How can there not be a COVID-19 thread?

[Alli]

I finally blew up in public yesterday. Some lady came in to the shop where I was getting a manicure. Her first time there and in a very loud voice told her entire life story to her technician. I dislike loud people to start with. Somehow she started talking about Covid and how stupid the vaccines were because she knew people who got the vaccine and had terrible cases and multiple times, whereas people she knew with no vaccine either had no Covid or mild cases.

Ok, I can ignore that. But then she started on how it was unfair for the government to require people to take the vaccine and how they’d never done that before. I turned around and said “do you not remember polio, lady?!” Her response was “it wasn’t mandatory.” “Yes it was,” said I. “Well, only for children,” she huffed.

At least she spoke quietly from then on.

 

[Nycturne]

She can go to hell. The vaccine very likely kept me out of the hospital with my recent bout, and I lost extended family to Covid as the vaccine was first rolling out (they caught it literally a couple days before their jab). I don't have any patience at this point for anti-vax types.

Yeah, I get some of it, but it's a novel virus. We aren't going to know exactly how it will mutate, which means vaccine effectiveness will be hard to predict over the long term. If we want to reduce suffering from this novel virus, the vaccine is the cheapest way to do it right now.

 

[Eric]

I finally blew up in public yesterday. Some lady came in to the shop where I was getting a manicure. Her first time there and in a very loud voice told her entire life story to her technician. I dislike loud people to start with. Somehow she started talking about Covid and how stupid the vaccines were because she knew people who got the vaccine and had terrible cases and multiple times, whereas people she knew with no vaccine either had no Covid or mild cases.

Ok, I can ignore that. But then she started on how it was unfair for the government to require people to take the vaccine and how they’d never done that before. I turned around and said “do you not remember polio, lady?!” Her response was “it wasn’t mandatory.” “Yes it was,” said I. “Well, only for children,” she huffed.

At least she spoke quietly from then on.

People like that (Trumpers and antivaxxers) are the rudest, loudest, and most outspoken people. Why they are simply incapable of keeping their loud ass ignorant comments to themselves is beyond me, it's the one commonality I've noticed with nearly all of them. You've never seen a more self-serving group of fascists.

It's okay to have a different opinion than others and not blast on 10 to everyone within earshot.

 

[Deleted member 215]

New York state supreme court re-hires workers fired for not complying with vaccine mandates and orders back-pay:

NY Supreme Court reinstates fired sanitation workers who did not comply with NYC vaccine mandate

A New York State judge reinstated 16 fired sanitation workers who did not comply with New York City's vaccination mandate issued in October 2021, deciding they should also get back pay.

abc7chicago.com

From the ruling: "There is nothing in the record to support the rationality of keeping a vaccination mandate for public employees, while vacating the mandate for private sector employees or creating a carveout for certain professions, like athletes, artists and performers. This is clearly an arbitrary and capricious action because we are dealing with identical unvaccinated people being treated differently by the same administrative agency."

 

[Herdfan]

New York state supreme court re-hires workers fired for not complying with vaccine mandates and orders back-pay:

NY Supreme Court reinstates fired sanitation workers who did not comply with NYC vaccine mandate

A New York State judge reinstated 16 fired sanitation workers who did not comply with New York City's vaccination mandate issued in October 2021, deciding they should also get back pay.

abc7chicago.com

From the ruling: "There is nothing in the record to support the rationality of keeping a vaccination mandate for public employees, while vacating the mandate for private sector employees or creating a carveout for certain professions, like athletes, artists and performers. This is clearly an arbitrary and capricious action because we are dealing with identical unvaccinated people being treated differently by the same administrative agency."

That has to hurt.

And then there's this from Jake Tapper (seems he is wanting to keep his job at CNN):

"I have to say I'm surprised that there hasn't been a national conversation about the damage done to kids because of these school closures and the virtual learning and everything," he said on Friday's "CNN Tonight."

Well duh! Pretty sure Republicans have been saying that since the first school closed. Here is a clue Jake, the Dems don't want to have a national conversation around it because they caved to the teacher's unions who were pushing the closures. If Randi Weingarten had her way, schools would still be closed.

 

[Deleted member 215]

Yep. News stories have been making the rounds across the country about the dismal test scores among K-12 children as a result of pandemic closures (with some media outlets reluctant to blame the closures themselves for the drop in performance, even though the causal link is plainly obvious to most of us). We decided as a society to sacrifice our children to protect teachers and older people. Some are just now starting to question if that was the right decision.

 

[Herdfan]

Yep. News stories have been making the rounds across the country about the dismal test scores among K-12 children as a result of pandemic closures

Not only that, but the socialization they missed. The wife in our best couple friend's is a 5th grade teacher. She sees every day. She now has the kids who were in 2nd and 3rd grades for the closures and she can tell they have missed something in the way they interact with each other. It's sad really.

I understand protecting older people like grandparents who might have to watch the kids after school, but to possibly sacrifice all the kid's futures to possibly protect a few grandparents seems a bit off.

