Tech Companies Praised for 'Pandemic Leadership', Vaccine Mandates (indiatimes.com) 178
"America reported 122,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest single-day spike since February," reports Business Insider. But when it comes to anti-Covid measures like vaccine mandates, America's technology companies have been "decisive trend setters," according to the New York Times' On Tech newsletter. (Alternate URL)
Last year, some high-profile tech companies were relatively early to close their corporate offices as coronavirus outbreaks started in the United States, and they continued to pay many hourly workers who couldn't do their jobs remotely. Those actions from companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, Facebook, Google, Apple and Twitter probably helped save lives in the Bay Area and perhaps beyond. Now many of the same tech companies — along with schools and universities, health care institutions and some government employers in the United States — have started to announce vaccine mandates for staff, the resumption of requirements to wear masks, delayed reopenings of offices or on-site workplace vaccinations to help slow the latest wave of infections.
America's tech companies, which deserve criticism for misusing their power, also should get credit for using their power to take decisive action in response to virus risks. Those steps helped make it palatable for other organizations to follow. And in some cases, tech companies have acted more quickly in response to health threats and communicated about them more effectively than federal or local government leaders.
Disney, the world's largest entertainment company, is also requiring all salaried and nonunion hourly employees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated, according to the Washington Post. Walmart, the nation's largest private employer at almost 1.6 million employees, announced all of its corporate staff members and regional managers would need to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 4. Though the mandate does not apply to store and warehouse staffers, which make up the bulk of the company's workforce, Walmart is offering a $150 bonus as incentive for those unvaccinated employees to get inoculated... While companies are pushing for vaccinations, they must contend with employees who are seeking exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Walmart said in a statement that while a "small percentage" of employees are unable to be vaccinated due to such reasons, those workers "must follow all social distancing standards, wear a mask while working, and receive weekly Covid-19 testing provided by Walmart...."
The news comes after corporate giants Google, Facebook and Uber announced their own vaccine mandates for employees this week. Companies such as Apple, Twitter, Lyft and the New York Times said they are delaying their return to the office due to the rising cases.
More examples from CNN:
America's tech companies, which deserve criticism for misusing their power, also should get credit for using their power to take decisive action in response to virus risks. Those steps helped make it palatable for other organizations to follow. And in some cases, tech companies have acted more quickly in response to health threats and communicated about them more effectively than federal or local government leaders.
Disney, the world's largest entertainment company, is also requiring all salaried and nonunion hourly employees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated, according to the Washington Post. Walmart, the nation's largest private employer at almost 1.6 million employees, announced all of its corporate staff members and regional managers would need to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 4. Though the mandate does not apply to store and warehouse staffers, which make up the bulk of the company's workforce, Walmart is offering a $150 bonus as incentive for those unvaccinated employees to get inoculated... While companies are pushing for vaccinations, they must contend with employees who are seeking exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Walmart said in a statement that while a "small percentage" of employees are unable to be vaccinated due to such reasons, those workers "must follow all social distancing standards, wear a mask while working, and receive weekly Covid-19 testing provided by Walmart...."
The news comes after corporate giants Google, Facebook and Uber announced their own vaccine mandates for employees this week. Companies such as Apple, Twitter, Lyft and the New York Times said they are delaying their return to the office due to the rising cases.
More examples from CNN:
- BlackRock the world's largest asset manager, is currently allowing only vaccinated employees to return to the office
- Morgan Stanley's New York office is banning all unvaccinated staff and clients from entering its headquarters.
- Luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue is requiring that all employees be vaccinated.
- All new hires and current employees of the Washington Post will be required to demonstrate proof of full Covid-19 vaccinations.
- As of August 2, all employees working in Lyft's offices are required to be vaccinated
- If Uber employees want to come back to the office, they must be fully vaccinated
You morons (Score:2, Insightful)
If you retards can't see where this is headed and how badly this is going to go off the rails ( in today's political climate ), then you deserve what's coming. You're celebrating your own demise.
I realize I'll be one of the first up against the wall, I just hope I live long enough to see some of you piss your pants when you realize the monster you created is coming for you next.
