26 minutes ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

Who would have thought A thread about a global pandemic could get even more depressing and negative, Now I am afraid to drive, swim or even walk down my stairs

You should be afraid to go outside, the sunshine will give you cancer. Stay in your basement where it’s safe, while you listen to the qanon podcasts

1 hour ago, IFB DOG said:

He's addicted to marathons now

2 hours ago, vikas83 said:

Sorry to hear about your dad. Good for you avoiding the same issue.

Just now, DBW said:

You should be afraid to go outside, the sunshine will give you cancer. Stay in your basement where it’s safe, while you listen to the qanon podcasts

This is why I rarely go to the beach, but I am headed to the basement soon to walk and try to lose some weight

2 hours ago, mikemack8 said:

Counterpoint - those that are at risk should have already been vaccinated so they don't need to worry about getting it from someone who isn't.

Unless you're under the age of twelve. A health condition or compromised immune system means nothing for them. And likely won't for another 3 - 6 months. My daughter's friend falls into this category. 

Pregnant women are another counter argument to the "just vaccinate the high risk" patient argument.  COVID in pregnancy caries much higher risk of severe consequences than the general population, so essentially women can go from low risk to moderate-high risk on a dime. A lot of women aren't very willing to get the vaccine while they're pregnant despite all the data that it's safe. So unless you get it to child bearing age women beforehand you're going to be under-vaccinating an at risk population.

Again, the CDC guidance was long overdue. States reacting to it by lifting indoor mask mandates is a different story and might've been premature. They should've remained tied to metrics like daily cases per capita or percentage of adults with their first dose. If I was the governor, I would've went with something like < 20 cases per 100k (7-day roll) or 70% with their first dose, whichever comes first. Many (or most?) states would've already qualified to remove mandates, some (like mine) wouldn't, but alas, I'm a mere peasant and the king knows better. C'est la vie.

3 hours ago, DBW said:

Do you swim without floaties because you’re a dare devil or because you learned to swim so you don’t drown? Do you have sticky frogs on your tub so you don’t slip and crack your head open?  These are things that can kill you tomorrow and are avoidable with simple easy measures that don’t have any negative side effects. You know, like a vaccine. 

Dude, I am vaccinated and so are my kids. We have MMR, whooping cough, hepatitis, etc. I just am abstaining from the covid vaccine at this time. Respect that.

You DON'T KNOW all, if any, of the negative side effects. And there ARE people with complications from them. No matter how rare.

 

Like my personal risk of death that you're making a societal decision instead of personal. 

1 hour ago, DEagle7 said:

He has a gut, too. Last thing to go in my family. He lifts every day and runs every day.

But, no. You think I'm a sociopath for not wanting this vaccine??? RUNNERS are sociopaths 

13 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Again, the CDC guidance was long overdue. States reacting to it by lifting indoor mask mandates is a different story and might've been premature. They should've remained tied to metrics like daily cases per capita or percentage of adults with their first dose. If I was the governor, I would've went with something like < 20 cases per 100k (7-day roll) or 70% with their first dose, whichever comes first. Many (or most?) states would've already qualified to remove mandates, some (like mine) wouldn't, but alas, I'm a mere peasant and the king knows better. C'est la vie.

Right, this is how it should work in theory. That would be federalism and scientific expertise working in tandem, but we have a situation in the where half of the leadership are science-denying morons, and the other half are nevertheless still politicians. Governors will always exercise unilateral authority for their own self-interests. 

12 hours ago, DEagle7 said:

Pregnant women are another counter argument to the "just vaccinate the high risk" patient argument.  COVID in pregnancy caries much higher risk of severe consequences than the general population, so essentially women can go from low risk to moderate-high risk on a dime. A lot of women aren't very willing to get the vaccine while they're pregnant despite all the data that it's safe. So unless you get it to child bearing age women beforehand you're going to be under-vaccinating an at risk population.

My niece got the vaccine at 32 weeks.  She and baby are fine.  Can't wait to see them.

I'm past my 2 weeks, I've ditched the mask at the office.  Everyone here is also fully vaccinated.  I probably will still put it on at the store for a while longer though.

