The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

Yeah, I thought that graphic (red/yellow side and the green side) was great. The issue (once again) comes to the nuance. Even when people ask me here, I'm spiraling through numerous "what if?" elements and so any answer I give is layered. When we expect people to run down a list of variables and then add in trust of strangers, I just throw up my hands and say, "Wear a mask" - it's easier.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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California says it will change its guidelines to conform with the CDC.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Texas says "Masks? LOL!"
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by malchior »

Edit: Some people are saying he was serving up 'soft ball' conspiracy theories to a witness to swat down. I guess that's better...but why even have this discussion. What is the audience for this? What's the point?

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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by stessier »

It's nice to know we're all so safe here in South Carolina.
GREENVILLE, S.C. —
"It is a height of ridiculosity."

That is the message from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on whether school districts should continue to require students to wear masks in the classroom.

McMaster posted a message on Twitter Wednesday night saying that it’s ridiculous for school districts to tell parents whether their child should wear a mask.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

“I think it is a height of ridiculosity for a school district to make that decision for the parents, particularly since we know that even when the virus was rampant that the schools, the classrooms were the safest places of all,” McMaster stated.

He added that teachers and staff have had the opportunity to get vaccinated and many people have started building an immunity to the virus so masks should be optional, but not a requirement.

He said it should be the parent’s choice and not the school districts’ choice if a student wears a mask in the classroom.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Ridiculosity?
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by stessier »

El Guapo wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:32 am Ridiculosity?
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

It works better if you read his tweet in his Foghorn Leghorn voice.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

The article is even funnier if you substitute "pants" for masks. Because really, why should a school tell me or my kids what they need to wear in the classroom??

I can only assume McMaster's next campaign is going to focus on repealing the tyranny of No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service in South Carolina?
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by $iljanus »

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:35 am The article is even funnier if you substitute "pants" for masks. Because really, why should a school tell me or my kids what they need to wear in the classroom??

I can only assume McMaster's next campaign is going to focus on repealing the tyranny of No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service in South Carolina?
Well he could argue that he wants to go back to pre-downfall Eden when you didn’t need clothes. The South is weird...
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by LordMortis »

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:02 pm
malchior wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:58 pm Long story short - it's probably bullshit.
No, it all makes sense. First, you pay workers to stay home. Then you ban hamburgers and turn everyone into a soy boy. Just wait until you see step 3!
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/26/politics ... index.html

I had no idea that was a thing. I thought you were making a sarcasm about people not working at slaughter houses that supply the restaurants that the Huston Rockets owner also owns because unemployed slaughterhouse workers could make more money collecting unemployment.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Little Raven »

Holy crap.
The effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office to obscure the pandemic death toll in New York nursing homes was far greater than previously known, with aides repeatedly overruling state health officials over a span of at least five months, according to interviews and newly unearthed documents.

Mr. Cuomo’s most senior aides engaged in a sustained effort to prevent the state’s own health officials, including the commissioner, Howard Zucker, from releasing the true death toll to the public or sharing it with state lawmakers, these interviews and documents showed.

A scientific paper, which incorporated the data, was never published. An audit of the numbers by a top Cuomo aide was finished months before it became publicly known. Two letters, drafted by the Health Department and meant for state legislators, were never sent.

The actions coincided with the period in which Mr. Cuomo was pitching and then writing a book on the pandemic, with the assistance of his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, and others.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

I do hope Cuomo is held to account, because everything I've read/heard sounds really sketchy.

In other news, I'd expect we'll be hearing more about how common vasovagal reactions are in the coming days


AP: Health officials have concluded that a spate of bad reactions to vaccinations, including nausea, fainting and dizziness in five US states earlier this month was down to anxiety and not a problem with the shots.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 4:03 pm Has Fauci gone on Rogan's show? I see clips of Fauci on a million different random shows. Seems like a good way to reach some fraction of Rogan's audience.
Just as a follow up, official comments have been made:
This past week, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci corrected Joe Rogan, a popular podcast host who himself later acknowledged his lack of medical knowledge, after Rogan said young healthy people don't need to be vaccinated.

