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CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk


Mrs Whiggins

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59 minutes ago, trauma babe said:

FDA approval is just a cover excuse

Exactly. It may move the needle for a few but for the rest the excuse will shift to something along the lines of “well it was just approved for political reasons, doesn’t mean it’s actually safe.”

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1 minute ago, GTX Horn said:

Exactly. It may move the needle for a few but for the rest the excuse will shift to something along the lines of “well it was just approved for political reasons, doesn’t mean it’s actually safe.”

I think you’re right.  Most of these people have their minds made up and their heels dug in on stupid.  

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39 minutes ago, Asithappens said:

Someone needs to sell t-shirts with this on it. 

I'd buy one.

I am working up something now.  This is an excellent idea.  Think I could get a lot of people interested?  

I am thinking of doing two designs.  COVID VAXXED and ANGRY and COVID VAXXED and PROUD

Then on the back, for each one, a list of who we should be angry with.  And on the second, some sort of inspirational quote.  

Thoughts?

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7 hours ago, justhookit said:

Unfortunately, at least here in Port Aransas, almost nobody is wearing masks anymore. I was at an outdoor bar tonight and a guy gave me shit for using hand sanitizer after using the restroom. It was basically “what are you scared of the flu”? The bartender also questioned me wondering if they were out of soap. I’m like no, I do this everywhere I go.

Are you friends with that guy? Friends can give each other shit for anything but I don't understand why a stranger would really care if someone cares about using hand sanitizer or not. You know, during the worst pandemic the US has faced in 100 years. In other words in any of our lifetimes.

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I'm not going to take sides in the justhookit v. Penelope argument - just saying that they are coming from 2 vastly different places - Port A vs. NYC.  

No need for y'all to come at each other so angry.  That's all.  

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1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2021/08/08/coming-soon-for-the-unvaccinated-a-50-monthly-paycheck-deduction-from-your-employer/?sh=7e195d247ae3

We have a $100/month smoker surcharge for our health insurance. They swab your cheek once a year to determine if you get charged the fee.

The feds need to get a national registry up and running since it’s too easy to forge a vaccine card as is.

I'm in the P&C insurance business but work very closely with our benefits guys. I've been telling my wife it might not be a bad idea for the big insurers to start putting COVID exclusions in employee health plans for those that are not vaxxed. (Honestly, I'm not even sure this would be legal but I also use your tobacco example.) Same with hospitals -- oh, you're really sick and you're not vaxxed and do not have valid medical reason to get one? Tough titties. Hand them a handy list of things they can do to try and get better on their own. Good luck!

 

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

FDA approval expected by end of the month. I hope that moves the needle.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/health/covid-19-fda-approval-meaning/index.html

It won't make a shit. Maybe a couple of vax holdouts will do it but it won't be near enough to move the needle. As others have said, they will simply move the goalposts.

 

 

46 minutes ago, Horn Dogg said:

I’ve got a son starting K tomorrow.  Luckily I live in California and masks are required (never thought I would see the day where I’m happy to live somewhere that’s not Texas).  Even if the risk is low, I’m with the other parents that don’t want to even take a low risk with a child that’s too young to be vaccinated.  This bullshit that governors like Abbot and DeSantis are pulling where they are risking kids lives for their own political gain is one of the most despicable acts I’ve ever seen.

Go back to pre-Feb 2020 and I'm the same. Native Texan, lived her all my life. Love it. Wife is the same. Now we're both openly talking about relocating out of state (or even down to the islands somewhere) once the last of our kids is through HS in five years.

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10 minutes ago, C-Man said:

It won't make a shit. Maybe a couple of vax holdouts will do it but it won't be near enough to move the needle. As others have said, they will simply move the goalposts.

Doesn't it mean though that places like schools (colleges), airlines, hotels, etc could then mandate it?  I thought that was the big distinction.  Like college now mandate Meningitis vaccine but currently can't for COVID since it's not fully approved.  I think the full approval will make a difference, not in convincing people to get it but requiring them to in order to do the things they want.

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28 minutes ago, Eastwood said:

I'm not him, but I have been pretty vocal about not sending my kids back and have changed a lot of future plans based on withdrawing the kids and homeschooling them until The State of Texas proves they're willing to do, well, anything at all.

