Posts by mellowskipper

Amy Cruz8 said:Newborns "accidentally" vaccinated in Turkey

Unknown appeared on TV claiming a "larger number" of infants were mistakenly given COVID shots at medical facilities. Apparently, a study on these incidents is coming soon. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced an administrative investigation.

An administrative investigation. I mean, what kind of medical professionals are we even talking about here—people who can't tell the difference between a newborn and any other patient category?
It’s honestly horrific. Those poor babies and their parents.

I suppose they completely botched the strategy—they overpaid their consultants for nothing. Back when there was a shortage, people were practically tripping over themselves to get vaccinated, pulling every string they could just to get an appointment... But now? Not a chance. It’s reverse psychology, I guess. You make something incredibly difficult to obtain, and suddenly everyone decides they want it.

Susan Martin4 said:Is it just me, or does a test group of maybe 2,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 12 feel way too small to draw any real conclusions from?

That number is practically negligible. I mean, if they had cited 20,000, then sure, we could talk, but this...

Brian Wells3 said:I love my kids and I want to protect them as much as possible. They’ve stayed up to date on all their routine shots—and they’re getting the COVID ones, too.

The COVID vaccine isn't exactly part of the routine schedule, nor is it mandatory.
Look, I love my child too—she's up to date on all her required immunizations, plus the optional ones I paid for out of my own pocket.
But I don't plan on vaccinating her against COVID.
If we're really going to judge parental love by the number of shots a kid gets, then fine, I guess that's your metric.

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Susan Martin4 said:Here’s the play-by-play:
1. Email one: The kid in daycare is likely positive since there are symptoms and a parent tested positive. They're testing tomorrow. But the kids aren't allowed in daycare tomorrow. If the test comes back positive, we get a formal notice about sick leave, which lasts until September 30th.
2. Email two: The epidemiologist writes in stating siblings can't attend school or daycare either.
3. Email three: Suddenly, siblings *can* go to school or daycare tomorrow, but if the kids officially get put on sick leave, then they're barred again.

Total chaos. Just pure chaos.

How is anyone supposed to trust the experts when they don't even seem to know what's going on themselves?.
I didn't realize COVID just skipped right over parents and went straight for the siblings.
Just waiting for the inevitable parade to start heading our way too.

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urbantinker8 said:I wouldn't say I'm acting out of fear, really.
I suppose I just find myself frustrated with the people making it impossible for us to actually get back to some semblance of normalcy.

If they announced tomorrow that all the restrictions were officially over and we could go back to business as usual—would you actually be fine with that? Or would you still be looking over your shoulder at the unvaccinated?
I get the impression that vaccinated people are actually terrified of those who haven't taken the shot. It’s almost like we’re being treated as if we’re the ones at fault...

Spoiler alert. If you haven't seen it yet, just skip this.

In the first few minutes, it’s pretty obvious that Madison is pulling the strings. I guess the only part that actually felt like a decent plot twist was the whole parasitic twin thing. For a second there—maybe because of how she looked—I actually thought we were dealing with some kind of split personality, someone wearing a mask because they’d undergone facial reconstruction after being deformed as a child.
The limb contortions and those acrobatic stunts—stuff even a pro parkour athlete couldn't pull off—were... something. .
All things considered, nothing particularly spectacular.

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hiddendriver34 said:Do you really think he’s doing this because he actually needs to? 🤦

EDIT: Is it obvious to you that this guy handles his business outside of office hours? And the only reason your brain can come up with is that he's doing it out of necessity?

Well, he doesn't have to do it. At all. How would anyone even manage this before the internet era? They wouldn't. Everything would still get done... It’s just this modern obsession where we convince ourselves that things absolutely *must* happen right this second. It isn't solely the professor's fault.

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lonegull13 said:Please don't let the moms on here crucify me, I just wanted to weigh in since I'm just the auntie in this situation... 😁
I honestly can't wrap my head around this new generation. I don't know if it’s how they're being raised, just the era we live in, or if she’s just hitting that weird middle school phase...
My sister's kid, she's in 7th grade. She used to be such a sweet, talkative little thing, really bright and social for her age. Now ☕heaven forbid, she's a different person. She won't hang out with anyone—or rather, she claims nobody wants to be her friend. Apparently, the only people worth knowing are those obnoxious influencers, and every other word out of her mouth sounds like she’s declaring war on society 🥱
She’s on her cell phone for 18 hours a day, and her diet is basically nothing but fast food, meat, or sugar. Zero vegetables. Her absolute favorite thing in the world is grabbing a sandwich.
There's no physical activity at all; even walking a single mile feels like a marathon to her. And yeah, the weight is definitely creeping up.

