notifying law enforcement officers to attend a 'clinic' where they would be able to obtain proof of COVID-19 vaccination cards without being vaccinated," the letter said.
Sending them out on the job actively denying them proper protection? It's like sourcing fake bulletproof vests because they are more comfortable.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
I’ve lived through two pandemics in my lifetime, first AIDS and now covid-19. From those experiences, I know no one roots for our leaders’ failures in such crises. Their successes can be measured in lives saved.
That’s why it pains me to admit it: President Biden is failing on covid-19.
After weeks of urging by public health and medical experts, Biden spoke to the public on Tuesday about his plan to address the omicron variant, which has swept the world in just a few weeks. Many of us have been asking for a policy “reset” to ramp up U.S. efforts as cases mount across the country. We hoped this would be the moment.
Sadly, what we saw this week was an administration floundering and a president not in command of facts or willing to shift course in any substantial way on the pandemic.
The president’s main call was for Americans to get vaccinated. That’s a fine refrain, except we still have millions without a single jab. The president was eager to point out that under his watch, 200 million people were fully vaccinated — except we know now that we require boosters to protect against omicron and only about 60 million Americans have had that additional jab.
Biden did indeed urge people to get boosted, saying they were free and available, but except for announcing a set of pop-up clinics around the United States, he didn’t articulate the plan to get this done. As for vaccine misinformation, he told its purveyors to “stop it,” which is far from the campaign we need to address the anti-vaccine propaganda circulating widely in the United States and the corporate reticence to take vaccination seriously.
We already know vaccines alone will not solve this problem. The president made a bet in March that vaccination could return the country to some semblance of normalcy, promising a “summer of freedom.” But as the delta variant emerged, the highly transmissible strain tore through the country, outpacing the speed of our vaccination efforts.
Public health experts called for more emphasis on a wider range of interventions, including rapid testing, masking and environmental controls, such as the upgrading of ventilation systems in buildings across the country. Yet such measures remain underutilized here in the United States. White House press secretary Jen Psaki even scorned those who suggested making rapid testing more widely available, dressing down an NPR reporter who made a suggestion of sending tests to every American household.
To its credit, the administration has since announced it would begin to send 500 million rapid tests to Americans in January, although it’s not clear whether the administration has put in an order for such tests. And at the scale promised, every American would receive a one-time delivery of no more than a single test at some point this winter. The president also claimed that schools need to be open and they are safer than ever, pointing out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now endorsed a “test and stay” strategy to make this possible. Except, the infrastructure and resources to carry out that strategy are simply not there for many school districts.
On masks, the president suggested we should wear them even if we’re fully vaccinated. But again, he made no offer to make it easier for Americans to get high-quality N95 masks, which are far better at protecting people from infection than blue surgical masks or cloth masks in the age of omicron.
On ventilation and environmental controls? The president didn’t say a word. On global vaccination efforts critical to stopping new variants from emerging? Nothing either.
The president sought to calm people’s fears, telling them that they can enjoy the holidays if they are fully vaccinated without mentioning other layers of protection he and others will be taking this season. Though he wanted to project competence, what we saw Tuesday was a White House playing catch-up and doing damage control after weeks of criticism, but still unable to fully commit to a national mobilization to put this pandemic behind us.
The author (Gregg Gonsalves) is a trusted, respected voice. And he's one of many public health professionals (a term I'm using to loosely collect individuals that are advocating and pushing for better things right now) that is being (rightfully) critical of President Biden, the CDC and any number of state and local officials. Trump was bad. This is a different type of bad, but still bad.
One big picture "America is in trouble" thing I'm seeing is that any criticism of Biden is being shouted down. We first saw echoes of this in the aftermath of failures managing Afghanistan. It's hardly the cult but it isn't great. The bottom line is telling the truth about the failure points here is simply dismissed by assigning him a GOP tag and thereby justify to themselves he is not worth listening to. So we need to hope the Biden administration comes around and starts leading instead of reacting.
The tl;dr is that 800 kids / day are being hospitalized right now (that is rate over the last 3 days at least) with children under 5 being hit hard due to lack of vaccination. This is taking on a horrifying new dimension.
This time last year, Claudia Hoyen, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist in Cleveland, remembers staring at an eerily empty hospital as Christmas approached. With many schools shut and activities canceled, most children had been sheltered from the coronavirus. Today, nearly every bed at the children’s hospital where she works is full.
“We are in a difficult situation,” said Hoyen, at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. “With omicron, we are now having this new surge on top of what was left over from delta.”
Add to that the normal cases of the flu, broken bones, scheduled treatments for children with cancer and other conditions, and the hospital is “in a crisis,” she said.
As the United States enters its third year of the pandemic, forecasters are predicting another ugly winter, but this time, children as well as adults are being affected. Pediatric hospitalizations for covid are surging in many parts of the country, alongside the arrival of omicron — as of Monday, the dominant strain in the United States — with about 800 new admissions each day for the past three days.
...
U.S. doctors interviewed this week said that while they are seeing record positive results from children’s coronavirus tests, the vast majority of cases so far have been mild and look a lot like the common cold.
Indeed, several studies, including a pair published this week from Scotland and England, suggest omicron is sending fewer people overall to the hospital — welcome news. But public health officials have been on high alert about one group, children under 5, who are the last group ineligible for vaccines in the United States. Earlier this month South Africa reported big jumps in hospital admissions for that age group. The accuracy and significance of the South African data is unclear, but on Thursday, the United Kingdom released data showing a bump in admissions for that age group, too. Hospital admissions ending Dec. 19 were at 3.64 per 100,000 for children ages 0 to 4 — three times the rate for those ages 5 to 14
I seem to think people are assuming Omicron isn't deadly. They are literally dead wrong. People are dying every day from Omicron.