Re:You morons (Score:5, Informative)
Vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected in a massive Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak, pivotal CDC study finds
This was from an outbreak in Provincetown, a party destination town with the highest vaccination rates in one of the highest vaccination rate states in the country. Vaccination rates for the county are 75%, and are beleived to be substantially higher in Provincetown proper. So what you had there was a July 4th holiday superspreader event with tightly packed, highly vaccinated crowds.
You'd expect most people infected in such an event to be vaccinated, simply because there aren't many people left there unvaccinated. But out of 900 people infected, only five needed hospitalization and none needed invasive ventilator support.
What this shows is that we can't count on vaccination to protect unvaccinated people from delta, although it continues to do an excellent job at protecting vaccinated people from severe illness. Throw out all the figures you have in the back of your mind for "herd immunity"; delta is far more contagious. Delta spreads readily through vaccinated people, even though those people seldom get sick themselves.
Re:You morons (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, Provincetown is a huge gay party destination. But gay men get and transmit the virus exactly the way everyone else does.
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Ever see what spring break in Florida looks like? It's a human petri dish.
Re:Get vaxxed and die, you morons... (Score:5, Insightful)
Vaccinated people made up three-quarters of those infected in a massive Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak, pivotal CDC study finds
Does that sound like an effective vaccine to you?
Yes. In an area with nearly a 100% vaccination rate, having 75% of the infected people be vaccinated is not surprising. In fact, given that town's numbers, it's surprising that there were more than two hundred unvaccinated people at all. That means what, approximately every unvaccinated person got sick, give or take, no? Versus a quarter of the vaccinated people? So yeah, that sounds like about a 75% effectiveness rate.
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This vaccine is "leaky", this means it doesn't kill the virus properly..
You chucklehead. Vaccines don't kill viruses. Your immune system does. The vaccine gives it something to learn from ahead of time. Kind of like studying for a test.
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This kind of "leaky vaccines" was only given to animals until now.
The polio vaccine is only 90% effective after two doses. You don't know what you're talking about.
Re:Get vaxxed and die, you morons... (Score:5, Informative)
You should do some research, a good vaccine is available for poliomyelitis, and poliomyelitis has a 5-10% death rate.
I did do some research. The first dose is something like 80% effective, the second dose is 90%. It's 99% effective after three doses, and a full round of vaccination is four. The current COVID vaccine is also 90% effective at two doses. Guess what's missing? Yup. A third dose.
Covid has a death rate around 1 / 500,000 for people under 25.
Yay, for you, kid. The problem is, COVID has an overall U.S. death rate of about 1 in 50, and those unvaccinated people under 25 are perfect incubators for mutations that will put all those people with 5% or higher death risk in danger all over again. You do care about your parents and grandparents, right? I assume you don't want them to die.
Comparing both is very naive.
Not really. The fatality rate is in the same order of magnitude, the long-term disability rate is similar, though different in nature (permanent dialysis versus permanent paralysis), and with the new delta variant, they spread at a similar rate. The only difference is that you believe polio is dangerous.
The benefit risk ratio matters. When the risk is near zero, any unwanted effect is unacceptable!
"Leaky vaccines" have a lot of unwanted effects!
The original polio vaccine was so bad that it actually gave a nontrivial number of people mild cases of polio. If you ignore the very slight blood clot risk that occurs with only the two worst COVID vaccines and at five orders of magnitude lower frequency than with the actual virus, then the worst of the remaining side effects is a massively sore arm for a week. So what are these unwanted effects you're trolling about again?
Re: Get vaxxed and die, you morons... (Score:2)
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What does that have to do with the COVID vaccine? Nothing. We're not talking about flu vaccines.
And then there are those others (Score:5, Interesting)
It's almost as if a large portion of people have been brainwashed [omaha.com] into thinking this is a joke. Others who downplayed the severity are now seeing what karma is really like [businessinsider.com].
And truthfully, I don't care. If you choose not to get vaccinated, not wear a mask, not follow simple, basic procedures for not getting infected or infecting others, you get what you deserve. To use the meme:
You think people who refuse vaccinations being bedridden in a hospital or dying is funny?
