Below is a screenshot of a New York Times graphic that shows COVID hot spots on the left and vaccination rates on the right. On the left, the darker the color, the more dire the infection rate. On the right, the darker the color, the higher the vaccination rate.
According to the data underlying the charts, Florida has respectable vaccination uptake (thank you, senior citizens!), neither the best nor the worst (that would be Mississippi). But where the state distinguishes itself presently is in spreading the virus. From the Orlando Sentinel:
Florida has reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state’s highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to federal health data released Saturday.
The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S.
BTW, we rely on federal data because Governor DeSantis abolished the release of daily COVID stats a while back, saying that COVID was behind us, along with outlawing local mask mandates, vaccine passports, etc. Ms. Rubin of The Post wrote about it this morning:
DeSantis has banned schools from mandating masks, thereby leaving children too young to get the vaccine vulnerable to a life-threatening disease. In a speech in Salt Lake City last week, he declared, “It is very important that we say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates” — a clear repudiation of the “pro-life” philosophy DeSantis claims to support. He has also attempted to prevent cruise lines from requiring coronavirus vaccinations for passengers. Thousands upon thousands of Floridians will become sick or die in large part due to his willful ignorance and ambition to become the darling of the dangerously oppositional MAGA crowd.
She’s right, but the point of her column isn’t to call DeSantis out as a dangerous dickhead and ideological opportunist who puts his presidential ambitions above the lives of Floridians, although that’s true; Rubin’s point is to underscore the role businesses will have to play in getting the U.S. to something like herd immunity:
The private sector, which Republicans used to insist should be free to operate as business owners saw fit, now battles to save lives in the face of right-wing politicians who have formed a sort of death cult that elevates “owning the libs” over the prevention of needless death.
Public anger and disgust with these politicians — whose harmful rhetoric is forcing the majority of us back to mask-wearing — will continue to build. If anything, public health officials and the White House have not been direct enough in calling out these menacing figures.
She’s not alone in thinking businesses can help save the day — her fellow Never-Trumper David Frum wrote something similar in The Atlantic, though he focuses more on consumer pressure to force the issue with businesses:
Over the early summer, conservative governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis struck first, deploying the power of state government to impose their values on recalcitrant businesses. Now it’s time for public-health-conscious consumers to strike back, just as they would if the state of Florida tried to junk its fire codes or abolish food-safety rules or forbid cruise ships at Florida ports from carrying lifeboats.
The Biden administration’s preference on COVID-19 rules has been to move slowly—to follow public opinion rather than force it. That makes political sense. But COVID-conscious America has a friend and ally that can move faster. Say hello to Mr. Market.
Frum points out that political power disproportionately resides in red areas, whereas market power lives in blue zones. That’s true. Relatedly, more PEOPLE live in blue areas too, especially those with higher levels of discretionary income.
A while back, when the delta variant was in the news but before there was additional mask guidance from the CDC, Fox News and Republican politicians suddenly and loudly started urging people to get vaccinated. There was speculation here and elsewhere about their abrupt turnabout. One consensus view was that Republicans were figuring out that being perceived as anti-vax had become a political liability. Well, that seems to be out the window now that the CDC has issued updated mask guidance.
I’m not sure if Republicans are lurching back to their effectively pro-COVID position out of reflexive hostility to Democrats and government scientists or because they’re getting blowback from their nutty base, but the move is striking. DeSantis not only banned mask mandates in Florida schools, he threatened to withhold funding to enforce the ban. At a time when schools (and kids) are under pressure like never before.
School starts in a few weeks in this ranging virus hotspot, and DeSantis is betting it all on red (meat) again. I feel sick about the whole thing, and helpless. We’ll find out next year if DeSantis gets away with that gamble again or if the consequences of his grotesque fecklessness finally come down on his own thick head.
Open thread.
Moving On
Baud
Good post. I agree that businesses will be key. We’re seeing a trickle of a harder line, but I think it’ll be a flood soon.
