Coronavirus 6: The Plague of Delta

[47of74]

49 minutes ago, clueliss said:

Meanwhile in Missouri the AG has filed suit against the Columbia MO public school system and I think the superintendent or school board president for having a mask mandate at the school.  

I am sorely tempted to tweet my former work and ask now do you see why I didn’t want to move to Columbia?  

[clueliss]

Columbia isn’t the problem, it’s the Trump rural parts of the state that is the issue.  

[WiseGirl]

"Pro life" my ass.

 

[church_of_dog]

7 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I haven’t been paying too much attention to booster shots, other than I’ve read that they are being made available to certain groups and I’ll be eligible towards the end of the year.  We were surprised that two of our neighbors, one who is 90 and another aged 37 (autoimmune condition) have already received boosters.

I haven’t received any official notifications on the topic of boosters, like I did with the initial vaccination.  Has anyone here gotten any notifications?  Just curious.  I know it’s too early for a booster in my case. 

My county public health office has posted a notice on their fb page saying boosters are now available for immunocompromised folks.

One of our community's first responders, for whom it's been the recommended 8 months since his vaccine, asked about getting a booster and was told "right now it's just for immunocompromised folks".

I won't hit 8 months post shot #2 until December, so I don't know if they will actually reach out individually to contact people or not.

8 minutes ago, WiseGirl said:

"Pro life" my ass.

 

I really want to see mass threats of resignation from teachers, administrators, company employees, service technicians, etc whenever a bureaucrat threatens to ban individual school districts, companies, or service entities from requiring proof of vaccine for their users if they want to.

I don't know how else to force them to back down.  I would absolutely move to another state if I was in their position. 

[Coconut Flan]

9 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I haven’t received any official notifications on the topic of boosters, like I did with the initial vaccination.  Has anyone here gotten any notifications?  Just curious.  I know it’s too early for a booster in my case. 

The only notification I had was the alert on the local health department page and that I was following the news.  Based on the news following, I'd already asked the doctor in advance so took myself in.  My neighbors are trying to decide if they'll wait for their health system to notify them or just take themselves off to a pharmacy when the regular boosters are approved.  Their health system notified them to get vaccinated three months after they were done last spring.  

[Smash!]

My mom can‘t get vaccinated due to being sick with ME/CFS and because of that is also high risk for becoming severely ill if she catches Covid.

My dad is very outgoing and meeting with people and doing something is his lifeline. For 1.5 years I told him on and on to be careful and not catch Covid because I don‘t want my mom to be dead. It‘s been a struggle to say the least because he wants  - understandably - to go out and see his friends. But at the same time he thinks he has a very good immune system and the virus couldn‘t make him very ill. When I mention mom he accuses me of having too much anxiety over losing her.

He got vaccinated a few months ago and I thought I could finally exhale. But Delta had other plans and our cases are rising fast. It was never more dangerous for an unvaccinated person to catch Covid than now and the coming Fall.

I just don‘t know how to explain to him that he has to be careful again? He’s vaccinated but breakthrough infections happen. But will he understand this? Apparently he doesn’t even think that his wife could get seriously ill, all that counts is his own freedoms.

[47of74]

RuPaul has some excellent advice for anti mask idiots traveling on planes. 

Quote

“If you don’t own the plane, you don’t make the rules,” RuPaul said. “That’s right. So, put your mask on, watch the ‘Boss Baby’ and shut the fuck up, bitch!”

 

[therulesofjinx]

My fiance is having surgery (to be scheduled sometime in the next 1-2 months) to remove a tumor on a nerve behind his ear (not in his brain, but super close). It's not emergent, but obviously something that should be removed and it's better to do it while the tumor is small and he's fairly young. We have both been fully vaccinated since early June, and vaccination rates in our state hit 85.7% this week (people who have received at least one dose), but we are both working in-person (he's been in-person pretty much full-time all along; I just went back to the office a few weeks ago), and now I'm scared of one or both of us getting sick and it delaying his surgery. The anticipation of the surgery is quite anxiety producing and I just want it scheduled and done so he can start recovery. When his surgery gets scheduled, he'll need to get a negative covid test three days prior and then quarantine- and I plan to do that as well. It's not helping my state of mind that students are moving in today at the University where I work....lots of people from out of state walking around. Students were required to be fully vaccinated to come to school this fall and they all need to take a covid test when they arrive on-campus - in addition to masks being required inside all building-but school administration is expecting around 100 students will show up and get positive tests. Quarantine housing is set and ready to go. Blargh.

