Wear Your Mask - COVID-19 Thread II

[robkelk]

And I'm still waiting to find out when I'll be allowed to ask for my first dose...

meanwhile, the entire province goes into a month-long lockdown again, one minute after midnight tonight. This time around, "restaurant takeout" will still be allowed... so, not a complete lockdown.

And less than a week later, it's turning into a proper lockdown. Looks like a half-assed slowdown doesn't actually do anything about stopping the spread of infections. More impressively, this particular right-wing government actually paid attention to the evidence instead of their ideology.

[robkelk]

My, but there's a lot of conspiracy theorists in Australia, if their COVID-19 vaccine FAQ is anything to go by.

• Can COVID-19 vaccines connect me to the internet?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines cause autoimmune diseases?
  
• Is the vaccine rollout a cover to collect DNA?
  
• Can COVID-19 vaccines alter my DNA?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines contain a microchip or any kind of tracking technology?
  

In all cases, the answer is "no".

It's a condemnation of the educational process that's supposed to (IMHO) teach people critical thinking that they have to be listed on a FAQ page, because that means people are actually asking these questions...

[LynnInDenver]

My, but there's a lot of conspiracy theorists in Australia, if there CIVOD-19 vaccine FAQ is anything to go by.

• Can COVID-19 vaccines connect me to the internet?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines cause autoimmune diseases?
  
• Is the vaccine rollout a cover to collect DNA?
  
• Can COVID-19 vaccines alter my DNA?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility?
  
• Do COVID-19 vaccines contain a microchip or any kind of tracking technology?
  

1: No, and no. Anything small enough to go through that needle requires external RF power, and is going to be really short range at best.
2: Only if you are literally on a hair trigger for a pre-existing but currently inactive condition.
3: Only if they're also doing a blood draw, which as near as I can tell they aren't.
4: No, they only provide your immune system a pattern to defend against.
5: See #2.
6: See #1.

It's amazing the number of conspiracy theories that require one to make assumptions about technology and other things that wouldn't pass a middle school science class education. Oh, wait, people ignore those because they don't feel it has any bearing on what you need to do as an adult.

[classicdrogn]

If there was an injection that would give people a constant onboard internet connection, I can only imagine the demand would be higher than for COVID-19 vaccinations. Loads of people still go on about that being fake or vaccines being harmful in some way... by complaining about it endlessly on smartphone social media apps. Phones which can be tracked by cel tower signal triangulation and often do so themselves for the benefit of map/route finding apps, locataion metadata for photos (themselves often immediately posted to social media,) and exploitative mobigames that people either don't actually read the "are you sure you want to install this?" popup on, just HAVE to play regardless to keep up with the Joneses, or openly use it as a feature ala Pokemon GO.

[Bob Schroeck]

Peg and I have just returned from getting our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. So far neither of us has any kind of reaction, not even the tiny bit of nausea I had for a minute or two after the first one, in my case.

[Dartz]

I've reached the point on just giving up on it.

By the time my number comes up everyone else will be vaccinated. Why being dissapointed?

[Bob Schroeck]

Well. I was a bit premature on the "no side effects" front. It's a good thing I took today off from work because I have been headachy and body-achy all day, with a nice dollop of drowsiness on top. Peg's about the same.

Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

[LynnInDenver]

So, some people are claiming that they're being shamed for wanting to not be vaccinated: https://www.9news.com/article/news/healt...05fd473c8e

Given the way polls (yeah I know) have shown that people's discomfort with the vaccine process has dropped, to an extent I'm not surprised; we're all tired of having to avoid our friends, not have gatherings, and every single person who says they're not getting the vaccine is pushing the timetable further and further down on being able to see our friends again.

Not that this will directly effect me quite as much with Lockdown Lite once we're fully vaccinated; we're acknowledged that October is the earliest we're considering out in public larger gatherings, probably no restaurant outing until November, but because all of our friends we want over will also be vaccinated once we're done with ours, we can at least have them over much more easily. But I also know a bunch of people don't have that specific set of options (no space to host), or want to do the public gatherings, and at this point the refusers and anti-vaccers are going to be receiving some very directed (and honestly earned) anger if they're the cause for this thing being dragged out even one more month longer than it had to be.