Yes, I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. You get what you fucking deserve.
Why would the companies care? (Score:2)
While I mostly agree with you, I think this story is confusing the issue. Huge corporate cancers, including tech companies, are most concerned about profits über alles and any concerns about the welfare or even survival of the employees are strictly secondary. If they can write off the deaths of employees (for any reason, including Covid-19), then they are quite willing to do so. Even worse, the current rules of the business game favor and even reward the companies that are most clever about abusing th
Re:And then there are those others (Score:4)
"Mandates are the opposite of freedom!" - and yet many hospitals mandate that its employees get flu shots each year.
"The vaccine is experimental!" - except that each year the new flu vaccine is new and experimental.
"The FDA has not given full approval!" - what missing is the logistics of storing the vaccine.
"My favorite TV talk show dude/dudette says it's a hoax!" - well, if you get your science from someone who's job is to increase ratings versus someone who's job is to keep the community safe, you should re-evaluate your logic.
It's not just brainwashing (Score:2)
If you look into why vaccine rates are so low in the black and Latino communities it boils down to them not having much access to real healthcare and therefore to being distrustful of it
This is o
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the other meme is:
"I'm all out of shits to give"
and I constantly have that going thru my mind, each time I hear about the red staters wanting to fight about science and the pandemic.
go ahead, die for your cause. it really is a civil war even though its not a declared one, officially. we did have a storm on the capitol to kick the war off. that will be remembered by history, I'm quite certain.
and so, the red states are doing all they can to suppress votes from those they dont like, they are gaslighting us
Re:And then there are those others (Score:4, Funny)
Pfft! One doesn't need lies to make Trump look bad. He's more than capable of damaging himself without our help.
Political equilibria (Score:2, Interesting)
Arguing with a Trumplican? Look. He's either proudly ignorant, sincerely stupid, or paid to fake it. If paid, he may get a bonus for your response.
However, I admit your reply was on the witty side. But the Trumplicans tend be kind of witless, too, so they can't appreciate it.
The American Constitution basically hard codes a winner-take-all system. That means there are only two equilibrium points. Two balanced teams can sometimes win and sometimes lose, or one team can win all the time. In a winner-take-all s
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Dafuq? Dems rigged the *hell* out of their primaries in 2016 and again in 2020. They make me thankful that I'm an independent.
For anyone that wants choice vote to your primary (Score:3)
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I sort of had that theory about the primaries, too. But no more.
The way gerrymandering works to select voters first, most of the district Congressional elections have been negated, so only the primaries matter, thus making the primaries the playgrounds of the extremist lunatics. Actually, sometimes the primaries blow things up even without gerrymandering, as when Lyin' King Ted staggered into the Senate. Even worse, but I'm pert' shure some of Cruz's support in that contested primary actually came from Texa
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doddering old alzheimers patient
Woman person man camera TV!
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Misclicked in moderating, posting to undo moderation.
Shouldn't put "funny" and "overrated" next to each other. :P
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Re:And then there are those others (Score:5, Funny)
“Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor
and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good
genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton
School of Finance, very good, very smart —you know, if
you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if,
like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m
one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s
true!—but when you’re a conservative Republican they
try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start
off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there,
went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to
give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little
disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the
thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy,
and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is
powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many
years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he
would explain the power of what’s going to happen and
he was right—who would have thought?), but when you
look at what’s going on with the four prisoners—now it
used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and
even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger;
fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they
haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now
than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about
another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators,
the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just
killed, they just killed us.”
Part of a campaign speech given by Donald Trump in July 2015
Mod parent up (Score:3, Insightful)
When you take away the showmanship and strip what Trump says bare what's your left with is either ridiculous, a frightening attack on the institution of democracy, or some combination thereof.
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It doesn't work. They want Trump because they want the feel-good things jingoism brings.
