D&D and the rising pandemic

[JEB]

At this stage the question needs to be asked: who's the restrictions and limitations for?

Folks who can't get vaccinated (as opposed to won't), to include kids under 12. Folks who had weak immune responses to the vaccine.

At a certain point (and it is soon arriving) the conclusion will be that society should stop protecting those that didn't take the vaccine and get back to normal.

More bluntly: if you get hospitalized because you weren't vaccinated, that's on you.

Besides the point @Maxperson raised... the longer the virus spreads unchecked among any sizeable section of the population, the more likely it is to develop mutations that get past our current vaccines. Which could wind up sending everyone right back where we were in 2020.

So we need to find ways to persuade enough vaccine-hesitant folks to change their minds, until we can get to herd immunity and the spread is controllable. Incentives, like lotteries, are one approach. Another would have been to keep mask mandates until the percentage of folks fully vaccinated hit herd immunity levels... a percentage which most parts of the world are very far from achieving (and even the U.S. is frustratingly short).

 

[Horwath]

Folks who can't get vaccinated (as opposed to won't), to include kids under 12. Folks who had weak immune responses to the vaccine.


Besides the point @Maxperson raised... the longer the virus spreads unchecked among any sizeable section of the population, the more likely it is to develop mutations that get past our current vaccines. Which could wind up sending everyone right back where we were in 2020.

So we need to find ways to persuade enough vaccine-hesitant folks to change their minds, until we can get to herd immunity and the spread is controllable. Incentives, like lotteries, are one approach. Another would have been to keep mask mandates until the percentage of folks fully vaccinated hit herd immunity levels... a percentage which most parts of the world are very far from achieving (and even the U.S. is frustratingly short).

plenty of anti-vaccination "special persons" in Croatia also.

Longer this goes, more I am for compulsory vaccination or just giving out €1000 fines for everyone that refuses vaccination without VALID medical reason(allergies, compromised immune system, etc).

 

[Zardnaar]

plenty of anti-vaccination "special persons" in Croatia also.

Longer this goes, more I am for compulsory vaccination or just giving out €1000 fines for everyone that refuses vaccination without VALID medical reason(allergies, compromised immune system, etc).

Illegal or against construction constitutional law in many places.

 

[Horwath]

Illegal or against construction constitutional law in many places.

I know that.
However, it is illegal until voted in as legal.

 

[Umbran]

Besides the point @Maxperson raised... the longer the virus spreads unchecked among any sizeable section of the population, the more likely it is to develop mutations that get past our current vaccines. Which could wind up sending everyone right back where we were in 2020.

This goes especially for the immune-compromised.

Most folks have a case of covid, and are then done with it. There's "long-covid". But there's also the problem of those with weakened immune systems that never quite clear the infection, and it is in these individuals that variants are most likely to arise. They are also typically among the folks who can't get vaccinated.

So, we really need to vaccinate everyone we can, to protect those who cannot, because those who cannot are the ones most likely to generate a variant that might evade the vaccine.

 

[Umbran]

The Delta variant isn't leaving the vaccinated untouched...

Well, no, it isn't. We wouldn't expect it to - no vaccine is perfect protection.

It does not help that folks who get vaccinated tend to then resume risky behaviors that many unvaccinated people still avoid.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Besides the point @Maxperson raised... the longer the virus spreads unchecked among any sizeable section of the population, the more likely it is to develop mutations that get past our current vaccines. Which could wind up sending everyone right back where we were in 2020.

That's what a French virologist was warning of earlier this year (maybe even as far back as end of 2020) - the risk of a vaccine-resistant virus, similar to super-bugs.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well, my second vaccination is kicking my butt. Had a high fever all night. Seem pretty okay now though, if a bit weak. I'd call that a worthwhile trade-off to be doing my part, though. I don't think the goal is necessarily to have no side-effects - as long as the side-effects just involve discomfort. I can handle discomfort.

 

[Maxperson]

That's what a French virologist was warning of earlier this year (maybe even as far back as end of 2020) - the risk of a vaccine-resistant virus, similar to super-bugs.

I've seen mixed articles about the Lambda variant being more resistant to the vaccines. Waiting to see how that turns out.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah. My local grocery stores. Whole Foods more than Stop and Shop, but in either one here, I will often see a majority of folks wearing masks, even when it is no longer required.

And of course a lot of them still do require it.