The data that I want to see is not that complex. Can we please see the numbers and rates of long Covid sufferers, hospitalizations, and death totals by age, race, and sex for the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, fully vaccinated, and fully vaccinated and boosted?
I don’t understand what is so complicated about this. The CDC has produced similar numbers on the flu (besides breaking it down by vaccination status too) for years and I have never had issues looking at the flu data.
Should not be complicated, except for long COVID, where there appears to be no consistent definition, and the count of infections that would be the denominator in assessing long COVID risk is also nebulous (e.g. unknown asymptomatic infections, COVID cases assumed to be cold or flu, cold or flu cases assumed to be COVID, etc.).
Being able to produce reports of risk by age and race and sex and vaccination status (instead of just one attribute at a time as is typically presented, not just in the context of CDC or COVID) would be more useful. Also, different vaccines and time since last dose may matter (e.g. Pfizer vaccine appears to fade fairly quickly).
I would like to see all that data as well as the data for comorbidities and contributing factors including smoking and vaping.
I’m not sure how requesting information via a FOIA request makes one a tr0ll. Perhaps it is because they also speak to Fox News. Maybe if they instead spoke to CNN it would absolve them.
It seems a FOIA request might be a good way to get data released regarding Covid.
Because they make many, many requests and town employees have to print out thousands of pages of documents, all the time.
These are people who make inflammatory signs about a school board member they don’t like and put them up all over town, including in front of the person’s home. People couldn’t remove them legally. They also put up hundreds of signs that said, “Fire ——” (the school superintendent) everywhere. They lined the road to the school, so kids had to see them every day.
The two “gentlemen” orchestrating this campaign truly are ■■■■■■. They write such mature statements as, “It looks like Ann is a qualified full-fledged COMMIE and denies it every day to no avail. It’s the quacking duck program, she quacks like a COMMIE.” Yes, their requests for information were onerous and excessive. Oh, and one of them is an attorney and files many frivolous lawsuits against small towns. It’s really horrible. Thank goodness one of them moved away from our town, but now he’s pulling the same nonsense in his new home.
The same Covid hoax person who sent me the “new” ivermectin studies regarding cancer just texted me a “very informative” video I need to watch this morning at 5:30am her time. I texted back to be sure it was her and not a scam. It was. The video is about Covid and is hosted on bitchute. I googled bitchute and Covid and got all sorts of Fact Check links telling me what the video is about.
We’re heading ziplining in 10 minutes. Doubt I’m going to take the time to watch her “very informative” video. Some things never change.
That’s the kind of stuff my dad’s cousin, another structural engineer, sends him all the time. Ack.
In our town, people/news orgs who make FOIA requests have to pay for all the copies. I’m not sure how much, but maybe look into that? It probably does deter some requests.
I am sorry you have a few people who are annoyingly outspoken. That is the thing that separates our country from many others… the ability to have an unpopular opinion and still be able to speak and advocate for such opinion. However, it should not be a reason to withhold data(information) imo, especially from a tax-payer funded institution.
I think what people despise is the government assuming all Americans are too dumb or whatever to assess information released. And yes, releasing the information may not change anyones mind, but not releasing it does NOT build confidence… and after the last few years we absolutely need assurance and confidence.
FOIA requests are horrible. If we get one, our office shuts down to take care of it. You have 24 hours to get everything together. It’s not like you can jut open up one file and press print. You have to comb through emails, the archived emails - of multiple people who gets hundreds every day - to figure out what’s related to the matter. You have to open up hard copy files, digital files, etc. And nobody wants to miss that one thing and get into trouble. It’s very stressful.
I think you can request more time and also charge a reasonable amount of money, but that’s in the city attorney’s hands. We just do the digging and copying.
I know the intent of FOIA is good. And it is where appropriate, but it is a royal PITA for the employees doing the work who are just trying to do their jobs and earn a living.
Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s what I hear up here, too. It’s too bad people take advantage of the privilege.
The previous poster probably meant the difference between making one FOIA request on a specific topic versus making numerous FOIA requests intended to harass the government agency involved, analogous to filing lawsuits.
I’m finding that I don’t know where our psychological off ramp is.
Our town has lifted the indoor mask mandate and our school district immediately followed suit. However, it seems like many businesses still have signs up requesting mask usage. There have been more unmasked people at the grocery store in recent months, but to my surprise, the lifting of the mandate doesn’t appear to have appreciably changed the mix. This town is still mostly masked.
As for the school… when I dropped my daughter off this morning, I observed zero unmasked students. My daughter flatly refuses to stop masking.
In our family discussions, we’ve all agreed we’re not comfortable ditching masks indoors yet. We have a trip to the west coast planned in April and we’re already talking about what we will do if the FAA lifts the mandate on planes (answer: wear masks anyway, if allowed). We will probably wear masks around town as well until it starts to get hot out and wearing them becomes uncomfortable. Then, we’ll see.
Yesterday, I went to our local mall for the first time probably in two years. There were large signs stating that masks are required everywhere in the mall, and even explained in detail about wearing them properly. I was kind of surprised about that. Glad to see it, though!
and those with prior infections.
FOIA requests can be very onerous especially those that are fishing expeditions. Someone has to go through every email, confirm if it’s responsive and redact any personal or other non-releasable info, scan and either print or send them. Usually the attorney has to check and approve what is released. Usually the info requested doesn’t match how it’s kept so it can be very time-consuming. While you can charge it’s very little and doesn’t make up for the time and effort involved. I’m a big fan of disclosure and don’t have a problem with FOIA as a concept but every request means hours and hours of no actual work getting done so it should be used judiciously and when there is no other avenue to get the info (and it’s important to get for some reason). So much is just fishing expeditions for what the requester THINKS might be there or plain old harassment. Most government workers are just doing the best they can and a bad FOIA request can make them want to cry.
Yesterday was the first day back to school since our district dropped mask mandates. D observed a significant difference at school who was wearing a mask (girls, white kids) and who wasn’t (boys, latino kids). In her IB/AP classes, kids were still wearing masks and have gone to KN94 masks now. Two of her teachers were not wearing masks - both white men - and her masked teachers were white women.
I don’t get why they couldn’t just hold out until school was over in 3 months? We’re still at numbers higher than when we started the school year with mask mandates. The building is old, poorly ventilated (windows don’t open and it’s minus 2 right now anyway), and I’d guess less than 50% of the students are vaccinated based on demographics. I just hope we can make it to graduation without things going all to h3ll since BA.2 is gaining ground.
Oh…this is SO not tied to FIOA… It is not considered a privilege to make life difficult for the ‘other side’. It is actually a virtue and makes one feel oh so loved and included by their own side…
Horrors. Hopefully these delicate minds aren’t allowed in to hear any of the political debates either. By the way, they should be commended for knowing who the school supt is. I must say that I certainly didn’t (but we might have been a larger district).
In my community while growing up in the 70’s, teachers wore strike buttons during the negotiations with the district. In front of us children. Of course, all we cared about was potential time off from school - which we got and which was made up on the back end. No one told us about that part. THAT was when you truly saw some sad faces.
Sorry for the thread grab - back to your regularly scheduled discussion.