Pandemic: Life on the ground

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Gunnar
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Gunnar »

A too often repeated story nowadays:

San Francisco police officer who missed vaccine deadline dies after COVID-19 diagnosis
A police officer who was placed on leave for missing the city of San Francisco’s deadline to be inoculated has died after being stricken by COVID-19, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Officer Jack Nyce, 46, tested positive on Nov. 2 and died Saturday at a hospital in Manteca, his wife, Melissa Nyce, told the newspaper Monday.

The Chronicle said Melissa Nyce declined to say whether her husband was vaccinated but the vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, Lt. Tracy McCray, said Jack Nyce was on a 30-day stint of paid administrative leave because he had not received the vaccination required by the city.

The death comes as mandates for government employee vaccinations are seeing some push-back.

The San Francisco Police Department said last week that as many as 70 sworn and civilian workers had been placed on leave for not meeting a Nov. 1 vaccination deadline. A press release said that as of Nov. 2, 97.5% of department employees were fully vaccinated.

Any officers who remain unvaccinated by Nov. 13 will be placed on unpaid administrative leave until the San Francisco Police Commission convenes a hearing.
It's so sad that some people just will never learn -- even some whom we depend on to serve and protect us. :(
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Doctor CamNC4Me
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Doctor CamNC4Me »

Who would’ve thought the police would defund themselves with regard to not taking the vaccine?

- Doc
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
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Xenophon
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Xenophon »

A nice little bit of uplifting survey results from 538 and Ipsos.

Long story short, children are resilient and seem to be fairing okay given the circumstances.
The good vibes extended to more specific parts of their lives, too. Overall, teens were less likely than their parents to be worried about their ability to perform in school, less worried about their ability to participate in activities, less worried about catching COVID-19, and much less worried about their mental health. While 34 percent of parents were concerned about their kids’ mental health, about half as many teens — 18 percent — found their own mental health concerning. More than half said their mental health hadn’t changed at all since the start of the pandemic — 24 percent said it had gotten worse and 20 percent said their mental health was now better.
This obviously isn't to say that there are no possible longer term issues or that parent's shouldn't rightly be concerned. I know I'm still personally checking in more than I used to with the younger end of the family tree (likely shame on me for not stepping it up to this level before) and we have noticed some "later blooming" amongst the absolute youngest of the clan, mostly the 2 to 8 year old philosophers. But it seems that any fear of immediate cultural collapse are likely misguided at best or overblown at the least.
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Chap
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Chap »

We really ought to have guessed this. Antivaxxers who were obliged by their employment to get vaccinated are trying to find ways to 'unvaccinate' themselves.

Of course, the only way to do that would be to force their immune systems to unlearn what they have learned about how to kill COVID-19 viruses. Now we know that in the long run that will happen naturally, though only rather slowly. However that is not soon enough - the sin must be washed away by some kind of immunological repentance. Hmm ... what might do that?

Yes! Let's go with the model of baptism, and combine it with a possible money-making opportunity for the wellness industry! Here we go:

‘Detox’ routines won’t undo Covid vaccine, experts tell anti-vaxxers
TikTok video calls for bath in borax – but once a person is vaccinated, there’s no way back, doctors say

Medical experts are speaking out against Covid-19 vaccine “detoxes” that some inaccurately claim can remove the effects of vaccinations received under mandates and other public health rulings.

In one TikTok video that has received hundreds of thousands of views, Carrie Madej, an osteopath based in Georgia, falsely claims a bath containing baking soda, epsom salts and the cleaning agent borax will “detox the vaxx” from anyone who has received a jab.

Experts say such a bath could irritate the skin and eyes – but will not remove the effects of a Covid vaccine.

In Kansas, Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for the state university health system, told the Kansas City Star borax was “potentially caustic and harmful”.

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and adjunct professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, told NBC News: “Once you’re injected, the lifesaving vaccination process has already begun. You can’t unring a bell. It’s just not physically possible.”

Anti-vaccine groups have also claimed self-administered cupping – an alternative therapy involving suction that has no proven benefits – can remove the effects of Covid vaccines. Social media posts providing instructions on how to “un-inject” a vaccine have been shared.

Unproven and sometimes dangerous vaccine “detox” remedies, including restrictive diets and supplements, have been popular in anti-vaccination circles for years. Social media, coupled with politicized resistance to Covid-19 vaccine mandates imposed by businesses and government agencies, has increased the spread of misinformation.

TikTok in particular has become a platform for anti-vaccine influencers. Madej’s video was removed but users were able to share it by making duets, a feature by which users can add reactions or context side-by-side with an original video.

