Sorry folks, gotta respond here, I'll let others determine if further discussion is here or not ...
So, admittedly I have as much pandemic fatigue as most, but isn't the main impetus for vaccine mandates the desire to not overwhelm our medical system, primarily ERs and ICUs? And even generally, aren't many elective surgeries currently being postponed? So when people choose not to get vaccinated, but then end up burdening our medical system when they get Covid, isn't that affecting other people's ability to get timely diagnoses and treatment?
This has to be "fake news" of the highest order, sorry. According to President Magoo, he was going to put an end to the Wuhan Flu, because he had a 7 point plan, and his predecessor (who managed to produce a vaccine in record time) really didn't know what he was doing. And yes, I'm aware more folks have died of the Wuhan Flu since Magoo took over, and it was just yesterday when Magoo himself declared this wasn't a Federal problem anymore, it would now be up to the states instead. So our glorious leader, emerging from victory over Afghanistan, and reminding us all of the "benefits" of inflation, has put another W on his report card. In the words of his predecessor ... I'm getting tired of all this "winning" ...
I'm not against personal choice. But choices aren't made in a vacuum. Isn't the other half of personal choice, personal responsibility? (I believe I've heard that once or twice from the more conservative members of our society. Why not now? Politics, maybe?) So sure, people can choose not to get vaccinated, but they need to understand the full scope of that choice. If you don't get vaccinated, don't go the hospital, ER, urgent care, when you get Covid. That is quite literally the other half of the decision you're making when you make that choice. Don't go. (You didn't trust doctors when they told you to get vaccinated, why do you trust them now that you're sick?) But that doesn't appear to be the way all these die hard "choicers" are playing it, given that 65-70% of Covid hospitalization are unvaccinated right now. Which is, quite frankly, bullxchit.
So, given your laudable concerns about "burdening our medical system", let me set up the predicate ... there are thousands of people coming across our southern border without permission on a daily basis, and over a million since the Magoo Admin gave them the olly-olly entry signal right around a year ago, and none - zero, zip, nada - of them are being asked to show proof of vaccinations. Supposedly, this is because these folks are "not expected to stay here very long", but of course that's the fallacy to end all fallacies. But without fail, once these folks who aren't here legally get sick, guess where their first stop is? Yup, those same "overwhelmed" ER's & ICU's.
Using your logic, here is the question: do we refuse them treatment, or should we send them back for treatment in countries where they hold legal citizenship? Or is that what you call "politics"??
BTW - remember when Magoo was still just a candidate, and said he wouldn't trust any vaccine that was developed under his predecessor?? Maybe you don't remember that, but a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life do remember, so when you criticize folks for not getting the shot(s) ... isn't Magoo at the very least guilty of mixed messaging ("politics")?!?
That kind of "patriotic, freedom loving, independent" behavior is so incredibly childish, selfish, and ignorant. Do I get to go to Vegas, put a grand down on red, collect when it hits, but pull it back when it comes up black? Choices have consequences, consider them before making your choice, instead of wanting it both ways like the entitled children we currently have running around our society.
One thing I suppose we can agree on - other than the historically hapless history of leadership of the UNH Hockey program - is that there are a LOT of entitled, spoilt and ignorant children running our society AND our governments right now. It's the latter group I'm primarily concerned about right now, EJ. If there was even the slightest evidence that the folks in charge had a clue what they were doing, I could possibly see your point. But your point seems to be set into an assumption that going with these overly broad mandates on personal conduct are coming from folks who know what they're talking about.
The guy in charge of the medical end has been searching (unsuccessfully) for an AIDS vaccine for almost 40 years now, and his department won't even discuss the issue of natural immunity. Does that make sense to you, EJ? I get a sense you have an independent streak, where you don't let others from
The Atlantic (which recently hatched the same no vax/no ER theory you advanced above) or other egg-headed liberal think-tanks do your thinking for you. If I'm right, you've probably lived through the Hong Kong Flu like I did, and we weren't absorbed in this panic-driven narcissistic societal meltdown back then. No masks, no mandates, and it ran its course after about two years. Did those in charge now learn from the past? Heck no.
One of our political parties is fond of the saying "don't let a good crisis go to waste" (HINT - it's the same one that famously threatened how "elections have consequences"). They've ridden it to power for the last year-plus, and if I'm reading the tea leaves correctly, they intend to ride it for another year to try to hold onto that power. Otherwise, you would think that as the strength of variants decreases, they would ease up on the authoritarian dictates (which haven't worked anyway) and let life go back to normal, like politicians and scientists did 50 years ago.
But they haven't, so draw your own conclusions. But yeah, "politics" is very much a factor here, and it's hardly just on the part of the folks you disagree with. Sorry mon ami.