“You're talking about yourself in a vacuum,” Fauci said of the podcast host. “You're worried about yourself getting infected and the likelihood that you're not going to get any symptoms. But you can get infected, and will get infected, if you put yourself at risk.”
I think there's been a recognition that they (the administration) needs to do *something*. Hopefully Rogan rises to the occasion and revisits the topic in light of these comments (and the other comments in the article). Again, I don't know Rogan at all and if he's the type of guy that would comment on this again, (other than acknowledging he's not a medical doctor after giving people medical advice), updating his thoughts and acknowledging his...issues.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Daehawk »

All he needs is some young person with a bad case of COVID to sue him and Im sure he'll see the error of his stupidity.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Smoove_B wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 10:56 am
El Guapo wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 4:03 pm Has Fauci gone on Rogan's show? I see clips of Fauci on a million different random shows. Seems like a good way to reach some fraction of Rogan's audience.
Just as a follow up, official comments have been made:
This past week, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci corrected Joe Rogan, a popular podcast host who himself later acknowledged his lack of medical knowledge, after Rogan said young healthy people don't need to be vaccinated.

“You're talking about yourself in a vacuum,” Fauci said of the podcast host. “You're worried about yourself getting infected and the likelihood that you're not going to get any symptoms. But you can get infected, and will get infected, if you put yourself at risk.”
I think there's been a recognition that they (the administration) needs to do *something*. Hopefully Rogan rises to the occasion and revisits the topic in light of these comments (and the other comments in the article). Again, I don't know Rogan at all and if he's the type of guy that would comment on this again, (other than acknowledging he's not a medical doctor after giving people medical advice), updating his thoughts and acknowledging his...issues.
This is part of why I think Fauci going on Rogan is the best option. Fauci commenting on Rogan's remarks are I think going to reach precisely none of Rogan's audience. But Fauci going on Rogan's show is a win-win since Fauci is still a pretty big / famous name (good for Rogan) and Fauci gets to speak directly to Rogan's audience (good for public health). I'm sure that Rogan would feel the need to defend himself some, but would probably moderate his remarks a bit in Fauci's presence. Seems plausible that you could move some portion of Rogan's audience away from vaccine hesitancy.

Maybe that's already been offered and rejected though, who knows.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

When I looked into it, apparently Rogan was one of the early voices going after Fauci back in February of 2020 when the mask issue was heating up. I don't know if Rogan ever revisited that, but if he's been nothing but hostile towards Fauci, I can't imagine there's going to be a good meeting that happens.

I agree that it could be a huge opportunity, but if Rogan is openly disrespectful towards Fauci or has no interest in actually promoting what Fauci is going to say, then overall I think it would end up being worse.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Unless Rogan is likely to change his tune on the vaccine anyway (unlikely, but possible) then it seems like as it is Rogan's audience is going to hear that almost exclusively. If Fauci's on they at least get exposed to the other view. Even if Rogan's aggressive, I'm guessing maybe you can reach 5% of his audience, and for anyone whose just going to go by whatever Rogan says, I doubt you lose much with them.

I would honestly love to read a data-driven analysis of messaging on this stuff, to the extent that's possible. I'm mostly going on my intuition on what works, and I'm curious if there's much data on what works and what doesn't with this type of vaccine messaging. There has to be some data on flu vaccine messaging, doesn't there?
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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I really don't know. All the vaccine-hesitant research I've seen focuses on parents and getting children vaccinated. There are targeted campaigns for adults related to influenza, pneumococcal pneumonia and shingles, but I'm not aware of research on how effective those campaigns are. The one thing that does seem worthy of investigation is the influenza vaccine. Up until the 2009/10 pandemic, the message was more focused for vaccine - older people and people at increased risk were targeted. We didn't discourage younger healthy people to get the vaccine, but they weren't being targeted to receive it. That all changed after 2010 when it's now recommended that anyone over the age of 6 months get an annual shot. I haven't seen any studies (or don't remember seeing any studies) on how effective that policy switch was in terms of messaging - are we seeing more people that are typically not getting annual flu shots (18-35) now thinking it's a great idea.

I know there have been random pilot programs throughout the U.S. involving Uber and vaccine on demand events that were highly successful in the target demographic, but I'd have to look into the overall messaging issue for broader efforts. It could be that because this is the first time we've tried something of this scale (I need to reiterate that), that the research on messaging for adults really isn't there. Smaller, generalized studies would suggest these adults want information from a close, trusted source but in the age of Youtube and Tucker Carlson, I'm not sure what works anymore. I mean, that's why the CDC is paying me to convince all of you to get vaccinated, right? I've said too much...

