Nerd Pride Radio

Never been tested.

Every theater job I have had so far has a quick test for the whole crew, anyone on set.
All negative so far,
This weekends job was cancelled because zach brown (no idea who he is) got covid and had to cancel. So, a microcosm. Lots of regular folks out of work because some dumbass thought he was bulletproof.

I give thanks I never had to have the brainscraping test many of my family members were subjected to early on in the pandemic. So all the tests I've had have been nasal swab probing around slightly uncomfortably but not painfully.

My "Covid-brain" (as my loving daughter calls it) is getting worse. I used to have encyclopedic knowledge with complete recall when it came to my movies. Lately I have blanked on twice as many names as I have remembered. Lung capacity still meh due to covid scars...I helped a friend move some hay and I was huffing and puffing in the worst way. Also I cannot remember what I have said to whom. I started writing stuff down then forgetting where I put the notes!

Anyway, covid brain has me in the dumps, thanks for listening. I feel ancient.

That sucks. Long COVID is something that hasn't gotten enough attention.

That really does suck.

Mando wrote: ↑Mon Oct 04, 2021 10:21 am I feel ancient.

Yet are the ancient not known for wisdom? Hopefully your wisdom is at its peak and the other problems fade away quickly!

I've been following this blog lately
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/
Gives a knowledgeable but readable lay of the land on how things are going.

Some are saying this might be the final big wave of Covid, thanks/nothanks to how viral Delta is. More worrisome variants have emerged that went nowhere because they couldn't compete with Delta. But I'm in a fool me thrice kind of view, waiting for those chickens to hatch.

Took my second covid test this week because of some nasal drip and sore throat. Negative again, thankfully.

Someone in my show caught the Covid, but she isolated herself quickly and the entire rest of the cast and crew have all tested negative in the last three days (and myself as of yesterday). It's a breakthrough case, as she had been vaccinated so it has been feeling like a cold more than anything else. Have an at home test kit now. So far 4 for 4 on negative tests!

]Put so clearly

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substac ... ccine-work

society has failed to protect the vulnerable....

Unfortunately Colin Powell died because of a deadly combination of an incurable cancer, old age, weakened immune system, and exposure to a deadly virus. The vaccine couldn’t save Colin Powell, but we could have.

And why I am in a fit of rage whenever anyone talks about personal choice and how them not getting vaxed isn't hurting anyone.

My wife's extended family went on one of their annual camping trips and now one of the kids is positive. And it's a kid young enough that they were sitting on everyone's lap and playing rough and tumble with all the other kids. I'd guess well over half the people involved are unvaccinated. Some over 70.

Yikes- here's hoping they're all lucky.

Oh noooo really hoping nothing happened. Oh geez hopefully by now most of them have been exposed and didn't get it.

My mom texted my wife pictures from a family wedding in Indiana the other weekend that we did not attend, and made the comment that she hopes she gets to see our kids again sometime before she dies. I really wanted to respond: get a f@#king vaccine, and we'll come visit! Until then, we're not going to risk being the carriers that infect you and result in yours and dad's deaths because you buy into some bullshit about the vaccines.

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:35 am My mom texted my wife pictures from a family wedding in Indiana the other weekend that we did not attend, and made the comment that she hopes she gets to see our kids again sometime before she dies. I really wanted to respond: get a f@#king vaccine, and we'll come visit! Until then, we're not going to risk being the carriers that infect you and result in yours and dad's deaths because you buy into some bullshit about the vaccines.

It's always tough making the right call like you did and the snide remarks don't help at all. Protecting your family is your responsibility and you can be proud of the fact that you are sticking to your guns. I have learned with my family that when they do/say hurtful things that they are acting like a wounded dog that snaps at those who care about them. Not all families are as messed up as mine, though. My wife and I are trying to break away from all the bad influences and that is tough...we live a half mile from my mom and when the kids were small there was no way my mom was going to keep them due to people who lived with her being prone to violence and some really messed up ideas.