CaseyL
DeSantis, and the rest of the GQP, is still betting Covid kills more of “our” voters than “his” voters.
JoyceH
@CaseyL: huh? How’s that going to work when we’re vaccinated and they’re not? When we’re masked and they’re not?
JaySinWa
@CaseyL: Business may have a different calculus, in that they may lose more of their customers either way.
Of course some are profiting from the pandemic, so it’s not clear business interests are well aligned with putting down the pandemic.
schrodingers_cat
Unless R politicians pay for their constituent killing ways I don’t see them changing.
Roger Moore
The big question is what business can do if state governments are forbidding them from requiring masks or vaccination. Yes, they can be a force in favor of masks and vaccination in blue areas that haven’t done anything that stupid, but a key part of the Republican plan is to cut businesses out of the process.
Spanky
Unfortunately, I’m sure there’s not a school board in the country, let alone FLA, that has the will to fight its governor. Especially if the state laws guarantee you’ll fail.
Won’t someone think of the children?
JaySinWa
@JoyceH: There are still a number of obstacles for low wage and minority workers to get vaccinated or find treatment. And it is still hitting harder in minority communities.
NotMax
DeSantis is to logic as Florence Foster Jenkins was to opera.
Spanky
@JoyceH: Masks and vaccines don’t work, remember?
It’s hard to keep all the wingnut memes straight when they make no sense.
John S.
My wife is a middle school teacher here in Broward county, which means some of her kids can’t even get vaccinated. Our two kids are both in middle school — one is vaccinated and one is currently too young to get vaccinated.
Deathsantis should rot in hell.
JaySinWa
@Roger Moore: Killing the goose laying the golden eggs may not be a winning strategy. Of course they are counting on the businesses being submissive to their daddies. I’m not sure who is the real dom in this scenario.
Old School
@Spanky:
Unfortunately, it seems to me that there are plenty of school boards willing to fight their Democratic pro-health governor.
Spanky
@John S.: If I were a parent, I’d think desantis was a direct threat to my kids. And Fla is a stand your ground state.
MattF
OT. If you ever wondered what zoo animals think about their audiences, here’s a clue.
ETA: A better link.
JaySinWa
@Old School: School boards seem to be rolling coal on CRT, so anti-mask anti-vax can’t be far behind. I know it is breaking out in a few areas already, but it hasn’t yet had quite the push that the anti-CRT forces have mustered.
Roger Moore
@JaySinWa:
My point is that businesses can lobby, and they can advertise, but they can’t be expected to go against a clear rule saying they mayn’t require masks or proof of vaccination.
Another Scott
Relatedly, …
Handsome chap, isn’t he??
Good, good.
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
@Roger Moore: I guess… But, nowadays, if a public-facing business can’t or won’t protect their workers, they’ll be out of business.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: I think you’re exactly right.
@John S.: Wow, I feel for you. What a horrible situation.
Old School
@JaySinWa: Last month, my local school board voted to continue to require face masks for the upcoming school year. At tonight’s meeting, they are planning to re-visit the issue. I’m assuming the feedback from the July meeting wasn’t 100% along the lines of “Thanks for protecting our children.”
Kay
He banned mask mandates in public schools. Publicly funded private schools can still have mask mandates.
In fact, GOP members of the FL legislature are telling constituents that they should get a private school voucher if they want to attend a safe school.
You really cannot overestimate the cynicism and bad faith on the Right. The underlying policy and actions are in fact worse than the public posture.
JaySinWa
@Roger Moore: And my point is that to the extent business interests are funding the GOP, the well might dry up if they see their interests in conflict.
And businesses defied mask mandates without consequences in a lot of areas. The power of the state is limited to what it enforces.
Kay
The policy is designed to harm public schools and increase enrollment in publicly-funded private schools.
