Covid-19, Part XIV

[Falls City Beer]

Unless and until these vaccines reach the many many billions unvaccinated outside of the West, this talk about US variant spread is meaningless. Get vaxxed and let the unvaxxed deal with it themselves.

[Todd Gack]

Looks like Alabama has peaked already. Shorter than last year's wave there. Look for Florida to start peaking in about 3-4 days. Maybe early next week? Texas will probably be another week or so behind (5-10 days).

After the South calms down, I'm assuming Great Lakes states would be the next. California is starting another wave too so we'll see how big that gets.

[Larkin90]

Well, now we know how the "school shooter" demographic feels about the vaccine

Funny enough, quite the opposite in fact. Each of the last two years before COVID, I partnered with local law enforcement and school officials to help develop their active-shooter response plans. Personally, I was out of school long before school shootings were ever a “thing”. I can only assume that distinction belongs to your generation.

Regardless of that, older guys with families, jobs, hobbies, good health, assets, etc probably don’t fit that demographic anyways. Being armed and willing to protect oneself and one’s family against hypothetical lynch-mobs is pretty standard fare American stuff and has been for generations.

It’s pretty interesting to watch the mind bending psychology at play though:

Person 1: “Do what I say, or I will hang you and your family from a noose at high-noon.”

Person 2: “If you do that, I am armed and I will defend myself.”

Person 1 + mob: “Gasp!!! He has a gun and would use it on an attacker?!?! He’s a horrible person!!! Terrorist!!!”

Person 2: “…….”

[Larkin90]

So we do have someone pop up here on RZ who has chosen not to be vaxed. I welcome the dissent. This place is not known for its wide range of opinions/views.

I respect your decision to decide for yourself what's to be injected in your body. Why have you decided to go maskless when there's a sign pretty much everywhere saying that unvaxed are required to wear masks? Have you already had Covid-19?

Edited to add: First of all, thank you for even bothering to ask about my reasons and for making an attempt at civil discussion. Even if we completely disagree with one another, I respect you for that. It’s pretty uncommon these days.

There’s no concise way to express my reasons for going un-masked, but I’ll do my best by just breaking it down into general bullet-points.

- The efficacy of the cloth & surgical style masks is dubious at best, even when worn properly.

- General observation reveals that, at least socially, wearing a mask is more about compliance than actually stopping transmission. ie: Wearing a mask improperly (such as under the nose) is almost always ignored, even in locations where being un-masked is considered completely unacceptable. Functionally, there is almost no difference.

- There is no logical exit strategy. This is a big one for me. When do we get to stop wearing them? Why do we get to stop wearing them? Many of the same arguments for wearing them right now could be applied indefinitely, even post-COVID. How many lives could we save by wearing them forever? How many flu deaths could we eliminate each year? If we can save even 1 life by doing something as simple as wearing a mask, is it not worth it? If we can save 100 lives? or 1,000? What’s the magic number of lives saved that decides when going maskless goes from being “selfish” to being ok? Countries like China have been wearing masks en masse for many years; why not us? I’m not doing that, so I’m forced to figure out the “when” and “why” of discontinued masking on my own.

- For religious reasons, I am strongly opposed to this particular “vaccine”. Unfortunately, mask wearing has become intertwined with the vaccine debate, with many arguing that the vaccinated should be able to remove their masks while the unvaccinated should have to continue wearing them…for the remainder of their lives. President Biden himself said, “the message is clear: get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.” I’d lay down my life before I’d take the vaccine, so I’m left in a situation where I’m either going to have to wear a mask forever or I’m going to have to break the rules. Given those options, I’ve decided to break the rules.

- The above being said, I do still wear a mask at times, when I think it makes sense. But in large public venues or in places where only “unvaccinated people must wear a mask”, it’s a big no from me.

I could go into a lot more detail over a beer or 2, but it’s pretty hard to type out.

[bing]

Edited to add: First of all, thank you for even bothering to ask about my reasons and for making an attempt at civil discussion. Even if we completely disagree with one another, I respect you for that. It’s pretty uncommon these days.

There’s no concise way to express my reasons for going un-masked, but I’ll do my best by just breaking it down into general bullet-points.

- The efficacy of the cloth & surgical style masks is dubious at best, even when worn properly.

- General observation reveals that, at least socially, wearing a mask is more about compliance than actually stopping transmission. ie: Wearing a mask improperly (such as under the nose) is almost always ignored, even in locations where being un-masked is considered completely unacceptable. Functionally, there is almost no difference.

- There is no logical exit strategy. This is a big one for me. When do we get to stop wearing them? Why do we get to stop wearing them? Many of the same arguments for wearing them right now could be applied indefinitely, even post-COVID. How many lives could we save by wearing them forever? How many flu deaths could we eliminate each year? If we can save even 1 life by doing something as simple as wearing a mask, is it not worth it? If we can save 100 lives? or 1,000? What’s the magic number of lives saved that decides when going maskless goes from being “selfish” to being ok? Countries like China have been wearing masks en masse for many years; why not us? I’m not doing that, so I’m forced to figure out the “when” and “why” of discontinued masking on my own.

- For religious reasons, I am strongly opposed to this particular “vaccine”. Unfortunately, mask wearing has become intertwined with the vaccine debate, with many arguing that the vaccinated should be able to remove their masks while the unvaccinated should have to continue wearing them…for the remainder of their lives. President Biden himself said, “the message is clear: get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.” I’d lay down my life before I’d take the vaccine, so I’m left in a situation where I’m either going to have to wear a mask forever or I’m going to have to break the rules. Given those options, I’ve decided to break the rules.

