Coronavirus: Discussion and Information

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.wtrf.com/news/west-virginia-headlines/west-virginia-giving-away-guns-during-vaccine-lottery/

West Virginia is running a lottery tied to vaccine registration, with customized shotguns and rifles in the prize pool.

MURICA.

[Caela]

https://www.wtrf.com/news/west-virginia-headlines/west-virginia-giving-away-guns-during-vaccine-lottery/

West Virginia is running a lottery tied to vaccine registration, with customized shotguns and rifles in the prize pool.

MURICA.

WOW! They clearly know their audience though and will no doubt see a spike in vaccination rates.

[Missy]

I kind of think encouraging the American Gun Fetish isn't really in America's best itnerest though

[Caela]

I kind of think encouraging the American Gun Fetish isn't really in America's best itnerest though

Probably not but reading the article they're also giving away a couple of scholarships, a couple trucks, some vacations, lifetime hunting/fishing licenses, and a grand prize of a million dollars. Whoever thought this prize list up really knew their audience and how to play to it.

[Psi]

I have only read the last page or so of this thread but I would personally be ashamed if I lived in a country that needed incentives like that to get vaccinated.

Yes I live in a country that has thankfully dodged the worst that everywhere else has seen, but many of us are begging to be in scope for vaccination.  We are waiting our turn but we’re broadly reliant on international imports that we couldn’t rely on but we also realise the government fucked up in early days when they had the chance to build the capacity for local production of the mRNA vaccines.   

And now with current variants and it’s impact on the younger population we are now more in the firing line.

If you have the opportunity to be vaccinated.   Take it. 

If you have to wear a mask to shop.  accept it.   

Many of us around the world are in the position of needing to wear a mask to work.   We don’t need to hear “it’s against my human rights from those who don’t need to work on site to earn a living.

[Lilias]

The Pfizer vaccine has been approved in the UK and EU for 12-15 year olds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57358446

Getting there.

[RedRose]

https://www.wtrf.com/news/west-virginia-headlines/west-virginia-giving-away-guns-during-vaccine-lottery/

West Virginia is running a lottery tied to vaccine registration, with customized shotguns and rifles in the prize pool.

MURICA.

don't even know what to say

[Haibane]

Belgium's chief virologist and government spokesperson during the pandemic, Professor Marc Van Ranst, and his family, have been given military protection and a safe house against a right-wing military sniper who wants him dead. Belgian army and security are conducting a nation-wide manhunt to find and arrest the extremist, Jürgen Conings, who until it's recent shut-down, had a Facebook group with 50,000 members supporting his actions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57358492

This pandemic has really brought out the very best that is inside good and great people ... but also the very worst that is inside bad people. 2020 feels to me like a watershed that has polarised society and politics in so many ways. A "Trump-like" attitude or a "Trump-like" response is now the norm for far more people, it would appear.

[Haibane]

People that suffered through covid or lost loved ones now stuck with millions in healthcare bills. And our government here in the U.S. is silent.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/upshot/covid-bills-financial-long-haulers.html

The worst is a man that lost his elderly father to the disease and now has an excel spread sheet with over 450 lines of just outstanding bills, totaling over a million dollars of debt.

I just found this article online. I have no idea if it is true or not, but it appears that all COVID-19 patients in the USA are automatically insured. Can anyone please conform this?

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/10/22/925942412/hospital-bills-for-uninsured-covid-19-patients-are-covered-but-no-one-tells-them?t=1622941224373

[Oniya]

NPR is fairly decent at sourcing things, and the article has a link to an official government website.  The healthcare provider needs to submit the claims for reimbursement, according to my quick, non-expert read-over of the FAQ.

[Kathadon]

From the looks of things the only people federally protected from being charged for any part of their treatment for Covid-19 are those who are uninsured or people on Medicaid. Federal law ensured that Covid-19 tests and vaccines are free, and not eligible for insurers to cost share -- or bill patients out-of-pocket for a portion of the cost not covered by health insurance. That federal protection was not extended to the treatment for Covid-19, meaning if people with private insurance got sick and treated for the virus, they could still be responsible for large bills. The mixed response to Covid-19 by some states and insurers have left murky coverage expectations and a lot of bills.

https://cnycentral.com/news/local/covid-19-long-haulers-is-there-any-action-in-state-or-federal-government-to-help
https://www.kmov.com/news/covid-19-infection-leaves-big-medical-bills-for-some-survivors/article_e302f8e8-4285-57fe-b822-b5d69e4e54e6.html
https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/ct-aud-nw-nyt-covid-medical-bills-20210522-gy6wufyscbcylctxi5stqy4i6m-story.html

[Haibane]

And Americans mock our "communist" National Health Service. 