I went to Lowe's on Sunday and didn't wear a mask. Everyone probably thought I was vaccinated. Suckers! 

Texas continues to prove the pro-lockdown/mask mandate people wrong. We did so much damage when it wasn't even necessary. Such a shame.

 

1 minute ago, Kz! said:

Texas continues to prove the pro-lockdown/mask mandate people wrong. We did so much damage when it wasn't even necessary. Such a shame.

 

Whoa!  Hell yeah!  Thanks Biden! 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-sees-boost-shots-after-it-announces-1-million-vaccination-n1267648

"Chances of dying from Covid are basically zero for me!"

"I'ma win a million in the lottery!"

People are terrible at assessing chance 

36 minutes ago, DiPros said:

My niece got the vaccine at 32 weeks.  She and baby are fine.  Can't wait to see them.

I'm past my 2 weeks, I've ditched the mask at the office.  Everyone here is also fully vaccinated.  I probably will still put it on at the store for a while longer though.

My guess is the baby's first word will be "Microsoft."

2 minutes ago, VanHammersly said:

Whoa!  Hell yeah!  Thanks Biden! 

Pretty much. This was inevitable if enough people got vaccinated.

58 minutes ago, DiPros said:

My niece got the vaccine at 32 weeks.  She and baby are fine.  Can't wait to see them.

I'm past my 2 weeks, I've ditched the mask at the office.  Everyone here is also fully vaccinated.  I probably will still put it on at the store for a while longer though.

Yup, no contraindication to it.  Wife got it in her first trimester too.  But a lot of pregnant women are hesitant because of the lack of specific studies on its effect on pregnant women, even though physiologically it shouldn't be much different than other non-live vaccines.  Good for your niece for getting it!  It can be really dangerous to pregnant women.

32 minutes ago, Kz! said:

Texas continues to prove the pro-lockdown/mask mandate people wrong. We did so much damage when it wasn't even necessary. Such a shame.

 

Fixing Texas? Is there nothing Biden can't do? Too easy.

My 14 year old daughter just got her first shot a couple of days ago. Considering that she is immune compromised and we have been worried about her safety due to idiocy of the population out there, I am relieved that she was finally able to get it. Now we just have to wait until it is available for my 9 year old and we will finally be set.

I am going to open up our office again on June 1st but only for those that are fully vaccinated and only if they feel comfortable to come into the office. We have had the office closed down since March 12th of last year. I think I need to make a decision on whether I really need to keep an office anymore or just get a smaller space for the occasional in person meetings and just let everyone work from home for now on. It will save me a crap ton on rent, but we lose a little bit of that in person. Work output has been about the same regardless.

3 minutes ago, pallidrone said:

My 14 year old daughter just got her first shot a couple of days ago. Considering that she is immune compromised and we have been worried about her safety due to idiocy of the population out there, I am relieved that she was finally able to get it. Now we just have to wait until it is available for my 9 year old and we will finally be set.

I am going to open up our office again on June 1st but only for those that are fully vaccinated and only if they feel comfortable to come into the office. We have had the office closed down since March 12th of last year. I think I need to make a decision on whether I really need to keep an office anymore or just get a smaller space for the occasional in person meetings and just let everyone work from home for now on. It will save me a crap ton on rent, but we lose a little bit of that in person. Work output has been about the same regardless.

I think that the company I work for is going to offer 40% work from home once things are opened back up.  They were saying it can be flexible too, so it doesn’t have to be two days a week, but could be like work from home, drop kids off at school, come into the office, then go home for when kids get off of school, then work from home the rest of the day.

I like your proposal better, but it also depends on the size of your company.  The one I work for has tens of thousands of employees across multiple continents, so I think it’s harder to do the plan you have in place.

Just now, RPeeteRules said:

I think that the company I work for is going to offer 40% work from home once things are opened back up.  They were saying it can be flexible too, so it doesn’t have to be two days a week, but could be like work from home, drop kids off at school, come into the office, then go home for when kids get off of school, then work from home the rest of the day.

I like your proposal better, but it also depends on the size of your company.  The one I work for has tens of thousands of employees across multiple continents, so I think it’s harder to do the plan you have in place.

