Frustrations as a healthcare worker...Obama's Bash

[Skywatcher]

Participants and spectators at the tug of war:

Partygoers presumably were not a whole bunch of strangers with questionable vaccination statuses.

[Saintly_Loser]

Eh.

I’m not all that comfortable with this party.

For one thing, it was scaled down to 200 guests only in response to a bit of a backlash when the planned size of the party became public knowledge.

For another, the pictures I’ve seen don’t conclusively prove that the sides were up, at all times, on the enormous main tent.

For another, even if the sides were up, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the middle of that tent amongst 200 other people (plus catering and security staff and who knows who else). That’s hardly the same as being outside in the open air. Ever been in a tent like that? They can get pretty stuffy.

And I get that everyone was tested and vaccinated. Still, breakthrough infections happen. And tests, especially rapid tests, aren’t 100% reliable, or predicitive.

The optics weren’t great. I don’t even think the actual party was that great.

And, for some perspective, I’m as far from a conservative as you can get. I have absolutely zero issue with Barack Obama as president (well, that’s not 100% true, of course – we all disagree with even our favorite officials on something or other – but I voted for him twice).

[Tfletch1]

@tofor

If the mask rule and numerical limits were enforced it could have been less dangerous than a grocery store.

I would have no problem going to an event like that except I’d wear a mask. > 85% of people in Martha’s Vineyard is vaccinated and this is pretty much an outdoor event. BTW, I found a news article from early August and it said that 40% of cases were unvaccinated people. Considering the fact that vaccinated people make up at least 85%, the unvaccinated infection rate is about 4X as much as vaccinated, I think. Even though cases are at Jan levels, hospitalizations aren’t even close to that. Imagine if the whole country were like Martha’s vineyard.

[Procrustus]

@Saintly_Loser

For another, even if the sides were up, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the middle of that tent amongst 200 other people (plus catering and security staff and who knows who else). That’s hardly the same as being outside in the open air. Ever been in a tent like that? They can get pretty stuffy.

Since vaccination, life has mostly returned to normal. Shucks, I’ve been in restaurants lately with over 50 people in them without giving it a second thought. And grocery stores. And an airport or two with thousands of people. The airports at least require masks, but they’re hardly airtight (some are still just makeshift bandana ones).

[tofor]

@SingleMalt

And the clear rejoinder to all of those “Hypocrite!”-shouters has been to point out that what Obama did was safe, and, gosh, you could join us in our partying if only you got vaccinated and followed the CDC guidelines.

This is going back quite a few posts, but I really wanted to address this. Most of the people shouting “Hypocrite” never stopped partying. There is no carrot there to offer, because they have been behaving irresponsibly all along.

[duality72]

@tofor

Most of the people shouting “Hypocrite” never stopped partying. There is no carrot there to offer, because they have been behaving irresponsibly all along.

As someone who has ended quite a few friendships over people non-stop partying during the pandemic, I second this.

[Tfletch1]

@tofor

Most of the people shouting “Hypocrite” never stopped partying. There is no carrot there to offer, because they have been behaving irresponsibly all along.

I totally agree.

[puzzlegal]

@PossumPie

I’ve chosen not to get drawn in to the “how many people?” “Were the flaps up or down?” argument because it really doesn’t matter.

Except they are actually critically important. People aren’t going to hold off getting married, etc., Forever, and having a high profile politician model the best practices for doing so is (or should be) helpful:

@puzzlegal

@filmore

In addition, he likely had medical experts advising him on how to make the party safe and he had a COVID coordinator to ensure the status of the guests. The average person having a wedding won’t have that kind of resource to make their party safe.

So, what you are saying is that Obama is doing a public service. He held a party about the size of a typical largish wedding, hired experts to see how to do it safely, and now the news can report those safety measures to the rest of us, so we don’t need to hire experts.

That’s how this would have played out if we didn’t have such toxic politics and partisan news outlets.

The steps he took can be done by the rest of us.

• Have a smaller party than you otherwise would have
• Invite only vaccinated guests
• Test them shortly before the event
• Hold the event outdoors, with excellent ventilation

[puzzlegal]

@Saintly_Loser

For another, even if the sides were up, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the middle of that tent amongst 200 other people (plus catering and security staff and who knows who else). That’s hardly the same as being outside in the open air. Ever been in a tent like that? They can get pretty stuffy.

That’s the one thing i do criticize him for. With 200 guests, i think he should have set up a few smaller tents, to spread out the crowd. And with good weather, put the food, drink, and guest of honor outside of the tents.