How can there not be a COVID-19 thread?

[MEJHarrison]

Are they not requiring the 8th month booster for you?

I presume that's coming as well. But it wasn't part of this email.

 

[Alli]

Just had brunch with a former student who’s an ICU nurse in New Orleans. She was not on rotation when Ida hit. Their entire emergency team is still at the hospital on duty, after a week. They are not being allowed to go home. Rhonda came home to stay with her mother since she has no electricity in NO. She got a text this morning demanding she report to work at 1800. Today. They will fire any employee who does not return to work, even though some of them cannot get there due to flooding and others who evacuated.

This is a hospital (Oschner) with a full ICU due to Covid. How do they think they’re going to replace employees in the middle of a pandemic when potential healthcare workers know how they will be treated.

 

[Herdfan]

Just had brunch with a former student who’s an ICU nurse in New Orleans. She was not on rotation when Ida hit. Their entire emergency team is still at the hospital on duty, after a week. They are not being allowed to go home. Rhonda came home to stay with her mother since she has no electricity in NO. She got a text this morning demanding she report to work at 1800. Today. They will fire any employee who does not return to work, even though some of them cannot get there due to flooding and others who evacuated.

This is a hospital (Oschner) with a full ICU due to Covid. How do they think they’re going to replace employees in the middle of a pandemic when potential healthcare workers know how they will be treated.

If she is an ICU nurse, she will have no trouble getting a new job. Hopefully one she likes better.

 

[User.45]

"She got a text this morning demanding she report to work at 1800. Today. They will fire any employee who does not return to work"

This sorta made me laugh. There's always been an ICU nurse shortage because they take longer to train and hard to retain. On top of that there's a national nurse shortage thanks to Southern "personal responsibility". So that "threat" is a pretty funny example of bad leadership.

 

[shadow puppet]

Just scheduled my 3rd jab for 9/20! Hope it's as easy (no side effects) as my 2nd Moderna jab.

 

[Alli]

Just scheduled my 3rd jab for 9/20! Hope it's as easy (no side effects) as my 2nd Moderna jab.

I had nothing from jab 3 beyond a sore arm.

 

[Alli]

I just found out that a former colleague of mine has Covid in the house for a second time. She, her husband, and two 5 year olds both had it last winter. They shared with her father, who died from it. The twins now have it again because they’re too young to get vaccinated.

 

[Herdfan]

Just had brunch with a former student who’s an ICU nurse in New Orleans. She was not on rotation when Ida hit. Their entire emergency team is still at the hospital on duty, after a week. They are not being allowed to go home. Rhonda came home to stay with her mother since she has no electricity in NO. She got a text this morning demanding she report to work at 1800. Today. They will fire any employee who does not return to work, even though some of them cannot get there due to flooding and others who evacuated.

Any update?

 

[Alli]

Any update?

I checked with her over the weekend and her supervisor told her to report on Tuesday. I don’t know if she went back today or not. Will let ya know.

 

[Eric]

I just found out that a former colleague of mine has Covid in the house for a second time. She, her husband, and two 5 year olds both had it last winter. They shared with her father, who died from it. The twins now have it again because they’re too young to get vaccinated.

Would be nice to see emergency approval for kids, look at all the schools now closing.

 

[SuperMatt]

”Breakthrough infections” are getting a lot of press. The media wants eyeballs; I get it. However, even in areas with high levels of infection, the chance of a breakthrough infection is 1 in 5,000. In areas with lower levels of infection, you are looking at a 1 in 10,000 chance.

Breakthrough COVID Cases for the Vaccinated Remain Very Rare

Link to: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/briefing/risk-breakthrough-infections-delta.html

daringfireball.net

 

[Alli]

Any update?

She drove to New Orleans yesterday (it’s only a 2 hour drive) so that she could report for her shift. Left all her stuff in the car so that at the end of her shift she can drive home to Mobile. Still no power. She may yet give up the job and move back here.

 

[Huntn]

Since that are now allowing those with auto immune diseases to take a third dose, I asked at the local pharmacy if my wife’s Graves disease (underactive thyroid) qualified. They said no, but added if she checks auto immune disease on the form, it will not be questioned. She might do it and get it out of the way.

