Posts by fadedranger162

Linda Lee4 said:Hold on a second, weren't the pundits all insisting that the Mississippi Delta variant was ten times more infectious than Alpha? Now suddenly we're hearing this one is only three times as contagious? Something isn't adding up.

If this thing were 3.14 times more contagious, they really should have just called it the Pi variant. 😁

Linda Lee4 said:I don't think that premise holds any water because there isn't a realistic scenario where you could roll out a vaccine to the entire global population that quickly. Besides, if Pfizer actually managed to develop a vaccine in record time, you have to wonder why they haven't already pivoted to address the dominant Delta variant.

By the time we actually got moving with the Alpha shots, the Delta variant had already started spreading like wildfire. And honestly? It doesn't even matter how many people we vaccinate at this point—Delta is going to tear through every single state regardless. It’s just going to circulate everywhere, period.

They really ought to be getting a head start on developing a vaccine for this version right now. If they play it smart, they'll have something ready by the end of summer so the high-risk folks can get jabbed before fall and winter hit. It’d be a total disaster if we ended up back at square one, shutting everything down just to start the whole grind all over again. 🤦

Hannah Stewart said:I wouldn't necessarily say I'm living in fear, though I suppose I am feeling a bit exhausted by the constant hyper-vigilance this pandemic demands and that heavy sense of heightened responsibility for everyone else's health. I realize there's a very slim chance of anything serious happening if we do get sick, and an even smaller chance that I'd be the one to bring some little virus into the office from a bus ride, but still, I can't help but wish we could all just... relax a little more.

Seriously, just relax. You’ve done everything you can, and that’s that. Sure, the illness is serious, but for a healthy person, it’s usually nothing to worry about—especially if you've been vaccinated. All that constant stressing over "what ifs" is just going to wreck your immune system, making it way easier to actually catch something.

Check this out. It's interesting—stressing out, combined with the lack of social interaction (which is basically what we've been doing for the last year and a half), does absolutely zero favors for your immunity.
Stress Weakens The Immune system

wanderingbadger44 said:They can certainly ask, but they aren't going to get anywhere.
It would be like asking the administration to hand out individual written confirmations to every single person every day—like getting a signed note saying you won't be allowed into class unless you're wearing specific shoes.

Just read the student handbook and call it a day.

And since you want to play hero, why don't you try walking into a venue where they require a COVID-19 vaccination card and demand they give you a formal, written document personally stating you aren't being admitted without it? Let us know if you actually receive that paper and if you manage to get inside. Then, feel free to sue the government.

The whole point of my argument here is that we are looking at parents whose own instability is making life unnecessarily difficult for their child, which is something that can have lasting effects on a kid's development.

Man, people have been incredibly quick to throw out diagnoses lately whenever they run into someone with a different opinion. 🙈 "Unstable," huh? Is that what we're calling it now just because they don't follow the crowd?

Here’s what the actual experts are saying: Major Study: No clear or reliable evidence that masks in schools are actually effective.

Let's try listening to science instead of politics for once.

wanderingbadger44 said:Honestly, I wouldn’t want to wear a bra either; they just chafe and feel so restrictive.

That’s exactly the point: nobody actually enjoys wearing a mask. People have complied simply because they’re rational and understand how rules work, but that doesn't mean they actually like it.

I find it absolutely hilarious how the anti-mask crowd acts like they’re some kind of special, delicate little flowers just because they feel more comfortable without one.

Sure, masks make sense for adults. But forcing them on kids? It’s pointless and honestly does more harm than good. It feels like it's being pushed on them purely for political optics.

Mandatory Masking of School Children is a Bad Idea

coastalorca43 said:The absolute worst thing you can do to young minds is force them into mindless, arbitrary tasks.
They know it makes no sense, but they have to do it just because some authority figure said so. It’s total Guantanamo vibes. We saw this kind of stuff back in the day with the US Army too—just a way to crush anyone who actually thinks for themselves.
What really kills me is how the other kids don't even question the principal's idiotic rules.