EDIT: I did just see this


Awareness of the pause of J&J vax in the US was very high, but may not have influenced Covid vaccine enthusiasm & may not have had a dramatic impact on vaccine preference.
Not exactly what you're looking for, but related.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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As long as the 18% stays at 18%.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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My site is full back in person starting today for reasons I do not understand as the corporate policy was September 1. I've been back in person since last June, but I didn't see the need for the extra bodies.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by malchior »

Smoove_B wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 11:40 amEDIT: I did just see this


Awareness of the pause of J&J vax in the US was very high, but may not have influenced Covid vaccine enthusiasm & may not have had a dramatic impact on vaccine preference.
Not exactly what you're looking for, but related.
No. No. In Nate-world the biggest reason for the drop is the J&J pause. He wouldn't shut up about it for like a week at least.

Last edited by malchior on Mon May 03, 2021 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

First, F Nate Silver. Second:

So at least two GOP governors — Ron DeSantis of Florida and Bill Lee of Tennessee — have declared in public statements the pandemic is no longer an emergency in their states, while leaving emergency declarations in place to draw down federal money.
Funny, that.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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The feds should cut them off.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Lee is an idiot and a asshole. I cant believe the GOP still gets support. Its mind blowing.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Carpet_pissr »

The Atlantic piece on Covid vaccine hesitancy:

“In other words, the pattern of resistance to the coronavirus vaccines looks less like COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and more like COVID-19 denialism. While a significant chunk of Americans profess to be uneasy about getting shots to prevent COVID-19, most come from the swath of the population that has tended to downplay the disease’s severity and to resist other measures to fight it, rather than the swaths that have resisted vaccines for other diseases.”

i.e. flu vaccine? No problem. Flu is serious.
Covid vaccine? Why?!

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arch ... sm/618724/
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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On the other side, another article from The Atlantic about "The Liberals Who Can't Quit Lockdown".
With Somerville kids still at home, contractors conducted in-depth assessments of the city’s school buildings, leading to proposals that included extensive HVAC-system overhauls and the installation of UV-sterilization units and even automatic toilet flushers—renovations with a proposed budget of $7.5 million. The mayor told me that supply-chain delays and protracted negotiations with the local teachers’ union slowed the reopening process. “No one wanted to get kids back to school more than me … It’s people needing to feel safe,” he said. “We want to make sure that we’re eliminating any risk of transmission from person to person in schools and carrying that risk over to the community.”

Months slipped by, and evidence mounted that schools could reopen safely. In Somerville, a local leader appeared to describe parents who wanted a faster return to in-person instruction as “fucking white parents” in a virtual public meeting; a community member accused the group of mothers advocating for schools to reopen of being motivated by white supremacy. “I spent four years fighting Trump because he was so anti-science,” Daniele Lantagne, a Somerville mom and engineering professor who works to promote equitable access to clean water and sanitation during disease outbreaks, told me. “I spent the last year fighting people who I normally would agree with … desperately trying to inject science into school reopening, and completely failed.”

In March, Erika Uyterhoeven, the democratic-socialist state representative for Somerville, compared the plight of teachers to that of Amazon workers and meatpackers, and described the return to in-person classes as part of a “push in a neoliberal society to ensure, over and above the well-being of educators, that our kids are getting a competitive education compared to other suburban schools.” (She later asked the socialist blog that ran her comments to remove that quote, because so many parents found her statements offensive.) In Somerville, “everyone wants to be actively anti-racist. Everyone believes Black lives matter. Everyone wants the Green New Deal,” Elizabeth Pinsky, a child psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, told me. “No one wants to talk about … how to actually get kindergartners onto the carpet of their teachers.” Most elementary and middle schoolers in Somerville finally started back in person this spring, with some of the proposed building renovations in place. Somerville hasn’t yet announced when high schoolers will go back full-time, and Curtatone wouldn’t guarantee that schools will be open for in-person instruction in the fall.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Without reading the whole article (no time right now), I find the title objectionable. In the first place, we aren't in lockdown; in the second place, the pandemic is not over -- MA is still recording around 800 new cases a day. IMO, that needs to drop below 500 before we can start to relax. Now, if Somerville keeps its schools closed even after we start vaccinating students and community transmission drops to background levels, then they're being unreasonable. Despite the political correctness in the quoted passage, their continued caution still seems reasonable to me.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Kraken wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 11:50 am Without reading the whole article (no time right now), I find the title objectionable. In the first place, we aren't in lockdown; in the second place, the pandemic is not over -- MA is still recording around 800 new cases a day. IMO, that needs to drop below 500 before we can start to relax. Now, if Somerville keeps its schools closed even after we start vaccinating students and community transmission drops to background levels, then they're being unreasonable. Despite the political correctness in the quoted passage, their continued caution still seems reasonable to me.
https://www.aappublications.org/news/20 ... ety-010521
“Children absolutely need to return to in-school learning for their healthy development and well-being, and so safety in schools and in the community must be a priority,” AAP President Lee Savio Beers, M.D., FAAP, said in a news release. “We know that some children are really suffering without the support of in-person classroom experiences or adequate technology at home. We need governments at the state and federal levels to prioritize funding the needed safety accommodations, such as improving ventilation systems and providing personal protective equipment for teachers and staff.”

