COVID-19/Coronavirus thread

[Texsox]

13 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

General liberal thankfulness for something about America, that we’re helping our people directly during the pandemic.

That said, we reserve the right to complain in the future when/if inflation rates finally rise to 5% or more and we have to make huge cutbacks at every level of government due to increased interest payments on bonds soaking up more and more budget outlay on those pie charts.

Agreed. If I said that however, there would be a couple comments that it isn't enough, it doesn't help everyone, I'm ignoring the bigger problem, and it should have been the $2,000 that Trump and Pelosi wanted. ?

[caulfield12]

Just now, Texsox said:

Agreed. If I said that however, I'd be flooded with comments that it isn't enough and it should have been the $2,000 that Trump and Pelosi wanted. 

If you said $2,000 for every family at $75-100,00 or less, you’d be okay, haha.

Once you get to the $125-150,000 joint income range...of course, cost of living is the key factor.   It’s not unlike the student loan debate.   What to do with the societally deemed irresponsible?  Is a couple with massive debts but a $200k combined income equally needy to one at half that income with one or both spouses out of work and struggling to pay for food or rent?

Otoh, there are plenty of Americans saying they really don’t need that money...it should go to families legitimately in need that will inject it directly back into the economy rather than saving or investing it.

[Texsox]

10 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Isn’t there a certain degree of fear in the religious right about vaccine efficacy?   At one point, roughly 2-3 months ago, only 55-60% of Americans were willing to be injected.  I don’t know where the anti-vaxxers line starts and crosses over into religious belief, but there’s probably some cross pollination.

All things considered, schools, convention centers, basketball stadiums, community centers would seem better suited.   

The largest facilities here that are being used are a shopping mall and the former home of the Spurs, the Alamo Dome. In the 1950s you were injected on three Sundays at church. If it worked then, why not try it today? Schools, again at least in my tiny corner of the world, are mostly empty, so it seems like they would be good candidates for a more decentralized approach. I'm trying to learn who was handing out those sugar cubes or cups of vaccine. Government employees I assume. But how were they hired, trained, and paid? 

The overlap is interesting. Being anti-science does seem like a right wing ideology, but for example Obama won the Catholic vote, so I'm not certain churches are as conservative as we might believe. My priest in McAllen was so liberal that Balta might have been seen as a centralist. He unionized our church and led a drive to require the city and city contractors to pay a livable wage, not just minimum wage. I loved Fr. Jerry. 

[Texsox]

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

If you said $2,000 for every family at $75-100,00 or less, you’d be okay, haha.

Once you get to the $125-150,000 joint income range...of course, cost of living is the key factor.   It’s not unlike the student loan debate.   What to do with the societally deemed irresponsible?  Is a couple with massive debts but a $200k combined income equally needy to one at half that income with one or both spouses out of work and struggling to pay for food or rent?

Otoh, there are plenty of Americans saying they really don’t need that money...it should go to families legitimately in need that will inject it directly back into the economy rather than saving or investing it.

I've read some of the arguments against the blanket payments because the money that is used to pay down debt or put into savings will not stimulate the economy. I couldn't come up with a way to guarantee the money would be spent. Give me a $600 credit at Amazon (or groceries, etc etc)  and I'll just put the $600 I was already going to spend in savings. I'm still just shifting monies. I know I'm lucky. I've lost some weight and do need some smaller pants, so I guess I could say I'm spending the stimulus money that way, but honestly, it isn't "new" or extra spending. It is a planned purchase.  

[caulfield12]

7 minutes ago, Texsox said:

The largest facilities here that are being used are a shopping mall and the former home of the Spurs, the Alamo Dome. In the 1950s you were injected on three Sundays at church. If it worked then, why not try it today? Schools, again at least in my tiny corner of the world, are mostly empty, so it seems like they would be good candidates for a more decentralized approach. I'm trying to learn who was handing out those sugar cubes or cups of vaccine. Government employees I assume. But how were they hired, trained, and paid? 

The overlap is interesting. Being anti-science does seem like a right wing ideology, but for example Obama won the Catholic vote, so I'm not certain churches are as conservative as we might believe. My priest in McAllen was so liberal that Balta might have been seen as a centralist. He unionized our church and led a drive to require the city and city contractors to pay a livable wage, not just minimum wage. I loved Fr. Jerry. 

The Catholic Church has always been conflicted between the peace and social justice side vs. conservative issues like abortion/population control, divorce, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” etc.