And let's be real, most kids just do whatever their parents tell them to do anyway.

Rachel Barrett8 said:Has anyone actually mentioned the specific reason why masks are mandatory for kids?
I mean the actual medical reasoning, not some religious angle.

Over in Sweden, schools are totally anti-mask. According to the reports they got, there weren't any child victims from COVID, and teachers were getting infected at basically the same rate as everyone else (so no, kids aren't these little hidden assassins targeting grandparents).

Tyler Ruiz502 said:The ones from CVS are suffocating. We even picked up some colored ones—yellow, purple—and oh my god, they smell absolutely atrocious. I've never had the blue ones smell that bad, not even after wearing them for a week straight.

Cotton ones are much easier to deal with; actually, she mentioned feeling fine this week while wearing cotton. Though, her glasses keep fogging up.

Maybe try some linen ones.

Yeah, and that's the big question: with all this stuff being imported now, what kind of quality control is actually happening? What are they even using to disinfect these things, if they bother at all?

Honestly, I'm thinking maybe she could just make a new one out of a fabric that actually feels good, or repurpose the ones she has. You could sew in a bit of wire along the edge—maybe something like what florists use, or even some insulated copper wire (like a solid strand, not that braided flimsy stuff) that's easy to find. Just put something soft over the wire so it doesn't chafe her nose. That way she can shape it to fit her face better, and then bend the other side to create a gap so the breath escapes without fogging up her glasses. 🤷

Tyler Ruiz502 said:I honestly don't care what everyone else's specific take on masks is—I'm just trying to get some clarity here. Should high schoolers in an American school be required to wear them during class, or not?

I get the feeling people are just tearing this whole group apart—or whatever you want to call them—simply because they’ve been dragged into the spotlight by the media and now everyone’s jumping on them. And from what I understand about this particular school, masks aren't even mandatory in the classrooms, just in the hallways. This kid and his dad aren't even willing to wear them in the halls. Fine, whatever.

My point in posting this is to find out what you all think about wearing masks when it's required constantly. We're talking 6 or 7 periods of school!

The reason I'm asking is that my daughter has been dealing with constant headaches. She comes home every single day complaining of a headache, saying the mask is making her feel like she can't breathe. And I believe her—I mean, I've worn a mask for maybe two hours and felt like I was going to pass out. She's stuck in one for five.

So, where do I even go from here? How do I start fixing this? Do I go to her pediatrician to see if she can get a medical waiver?

If I remember correctly, someone posted a study from either Austria or Germany earlier in this thread about how masks affect kids of different ages—assuming it hasn't been deleted yet. Basically, it suggested there might be more harm than good after just thirty minutes or an hour, something like lowered oxygen levels and all that stuff that people used to dismiss as conspiracy theories. It seemed to hit the younger kids harder, but generally, the results were negative.

Maybe try talking to the doctor first. If that doesn't work, maybe look into getting a mask made from a more breathable material. 🤔

nimbleranger17 said:It’s honestly exhausting reading this, but apparently, the mother of this kid has gone on record claiming that masks are nothing more, nothing less, than carcinogenic.

And then you have the father, who’s out there bringing up divine laws as if we haven't heard that particular sermon a thousand times before. 😁

If people still can't wrap their heads around what's actually happening here, then frankly, I don't think anyone can help them.

https://www.ecotextile.com/202104012...ace-masks.html

Honestly, that’s hardly breaking news, especially when you consider how little oversight there actually is regarding what kind of junk we're importing and where those masks are even coming from.

But hey, instead of looking at the actual regulations, everyone would rather just nitpick every single word and tear these people apart, right?

So, I’m heading into work this morning, right? And I see this little kid trekking uphill—like, a serious incline that would leave most people winded—dragging along some tiny backpack and wearing a mask. There wasn't a soul on the street. Honestly, who on earth talked him into that? 🤦

nimbleranger17 said:But honestly, even in that school, those older kids—from fifth through eighth grade—don't bother wearing masks inside the classrooms at all. They only pull them up in the hallways or the restrooms. So, you're really only looking at wearing a mask for maybe a minute or two, just that brief stretch from the moment you walk into the building until you reach your desk. For the rest of the five or six hours spent sitting in class, they're just going about their business without any masks, totally normal.

