Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #101

[musicaljoke]

A deadline of Nov. 15 has been set for Ontario long-term care staff to get immunized or lose access to their workplaces. It’s up to the homes what happens after that, but many operators had already set dates to place unvaccinated people on leave, citing the devastating impact of COVID-19 and the risk of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 535 new COVID-19 cases; B.C. lets kids under 12 register for vaccinations

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Burned out frontline workers are seeking out the lesser evil in their job searches

Sun, October 10, 2021, 8:05 AM

Many workers are desperate for new lesser evil jobs.

Former flight attendant Jada Magwood recalled passengers verbally assaulting her on multiple occasions during the COVID-19 pandemic - including when a police officer had to escort an intoxicated, violent traveler off her plane.

Magwood recently left the travel industry for a job at a tech startup. She didn't plan on quitting, but the burnout from passenger violence prompted her to seek out jobs without much customer-facing interaction.

The abuse "heightened the feeling of being disposable to our airlines during the pandemic," Magwood said. "At the end of the day, I got to a point where I was not getting paid enough to deal with situations like that."

Flight attendants are quitting for jobs in different industries due to the uptick in unruly passengers. Southwest Airlines

Like Magwood, Jessica Walsh spent much of the pandemic dealing with what she called "snippy," short-tempered customers in her job in the paint department of a Menard's craft store in the Midwest.

Walsh said she regularly had to choose between asking sometimes violent customers to put their mask on or letting the shopper potentially expose her to COVID-19. Eventually, she left for a receptionist gig. Walsh said she appreciated how seldom she interacted with clients face-to-face at her new job.

After months of coping with the abuse, many frontline workers are desperate to find different jobs with new problems that they're not used to dealing with, gigs that represent the lesser evil. That means beleaguered restaurant staff want to work at warehouses. Tired warehouse workers are desperate to get into retail. Exhausted retail workers are pondering going back to nursing school. And so on.

All of us who work face to face with customers are getting burned out. I usually walk into it to help my coworkers deal with difficult people. But about a month ago I did the opposite - I walked away, went into the library stacks, to just avoid it when I had about 10 minutes left in my day. I was afraid I would snap if I stayed where the confrontation was. It was the right decision for that day. (My boss was nearby, so it stuck him with helping my coworker deal with it. Those of us who deal with it all the time sometimes need a break, someone else to step up.)

 

[Cool Cats]

All of us who work face to face with customers are getting burned out. I usually walk into it to help my coworkers deal with difficult people. But about a month ago I did the opposite - I walked away, went into the library stacks, to just avoid it when I had about 10 minutes left in my day. I was afraid I would snap if I stayed where the confrontation was. It was the right decision for that day. (My boss was nearby, so it stuck him with helping my coworker deal with it. Those of us who deal with it all the time sometimes need a break, someone else to step up.)

Good for you. You handled that really well.

Merck asks US FDA to authorize promising anti-COVID pill

Mon, October 11, 2021, 6:02 AM

This undated image provided by Merck & Co. shows their new antiviral medication. The drugmaker has said its experimental pill for people sick with COVID-19 reduced hospitalizations and deaths. (Merck & Co. via AP)

 

[SouthAussie]

Fast-moving, light rain and weather in the 50s greeted the runners gearing up for the Boston Marathon, which is happening Monday for the first time since the pandemic began.

It's been 30 months since athletes raced 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) to Copley Square in Boston, the 125th edition of the Boston Marathon, which is the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

Last year’s race was postponed until September because of the pandemic, then called off for the first time in its history.

Boston Marathon set to begin after pandemic hiatus

 

[TootsieFootsie]

My friend says there were long queues outside hairdressers around town today.

 

[Cool Cats]

Why turn down weekly testing instead of the vaccine? This is what I don't get. I didn't realize this is an alternative for various employees.

Covid vaccine: Why these US workers won't get jabbed

However even the option of regular testing is unacceptable to many of those Americans who refuse to get vaccinated.

Kahseim Outlaw has just lost his job in Wallingford, Connecticut for that very reason. He was named Teacher of the Year at his high school last year, but felt the mandate to get vaccinated introduced by the state authorities was something he could not comply with.

"I do not use any kind of synthetic ingredients in my life, whether that be for medicinal purposes, supplementation or food. So the idea of becoming inoculated is something that goes directly against the way that I live my life," he said.

Image caption, Kahseim Outlaw lost his job for refusing to get vaccinated

Like all teachers in the state, Mr Outlaw was offered an alternative of weekly testing but said he viewed that as an "unnecessary medical procedure" that was uncomfortable.

"The way that our soul speaks to us, that little voice that tells us when something is in alignment or not, that voice is telling me that I need to make this particular decision right now."