Tahlvin wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:35 am My mom texted my wife pictures from a family wedding in Indiana the other weekend that we did not attend, and made the comment that she hopes she gets to see our kids again sometime before she dies. I really wanted to respond: get a f@#king vaccine, and we'll come visit! Until then, we're not going to risk being the carriers that infect you and result in yours and dad's deaths because you buy into some bullshit about the vaccines.

You can tell your mom (by way of casual human interest stories, I don't know?) that my parents are vaccinated but I'm still terrified about infecting them. I get daily messages about COVID cases in my kids' schools and weekly messages about people I am trapped in rooms with at work having received a positive test, and I read about people like Colin Powell and break out into hives and don't understand why the people cannot be given access to their Moderna boosters yet. If my parents would not get a vaccine I think I'd be slowly pulling out my head hairs one by one! The basic-level situation here is bad enough. You should be stressing about boosters, not primary rounds of vaccine for the parents. Oy vey, it is too much.

My unvaxed sister wants my mom to come to her house for Thanksgiving. Thankfully both my mom will have gotten her booster at that point and my sister has said she's willing to get vaxed to make it happen. We'll see if she keeps this plan, but also dunno if that goes for her unvaxed husband and whatever other guests will be there. My other, cautious sister says if anyone going is unvaxed there my octogenarian mom should not attend, and I kinda agree, but also like, well if mom has the booster maybe it'd be safe enough / and might be a good reward to my sister doing the right thing after being lost in the Fox wilderness the last decade.

So I guess I have a weird, contrary view to the rest of you. My whole family is vaccinated, but I respect the right of others to make their own decisions. So if I have family or friends who choose to be unvaccinated, I don’t feel the need to “protect them.” I’ll respect their restrictions. And if they have none because they think it’s a hoax, then I’ll be around them.

Our concert accompanist, who is unvaccinated, was told that she would not be able to accompany students for our concert next week because she would be too close to students, even though she would be at the required social distancing and masked. But she is allowed to attend the concert and can sit in the front row if she wishes, wich would be the same distance away.

poorpete wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:15 am My unvaxed sister wants my mom to come to her house for Thanksgiving.

I think your cautious sister is right, but maybe if Mom has a booster shot she'll be well protected for this event? Some of our older relatives are making a different risk calculation than I would, but they aren't willing to do two straight years without family holidays when they've already gotten the vaccine and reduced their odds. I sweat and think of Colin Powell, but that's how it is for them. Some of them were forced into this choice by funerals, which even more than weddings compelled some uncomfortable mingling between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Having been forced into it that way, they may be unwilling to give up the joys of seeing grandkids and people assembled for the holiday, given the limited trips round the sun.
All I can tell you is that nobody unvaccinated is welcome in this home, but they were already ruled out because of the anti-gay issues.

DMDarcs wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:49 pm Our concert accompanist, who is unvaccinated, was told that she would not be able to accompany students for our concert next week because she would be too close to students, even though she would be at the required social distancing and masked. But she is allowed to attend the concert and can sit in the front row if she wishes, wich would be the same distance away.

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. And these kind of inconsistencies are what feed the vaccine hesitant. Sure there are a bunch of zealots that will never be convinced, but I know there’s a lot of folks that say “They can’t even agree on what to do. It’s arbitrary. So why should I trust them on the vaccine.” While I disagree with this line of thinking, I understand it.

one of my elderly aunts who won't wear a mask and now of course won't get a shot said, well, your mask protects me, right? UGGGGHH!

Kyle wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:22 am

DMDarcs wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:49 pm Our concert accompanist, who is unvaccinated, was told that she would not be able to accompany students for our concert next week because she would be too close to students, even though she would be at the required social distancing and masked. But she is allowed to attend the concert and can sit in the front row if she wishes, wich would be the same distance away.

