We’re not all Florida because most states don’t have pro-death Republican governors mandating no mask mandates.
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We’re not all Florida because most states don’t have pro-death Republican governors mandating no mask mandates.
States with a high percentage of vaccinated citizens, mask requirements, and public spaces requiring proof of vaccination shouldn't end up like Florida. We've had a spike, but nothing catastrophic. So far.
But even the high percentage may not be that high.Quote:
States with a high percentage of vaccinated citizens, mask requirements, and public spaces requiring proof of vaccination shouldn't end up like Florida.
I mean Florida 50% or so vaccinated. California 54%.
Part of the problem is these numbers include kids who can't get vaccinated (numbers excluding kids are higher for any state). Sure California may be a blue state, and FL has De Santis but the percentages may not be that different. Do many public spaces anywhere require proof of vaccination? A few bars as far as I can tell. But some jobs esp government are requiring it.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.co...-march-15.html
But major population centers have more vaccination? Major population centers in Florida do too, Miami-Dade county for instance as far as I am able to tell.
San Francisco and NYC are requiring vaccines to do most indoor stuff in public. And in SF masks are mandated in all indoor public spaces. It will be interesting to watch how they compare to other large cities where people have the ‘freedom’ to not make any effort to protect other people from a deadly pandemic. *
*Perhaps someone smarter than me can explain the point in time when freedom came to mean ‘not having to do things that are for the good of society at large’. Or has freedom always meant that but we’re just at a point in time where being antisocial is a more acceptable behavior than it once was?
A difference in Florida is the whole state attracts tourists. Theme parks, beaches, golf and so on. Since there are no masking requirements and it is easy for east coasters to drive here, we get a lot of visitors. Planes are flying in from international destinations and Orlando airport is as busy as ever. Cruise ships are sailing in and out or have plans to shortly resume. The Governor has forbidden cruise ships to require masks, although one cruise line, I believe Celebrity has fought it successfully (so far).
so who do you think is likely to come here? Some will who think Covid-19 is a hoax, vaccine deniers and conspiracy theorists come to my mind. Many of the super careful who adhere to CDC guidelines will avoid us like the plague.
So throw all these ingredients together and you have a stew waiting to boil over.
and by the way, you just cannot decide to show up to a hospital and decide you want to check in. When hospitals are full to capacity, it is almost like death panels that Palin warned us about. Ironically they have been set in motion not by the ACA, but an unpredictable virus and some people and politicians not even trying to avoid infection. When there are not enough beds and providers it is a constant juggling act to treat as many people as safely as possible. But human beings are just that. You cannot clone physicians and nurses, EMT’s, medicines, ventilators etc. remember at the height of NY city Covid crisis? People would call 911 and it would take considerable time for them to get there. Just not enough ambulance and staff, and ambulances waiting to offload at packed hospitals, to meet the need.
My grandchildren here go back to school August 31. Right now, they are masking indoors but not outside on the playground.
Honestly, I think by September they will send them home and go remote again, if the numbers continue to rise. Last year the parents could choose all remote, and many did. My granddaughter went 2 days a week remote, 2 days in person, then back all days in the classroom for the last 6 weeks.
My mom's nursing home just reported a case in the rehab center, a fully vaccinated patient who caught it from a healthcare worker at the hospital, prior to admission. So they are under 14 days quarantine again.
Since I am a big believer in online learning (that's how I teach) and very concerned with the unvaccinated children, I am fine with them coming home to learn if need be. Not thrilled, of course, but I am very worried about the little ones getting this Delta variant.
I guess you know more than the reporters at the health care facilities in Florida talking to the health care administrators. Let me guess - you're getting your information from a self-styled expert who lives isolated in a pod on an island off the coast of Washington state. Because he knows everything.Quote:
Originally Posted by flowerseverywhere
Thank you, flowers, for sharing your personal experience and giving us a window into what is actually going on it Florida.
I think the more we can pool information of what we are actually seeing across the country, the better informed we will all be. That's why I am sharing what is going on here in Maine, where we are 80% vaccinated. But the two latest shut-downs of Mom's facility have been breakthrough cases in vaccinated people.
Maine also contact traces and quarantines the sick for 14 days and the exposed for 10 days.
When Covid first made news back in Feb/March 2020 and schools had to scramble to do virtual learning, my youngest would only do certain assignments because he figured they'd never fail kids because online learning was thrown together. I got on him and told him to not be so sure and to do his work. Kept getting updates from the school that he wasn't turning in assignments. Got home from work to see him playing on the computer. Went "mock 1" on him and made him cry (He was 15/16 at the time). Told him to get his *** upstairs and do his work. He literally spent the last day getting everything caught up. Went from F's to A's in literally 8 hours.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
This last school year when schools had the opportunity to get virtual learning plan in place, things were a complete 180. He stayed on top of his work and got straight A's the entire year. (He is normally a straight A student so that is also why I got so mad at him copping out of not doing his work before). If he could stay virtual this year, I would be all for it. He didn't have to get up at 5am to catch the bus. There was plenty of downtime during the day to get work done. But this will be his Senior year and I am happy that he will get to have a normal one in person with his peers. But.... I have a feeling that come December, things will change and they will go back 100% virtual. I don't know why because Covid rates have been pretty much null since Covid first started. I know people where I live are against getting vaccinated and I suspect that schools will use that as the reason to go virtual again.