Well, if that's the case, then it doesn't even count as "contact" (you know, the whole 15-minute rule, chatting with someone within 6 feet, etc.). So what's the point of wearing a mask besides just spreading all sorts of other bacteria and viruses on those things that they end up pulling off and touching fifty times a day? Not to mention the proven physical and psychological toll masking takes on kids.

slyfox43 said:It’s all the same slow slide... grain by grain, you end up with a total collapse from social cohesion to complete isolation, especially after a pandemic. It's just how things go.

There is an interesting phenomenon when you walk through residential neighborhoods in a place like Washington, D.C.—though I suppose it’s much the same in most major American cities. The common areas, the building facades, the shared courtyards—they all look like neglected ghettos because nobody wants to sink money into them. I was explaining this to my wife, who was looking at it with a bit of dismay, noting that once you step inside, most of the individual apartments are actually beautifully maintained. It seems to me that this specific attitude toward the collective is quite common among Americans, and you can see the fallout in how people react to the very idea of looking out for their neighbors.

Of course, there are exceptions, and I'm sure they exist in plenty, though likely never enough.

I think you missed the point there. "Antisocial" isn't a sliding scale leading to more antisocial behavior, because—get this—by definition, antisocial people don't hang out with society in the first place. So, for them, there's no such thing as a pandemic.

It’s the "social" crowd who rushed out to get their shots just so they could get back to partying and ignore the rules entirely...

Amanda Hughes37 said:I'm satisfied with how things are... masks are only required while walking through the elementary school hallways—once you're outside for recess, they're off.

👍

Does that rule apply just to teachers, or are the kids stuck with it too?

jadetinker85 said:It's not that I haven't "stepped foot" in a school; I've been doing this all year without a single issue. Wasting too much time sharing screens? That's one mouse click. Come on, find a better excuse.🙄

"Staring at a screen isn't it"? I'd love to hear a student say that just once🤣. You can always write the problem out on paper and just hold it up so everyone can see.

And where exactly is this 99% of people with bad internet living??? Unless you're tucked away in some remote mountain range, it's hard to buy.

And you're supposedly a teacher? Seriously? That was a stellar response to a student who was just telling you everything was working perfectly. 👍

Tyler Lopez98 said:I don't have children yet, but if I did, they would be vaccinated.

Every parent carries the weight of ensuring their children's well-being—and in my view, disease prevention is a fundamental part of that responsibility. It is simply the responsible thing to do. I have full confidence in the safety of vaccines; I chose to get vaccinated myself, as did everyone in my family, and I would certainly extend that same protection to my children should the time come.

To be honest, I find it difficult to wrap my head around those who oppose vaccination—people who cling to absurd conspiracy theories while disregarding medicine and science in an era as advanced as the 21st century.

If you actually believe in science and medicine, you wouldn't be vaccinating them right now, because the recommendation for childhood vaccinations was pulled and they're still running more tests (except for maybe the high-risk cases).

This subforum dedicated to the coronavirus is getting pretty weird. We weren't actually trying to call out the mods as "officials" or anything—we were just asking them questions as fellow users since they were already jumping into the conversation. But hey, I guess that’s how it went down. Thanks anyway 👍

I was posting over in the coronavirus subforum when I dropped a comment that got nuked and landed me a ban. Can someone please point out what actually violates the general rules here? Since the mod doesn't have the guts to reply—and even dodges my DMs when I ask for clarification on the penalty—it feels like he’s just scrubbing anything that bruises his ego.

The post was:

"I'm sure our moderators think this whole 'new normal' thing makes perfect sense, and they probably still have full faith in our government officials who supposedly only want what's best for us.

How much longer is it going to take before you guys start asking yourselves... wait a second..."