Everything at school is "boring" to her. She went to a local youth club meeting, something meant for socializing, and even though the girl there introduced herself three times, she couldn't even bother to remember her name. She was just like, "I mean, I've only seen her three times in my life."
The only things that actually matter to her are her cell phone and her headphones.
Her pace of everything—walking, getting dressed, changing clothes—is about the speed of a snail...
Hygiene is non-existent. You practically have to drag her into the shower, and brushing her teeth isn't even a habit. I actually caught her just putting toothpaste in her mouth and spitting it out just so she'd smell minty...
Kids in her class keep asking why she changed her hair, saying she looked better before, and she takes that as a total insult to her soul.
If her mom says something, or if I ask her a question, she acts like we're personally attacking her?! 🤔
I'm honestly lost on how to deal with a kid like this, and it’s pretty jarring seeing how much she's flipped from just a few years ago...
But what really keeps me up at night is the eating habits and the weight, because she's already starting to run into actual health issues.

Nobody is going to crucify you. My 7th grader is almost exactly the same. If she weren't playing sports, the weight issue would be identical too. Everything else is more or less the same. Even the hygiene part.

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I wonder how many of them have actually been vaccinated? Are we talking about high school seniors here?

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driftingtinker said:So, my buddy is sharing a bench with me right now, and honestly, he was looking pretty transparent yesterday, and today he’s already complaining about his stomach acting up.
We’ve all gotten our shots at home, so I guess we’ll just wait and see how this plays out.

And this sick little jerk is out at massive crowds downtown and in the parks every single weekend, so yeah, he's basically the prime candidate for spreading this thing.

There is also an awful amount of enterovirus going around. We're seeing fevers hitting 102, some people just have diarrhea, others are dealing with both vomiting and diarrhea. Their CRP levels can even spike above 100. And yet, the COVID-19 test comes back negative.

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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.

Nobody is responsible for anyone else. My responsibility ends with myself and my kid.
Am I supposed to be responsible for my 75-year-old dad, who refused the vaccine and then spent two weeks hacking away at home because he wouldn't go to the hospital due to COVID-19?
By that logic, you aren't responsible for your fellow professors either.

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Hannah Stewart said:It’s really just two grumpy, old-school professors—they remind me of those sour old guys you might find working the furnace at a Muppet factory. They seem to spend all their time grumbling and spraying disinfectant everywhere, whether it's actually necessary or not, while giving us "outsiders" these judgmental looks. I honestly can't say why they decided to pair me and a younger colleague with them; I suspect it's perhaps because they don't know what else to do with the newcomers, or maybe just because nobody else wants to deal with them. 😁

I suppose I should remind myself that I don't need to feel this pressure or carry any guilt. As long as we have our masks and maintain some semblance of distance, I think we'll manage to make it through the season just fine. 👍

Honestly, they would be watching your every move even without the Coronavirus. It’s just how their minds work.
If I were you, I wouldn't give them a second thought. Unless, of course, they happen to sit on the tenure committee at our university. Then you're in trouble.

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Hannah Stewart said:The office, mostly. It’s quite small in terms of square footage, and we can't really keep all the windows open all the time because the draft gets absolutely terrible—papers just fly everywhere the moment someone opens the door. Most of the professors are older, nearing retirement, and dealing with various health issues. Plus, I have a pretty long commute to campus on the intercity bus, so I suppose I could pick up something there as well.

I guess I was asking more generally, though; I'm curious about how everyone working within the system is actually feeling. I recently shared a statistic suggesting that one in five educators in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County has contracted Coronavirus, so it does seem like a rather risky environment.

Are they vaccinated? And are they wearing masks?
If that's the case, then the conversation is over. If they aren't, then why does it even matter to you? You’ve done everything within your power.