[Coconut Flan]

More explanation of the white evangelical Republican fatal combination pack for vaccine resistance:  

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-some-white-evangelical-republicans-are-so-opposed-to-the-covid-19-vaccine/

 

Quote

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that most white evangelical Republicans, and Republicans in general, disagreed with our question about the Golden Rule, that “because getting vaccinated against COVID-19 helps protect everyone, it is a way to live out the religious principle of loving my neighbors” (57 percent and 58 percent, respectively). This may be because for some white evangelicals and Republicans, politics and religion are inseparable — and God’s will, or their interpretation of it, controls everything.

 

[Howl]

 

[47of74]

American confirmed what it considers most of its customers.  Steerage. 

Quote

American Airlines has announced that, as of last week, their ban on in-flight alcohol has been extended through January 18, 2022. The kicker, though, is that there is one major exception to the ban — and it has to do with where on the plane you’re sitting.

But the ban only seems to apply to those flying economy. Per American Airlines’ website, first class passengers will still be able to enjoy full beverage service, including alcohol on all flights. The message seems to be that economy-level passengers are more of a liability in the air, and subsequently not entitled to full beverage service.

To be clear, we understand that the ban of in-flight alcohol comes out of necessity. For starters, the end of the ban is directly linked to the expiration of the federal mask mandate for air travel, which was also recently extended through January 2022. On top of that, the FAA has received a record number of reports (nearly 4,000 in fact) regarding unsavory behavior by passengers, with offenses ranging everywhere from throwing luggage at other passengers and violently refusing mask mandates to sexually assaulting flight attendants, with proposed fines topping more than $1 million on the year. It stands to reason that removing alcohol from the equation will serve to de-escalate the already-turbulent situation. 

But the optics of banning in-flight alcohol exclusively for economy passengers are admittedly not very good. It doesn’t appear that American Airlines has commented any further on the matter, though perhaps it has not yet occurred to them that people who can afford first-class seats are just as capable of wreaking drunken havoc as the people who can’t … especially when you consider that the former group are drinking for free. And ultimately, that’s probably what this decision comes down to: after a tough year for the airline industry, no one wants to alienate the most lucrative and loyal group of customers in the friendly skies. First-class flyers are often also frequent, expense-account-backed flyers, and if they can’t have a drink on American, they may take their business elsewhere.

There’s good reason to ban alcohol on flights in an age of dipshits acting out on flights.  And I’m usually not having anything harder than a Diet Coke when flying considering how much they want for booze. But I think this is a giant fuck you to the majority of their passengers.  If you’re gonna keep the ban it should apply equally to all and not just steerage. 

[Cartmann99]

Unrolled version can be found here.

[Ali]

14 hours ago, Howl said:

 

This is what needs to be pushed to increase vaccination rates!

[Cartmann99]

Quote

Earlier this week, leaders at NRB, an international association of Christian communicators with 1,100 member organizations, told Darling his statements violated the organization’s policy of remaining neutral about COVID-19 vaccines. According to the source, Darling was given two options — recant or sign a statement admitting he had been insubordinate.

When he refused, Darling was fired and given no severance, the source told RNS.

 

[Coconut Flan]

These people are pushing themselves farther and farther away from the basic tenets of Christianity.  I'm not even sure what to call them any more.  

[Smash!]

6 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

These people are pushing themselves farther and farther away from the basic tenets of Christianity.  I'm not even sure what to call them any more.  

(Christian) Extremists.

[47of74]

Meanwhile in Texas a veteran died of a treatable issue because the icu beds are full. 

Quote

When U.S. Army veteran Daniel Wilkinson started feeling sick last week, he went to the hospital in Bellville, Texas, outside Houston. His health problem wasn't related to COVID-19, but Wilkinson needed advanced care, and with the coronavirus filling up intensive care beds, he couldn't get it in time to save his life.