I agree--it's just a feeling I have too, not exactly based on logic, just spidey-sense that they may go remote again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Klunick
I hope not for his sake, senior year is so cool. But they might graduate them early or something, too....
Last year because schools were partly in person, Seniors were able to have a graduation ceremony. They held it at the school on the football field. Normally parents have to drive almost an hour away to an arena for the ceremony. School said it worked out so well that they may continue it at the school from now on. Works for me! 10 minute drive compared to an hour drive. My oldest graduated in 2019 and he was so happy that he did instead of having graduation taken away from him like the kids in 2020.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
This is how Medicare works - you show up at the ER and there's nothing wrong with you. Medicare will not pay the ER charges.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
You are admitted "for observation" for 24+ hours and Medicare will pay.
Faced with a patient who cannot or will not pay the ER out of pocket charges, or admitting them to get the Medicare reimbursement, which route do you think a for profit hospital is going to take?
I just put a poster on ignore. What a nice feeling not to be bullied.
let us all hope that this virus gets under control, because after 18 months of this I hope it is not the new normal.
I also hope a family wedding goes as planned on November. They actually married shortly after the virus started, with parents, grandparents and siblings only present, but would love to have their party.
in the meantime, unless,I have something helpful to add, I think I’ll stick to the other threads. My mental health is very important to me and I am so incredibly sad by the disease and death around me. Arguing about it adds to the sadness.
I will reciprocate and put you on ignore.Quote:
Originally Posted by flowerseverywhere
If dubious information being questioned is bullying, and facts uncovered by reporters are denied as fake news, Lord help us all. Part of the culture of victimization I guess.
Reno is a big tourist destination. We have a mask mandate and most people are following it. Flowers, I laughed when I read the ridiculous statement that seniors that weren’t sick were going to the ER. If anything seniors are putting off medical care as no one wants to be around the virus. I appreciate hearing first hand what’s going on by you.
"An individual with hypochondriasis is known as a hypochondriac. Hypochondriacs become unduly alarmed about any physical or psychological symptoms they detect, no matter how minor the symptom may be, and are convinced that they have, or are about to be diagnosed with, a serious illness [such as covid-19]". I added the words in brackets.
Well, aren't you precious?....Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
Oh, here's a picture of a nice pod, T18, I saw right off my beach just this week:
https://i.imgur.com/uPZx8nN.jpg
And a fellow observer:
https://i.imgur.com/PQZCRe6.jpg
How beautiful they are!
Nice, bae!!!
bae, is the totem pole in the picture also an eagle? I can't quite make out the carving(s).
Wow. Afghanistan has ~2% of the population vaccinated....
This should go well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bae
If that percentage is the Taliban, that could be a benefit.:~)
Bae, the pictures are really beautiful!!
Sara Palins death panels coming soon.
Icu’s in :
Alabama 100% occupied,
Georgia 92%
Florida 93.2%
Mississippi 92%
Texas and Kentucky over 90%
In the meantime people still have strokes, heart attacks, fall down or have car accidents.
it is moving up the country as Florida has lots of tourists celebrating their mask freedom.
stats from Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewals...h=25c482956bb5
City Manager where I work sent out an email saying employees have to either show proof of vaccination or be subjected to daily testing. I'm thinking that will also get everyone to get the booster too as that will count towards avoiding daily testing as well... probably.
That’s bad news Flowers! So glad I don’t live in those states.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Klunick
I am wondering if the third will be required. There was an interview with Faucii where he mentioned the new variant was infecting the vaccinated at the same rate as the original was infecting the non vaccinated. Ok, so I would like to see the booster, being modified against the variant, rather then more of the same.
not so fast. The governors are doing all they can to send it to you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/big...lman-saturday/
They expect 20,000 at a Trump rally in Cullman, where they have declared a state of emergency and the hospitals are overwhelmed and full.
Sweden had no lockdown and death rates ten time its neighbors.
https://www.businessinsider.com/swed...th-rate-2021-8
it seems so simple. A highly contagious respiratory virus makes many sick and kills about 640,000 people in the US. Many many people took precautions by stayed home when not working, wore a mask, and got the vaccine when it was their turn. That greatly reduced the hospital numbers. Now the packed hospitals have 95% unvaccinated very ill people who did not do the same. Bars and restaurants around here are packed with maskless patrons. Vaccination rate here about 50%. Seems like a no brainer to me.
I thought today of an illustration of the point I have been trying to make about immunocompromised people and covid.