One thing Mr Outlaw said he was prepared to undertake was an antibody test to show he had contracted Covid in the past, as he believes he did, and so has the body's natural immunity to the virus. He accepts that there is no telling how long a natural immune response will last.

But this is not an option being offered to him by his employer.

In the classroom, Kahseim Outlaw would of course be in close contact with students, but what of employees who work entirely in isolation at home? Do their employers have the right to require that they are vaccinated?

Rob Segrin lives close to Mount Monadnock in a remote part of rural New Hampshire, but has been told he will lose his IT job if he has not had his first Covid shot by the end of this month.

Image caption, "I never go into an office, I never interact with people," Rob Segrin says

"My job is a 100% remote, work-from-home type of job for a federal contractor. I never go into an office, I never interact with people. I object to the vaccine because in my opinion there have not been enough years of study into it, but I protect my family in the ways I can," says Mr Segrin.

"It felt like this 'do this or you will lose your job' order was a personal attack against me and my family. Like they are coming after my livelihood," he continues.

Mr Segrin says his discussions with his employer have so far been unfruitful and as things stand, he will lose his full-time job, and as a result his health insurance and his family's health benefits too.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Why turn down weekly testing instead of the vaccine? This is what I don't get. I didn't realize this is an alternative for various employees.

Covid vaccine: Why these US workers won't get jabbed

However even the option of regular testing is unacceptable to many of those Americans who refuse to get vaccinated.

Kahseim Outlaw has just lost his job in Wallingford, Connecticut for that very reason. He was named Teacher of the Year at his high school last year, but felt the mandate to get vaccinated introduced by the state authorities was something he could not comply with.

"I do not use any kind of synthetic ingredients in my life, whether that be for medicinal purposes, supplementation or food. So the idea of becoming inoculated is something that goes directly against the way that I live my life," he said.

Image caption, Kahseim Outlaw lost his job for refusing to get vaccinated

Like all teachers in the state, Mr Outlaw was offered an alternative of weekly testing but said he viewed that as an "unnecessary medical procedure" that was uncomfortable.

"The way that our soul speaks to us, that little voice that tells us when something is in alignment or not, that voice is telling me that I need to make this particular decision right now."

One thing Mr Outlaw said he was prepared to undertake was an antibody test to show he had contracted Covid in the past, as he believes he did, and so has the body's natural immunity to the virus. He accepts that there is no telling how long a natural immune response will last.

But this is not an option being offered to him by his employer.

In the classroom, Kahseim Outlaw would of course be in close contact with students, but what of employees who work entirely in isolation at home? Do their employers have the right to require that they are vaccinated?

Rob Segrin lives close to Mount Monadnock in a remote part of rural New Hampshire, but has been told he will lose his IT job if he has not had his first Covid shot by the end of this month.

Image caption, "I never go into an office, I never interact with people," Rob Segrin says

"My job is a 100% remote, work-from-home type of job for a federal contractor. I never go into an office, I never interact with people. I object to the vaccine because in my opinion there have not been enough years of study into it, but I protect my family in the ways I can," says Mr Segrin.

"It felt like this 'do this or you will lose your job' order was a personal attack against me and my family. Like they are coming after my livelihood," he continues.

Mr Segrin says his discussions with his employer have so far been unfruitful and as things stand, he will lose his full-time job, and as a result his health insurance and his family's health benefits too.

One of my doctors told me the other day that some nurses in our local hospital system are blowing the mandate out of proportion. She says they won't be fired, but can actually opt for regular testing, although they do go on disciplinary status and so they can make fewer mistakes before getting fired.

You wouldn't know that this is the case by their Facebook posts. It may be that way with other hospitals, too, although what we hear is - get the vaccine or get fired.

 

[ilovewings]

HEPA Filters May Clean Coronavirus Particles from the Air: Study

HEPA filters may clean coronavirus particles from the air- this is the first real-world study that seems to prove it

 

[ilovewings]

Pfizer’s Vaccine Protection May Wane After 2 Months

Well, that's a shocker- what are we to really believe- so many conflicting messages about how long the Pfizer vaccine remains very protective: this study says a mere two months!!!! and what about Moderna and Johnson and Johnson?

 

[musicaljoke]

Pfizer’s Vaccine Protection May Wane After 2 Months

Well, that's a shocker- what are we to really believe- so many conflicting messages about how long the Pfizer vaccine remains very protective: this study says a mere two months!!!! and what about Moderna and Johnson and Johnson?

The headlines make it sound like some kind of disaster, but that's not the case. Yes, vaccines peak at about a month after the second dose, and then begin the long slow process of waning. This is not unexpected.