[robkelk]

So, some people are claiming that they're being shamed for wanting to not be vaccinated: https://www.9news.com/article/news/healt...05fd473c8e

Interesting choice of words, both here and in the article's headline.

In my personal experience, which goes back to the Civil Rights Movement, people who know that they're doing the right thing despite what everyone else says welcome being pointed out for their choices and take the spotlight as a mark of pride. It's only the people who think that they're doing something wrong who call it "shaming".

So... yeah. Keep on shaming these people - if they're secure in their opinions, they won't care.

[Bob Schroeck]

Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

It is.  I woke up with no body aches, the injection site almost painless, and a beautiful shaft of golden sunlight pouring in the window.  (It's been overcast and/or rainy for days here.)

[LynnInDenver]

So, some people are claiming that they're being shamed for wanting to not be vaccinated: https://www.9news.com/article/news/healt...05fd473c8e

Interesting choice of words, both here and in the article's headline.

In my personal experience, which goes back to the Civil Rights Movement, people who know that they're doing the right thing despite what everyone else says welcome being pointed out for their choices and take the spotlight as a mark of pride. It's only the people who think that they're doing something wrong who call it "shaming".

So... yeah. Keep on shaming these people - if they're secure in their opinions, they won't care.

What I'm hoping is that extends to people coming into work sick... "No, you go home, it doesn't matter how busy we are, you coming in sick is going to extend the busy time in exactly the wrong way."

Thankfully, we don't have anyone to deal with that I know of outside of my sister-in-law, and I've already told my partner she's not welcome in the house until she gets over her objections and gets vaccinated.

The only objection to vaccination that will hold water with me is a chronic illness that makes vaccination impossible, like an allergic reaction to any vaccinations.. Anything else is just an excuse to not consider others over oneself.

For me, this is one of those things where the needs of the many absolutely do outweigh the needs of the few or the one, without any question. That others question it at all is absolutely frightening.

[hazard]

Should the disease be invariably lethal the matter would resolve itself.

Quickly.

[Inquisitive Raven]

So, some people are claiming that they're being shamed for wanting to not be vaccinated: https://www.9news.com/article/news/healt...05fd473c8e

Interesting choice of words, both here and in the article's headline.

In my personal experience, which goes back to the Civil Rights Movement, people who know that they're doing the right thing despite what everyone else says welcome being pointed out for their choices and take the spotlight as a mark of pride. It's only the people who think that they're doing something wrong who call it "shaming".

So... yeah. Keep on shaming these people - if they're secure in their opinions, they won't care.

What I'm hoping is that extends to people coming into work sick... "No, you go home, it doesn't matter how busy we are, you coming in sick is going to extend the busy time in exactly the wrong way."

Yeah, that's only going to happen if people feel secure in their ability to take time off for illness without losing their jobs.

[Dartz]

The Vaccination grinds on here.

The Mammy's number came up - she's now inside the age bracket and eligible. Now, the system's such a clusterfuck that I had to help her register for it. Also reigstered the oulfella at the same time - he's technically still to young but a 'mistake' got him over the line so they're both going for it. Eventually.

They've both had the virus already anyway.

If I ever get it I'll be months away so.... fuck it.

[LynnInDenver]

Ouch.

Meantime, both me and my husband have gotten our second shots, so we're (hopefully) no longer potential spreaders at some point in the future.

We bought some pints of locally made ice cream on the way home to celebrate that and my husband's birthday tomorrow.

We're starting to get into the "have to convince people to get in" because we're starting to get open appointments. It's a combination of "can't get in" (read: more important for you to be into work and making someone else money than to make sure you can stay healthy), "Don't want it right now" (read: I think the time frame has been too small for this thing and want to wait and see and make sure it's safe), and "Never want it" (read: I think this is unnecessary or an excuse to do other things to the population under the guise of a medical emergency).

[Norgarth]

I'm now eligible to get the vaccine, I just need to arrange an appointment. Unfortunately my organizational skills are nearly non-existent, so I often forget to do things until after business hours.

[Mamorien]

After frittering away at least one perfectly good week, I accidentally got my shit together* long enough to log into My Wellspan and make an appointment for Jab One. Wednesday, May 12, at 1:00 PM Eastern.