- The above being said, I do still wear a mask at times, when I think it makes sense. But in large public venues or in places where only “unvaccinated people must wear a mask”, it’s a big no from me.

I could go into a lot more detail over a beer or 2, but it’s pretty hard to type out.

What are your religious reasons against this vaccine? Does it apply to all of them that are currently available?

[Sea Ray]

Edited to add: First of all, thank you for even bothering to ask about my reasons and for making an attempt at civil discussion. Even if we completely disagree with one another, I respect you for that. It’s pretty uncommon these days.

There’s no concise way to express my reasons for going un-masked, but I’ll do my best by just breaking it down into general bullet-points.

- The efficacy of the cloth & surgical style masks is dubious at best, even when worn properly.

- General observation reveals that, at least socially, wearing a mask is more about compliance than actually stopping transmission. ie: Wearing a mask improperly (such as under the nose) is almost always ignored, even in locations where being un-masked is considered completely unacceptable. Functionally, there is almost no difference.

- There is no logical exit strategy. This is a big one for me. When do we get to stop wearing them? Why do we get to stop wearing them? Many of the same arguments for wearing them right now could be applied indefinitely, even post-COVID. How many lives could we save by wearing them forever? How many flu deaths could we eliminate each year? If we can save even 1 life by doing something as simple as wearing a mask, is it not worth it? If we can save 100 lives? or 1,000? What’s the magic number of lives saved that decides when going maskless goes from being “selfish” to being ok? Countries like China have been wearing masks en masse for many years; why not us? I’m not doing that, so I’m forced to figure out the “when” and “why” of discontinued masking on my own.

- For religious reasons, I am strongly opposed to this particular “vaccine”. Unfortunately, mask wearing has become intertwined with the vaccine debate, with many arguing that the vaccinated should be able to remove their masks while the unvaccinated should have to continue wearing them…for the remainder of their lives. President Biden himself said, “the message is clear: get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.” I’d lay down my life before I’d take the vaccine, so I’m left in a situation where I’m either going to have to wear a mask forever or I’m going to have to break the rules. Given those options, I’ve decided to break the rules.

- The above being said, I do still wear a mask at times, when I think it makes sense. But in large public venues or in places where only “unvaccinated people must wear a mask”, it’s a big no from me.

I could go into a lot more detail over a beer or 2, but it’s pretty hard to type out.

You bring up a great point about the exit strategy and our screwed up Press is not asking that question a lot. The answer being peddled back to us is "until the pandemic is over." Well what the hell does that mean? Variants of this are going to be hanging around for our entire lives. I'm not going to let this run my life.

I do wish for your own sake that you'd get the shots. I don't want to see you suffer from long covid or any of these miserable side effects

In case you haven't noticed, dissent is not handled well around here. Be prepared to be called every name in the book in an attempt to run you off. Your words will be mischaracterized and endless strawmen will be paraded. In some cases others will outright lie about what you type. I respect your courage

[Falls City Beer]

You bring up a great point about the exit strategy and our screwed up Press is not asking that question a lot. The answer being peddled back to us is "until the pandemic is over." Well what the hell does that mean? Variants of this are going to be hanging around for our entire lives. I'm not going to let this run my life.

I do wish for your own sake that you'd get the shots. I don't want to see you suffer from long covid or any of these miserable side effects

In case you haven't noticed, dissent is not handled well around here. Be prepared to be called every name in the book in an attempt to run you off. Your words will be mischaracterized and endless strawmen will be paraded. In some cases others will outright lie about what you type. I respect your courage

Indeed.

[Sea Ray]

Indeed.

You too have shown much courage. I think just minutes ago someone here called you a troll. I think it's safe to say you and I are not ideologically aligned but I'm glad you're here and that you express your point of view without attacking others personally. The political section is a better place with you here. We need more of what you bring to the forum

[Falls City Beer]

You too have shown much courage. I think just minutes ago someone here called you a troll. I think it's safe to say you and I are not ideologically aligned but I'm glad you're here and that you express your point of view without attacking others personally. The political section is a better place with you here. We need more of what you bring to the forum

Agreed. I’m fine with differences. I just don’t have patience for the hardline bullying and dogpiling that goes on. Because, fundamentally, it’s just lazy.

[Sea Ray]

Agreed. I’m fine with differences. I just don’t have patience for the hardline bullying and dogpiling that goes on. Because, fundamentally, it’s just lazy.

Here, here

[SteelSD]

Me, after wading through Page 14...



And that ain't mud, folks.

[Boston Red]

So how do we deal with the racial disparities in vaccination rates in urban areas (like NYC) where proof of vaccination status is going to start being required more and more places? Facially neutral laws can still be discriminatory if there is a disparate impact on different racial groups.

[SteelSD]

So how do we deal with the racial disparities in vaccination rates in urban areas (like NYC) where proof of vaccination status is going to start being required more and more places? Facially neutral laws can still be discriminatory if there is a disparate impact on different racial groups.

Are you suggesting that different groups will have more or less of an opportunity to become vaccinated?

If not, I don't think you have much of a case, counselor.

[Boston Red]

Are you suggesting that different groups will have more or less of an opportunity to become vaccinated?

If not, I don't think you have much of a case, counselor.

You don't think it's going to be a problem, for example, if black kids are kept out of schools at disproportionately higher rates than their white peers?

[SteelSD]

You don't think it's going to be a problem, for example, if black kids are kept out of schools at disproportionately higher rates than their white peers?

Are there circumstances in play other than a choice to be non-compliant with rules in place for all students?