I wonder how claims of religious exemption will stand for those whose faiths don’t preclude medical interventions. I would think it would be hard to justify unless you have a history as a Jehovah’s Witness, Christian Scientist, etc. 
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There are fewer specious religious claims than you might expect. Unlike medical exemptions, which employers have to accommodate, employers only need to incur minimal costs related to religious exemptions, leaving the rest up to the employee to bear. So for example our exempted employees will need to pay for twice weekly covid testing in addition to the masking, social distancing, etc. That gets old and expensive quickly; easier to take the shot.
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Yep. We’ve had a client who did a anonymous poll asking if employees planned on invoking a religious exemption. Then put out the rules for those exempt: masking, distancing, eating alone, 3x testing. Although about 10 percent of one clients employees had indicated anonymously that they planned on asking for exemption less than 1 percent. ( like 2 people out of 1200) did.
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I do think the burdensomeness of the additional measures helps sort out those who are sincere.
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I know there were at some point 2 people from out of state discussed here who managed to get an ECMO bed in Connecticut-don’t remember which one was the original subject of this thread, but there has been an update on one of them:
"November 1, 2021
by Danielle Austin, Organizer
Unfortunately Stevie’s journey has come to an end.
After 59 days on ECMO, surrounded by his family, Stevie passed away.
We appreciate the support you have all shown us along the way. Our lives will never be the same."
It’s hard to imagine that the medical staff allowed this to go on this long. I’m pretty sure the futility of this treatment became apparent long ago.
The medical bills for this one person must be in the millions.
Sad tale that never had to happen to a 31 year old man.
According to the NYT, our county has had 14 deaths in the last two weeks. 14 doesn’t sound like a lot unless one realizes our county has a lower population than some school districts like the one where we lived in FL.
At this point, I suspect close to or all of the 14 didn’t have to happen, though the NYT doesn’t list age or health conditions prior to Covid. There are still 0 ICU beds available here and only 3 in the next county over.
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Sadly, I know 3 fully vaccinated people who have died recently. We just aren’t out of the woods yet.
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Older and/or with major comorbidities? If so, that’s what medical lad tells us he sees in hospitalizations of the fully vaccinated.
It’s why we’re careful before visiting and when with FIL even though he’s been fully vaccinated, as have we. He still has to get a booster, but we’re not sure when. He just had minor surgery to remove a suspicious tumor and is recovering from that.
Since H and I aren’t in the senior citizen group or high co-morbidity group I trust our vaccines to keep us safer. I don’t trust them with FIL since his last Moderna was back in March. At least it was Moderna.
Yes, older (70, 73, 88) & comorbidities. My concern is that people are not taking basic precautions anymore. Hand washing, social distancing (limit handshakes - can’t believe that’s back … and don’t stand so close to me), masks … if only more people would buy into these basics for awhile longer.
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Yeah, I can’t count the number of people who tell us (even on here) that we don’t need to be so careful when visiting FIL (esp since he’s not super careful when living on his own).
But we just don’t want to be the source if he were to get it. H doesn’t want to live with that guilt and I fully support him. It doesn’t take us much to pull back our regular lives for a week or two prior to our visits.
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That and now we are hearing that older folks are failing to get their boosters.
It took awhile for my MIL’s assisted living facility to do boosters, but as of last week, they’re done. Makes me feel better.
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A Washington state senator who fought vaccine mandates and COVID mitigation efforts including social distancing and mask requirements is “in rough shape” with COVID, in El Salvador, and has pleaded with colleagues to send him monoclonal antibodies.
I went to a book group (first time I have been). All are vaccinated. We met at a book store where the book author was speaking. Members include professors, doctors and a bookstore owner. We were masked when the author was speaking in the bookstore. We had dinner outside (and it was cold), but people were hugging and shaking hands.
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We know someone who won’t get vaccinated - even though she spends a lot of time with her 88 year old mother. But she says she will get vaxxed if she has to in order travel. Aargh. (Guess she’s not all that morally opposed to it after all.)
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I know two people whose parents got COVID because they each had a sibling that behaved the same way. One of them died. 
Well, priorities I suppose. 
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Might I remind members of the forum rules: “College Confidential forums exist to discuss college admission and other topics of interest. It is not a place for contentious debate. If you find yourself repeating talking points, it might be time to step away and do something else… If a thread starts to get heated, it might be closed or heavily moderated.”
I have deleted several posts reporting misinformation, and responses to those posts, and put the thread on slow mode until morning.
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