I was just asking for their personal take as forum members, which is something everyone does all the time on this sub and across the entire site. If he didn't want to answer, he could have just ignored me.

Kyle Nelson2 said:I think Amir Shachar was a department head at that hospital back in 2012... but he hasn't really been mentioned much since then.

So what, because he moved on, he's suddenly not an expert? What about the other 92 doctors?

Found some info on a blog somewhere : he's basically one of the founding fathers of modern emergency medicine[*] in the US; more than 30 years ago, he built the new ER from the ground up at the Mayo Clinic and headed it up for ages, right up until he took a gig with the FBI. After battling through leukemia a couple of years back, he actually came out of retirement to run the emergency department over at Laniado.

He even has an article from last year with that exact title: https://www.pubfacts.com/detail/3243...PARTMENT-2040-

swiftotter46 said:Wait, I’m lost now too... there’s no way the gap is this massive.

How does this even work?

Looking at the data from June 10, 2021:

960 million people received a shot, but only 490 million are fully vaccinated.

That adds up to 1.45 billion doses administered.

So how on earth did they use 2.3 billion doses?

It's impossible that nearly a billion people died, so these numbers clearly don't add up.😕

Look, it works like this: 😁

Andrew Booth29 said:Vaccination is just a tool to reach a specific goal—it isn't the end goal itself. So, what is our actual objective here? What exactly are we trying to achieve by vaccinating children? If you look at this from an engineering perspective, what is the specific problem we are actually attempting to solve?

Is the goal just to dump all this extra vaccine before anyone realizes we might not even need it? Trying to avoid a massive repeat of that swine flu fiasco?🤔

Drew Johnson2 said:$2.00 It’s practically mandatory if you don't want to play games with them. For instance, imagine finding an old sticker that’s been redesigned—they’ll catch you on that instantly. If you tell them you aren't paying the $6,000 right then and there, they start digging for more...
I remember one time I ended up shelling out $6,000 because my "No Underage Drinking" sign was outdated; apparently, the wording had changed to specifically include both serving and consumption, and I hadn't updated it yet...
Mind you, I wasn't even serving alcohol at that establishment...
On the very day a new regulation regarding how consumers file complaints went into effect, they showed up to check if we had the right signage. About ten of my colleagues ended up paying $6,000 each, though I managed to print and post mine just in time after they gave us a heads-up...
The bottom line is, you can't negotiate with these people: they tell you "you need this displayed starting today," and instead of saying "give us a day to get it done," they basically demand the $6,000 on the spot...

There was another occasion where I refused to pay a $12,000 fine simply because my espresso machine was being repaired; it broke down, you see, and I was waiting two days for a replacement to be delivered. Since I run a restaurant, it shouldn't have been a catastrophe—those two days wouldn't have killed us if we just served people coffee at the bar after dinner...
But, well, the inspector shows up and asks, "Where's your machine?" and I explain it's under repair. I tell him, "That's not fair, if coffee is on the menu, you must have a machine," and I even show him the receipt proving it's being fixed and a replacement is coming. He didn't care for my excuses...
Back then, since I was in a partnership, it would have cost $6,000 for each partner...
I fought it in small claims court, and I actually won...
To make matters worse, when I told him I wouldn't settle the ticket immediately and wanted a formal hearing so a judge could decide the matter, he actually threatened me, claiming I'd end up paying the judge $60,000...
So, honestly, I am not surprised by people who live in fear of these penalties; they spend their entire careers constantly intimidating us... it's practically part of their job description...

Honestly, saying it like that is basically calling it bribery to avoid getting screwed over, and that really should be reported. Of course, it's tough because there's nowhere to go here, but hey, if nothing else, you can go to the media.

Sure, it's hard to keep up with every single law and regulation, especially if you're just someone trying to do their job. But why not get together with a few other business owners in the same industry and hire a legal consultant? You could pay a monthly retainer to have someone track the laws and give you advice. There might not be a specific service for that in the States, but I doubt it, given all the legal loopholes big corporations use to stay untouchable.

