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

[Smoove_B]

They did it to appease all businesses right now as the virus surges and so many are being exposed and becoming sick. Shortening the time for asymptomatic people makes sense but removing the testing option? Madness. Absolute madness. Same with the masking requirement, apparently being offered under the "honor system" version of public health.

There were posts today in my local area about how the largest mall complex had a significant number of stores closed. They're closed because they did everything they could last week to get people to purchase things and now all your workers are sick.

Now imagine instead of a mall worker, it's a trauma surgeon.

[El Guapo]

This is going to make for an incredible and maddening book in 5 - 10 years.

[RunningMn9]

This is going to make for an incredible and maddening book in 5 - 10 years.

My quick surveillance of the reaction to the news that the NFL is going to adopt the CDC recommendations and cut the isolation time in half for asymptomatic individuals (regardless of vaccination status) seems to be a widespread belief that this is the CDC admitting that they were wrong about the science all along. What a day for the "it's no worse than the flu" crowd. This narrative has been gift wrapped for them.

[malchior]

They did it to appease all businesses right now as the virus surges and so many are being exposed and becoming sick. Shortening the time for asymptomatic people makes sense but removing the testing option? Madness. Absolute madness. Same with the masking requirement, apparently being offered under the "honor system" version of public health.

The United States set health policy based on a request from a goddamn airline which actually asked for a testing protocol. The Centers for *DISEASE CONTROL* said nah. It also strikes me that that makes sense since the FDA fucked up and delayed rapid tests. They are "fighting COVID" with the public health controls they have...not the public health controls they want or wish to have at a later time.

https://twitter.com/Tori_Bedford/status ... 6223790081

[YellowKing]

Had to make this as all I could think of reading that story was the Seinfeld car reservation episode.

[stimpy]

What a day for the "it's no worse than the flu" crowd. This narrative has been gift wrapped for them.

Yep. This is the new rally cry:

[El Guapo]

Seems like there's a pretty broad spectrum of agreement online that having no testing requirement to leave isolation after 5 days is bonkers.

[Smoove_B]

Seems like there's a pretty broad spectrum of agreement online that having no testing requirement to leave isolation after 5 days is bonkers.

And yet it is such an easy solution to this problem in places like Chicago. Overwhelmed? No worries - no more testing.

The overflow comes from CPS parents rushing to meet the district’s COVID-19 at-home test kit deadline. Close to 150,000 tests were due at once.

https://twitter.com/alinapanek/status/1 ... 8821764098

EDIT: And I just saw that like 30 CityMD testing centers in NYC area are closed because (checks notes) staff have COVID. Everything is going great.

[malchior]

EDIT: And I just saw that like 30 CityMD testing centers in NYC area are closed because (checks notes) staff have COVID. Everything is going great.

Did you hear about what happened in Oakland? Apparently a ton of people were waiting in line at a CityMD there and to expedite the line one of the staff was pre-registering people from people in line. Someone started a rumor that it was a scam and involved identity theft. 3 police departments got involved to find out it was them trying to deal with heavy load. Super.

Edit: It is one of the locations shut down today due to staff issues!

[Smoove_B]

No, I hadn't seen that. Chaos will continue as we get closer to NYE, that's for sure. Meanwhile, I have locals asking on social media what restaurants are open and where can they go to party.

[Smoove_B]

I am really beginning to think it's time for me to retire...and move.

https://twitter.com/s_j_prins/status/14 ... 4431257601

It's hard to overstate how dark and damaging it is that the CDC, Fauci, and Biden's twitter MDs are doing straight corporate propaganda. This sort of regulatory capture is so violent and dangerous. To folks who think this is a vaccine outreach campaign: It’s insulting to working people to suggest they don’t see right through the talking point in the ad, after learning CDC changed guidelines at the behest of airline CEOs, Fauci admitting it was to reduce staffing shortages…

[malchior]

After watching this I'm just bewildered. Reading between the lines they basically know this was going to be run out of control, they failed on preparing for testing which people were saying to them the entire year, they still don't know if antigen tests indicate contagiousness (throwing the FDA firmly under the wheels there), and basically saying we were worried about society shutting down. While risking society shutting down on a gamble. Cool.

