Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

We actually agree here.

Franklin Graham was incredibly eloquent in his plea months ago for Christians to get vaccinated.

His thoughtful position was that Christ always put others before Himself and that getting the shot was akin to loving your neighbor in the way Christ would desire.

It certainly resonated with me and millions like me.

 

I don't fault you for your sympathy. It is admirable, and is the Christian path (I'm not Christian but I got exposed to enough of it growing up in the church to understand it).

At the risk of being provocative, how much of the sympathy is because many of these people are people you may otherwise be like or identify with? Would your level of sympathy be the same for others who make deliberately poor choices that you may identify less with? I'm not suggesting anything nefarious here. It is natural to have more sympathy to people we otherwise identify with.

 

I don't do so lightly. This isnt just some political issue with differing opinions and abstract consequences.

In fact, there are no names and insults. Only pointing out lies, and the poster is a liar. This is demonstrably true. I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.

 

Weirdly almost everyone I know has been vaccinated. My entire staff of 26 have been at this point. My parents have been for months. No one in my house is against it obviously. A few family and friends are somewhat hesitant though none are even remotely militant about it. I would say roughly half of my closest circle have had covid at this point. Not many deniers to be found.

No, its just how I am wired these days.
I was once a warhawking, fry 'em in ole sparky kind of republican.

Then my faith really sunk its claws into me.

Jesus died for the worst of the worst. He claimed he would leave the safe 99 to go find the one lost sheep.

I started to realize that me rooting against that one lost sheep was a bad way to live my faith.

 

It simply violates the rules. I am throwing everyone a bone here.
My comfort has nothing to do with it.

If you would prefer that we start turning posts to swiss cheese than OK, but I'd rather us not have to on such an important point.

 

The young woman is the nurse that works with my sister. I can't imagine what she is going through right now. I imagine her Dad (if he's even conscious right now) is really regretting not getting vaccinated. I know his daughter sure wishes he did.

 

Update on Grandma: she has a large saddle PE (which is pretty rare) but luckily her heart is very strong. They have her on a heparin drip and will likely send her home tomorrow if her vitals stay the way they are. Apparently after her cancer treatment her oncologist/hematologist felt she no longer needed to be on Eliquis. Well, that was a mistake. She will be on it for the rest of her days so hopefully we won't have to deal with this ever again.

 

If someone is going to post harmful lies, I'm going to respond. I'm just sick of this nonsense. I would think others would be too. It's an embassment for the site. I'm not saying it has to be censored, but censoring responses to such disinformation seems uneven.

They are lies. There is no debate to that. People who regularly and routinely disseminate lies are liars.

Do with that what you will.

 

This kind of confused me:

Is there a 2 week delay to get the vaccine?

Nonetheless tragic. I hope for her sake he pulls through. It is just heartbreaking hearing these stories over and over again.

 

Duke U gonna can any employee who doesn't get vaccinated during their grace period.

 

I am not a huge fan of this. I like the Delta Airline approach better. I understand this approach in hospitals, but not other businesses. I also wonder what the limits are here. Do they come back in 6 months and say everyone who is morbidly obese is fired unless you drop 25 lbs ASAP?

 

That’s not a good analogy. Obesity is not contagious.

 

I somewhat agree, but schools (like hospitals) also traditionally have vaccination checks (at least for students who have to enroll with their vaccination record). So it isn’t that far fetched for a university to
do this.

Basically, if they are going to require students, how can they NOT expect the same of staff?

I’ve been surprised by some other big companies mandating it. Probably a good thing in this instance, but the “slippery slope” argument is there no doubt.

 

Well since the 'we told you so' twitter media doesn't bleet on constantly about all the thousands of black antivaxxer biden voters dying and leaving thieir kids without parents on an hourly basis, the antivaxxer trumpers are all they're left with to make fun of.

 

In some instances; how many people did the anti vaxxers take with them? Either influencing others by radio or other forms of persuasion; or directly infecting others? Just something to consider where some might be coming from.

I agree, don’t besmirch anyone after their passing. It’s not the best thing to do.

 

That would be great if this were the Flu where you are only infectious once symptomatic. Unfortuantely, this disease does not work this way and you are infectious before you know that you are sick.

Just curious, but why are you fighting so hard against common sense in this case? It is not as if this is some major sacrafice or hardship or even risks harm to people like the vaccines potentially might. Further, it is not as if we are making outlandish claims about a mask being some impenetrable wall of protection. However, there are countless investigations that show that if everyone were masked up, the ability to spread this disease is reduced.

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118

Here is the thing about a "PCR based trial study for mask effectiveness", I am not sure how you would ethically create a control group for such a study to understand the efficacy? In fact, I am not even sure how you would design an experiment even without the control group. Indirect, epidemiological data/investigations seem like the best way to determine this.....which is what we have been doing.

 

The disease is irrelevant. The question stands, what limits on your personal health care choices are there....if any.....to employer mandates? I am not even saying that Duke is wrong....just saying I do not like this approach. I find that it will do more harm than good and create greater divide and resistance, as opposed to finding ways to get everyone to get vaccinated.

 

Demonstrate the same compassion for these people that you wish for the anti-vaxers and anti-maskers to have for others.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Great take. I hope people remember how firmly entrenched they are in their views on this issue so that they can have a better perspective of "the other side" when a different issue pops up and they switch hats. Lots of hardened hearts on both ends of the spectrum from what I see.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

The stance from Duke seems a little harsh, I agree, but the disease is relevant and it ties to your second sentence. The limits seem to be when your personal health choices can kill others.