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. And these kind of inconsistencies are what feed the vaccine hesitant. Sure there are a bunch of zealots that will never be convinced, but I know there’s a lot of folks that say “They can’t even agree on what to do. It’s arbitrary. So why should I trust them on the vaccine.” While I disagree with this line of thinking, I understand it.

I should also add that we have had substitute teachers come into school who are unvaccinated and are not being tested or asked to show proof of testing.

I shoudl also add that every day for the past week and a half we have had representatives from colleges come into the school during school days who have not been asked about vaccination status.

Yeah and I want to clarify- I don’t support any of that stuff. But I think schools having inconsistent and ill-enforced rules only makes the vaccine hesitant feel more justified in their hesitancy. But I want to be clear- I think they’re wrong.

Kyle wrote: ↑Thu Oct 21, 2021 4:20 pm Yeah and I want to clarify- I don’t support any of that stuff. But I think schools having inconsistent and ill-enforced rules only makes the vaccine hesitant feel more justified in their hesitancy. But I want to be clear- I think they’re wrong.

Apologies if it came across that I think you believe this - that wasn't the attempt. It absolutely fuels the hesitant and unwilling. Everyone in New York is placing the "ultimate decision" on someone else, and sometimes the guidance that comes out itself is contradictory on the same page. I'm sure things are worded the way they are for a legal reason that I don't fully understand (you probably would, because there's probably some precedent that different wording could set), but it seems like those that are supposed to be in the know don't know either.

I just spent 20 minutes yelling at my principal about this, so if I stil have a job tomorrow, that would be nice.

Hoping you still have a job! It would indeed be nice. I'm assuming the reason for the difference is that there are rules in place for all staff no matter what the circumstances, and rules in place for the public no matter what the circumstances. There are things you can demand of staff that wouldn't be appropriate to demand of the public etc. But if that's the reasoning then it should apply to substitutes.
Sadly one of the discoveries made over the course of a career, which family members tried to tell me but there's nothing like experiencing it for yourself, is that people who would be completely rational in some contexts will abandon it entirely when trying to pursue their personal preferences in the workplace.

I'm scheduled to get a booster shot on Saturday. I originally got the J&J, and I'm getting a Pfizer booster.

woo!

My dad is having bypass surgery in November, so I'm hoping after the booster I'll be able to pop down for a visit with the parents before his surgery.

I'm fully boosted! A little tenderness in my shoulder the day after, but otherwise no issues so far.

Yay! Takes a lot of the stress out of the upcoming visit I hope.

If we take the number of people who have died from Covid and the number of minutes since March 13th, 2020, someone in the US has died of Covid every minute and 12 seconds. (Though it may be as high as every minute and a half.)

I'm worried about the vaccine mandate becoming a political tool used to help the cause of people who want to overthrow/seize our government. A nice irony there, the complaints about government overreach being used to fuel ultimate versions of government overreach! Anyway, it does concern me because now it will be this red state blue state b******* where conservative governors have to prove their bona fides by preventing employers from enforcing the mandate. Preventing that is worse than the original mandate! The whole thing is crazy. I also don't like the idea that the mandate is based on company size rather than criteria about how likely you are to expose other people through your work activities.

I think it is authority an overreach for the federal govt.

I also think it is a nasty trick and probably an overreach for OSHA to try to enforce it. It should definitely go up to SCOTUS for a challenge.

As far as the employer size I agree. what is the difference between the 99 and 100? Someone is getting laid off that's what.
The penalty is enough to send small businesses into bankruptcy.

Also, what about the US government, the nation's single largest employer? There should be no exceptions. This reeks of elitism.

And all we get out of this administration is that this is not a "bug" it is a "feature"

It is an egregious harm when you make a wage-earner choose between his conscience and a paycheck

Vaccine mandates were declared constitutional over 100 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobson_v._Massachusetts

I believe current worker compliance rules tend to go along with 10/50/100 workforce rules. Large employers are probably aware of these numbers.

