Covid Support Thread
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The last precautionary measures are going away. People who were in favor of restrictions have had their spirits broken by the last few waves and don’t have any more energy to fight. The anti-maskers are out in full force and rolling over everyone.
My older child is in pre-K and the school is going mask-optional later this week. While I want things to go back to normal, and for my child to be able to see his teachers’ and friends’ faces, I have mixed feelings – I’m having trouble letting go of the heightened anxiety I’ve held onto for almost two years. Our whole family had Covid in late December/early January. I guess it will be a process.
For those who want the mandates to stay in place: If it were up to you, when would you start easing restrictions? What data would convince you it were safe? Would you want restrictions at the city, county, or state level? Just curious to hear what your ideal world would look like (while we still have to deal with this in some form).
@kipiani, these are good questions that I’ve been asking myself too. I wish there was a common sense, data based off ramp for masking, rather than purely politics-based decision making.
I’d like to see statewide mandates for masking in indoor public settings until the following metrics are met (with the caveat that I’m not an epidemiologist, so would of course defer to experts on what these numbers should actually be to constitute a low risk): national case numbers <10,000/day for a period of at least 2 weeks; statewide vaccination rates >80% of the eligible population with at least one dose, and >50% of the eligible population with boosters; statewide positivity rate <4% for at least 2 weeks; statewide low-to-moderate transmission rate (0-50 cases per 100k per 7-day period) over at least 2 weeks. I would also love to see more vaccine requirements for things like indoor dining and domestic travel. It would sure be nice to wait until the smallest kids can be vaccinated before we remove masks in schools, and if masks are optional in schools, there should at least be a robust testing program in place, including mandatory testing before returning to school after a break, when many families travel.
However, all of that is a pipe dream – most of the country threw masks and distancing away a long time ago in favor of letting covid torch their communities. I feel fortunate to live in a place that hasn’t had an indoor mask mandate since last year, but where people nevertheless wear KN95s to the grocery store during delta and then omicron. We’re about to go masks-optional in schools thanks to the new Virginia state government, but I am hoping that a vast majority of parents here will still send their kids in masks for awhile longer.
Vathena —
I think your proposal contains one of the major fallacies of the Covid prevention strategy: basing rules on national numbers. National numbers mean next to nothing. The pandemic waves have rolled across different regions and sub-regions on different time-scales. Why should my city have strict rules, when our Covid case count has plummeted. Why should we have had loose rules when our case-rate was rising, while the South and U.S. as a whole had non-alarming case-rates at the start of this last wave. Setting local rules, based on local case-rates and local vaccination rates gives people a mental break from the onerous Covid rules, when their locality is in the clear. This allows the next local wave to be confronted by a populace that is not burnt out from continuous heavy-duty rules. Around here, some school districts have rolling rules based upon incidence rates in individual schools or within the transportation system. They may be fully open, fully remote, hybrid, on both a school-by-school and, when needed, a district-wide basis.I used to be in favour of vaccine requirements but now that it doesn’t protect transmission just severity, not as much. But on the other hand – what if there’s another variant and those that are vaccinated are less likely to spread it? I mean there will be other variants I just don’t know if they will be spawns or omicron or what. It’s hard to do the snip snap snip snap but scanning a code to enter is creepy. I’m for masks in very public areas like transit, groceries, malls and big box, hospitals, doctors while local case numbers are high so that those that are immunocompromised can still access those things but it seems if we don’t grab the opportunity to open up now when will we ? Is there going to be a much better if we just wait longer?
I love vaccine requirements, give me all the vaccine requirements lol. We’re at 94% fully vaccinated for over 16s here in Aus and kids are approved now so they’re adding to it. They are the thing that lessen the need for harsher measures including lockdowns and masks, they are what will allow everyone to open up with confidence.
We know the vaccines are safe and effective (I’m at dose 4 myself, feelin’ fine), we also know people won’t necessarily do the right thing unless there’s a personal incentive to do so. Nobody is being held down and forcibly injected, they are just being told they can make a choice and are doing so. Fine by me.
What’s creepy about scanning a code to enter? If you haven’t done the right thing for public health, why should you be able to go in public places like a sports arena or theater or library? And yeah, the major thing about vaccines is that if everyone were vaccinated, the virus would probably stop mutating and spreading.
I too love vaccine requirements. I love masks. I really don’t understand why this is a hill people have quite literally chosen to die on.
You have to get scanned before you enter a place – so what? You have to do the same thing if you want to walk in a bar and buy a beer.
I am all for vaccine requirements, scanning, vaccine passports or whatever, all of it. I’m tired of all the adult babies whining about simple measures that hardly affect them that do save lives.
Get vaccinated or get out of my way.
*if you’re able.Also you’re already sharing your information with creepy big business like frickin Meta, and you’re on camera most of the time.
Exactly. Bill gates isn’t inserting anything into your arm, You carry the “government” tracking device in your pocket or hand at all times.