Even though protection is waning, according to the article, "Effectiveness against severe, critical, and fatal COVID-19 cases reached 96% in the first 2 months after the second dose. The protection lasted at this level for about 6 months."

 

[weepingangel]

Massachusetts/ more at link
Boston may suspend 1,200 employees Tuesday for violating COVID vaccine mandate

Returning from the extended weekend, more than 1,000 Boston city employees could face suspension for violating Acting Mayor Kim Janey’s COVID vaccine mandate.

On Friday, 1,200 city workers were still out of compliance with the mandate, which Janey announced in August for all municipal employees and contractors, the Boston Herald said.

The mandate allows people to submit a weekly negative COVID test, an option that Gov. Charlie Baker and President Joe Biden have not given their employees.

The employees out of compliance represent 6% of Boston’s 18,000-person workforce. While data was not available on the breakdown between city departments, officials told the Herald that 8% of Boston Public Schools employees were not in line with the mandate — a higher rate than the rest of the city workers.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Ardrey Kell High honors longtime resource officer who died | wcnc

“Hundreds of Ardrey Kell High School students, teachers and parents gathered outside the school Monday to say their final goodbye to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Julio Herrera, who died from COVID-19.

Herrera was a 28-year veteran of the Charlotte community, 15 of which he served as a school resource officer. Students lined the street in front of Ardrey Kell with some holding signs thanking Herrera for his work.”

 

[ilovewings]

The headlines make it sound like some kind of disaster, but that's not the case. Yes, vaccines peak at about a month after the second dose, and then begin the long slow process of waning. This is not unexpected.

Even though protection is waning, according to the article, "Effectiveness against severe, critical, and fatal COVID-19 cases reached 96% in the first 2 months after the second dose. The protection lasted at this level for about 6 months."

For sure there is adequate protection but from reading the article I have areas of concern as follows:

" Protection reached a peak of about 78% in the first month after the 2nd dose, but efficacy fell gradually after that, with the decline speeding up after the fourth month. for some people who got the vaccine, protection dropped as low as 20% between 5 and 7 months after the 2nd dose. These findings suggest that a large proportion of the vaccinated population could lose its protection against infection in the coming months
PERHAPS INCREASING THE POTENTIAL FOR NEW EPIDEMIC WAVES"

The article goes on " the effectiveness against symptomatic infection was higher than the effectiveness against asymptomatic infection, but both rates waned after time. Protection against hospitalization and death persisted at a robust level for six months after the 2nd dose. Strategies to prolong host immunity need to be evaluated in order to protect the population against Sars- Covid2 and its variants.

 

[LadyL]

there's no separate thread for Russia

COVID-19 deaths are surging in Russia, but vaccination lags

 

[Cool Cats]

New York must allow religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandate, judge rules

Oct 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that New York state cannot impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on healthcare workers without allowing for religious exemption requests.

The decision by U.S. District Judge David Hurd in Albany, New York prevents the state from interfering with religious exemptions requests.

Seventeen workers sued over the mandate, alleging their employer revoked an exemption or refused to consider it because of the state's emergency vaccine requirement, which was announced on Aug. 26.

The ruling provides a test case as vaccine opponents gear up to fight plans to be unveiled soon by the Biden administration to extend COVID-19 vaccine requirements to tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans.

New York's Department of Health on Aug. 26 ordered healthcare professionals to be vaccinated by Sept. 27 and the order did not allow for the customary religious exemptions.

The plan was challenged by a group of healthcare workers who said they opposed COVID-19 vaccines because some vaccines were developed from cell lines of aborted fetuses. The workers sued using pseudonyms because they said they feared being vilified in the media and because they shared sensitive health information in their lawsuit.

 

[sds71]

In a private phone call Tuesday with the nation's governors, the White House said states should prepare to begin vaccinating elementary-aged kids against COVID-19 in early November and that it would work with local health officials in the coming days to identify which sites will receive the first doses.

In audio obtained by ABC News, White House officials told the governors it had enough pediatric doses on hand for the 28 million children ages 5 through 11 expected to become eligible once federal regulators give the green light


White House tells governors: Get ready to start vaccinating kids

 

[Deleted member 158085]

There will be no memorial for the brave souls who died unvaccinated to preserve their freedom. History will not see them as heroes any more than their contemporaries do.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

There will be no memorial for the brave souls who died unvaccinated to preserve their freedom. History will not see them as heroes any more than their contemporaries do.

Nor their families. How many more stories do we need to see in the press from devastated family members?

 

[weepingangel]

Getting a religious exemption to a vaccine mandate may not be easy. Here's why

 

[Cool Cats]

There will be no memorial for the brave souls who died unvaccinated to preserve their freedom. History will not see them as heroes any more than their contemporaries do.

Well said.