It actually does work I've done it (Score:5, Interesting)
That one question will get them thinking in the right direction until they agree with you, but then they get in their car and turn on Rush Limbaugh or whatever replaced him and watch an hour or two of Fox News at home that night and all your hard work is undone. I haven't figured out a solution to that yet. That's why I try to get people to read the fark politics tab. If we can just get them away from the propaganda I think that we can win. You can't sustain that level of wrong headedness without regular doses of nonsense and insanity.
Why do employers need more employees? (Score:2)
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they want trump because they are racist and they feel, FINALLY, after all these years, someone like them was in power and validated them.
that's all. that's it. anything else is pure bull.
its all about lizard brain. racist hate, white supremecy, feeling of inadequacy. they feel left behind by the smarter ones in society, they look at their loser lives and go-nowhere jobs and the fat man tells them that they are just like him and he'll make it so that people 'like him' are in control. like the 50's when
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In the 1960s the two parties essentially swapped names and ideologies. Even you should know that.
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Most have trouble with words bigger than 'the'
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If you ever meet a hardcore Trump supporter sit them down sometime and make them read Trump's speeches
The problem is that they don't care about the truth or what's real or objective reality- they only believe what supports their narrative.
They'll insist that his words were twisted or misreported or that it wasn't even him.
"Fake news!" they'll cry, even though many of them know for a fact it's real. As long as they can keep their talking points going they'll swear up is down and water is dry.
These people are willfully ignorant and will fight to remain that way.
In short, if you could reason with Trump support
Re: And then there are those others (Score:2)
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"If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her." -Donald Trump
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After the non-stop lies you guys have told for five straight years...
The guy you're defending talked a lot in front of cameras, rallies, and on Twitter. He wasn't hiding in the White House until you had a newspaper to read to see what he was up to, he talked to you directly. That whole "the media misrepresented him" excuse fell on its face five years ago and now YOUR side is the one with the credibility problem. The amazing thing is that some of you are still intent on keeping this up in the middle of coughing fits.
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He wasn't hiding in the White House
That's not entirely correct. He did hide under the White House [forbes.com] for a short time.
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Exactly.
"If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her." -Donald Trump
"John McCain is... not a war hero. He's a war hero - he's a war hero 'cause he was captured. I Like people that weren't captured." -Donald Trump
"I have the best words." -Donald Trump
And they still elected the pervy clown.
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.
Since Biden took office, over 1 million illegal immigrants have been let into the country.
*Citation needed.
One thing that's fun to point out (Score:4, Insightful)
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The numbers provided by the Customs and Border Patrol seem to indicate we have a major issue with the borders.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/s... [cbp.gov]
You've completely misunderstood the issue (Score:2)
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Citation Provided: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/s... [cbp.gov]
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Re:Quick question (Score:5, Insightful)
They're transported and dropped off in distant cities across the US.
Funny thing about that, those illegals are kept together at holding centers. They are not allowed to roam the streets. Unlike the tens of millions of U.S. citizens who are going out of their way to not reduce infections in this country by not getting vaccinated.
Would you like to try again?
P.S. Florida, a state run by a Republican, now accounts for over 20% of all new covid cases in the entire country. How many illegals is Ron DeSantis letting roam free in his state?
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Why did the Delta surge start in Florida? Because that is where the greatest number and concentration of unvaccinated were.
Actually, it's because it's where the greatest number of people from highly unvaccinated southern states go for vacation. It's not just the local population. Rather, you have huge numbers of people from adjacent states all coming together in one place, mixing, and sharing diseases.
And all of that is happening in a state where the governor is deliberately attempting to prevent cities from having mask mandates and requiring other protective measures, and yeah, that whole state was pretty much guaranteed to
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33k New Yorkers zipped to Florida over Covid. It is also where northern state folk go in winter. Then there is whatever proportion of unvaccinated likely infected illegals that have ended up in Florida. Add to that the theme parks which are a worldwide draw card. It is false claiming it is down to âoeunvaccinated southerners.â
Sure, except that travel to the U.S. is still quite restricted (recent COVID test required), so people coming from overseas are unlikely to be a major source of infections. And those 33k New Yorkers came and stayed. The risk added by a revolving door of people coming and going is way worse than the risk from people coming and staying put.
