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

Some of us are trying to eat breakfast over here, golly gee willikers.

Why is it that Democrats get excoriated for “optics” - where “optics” mean “giving Republicans even the thinnest veneer of an excuse to make up hysterical bullshit or engage in unethical, immoral or even illegal behaviors” - by people who don’t seem to ever blame the Republicans for making up hysterical bullshit or engaging in unethical, immoral or even illegal behaviors in the first place? What does it say when the blame is always somehow shifted to the Democrats, no matter what the Republicans do?

I mean, Obama wearing a tan suit was considered “bad optics”. You can’t reason with anyone who thinks like that.

Republicans have been talking, and acting, in bad faith for so long that is has become normalized. If Democrats do not anticipate and cater to that bad faith, any bad consequences are their fault.

In general, you want the actions of Your SideTM to be treated as automatic and immutable. When someone flips a light switch, the light comes on. The Other Side makes all the choices. Their actions are open for debate, and they get all the blame.

Conservatives will use the price of chili cheese corn chips as an excuse to horde in large groups. Conservatives will horde in large groups just to piss off the Democrats, so what the hell do you expect us to do about it? No matter what we do will be used as an excuse to horde in large groups including your being upset at the gathering large groups…which means that you, too, are responsible for their actions.
You want to place the blame on people doing it the right way out of knowledge, instead of people doing it the wrong way out of ignorant spite and political hatred, then go right on ahead.

Not ignoring your misreporting what happened at that party, which is a big warning sign in any debate, would you care to restate your claims earlier as to whether the tent was open or not, and how many people attended?

I’d like one step further. After she admits that she was incorrect in her assessments of the venue arrangements, I would like her to do a little compare and contrast of the Obama and Abbott events for us. @PossumPie stated that she has a doctorate in nursing practice and should be able to, with the current literature, give us relative percentages of people who are infected, admitted to the hospital, and die in an Obama-like event vs. an Abbott-life event. Once she formulates the differences, maybe we can all work together to think of a way for her to truly make a difference with her community in disease prevention. I personally think the two are perfect examples as they are similar sizes.

I suspect those poor crickets are going to get really tired.

Appreciate your hard work. I can tell you really care about your patients well-being, and are trying to prevent future Covid patients.

Debate?

Conservatives spew an endless amount of bullshit. Anything can become an “excuse”. We already pay way too much attention to triggering conservative bullshit. Someone throwing a party safely gets no criticism from me.

This. Enough with fucking “optics” that can be twisted by conservatives. Twisting and misrepresenting facts is in their DNA. We shouldn’t alter our behavior to kowtow to those idiots. Once they violently attacked the capitol, there’s no reason to give a fuck about them. And I really really don’t give a fuck about conservative concern trolling.

We all know @PossumPie isn’t arguing in good faith here, right?

Whether correct or not, please don’t post things like this. Please flag their posts instead and let us try to figure it out.

Will do.

“PossumPie is not arguing in good faith”

Not sure what is meant. I’m a nurse, I see Covid-19, I know it is spread by vaccinated and unvaccinated people, I believe that any situation that places people in confined area be it church, bars, state fairs, or outdoor birthday parties still increases the odds of transmission. There is nothing magical about “outside” the premise is that people will have 6’ of space around them if outside, but a tight throng of people can congregate outside as easily as inside.

“She…”

Bias can occur anywhere. Nowhere did I say I was a “she” your bias that because I’m a nurse I must be a female goes to show we all have biases (I’m a 56 year old man). I am a bit surprised that educated progressives are so easily gender biased though…can’t tell you the number of blue collar men who have asked me if I were gay when they found out I was a nurse. :slight_smile:

