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

[malchior]

"They can't touch you"

Unreal.

It seems like there is something to enforce. They should suspend them. Choices should have consequences.

[LawBeefaroni]

"They can't touch you"

Unreal.

It seems like there is something to enforce. They should suspend them. Choices should have consequences.

These are the same parents who say shit like, "If some trans sicko goes into the same bathroom as my daughter, I'll whoop their ass....". It's all bluster and threats of violence until they can hide behind the same authority they routinely attack.

[Blackhawk]

In some Oregon counties, they are requested refrigerated trucks because their morgue is full due to COVID.

The hospital here is small, yet our county is ranked second in the state for positive cases (900+ per 100k.) They've had to expand the COVID unit so much that it is more than half of all rooms.

Our morgue holds two.

Six hours later and they have pop-up beds in the halls and people camping out in the waiting rooms with oxygen, people vomiting everywhere, and nowhere to put them.

[Pyperkub]

It's a shame the parents are the ones acting like children in that scenario. I'm so sick of the goddamn mask whining. Grow the fuck up.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ElieNYC/stat ... 5826006021

GOP: Hey, can I spit in your kid's sippy cup?
Me: No.
GOP: It won't kill 'em
Me: Understood. Still no.
GOP: I HAVE A RIGHT TO SPIT IN YOUR KID'S CUP
Me: The fuck is wrong with you?

[Smoove_B]

GOP: Hey, can I spit in your kid's sippy cup?
Me: No.
GOP: It won't kill 'em
Me: Understood. Still no.
GOP: I HAVE A RIGHT TO SPIT IN YOUR KID'S CUP
Me: The fuck is wrong with you?
Nate Silver: Don't understand why people are freaking out about non-lethal spit in children's cups.

You missed the best part. I've never felt the urge to hug a Tweet before now, but that's 100% where I am with this.

[malchior]

I haven't dug too much to see if this is real. I just hope it is.

https://mobile.twitter.com/WFLA/status/ ... 6383039491

[Isgrimnur]

Researchers at three universities in Nigeria studied the effects of Ivermectin, which is used to treat river blindness and other medical conditions in humans, on men’s sperm counts. According to their study, 85 percent of men who take Ivermectin become sterilized.
...
The study conducted by researchers in Nigeria screened 385 patients with river blindness to investigate the effects of Ivermectin on sperm function.

The researchers found that 85 percent of all male patients treated in a particular center with ivermectin in the recent past who went to the laboratory for routine tests were discovered to have developed various forms, grades and degrees of sperm dysfunction.

[Kasey Chang]

Snopes rated that 2011 study as "unproven"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/iverm ... ty-in-men/

[Blackhawk]

Oh, please prove it. Please let this be the year the Darwin Award is given to a political movement.

[Victoria Raverna]

If the study is accurate, that'll probably Make America Great Again in the future.

[Kraken]

Snopes rated that 2011 study as "unproven"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/iverm ... ty-in-men/

Yeah, sounded too good to be true.

[Smoove_B]

Some info about what Biden is allegedly going to discuss today:

https://twitter.com/adamcancryn/status/ ... 0767590407

Biden Covid-19 speech details, so far, per ppl familar:
– Ordering all federal workers to get vaccinated, with no opt-out alternative
– Urging schools to set up regular testing using previously allocated $10B
– Calling for international summit this month on global Covid response

The "urging" of schools to test is...interesting. If you think people are nuts over masks, wait until you tell them the school is making arrangements to test kids.

But what's hilarious to me is that we know this works. It's not perfect, but it makes a difference - just look at what the bottomless resources of the NBA and NFL were able to accomplish last year and earlier this year. But kids in schools? No, we can't do that.

[pr0ner]

Some info about what Biden is allegedly going to discuss today:

https://twitter.com/adamcancryn/status/ ... 0767590407

Biden Covid-19 speech details, so far, per ppl familar:
– Ordering all federal workers to get vaccinated, with no opt-out alternative
– Urging schools to set up regular testing using previously allocated $10B
– Calling for international summit this month on global Covid response

The "urging" of schools to test is...interesting. If you think people are nuts over masks, wait until you tell them the school is making arrangements to test kids.

But what's hilarious to me is that we know this works. It's not perfect, but it makes a difference - just look at what the bottomless resources of the NBA and NFL were able to accomplish last year and earlier this year. But kids in schools? No, we can't do that.

