# Coronavirus general discussion and chit-chat **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [August 12, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903 "2020-08-12T17:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/504 "2021-08-18T16:37:59Z")
> [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8pE_TBWEAA9pWY?format=jpg&name=small) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8pE_TBWEAA9pWY?format=jpg&name=small) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/505 "2021-08-19T02:25:35Z")
Well, we had to cancel yet another trip. We were going to visit my sister but her husband, a school teacher, was just informed that a student in his class tested positive. That makes 8 trips booked then cancelled since the pandemic started. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/506 "2021-08-19T15:43:22Z")
Maybe this belongs in Breaking News? I dunno. It’s nuts anyway. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/19/walmart-christopher-key-anti-vaccine/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/19/walmart-christopher-key-anti-vaccine/) This is the whole headline: **Self-proclaimed ‘Vaccine Police’ tells Walmart pharmacists they ‘could be executed’ for administering shots** > By the time Christopher Key and his half-dozen followers reached the Springfield, Mo., Walmart pharmacy counter on Monday evening, the metal shutters were nearly fully drawn. > > An Alabama-based anti-vaxxer who has gained a following online — where he spreads false information about the coronavirus pandemic, Key was on a mission to give the pharmacists inoculating shoppers a warning. > > “What they’re doing is crimes against humanity,” he said in a [live stream on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/100001620757500/videos/815551149141074/). “And if they do not stand down immediately, then they could be executed. They can be hung in the state.” > > Key, who did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment early Thursday, was invited to Springfield for an[anti-vaccine rally](https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/16/anti-vaccine-protest-held-outside-springfield-mercy-hospital-missouri-covid-19-misinformation/8130578002/) this past Saturday, according to the [Springfield News-Leader](https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/18/man-tells-springfield-walmart-pharmacy-they-executed-vaccinations-christopher-key/8160309002/), which first reported the Walmart incident. Videos on Key’s Facebook page show he also spoke at a Springfield Public Schools [board meeting](https://www.facebook.com/100001620757500/videos/581314986561806/) and made the rounds to other pharmacies, where he bombarded workers with similar false rhetoric. > > The stunts in Missouri come as the state remains a covid hot spot. Its [death rate is among the worst](https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-missouri-death-rates-937e6e1c17ee7a3eeff4be9c409f92a1) in the country. > … The lunacy is beyond belief. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/507 "2021-08-19T17:34:39Z")
My employer notified us a few days ago that effective 10/01/2021, all employees and contractors (that’s over 9k people) will need to provide proof of vaccination or comply with mandatory weekly testing (must submit documentation). Failure to do so may cause discipline, up to and including termination. In my division, I’ve heard of only two people grumbling about it. One, luckily, is retiring soon. Despite having only one lung, still smoking, and a plethora of other health issues, she believes the vaccines are a scam. The other is of the “natural remedies” / god will heal mindset. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/508 "2021-08-19T18:09:38Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > My employer notified us a few days ago that effective 10/01/2021, all employees and contractors (that’s over 9k people) will need to provide proof of vaccination or comply with mandatory weekly testing (must submit documentation). Several minutes ago, El Jefe sent this out [emphasis mine]: > As for vaccination requirements, I am carefully watching COVID numbers for our area. I am also in contact with our health insurance provider about whether vaccination will be required when it comes to annual health insurance sign-ups. So far, that has hasn’t happened but they’re watching, too. **Bottomline: As I’ve said before, please don’t be surprised if – when Fall arrives in September/October – we require vaccinations and proof of vaccination.** He also said this: > On a personal note: I’ve had the pleasure of spending time in hospital ERs three times in recent weeks for our aging parents. Fortunately, none of the visits were COVID related but he hospital ERs were/are slammed. They’re understaffed and are doing everything possible to get people in and out as quickly as possible. In one case, [the hospital just down the street from the office] was completely full so my father-in-law had to be transported to [a different hospital]. His preference was Swedish Hospital downtown but they, too, were full. Additionally, the care facility where my Mom lives is likely being closed at the end of the year because they can’t get enough people to come to work for them. Our health system is struggling mightily. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/509 "2021-08-19T18:24:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > Additionally, the care facility where my Mom lives is likely being closed at the end of the year because they can’t get enough people to come to work for them. Our health system is struggling mightily. Damn. That is a sad state of affairs. Sigh. I’m so sorry. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/510 "2021-08-19T19:00:10Z")