Texas officials came out both barrels and said this year will be business as usual, going as far as threatening any school district that tries to police their own districts and implement measures to combat the spread of COVID and keep parents informed of potential contact and outbreaks within the school. They literally want to do nothing about it. Our gameplan, as a family, has been purely risk mitigation, not elimination. As we learned more about the disease, we adjusted our plans accordingly.

In fact, when cases were down below 100 a day, we lived as if it was 2019. Our kids played with other kids in daycare without masks, we did not make them wear masks, and my wife and I didn't wear masks because we were vaccinated. We are now masking up again, have stopped going to the gym, again, and have kept the kids at home, except for outdoor activities. The schools, on the other hand, refuse to do anything despite the numbers being the same, or higher in some areas, as when we had virtual and kids masking. This variant is more easily spread, this variant appears to be slightly tougher on children, and we know a lot more about long COVID. If it truly is as contagious as chickenpox, our children will be very likely to get it, at some point, with a zero-mitigation policy in place. Our children are young and while they are fine with masks and we never had a problem, they will need adult guidance willing to remind and enforce the mask, just like kids that age need to be told to go to the bathroom. Without that support, we are left hoping for no long-term effects and no severe illness. The numbers in school were low last year, and people like to crow about that. But they also seem to neglect to mention that we had distancing and masks at the same time.

The lack of public concern from officials is astonishing, disappointing, and frustrating, to put it lightly. If even an ounce of concern was shown by merely allowing individual districts to mandate COVID policies, I'd feel much more confident about sending my kids in because the school policy would be in place and school officials will be required to follow it. So, yes, the fact that schools in California are requiring masks is a showing of good faith that California school districts recognize that there is an issue and are likely to be willing to take further steps should the Delta surge worsen and create a health crisis for kids, which we have thankfully avoided up to this point.

With Texas, we are pedal to the metal and I have no clue if government officials are willing to hit the brakes if we are approaching a cliff. I mentioned in the AISD thread that I have heard some murmurs out of rural Texas that even they are getting nervous, but unless those nervous officials speak up, nothing will change. The government is playing political chicken with our children and I am sitting my family out until either the numbers drop or cooler heads prevail.

Houston ISD and Austin ISD are voting this week to mandate wearing masks. While the Governor pushed his executive order, it did seem odd that the "fine" for going against it is just up to $1,000.  Both school districts are willing to pay it based on board decision.  If the plan is to fully populate schools ala 2019 but with masks I really don't see that making any difference.  The interaction and distancing of kids is just too low. Kids aren't adults they hang all over each other, use masks as Kleenex and touch everything.

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1 hour ago, C-Man said:

 

Go back to pre-Feb 2020 and I'm the same. Native Texan, lived her all my life. Love it. Wife is the same. Now we're both openly talking about relocating out of state (or even down to the islands somewhere) once the last of our kids is through HS in five years.

I can't wait to retire and get the fuck out of here.  Seriously thinking about starting one of those big construction paper chains to count the days down.

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Houston ISD and Austin ISD are voting this week to mandate wearing masks. While the Governor pushed his executive order, it did seem odd that the "fine" for going against it is just up to $1,000.  Both school districts are willing to pay it based on board decision.  If the plan is to fully populate schools ala 2019 but with masks I really don't see that making any difference.  The interaction and distancing of kids is just too low. Kids aren't adults they hang all over each other, use masks as Kleenex and touch everything.
Something is better than nothing. Like I said, we aren't trying to eliminate all risk. I want my school district to show me something, anything, that they're going to help us mitigate risk and, if necessary, take further measures if the situation worsens.

There is no honest way to look at the numbers and say that the situation hasn't already completely unraveled from where we were in June. And, from where I sit, there's no honest way I can look at the response, thus far, and be confident that anything will be done if the situation continues to worsen.
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25 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Doesn't it mean though that places like schools (colleges), airlines, hotels, etc could then mandate it?  I thought that was the big distinction.  Like college now mandate Meningitis vaccine but currently can't for COVID since it's not fully approved.  I think the full approval will make a difference, not in convincing people to get it but requiring them to in order to do the things they want.

I guess that's possible -- but how many will go through and actually mandate it?