I run a small software company with only 30 employees so it is much easier to change and maneuver things then a large corporation. The one good thing that came out of this pandemic is that it proved that a lot of work and meetings can be done remotely and that we waste a lot of time and resources on such things. That and delivery services are the best! I have not stepped into a grocery store in over a year and I will never waste my time doing that again.

 

1 minute ago, pallidrone said:

I run a small software company with only 30 employees so it is much easier to change and maneuver things then a large corporation. The one good thing that came out of this pandemic is that it proved that a lot of work and meetings can be done remotely and that we waste a lot of time and resources on such things. That and delivery services are the best! I have not stepped into a grocery store in over a year and I will never waste my time doing that again.

 

I miss working at a small company sometimes, because of reasons like that.  I worked at a company of 40 employees and there was much more flexibility in terms of policies being changed.  For example, when my son was born, I took off a few days, but for the next week after that, my boss told me to go home at lunch time.  Conversely, when working for the company I’m at now, I was new when my daughter was born.  I was going to take off at least 3 days. They said (that since I didn’t accrue enough PTO), that I had to come in on the 3rd day or take a full week off unpaid.  I opted for the full week.

1 minute ago, RPeeteRules said:

I miss working at a small company sometimes, because of reasons like that.  I worked at a company of 40 employees and there was much more flexibility in terms of policies being changed.  For example, when my son was born, I took off a few days, but for the next week after that, my boss told me to go home at lunch time.  Conversely, when working for the company I’m at now, I was new when my daughter was born.  I was going to take off at least 3 days. They said (that since I didn’t accrue enough PTO), that I had to come in on the 3rd day or take a full week off unpaid.  I opted for the full week.

That is why I am so happy that I own business and hopefully will never have to work for a corporation again. I like being able to be flexible and giving my employees the ability to come in late or leave early because of family or other issues. My motto is that I dont care what people do as long as the work gets done. We are all adults and as long as it does not become a problem, then I have no issues.

With that said though, we are screwed with things like health insurance. We are so limited in what we can give to the employees because of restrictions and cost, it really makes it hard sometimes to find good people. A lot of our employees spouses are covered so it is not that huge of a deal for them but it is hard to find younger people which for a software company is crucial. That is why I am so for PPACA if it was done right. Done correctly, it would have allowed small businesses to compete with larger ones for better employees or at the very least allow multiple small businesses to pool resources together to find a health care program. 

Like everything in life though, there are positives and negatives to it all. 

1 minute ago, pallidrone said:

That is why I am so happy that I own business and hopefully will never have to work for a corporation again. I like being able to be flexible and giving my employees the ability to come in late or leave early because of family or other issues. My motto is that I dont care what people do as long as the work gets done. We are all adults and as long as it does not become a problem, then I have no issues.

With that said though, we are screwed with things like health insurance. We are so limited in what we can give to the employees because of restrictions and cost, it really makes it hard sometimes to find good people. A lot of our employees spouses are covered so it is not that huge of a deal for them but it is hard to find younger people which for a software company is crucial. That is why I am so for PPACA if it was done right. Done correctly, it would have allowed small businesses to compete with larger ones for better employees or at the very least allow multiple small businesses to pool resources together to find a health care program. 

Like everything in life though, there are positives and negatives to it all. 

The health insurance thing is very true.  We had a plan for our corporate office (like 6 of us, which was finance, CEO, CFO, corporate secretary, president, and purchasing).  In one year we had one person  on life support for 4 months (before dying), a spouse had a kid, and two people on the plan had major surgery.  Our rates the following year went up quite a bit due to those reasons.

4 minutes ago, RPeeteRules said:

The health insurance thing is very true.  We had a plan for our corporate office (like 6 of us, which was finance, CEO, CFO, corporate secretary, president, and purchasing).  In one year we had one person  on life support for 4 months (before dying), a spouse had a kid, and two people on the plan had major surgery.  Our rates the following year went up quite a bit due to those reasons.

Every year for us it goes up at least 10%. The only time our rates did not go up was the first two years the PPACA was enacted.

Health insurance from a business perspective is an insane money pit, but it is a necessity.