Just a month ago, we were told we had to sign a form attesting whether or not we're vaccinated, and that vaccinated/unvaccinated people would have to follow different rules in the office as the pandemic eased (unvaccinated had to be masked at all times regardless of Covid transmission level). Going full on vaccine mandate is a welcome change, though I do wonder how they will enforce this at agencies with a lot of workers who are at home full time (such as mine).

[Daehawk]

GOP/MAGA - "OMG Biden is a socialist / nazi / dictator"

I wouldn't mind seeing Biden say "Everyone has to be vaccinated, except GOP / MAGA / stupid / evil people. You can just die"

[Smoove_B]

though I do wonder how they will enforce this at agencies with a lot of workers who are at home full time (such as mine).

If there's ever a chance you need to go to a meeting face-to-face, visit the office to deal with paperwork, accomplish some task that can only be done on-site, or visit a 3rd party location as an agent of your organization, you're going to need to be vaccinated. That's my non-lawyer take but thinking like a company / organization that's looking to minimize risk (legal risk, for themselves).

[LawBeefaroni]

though I do wonder how they will enforce this at agencies with a lot of workers who are at home full time (such as mine).

If there's ever a chance you need to go to a meeting face-to-face, visit the office to deal with paperwork, accomplish some task that can only be done on-site, or visit a 3rd party location as an agent of your organization, you're going to need to be vaccinated. That's my non-lawyer take but thinking like a company / organization that's looking to minimize risk (legal risk, for themselves).

I don't think they'll even allow that. Otherwise anyone who doesn't want to get vaccinated will just demand 100% WFH and if they can't get it they'll have another angle of attack.

[Daehawk]

Who is Janene Hoskovec? Maskless Woman Who Intentionally Coughed on Shoppers at Nebraska Grocery Store Identified as Arizona-Based IT Employee

Janene Hoskovec, Woman Filmed Coughing on Shoppers in Nebraska Grocery Story, Fired by SAP

Someone coughs on me like that gets decked instantly. Then my lawyer will sue her, her company, and the store she was allowed in.

The Reddit user who goes by Jessabird detailed the events that led to her pull out her cellphone and start filming. She said she was at the store with her 13-year-old daughter when the maskless "Karen" approached them and confronted them for wearing masks, saying how "Nebraskans have turned into sheep."

Jessabird said the woman then proceeded to follow the mother and daughter around the store and when she asked her to maintain social distance, the woman started coughing on them intentionally.

In the video, the woman is seen coughing multiple times in the direction of the videographer. "Excuse me, I'm coming through," the woman is heard saying as she continues to cough at the mother and daughter. The woman then says, "Look at you guys, you're so cute. ... You're such sheep."

When a fellow shopper asks her why she wasn't wearing a mask, the woman replies by saying "Because I don't need to have one on. I'm not sick and neither are you." The woman then claims she has "allergies" when confronted about coughing at the shoppers. Watch the video below:

A maskless woman who was recorded deliberately coughing at a mother and her child at a grocery store in Nebraska has been fired from her job.

A clip of the incident involving the woman, identified as 54-year-old Janene Hoskovec, at a Super Saver in Lincoln went viral after it was posted onto Reddit on September 3.

During the clip, entitled "Anti-Mask Karen Deliberately Coughing on me at South 27th Super Saver," Hoskovec is seen coughing at the woman, who is recording her, before telling others shoppers they are "such sheep" and that she doesn't need to wear a mask because: "I'm not sick and neither are you."

Hoskovec then smiles and claims that it's her allergies that are causing her to cough.

[LawBeefaroni]

When you forget you're IRL and not online....

[Kasey Chang]

I swiped this from BoingBoing forum.

[Isgrimnur]

Aw, did someone forget that actions have consequences?

[Smoove_B]

LA expected to pass vaccination mandate for schools:

The Los Angeles Board of Education was to vote on Thursday on a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for all children over 12 in the nation's second-largest school district.

The meeting was set for 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. ET) with a session for the public to comment to the board, which has previously been sued over its precautions for the novel coronavirus. About 2,000 people a day test positive for the coronavirus in Los Angeles County.

Most board members have already indicated they support the measure, the Los Angeles Times reported, meaning Los Angeles is poised to be the first large school district in the country to mandate vaccines for students 12 and over.

With a COVID surge fueled by the Delta variant, school districts are facing challenges, including sickened teachers, as they create policies around the politically charged topics of vaccines and masking. read more

More than 600,000 students go to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which already has masking, coronavirus-testing and ventilation requirements in its roughly 1,200 schools. The board previously mandated all employees be vaccinated.