...

The guidance presents new research findings that schools have not been a significant driver of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in their communities when they take safety precautions.
Anecdotally, kids are a disaster in virtual learning. I'd say from parents I've talked to, only 1 in 10 is able to handle it. And by handle it, I mean pass classes without exceedingly generous deadlines from teachers and multiple daily hours of parental supervision.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Kraken wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 11:50 am Without reading the whole article (no time right now), I find the title objectionable. In the first place, we aren't in lockdown; in the second place, the pandemic is not over -- MA is still recording around 800 new cases a day. IMO, that needs to drop below 500 before we can start to relax. Now, if Somerville keeps its schools closed even after we start vaccinating students and community transmission drops to background levels, then they're being unreasonable. Despite the political correctness in the quoted passage, their continued caution still seems reasonable to me.
While I don't think it's fair to draw an exact equivalence between Somerville folk who want to keep the schools shut and anti-mask types, it is true that science and expert opinion is generally supportive of returning kids to in-person schooling. Also a lot of the people most committed to keeping schools shut tend to be blithely dismissive of the costs of keeping schools shut ("isn't every day of life a kind of schooling, when you think about it?"). The core point being that these arguments are somewhat infused with anti-scientific thinking.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Isgrimnur »

Almost as if people are motivated by either self-interest or naive beliefs that don't affect them.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

A year ago, kids were 3% of the cases. Now they're 22%.

Part of it is that we aren't (and haven't been testing) kids to the same degree as adults. It's also because they're not getting vaccinated (yet). Variants are likely contributing. In short, it's complicated.

Already the arguments are starting from the anti-vax army that parents shouldn't be giving their kids the COVID-19 vaccines. "Kids aren't dying of COVID" is the new rallying cry, as if it's morally acceptable to intentionally allow them to be exposed to a virus that can impact their heart or brain or who knows what for the rest of their lives. It's the same as the MMR or any other childhood shots.

The adult world is still doing everything it can to be fully open and operational for adults and largely ignoring kids - we've been doing it for over a year. As I mentioned yesterday, NJ is fully opening restaurants, bars and indoor retail in 2 weeks - potentially setting up a surge as the school year is ending. But we can pack restaurants and sit at the bar, so that's what's important. We'll figure out school in August, like we did last year.

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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Smoove_B wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 12:39 pm A year ago, kids were 3% of the cases. Now they're 22%.

Part of it is that we aren't (and haven't been testing) kids to the same degree as adults. It's also because they're not getting vaccinated (yet). Variants are likely contributing. In short, it's complicated.

Already the arguments are starting from the anti-vax army that parents shouldn't be giving their kids the COVID-19 vaccines. "Kids aren't dying of COVID" is the new rallying cry, as if it's morally acceptable to intentionally allow them to be exposed to a virus that can impact their heart or brain or who knows what for the rest of their lives. It's the same as the MMR or any other childhood shots.

The adult world is still doing everything it can to be fully open and operational for adults and largely ignoring kids - we've been doing it for over a year. As I mentioned yesterday, NJ is fully opening restaurants, bars and indoor retail in 2 weeks - potentially setting up a surge as the school year is ending. But we can pack restaurants and sit at the bar, so that's what's important. We'll figure out school in August, like we did last year.

We've failed our children; we continue to fail our children.
Isn't it very very likely that the main reason that kids are a larger % of new cases is because older people are mostly vaccinated? Seems like the Occam's Razor explanation.

Still bonkers that indoor dining has been mostly open for awhile - priorities are all out of whack.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Also - Jayson Tatum on the Celtics revealed recently that he's using an inhaler before games to help with his breathing after having COVID earlier. Obviously he has a more demanding physical job than most, but at the same time he's also in considerably better shape than almost all of us.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

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Smoove_B wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 12:39 pm We've failed our children; we continue to fail our children.
At least we don't treat them as chattel anymore. Usually.
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by ImLawBoy »

This whole idea that one-size-fits-all ("Open all schools now!" vs. "Remote learning only!") drives me nuts. Yes, the AAP says that schools should be open, but they temper that with cautions based on schools taking appropriate precautions and local infection rates. It's not as simple as saying, "Well the CDC and AAP have said we should have in person learning." Saying that without adding the rest is irresponsible. Likewise demonizing parents who want to open schools and send their kids to in-person learning is really bad, too.