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The dilemma for parents as school starts again is to take personal stock in your risk tolerance and decide to have your kids go to school or to keep them out and have them continue falling further behind. This isn't just a micro issue, but at scale, you are talking about potentially 15 years from now looking back and saying "this is why Generation Z Jr. are such deadbeats and suck at skills and live at home forever". I recall seeing some data points from Plano ISD I think and it was remarkable how badly test scores regressed from kids being "home schooled" while parents work or "zoom schooled" by teachers. We are talking about essentially kids being held back a grade for 2 or 3 years to catch up AND it's going to impact BIPOC disproportionately. It's a true dilemma in that there is no good answer.

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29 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Doesn't it mean though that places like schools (colleges), airlines, hotels, etc could then mandate it?  I thought that was the big distinction.  Like college now mandate Meningitis vaccine but currently can't for COVID since it's not fully approved.  I think the full approval will make a difference, not in convincing people to get it but requiring them to in order to do the things they want.

The fucked up thing is though, there's still carveouts for """reasons of conscious""" even at great institutions like the University of Texas.

Full approval will certainly move the needle, but I fear we're going to be dealing with the base refusing to get vaccinated. 30%ish of our population is juuuuuust short of full herd immunity and will give COVID enough breathing room to keep mutating.

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FB update from a HS friend who I haven't seen in 25+ years probably:

Quote

I just want to thank my brother ________ and _________ for being angels in my life. 2 weeks ago I got COVID pneumonia. I was done, thanked God for everything I had in life. It was the worst experience of my life. Do what you want but I will be vaccinated. Thoughts of God, my family and my son got me through. I'm ready for the next half of my life with my son.

I posted my well wishes and then added I hate the vaccine got "political" and that it works. The posters and most of the respondents are in SA so I'm sure that conversation will devolve in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

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2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

The fucked up thing is though, there's still carveouts for """reasons of conscious""" even at great institutions like the University of Texas.

Full approval will certainly move the needle, but I fear we're going to be dealing with the base refusing to get vaccinated. 30%ish of our population is juuuuuust short of full herd immunity and will give COVID enough breathing room to keep mutating.

Somebody linked a story last night that put the number of actual herd immunity on this needing to be closer to 90% vaxxed, I think. We won't ever get to that level unless 25% of the current US population dies off.

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23 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Houston ISD and Austin ISD are voting this week to mandate wearing masks. While the Governor pushed his executive order, it did seem odd that the "fine" for going against it is just up to $1,000.  Both school districts are willing to pay it based on board decision.  If the plan is to fully populate schools ala 2019 but with masks I really don't see that making any difference.  The interaction and distancing of kids is just too low. Kids aren't adults they hang all over each other, use masks as Kleenex and touch everything.

A grand? THAT'S IT?!

Pay the man and mask up

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8 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

It's a true dilemma in that there is no good answer.

the answer is to FUCKING GET VACCINATED!

We as a society are getting dragged down by the disinformed GOP voting base who are steadfastly refusing to get vaccinated. 

(inb4 blaming a 12% portion of the US population for the failures of the GOP voting base)

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7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

The fucked up thing is though, there's still carveouts for """reasons of conscious""" even at great institutions like the University of Texas.

Full approval will certainly move the needle, but I fear we're going to be dealing with the base refusing to get vaccinated. 30%ish of our population is juuuuuust short of full herd immunity and will give COVID enough breathing room to keep mutating.

Honestly we're not even close to limiting mutation around the world. 

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4 minutes ago, Captainant said:

the answer is to FUCKING GET VACCINATED!

We as a society are getting dragged down by the disinformed GOP voting base who are steadfastly refusing to get vaccinated. 

(inb4 blaming a 12% portion of the US population for the failures of the GOP voting base)

Agreed. That is the ideal case and like with planting a tree, the second best time to get the vax is today if you haven't already. I was specifically speaking about the reality we find ourselves in now and in the next two weeks. The ship has sailed to rescue of the dilemma I was speaking of, unless you have a quantum portal like Ant man. Wait a minute...user name checks out.

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15 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

The dilemma for parents as school starts again is to take personal stock in your risk tolerance and decide to have your kids go to school or to keep them out and have them continue falling further behind. This isn't just a micro issue, but at scale, you are talking about potentially 15 years from now looking back and saying "this is why Generation Z Jr. are such deadbeats and suck at skills and live at home forever". I recall seeing some data points from Plano ISD I think and it was remarkable how badly test scores regressed from kids being "home schooled" while parents work or "zoom schooled" by teachers. We are talking about essentially kids being held back a grade for 2 or 3 years to catch up AND it's going to impact BIPOC disproportionately. It's a true dilemma in that there is no good answer.