[Haibane]

Twitter suspends the account of Naomi Wolf over anti-vaccine misinformation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57374241

[Andol]

https://www.wtrf.com/news/west-virginia-headlines/west-virginia-giving-away-guns-during-vaccine-lottery/

West Virginia is running a lottery tied to vaccine registration, with customized shotguns and rifles in the prize pool.

MURICA.

Stuff like this makes me wish I had waited on my vaccine... heck then I could have gotten something out of, besides having to eat crow. 

[stormwyrm]

Stuff like this makes me wish I had waited on my vaccine... heck then I could have gotten something out of, besides having to eat crow. 

You got something out of it already. If you had waited, the chances that you could have gotten sick in that time would have been a lot higher. We will never know of course, but perhaps in a parallel universe a version of you that did wait is dead from COVID-19 or contemplating a million dollar hospital bill while dealing with chronic long term symptoms.

[LostInTheMist]

People not taking the vaccine, because "they're worried it was rushed" or "they're treating us like guinea pigs". This is wrong. The vaccine was not rushed, and you are putting me, my friends, my lovers, and everyone important to me at risk by not taking the vaccine.

I'm all for democracy and freedom of choice, etc. But I think that we should MANDATE vaccination for every American, and if they don't want to be vaccinated, we should break down their doors, hold them down, and inject them, whether they want it or not. This isn't about civil liberties, this is about the lives and livelihoods of millions.

I know this won't happen, but we should require a COVID-19 vaccination for any child to attend school, or for any American to hold a job. Once there's a financial penalty for not having a vaccination a bunch of the folks who are objecting to it will suddenly find they don't object to it quite as much. And those who still object are not the people we want in our workforce anyway.

[TheGlyphstone]

Its a state thing too. My governor has repeatedly refused to do any sort of lottery or incentive to get vaccinated, while other states are throwing out all sorts of stuff.

[RedRose]

I can't imagine this... But again I had to go 4 places to get a vax

[Inkidu]

People not taking the vaccine, because "they're worried it was rushed" or "they're treating us like guinea pigs". This is wrong. The vaccine was not rushed, and you are putting me, my friends, my lovers, and everyone important to me at risk by not taking the vaccine.

I'm all for democracy and freedom of choice, etc. But I think that we should MANDATE vaccination for every American, and if they don't want to be vaccinated, we should break down their doors, hold them down, and inject them, whether they want it or not. This isn't about civil liberties, this is about the lives and livelihoods of millions.

I know this won't happen, but we should require a COVID-19 vaccination for any child to attend school, or for any American to hold a job. Once there's a financial penalty for not having a vaccination a bunch of the folks who are objecting to it will suddenly find they don't object to it quite as much. And those who still object are not the people we want in our workforce anyway.

Kind of went to elven real quick there...

I did have a coworker who said he wasn't unsure of the vaccine because he didn't want to find out it caused cancer in five years. The irony of it was that he was a habitual smoker. I almost laughed out loud when he said that.

[Josietta]

People not taking the vaccine, because "they're worried it was rushed" or "they're treating us like guinea pigs". This is wrong. The vaccine was not rushed, and you are putting me, my friends, my lovers, and everyone important to me at risk by not taking the vaccine.

I'm all for democracy and freedom of choice, etc. But I think that we should MANDATE vaccination for every American, and if they don't want to be vaccinated, we should break down their doors, hold them down, and inject them, whether they want it or not. This isn't about civil liberties, this is about the lives and livelihoods of millions.

I know this won't happen, but we should require a COVID-19 vaccination for any child to attend school, or for any American to hold a job. Once there's a financial penalty for not having a vaccination a bunch of the folks who are objecting to it will suddenly find they don't object to it quite as much. And those who still object are not the people we want in our workforce anyway.

There are discussions in Virginia about mandating the vaccine in schools, mostly Universities are being spoken on but im pretty sure public school will soon follow.