I’m thinking people are putting too much stock in the vaccine(s). While they do decrease transmission possibility and severity of illness, it’s a probability thing not a all-or-nothing thing. I’ve seen an uptick in fully vaccinated people being hospitalized. Most don’t need ventilator assistance, but a vaccine card is not a magic bullet. 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. There were a “significant” number of guests, support staff, security, and wait staff.
At this point in the Pandemic, I really stopped caring whether ignorant people who refuse the vaccine get sick or not…as long as they don’t spread it to those who can’t get immunized-infants, young children, and certain immunocompromised people. The problem is that they CAN and DO spread it to the innocent, and so do the already immunized.
" Fully vaccinated people who get a Covid-19 breakthrough infection can transmit the virus, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. (CNN, Thursday. Aug 6, 2021)" Please stop implying that a vaccine will allow reckless behaviors.
I think I’ll step out of this thread, it has deteriorated to profane rants and anger-filled posts. I agree with everyone’s frustrations at the right-wing’s ignorance and gross negligence in refusing vaccinations, but I don’t think we will solve that. Perhaps over time, if Covid mutates, natural selection will weed out the anti-vaxers without our assistance. One can only hope…

Alabama sure had a lot of folks gathered last night for a rally. I bet most weren’t vaccinated. From the pictures I saw on TV, none were masked.

Very Frustrating indeed! And I’m not even a health care worker.

It’s a fluid situation…evidence comes in in trickles and guidance changes. We’re hearing about “Delta” variant, but there are many variants. Lambda is the newest and we know little about it yet. The “Perfect Storm” would be a mutation that made it more easily transmitted and more lethal. That is theoretically possible, especially with the trillions of individual viruses replicating around the world.
Outside lowers the risk of transmission, but not to zero. Masks are still a good idea, but they are also only partially effective. My original reason for posting was not to stir up this fight, but to let people know that even if vaccinated, congregating in large groups even if outside, and not masking up can spread the virus to others. We don’t need to isolate alone at home, but take reasonable precautions when out and avoid unnecessarily large groups-whether vaccinated or not.

You’ll have to trust me on the claim of being a nurse…
I apologize for the poorly worded statement “…is getting no better with vaccinations” It more correctly should have said “despite nearly half of all Americans being vaccinated, the “new case rate” has risen sharply in the last month.”
They are having a great impact on reducing transmission among the roughly 49% of Americans who are fully vaccinated. However, Google Johns Hopkins running daily new cases and see that the number of new cases had dropped way off in the spring, but since July has skyrocketed back up to last winter’s levels. This is due in part to the 51% of Americans who by choice or necessity are still not vaccinated, and decided that since the vaccinated people are taking off their masks, they also will refuse to wear them. It is also do in part to the very real fact that the vaccination is not 100% foolproof at preventing the spread of Covid-19. I’m disturbed at the implications in this thread that if you flash your CDC card proving you’re immunized, you are free to do what you want.

That’s, of course, not what you claimed earlier. The Delta variant is definitely spreading like wildfire, but it would be worse without vaccinations.

You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means.

But in case you do come back yet again, could you address the misinformation you have shared in this thread?

As a nurse, does it frustrate you to see misinformation shared on social media? Do you feel any special obligation to ensure you are not sharing such information yourself?

Magic, no. But far far far less likely to spread out doors.

Sorry for the assumption, but only 12% of nurses are men. BTW, there was no negative connotation in the “she”; in fact, I am a “she” myself. But, once again, you are veering off topic (although I notice your subsequent comments are more on topic).

Back to the topic, everyone here knows that vaccines, masks, and being outside aren’t perfect, especially against the Delta mutant. However, the risk levels of the Obama party was orders of magnitude lower than the risk levels of the Abbot party. Unless your friends and patients/family of patients are totally on board with staying home, they have to be smart about their risks. I believe you are doing them a disservice by focusing on a party where there were correct mitigation of risks (with the exception of size, which you inflated) compared to one that is a potential nightmare even with only one covid person in the room.

Here is the nightmare (Abbott) scenario. It looks like at least 100 people packed in a ballroom in which their vaccination status is unknown AND with someone who actually tested positive for Covid.
Abbott Fundraiser Link

Then you have an outdoor event (which you mischaracterized) of a similar size (which you also mischaracterized) in which people were tested, were in a large space in which they could spread out, and they had a vaccine requirement. While I’m sure there was hugging, people had the ability to distance for most the time and they weren’t in a room in which aerosols accumulate and infect a large number of people. Also, this was in a low case area earlier in the month where cases were even lower than they were now.
Obama birthday party link