Freedumb!!!!
Neverending Covid-19 Coronavirus
- Thread starter RenegadeMonster
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Freedumb!!!!
Massachusetts is going to pay a $500 stimulus to low wage workers.
To qualify you must be a low wage worker working on the front lines (such as retail / food service / grocery) and your 2020 tax return must be below the state poverty level.
This stimulus is coming out of a covid relief budget the governor approved last December.
To qualify you must be a low wage worker working on the front lines (such as retail / food service / grocery) and your 2020 tax return must be below the state poverty level.
This stimulus is coming out of a covid relief budget the governor approved last December.
In a press conference yesterday, Massachusetts Governor said he's lifting the mask mandates in public schools on February 28th.
This decision is based on the availability of vaccinations to children rather than on the level of community spread. So this is unlike cities which have to fall below a certain positivity rate, hospitalization rate and what not to lift mask mandates.
That said I'm not clear if a city has a public mask mandate still in effect that it applies to schools as well. At least one of my co-worker has taken it as it doesn't matter what they city mask mandate is, masks will no longer be required in school and it has him very upset.
At work, parents are outraged by this decision to lift the mask mandate in public schools and have been protesting it in Boston and outside of the Governors mansion for months now.
At the same time, there are a substantial amount of parents, probably close to 30% of the state's population of parents, who have been very vocal against the mask mandates in school calling it inhuman and a violation of their rights. Those same parents are probably not going to vaccinate their kids either.
This decision is based on the availability of vaccinations to children rather than on the level of community spread. So this is unlike cities which have to fall below a certain positivity rate, hospitalization rate and what not to lift mask mandates.
That said I'm not clear if a city has a public mask mandate still in effect that it applies to schools as well. At least one of my co-worker has taken it as it doesn't matter what they city mask mandate is, masks will no longer be required in school and it has him very upset.
At work, parents are outraged by this decision to lift the mask mandate in public schools and have been protesting it in Boston and outside of the Governors mansion for months now.
At the same time, there are a substantial amount of parents, probably close to 30% of the state's population of parents, who have been very vocal against the mask mandates in school calling it inhuman and a violation of their rights. Those same parents are probably not going to vaccinate their kids either.
yukbon
Well-Known Member
I'm in FL and I have no idea what the mandate or law or policy is, but I think it's safe to say it's the wild fucking west. It may well be a case of "do whatever IDGAF yeehaw motherfuckers". I'm using quotes, but I'm not sure if that's a 100% quote from De Santis. It's safe to say I'm closer to an actual quote than I am actually comfortable with. Individual stores have mask rules posted and most are followed, but in places where they don't do masks, they really, really don't do masks. Weird looks and eye rolling etc.
Dtknuckles
Well-Known Member
There was a lot of money doled by the government earlier this year to prevent these type of things. The teacher’s union probably didn’t put the superintendent’s feet to the fire.
mrjoshuamccormack
Active Member
My parents are visiting Tucson from Northwest Indiana for a few weeks. Out here there's a different attitude regarding testing/masks/etc, even though there's still a lot of, um, contention. They're pretty Trump-y, for lack of a better term. I just told them they'll need to take some rapid tests, since our kids would have to be out of school for 1-2 weeks if they're exposed. I've yet to get a response. Fun times.
Update: They're currently refusing to take a freaking Binax test. Everyone that's visited our house for the last year has taken one for us with no arguments. ugh.
Update: They're currently refusing to take a freaking Binax test. Everyone that's visited our house for the last year has taken one for us with no arguments. ugh.
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Salem lifted the requirement to show your vaccination status to go inside any public business 2 days ago.
According to my barber when we were talking, they lifted it small businesses, especially restaurants saw a huge hit to business with several shuttering up.
The mandate to show your vaccination status angered people. And people simple stopped coming to Salem because of the mandate with several people saying they will never return to Salem to eat out.
Salem was one of 3 cities in the State of Massachusetts to impose such a mandate.
For lunch, I had lunch at one of my favorite cafes downtown. Usually is bustling and you have to wait for a seat. Even throughout most of the pandemic. But today, maybe 1/3 of the place was filled up for lunch. Unreal.
The reasons people were angered varied, but many of the cases were because:
I don't understand what about having to show your vaccination status angers so many people to that extent that they simply will never go out and eat again in Salem. Or at least say they won't.
Right now, the majority of business Salem restaurants are getting are from tourist. It's the locals and people from nearby towns who were alienated by the vaccine requirement.
The good news is the Salem Ice Festival runs next week. We get a lot of tourists for that. So it should be good for local business.
According to my barber when we were talking, they lifted it small businesses, especially restaurants saw a huge hit to business with several shuttering up.
The mandate to show your vaccination status angered people. And people simple stopped coming to Salem because of the mandate with several people saying they will never return to Salem to eat out.
Salem was one of 3 cities in the State of Massachusetts to impose such a mandate.
For lunch, I had lunch at one of my favorite cafes downtown. Usually is bustling and you have to wait for a seat. Even throughout most of the pandemic. But today, maybe 1/3 of the place was filled up for lunch. Unreal.