If kids get sick and the public schools shut down, well, that’s all the better.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
My impression is DeSantis is trying to play both sides, be pro-vacation one week and then ant-mask the next. That the guy would try to hide the data says a lot about him.
Another Scott
@JoyceH: Yeah, it’s hard to see the “logic” in any of this.
GQP Politico: We’ll say it’s no big deal, forbid masks, and make everyone go back to work by cutting their extended unemployment benefits. We’ll come roaring back and our voters will love it!!
Reality: Hospitals are filling up again, hospitality is still in the dumps, and our voters are the ones being affected.
GQP Politico: We’ll now tell everyone to get the shot, but still try to force everyone back with no masks. In 6 weeks it’ll be over! Genius!!
Reality: Delta hangs around in the nose and throat even in the vaccinated and the unmasked vaccinated people can spread the virus, extending the pandemic. Under 12 still cannot get the vaccine.
GQP Politico: Hmmm…
:-/
We’re (thanks to the GQP) still doing gigantic experiments that we shouldn’t be doing.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
prostratedragon
@Another Scott: Doing it in costume was a good idea.
If that is a costume…
prostratedragon
@Kay: Always be closing.
JMG
@Roger Moore: Disney instituted vaccine and mask mandates and DeSantis didn’t say a word. Some businesses have more power than others.
emmyelle
I just can not wrap my head around how it is that killing kids increases your chances of being elected President. Hopefully, it does not. But then I am still left to wonder what kind of mental disease one must have to think that maybe it does.
lowtechcyclist
I wish Congress would pass a resolution to the effect that we are in a state of war with the coronavirus. Then Fox News and GQP pols like DeSantis would clearly be giving aid to the enemy, and could be tried for treason.
dmsilev
Louisiana has you beat on cases per capita. So, um, woohoo?!
Also, in “headlines I never expected to read, but in retrospect seems inevitable”, Meet the Dommes Who Are Demanding Their Submissives Get Vaxxed:
Mike in NC
We departed Key West on Memorial Day. You couldn’t pay us to visit Florida now!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I keep wondering what the global path of this pandemic would have been had Trump not:
1. Blown up Bush/Obama’s economics/public health/infrastructure coordinating Pandemic Task Force;
2. Blown up cooperation between the WHO and the CDC on testing, mitigation and vaccines; and
3. Taken an “America does everything alone” stance.
My take is that the death rates would have been much lower, Murdoch would have stayed in his lane and a lot of countries would have a far more unified and orderly response, particularly n the West.
Instead, it feels like we’re fucked. People I know have been criticized in person for mask use, the Royal Australian Army is patrolling Sydney, and the GOP has determined that prolonging the pandemic will give them an advantage in 2022. Its fucking sick.
Poe Larity
@JoyceH: Per state breakdowns by race/ethnicity:
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/
DeSantis sees this as a feature.
emmyelle
Boycott FL tourism.
And tonight I am telling Emmy Jr that under no circumstances can she apply to U Miami.
And I am telling my staff that while there is money in the budget for conference travel, FL is specifically excluded.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@emmyelle:
Yup. Also, notify Florida’s official tourism board as to the boycott.
Chief Oshkosh
There are still a lot of people who are truly “vaccine hesitant” or who can’t get vaccinated for real reasons. OK.
But, there are A LOT who are proudly saying that they will NEVER get vaccinated. OK, chump, we’ll just have to make sure everyone sees you coming a mile away so that they can avoid you. Something like this might work:
https://youtu.be/M0n0Dq_AqgI
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I saw speculation on that topic yesterday (from a recovering evangelical on Twitter, I think), and it blew my mind. DeSantis is definitely monstrous enough to think that way.
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Some months back, there was a study from a group affiliated with The Lancet that speculated Trump’s malevolence and incompetence were responsible for about 40% of COVID deaths in the U.S. It didn’t come out and say it in those words, of course, but that was the gist.