And see? It's possible. They bank on people being scared of those penalties, but it wouldn't hurt if more people actually studied the regulations for their industry. That way, they'd know their rights instead of having some extortionist knocking on their door every month.

Drew Johnson2 said:The fines leveled against small business owners here are absolutely astronomical and completely out of proportion with what we actually bring in... it's just nonsensical.
I suppose the excuse is that they don't want to penalize everyone at once, but honestly, once you’ve been targeted by the heavy hand of a state inspector during peak season, you stop being surprised by their tactics...
It’s practically an ultimatum right at your doorstep: do you want to settle for $6,000 right now, or should we start digging around until we find enough to charge you $50,000?
Because of that, I really don't see the point in trying to compare our regulatory enforcement—and I mean the inspectors, not the police—with how things work in other countries...

It isn't that we're afraid of nothing, hollowfox3, it's just that we know exactly who we're dealing with...
Now, we have actually managed to exert a bit of pressure on them over the last few months, which gives me some hope that if we stick together, we might actually win something... however, that requires absolute unity among us, and I can't say for certain if we've reached that level of solidarity yet. Then again, there are enough of us at this point who feel like we have nothing left to lose, so perhaps we might actually pull it off...

The real issue here is that people are actually crazy enough to strip everything bare. They’d go through with it even if it meant everyone ended up out on the streets, because they know that once the dust settles, most of us won't say a damn word anyway. It’s the same old story—everyone just retreats into their own little bubbles and stays on their own side.

hollowfox3 said:So, you're telling me there’s absolutely zero paper trail from A to 6000? Let’s actually break this down...

That’s actually a great question. Honestly, I’d love to see the financial disclosures for all those inspectors just to see where the money is coming from. Also, isn't there supposed to be some kind of grace period in our laws? Like, shouldn't you get a window to fix a violation before they start throwing fines at you? It feels like these inspectors act like they own the place because nobody ever calls them out. If people actually started leaking these extortion attempts to the press instead of just staying quiet, they wouldn't be able to pull this crap anymore. Staying silent only helps them stay under the radar.

Lawrence Reed3 said:I honestly don't get what the big deal is—just let all the coffee shops operate and sell takeout, and let guests sit on the patio if there's space available. I mean, in some parts of the country, winters aren't even that bad; when it isn't raining, people just hang out outside anyway. So, whether they're sitting on a patio, a sea wall, or just on a park bench, it's really all the same thing to me.

And clearly, nobody gets it, least of all the people in charge. It’s ridiculous—a legitimate cafe isn't allowed to sell you a coffee to go, but if you call some old-school deli that delivers lunch or hit up a convenience store for an iced coffee, you're good to go. It’s totally moronic how it’s set up; you're labeled a "cafe" and suddenly you're restricted, while everyone else gets a free pass.😵
Based on that logic, I think they could actually sue the government.

Drew Johnson2 said:That really is the only viable path forward, though I fear we won't see any such movement... People are simply too terrified of the penalties.
I share that anxiety, because right now, $33 facing those kinds of fines would quite literally mean bankruptcy for me.
If I were running a full corporation rather than just a small sole proprietorship, maybe I'd just be pushed into insolvency, but with my current setup, I'm personally liable for everything I own...
That being said, if a real grassroots initiative actually started moving in that direction, I’d be the first one through the door.
Well, whatever happens, happens... They’ve already stripped me of everything anyway.

Look, most of those heavy fines are aimed at the big corporations, but it doesn't matter. If they start cracking down on everyone indiscriminately, half of them will end up bankrupt and on the street, and then imagine the massive tax revenue loss the government will face down the road.

Of course, that's just me playing a poker hand, but looking at what happened in Italy and now the Czech Republic, it seems like their bluff didn't pay off either.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying once everything opens back up, people should act like my username and just go wild or trample over everyone else. But if everyone acts responsibly and adjusts to the reality on the ground, we shouldn't need the government to micromanage everything at a regional level.