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Hannah Stewart said:I have a question for my fellow vaccinated teachers and professors: do you feel any more secure as we kick off this new school year? Specifically, do you actually trust the vaccine to shield you from catching something while you're on the job? Does knowing there’s a much lower chance of you passing anything along to your colleagues—especially the older faculty members—make you feel more at ease? Also, how would you feel about students or undergrads going maskless during class if everyone could prove they were vaccinated? Does a student's vaccination status even matter to you? Would you prefer if everyone just dropped the masks, or would you rather everyone keep them on regardless of their status? Honestly, once you've had your shots, does any of this even weigh on your mind? 😁

Personally, I find myself feeling somewhat indifferent. It has been quite a while since I received my second dose—so long, in fact, that I almost forgot I even had it—so I don't exactly feel "super-protected" or anything. I haven't changed my habits much; I'm still being cautious just as I was before, and I plan to keep it that way as the semester begins. I share an office with some of the senior professors; though I'm more of an outside contractor, I still feel a sense of responsibility because, I suppose, I'm not entirely sure how much weight to give the data suggesting that vaccinated people spread the virus less frequently. As for the students' status, I really don't lose any sleep over it. We'll stick to social distancing and masks, and frankly, I was never particularly worried about catching something before, so I'm even less concerned now. It seems a bit silly to me to start questioning whether students are vaccinated or have already recovered just to sort them into seminar groups (even though the Department has left that option open). I don't think those kinds of measures are necessary, and it would be absolute chaos to overhaul the existing schedules just to form new groupings.

All in all, it looks like we’re just going to carry on as usual, following the same routine we've used for physical education classes throughout the pandemic—distancing, masks, hand sanitizer, and frantic ventilation until we're all shivering from the drafts. It’s hardly ideal when we end up freezing our heads off just to keep the air moving! 😬

What exactly is bothering you? Is it the lecture hall or the faculty lounge?

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copperpuma11 said:Even if they did work, they wouldn't matter. Kids just treat this like a common cold. They wear them under their noses, tucked under their chins, or just holding them in their hands to show they have one. They keep them in their pockets—dirty, crumpled, sweaty. Once they leave the mandatory mask zones, they sit together in cafes or at the park, sharing sandwiches and sodas.

The bottom line is that forcing people to wear masks isn't helping. It would be much more effective to pass laws requiring all new school buildings to have proper ventilation. Instead, we're building architectural disasters that look like goldfish tanks, with zero functional windows.

I mean, what else is it for kids besides a common cold? And that’s being generous. Honestly, I’ve been carrying the same mask in my bag for a week now, and nothing happened.
Then, when I actually had an N95, I ended up catching COVID-19 anyway.

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Arthur Robinson2 said:I mean, what government would actually want a student who joins the anti-masker movement?!😲😲

Come on, guys... honestly, half the kids are just wearing their masks under their noses anyway—or just carrying them around—right? And I'm pretty sure some teachers are doing the same thing. People are pushing back against regulations everywhere; it’s just that most aren't making nearly as much noise as this one dad. As for those posts about taking kids away from parents just because they won't wear a mask? I'm not even going to go there. Didn't a mother recently beat her child to death? Did that family not trigger an immediate red flag with the CDC?

Mine wears hers under her nose too; I told her to stop, but she just complains about not being able to breathe or getting headaches.

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Larry Walker24 said:just go buy a new bra then 😉

And what about when they aren't even wearing one...

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Adam Moore12 said:But this isn't just about some casual verbal exchange, either. He's explicitly demanding that people include their full names alongside that specific data in an online survey he posted on the digital staff lounge by Monday.🤷.

Our union actually gave us explicit instructions not to answer any questions regarding vaccinations—whether they ask out loud or put it in writing—because the employer simply doesn't have the legal authority to demand that kind of info. It's considered part of your private medical history.

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wanderingbadger44 said:Not at all.
It’s a bit like when someone asks a question they aren't entitled to ask; if you point out that they lack the authority to even inquire, you're essentially highlighting that their attempt to bypass privacy boundaries was invalid from the start. 😉

True, though I suppose nothing is explicitly written down. And honestly, maybe that’s exactly what he’s looking for—that lack of clarity.

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