 

[Alli]

Well duh! Pretty sure Republicans have been saying that since the first school closed. Here is a clue Jake, the Dems don't want to have a national conversation around it because they caved to the teacher's unions who were pushing the closures. If Randi Weingarten had her way, schools would still be closed.

That’s the exact statement we make about having a national conversation around gun violence.

Yep. News stories have been making the rounds across the country about the dismal test scores among K-12 children as a result of pandemic closures (with some media outlets reluctant to blame the closures themselves for the drop in performance, even though the causal link is plainly obvious to most of us). We decided as a society to sacrifice our children to protect teachers and older people. Some are just now starting to question if that was the right decision.

Do we get to put any blame on parents? Cause most of them disappeared during pandemic schooling, and left their kids in front of a screen, never checking to see if their children were engaging or doing any work (and yes, I have the research to back that up). Schools were not closed to protect teachers - teachers still had to show up to school every day that schools were “closed.” And the schools that reopened after only 8-9 weeks (I know it seemed longer, but that’s all it was), then had to cater to students at home and in the building. Many parents chose to keep their children home because the children were/are as at much risk as any adult. A large number of the parents who kept their children out of school did NOT keep their children away from their friends.

 

[Herdfan]

That’s the exact statement we make about having a national conversation around gun violence.

That's fair. The problem with the gun debate is those in the middle either stay out or are shut out. So you end up with one side that wants no guns ownership vs the other side that wants no restrictions.

Plus, there is some stupidity with some of the proposed regulations. Prohibiting a grenade launcher on an AR? Really. Have launched grenades been a problem I have been unaware of?

Do we get to put any blame on parents? Schools were not closed to protect teachers - teachers still had to show up to school every day that schools were “closed.” And the schools that reopened after only 8-9 weeks (I know it seemed longer, but that’s all it was), then had to cater to students at home and in the building. Many parents chose to keep their children home because the children were/are as at much risk as any adult. A large number of the parents who kept their children out of school did NOT keep their children away from their friends.

Oh hell no. In the fall of '20 we were working in this one neighborhood with lots of families. Seems like they all stayed in during the morning, but after lunch they were all out playing basketball or riding bikes. Certainly not staying away from each other.

And let's face it, some parents use the school system as a babysitter and as long as their mouth breather isn't failing or getting into real trouble, they really don't care.

Cause most of them disappeared during pandemic schooling, and left their kids in front of a screen, never checking to see if their children were engaging or doing any work (and yes, I have the research to back that up).

The corollary to this is parents who did the kid's work. Our friend who teaches 5th grade called out a parent for doing the work and when the parent tried to deny it, she told them she could see that the account was logged into a 12:30am. So was your 5th grader awake at 12:30? Busted.

 

[DT]

@Alli

Yeah, it's interesting that all our close friends - who followed the proper Covid guidance/subject matter experts, with regards to schooling, masking, social distancing and vaccinations - have children (of various ages) that are just fine, who are excelling academically and are socially adjusted, i.e., they're engaged with life, laugh, play, have friends, date [where applicable], participate in clubs, are class reps/student council, involved in sports.

There's some common background, ideology, etc., running through our peers, I suspect it was less about the children than it was about the parents.

 

[Herdfan]

There's some common background, ideology, etc., running through our peers, I suspect it was less about the children than it was about the parents.

That is a common theme regardless of the situation. Involved parents produce better kids.

 

[Alli]

That is a common theme regardless of the situation. Involved parents produce better kids.

And that’s a fact! I won’t continue here since parent involvement/engagement during Covid was my dissertation so I’d bore you to death. But this comment nails it.

 

[Eric]

China is getting serious about a lockdown.

 

[Cmaier]

China is getting serious about a lockdown.

You Know, there are some days where i really wish i had an isolation pod.

 

[Herdfan]

China is getting serious about a lockdown.

And the citizens are getting fed up with it.

China protests grow as years of anger at Xi's Covid policies erupt

Xi Jinping began his historic third term as Chinese leader a month ago with barely a whisper of protest, but that masked anger which has been growing for years and has now exploded into protest.

www.dailymail.co.uk

How it turns out will all depend on how far the government is willing to go. They can't kill or jail everyone.

 

[Eric]

And the citizens are getting fed up with it.

China protests grow as years of anger at Xi's Covid policies erupt

Xi Jinping began his historic third term as Chinese leader a month ago with barely a whisper of protest, but that masked anger which has been growing for years and has now exploded into protest.

www.dailymail.co.uk

How it turns out will all depend on how far the government is willing to go. They can't kill or jail everyone.

They're saying this is the biggest protest since Tiananmen Square, which was a brutal and ugly takedown of citizens and if these continue we may be looking at the same thing. Whatever the case I say power to the people, even by the most most strict standards we've ever had it was never anything like China.

 

[ronntaylor]

China is getting serious about a lockdown.

Expanding lockdowns after successfully using these tactics on the Uyghurs for years. Those so-called hospitals that Xi had built in a matter days at the beginning of The Pandemic were just detention pods. They went from live cams broadcasting the buildup and then poof, nada.