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I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
When in doubt, skewer it out...I don't know.
Sending them out on the job actively denying them proper protection? It's like sourcing fake bulletproof vests because they are more comfortable.
That list is missing at least one officer - a Sergeant with our local police force died from COVID a few months ago. You can probably guess his vaccination status.
Sending them out on the job actively denying them proper protection? It's like sourcing fake bulletproof vests because they are more comfortable.
That list is missing at least one officer - a Sergeant with our local police force died from COVID a few months ago. You can probably guess his vaccination status.
They're missing some CPD too but I believe they are trying to limit it to who died from verified cases of COVID acquired in the line of duty. Not all who died from COVID. That list would be unmanageable.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Reporting from Jacksonville, FL, what I’ve seen here is strange.
Landed here on Tuesday evening. Went out Wednesday night at a great local pizza and micro-beer place. Very popular and very casual, though not inexpensive dining. Big picnic tables for the most part. The place was jammed. All staff wore masks. No customers wore masks.
Went out Thursday afternoon to a “winery” (it’s Jacksonville, FL, so not a real winery; a place that does a membership wine club that has deals with wineries to send them decent wine they can resell). Place was in a very upscale shopping center. Not a mask to be seen. No social distancing. Like the pandemic doesn’t exist. Every place we went into, we were the only ones with masks on.
Thursday night, went on a late night mission to find a plunger after my a-hole son clogged the toilet and my father who we’re staying with couldn’t find his plunger. Turned into a freaking cluster. Local hardware store was closed, so I ended up at a shitty Wal-Mart, and then, after I discovered the Wal-Mart was sold out of plungers (thanks, Biden), a nearby Dollar Store. Interesting thing, though, was that there was a much, much higher rate of mask wearing and seeming awareness that there’s a pandemic going on at both those stores. I’d put masks at about 70% at both. When the Dollar Tree was also out of plungers (WTF?), I ended up driving to a Lowes, which was in a somewhat nicer section of town. Strangely, it seemed like mask wearing dropped significantly. Definitely lower than Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree, probably in the 35-50% range.
This is obviously all just anecdotal so could be complete BS, but I had thought that mask wearing would correlate to some degree with socio-economic indicators. Wealthier, more educated folk would be more inclined to “listen to the science” and wear masks. But that’s not what I’ve seen down here.
In any event, it’s all a far cry from Portland, OR, wear we all wear masks pretty much all of the time. Sometimes I think it’s nuts that we’re all one country.
Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there -- Radiohead
Do you believe me? Do you trust me? Do you like me? 😳
This is obviously all just anecdotal so could be complete BS, but I had thought that mask wearing would correlate to some degree with socio-economic indicators. Wealthier, more educated folk would be more inclined to “listen to the science” and wear masks. But that’s not what I’ve seen down here.
It's also possible that people just don't' bother wearing masks to bars/restaurants where they'll take them off most of the duration anyway.
And the divide is less socio-economic than political.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:15 pm
And the divide is less socio-economic than political.
The other interesting factor is the additional costs associated with wearing masks - out of pocket costs. So you'd actually expect the inverse of what's happening to be true. Namely., you'd expect wealthier communities to be more mask compliant. But similar to vaccination rates, I think what they're finding is opposite - wealthy people believe they "know" better so they skip masks.
And then, yes, whatever cross pollination is happening with politics and apparently even religion.
LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:15 pm
And the divide is less socio-economic than political.
The other interesting factor is the additional costs associated with wearing masks - out of pocket costs. So you'd actually expect the inverse of what's happening to be true. Namely., you'd expect wealthier communities to be more mask compliant. But similar to vaccination rates, I think what they're finding is opposite - wealthy people believe they "know" better so they skip masks.
And then, yes, whatever cross pollination is happening with politics and apparently even religion.
I’ve been thinking on this, and I don’t think it’s as much political as socio-economic down here. The population generally leans pretty GOP overall, I believe. I’m not assuming the masked people I saw in the Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree the other night were Biden supporters by any stretch.
But I do think those people have a lot more to lose if they get COVID than the wealthy folks sipping wine at the wine club and shopping at Lululemon.
The Wal-Mart crowd get COVID - even a relatively mild case - and they may well feel a serious impact from missed work. If they’re laid up for any amount of time, they may have childcare issues. And if they end up needing medical attention, they may not be insured.
These aren’t generally problems the upper and middle-upper classes have to deal with.
Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there -- Radiohead
Do you believe me? Do you trust me? Do you like me? 😳
I would disagree Kurth. Here in SC, ~40% still voted for Biden and the articles I've seen said that is the group more likely to wear the mask. I've seen it at work - the people with no ability to miss time still don't wear the mask if they are Trump supporters. My boss saw it the other day - he went to Cabela's where mask compliance was near zero while REI literally across the street was near 100%. It's definitely political for many if not most people.
In broad swaths it's political. Within those swaths there's probably a socio-economic driver as well.
Obviously there's no hard and fast rule but generally the redder the region, the less the masking. You may have people who cannot afford to be sick wearing masks but of course the sad irony is that they're mostly protecting others, not themselves.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "“I like taking the guns early...to go to court would have taken a long time. So you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” -President Donald Trump. "...To guard, protect, and maintain his liberty, the freedman should have the ballot; that the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the Ballot-box, the Jury-box, and the Cartridge-box, that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country." - Frederick Douglass MYT
Dude you won. Go home. Go home to your many many many many homes. 