The article bugs me because it elides over many reasons that some parents are choosing to keep their kids home, including reasons with scientific bases. When we last had to make the decision between remote and in-person learning, the news was full of scientific (or scientific-sounding, and I'm not sure it's fair to expect lay persons to be able to fully parse the science) reports that variants were increasing infection rates among children, including driving more serious illnesses among those children. Instead the article seems to want to draw a false equivalency between the science-denial of many on the right and the caution of many on the left.
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Smoove_B
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Smoove_B »

El Guapo wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 12:49 pm Isn't it very very likely that the main reason that kids are a larger % of new cases is because older people are mostly vaccinated? Seems like the Occam's Razor explanation.
it's part of it, yes. But the data isn't great - we haven't been testing kids to the same degree as adults. Is this a truly concerning rate increase or have kids been ~10-15% of all cases in the U.S. since March of 2020 and we're just seeing a lack of vaccination bump? No one knows.
Still bonkers that indoor dining has been mostly open for awhile - priorities are all out of whack.
All about the money and what adults want. I genuinely thing NJ/NY are taking a gamble and hoping vaccinations outpace spread. But they're both still only focused on adults.
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Remus West
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by Remus West »

ImLawBoy wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 1:00 pm This whole idea that one-size-fits-all ("Open all schools now!" vs. "Remote learning only!") drives me nuts. Yes, the AAP says that schools should be open, but they temper that with cautions based on schools taking appropriate precautions and local infection rates. It's not as simple as saying, "Well the CDC and AAP have said we should have in person learning." Saying that without adding the rest is irresponsible. Likewise demonizing parents who want to open schools and send their kids to in-person learning is really bad, too.

The article bugs me because it elides over many reasons that some parents are choosing to keep their kids home, including reasons with scientific bases. When we last had to make the decision between remote and in-person learning, the news was full of scientific (or scientific-sounding, and I'm not sure it's fair to expect lay persons to be able to fully parse the science) reports that variants were increasing infection rates among children, including driving more serious illnesses among those children. Instead the article seems to want to draw a false equivalency between the science-denial of many on the right and the caution of many on the left.
This is what I have the biggest issue with as well. My daughter's school went from Hybrid to full in person 4 day a week starting this week. They pushed it back to this week from last because the numbers in our area were so high. Which I'd accept if the numbers last week that allowed them to open this week were not even higher than before. I'm really on board with schools reopening - in areas where community transmission is under control along with the other precautions recommended by the CDC. That is the biggest part that seems to get ignored around here.
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El Guapo
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Re: The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

Post by El Guapo »

Remus West wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 1:11 pm
ImLawBoy wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 1:00 pm This whole idea that one-size-fits-all ("Open all schools now!" vs. "Remote learning only!") drives me nuts. Yes, the AAP says that schools should be open, but they temper that with cautions based on schools taking appropriate precautions and local infection rates. It's not as simple as saying, "Well the CDC and AAP have said we should have in person learning." Saying that without adding the rest is irresponsible. Likewise demonizing parents who want to open schools and send their kids to in-person learning is really bad, too.

The article bugs me because it elides over many reasons that some parents are choosing to keep their kids home, including reasons with scientific bases. When we last had to make the decision between remote and in-person learning, the news was full of scientific (or scientific-sounding, and I'm not sure it's fair to expect lay persons to be able to fully parse the science) reports that variants were increasing infection rates among children, including driving more serious illnesses among those children. Instead the article seems to want to draw a false equivalency between the science-denial of many on the right and the caution of many on the left.
This is what I have the biggest issue with as well. My daughter's school went from Hybrid to full in person 4 day a week starting this week. They pushed it back to this week from last because the numbers in our area were so high. Which I'd accept if the numbers last week that allowed them to open this week were not even higher than before. I'm really on board with schools reopening - in areas where community transmission is under control along with the other precautions recommended by the CDC. That is the biggest part that seems to get ignored around here.
This is true. Plus obviously there's a big difference between reopening a school that has a revamped HVAC, plenty of windows and outdoor space, etc., in a community where mask usage is common, then a school where none of that is in place.

Like if everything else was the same but my kids were going to school in Tallahassee, for example, I'd be much more committed to remote schooling.
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