I'm not one to blame bureaucracy but one part of it really irks me, and it's when deciding on an efficient plan of action, but then laying the groundwork for that plan at they go. It might eventually lead to the better result, but damn those speed bumps!

A classic example would be the Obamacare website, a good idea, an eventually successful idea, but a notably terrible rollout.

Feeling the same way about the 5-11 year old vacccine shots. They decided "the current way doesn't make any sense for kids, so were going to do things a better way" but then the rollout is just frustrating, at least from my current vantage point. And again, I might feel differently in a few days, and looking back it's probable that the new way will be the better way, but my goodness. It's frustrating finding an appointment at this point. So I'm venting

And I know it's not just the government, Cyberpunk 2077 and Quibi are good examples in the private sector... New coke... but usually things are tested and reviewed and honed. And when they are disasters, the public can leave these things behind.

Minirant over.

While states do have the power, the federal govt is not supposed to:
The federal government's "enumerated powers" are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Among other things, they include: the power to levy taxes, regulate commerce, create federal courts (underneath the Supreme Court), set up and maintain a military, and declare war.

Our workplace (60K+ employees) enforced a vax requirement before anything was put into writing...although they at least are not firing people YET. No they hit us for an extra 200 dollars per month for non vaxxed insurance.

Again, I got mine, but I object to the manner in which this is being carried out.

As stated before, making someone chose between their conscience and their livelihood is just wrong.

Mando wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 11:07 pm While states do have the power, the federal govt is not supposed to:
The federal government's "enumerated powers" are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Among other things, they include: the power to levy taxes, regulate commerce, create federal courts (underneath the Supreme Court), set up and maintain a military, and declare war.

The mandate is under the regulating commerce portion of the federal government’s powers. If you feel that is too broad of an interpretation of that, then there’s a whole slew of laws that need to be declared unconstitutional which regulate businesses. Wage and employment laws, housing laws etc. But more to the point, the constitutional body that is supposed to interpret these powers is the courts and the Supreme Court. They’ve ruled in favor of vaccine mandates. Because the constitution is a living document that evolves with our society- this interpretation may change. But to point to that section of the constitution and declare “overreach” is reductive and not accurate.

In a world with all kinds of objectionable government intrusions, this is low on my list especially given the great payoff if people comply. However, my concern is that when it became a political football, the practical effect of enforcing compliance is going to be further entrenching the Trumpist crazies in their already-entrenched worldview. We desperately need to get them pried loose from it and that's even more important perhaps than getting another 10% of the population vaccinated in terms of the life-and-death impact it's going to have when our democracy is fraying around the edges. This is a kind of capitulation to the crazy conspiracy assholery, yes, but I think we should capitulate in this way in order to prevent the extremist right from making hay with the issue. Most people don't agree with them on it but enough do that they are making real hay with it.

This is a purely pragmatic concern - I just want to be really careful what tools we hand to the forces currently arrayed against the survival of this democracy as a healthy, thriving democracy. I also am so fundamentally angry about the human stupidity and hypocrisy and selfishness that is presently helping to extend our pandemic, I have no feeling of sympathy or concern for people who are pissed off about this, However, as an intellectual question, if we put that part of the issue aside, I still don't like the degree to which the government or private employers can reach into the lives of employees and make demands either, whether it's constitutional or not. I think almost everyone has a moral duty to get vaccinated against all kinds of things, including COVID. Totally for a slate of standard childhood vaccines like most schools require today. But should the government be able to force vaccination for everyone, based on whether they work for a large employer? They ought to have a reason that reaches a higher threshold - there's no magic line but the reason should be "something more" than we have here.