The reasons people were angered varied, but many of the cases were because:
- They were turned away because they didn't have their vaccine card / passport with them.
- They were turned away because they weren't vaccinated.
- It's none of the businesses business to know their vaccination status.
- This is a gross violation of my rights.
I don't understand what about having to show your vaccination status angers so many people to that extent that they simply will never go out and eat again in Salem. Or at least say they won't.
Right now, the majority of business Salem restaurants are getting are from tourist. It's the locals and people from nearby towns who were alienated by the vaccine requirement.
The good news is the Salem Ice Festival runs next week. We get a lot of tourists for that. So it should be good for local business.
Turbo
Well-Known Member
I missed this update last week:
Pfizer postpones FDA request for Covid vaccine for kids under 5
The company said it believes three doses "may provide a higher level of protection in this age group."www.nbcnews.com
Dammit.
I think it just means approval will happen in due course, when all the data is in, as opposed to accelerated. Probably a good idea since accelerating this would just give opponents more arguments regarding potential safety risks because of unknowns.
Turbo
Well-Known Member
Governments are ruling by polling as opposed to doing what's right. We went from our provincial government wanting to tax the unvaccinated about 4 weeks ago to now lifting the vaccination passport completely by March 14. Neither of those things make sense epidemiologically. It's like by mentioning the first thing, they affected polling and now want to appease things by going the other way. At least indoor masking is remaining for now. Everyone is acting like it's over while hospitalisations, although on a down slope, are still higher right now than they were at any other time during any wave. And deaths are still pretty high too, affecting mostly the unvaxxed and the immunocompromised (mainly elderly people).
We just got 3rd doses approved for the 12-17's as of tomorrow so I'll go with mine ASAP, especially since her competition schedule is starting up in March (competitions for her can be done pretty safely since diving is relatively individual).
Turbo
Well-Known Member
I was writing earlier in this thread (based on some history of pandemics thing I read but can't locate anymore) that previous pandemics, including the 1918 flu pandemic, pretty much ended because people got fed up of restrictions and decided to just ignore it. Electing governments that oppose measures and the like. Usually about 2 years in. History is essentially repeating. I fully expect COVID to take about 4-5 years, when all's said and done, to become truly endemic. We can certainly "live with it", using all the tools we have and having pretty much no shut downs anymore, but ignoring it and moving on shouldn't be the way forward.
I was just hearing reading some stories and watching news reports on the local NBC station about America moving on and leaving those with disabilities or are at high risk on their own to fend for themselves.
When it comes to mask mandates, both locally and nationally they are being lifted. There are two narratives I am seeing about this.
The minority / unpopular opinion: Lifting the mask mandates is more of a political move than a public health move. When it comes numbers, were infections are still high rivaling the peak of the delta variant it makes no sense lifting mask mandates so early.
The popular opinion: We are seeing a downward trend in new cases. ICU's are not full and overall Omnicron is milder for vaccinated adults. It's common sense that we should be lifting the mandates and start returning to normal. We can't keep mandates in place forever.
So basically, we can forget about Covid and return to normal if we are seeing a downward trend. But with cases still high won't this just help it bounce back or new variants to form?
Yesterday New Hampshire's state senate passed a bill that would ban all future hybrid or remote learning in public schools with the exception of for weather (snow day). Meanwhile, they did not pass a school lunch bill that would require students to get a 30 minute lunch break with at least 20 minutes to sit down and eat. It's like they don't care about the students well being.
Massachusetts Republican governor already put an end to remote / hybrid learning last year via executive order saying all kids must be in school in person. He is also lifting the mask mandate for public schools on February 28th.
This has lead to a lot of parents asking their towns or schools to impose their own mask mandate to protect their high risk kid or high risk family members. But they are making no progress and being forced to pull their kids out of school to be homeschooled. No one at the city or school board level wants to impose a mask mandate citing it's not needed by current guidelines. This is leaving students behind who are at high risk to fend for themselves. The parent of a student in MA who has cystic fibrosis is saying they are basically saying their child is an acceptable loss to return to normal. And that it has to be a violation of ADA and hope it can be challenged through the ADA. For now, they are forced to pull their child out of public schools.
Boston lifted their proof of vaccination mandate yesterday. Last night's Bruins game was the first game / event at the TD Garden in Boston since the start of the pandemic where proof of vaccination was not needed. NBC Boston interviews a lot of hockey fans about this and most are saying stuff like "It's about time". Only one 20 something girl said it makes her feel uncomfortable and that the decision sounds to be made more over money than public health. Masks are still required in Boston with the exception of when eating or drinking. The TD Garden lifted the proof of vaccination required along with the city citing they are following the cities guidelines.
Boston is one of the last holdouts in MA that still has a mask mandate. Salem ended theirs on 2/9.
Over the weekend when I went to the mall with my family, most stores said mask are strongly encouraged. What I noticed. Most store employees were not wearing masks. Most white / 30 something plus people were not wearing masks. Young adults, Asians and Hispanics were where you saw people wearing masks.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Salem was 1 of 3 cities in MA who had a vaccination proof mandate. It was lifting along with the mask mandate on 02/09/2022. Salem's economy was hurt big time by the mandate. It alianted the locals. People from around the North Shore in MA stopped coming to Salem and the city gotta rep of being overly liberal and a place to avoid. People were done with mandates, and showed it with their wallets.