[SweetSerenade]

There are discussions in Virginia about mandating the vaccine in schools, mostly Universities are being spoken on but im pretty sure public school will soon follow.

I have to get my vaccine this summer and have it completed before Fall Term Starts, otherwise, I don't get to go. It's being made super available in a lot of places, but it is also -not- available for all demographics equally.

Myself, I can't even get my Vaccine till it's 1. Hubby's Day off. As I have a 7-year-old who cannot be left unattended. 2. Some form of transportation already arranged, at least from the location I get vaccinated. 3. Kiddo Starts Summer school.

At this point, 1 and 2 are the main issues, when kiddo's summer school starts, 1 will no longer be an issue, for the *first shot* - the second shot I'll have to arrange carefully with hubby. Mostly because we would rather have all our bases covered when it comes to what is going to need handling after the shot. Furthermore, we cannot both get it at the same time. We have to stagger it, this way we don't have both parents down at the same time - and thus preventing too many 7-year-old chaos level incidents... xD

[LostInTheMist]

Kind of went to elven real quick there...

I did have a coworker who said he wasn't unsure of the vaccine because he didn't want to find out it caused cancer in five years. The irony of it was that he was a habitual smoker. I almost laughed out loud when he said that.

I was angry when I wrote it. (And unlike most of my "angry posts", I didn't delete it before I posted it.) And the post wasn't originally here when I wrote it, so it didn't take into account any of the rest of this thread.

I do think that it should be mandatory in all 50 states, but if the Federal Gov't mandated it, it would be massive overreach, and there are states out there that will NEVER mandate it, so it's a lost cause in any case. I can only hope my state will mandate it. (There are businesses in Oregon where you can present proof of vaccination, and then they will allow you to remove your mask; hoping to see more of that as I go. If people who can prove they are vaccinated get to shop without masks, some people will go to get vaccinated, in order to get that privilege.)

But yeah, I'm just hoping that enough people are willing to get the vaccine to generate herd immunity.

[Haibane]

There seems to be a slowly building gently "English" trend towards thinking that a vaccination passport might be a good thing, in the UK. Perhaps. Possibly. After due consideration and in the fullness of time kind of deal... Its not being talked about much but when it comes to emergency workers, especially NHS, teachers, and people travelling you can sense the undercurrent of it being discussed and in some industries, quietly introduced. It will probably happen at private company management level and not be a national or governmental declaration because that would be un-English. Its the sort of thing that the Welsh, Scottish and NI parliaments and corporations will also address individually. Probably.

The elderly lady I am pally with a few doors down has a cleaner who comes once every two weeks supplied by the AGE UK Charity and I've spoken to her and she isn't going to get vaccinated as she thinks it isn't safe. This bothers me a lot that charities that offer support to the aged and infirm (the #1 at risk group) are okay with sending workers into homes who are not vaccinated, or who I suppose they haven't asked if they are vaccinated or not.

[Oniya]

The elderly lady I am pally with a few doors down has a cleaner who comes once every two weeks supplied by the AGE UK Charity and I've spoken to her and she isn't going to get vaccinated as she thinks it isn't safe. This bothers me a lot that charities that offer support to the aged and infirm (the #1 at risk group) are okay with sending workers into homes who are not vaccinated, or who I suppose they haven't asked if they are vaccinated or not.

Is it the cleaner who doesn't want to get vaccinated, or the elderly lady?  Is the other one vaccinated?

I have similar concerns about my sister (who - last I heard - wasn't getting a COVID shot, despite going back to work as a paramedic). 

If your elderly friend is vaccinated, then she should be okay, even if the cleaning lady gets it.  If the cleaning lady is vaccinated, studies suggest that she is less likely to transmit the virus to an un-vaccinated person.  It's when both people are un-vaccinated (by choice or by doctor's direction) that things get dicey.  Best bet in that case would be to continue masking.

[Haibane]

The cleaner is the person who doesn't want the vaccine. My elderly friend has had her two jabs of Pfizer. She wears a mask and I always ask my elderly friend to wear hers when the cleaner visits.

I think my friend will be okay, it just bothers me that a charity that sends helpers to elderly people's homes doesn't require their employees to be vaccinated, but as my earlier post mentioned, that's a contentious issue over here.