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/stat ... 2250842114

[Smoove_B]

For those of us that remember when the CDC arbitrarily changed the recommended distancing rule from 6' to 3' so that schools could re-open, we're not surprised. In truth, we now know it didn't matter (distancing) but that it was changed to get kids back in school without any scientific support that it was actually safer should have telegraphed where this was all headed.

You might be interested to know that NJ hasn't officially adopted the CDC's isolation/quarantine recommendations yet. I'm assuming they need to wait until our governor gets back from Costa Rica tomorrow to make the call as to what to do, but the State HD is blasting out messages to the locals saying to continue to use the old guidelines until the CDC's new recommendations are official.

Total. Chaos.

[malchior]

The scary thing to me beyond the pandemic is that they've systematically increased stress on our entire system. Levels of trust in institutions were already rock bottom low. Now even the people who were defending them are beginning to join in condemning them. For different reasons but still the idea that government is a corrupt mess is essentially proliferating right now. Total chaos is right. The Biden administration essentially has doubled down on demonstrating the behaviors that were already killing our democracy.

[Smoove_B]

I know I've said it before, but I don't know how we recover from this. Public health as an institution and society at-large.

[Alefroth]

It's seems pretty certain we'll never again have an adequate response to a national public health crisis.

[Kasey Chang]

I kinda get what the government had to do to balance between keeping the economy going, and protecting the public at large. We know we're not going back to lockdowns despite many other countries doing that exact thing to prepare for omicron. It's pretty obvious that the corporate interests are behind the GBD and other antivax campaigns, and have bankrolled the conservatives into fighting the public health measures in various states (namely Texas and Florida, but many other states as well).

It sure doesn't help that COVID itself is morphing as we speak, and some people are innately more vulnerable to COVID, and we still don't have a handle on long-term effects of COVID. We do know people are contagious while asymptomatic for up to 3 weeks. So the tests will be problematic. Which variant do we react to, and at what level do we consider the patient to be "sick" with COVID? And at what level do we consider them "cured" of COVID? Esp. when there are now like a dozen different COVID test makers for the US market? (And let's not forget how CDC bungled its initial official COVID test)

It's probably frustrating for the administration, trying to provide leadership when the data itself is uncertain, with some elements of public and even within the government fighting every policy you make, in a full catch-22... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[malchior]

Bleak

One New York City subway line was suspended on Wednesday and five others were running with delays because so many workers were out sick.

Twenty CityMD locations, where thousands of New Yorkers go to get tested for the coronavirus, were closed because of staffing shortages caused by the virus.

The Police Department has canceled days off for any officer healthy enough to work. Nearly one in three paramedics are out sick, and the Fire Department begged New Yorkers not to call 911 unless they were truly experiencing an emergency, after a spate of calls from people who were just looking for an ambulance ride to a hospital to get a coronavirus test.

Broadway shows are closing even as others reopen. Libraries are shuttering left and right.

New York City is exhausted, beleaguered and riddled with coronavirus thanks to the Omicron variant. More than 110,000 people have tested positive just since Christmas Day, and the positivity rate in some neighborhoods is approaching 30 percent.

Some hospitals in the city are under stress: Mount Sinai Health System said Wednesday it was deferring elective surgeries where possible.

But as Year Two of the pandemic limps offstage to make way for Year Three, New York remains open, with piecemeal slowdowns and closings.

[Smoove_B]

Keep working! Don't talk to the press!

The Walmart on W Edgar Road in Linden closed at 2 p.m. on Tuesday "as part of an ongoing company-initiated program ... for a third-party specialist to further sanitize the store," the company said in a statement. A spokeswoman said that closing the store will also "give our associates additional time to restock and prepare the store," as it expects to reopen at 6 a.m. Thursday.

...

An employee source told News 4 the number of infections was somewhere north of 90. A Walmart spokeswoman said that number was wrong and the real total was much lower -- but declined to give an accurate figure and referred questions to the local health department. The local health department said it did not have a total and referred questions back to the company.