* Should I get a medal, or a pat on the back and a purple feather?

[robkelk]

Don't know whether there's anybody left here who lives in Ontario (Canada) and doesn't have their shots yet. If there are, good news!

[Labster]

A New Study Confirms That Reopening Texas '100 Percent' Had No Discernible Impact on COVID-19 Cases or Deaths. Or the more fun headline, "Scientists PROVE that Lockdown had NO IMPACT on Covid". What really happened here? Well, it turns out people were just doing what they were going to do anyway, and state power had a negligible effect on individual behavior in Texas. Reopening the state had no measurable increase in cases, hospitalizations, or economic activity, or level of employment.

Harry Enten points out that The 2021 vaccination map looks like the 2020 election map. If you go to the CDC website, you can see an electoral college map except instead of being labeled as Biden/Trump the label is in percentage vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Democrats would be at the herd immunity threshold nationwide, if there weren't Republicans living around them. Remember back when Trump declared victory when he got the vaccines developed fast? It seems like Republicans are trying their best to nullify Trump's accomplishment.

If I ever get it I'll be months away so.... fuck it.

It really only took three months for vaccine availability to go from rare to common in the US. I expect in a couple months it will be pretty easy for you to get.

[LynnInDenver]

Yeah, that's mapped neatly to what we saw when we were out this last Sunday. Colorado lifted the mask mandate statewide fairly recently. Sunday was our first day going out to do anything - mostly just trading some stuff at the indie media store up north of us. Mask wearing indoors doesn't seem to have changed that much. I noted the same thing today stopping by a thrift store before my dental appointment, I think I saw ONE unmasked face the past few days that wasn't a friend we were visiting at home who also happened to be fully vaccinated.

Most of us with any real sense have been taking a "wait and see" approach to the whole thing. I'm not stopping wearing a mask out to public venues anytime soon. We're not visiting restaurants for sit-down food service until potentially November. Even when I pick up a friend this coming Sunday (first D&D in over a year we'll be doing it in person), I'll have a mask along just in case.

In other words, some people have already (and perhaps permanently) changed their habits in response to this thing, and it's going to take more than a politician saying "it's over now, back to old normal" for people to start considering old habits. I really doubt that it's "lockdown had no impact". It's likely the combination of habit modification and vaccinations that's kept the case numbers dropping.

[robkelk]

So... The biggest rivalry in the biggest sport in Canada is going to game 7 (out of 7) in the playoffs.

Normally, the arena would be sold out, with scalpers getting five-digits for the nosebleed seats. This year, all of the tickets are going to health-care workers - for free.

Every so often, I actually give a damn about pro sports...

[Bob Schroeck]

As of a couple days ago, New Jersey is no no longer in any kind of lockdown. Over 80% of the population now has had at least one dose of vaccine, and the governor has lifted all restrictions and mask requirements. I'm not sure if that was premature or not; a lot of people are still wearing masks -- a good 90% or more everywhere I've gone this weekend. Peg and I will probably play it safe for at least a few more weeks maskwise, just to be sure.

[LynnInDenver]

Yeah, I just did back of the envelope math as we're basically going towards 100% open here.... 44% fully vaccinated, 63% with at least a single shot in them. The hospitalization numbers are dropping maddeningly slowly, but it seems given the discharge and transfer rates that it's a lot of the harder cases at this point. We're discussing when to "rip off the bandaid" and go out to do something, likely the "build and bull" sessions at the hobby store. I think most of our modeling group is vaccinated at this point. Hopefully we'll have our choice between "far side of town but in a space away from the main sales area" and "close in but with more potential random stranger contact".

So we've had some board gaming folks over (our realtor and his daughter), one of my husband's friends (first guest to play the virtual pinball since I got it back together in almost the final form last year), and our D&D group met here in person yesterday. Of course, we hosted the Mother's Day gathering as well.

My throat is showing how I haven't talked nearly as much in the past year and change, now that it's easier to have random chit chat.

[robkelk]

Title text: Gotten the Ferris wheel operator's attention

[robkelk]

Fully vaccinated woman died with COVID-19 at Kitchener long-term care home

The lesson here is that the jab isn't perfect protection.