Some duets, which have also gone viral, list ingredients needed for a “detox bath” or show users making such baths themselves.

“This illustrates how these anti-vaccine communities are shifting and pushing these claims toward vaccinated people,” Ciaran O’Connor, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London anti-extremism and disinformation nonprofit, told NBC.

The US has recorded more than 762,000 deaths from Covid-19. About 226 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose and at least 195 million have had two, meaning 58.7% of Americans are fully vaccinated.

While the spread of Covid “detoxes” has caused concern among experts, some argue it should be seen as a sign vaccine mandates are working.

“I think it is actually a good sign that these ‘How to undo your vaccine’ videos are taking off,” Rasmussen said. “It suggests that a lot of those people who previously were saying ‘vaccines are terrible and I will never do it’ are, actually, doing it.”
Maksutov:
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Chap
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Chap »

Funnily enough, nobody ever seems to think that way once they get into the wellness thing. The certainty that, for instance, Gwyneth Paltrow is making shedloads of money from Goop just doesn't seem to worry them when they buy her stuff. They seem to feel almost privileged to be allowed to help make her as mega-rich as possible.

But Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the rest are evil. I mean, everybody knows that.
Maksutov:
That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Mayan Elephant:
Not only have I denounced the Big Lie, I have denounced the Big lie big lie.
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Jersey Girl
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Jersey Girl »

An entry I never thought I'd have a reason to write.

My friend of several years who is a doctor, was waiting in line with his son to order at a restaurant counter. Both were masked. A woman walks by, stops, coughs in both of their faces, then leaves with smirk on her face with someone he assumed was a boyfriend. My friend was venting on Facebook and asking what the appropriate response would have been. Because my friend and his son could easily be mistaken for Chinese, I suggested that he cut to the chase, contact law enforcement, get the restaurant video, have the staff identify the person using receipts, locate witnesses if needed, and press charges for a racially motivated hate crime because you know, it might have just been the masks but... what if it wasn't? :shock:

Never in my life did I think this could happen to such an intelligent, civilized, responsible, and reasonable person such as this. He and his son were in a situation where socially distancing wasn't possible so they did the right thing and wore masks to the establishment. Then some ignorant yahoo chick walks up and goes out of her way to totally disrespect him and his son by perpetrating an entirely insidious and publicly disgusting act in front of God and everybody. I can't even believe I am writing this account. It is surreal and I am filled with utter disgust.
Last edited by Jersey Girl on Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kishkumen
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Kishkumen »

Such is the world we live in, Jersey. There are quite a few people who are callous about the impact their choices have on other people. It is all about their rights, their comfort, their entertainment, their "freedom." My view is that the Trump movement was about one exploitative bully narcissist giving permission to a lot of other bad eggs to indulge themselves, and they have done so, as one would expect. This is just another example.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
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canpakes
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by canpakes »

Jersey Girl wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 11:53 pm
Never in my life did I think this could happen to such an intelligent, civilized, responsible, and reasonable person such as this. He and his son were in a situation where socially distancing wasn't possible so they did the right thing and wore masks to the establishment. Then some ignorant yahoo chick walks up and goes out of her way to totally disrespect him and his son by perpetrating an entirely insidious and publicly disgusting act in front of God and everybody. I can't even believe I am writing this account. It is surreal and I am filled with utter disgust.

What blows me away about this behavior is that your doctor friend and his son were likely wearing masks for the perceived benefit of others, as their own free will choice. What reason does anyone have to walk up and cough on them? They weren’t imposing their will on anyone other than themselves.

I guess that the most efficient way to have exposed the most boorish and selfish amongst us was to have combined a fairly threatening virus with a simple social countermeasure (masks) during the Presidency of a man whose main daily function was to find any way possible to pit Americans against each other for his own political and financial gain. What a shame that the former President didn’t decide to just shelve his moronic behavior long enough to instead have encouraged Americans to work together and mask up. He would likely still be President, and we’d all be subject to so much less stupidity of the type you mention above.
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Jersey Girl
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Re: Pandemic: Life on the ground

Post by Jersey Girl »

Airline travel. So I've got some of my people coming off a flight from Nashville on Southwest. No food service. No alcohol.

I thought I had read a while back that airlines had suspended food service. You can bring your own food on the flight so long as you bought it in the airport. (Jerks). I'm thinking that alcohol has been stopped on account of incidents of violence and misbehavior?

Anyone know?
We only get stronger when we are lifting something that is heavier than what we are used to. ~ KF

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