Coronavirus

Yet another coworker has caught it. She's also not vaccinated. Fortunately I rarely ever work with this person and my last contact with her was 2 weeks ago.

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I go back to work in person in three weeks. I have several unvaccinated co-workers and my anxiety is just growing.

On one hand, I will spend 95% of my time in a classroom with my students. But on the other hand . . . none of my students are vaccinated! And many of their families are unvaccinated!

I am trying to just take a deep breath and wait to see what the county says in terms of mask mandates and distancing. As with this whole ordeal, the worst part is just the unknown. A friend flew out here for a wedding and needed a place to stay, so I let him stay in my house for a night (before the wedding reception, not after). We distanced in my house and spent probably 90% of our time together outside (on a hike, distanced on my back porch, distanced at an outdoor table). I drove us a few places with the windows down. And now I just can't help wondering if that was a really stupid thing to do. We are both vaccinated. I plan to wait 10 days before being indoors with my most vulnerable family members.

Blerg.

I spit in my mask for the first time in many months. I've gotten used to not wearing one but had to put one on tonight to enter a lab.

Controversial take: Yesterday I was watching Scott Gottlieb, MD and former FDA chief who's consistently been an accurate source of information in mainstream news throughout the pandemic, and he was saying that, given that only about half the country (58% of adults) are fully vaccinated and only a fraction of those will get breakthrough infections where they can then spread the disease, the amount of mitigation from having vaccinated people resume wearing masks would be miniscule, "not enough bang for your buck". Unlike the CDC, Gottlieb realizes the fundamental fact that anyone still unvaccinated will not likely be putting a mask on any time soon. The unmistakable elephant in the room, which Gottlieb doesn't explicitly state but leaves no room for any other option, is that what's needed are enforcable vaccine and mask mandates in order to effectively contain the spread of delta. This idea is still considered too politically toxic for most politicians to touch, and the CDC is making it very clear how frightened they are at even suggesting it.


So I've had my family thing, and all went pretty well. Everyone's OK. I got a breakthrough infection of the delta variant along the way, and tested positive the week after the 4th holiday (a couple days of fever). So I'm fully vaccinated, hopefully with delta antibodies and no longer shedding virus. I have no immediate plans to visit any vulnerable populations. I will not be wearing a mask.


I've never been someone with this weird ego aversion to mask-wearing. I happily wore a mask for 15 months. This isn't because I don't want to wear a mask. It's because it's clear that I no longer care about the health and safety of those who continue to refuse vaccination. That's my freedom and personal choice, to let these id-holes sleep in the bed they've made for themselves. There is nothing I can do, surely not merely wearing a mask, that can mitigate any further mutation that will arise from the half of the country that continues to neglect their social and moral obligations for community well-being. Until we britch up and start dealing with this crisis as if it were a crisis and finally mandate vaccines - the same way we've always mandated vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diptheria and tetanus, all without a single whimper from these rednecks - we're just going to be playing ring-around-the-rosie with this disease.

My wife and I both got vaccinated and wore a mask when we were "supposed to". When the former president was in office, a lot of democrats spoke out that they wouldn't get the vaccine. Now it seems that republicans are less likely to get the vaccine. Anyone who makes their choice for political reasons I'd consider foolish. Other than that, if someone wants or doesn't want to wear a mask or get vaccinated, I couldn't care less. My wife and I did what we thought we should do. If I wanted, I could still wear a mask, wear 2, or stay away from people. Just like with anything else, I focus on myself and who is close to me. Other people should do what they want and I don't judge them, and I know all types of people who have made either of the decisions. I understand that one "side" is more likely to do this or that, but that's far from the whole story.

Really?

This is not my memory at all.

The only liberal-leaning people I know who didn't want the vaccine are the whole "vaccines cause autism!" crowd, and they have not budged in their stance one bit no matter who is in office.

That's what I remember, including Democrat politicians not saying they would get the vaccine when it was ready. It was for political reasons because of who was in office.

Like who?

You can easily look this up, which you should, since usually in a situation like this the following post would be to ask me for a source.

This is the kind of nonsense Cricket is talking about. Definitely not the same as saying they won’t take it in my eyes, but also totally politicizing the virus, and the type of thing that widens our divide.

If anyone think only one party has politicized COVID they have their head in the sand.

My "one side" is science, and the unvaccinated are objectively jeopardizing public health. There is nothing respectible about their decision, so I don't respect them.

I'm not just talking about Harris, and you would think politicians would just say yes take the vaccine. Beyond that, there were many non politician democrats speaking out whether it was talk shows, Twitter, etc.