More.

[Drazzil]

Researchers at three universities in Nigeria studied the effects of Ivermectin, which is used to treat river blindness and other medical conditions in humans, on men’s sperm counts. According to their study, 85 percent of men who take Ivermectin become sterilized.
...
The study conducted by researchers in Nigeria screened 385 patients with river blindness to investigate the effects of Ivermectin on sperm function.

The researchers found that 85 percent of all male patients treated in a particular center with ivermectin in the recent past who went to the laboratory for routine tests were discovered to have developed various forms, grades and degrees of sperm dysfunction.

BUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAH!!

*takes a deep breath*

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

*wipes tears from his eyes and slaps thigh*

hahahhahahahhahahahahahahaha.

Oh gods. I needed that.

I hope whoever figured this out stateside keeps this very VERY quiet. Let them eat horse paste.

[Smoove_B]

https://twitter.com/spettypi/status/1436018048968835083

NEW: Biden is expected to announce a requirement for health care facilities with Medicare and Medicaid to have to have staff 100% vaccinated. via @HeidiNBC This is HUGE, every hospital is heavily dependent on these funds

Now do state and local police that receive federal funding.

[Blackhawk]

That's a net positive. The one downside is it will cause some healthcare workers to quit, and the market for qualified replacements is already bare. Michelle doesn't even work directly with patients, and she's already doing a job that's intended for a three person shift alone because they can't find anyone. It's like soloing a raid. She comes home and tells me about nurses sitting and sobbing from exhaustion, stress, and burnout, while people lay on beds in the halls and wait for hours in the ER waiting room. They're having to call in family practice doctors to try to keep up with the surge in patients. And its only just begun.

I have to imagine that healthcare workers making it through this are going to be dealing with their own PTSD for decades to come. It's going to be tomorrow's pandemic.

Nobody wants to go into the healthcare industry right now, and it's hemorrhaging staff.

But it's still the right move.

[LawBeefaroni]

When the pile of cigarette butts behind the ER is higher than normal, you know things are bad. When it's lower than normal, you know things are really bad.

[Anonymous Bosch]

When the pile of cigarette butts behind the ER is higher than normal, you know things are bad. When it's lower than normal, you know things are really bad.

…and you know you have a janitor who could win a laziness competition. Hell, they may even have atrophy.

[Kasey Chang]

In a "somewhat" hopeful news,

Missouri residents in antivax country are getting SECRET COVID shots while donning disguises. Some people are smarter than others.

[Smoove_B]

Have you been borrowing Daehawk's time machine?

[Zaxxon]

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/statu ... R2W6w&s=19

[Octavious]

Weird the response on the right wing sites and Facebook aren't exactly positive. I love the comparison to segregation. Totally the same thing.

[malchior]

You just want to shake them. They aren't forcing anyone to get the shot. What they are saying is they'll start fining businesses that don't provide a safe workplace. Safe workplace being one where the workforce isn't vaccinated against a disease killing 1500 people a day. I can't wait until these morons start saying that everyone is hypocrites and start comparing this to the abortion bounty scheme. Which is 100% not the same thing.

[Max Peck]

I am shocked that deciding that things were going to be fine and they didn't need to have any public health measures in place hasn't been working out as well for Alberta as we all thought it would.

Alberta's rising COVID-19 cases due to faulty modelling and government inaction, experts say

Alberta's plan to lift all pandemic restrictions and precautions appears to have been based on a scenario rooted more in wishful optimism and political expediency than obvious scientific evidence, say experts in infectious diseases and pandemic modelling.

But they say the problem was compounded as Premier Jason Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health, failed to reimpose measures despite the steady rise of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations through the summer.

"At this point in the pandemic, there is no excuse for this sort of negligence at the government level," said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alberta.

"The bottom line is that people are going to die and it is really tragic — but it is also infuriating, because this was all entirely preventable."

'Boiling point': Alberta doctors warn of health system collapse as COVID-19 cases climb

Alberta's health-care system is on the verge of collapse, warns a group of physicians who are pleading with the government to strengthen public health measures to fend off a relentless fourth wave of COVID-19.

Dr. Shazma Mithani, an emergency room physician in Edmonton, said a staffing crisis, overwhelmed intensive care units and mixed messaging from the province has created a “dire” situation.

Her biggest fear, she said, is that doctors will need to triage patients should hospitalizations continue to mount.