 

[SuperMatt]

I saw an interesting proposal concerning vaccination.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1432705129883611150/

 

[SuperMatt]

This is not good:

Opinion | Here Comes the Autumn of Anxiety (Published 2021)

The pandemic hasn’t ended; the rescue programs have.

www.nytimes.com

 

[SuperMatt]

Idaho has authorized hospitals to ration care. It’s a triage situation where a patient who is unlikely to survive COVID will be taken off of a ventilator so they can get somebody with a chance of survival in there.

Idaho allows COVID-slammed hospitals to ration care for 1st time ever

Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, and officials say a "massive increase in patients with COVID" forced the "last resort" move.

www.cbsnews.com

Almost every single patient is unvaccinated. The few vaccinated patients that came into the hospitals did not have life-threatening symptoms.

You could have a heart attack and cannot get into the hospital because of people who refused to get a free vaccine. At some point, I can see more hospitals saying “if you won’t get the vaccine, you are on your own.”



Edit: replaced full episode video with one of just the relevant segment.

 

[SuperMatt]

Seems like the vaccine is going to be mandatory for many more Americans now. If I am reading things correctly, any company (over 100 people) that does business with the federal government will have to mandate vaccines for their workers. Federal employees will have to get vaccinated. These mandates could extend to 2/3rds of all American workers? I certainly hope so. I believe most anti-vaxxers are not opposed enough to quit their jobs. I’m already seeing many military members that were opposed going and getting the vaccine before a deadline has even been set.

Biden is requiring the vast majority of federal workers to get vaccinated or face disciplinary measures. (Published 2021)

The move is part of a larger plan that officials said would cover two-thirds of all American workers.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Eric]

Seems like the vaccine is going to be mandatory for many more Americans now. If I am reading things correctly, any company (over 100 people) that does business with the federal government will have to mandate vaccines for their workers. Federal employees will have to get vaccinated. These mandates could extend to 2/3rds of all American workers? I certainly hope so. I believe most anti-vaxxers are not opposed enough to quit their jobs. I’m already seeing many military members that were opposed going and getting the vaccine before a deadline has even been set.

Biden is requiring the vast majority of federal workers to get vaccinated or face disciplinary measures. (Published 2021)

The move is part of a larger plan that officials said would cover two-thirds of all American workers.

www.nytimes.com

Hmmm, looks like it's for any business, I don't see the "business with the federal government" part. Am I missing that somewhere?

The Biden administration will require employers with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing

The administration will enforce fines up to $14,000 per violation for employers that don't implement a vaccine or weekly testing mandate.

www.businessinsider.com

That aside, this is an excellent idea, if we don't act we will never get ahead of this virus.

 

[SuperMatt]

Hmmm, looks like it's for any business, I don't see the "business with the federal government" part. Am I missing that somewhere?

The Biden administration will require employers with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing

The administration will enforce fines up to $14,000 per violation for employers that don't implement a vaccine or weekly testing mandate.

www.businessinsider.com

That aside, this is an excellent idea, if we don't act we will never get ahead of this virus.

I think I mixed 2 things up. They are separate.

1. Businesses with more than 100 people will need to get vaccinated - OSHA is the authority they are using for this.
2. Federal contractors are required to mandate vaccines for employees… this is part of the federal employee mandate.

Biden lays out 6-pronged plan to combat COVID this fall

President Joe Biden is introducing a six-pronged plan to combat COVID-19 in the U.S. this fall. The plan will increase incentives and requirements to get people vaccinated, as well as deploy more testing, masking, and other measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

www.wcpo.com

Large employers to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested weekly

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees, according to the White House.

Vaccinations required for all federal workers, contractors that do business with government

Biden has signed executive orders to require all federal executive branch workers to be vaccinated and the standard will be extended to employees of contractors that do business with the federal government.

And they are going to mandate healthcare workers get vaccinated too, requiring It for hospitals and clinics that accept Medicaid or Medicare, which is almost all of them:

Vaccinations required for over 17 million health care workers at Medicare, Medicaid hospitals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including but not limited to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies. The requirement will apply to nursing home staff as well as staff in hospitals and other CMS-regulated settings, including clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers, and staff who are not involved in direct patient, resident, or client care. These requirements will apply to approximately 50,000 providers and cover a majority of health care workers across the country.

 

[Runs For Fun]

Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans

President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant.

apnews.com

I really liked this quote

“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” he said, all but biting off his words. The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”