Also "sanitizing the store" is bullshit. The issue is WalMart isn't requiring vaccines for workers and they're allowing people to come inside without masks. But I'm not a 3rd party consultant selling snake oil so I guess I'm the dummy.

Despite record cases, NYC Mayor DeBlasio is not initiating any type of remote school plan either in his final days. Maybe the new mayor will annouce how bitcoins are going to save NYC schools.

[Smoove_B]

An observation from a foreign journalist:

https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1476636518215307270

Among peer countries responding to the omicron surge, it appears the US is the only one *not to tighten, but loosen restrictions* by cutting Covid isolation time without the need for test.

I wonder why. What is it about America that would have us doing this?

[Alefroth]

Our exceptionalism, obviously.

[Jaymann]

America is taking a cue from Egypt. At least the big river there.

[Defiant]

Do "exceptional" countries have peers?


Just to point out, though, the UK did reduce isolation time from 10 to 7 days (although they still require testing). Assuming we're still the UK's peer.

[malchior]

This feels exceptional. (Even though it's Tiktok...)

[malchior]

Several local towns in NJ just issued local mask mandates - New Brunswick, North Brunswick, and I'm hearing Edison and East Brunswick are going to drop them soon. This is absurdity.

[Kraken]

Grocery day again. The store was busier than usual, again, thanks to these interminable holidays. They put a sign by the door urging customers to wear masks. Compliance was probably around 65-70%, which is the best I've seen since the mandates ended, but still nowhere near enough to brake the virus. There's just no sense of emergency. At least half the masks were simple cloth, which is only marginally better than nothing. Most employees were unmasked . The most remarkable thing is the number of people wearing their masks incorrectly. Why even bother voluntarily wearing a mask below your nose or as a chin diaper?

All in all, coronavirus had a good day at the supermarket.

[Blackhawk]

I see masks everywhere asking, urging, and trying to convince people to wear masks.

The other day I was at the high school. The sign?

"Masks optional."

The only purpose for a sign like to that is to remind people that, no, they don't have to wear a mask. One study recently ranked the states for COVID safety. Indiana got placed at #51.

When looking at vaccination rates, Indiana ranks No. 48 out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. For COVID-19 hospitalizations, Indiana ranks No. 46 — tied with South Dakota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.

[LawBeefaroni]

One of the nation's leading science advisors, Joe Rogan, may be denied entry to Canada:

"I should probably say this because I haven't yet. My 4/20 show that's sold out in Vancouver — I don't think that's happening,” Rogan said. “I don't think I can even get into the country. I'm not vaccinated. I'm not gonna get vaccinated. I have antibodies, it doesn't make any sense."

Also, magnets and how do they work?

[Defiant]

People are mocking the CDC for their move:

https://twitter.com/therealerevans/stat ... 6357156864

https://twitter.com/BookSyrup/status/14 ... 1144469504

[YellowKing]

We have people clamoring for the mask mandates to be put back in place, but the state made a decision to leave all mask mandate decisions up to individual municipalities. And most of those municipalities, in turn, are leaving the decision up to the health board. The health board, in turn said "We'll be revisiting mask mandates in 3 weeks."

[LawBeefaroni]

We have people clamoring for the mask mandates to be put back in place, but the state made a decision to leave all mask mandate decisions up to individual municipalities. And most of those municipalities, in turn, are leaving the decision up to the health board. The health board, in turn said "We'll be revisiting mask mandates in 3 weeks."

If can-kicking were an Olympic sport the US would have a lot more gold medals.

[Smoove_B]

Over and over, failures of leadership - top to bottom. No one wants to take the heat for making the call and it's stabbing at my soul.

[stimpy]

I kind of hesitate to bring this up, but after all the crowing about Trumps failure at the beginning of this pandemic, I find the current Administrations mixed messaging and total lack of direction even worse.

This was a major issue when Biden took office.
Supposedly he had a plan to right the ship.
I feel more than enough time has passed and the ship is not only still heading straight for the iceberg, it has sprung multiple leaks and may go down before even making contact.

There was a lack of leadership when this initially hit, and it seems to only have gotten worse as time has passed.
Who knows how to play violin?