Got my routine boob squishing today. The tech asked if I was vaccinated (yes) and which arm? When I asked why, she said that the lymph nodes on that side will show some inflammation for up to 8 months. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/511 "2021-08-19T19:06:53Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > lymph nodes on that side will show some inflammation for up to 8 months. I believe lymph nodes on that side _may_ or _can_ show some inflammation… ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/512 "2021-08-19T19:07:52Z")
You are probably right. By that time, one of my boobs was in the squisher and I wasn’t really paying that much attention to her words. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/513 "2021-08-19T19:19:09Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > all employees and contractors (that’s over 9k people) will need to provide proof of vaccination or comply with mandatory weekly testing (must submit documentation). My concern is whether weekly testing is sufficient. We know people who contract the Delta variant become sick faster and are contagious earlier. Wouldn’t it make more sense to test more often than once a week? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/514 "2021-08-20T01:25:37Z")
> **[Rural schools shut down to keep COVID-19 from overwhelming their small...](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/19/texas-school-districts-shut-covid/)** > > The small districts aren’t fighting Gov. Greg Abbott’s mask rules, but fears for staff, students and local medical facilities are driving them to fight COVID-19 with temporary closures. Attempt to wrap your brain around the numbers that I’ve bolded. > If you get sick in Iraan, a West Texas town with a **population of about 1,300, there is a hospital — with 14 beds**. There is no critical care, meaning the most that hospital workers can do is stabilize patients and transfer them to a bigger hospital. > > Family practitioners with emergency room experience staff the hospital. There are no specialized doctors, no ventilators and no ICU. The **closest hospitals** with those kinds of services are in Midland, Odessa and San Angelo, all **80 miles or more away** — if hospitals there are accepting transfers, a real question as the latest pandemic wave surges. > > So having **50 people in Iraan test positive for COVID-19** in the last few weeks is a very scary thing. Only four of the adults needed hospitalization, but three of them needed ventilators and were airlifted out, said Jason Rybolt, administrator of the Iraan General Hospital District. > > No one in Iraan has died due to COVID-19 and no children have been hospitalized for it. But when Tracy Canter, superintendent of the Iraan-Sheffield Independent School District, looked at the figures and then considered what the return to school could mean for her **335 or so students and 70 employees** , the path seemed clear. She announced on Monday that the district would close until Aug. 30. > … But _ **BY GOD** _, no mask mandate, amirite, Gov. Abbott?? In Texas, “rural” is a whole 'nother world. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/515 "2021-08-20T03:40:42Z")
> **[Hospital 'hits breaking point' after firing 150 unvaccinated workers](https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/hospital-hits-breaking-point-firing-150-unvaccinated-workers/)** > > The 150 nurses and other hospital workers at Houston Methodist Hospital who were fired for refusing to receive one of the expermimental COVID vaccines apparently were regarded by administrators as disposable. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/516 "2021-08-20T03:59:17Z")
Nothing says high quality journalism like “expermimental.” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/517 "2021-08-20T04:01:35Z")
Yeah it’s a right wing source - **but** - it does illustrate the difficulty of firing in-demand healthcare workers. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/518 "2021-08-20T04:04:24Z")
Yes, but OTOH, I’ve canceled some medical appointments because there are unvaccinated health care workers at the clinics and I’m not willing to have them breathing on me, so the income my visits would provide is lost. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/519 "2021-08-20T07:26:42Z")
Here’s a very interesting article on SARS-CoV-2 variants: > **[New SARS-CoV-2 variants have changed the pandemic. What will the virus do next?](https://www.science.org/content/article/new-sars-cov-2-variants-have-changed-pandemic-what-will-virus-do-next)** > > The pandemic is giving scientists a unique view of viral evolution in action ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/520 "2021-08-20T08:52:35Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yeah it’s a right wing source… That’s a wing-nut source, not right wing, unless you are intending on conflating the two. If they happen to publish the truth, it was a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/521 "2021-08-20T11:44:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yeah it’s a right wing source - **but** - it does illustrate the difficulty of firing in-demand healthcare workers My daughter, an RN, is fully vaccinated as are the majority of her coworkers. A group of vaccinated workers has presented administration with a demand that everyone be required to be vaccinated, otherwise they will walk off the job. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/522 "2021-08-20T13:19:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > [Hospital 'hits breaking point' after firing 150 unvaccinated workers \* WorldNetDaily \* by Art Moore](https://www.wnd.com/2021/08/hospital-hits-breaking-point-firing-150-unvaccinated-workers/) Wing Nut Daily forgot to mention that they’re talking about 150 employees who refused vaccination compared to the 24,947 who did get vaccinated. Also, how many of those were actual healthcare workers? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/523 "2021-08-20T15:00:36Z")
You have to work really hard to make Breitbart look respectable. Good job WND! How does one end up with WND in their newsfeed? 😱 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903.md?page=27)