"First, you say, you do
And then you don't
And then you say, you will
And then you won't
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
"First, you say, you do
And then you don't
And then you say, you will
And then you won't
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
Now you want to play
And then it's no
And when you say, you'll stay
That's when you go
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?"
Undecided, made popular by Ella Fitzgerald, 1939
COVID is a moving target.
The CDC's reputation and credibility are sinking, and with it the credibility of officeholders attempting to do public health consistent with CDC guidance.
Credibility is a fragile thing. It is earned less from being objectively true than it is from being clear and consistent. "The vaccinated don't need masks anymore," is a simple rule. Now there is new guidance.
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| Clear, simple guidance |
The CDC had said vaccinated people could take off their masks, a great visible tangible reward for vaccination. Now, amid the delta variant, guidance changed; we should wear masks indoors around the potentially-unvaccinated, which means nearly everywhere indoors around strangers. The big unsaid, unintended message is that the CDC doesn't know what it is doing.
I am vaccinated. I got my hopes up. I have been mask-free for a few weeks. Now apparently vaccinations aren't enough. The vaccine is good, but not perfect, and vaccinated people sometimes get COVID. Breakthrough COVID patients apparently can spread COVID, so now to be a good, careful citizen, we need to mask up--mostly to protect the unvaccinated. I have a mental image of the unvaccinated and it is unkind and incomplete. I imagine the negligent person, the selfish risk-taker, and the Trump-supporting, Tucker-Carlson-watching resister, thinking darned if he will give Democrat Joe Biden the satisfaction of taking a dose of that unproven George Soros/Bill Gates mind-control drug.
I think to myself, "why bother" if I am protecting people who won't do their part. Then the CDC reminds us that some people do want the vaccine, but have auto-immune problems, that children under twelve aren't yet eligible and they can spread it, and that some of my community's most vulnerable people-- people with kidney transplants, for example--could get very sick and die if I, a vaccinated and possibly asymptomatic carrier, spread it to them.
So after experiencing freedom, we are supposed to climb back into our masks. I want to blame someone, and who better than the messenger, the CDC with its confusing, apparently-inconsistent guidance, and the governors and mayors who act on that guidance. First they say they do, and then they don't.
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| Every county is different |
Apparently my home in Jackson County Oregon, is a relative delta hotspot, shown in orange. The next county to the east, Klamath County (home of the Bootleg fire) has fewer COVID cases right now. I need to mask in a grocery store here, but I wouldn't in a Klamath County store. Klamath County is rural, agricultural Trump-country. The common attitude there toward masks, social distancing, and COVID generally is to ignore it and scoff. Yet, somehow, Jackson County people need to protect our mask-refusers, but people in Klamath County do not.
It just seems wrong. Unfair. Illogical.
Governments have police power to control epidemics. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the 1905 Supreme Court case, established that states can require vaccinations. COVID mitigation is proving to be an unpopular power to use. Democrats should have no illusion that voters in 2022 will thank them for successfully dealing with COVID. They won't. Quite the opposite. The disease will not have disappeared. It is endemic. Moreover, the actions necessary to deal with it are doomed to feel like tyranny to the opponents of vaccination and masking, and mishandled and confusing to everyone else.
There is no good way out of this, which is why Trump was hoping for a miracle. He didn't get it and neither will Biden nor Democratic governors.
6 comments:
..."the selfish risk-taker, and the Trump-supporting, Tucker-Carlson-watching resister, thinking darned if he will give Democrat Joe Biden the satisfaction of taking a dose of that George Soros/Bill Gates mind-control drug."
Now you're talkin'! Still too kind for me, but right on the money.
Cases in our county have increased 4X in a month, back to January levels, and trending up. We have lost all progress locally, thanks to the unvaccinated. I have advocated for mandating COVID vaccinations since the beginning, as have others who predicted a Delta surge.
Vaccinations do not make you immune. Duh.
More death, more economic damage, more disruption, with the added thrill of it being totally preventable. If you ever needed evidence of the danger of 30% of the population being mentally ill, or defective, here is exhibit A.
Billions have been spent on developing a vaccine with this result. To solve a problem one must first identify the cause.
Republicans. We are experiencing first hand the effect of years of pandering to those you describe so well above, to the extent that some of them now serve in Congress and our state legislatures, not to mention the IOC.
Yes, health officials are trying to keep up with a complex fast moving situation. Again, something that should not be politicized, but guess what?
Pandering with these antivaxers is like playing Russian Roulette. How long before the corona virus mutates into something that is INCURABLE? . And we sit and WAIT, as if some (preferably ALL) of these fools will suddenly grow brains, rather than solving the problem.
Solution: require everyone, with extremely rare exceptions, to get vaccinated, poste haste!
So sorry if these fools' sensitive feelings get hurt. And we all know how sensitive republicans are. ROTFLMFAO!
As of this week, per City government statistics, a full 40% of New York City public K-12 educators remain unvaccinated despite eligibility and availability since January. Similar or even poorer numbers for public hospital employees (!), and a bit worse for City employees overall.
Per the CDC, the percentage of Blacks and Hispanics who remain unvaccinated is between ten and twenty-five points lower than their white and Asian counterparts in the vast majority of states, with Blue states and cities more often than not the poorer performers in this connection.
Something must be done by good and decent and sophisticated folks (Democrats) to counteract sinister Republicans! Their dread influence on NYC teachers, for instance (well-known conservatives), who "fear" re-entering classrooms but fear more the time and energy to vaccinate...
At CPAC, they cheered Biden failing to reach his vaccination goals. Of course, the virus is now focusing on the unvaccinated - mainly Trumplicans. Realizing their pandemic disinformation is killing their own voters, a few Republicans briefly promoted vaccination. Too little, too late: the party faithful seem to prefer the right wing rage machine's conspiracy theories.
My son refused to get vaccinated until one of his salesman was quarantined with COVID. He rushed out got tested then took his first dose.
He is still an open target for two weeks. Friend to friend makes believers. Someday when we’re bombed by another country, will everyone be running in circles screaming about their freedom to not duck and cover? The radiation doesn’t exist. I can’t see it. Oh well.
The local congregation I belong to worshiped on Zoom for a long time…. We scheduled our first in-person (but also having zoom access) service in our building for June 27. Already, we know we have to reconsider. Vaccinated people could come in without masks (and we have nearly, if not totally 100% vaccinated members — amongst those eligible). Tomorrow I expect most of us will again be wearing masks, for everyone’s safety. We are a hugging congregation — and that will probably again not be happening (much — I’m always available for a hug, no matter). We need requirements about being vaccinated — and requiring proof — in many places. We need to make those places healthier — and provide an incentive (so far such rules have been supported) to get vaccinated.
I felt terribly depressed yesterday about this. And… it makes me angry.
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