It's not about respecting others for their choices. It's about focusing on what's best for oneself. Control the things you can control since you can't control others and shouldn't be able to. There are always issues and hazards with other people, just do what's best for you. Other people's decisions, I don't waste my time thinking about them.

As I pointed out, there's several uncontroversial precedents for vaccine mandates, and given the scope of societal disruption from this unprecendented pandemic, it should be uncontroversial to apply such a mandate in this situation. Should I have the right to control others? Should anyone have the right to cause widespread harm on others by refusing vaccines? We are not islands.

I see a lot of this and I think it's people playing with the meaning of what rights actually are.

I mentioned before that 2 healthy 21 yo guys who work for a company i deal with both developed heart problems from the vaccine. I have been very healthy my entire life and rarely get sick. When I got vaccinated I was thinking, what am I doing to myself. Since getting the 2nd dose in June, I have been to the doctors for 3 different reasons, and I seem to have a new pain or odd feeling every day. It could very well be a coincidence but I'm not certain of it. If a very healthy person doesn't want to take the vaccine, you may not respect it, but you should understand it, and you may have to accept it. Healthy people will suffer health problems from getting it, and that's something you need to factor in before talking about rights.

If I was in charge the next stimulus checks would be tied to vaccines...If one was vaccinated they'd get the check, if not, no check. And yes I fully realize there's logistic and verification problems involved...so don't bother to state them, I'm just arm chairing.

As I said, I respect science more than anecdotes, so all I can do is show the studies on the vaccines' side effects which show that they are far safer than an actual covid infection. What is becoming increasingly clear is that everyone will have either an infection or a vaccine at one point, so the real question here is to weigh which one you'd prefer. Side effects of covid also includes a substantial percentage of myocarditis and it's becoming accepted in the medical community that being a covid survivor will practically be considered a disability going forward. Nothing in the medical research shows vaccines causing anywhere near this level of harm.


Unvaccinated people are a social risk because they enable future and potentially more deadly mutations of the virus. This isn't theoretical, as we see these mutations emerging and the level of harm they are creating. Do unvaccinated people have a right to cause this spread? About as much as someone has a right to operate a car with a BAC of 1.2%. Thankfully we don't live in a libertarian paradise, and our behavioral liberties are frequently curtailed for the common good, because people tend to be selfish and reckless creatures.


No one was talking about rights when we mandated prior vaccines. There was a very good reason why this was not controversial. Vaccines have only become controversial in about the past 25 years when a bunch of affluent white people in California read a since-discredited paper about thimerosal. These were also not respectable people. Given the fact that this country has not seen a mortality rate like this pandemic in a century - not from war, drugs, pollution or natural disaster - applying a similar vaccine mandate as we saw in the 50s with polio, or the 1900s with small pox, shouldn't not only be uncontroversial, given the legal case precedent in those cases, it should make modern society ashamed of itself for not having the wisdom of our less technologically-savvy ancestors. I'm personally ashamed to have to share the air with some of these people.

I’m of twice minds about it, and am glad I’m not the one making the decisions. The older I get the more libertarian I get. I work in a nursing home in the south though and I have seen what COVID can do. I also work with way too many people who are believing really weird stuff about the vaccine.

What this has done to me is make me dig in my heels even deeper that I will only vote for level headed politicians who are willing to address issues from both sides and speak to people where they are. If I never get to vote for president again, so be it.

I think because of where we are politically, some sort of incentive is what we need. I know it’s like bribing children with candy but, frankly, we created this mess.

That's really, REALLY not the same as saying they wouldn't take the vaccine. She said that she would take a doctor-approved vaccine ("first in line"). Would anyone disagree with her stance? I just don't get how saying "I'd take a doctor-approved vaccine but not something that just a politician told me to take" is a political stance. Especially when you consider the context that a ton of non-approved substances were being obliquely recommended to dangerous effect.

Admittedly, I was mostly checked out of the news cycle because it was so stressful. And I'm not denying that COVID has been inappropriately politicized by both parties, but Democrats saying they wouldn't take the vaccine just to spite Trump was never on my radar. My sense is that masking and vaccine hesitancy has always been more centered in the Republican base.

Again, the sky didn't fall when SCOTUS allowed the small pox mandate in 1905, nor did it erupt when we mandated polio in 1955, or when we mandated all of the other childhood vaccinations needed before that child can be admitted into public schools. What we are seeing today with the vaxx resistence is an aberration to the entire history of modern medicine. It really isn't that hard of a decision once you realize that you'll only be hurting a few people's feelings.