Full Disclosure, I'm fully vaccinated.

However, lemme drop some provocations....

• Since US uses private hospitals, why is there no blame laid at their feet to accommodate ANY number of inpatients...would they actually have to actually operate without gross profiteering like every other business who is impacted pandemic-wise?

• The grossness of the vaccine company leadership becoming newly minted billionaires, while their research was subsidized by taxpayer money.

• I know this is a touchy political one, but watching little kids go to summer camp, daycare, and kindergarten while masked and distanced, I can't help not consider the psychological impact, while also noting that their occurrence of serious health outcomes is <1%.

• I'm still unclear why I care that others choose to roll the dice, and go unvaccinated. Outside of the hospital situation, which is legit (though see my earlier point), I don't see how it impacts me, or anyone else who is vaccinated.

“Hey, why not roll the dice with your unvaccinated kids? They *should* be fine and if not, just have some more.”

jason from volo wrote: I really need to ignore this thread.

Is there a way to "foe list" a thread, FM akosinski?

yes, it's called "being an adult and choosing not to click on a link that you know contains information that will upset you"

I had Covid in November of 2020. It gave me a pulmonary embolism. It wasn't fun. I was fully vaxxed in April, after a long and frustrating wait. I'm still edgy about the whole phenomenon. Wife and I went to a show a couple weekends ago. Wasn't packed, but it was crowded. Lots of masks, lots of no-masks. The venue had a policy of no admittance without either a vaxx card or a negative test within 72 hours. Not sure if that amounts to a hill of beans, but +1 for trying. I had the heebie jeebies the entire time. I don't know when I'll be able to fully enjoy an event like that again. That comes off as totally "poor me" when considering how many people have become ill, died, had their lives permanently changed, etc. I get it.

I have a side hustle bartending gig, which also gives me lingering anxiety when considering how Delta is raging and our county has the highest infection rate in the state. Last night we were particularly busy. Lots of people. Music on the patio, baseball on the screens inside. One of our servers mentioned to me that she overheard somebody at one of her tables state, "Yeah, I got diagnosed with Covid yesterday."

Sitting there, eating, in a crowded restaurant, no masks in sight.

Jesus fucking Christ.

The table behind them apparently overheard him as well, she said, and they promptly got up and left. If one of them had felt inclined to take a swing at the Covid carrier, I wouldn't have blamed them in the least.

What in the ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. This is why we're going to find ourselves right back where we were last year. Go ahead, be skeptical. Feign outrage. Blather away on the social medias. Make silly Biden memes. Whatever makes you feel better. But when you have a DIAGNOSIS, a POSITIVE TEST, and you choose to GO OUT IN PUBLIC WITHOUT A FUCKING SINGLE CARE FOR ANYBODY AROUND YOU, it only cements my profile of deniers/anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers as TOTAL FUCKING ASSHOLES.

Get your shot. Wear your mask. Don't be a douchebag.

zorg wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:17 am The grossness of the vaccine company leadership becoming newly minted billionaires, while their research was subsidized by taxpayer money. [/list]

It can be both true that the Pharma industry is gross, AND these vaccines are safe and essential. I'm not sure what good it does to point out the former. Also it's hardly the only industry to capitalize on the pandemic.

akosinski wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:36 am

jason from volo wrote: I really need to ignore this thread.

Is there a way to "foe list" a thread, FM akosinski?

yes, it's called "being an adult and choosing not to click on a link that you know contains information that will upset you"

but then I'd never look at any threads.

kicker_of_elves wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:42 am
I have a side hustle bartending gig, which also gives me lingering anxiety when considering how Delta is raging and our county has the highest infection rate in the state.

I work with a lot of restaurants and most of the breakthrough cases I hear about involve bartenders.

enframed wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:24 am

kicker_of_elves wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:42 am
I have a side hustle bartending gig, which also gives me lingering anxiety when considering how Delta is raging and our county has the highest infection rate in the state.

I work with a lot of restaurants and most of the breakthrough cases I hear about involve bartenders.

Sigh.

penningtron wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 10:01 am

zorg wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:17 am The grossness of the vaccine company leadership becoming newly minted billionaires, while their research was subsidized by taxpayer money. [/list]

It can be both true that the Pharma industry is gross, AND these vaccines are safe and essential. I'm not sure what good it does to point out the former. Also it's hardly the only industry to capitalize on the pandemic.

I agree, lets stop making demands of the rich and powerful and just be happy they’re allowing us to keep our lives. Good thing we don’t live in a poor country.

Adam P wrote: “Hey, why not roll the dice with your unvaccinated kids? They *should* be fine and if not, just have some more.”

The percentage of serious health issues in children (and this includes those with pre-existing conditions) is <1%, and my empirical evidence backs this up.
Consider, I live in a place where we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, at no point stressed the healthcare system, experienced low mortality, AND my kids and their teachers never wore masks at school.

I get the emotional appeal of crying "hypocrisy" or shaming people who are resisting masks and vaccines. I have done both at different times. As a tactic that motivates change, however, it isn't working.

This sociologist's writing is a little heavy on abbreviation ("fx" = "for example") here, but you can search for her bylines in the Atlantic et al for a less frenzied prose. Not saying she's a savior or whatever, but the thoughts in the below thread are the closest I've seen to some kind of constructive way forward.