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Correction: Others don't deserve to catch it from the unvaxxed. Really, this isn't all about you, it's about all of us. As a species. But that's what the morons *don't get*.
Nearly everyone will catch it. What "all of us" don't deserve is prolonged misery and death resulting from people who believe it their duty to demand everyone to hide from a virus they are most certainly going to be exposed to anyway.... and do so perpetually forever.
In the past there was rational cause to take steps to delay exposure. This evaporated a month after highly effective vaccines became available to everyone at risk except rare cases of those with severe allergic reactions to any part of vacci
Rock and a hard place. (Score:2)
While companies are pushing for vaccinations, they must contend with employees who are seeking exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Walmart said in a statement that while a "small percentage" of employees are unable to be vaccinated due to such reasons, those workers "must follow all social distancing standards, wear a mask while working, and receive weekly Covid-19 testing provided by Walmart...."
In a free and open society that's really the only thing anyone can do. People are already protesting here and abroad about vaccinations being mandatory.
Tech Companies Praised ? (Score:3)
These companies hire what we call 'knowledge workers'. They can work from home or almost anywhere. Why praise tech companies for doing the easy thing that costs them almost nothing? Many had record profits during this time.
Consider a company like Tyson Foods with masses of assembly line workers in close proximity. Should they be un-praised because their employees are at risk? What about Navy submariners and cruise ship operators? What about bars & restaurants who were unable to manage safe ways of doing business? They deserve no praise?
Disney county in crisis mode (Score:4)
Orange County, where Walt Disney World is located, is now in crisis mode [newsweek.com] due to the surging number of covid cases.
During a recent press conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said that over the past few days, the county "is seeing nearly 1,000 new cases" in the county daily.
"Those are the numbers we saw at the highest peak last year. It took us approximately one month last year before we saw 1,000 cases cumulatively here within Orange County. Now we're seeing them daily," Demings said. "So a thousand a day is extraordinary. We are now in crisis mode."
Meanwhile, Republican governor Ron DeSantis is going out of his way to demonize anything the CDC says in regards to preventing infections and deaths. At this point one must conclude DeSantis is a psychopath [psychologytoday.com] who doesn't care how many of his people have to die to prove his point.
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DeSantis passed a law denying funding to schools that impose mask mandates. https://www.wfla.com/community... [wfla.com]
Why would he impose punitive damages to schools? Doesn't he want entities to have the FREEDOMZ to require masks or not?
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Only if you ignore the human fatality that was the intended outcome of the procedure.
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I thought republicans kept saying to not make this political? Why is a politician legislating medical advice?
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Nope. Still a few of us old guys still posting.
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O.C. is 59% fully vax compared to LA Co 51% fully vax. Both are showing that the vax does not mean immune, +25% cases in LA Co from last week were from fully vax.
Vaccine Mandates (Score:2)
Why do I care the sexual orientation of a bunch of Nazi's? If they were all lesbians, then would it be called a WomanDate?
Everyone should be thankful for the vaccinated. If it weren't for them then the vaccinated would be getting sick and dying.
I believe the expression used in that faery tale book (The Bible) says "As ye sow, so to shall you reap".
If these people have made a decision, then they have made a decision. Good for them.
Cheerio!
Nothing from Dell (Score:2)
Dell isn't asking it's employees if they're vaccinated, and is still planning on return-to-site on September 7th. As someone who works there, I'm not happy about that. Vaccines aren't perfect, but they reduce the likelihood of one of my coworkers having it and spreading it to me if my vaccine fails to protect me.
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Dell isn't asking it's employees if they're vaccinated, and is still planning on return-to-site on September 7th. As someone who works there, I'm not happy about that. Vaccines aren't perfect, but they reduce the likelihood of one of my coworkers having it and spreading it to me if my vaccine fails to protect me.
The question you should be asking them is: "if I get infected by someone at work and then infect 10 people in my family, who end up with millions in medical bills, will you cover that cost?". If they won't cover it then they don't have the right to expect people to come work with the unvaccinated.