Another factor is perhaps the falloff by 15-20% in church attendance over the last decade.  Negative feelings created by the abuse scandals?  Separation of church and state doesn’t come into play here.  Nobody’s forcing you to pray in order to receive a place in line for a vaccine...I do believe that if this happened during the GW Bush years you’d see more focus on the faith community as a potential solution.

Biden’s as Catholic as it gets and you don’t hear it brought up in a way that could ever be considered proselytizing.  But he certainly never hides his faith and how it has gotten him through three family tragedies.

[Texsox]

20 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

The Catholic Church has always been conflicted between the peace and social justice side vs. conservative issues like abortion/population control, divorce, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” etc.

Another factor is perhaps the falloff by 15-20% in church attendance over the last decade.  Negative feelings created by the abuse scandals?  Separation of church and state doesn’t come into play here.  Nobody’s forcing you to pray in order to receive a place in line for a vaccine...I do believe that if this happened during the GW Bush years you’d see more focus on the faith community as a potential solution.

Biden’s as Catholic as it gets and you don’t hear it brought up in a way that could ever be considered proselytizing.  But he certainly never hides his faith and how it has gotten him through three family tragedies.

So true. 

It (Biden's faith) certainly wasn't an issue in the campaign. I remember reading several books regarding Kennedy and the fear that the Pope would actually be running the country. Many Democrats at the time believed that it was impossible for a Catholic to win. 

While the separation shouldn't come into play, it would be forced upon by some, especially if we followed the American way and treated every house of worship as equal. I'm not certain I want any barriers. And while I enjoy the idea of "oh, you don't want to go to the Synagogue, Mosque, Catholic, Protestant etc? Well then I guess you won't be vaccinated." On the practical side I want as many vaccinated as possible to keep me safe. 

I'm going to have to gently ask my mother in law who is an actively practicing Catholic for eight decades what she thinks of Biden. She voted Trump. ?

[StrangeSox]

 

 

 

[caulfield12]

9 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

 

 

 

In most countries of the world, those companies would be nationalized... at least until the crisis had passed.  But you wouldn't find more than 10-15% of the Congress in favor of such a radical approach that values citizens' lives over corporations and the profit incentive. 
 

People Are ‘Faking It’ To Get Vaccine Priority, So Just Yeet Me Off The Planet

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/people-faking-vaccine-priority-just-010026098.html

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by caulfield12

[Texsox]

Anyone have Walmart's in their area kind of randomly closing a store for 48 hours for deep cleaning and calling it part of a company wide initiative and allegedly not rooted in any one incidence or situation? 

We have one here that is happening to. Rumors are, well there are rumors of all sorts of explanations. From possible vaccine site to bodies from a super strain. 

[caulfield12]

In one sign of the confusion around vaccine distribution in Texas, officials in Dallas County scrapped a plan that would have prioritized shots for people living in heavily Black and Latino communities hit hardest by the virus. Texas state officials threatened to slash allocations of the vaccine if the county went ahead with the plan even though data showed that most of the shots administered in Dallas County had been in wealthier neighborhoods.

Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, is now struggling with a similar problem as the hospitals serving some of its poorest residents run out of the vaccine, prompting some public health experts to question why doses are not being made more available to vulnerable communities.

“These are our front-line workers who are at the greatest risk of contracting the virus and at the greatest risk of spreading it to others,” said Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine. “We would be able to resolve the pandemic in Harris County quicker if we could get a sufficient number of vaccines,” she added, referring to the county encompassing much of Houston.

Adding to the turmoil, just days after Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, praised the state’s vaccine rollout at a meeting in Houston where Democratic city and county officials were excluded from participating, the lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, also a Republican, sent a letter Thursday to the state’s Expert Vaccination Allocation Panel urging its members to fix the problems.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pandemic-plight-hospitals-running-vaccines-152805912.html

[Texsox]

Gee I'm shocked that wealthier people will receive the vaccine before poorer people. That may get fixed in a hundred years. We suck at equality and fairness in every situation where rich and poor compete for a limited resource. 

So if you believe you would be receiving the vaccine unfairly,  refuse it until you believe it is the correct time for you to receive it. If enough people do that we may make a difference. 

[bmags]

No people should get it whenever they can as quickly as they can. There’s no benefit to prolonging the pandemic for any group.

[bmags]

17000 fewer vaccines were administered in IL yesterday than Friday.