“We don't want to have to make these decisions where we're choosing who gets to have (intensive) care or not. And we're getting closer and closer to that every day,” Mithani said in an interview.

[Formix]

That's a net positive. The one downside is it will cause some healthcare workers to quit, and the market for qualified replacements is already bare. Michelle doesn't even work directly with patients, and she's already doing a job that's intended for a three person shift alone because they can't find anyone. It's like soloing a raid. She comes home and tells me about nurses sitting and sobbing from exhaustion, stress, and burnout, while people lay on beds in the halls and wait for hours in the ER waiting room. They're having to call in family practice doctors to try to keep up with the surge in patients. And its only just begun.

I have to imagine that healthcare workers making it through this are going to be dealing with their own PTSD for decades to come. It's going to be tomorrow's pandemic.

Nobody wants to go into the healthcare industry right now, and it's hemorrhaging staff.

But it's still the right move.

I actually wonder if, for us, it might have the opposite effect. As of 2 days ago, we were set to lose ~100 staff due to our vaccine mandate. Now, if everyone has a mandate . . . where do you go?

[Grifman]

CNN has an interesting and sad article where they go into the heart of un-vaccinated America, a county with only a 27% vaccination rate, and it is pathetic as you would predict it would be:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/09/us/ozark ... index.html

A couple of nuggets struck me.

I'll risk death to own the libs!

They shafted my President," Bland said. He thought the vaccine was delayed intentionally to hurt Trump, a baseless claim. "They wouldn't give it to him because they know damn good and well he'd be reelected, and there'd be nothing nobody could do. So, they had to swindle around and scheme around and keep it from him, and just as soon as the election was over, Bam! There we got it. I'm so bullheaded. You shafted me out of my President. I ain't taking your medicine," he said. "I'll take what they gave him, but I'm not taking yours.

That'll get 'em!

People complaining about being called a flyover state and "hillbillies" all the while proving the point:

I don't want to ever give anybody an excuse for doing something like not getting vaccinated. But the reasons do harken to someone who has been told that they're a dumb hillbilly all their life by the rest of the country," Cochran said. "I don't know that we are oppressed or disenfranchised. And I don't know if we deserve to even feel that way here. But we are a flyover state. ... We are a people who consider ourselves lost to the rest of the world.

Sure, complain about being called an ignorant hillbilly, all the while doing the things that make people call you an ignorant hillbilly.

[msteelers]

That was well written, especially the ending.

But did he get the vaccine? Keathley sat with his arms crossed and made a face.

Our CNN crew was not above pleading. "Please, Brian, did you get the vaccine?"

"Whether or not I got the vaccine should not dissuade someone else from getting it. If they feel they need it, then they need to get it."

People feel like they have to get the vaccine in secret, we told Keathley. He's a big, tough guy, works on the railroad, has big mouth -- and everyone knows it. Maybe it would mean something, even to one person, coming from him.

"Corona doesn't care who you are," he said. "Whether you think you're a big, tough guy or whether you're -- anything -- it doesn't matter. If you get it, it can kill you."

People have to decide whether they wanted to be in a hospital bed and be told they're going to be put on a ventilator and might never wake up, he said. And hear that their family could never say goodbye. He'd thought about it: "I don't want my wife to have to wonder ... is he going to come back out?"

"That's why I got a vaccine," Keathley said.

[Zaxxon]

I posted the video that that piece is based on in the Marathon thread yesterday. You really need to watch the video rather than just read the text. Elle Reeve is great at getting people to talk openly to her; I thought this piece was fantastic.

https://twitter.com/elspethreeve/status ... 4686309390

[Daehawk]

Funny that they wont save their own life because someone is trying to save their life. "Fuck you Ill die" is their attitude. More power to them. The bad part is due to folks like them that variants of the virus pop up and kill good people.

[Smoove_B]

https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1 ... 3723384835

“Have at it,” says President Biden when asked about GOP plans to challenge his vaccination mandates in court.

*Chef's kiss*

[Daehawk]

Wish there was more Gov stuff being put against Texas and their laws and such.

[Daehawk]

France bans unvaccinated American travelers

France has become the latest European country -- and the most significant tourism destination -- to remove the United States from its safe travel list, following EU recommendations in the wake of a US COVID spike.

A French government decree issued on Thursday bumped the United States and Israel from the country's "green" list, down to "orange," effectively prohibiting nonessential travel to France for unvaccinated visitors.