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" if I get infected by someone at work "
Dell, and their lawyers, are smart enough to know you'll be unable to prove where you got infected so your point ( and their liability ) is about zero.
Another question you can ask is this:
If Dell forces all their employees to be vaccinated, will you cover the costs of any medical bills and missed work for those who have those rare, serious side effects ?
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" if I get infected by someone at work "
Dell, and their lawyers, are smart enough to know you'll be unable to prove where you got infected so your point ( and their liability ) is about zero.
"You pesky kids will never prove it" is hardly an argument in support of Dell being allowed to force people to work together with unvaccinated covidiots.
Another question you can ask is this:
If Dell forces all their employees to be vaccinated, will you cover the costs of any medical bills and missed work for those who have those rare, serious side effects ?
Since you ask about "you" specifically, not Dell, the answer is yes in my country, where we have socialised medicine, we, the taxpayer, cover the microscopic costs of people's medical bills due to vaccine side effects. All the people have immediate support and are observed carefully. Vaccination centres have special areas where people are put for 15 minut
Vaccine mandates (Score:4, Interesting)
How can vaccine mandates be unconstitutional? I mean, I bet you if the disease had the following features:
1. A latent phase that allowed airborne spreading for an extended period
2. 90% fatality rate
3. Hemoraghing death (like Ebola, for example)
You can bet 100% the top "conservatives" will be crying for vaccine mandates. If some rogue nation such as north korea is working on making such a virus, by making laws against vaccine mandates conservatives are leaving us vulnerable were such a disease to emerge.
Meanwhile, in Texas . . . (Score:2)
where Republican governor Greg Abbott let a few hundred of his people die in February [buzzfeednews.com] because he wanted to prove a point that Texas didn't need the federal government telling them what to do, Austin health officials have said there are only 16 staffed ICU beds available [cbsnews.com] for their region which has 2.3 million people. This is the lowest number of available beds since the pandemic began.
"We are running out of time and our community must act now," Dr. Desmar Walkes of the Austin-Travis County Health Authority said in the city's statement. "Our ICU capacity is reaching a critical point where the level of risk to the entire community has significantly increased and not just to those who are needing treatment for COVID."
The dire figures come as Austin is battling a spike in hospitalizations. According to data gathered by the city and Travis County, the 7-day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations has increased by over 47% over the past week. In that time, the number of COVID-19 patients in local ICU's jumped from 91 to 117, a 28% increase, and the number of patients on ventilators rose from 47 to 65, a 38% increase, the city's statement said.
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As a follow up, I present you the good news [imgur.com].
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As a follow up, I present you the good news [imgur.com].
Now look at the per capita statistics. [statista.com]
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there are only 16 staffed ICU beds available [cbsnews.com] for their region which has 2.3 million people
So everything is bigger in Texas, except for intensive care units?
Official results of being vaccinated (Score:2)
Less than 0.004% of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 experienced a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization and less than 0.001% died from the disease [cnn.com], according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC reported 6,587 Covid-19 breakthrough cases as of July 26, including 6,239 hospitalizations and 1,263 deaths.
Most of the breakthrough cases -- about 74% -- occurred among adults 65 or older.
It should be noted the 1,263 deaths is less than half of the numb
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The problem is 1,263 deaths means each one can be brought up and paraded one by one at random times. That makes it possible to make a statistically exceedingly rare event look like a common occurrence. In the same way, they choose a few "scientists" or doctors out of a million and make it look like there are a lot of anti-vaxxer doctors. It doesn't matter how miniscule the statistical percent is. If there are a few cases they can highlight that's enough for the anti-vaxxers to make people afraid of vaccines
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And this is why we need a third dose. Any breakthrough rate above "undetectable" is unacceptable, because it gives anti-vaxx propagandists an opportunity and gives the people who listen to them an excuse.
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Well, people with severe breakthrough infections may have an issue with their immune system such that multiple vaccinations may provide diminishing returns in terms of benefit. I think the only solution here is proper education of the public about thinking about statistics and science. That's the only way to immunize people so they aren't susceptible to cherry-picked evidence or false information. I mean I saw a video online where some vaccine-afraid "doctor" was explaining how the vaccine's spike being exp
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Well, people with severe breakthrough infections may have an issue with their immune system such that multiple vaccinations may provide diminishing returns in terms of benefit.