[Stinky Stanky]

On 1/22/2021 at 6:48 PM, caulfield12 said:

General liberal thankfulness for something about America, that we’re helping our people directly during the pandemic.

That said, we reserve the right to complain in the future when/if inflation rates finally rise to 5% or more and we have to make huge cutbacks at every level of government due to increased interest payments on bonds soaking up more and more budget outlay on those pie charts.

Rising interest rates? Not a question of if but a question of when.  Then the fur hits the fan.  All this money printing is very liberal economics.  I'm not saying it isn't necessary in the short term, mind you.

                                                                      

[Jerksticks]

8 minutes ago, Stinky Stanky said:

Rising interest rates? Not a question of if but a question of when.  Then the fur hits the fan.  All this money printing is very liberal economics.  I'm not saying it isn't necessary in the short term, mind you.

                                                                      

Correct. But we’ll see it coming.  That’s why I’ve said a few times “don’t get left behind”.  The asset inflation by me is out of control right now.  House prices selling at 100k over list cash.   That 5 trillion has to park somewhere.   And another 2 coming!  

[Balta1701]

In case anyone actually cares about data, the median home sale price in the Us has basically been stagnant since 2017.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS 

[Jerksticks]

And inflation has been flat too- look at the CPI! ?

[Balta1701]

8 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

And inflation has been flat too- look at the CPI! ?

Correct. 

This behavior, btw, is exactly what is predicted when a gigantic demand hole is blown in the economy, as happened previously in 2008.

[The Beast]

So...what does everyone think comes of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package? 

I don’t think it gets to reconciliation, they get rid of the $15 minimum wage provision, figure out some cuts to slim it down, authorize vaccination and COVID relief spending (state and local government and direct payments). Direct payments get more limited I scope in terms of those who have an annual income of a certain dollar amount (aka people who don’t need it).

[bmags]

11 minutes ago, The Beast said:

So...what does everyone think comes of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package? 

I don’t think it gets to reconciliation, they get rid of the $15 minimum wage provision, figure out some cuts to slim it down, authorize vaccination and COVID relief spending (state and local government and direct payments). Direct payments get more limited I scope in terms of those who have an annual income of a certain dollar amount (aka people who don’t need it).

I think direct payments/vax funding get split out and voted on soon, and the rest  Joe Manchin will decide what he likes.

[bmags]

Good news @shipps

 

[bmags]

This weekend we were able to secure appointments for all of our over 65 fam in IL through Jewel Osco, and in SC with Walgreens by calling and learning they typically had extra supply EOD and getting vaccines for our 85+ y.o. Grandparents. Feeling immense relief. My dad is only one left to figure out. I missed NC dates when I tried to keep track.

[StrangeSox]

 

19 minutes ago, bmags said:

This weekend we were able to secure appointments for all of our over 65 fam in IL through Jewel Osco, and in SC with Walgreens by calling and learning they typically had extra supply EOD and getting vaccines for our 85+ y.o. Grandparents. Feeling immense relief. My dad is only one left to figure out. I missed NC dates when I tried to keep track.

Dr. Murphy on WGN this morning was pretty livid about how much of a shitshow this all is. Zero planning, zero coordination, nobody knows where/how/when to get shots. Nobody in charge at any level taking responsibility. Absolutely pathetic rollout from the US federal government on down.

 

e: segment, if anyone wants to watch

https://wgntv.com/morning-news/i-would-go-to-any-possible-place-you-can-go-to-get-the-vaccine-dr-murphy-answers-viewer-covid-19-questions-1-25/

Edited January 25, 2021 by StrangeSox

[shipps]

1 hour ago, bmags said:

Good news @shipps

 

Yep, I read that this morning. Hopefully this thing will be overwhelmed by the vaccinations eventually. 

[Texsox]

1 hour ago, StrangeSox said:

 

Dr. Murphy on WGN this morning was pretty livid about how much of a shitshow this all is. Zero planning, zero coordination, nobody knows where/how/when to get shots. Nobody in charge at any level taking responsibility. Absolutely pathetic rollout from the US federal government on down.

 

e: segment, if anyone wants to watch

https://wgntv.com/morning-news/i-would-go-to-any-possible-place-you-can-go-to-get-the-vaccine-dr-murphy-answers-viewer-covid-19-questions-1-25/

We should have done this like we did polio,  through churches and schools. Shut school buildings down and use the school nurses.