One "good answer" would be to allow local school districts to take reasonable health protection measures for their students, like, oh, I don't know, mandating masks, reporting news of positive cases to the parents, and contact tracing.  All things expressly PROHIBITED BY OUR GOVERNOR.

Those things would help.  If we could do them, a lot more parents would be comfortable with the balancing of risks.  But our governor has literally forbidden, by force of law, ANY risk mitigation efforts.

We have laws in place that require specific actions be taken by schools to control HEAD LICE.....but we forbid them from doing ANYTHING to limit the spread of a disease that is harmful and sometimes deadly to students, and can be even more harmful and deadly to those they bring the disease home to.

This is your party at work.  This is their dreamworld, their utopia, their perverse "libertarian"* fantasy, come true.

 

* Asterisk because their view isn't libertarian at all.  Libertarianism has never stood for the proposition that "I can do whatever I want, FREEDOM!"  Your liberties end where my harm begins.  The GQP seems to have skipped over that last part.  It's kinda important.

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1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

One "good answer" would be to allow local school districts to take reasonable health protection measures for their students, like, oh, I don't know, mandating masks, reporting news of positive cases to the parents, and contact tracing.  All things expressly PROHIBITED BY OUR GOVERNOR.

Those things would help.  If we could do them, a lot more parents would be comfortable with the balancing of risks.  But our governor has literally forbidden, by force of law, ANY risk mitigation efforts.

We have laws in place that require specific actions be taken by schools to control HEAD LICE.....but we forbid them from doing ANYTHING to limit the spread of a disease that is harmful and sometimes deadly to students, and can be even more harmful and deadly to those they bring the disease home to.

This is your party at work.  This is their dreamworld, their utopia, their perverse "libertarian"* fantasy, come true.

 

* Asterisk because their view isn't libertarian at all.  Libertarianism has never stood for the proposition that "I can do whatever I want, FREEDOM!"  Your liberties end where my harm begins.  The GQP seems to have skipped over that last part.  It's kinda important.

Yea, that in bold is crazy. You won't get any argument from me there. I guess the difference in going to a private versus public is that you are beholden to the prohibitions of the governor due to funding or money or something? I ask because I know for 100% certain that our private school not only mandated masks and social distancing (and desks 6 feet apart), but also were very proactive in reporting news of positive cases instantly and mandating 2 week quarantines.

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3 minutes ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Yea, that in bold is crazy. You won't get any argument from me there. I guess the difference in going to a private versus public is that you are beholden to the prohibitions of the governor due to funding or money or something? I ask because I know for 100% certain that our private school not only mandated masks and social distancing (and desks 6 feet apart), but also were very proactive in reporting news of positive cases instantly and mandating 2 week quarantines.

Yup it's funding. 

If schools take any action to protect their students from COVID, that means that it wasn't a hoax all along and that looks bad for daddy trump. So abbott decreed that we must all comply with his alternate facts and reality, otherwise your school district loses its funding. 

You know, typical fascist shit. 

EDIT: all this while repeatedly pushing for a special session of the state legislature to ram through voter suppression bills, rather than addressing COVID or our dangerously rickety power grid that already led to the deaths of 200 Texans during the freeze. 

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4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

One "good answer" would be to allow local school districts to take reasonable health protection measures for their students, like, oh, I don't know, mandating masks, reporting news of positive cases to the parents, and contact tracing.  All things expressly PROHIBITED BY OUR GOVERNOR.

Those things would help.  If we could do them, a lot more parents would be comfortable with the balancing of risks.  But our governor has literally forbidden, by force of law, ANY risk mitigation efforts.

We have laws in place that require specific actions be taken by schools to control HEAD LICE.....but we forbid them from doing ANYTHING to limit the spread of a disease that is harmful and sometimes deadly to students, and can be even more harmful and deadly to those they bring the disease home to.

This is your party at work.  This is their dreamworld, their utopia, their perverse "libertarian"* fantasy, come true.

