But it is still not illegal to not be vaccinated. You can’t go to school, but they aren’t going to come to your home and arrest you.
What restrictions are currently being imposed that don’t have something to do with health and safety? I’m not being snarky. I’m really not sure.
And my point is that even with covid vax, there are going to be some people who aren’t going to get it and they are going to choose to live with the inconvenience we impose on the unvaccinated. I want those inconveniences to hurt - no school, no daycare, no concerts or ballgames.
I want the choice not to be vaccinated to still be there, but I want the consequences to be there too.
Same in Maine, thank goodness.
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That was the original reason for ‘flatting the curve’ before vaccines were available. Those in charge weren’t really hopeful they could control covid or prevent everyone from getting it, they just didn’t want us all to get it at the same time.
It took me a long time to understand that all the handwashing and distancing and staying home was just to delay, not prevent, getting the virus.
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I don’t take it as snarky and appreciate an earnest discussion.
President Biden recently said the following…
“ The unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals, are overrunning the emergency rooms and intensive care units, leaving no room for someone with a heart attack, or pancreitis [pancreatitis], or cancer.
I want to emphasize that the vaccines provide very strong protection from severe illness from COVID-19. I know there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation. But the world’s leading scientists confirm that if you are fully vaccinated, your risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is very low.”
So mandates aren’t to protect the vaccinated majority, and in a democratic society the unvaccinated minority would typically be left to their own decisions and consequences.
The work mandates, travel and entertainment prohibitions are all designed to compel the unvaccinated to get vaccinated for the greater good of society.
The current 100+ employee mandate isn’t to protect the unvaccinated employee from illness but to protect society from 1,000s of unvaccinated getting ill and clogging the healthcare system and it’s finite resources.
The work, travel, and entertainment prohibitions aren’t punishments for not being vaccinated (although they may feel that way). They are restrictions aimed at protecting both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. The inconveniences are there to compel people to get vaccinated so they can participate in all those activities. But it’s not random. It’s directly related to health and safety.
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It is designed to protect the unvaccinated employees, by getting them vaccinated, and by slowing the spread within work places.
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I believe CT just did away with vaccine exemptions for school enrollment except for medical reasons. No more religious exemptions for that.
Covid vaccines are not currently on the list of required vaccines and neither are the annual flu shots….for school enrollment in CT.
No one will come after you if your child isn’t immunized, but without documentation of required immunizations, you can’t attend public schools here. Not sure this applies to all private schools.
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I am not saying they are punishments but using the President’s own words in announcing these prohibitions, it’s about getting Americans to “do the right thing”. In other words compelling them to do so. He then immediately highlights the broader societal need. Yes it is of course about health and safety but more broadly then individually…
“The vast majority of Americans are doing the right thing. Nearly three quarters of the eligible have gotten at least one shot, but one quarter has not gotten any. That’s nearly 80 million Americans not vaccinated. And in a country as large as ours, that’s 25 percent minority. That 25 percent can cause a lot of damage — and they are.
The unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals, are overrunning the emergency rooms and intensive care units, leaving no room for someone with a heart attack, or pancreitis [pancreatitis], or cancer.”
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Just in from the Boston Globe:
BREAKING NEWS ALERT
TD Garden is requiring fans 12 and older to show proof of vaccination or one of two types of negative COVID-19 test results in order to attend a Bruins or Celtics game, concert, or any other event at the arena.
The same rules will apply for players, referees, coaches, band members, vendors, ushers — anyone who sets foot in the arena. TD Garden officials reached a decision late last week to implement the stricter regulations while the Delta variant prolongs the pandemic.
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Similar to the rule in San Francisco adn New York city, but both of those places allow exemptions for visiting players (but not the home team).
Speaking of requiring vax records: was speaking to the health tech at cvs yesterday and she said that they are no longer issuing CDC-approved vax cards; instead, the newly vaccinated can download a copy of their vax record from the CVS website.
Currently, nearly 95 percent of U.S. counties have high levels of community transmission with more than 100 positive cases per 100,000 people, both unvaccinated and vaccinated, in the past week.
This is discouraging and it makes me really question 1. how effective the vaccines currently are and 2. why boosters aren’t being approved. OTHO I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because aside from masking pretty much all other Covid protocols and restrictions are gone. Once society opened up this was bound to be the result.
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I wonder where they’re getting this from or if PA really is that much better than the rest of the US. The NY Times has none of our counties with more than 100/100,000 cases in the 2 week average. The worst as I type is Fulton with 93/100,000 and Sullivan at 10th worst has only 66/100,000.
This link might be firewalled, but comparing PA to the rest of the country, I definitely don’t see 95% of counties having 100+/100,000 right now.
ETA: Even the worst in NY (Franklin County) is only at 62/100,000. Something isn’t right with their 95% “right now” claim. Perhaps they meant > 100/100,000 total as of now vs current transmission?
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Indeed. Per the same NYT link, the main pop centers/counties in CA are also under teh 100/100k threshold being reported.
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CDC data regarding cases and transmission. The article is quoting the CDC which has basically deemed transmission high/red for almost the entire country, excluding California
You can also look at cases by county.
For example my county in PA.
Currently, nearly 95 percent of U.S. counties have high levels of community transmission with more than 100 positive cases per 100,000 people, both unvaccinated and vaccinated, in the past week.
Maybe they are using total for the week, not daily rate. So 100 cases in a week (per 100K) which would be 14-15/day and not that bad IMO. We are in the 50-70 lately though not too far away is over 100.
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Yes, that’s what they’re doing. I just used the link from @vpa2019 to check my own county. We’re not more than 100/100,000 per day, but if one counts per week, we are.
Data from both sources show that 1/9 people in my county have tested positive since the beginning. Assuming the rate of positive is 3x that as suggested previously due to folks not testing (asymptomatic or purely not testing) we’d have 1/3. Then add the close to 47% vaccinated and we’re getting toward having everyone get some sort of immunity (or passing away). One would have to subtract those who had it and got vaccinated though. I’ve no idea what that number is.
Regardless it seems like vax or exposure to all is what’s going to have to happen to put Covid behind us.
Chronic vax as the virus mutates. And, given flu vax rates, that’s going to be a serious challenge. At this point we seem to have a story in local news annually (except last year) about how some wonderful honors student or adorable toddler died of the flu. Does nothing to boost vax rates, even though we have roving nurses trying to give shots away for free.
With R0 around 8, we need 87.5% immunity for herd immunity. Because vaccine immunity is probably less than that (due to vaccines being targeted against the ancestral variant, both in terms of the spike protein and the dose amount), 100% vaccination with current vaccines will not provide herd immunity.
The policy choices:
- Continue COVID-19 protocols indefinitely. Con: everyone is tired of distancing, masking, etc…
- Let COVID-19 spread; at least vaccinated people are very unlikely to need to go to the hospital or die. Con: unvaccinated people get sick and overload the health care system, denying care to other people (including non-COVID-19 medical issues).
- Make boosters for Delta and try to vaccinate our way out of the above. Con: it may not work as well as hoped, vaccine refusal may prevent it from working, and/or a new variant could appear and require a new booster.