Think back to the AIDS epidemic. A person would have AIDS and die of pneumonia. But really it was AIDS that killed them. If pneumonia didn't get them (see I am using the gender neutral plural as a singular again - you can teach an old dog new tricks), something like Kaposi's sarcoma would. In either case the real cause of death was AIDS.
Similarly today an immunocompromised person can die "of covid", but if not covid the seasonal flu or something else would have done them in. The underlying condition is the real cause of death.
If someone is 95 did covid kill them or did they of old age? If their immunity is so weak due to chemo, isn't their death really cancer related?
One thing I am grateful for work-wise - not only did I break out of food and beverage into something more stable, but at my job we mask up and no one gripes or complains about it. One of the cashiers lost two family members after the time that we in Arizona last Summer were the worst place in the world for the virus - there was a brief period last year where Arizona was actually the worst place in the world (!!!!!) for the virus. And around that time the Borderland that I so love was almost as bad.
Getting back to the point, some of the long term employees remember this cashier's deceased relatives - I'm thinking that this visual - here today, gone tomorrow - was enough to get people masked up beyond anything corporate might have said about it. At least I don't have to deal with politics much about masking up......though some customers are real PITA about it. Rob
I think a lot of people would mask and get the vaccine if they personally knew someone close who either suffered or passed away from Covid. Anecdotal stories on the news don't make the same impression.
While this is an apt analogy as far as it goes it ignores one CRITICAL difference between HIV and Covid. In order to get infected with HIV one had to have sex with the other infected person. All of us gay men who were having sex back then knew the risk and as a result it was normal behavior to ask "You negative? You play safe?" and then decide what to do from there. Yes there were cases like Kimberly Bergalis that caught it from her chitty dentist and blood transfusion patients before reliable HIV blood tests came into existence, but by and large the people dying of kaposi's sarcoma and all the other horrible infections that killed HIV patients caught HIV by having sex with infected people. They made a conscious decision to risk contracting a fatal illness. Contrast that with the person who gets covid when they go to the grocery store and spend a few minutes in line behind a contagious covid carrier or working the register when a covid carrier comes through their line, or when their relative/friend/neighbor brings them groceries and covid, and the comparison breaks down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej
A good friend of mine died from Covid within 3 days. He made the horrible mistake of grocery shopping. He wouldn’t let his wife go because he was faster. She actually should have went instead because her health was better. He liked to spoil and take care of her. They were so very careful. Much different than having unprotected sex.
Grocery stores offer curbside pickup. Walmart is the largest grocer in the US and they offer it. 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart.
If someone is so seriously ill they will die from a respiratory infection despite getting a vaccine that renders the disease asymptomatic in a healthy person then they should protect themselves instead of making everyone else alter their behavior forever. I say forever because covid will at most go dormant. It will not go away.
Was he fully vaccinated?Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
Triage is when "who can survive" is used to treat patients in a mass casualty event. We might get to that point and vaccination used as the cut off. Legitimate discussion. Who comes in first does not work.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nichola...cj4lmx5pZiybSs
here in Florida ICU’s are 93% full. The lines for testing snake around pharmacies and urgent cares. Nearest hospital to me is 100% full. A friend hurt her back and went to urgent care yesterday afternoon. She was told to go to the back of the line whether or not she was there for a Covid test. when she finally checked in they would call her when it was her turn to be seen and to wait in her car or somewhere outside. She was called to enter the building almost two hours later. Who knows when she would have actually been seen. By that time she had called her MD office who had directed her there and they told her they would see her at the end of the day they had so many patients. At 6 pm she was finally seen, x-rayed and given flexeral and a follow up appt in a few days. They normally close at 5 and there were several patients left in the waiting room.Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetana3
how many important things will be missed due to this Governor and the policies his Greed over People stance have caused. No masks, everyone wide open, tourists please come because even though young people are sick and dying, he does not care. Because people still have strokes, auto accidents, cardiac events, falls and cancers. Medical personnel can only do so much, from EMT’s, nurses, physicians, lab techs, radiologists etc. what choices will be made, and how many excess non Covid people will die?
and by the way, when I worked as a nurse we used to participate in disaster drills. Making the decision who to prioritize when you are totally overwhelmed is a grim task indeed. A small error in judgement or missing a small detail can lead to death.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/us/co...ent/index.html
cancer patient turned away.
Pinkytoe,
one of my kids works in a very macho/deep red leaning industry. Mask compliance was poor and loudly derided, vaccination stats were low. Now one of her coworkers - a “big, healthy young guy” is in the hospital. The company has reinstated the mask requirement and people are complying. Her boss - who was a big complainer, is not only wearing his mask constantly and correctly, he’s encouraging everyone to get vaccinated because “I don’t want another member of my team out with this!” She is hoping the sick coworker comes back and tells everybody how bad his hospital bills were.
so - silver lining? - a lot more people are going to “know a guy” in the next couple of months.
Glad to see that your empathy level has moved up from ‘old people are worthless and will die anyway’ to ‘old and frail people can just stay home for the rest of their miserable lives. They can order groceries online so what’s the problem???’Quote:
Originally Posted by Yppej