"He loved his country," his mother, Michelle Puget, told "CBS This Morning" lead national correspondent David Begnaud. "He served two deployments in Afghanistan, came home with a Purple Heart, and it was a gallstone that took him out."

Roughly 24 hours after he walked into the emergency room, Daniel Wilkinson died at the age of 46.

Kakli told Begnaud that if it weren't for the COVID crisis, the procedure for Wilkinson would have taken 30 minutes, and he'd have been back out the door.  

 

[Smash!]

Sorry @47of74 for the disgust reaction. It makes me sick to know that in certain areas they can‘t even provide basic care which in my opinion is a gall stone removal that takes 30mins. The GOP is a fucking extremist party and Abott, De Santis and others belong to jail. 

[47of74]

37 minutes ago, Smash! said:

Sorry @47of74 for the disgust reaction. It makes me sick to know that in certain areas they can‘t even provide basic care which in my opinion is a gall stone removal that takes 30mins. The GOP is a fucking extremist party and Abott, De Santis and others belong to jail. 

No problem.  This needs to be talked about far and wide.  Disgust is the least of what I feel too for the likes of Abott, DeSatan, Covid Kim, and Covid Kristi.  Because of all this anti-vax fuck stickery Mr. Wilkinson probably won't be the last to die of something easily treatable because all the beds are taken up by anti-vax asswipes.

[Becky]

Oh my heart- gallstones. He died of gallstones because selfish, stupid people are taking up space in hospitals. How heartbreaking and tragic. This should not be happening! It makes me so angry.  

Mr Becky recently required emergency lifesaving surgery. Luckily we live in a state with sensible governance and hospitals that are not overwhelmed.  He was able to be treated. 
If he had been turned away because all the beds were taken up with anti-vaxxers, he would have died, and all the precautions we have taken would be in vain, so this hits very close to home for me. 
 

[Cartmann99]

Brother and sister banned from high school for not wearing masks

Quote

The father of two high school students in California says his children are being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs after they refused to wear masks on the first day of school and are now banned from campus.

“They were sent home and told not to come back with or without a mask,” said Gary Nelson, whose children, Drew, 17, and Victoria, 16, attend the Springs Charter Schools Temecula Student Center. “If they do, they would be charged with trespassing.”

Nelson said Drew, a senior, and Victoria, a junior, were booted from the campus on Aug. 19 when they declined to wear masks because of their religious beliefs.

“The Bible says we’re made in the image of God and Satan tries to cover that up. A mask is a sign of oppression,” Nelson said Thursday. “If it was Muslim, Jewish or something of a more high-profile minority religion in this country, yes, they would have accommodated ... just to say they weren’t discriminating based on that religion. But they feel safe because it’s Christianity.”

Refusal to wear a mask is not a tenet of the Christian faith.

Nelson said that his children were not expelled, that they have access to schoolwork and that they were told they could continue their studies at home online but that teachers have not been responsive to their needs.

He declined to answer whether his children have been vaccinated. He said they excel academically and are college-bound.

 

[church_of_dog]

I can't really call it good news, but I cheered for this guy:

https://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-professor-resigns-mid-class-after-student-refuses-to-wear-mask/article_598ba244-077b-11ec-ba9b-cb3534ab07cc.html

As the link suggests, a professor resigned mid-class after a student repeatedly refused to properly wear a mask, even after the prof explained he was medically high risk.

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

He declined to answer whether his children have been vaccinated. He said they excel academically and are college-bound.

Not if those colleges require vaccinations and masks they aren't!

[Coconut Flan]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/liberty-university-virginia-orders-campus-wide-quarantine-amid-covid-spike-n1277865

Still learning the hard way that precautions against COVID are really necessary.  

[Knight of Ni]

Found out this weekend thar my cousin's daughter has Covid. I'm honestly surprised it took this long considering how lax that household was towards social distancing and masks. It was just so unfair when all the restaurants were closed and they couldn't eat out. 

I was talking to my mom about it and I think the old leper colonies should be reopened and used to house the antivaxxers.