Severe breakthroughs, yes, but most people with known immune issues are wearing masks while vaccinated, limiting exposure, etc., because they know that the vaccine is of dubious utility for them.
The double-digit percent mild breakthrough cases, however, are a somewhat unrelated problem caused by a not-quite-good-enough match. A third shot that specifically matches the delta version of the spike protein would be best, but even a booster with the existing vaccine would help a lot with reducing that number.
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And this is why we need a third dose. Any breakthrough rate above "undetectable" is unacceptable, because it gives anti-vaxx propagandists an opportunity and gives the people who listen to them an excuse.
What kind of insane logic is this?
I don't know about anyone else but I guarantee you I sure as fuck will not be making decisions about a third dose based on what anti-vaxx propagandists are doing.
Which makes you not one of the people I was talking about there.
If you don't like it, DO SOMETHING (Score:2)
If you're not willing to get vaccinated, and don't want to wear a mask, then you can simply quit your job and go into business for yourself.
As for me, I am fully vaccinated. If I am in a situation where I may be near children or those with compromised immune systems, I will happily wear a mask to reduce the chance of my getting them sick. However, I refuse to wear a mask to protect a bunch of ignorant hillbillies who refuse to be vaccinated.
In fact, I WANT THEM TO GET SICK.
I WANT them to either bankrupt t
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" I have ZERO sympathy for them. "
Remember those words when push comes to shove and half the country decides to go on the offensive after you deny them
the ability to live a normal life. If you think sh*t is crazy now, just wait until an armed population truly believes your words of:
" I WANT them to either bankrupt themselves with hospital bills or simply die in their homes. "
The Civil War II fuse didn't get lit with all the racial bullsh*t, but this one probably will.
To be honest (Score:3)
Wouldnit it make a bit more sense to simply test your employees for the presence of Covid-19 anti-bodies in their system ?
Because, if present, it means:
1) They currently have Covid-19
2) They've HAD Covid-19 and survived it ( and have protection on par with or exceeding the vaccine )
3) They've already been vaccinated
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2) They've HAD Covid-19 and survived it ( and have protection on par with or exceeding the vaccine )
Recent studies show that COVID survivors have less protection against the delta variant than the vaccinated.
It seems the vaccines provide a broader protection. My (non-expert) guess is because they focus the immune system on a portion of the spike proteins that don't mutate much, whereas "natural" immunity keys on whatever portion of the virus is most convenient.
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Also,
Bear in mind that it doesn't just have to be one of these. It could be any combination of this..
That's the upside of being ... (Score:2)
.. in an organization where it is paramount that the leaders have operational basic brain functions and don't give a sh*t about what regular dimwitts consider staples of leadership and power or politically opportune.
Point in case:
I never voted for Angela Merkel, partly because I don't fully trust the moral compass of her party (the ancestor party of which also voted for Adolf Hitler back in the day), but I am really glad that right now I live in a nation that had a smart scientist as a leader for 16 years
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Big (Score:4, Informative)
That's not the store, the store is across the street. The HQ comprises that large building, several surrounding buildings, and a few other offices scattered around the area. And the main building is BIG. My neighbor used to be a rep who would visit the HQ regularly. There was an entire off-site conference center just to have meetings with sellers. Search around town and you'll see a bunch of offices for HP, P&G, etc... and a big Walmart office building in the middle of all of it. I think Sam's Club also has a bunch of office buildings scattered around town, too.
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Re: No TINY (Score:2)
This is incorrect thinking by someone who's clearly never been to Bentonville. The entire town might as well be the corporate office as you can't throw a rock and not hit a Walmart office building, and the new campus being built, designed to consolidate a lot of those scattered buildings, rivals Apple's spaceship campus. Not to mention there are secondary campuses that are considered HQs in New York, California, and a few other places (along with several international headquarters). While the HO associate c
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Because there are stupid people, then there's violently stupid people who have guns and explosives.
