All things political. Coronavirus Edition. (2 Viewers)

[Maxp]

I fear we are really going to be in a bad place due to the obvious cuts to the federal agencies that deal with infectious disease, but also the negative effect the Affordable Care act has had on non urban hospitals. Our front line defenses are ineffectual and our ability to treat the populous is probably at an all time low. Factor in the cost of healthcare and I can see our system crashing. What do you think about the politics of this virus?

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

This thread should (should) give people an incentive to quit avoiding the vaccine.

the thing that is worse than their deaths is the pain their ignorance has caused their families.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

This thread should (should) give people an incentive to quit avoiding the vaccine.

I know it's wrong, but it's really hard to have sympathy for any of these people. These aren't those who have valid reasons to not get vaccinated. They are the complete opposite.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Yeah, I've really been struggling with empathy lately. I just feel so angry, almost all the time about this issue. I keep having to remind myself that they're likely driven by fear, and everyone is susceptible to being influenced by tribal mentality, including myself, but still, this should be so clearly obvious, and it's so unnecessary.

I also know that arguing with people about it does no good, it only entrenches people in farther, so basically, I feel like I just have to sit here and watch them die and hope that they eventually figure it out for themselves.

 

[MT15]

Yeah, it’s horrible and a waste in so many ways. Lives, families saddled with financial burdens, and then there’s this:

 

[MT15]

Heck, I’m even just thinking back to the (pre WFH) frequency of “my kid is sick” calls ins at work.

I looked at it from the number of teachers I know who get sick from kids spreading germs in the classroom. A lot of teachers catch some sort of cold or something every year. And what parent hasn’t caught a cold that they child brings home from school? They’re definitely disease vectors, cute and adorable disease vectors that you love, lol.

 

[MT15]

Honestly, I think these stories have the most impact on those who don’t want to get vaccinated. It lays bare the lies they are being told from someone who was just like them. We need every station in states whose vaccination rates are lagging to run stories like these every day.

 

[zztop]

Yeah, I've really been struggling with empathy lately. I just feel so angry, almost all the time about this issue. I keep having to remind myself that they're likely driven by fear, and everyone is susceptible to being influenced by tribal mentality, including myself, but still, this should be so clearly obvious, and it's so unnecessary.

I also know that arguing with people about it does no good, it only entrenches people in farther, so basically, I feel like I just have to sit here and watch them die and hope that they eventually figure it out for themselves.

I struggle with this all the time, because my parents aren't, and won't get vaccinated. They have no medical reasons not to. My remaining aunts and uncles won't either. Most are over 70, some have heart conditions and diabetes. Unsurprisingly they are all republicans. I can't easily NOT care what happens and say "well you had your chance, too bad" because it is my family. I could lose some of all of my family because they refuse, and it feels like only a matter of time since delta is a lot more contagious.

 

[MT15]

 

[superchuck500]

So now the Florida crackpots are using Covid to finally get their voucher program (long a goal of the populist right). It's pretty amazing to me the contortions they're willing to perform to accommodate those who feel entitled to resist well-placed public-health measures in the midst of a contingency/pandemic. Do the parents accepting vouchers at least have to show that the private school doesn't have a mask mandate?

I believe that the vast majority of private schools across the country have more stringent Covid protocols than the public schools, especially in Florida. I suspect that only the sort of populist/evangelical private schools would be in a lax posture right now.

 

[Paul]

So now the Florida crackpots are using Covid to finally get their voucher program (long a goal of the populist right). It's pretty amazing to me the contortions they're willing to perform to accommodate those who feel entitled to resist well-placed public-health measures in the midst of a contingency/pandemic. Do the parents accepting vouchers at least have to show that the private school doesn't have a mask mandate?

I believe that the vast majority of private schools across the country have more stringent Covid protocols than the public schools, especially in Florida. I suspect that only the sort of populist/evangelical private schools would be in a lax posture right now.

Sweden uses school vouchers and they are on the left.

 

[MT15]

 

[RobF]

Sweden uses school vouchers and they are on the left.

As an aside, because it's not about coronavirus, that'd be the school voucher system introduced in Sweden under Carl Bildt. Their conservative prime minister at the time leading their center-right government.

 

[Taurus]

So now the Florida crackpots are using Covid to finally get their voucher program (long a goal of the populist right). It's pretty amazing to me the contortions they're willing to perform to accommodate those who feel entitled to resist well-placed public-health measures in the midst of a contingency/pandemic. Do the parents accepting vouchers at least have to show that the private school doesn't have a mask mandate?

I believe that the vast majority of private schools across the country have more stringent Covid protocols than the public schools, especially in Florida. I suspect that only the sort of populist/evangelical private schools would be in a lax posture right now.

Meanwhile, gay/trans/nerdy kids get bullied until they commit suicide and schools are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[superchuck500]

Sweden uses school vouchers and they are on the left.

I don't really know anything about Sweden's voucher system. But in the US, one source of voucher advocacy has been solidly in the segment of the American right where you also find evangelicals and culture warriors. Trump's Sec. Ed. supported it. Ron DeSantis is an outspoken advocate of it. "School choice" initiatives have had the most success in West Virginia, Florida, and Arizona (source below).

Policy analysts attribute some of the motivations of the US movement to a combination of resistance to anything institutional or government-managed, desire to remove students from public schools where minorities have greater representation, and the desire of evangelical families to attend christian schools that they otherwise couldn't afford.

I'm sure the reasons for such policy initiatives vary by country.

School Choice Advances in the States

Advocates describe “breakthrough year”

www.educationnext.org

 

[MT15]

Lol, when the lead author of the study you are misrepresenting to attack mask wearing is also on Twitter.

 

[zztop]

we really need a facepalm reaction

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Someone should forward this to Rand Paul and point out to him where this study took place... KENTUCKY.

Debate Is Over: COVID Vax Doubled Protection for the Previously Infected

'If you have had COVID-19 before, please still get vaccinated,' says CDC Director

www.medpagetoday.com

 

[MT15]

We need to get a handle on this problem.