[Zarathud]

Trump was promoting snake oil (horse meds) and denying COVID could be a problem. I believe Biden is throwing in the towel because the Republicans have resisted so much and even Democrats are exhausted, there’s little benefit trying to lock down. No one is listening anymore.

[gbasden]

I kind of hesitate to bring this up, but after all the crowing about Trumps failure at the beginning of this pandemic, I find the current Administrations mixed messaging and total lack of direction even worse.

I don't disagree. I expected more from Biden. I know he is hamstrung by circumstances, but he should be pushing more prevention along with vaccination and using his powers to force vaccine mandates where he can, such as to fly. I don't know if it's worse, but it's certainly just as bad in different ways.

[Smoove_B]

No, I said it elsewhere - I agree with you stimpy. Things are not good. It's not the same kind of bad but the end result is that we're still in trouble. We have a complete and total failure at an elected / appointed official level. Even in states that are doing everything they can in the vacuum of federal leadership, there are counties and locals that are actively trying to undermine public health.

What's even worse is that are are people inside the CDC that are saying WTF is happening (in private) as CDC leadership is making statements that go against public health and/or the available science.

Case in point - last night I saw that Michigan isn't going to adopt the CDCs recommendations of 5 days and no test for clearance. Unlike my state that was scrambling behind the scenes this week to cobble together official guidance that mirrors the CDCs recommendation after it was released to everyone without any prior advanced notice.

[Blackhawk]

If you read, there are plenty of us shaking our fists at this administration.

I feel more than enough time has passed and the ship is not only still heading straight for the iceberg, it has sprung multiple leaks and may go down before even making contact.

That metaphor is slightly off, though. The ship was already headed for the iceberg, and the previous Captain had tied the wheel and welded the wheelhouse door shut.

The new Captain was just in charge of the evacuation. Yes, he flubbed that. He put the kitchen staff in charge of the lifeboats, put the medical staff in charge of stuffing the leaks with old newspapers, and his first officer just sort of took a nap. But the fact that we're sinking? That was set in motion before he ever put on the Captain's hat, and it was done in such a way that actively prevented us from changing course.

[Smoove_B]

Going back to the schools, here's another perfect example. Our NJ governor has said (last week, before he went on 8 day vacation) that he will not be issuing a state-wide executive order for all schools to go remote. Instead, he indicated it will be up to local districts to decide. Ok...I guess. Except the existing guidance from the state indicates that when a county slips into "red" designation ("very high" spread), schools should be going remote. 11 out of 21 counties in NJ meet that criteria, but "should" isn't "must", so everyone is kinda standing around looking at each other wondering what will happen as K-12 instruction resumes on Monday.

They're certainly not going to implement a "test to return" policy over a holiday weekend and I'm doubtful people are going to voluntarily test their kids prior to sending them back to classes, so now we're sending kids back to a very high spread environment with mixed vaccination status and mask compliance.

The NJ teacher's union has urged local school administrators to take a "hard look" at the data and make decisions based on that (because apparently they're also epidemiologists and infectious disease control specialists) but so far? Largely nothing is being communicated.

All that had to be done was the governor saying on 12/27 that the state numbers warrant a 7 or 14 day remote learning plan to monitor the evolving surge, but he couldn't do it. Couldn't bring himself to make the call. I am so done with all this.

[Blackhawk]

"should" isn't "must", so everyone is kinda standing around looking at each other wondering what will happen as K-12 instruction resumes on Monday.

This is one thing that the last two years has really driven home. We, collectively, have proven that we are not mature enough for 'should' to be enough during an emergency. We are a bunch of children, half of us lazy, the other half rebellious. We will never respond to 'should.' We will never do the smart thing if it is either inconvenient or if the advice comes from an authority figure.

It's a dangerous thought, and full of implications I don't like, but I've come to feel that we aren't able to handle the kind of freedom we want.

[Pyperkub]

Trump was promoting snake oil (horse meds) and denying COVID could be a problem. I believe Biden is throwing in the towel because the Republicans have resisted so much and even Democrats are exhausted, there’s little benefit trying to lock down. No one is listening anymore.

He (Trump) promoted lysol and bleach for chrissakes.