 

* Asterisk because their view isn't libertarian at all.  Libertarianism has never stood for the proposition that "I can do whatever I want, FREEDOM!"  Your liberties end where my harm begins.  The GQP seems to have skipped over that last part.  It's kinda important.

It's $1,000 for a district to do it.  I think that if we want districts to mandate masks, report news of positive cases and contract trace all while teaching already behind kids, the message is we can't do all that.  We tried and it didn't work. We are going to have to decide what we are willing to give up or how we can get everyone to pony up more in order to do it. There are not enough resources to make all that happen so either we decide the risk is low enough to focus on the teaching part hoping the child vaccine comes sooner or later or we keep kids out of school until then.   Right now that choice is forced on each family.

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1 hour ago, Js1 said:

I'm not going to take sides in the justhookit v. Penelope argument - just saying that they are coming from 2 vastly different places - Port A vs. NYC.  

No need for y'all to come at each other so angry.  That's all.  

You missed us making up at 3 am this morning.  All is well.

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We looked into the $1000 fine thing a week ago.  My thoughts regarding it is that it is intentionally laughably low.  Abbott wants a headline saying that he's banning masking, so his retard base can eat it up.  They are also incapable of reading past a headline.  He's letting the districts do what they want and can take that grand out of the Ice Cream Fridays fund for the district.  Any district that it would be even a noticeable spend (i.e., very very small districts) are full of right wing retards anyway and want mask bans.  All in all I'd say it was fairly politically savvy of Abbott.  He's GWB to Desantis's JEB.

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14 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

In a few short weeks, the delta variant changed the calculations for what it will take to end the pandemic.

In one short year, Donald Trump and his merry band of murderers changed the the ability of the United States to crippled and then control a plague.

His most lasting legacy may be that we will never conquer a virus again. Those getting shots use the tiny shred of reason necessary to protect yourself, your family, and your fellow citizens. Those refusing shots have abandoned reason and replaced it with team fervor. You either wear the jersey or you are an enemy of all things good.

We don't talk about Brisket's ledge much anymore, but we should. The plague is a symptom as much as it is a disease.

Take precautions, my friends.

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2 hours ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

At home tests ordered.  Will pop on my n95 to walk the dogs and go grab it from the pharmacy.  That and sinus rinse.  I am prepared for all outcomes.  

Negative.  That was easy peasy.  Guess it is allergy/sinus/cold.  I also have sinus rinse, and that usually cleans everything up quickly.  :)

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1 hour ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

I am working up something now.  This is an excellent idea.  Think I could get a lot of people interested?  

I am thinking of doing two designs.  COVID VAXXED and ANGRY and COVID VAXXED and PROUD

I'm no graphic designer, and personally wouldn't want to get sued by Heineken for trademark infringement, but if you want to fix it and run with it, you have my blessing:

image.png.f13bc268814dd989abc166b3b2428a63.png

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3 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

FDA approval expected by end of the month. I hope that moves the needle.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/health/covid-19-fda-approval-meaning/index.html

It you know anyone who claims they don’t trust the vaccines because they’re not FDA approved, make sure to get them on record about whether they’ll get vaccinated once they receive FDA approval. Do that before the FDA grants their approval.

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Quote

 

A group of parents in Florida asked a judge to block an executive order by Governor Ron DeSantis that bans school districts from imposing mask requirements when classes resume in the fall.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in state court in Florida, comes amid a fierce national debate about whether children in schools should wear masks as the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps the country and case counts rise. The lawsuit argues that DeSantis’ order violates a provision of the state constitution that requires public officials to ensure schools are safe for students.

“The Executive Order impairs the safe operation of schools,” the parents said in the lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County. “Students will become sick and potentially die as a result of the failure to follow the mandatory masking requirements” set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

School leaders across the country are facing complex pressures as millions of students prepare to return to classes. The delta variant is highly contagious, though it still appears that children typically fare better with the virus than their elders do. But they may bring deadly infections home.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-08/florida-parents-sue-desantis-ask-court-to-allow-mask-mandates?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm

 

 

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If Abbott limited the penalty to a max of $1000 for any entity that defies his mask ban, then it would definitely seem like he's privately ok if any entity defies it. He has the protection that he tried to prevent it and school districts can do whatever they want.  If an ISD superintendent brings in senior administration to discuss the matter for over a handful of minutes, they will waste over $1000 in wages in that discussion.

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