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Turbo
Well-Known Member
Even in Quebec, where we've had some of the more drastic measures, we're moving towards dropping most of everything. Right now, we still have some capacity restrictions for large venues, indoor masks and vaccine passports for certain places.
March 14, they're dropping capacity limits and the passport. Masking in schools ends after march break (March 7 or 14 depending on where you are). All that will remain is indoor masking out of schools.
We're trending down too. But hospital have 1700 patients, which is still more than at any other time. Nobody is really counting cases anymore.
I don't really know what to think.
I'll probably keep the mask on for a while after it comes down. I have some of those risk factors so I should be a little extra careful even if I'm triple dosed. My daughter will probably chose to keep her mask on for a bit too, because she doesn't want to suddenly catch COVID and have to miss competitions, which are finally starting up again.
I guess we'll have to decide for ourselves. It was bound to happen. I just didn't think it would before closer to summer.
@Turbo
I don't know what it's like in Canada, but I have noticed that a lot of the pushback against mandates here in the United States would prevent similar measures from ever being used again should we have another pandemic that's not covid in the future. Especially when it comes to schools or stay at home orders. Vaccine mandates and proof of vaccine mandates.
We expect a lot of political candidates to run on the platform of returning to normal, removal mandates and limit future power of public health officials with the 2022 election cycle in the United States further worsening the problem.
I feel that Covid has pretty much screwed our country over whereas if the next pandemic is worse there is almost nothing we can do about it because Freedumb.
I don't know what it's like in Canada, but I have noticed that a lot of the pushback against mandates here in the United States would prevent similar measures from ever being used again should we have another pandemic that's not covid in the future. Especially when it comes to schools or stay at home orders. Vaccine mandates and proof of vaccine mandates.
We expect a lot of political candidates to run on the platform of returning to normal, removal mandates and limit future power of public health officials with the 2022 election cycle in the United States further worsening the problem.
I feel that Covid has pretty much screwed our country over whereas if the next pandemic is worse there is almost nothing we can do about it because Freedumb.
Turbo
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's as bad here, but there definitely is a conservative movement inspired by the US views. Hence all those "truckers" over the last few weeks. I have to think they'd do the right thing next time, but I guess it depends on how much time passes between now and then.
Sadly, there is probably more truth to that than satire.
My biggest concern is in the early days of the next pandemic. Preventing community spread.
Some states have removed the ability of public health officials to issue stay at home orders, quarantines or mask mandates leaving the decision with politicians rather than experts. Will the State senate's move fast enough and be able to make the best public health decisions in time? Even the Governor's power has been limited in some states to do this by executive order.
There is absolutely no way we will be able to control / stop the spread. The next pandemic will hit us full force and be here to stay. I see you statement coming into play with mask mandates after it's too late to do anything about the pandemic. Because it's peoples rights and the economy is more important than protecting lives. Got to remember, grandma and grandpa would gladly sacrifice themselves for the state of the economy and their grandchildren. At least according to Texas's Lt Governor.
Jan
Well-Known Member
'We'll See if it's the next pandemic or just next winter's covid wave
LeSamourai
Well-Known Member
Something I read this weekend, related to the current discussion> COVID Won’t End Up Like the Flu. It Will Be Like Smoking.
Does that mean we can tell anti vaxxers / anti maskers to go outside and stand at least 15 feet away from buildings to protect other people's health?
Yes, no? Can we have covid protections like we have for second hand smoke?
sonicpharmacist
Well-Known Member
Not sure if everyone is aware, but my vaxxed and boosted wife tested positive for Covid on Sunday, symptoms were just congestion, mild fever, and feeling tired. Yesterday my vaxxed kids started to get symptoms too: 12 year old just a sore throat, 15 year old sore throat and cough, both tested negative. Today, both kids stayed home, 12 year old ready to go back (restested negative), but 15 year old has been sleeping most of the day, coughing some, threw up a couple times, sore throat, and temp of 101.5. There is no way he doesn’t have Covid.
Meanwhile, my wife is feeling much better, BUT she has a clotting disorder called antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Since Covid provokes blood clots, the docs decided she needed the monoclonal antibody infusion (sotorivumab - which she got today), plus they want her to be on Coumadin for a month. She feels probably about 90% better, but feels like this is all her fault, even though she wears a mask when at work and indoors.
I have zero symptoms and have tested negative. I have asthma, so I’m wearing an N95 while at home. All in all this sucks.
Meanwhile, my wife is feeling much better, BUT she has a clotting disorder called antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Since Covid provokes blood clots, the docs decided she needed the monoclonal antibody infusion (sotorivumab - which she got today), plus they want her to be on Coumadin for a month. She feels probably about 90% better, but feels like this is all her fault, even though she wears a mask when at work and indoors.
I have zero symptoms and have tested negative. I have asthma, so I’m wearing an N95 while at home. All in all this sucks.