I really, really hope I'm wrong.
Last year a group of people proudly brought their guns to a protest about getting haircuts during a pandemic. Those same people did NOT demonstrate in a similar way against law enforcement murdering citizens.
I hope you're wrong, too, but I'm not planning on living my life as if you are.
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Why did Ashli Babbit ignore commands from the police?
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Given the current state of the Police in the United States, your ability to follow commands is irrelevant.
Police tend to shoot folks either way.
( See the case in Arizona where the guy is crawling on his hands / knees at the command of the officer who shot, and killed, him anyway. )
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I think there is a big difference between protesting fascism (such as the haircut issue), versus protesting the overuse of power against those who are breaking the law and ignoring police commands.
You're basically saying they're fighting "fascism" while saying 'okay' to a specific group of people being executed for non-capitol crimes that never saw a day in court. We all know what the difference you're talking about is.
...referring to the very VERY small outliers...
Yep let's minimize those heros just to be safe.
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You're not wrong.
If you actively destroy someone's life over a vaccine mandate, what do they have to lose ?
Folks show up to work all the time and gun the entire place down for being fired for reasons they deemed to be unfair.
Multiply that by many, MANY thousands of people and it's going to turn into a bloodbath.
Right to work (Score:2)
Thanks to "right to work" laws the courts have decided that employers are free to require vaccines and you are also free to seek employment elsewhere if you disagree. It's so satisfying.
https://www.reuters.com/busine... [reuters.com]
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I don't need a lecture on authoritarianism from someone who is very likely a Trump follower. News flash, contagious disease is a thing, and no you don't have the right to spread disease. That was established a long time ago.
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The lab idea is largely ignored because it's got all hallmarks of a conspiracy theory. No real evidence, a lot of circumstantial stuff and innuendo.
If anything solid is ever found they will be all over it.
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Yeah, the NSA spying on US Citizens had all the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory too.
Until it didn't.
Re:Fascism (Score:4, Funny)
Conspiracy! Obviously there aren't reasonable explanations for any of this. There's no other explanation other than the truth is being kept from us!
But tell me, who's behind all this? Is it all of these competing corporations comprised of hundreds of thousands of people all acting in unison without a single leak!? Or Is it something more likely like mole men?
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It's the people who participate in revolving door politics, getting cushy industry jobs after serving in regulatory agencies, causing regulatory capture.
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It's the people who participate in revolving door politics, getting cushy industry jobs after serving in regulatory agencies, causing regulatory capture.
This.
Re:Fascism (Score:5, Informative)
So manufacturing consent for war was not enough for the likes of CNN and NYT?
At first, people weren't supposed to wear masks. The lab leak hypothesis was derided as a conspiracy for well over a year. Independent voices are being shut out of the conversation - alternative interpretations of the data on alternative approaches, like Ivermectin, are heavily censored. Big Media and Big Tech are working together with Big Pharma and the political elite to do this.
You might want to know what you're talking about [merriam-webster.com] before spouting your nonsense. If anything, the past four years were a good taste of what fascism in this country could be like if not for the likes of CNN and the New York Times to repeatedly expose the crimes of the con artist [foxnews.com]. (And yes, I deliberately used the Fox tabloid so you can't whine about bias)
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There's also economic fascism
https://fee.org/articles/econo... [fee.org]
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.". — Benito Mussolini
I expect that guy knows a little more about fascism than you do.
Go look up YouTuber potholer54 (Score:2)
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It's funny how we read something and then decide, oh, THIS must be the TRUTH. I've come across a very long article which explained in lots of detail the reaosns why masks were thought to work, and then eventually the digging which some scientists did to uncover a small but critical mistake in the research, going back many years, as to why they believed it was down to the droplets and hence the droplets could only travel a short distance, and that after uncovering that mistake, it was scientifically valid th
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People from these companies are already vaccinated. This is just virtue signaling. The people who refuse to get vaccinated don't work for Google and they don't work on wall street. The unvaccinated either live in rural areas, or are troglodytes.
It's more than that. It is establishing precedent and normalizing what should be considered by any sane person to be a good idea.