Hospitals and first responders? Yes, go ahead and require because they are going to interact with lots of people in ways that could easily result in spreading viruses, and the people who need this interaction have no control over whether they do it. People who are going to be trapped with you on a metal tube in the skies? Yes. People who have to work shoulder to shoulder for long hours? Sure. But just "lots of employees"? I assume the real criterion involved here is that we need to achieve a certain population threshold of vaccination to keep the whole herd safe and manage the toll on hospitals, and we would enforce it on EVERYONE if it were less burdensome to smaller employers to impose this on every employer. But that's just the thing: if it's not important enough to impose on everyone, then why are we doing it this way? That's where I drop back down to the "who is making political hay with this"?

The other problem is, should govt. or employers be able to force people into drug tests or to give up a DNA swab? I have a much bigger problem with those things than with the weekly COVID test for the opt-outers, I guess because I'm more attached to my urine and blood and DNA than to my snot when its tested only for COVID, but the principle of the thing is similar. Habeas corpus is damn important.

My daughters (11) got their first shot yesterday.

Yeah!

Yay, it's nice to have this before upcoming holidays too.

Yay! For all I fussed on Friday about the the 5-11yo rollout, we finally got scheduled -- if all goes as planned two weeks out from their second shot will be Christmas morning.

I keep going back to this blog and here I go again, she posted an excellent primer for the holiday season
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substac ... day-season

Similar to her advice, for our holiday season we're probably going to ask any extended family who haven't gotten needled in any way in the last few months to take an at-home test beforehand. Could probably pool money for the tests.

I'm very excited that my fox-news sister got vaccinated in the last few weeks. Seems the major reason isn't so they could have my mom over for Thanksgiving (which is happening. my mom got the booster last week(!) and so I kinda feel ok with it -- at least to reward good behavior) but so that they can go on a boat cruise over New Years. Ehhh! Hook or by crook, alls well that ends well, gift horse mouth, ends justifies the means, better late than never, etc.

My sister has been advised by three different doctors not to get her second COVID shot because of medical complications that arose from her first shot. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing with her come Christmas time.

Covid booster is kicking... my... ass!

Doesn't get better with practice.

Still better than a ventilator.

Oh that sucks! What kind did you get? (She asked as if it mattered.) It's like kids who are handed lollipops in paper; we want to know what flavor the others got. I'm going to get mine soon, trying for some kind of optimal timing that extends coverage through February/March or whatever.
Recent report from one of our relatives who had to drop by an emergency room was that it was packed to the gills and overflowing all the way down the halls with people waiting to get a room. Not just from covid but it's still there and still disruptive.
I'm just so sick of it at this point and I'm just so effing sick of living among the stupid when we could be solving this and people wouldn't have to die.
Honestly I cannot listen to people like this talk about being pro-life anymore. I pride myself on talking to anyone about pretty much anything but I can't sit still and listen politely to people who are very sure that they're pro-life but also anti-mask anti-vaccine blah blah blah.
I was feeling very down in the dumps about where I live and wondering if there's another place I could go 10 years or so from now or in retirement where I wouldn't be surrounded by quite the percentage of doltish we are dealing with right now, and then I read some of the national level news about places nowhere near here and I just gave up. What is the point. There's no escape from the stupidity.
I honestly think that our nation's enemies have purposely worked to enhance the stupidity level of our population and make sure it stayed down there in the dumb region as much as possible. Because the people who are saying all these stupid things are not naturally born that way. People have the same kind of distribution of mental capacities around the world. It's the education and the fact that they reject it, in a snowballing cycle of stupidity begetting more stupidity.
Tomorrow I will wake up and not feel this way and be cheerful but I am just so done so done so done with the stupid level you guys.
Stupid that just leads straight to death.

Pfizer for all three shots.

boosted last Tuesday, Moderna on top of J&J. Kids got their shot last week. Clinic was set up such that they had movies in observational area...clever, but boy, there were a couple of screamers who didn't want shots...

At least they got the shot, screaming and all, lol! Better to scream than faint, you know? My kids were so brave, in different ways - I was proud of them.

I woke up less angry about the stupidity aspect of the problem but more hopeless and frustrated about it. I guess that's a win? Maybe not, if the anger was motivational.