Sure Lurkalot
And then there’s This Asshat
Barry
@JaySinWa: “And my point is that to the extent business interests are funding the GOP, the well might dry up if they see their interests in conflict.”
That would be a welcome sea change, but an incredibly large one. The small business owners never will, and the big boys figure that they can get bailouts.
Cameron
Manatee County is getting clobbered, but the percentage of maskers around me keeps going down. Only positive is that the bare-faced folks haven’t been hostile (to me, anyway). Norwegian should follow through on its threat to yank all cruises from Florida. My natural pessimism leads me to believe that if total Covid death toll here is less than 100K by election day, DeSantis will breeze to reelection.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, please. They have spent the entire summer fomenting discord in public schools. It has absolutely nothing to do with the schools- it’s these disgusting, cynical adults who see some personal political benefit to starting a war in the public schools they don’t use and don’t support.
They don’t pull this bullshit in their own private schools- they come into our schools and start shit.
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker:
That was a very conservative estimate that, if memory serves, did not take into account effects of actions that Trump took prior to the virus getting established in the US, such as shutting down the CDC programs in China and elsewhere. The analysis also didn’t attempt to factor in rigorous proactive changes to response efforts based on best practices that one would reasonably expect from a great, or even good, leader (Obama, Clintons, Uncle Joe, etc.).
The very first estimates of Trump’s/Trumists culpability (about 90% of all Covid deaths worldwide) probably remains the most accurate.
Kay
My daughter’s finally getting the baby baptized – she just sent this (hysterically) stern text to the family with the vaccination rules.
They’ll be surprised at the tone because she’s a really kind person- much nicer than I am.
She’s a health care provider and she has fucking had it with the anti-vacc crowd.
The gloves are off ! :)
Brachiator
@CaseyL:
But this is not what is happening. The vaccinated have greater protection against hospitalization and death.
The motto of the right wing anti vaxxer seems to be “Give me liberty AND give me death!”
JaySinWa
@Betty Cracker: Are there any numbers on mask and Vax mandating private schools? I was under the impression that most of them were firmly on the “not in my house” school of thought not pro mask and/or vax required.
Kay
I guess “the gloves are off” is a bad saying for health care people. She does in fact still wear gloves, I believe.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
Murdoch’s yellow press has been a big part of this.
If there were really a James Bond he’d have been assigned a mission to kill Rupert and Lachlan.
Roger Moore
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I think the biggest thing Trump has done wrong is pushing anti-science bullshit about the virus. There are plenty of other countries that had pandemic plans, cooperated with the WHO, etc. and still had terrible outbreaks. But the ridiculous anti-science stuff has convinced people to fight against the best tools we have to get out of the pandemic: vaccination and other public health measures. We could have this thing under much better control if everyone would just get vaccinated and wear a mask in high-risk areas. That we can’t even manage that is what’s killing people today.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Chief Oshkosh:
There’s also the thing about having a fantastic national response in coordination with global partners as an example to emulate.
Instead, we got the equivalent of “thoughts ‘n prayers”.
Kent
What are these “obstacles”?
Every pharmacy and grocery store with an in-house pharmacy within a 5 mile radius of my house has free walk-in vaccinations. There are probably 20 places within a 5-mile radius where I could find the vaccine.
How is “access” to the vaccine any fucking harder than access to a carton of milk or toothbrush or stick of deodorant or any other items that people routinely buy? Do low-wage and minority workers go without toothpaste or deodorant for 6 months because they “lack access?” and face “obstacles” getting to their neighborhood grocery or pharmacy?
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Sure, but the unvaccinated aren’t limited to idiotic Trumpers. There are still a lot of poor people, especially minorities, who haven’t gotten vaccinated because they can’t get time off work, are worried about losing their job if they have a bad reaction and have to stay home, etc. Those people are at the greatest risk, because they are much more likely to have high-risk jobs.
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’d like them taken out by sharks with frickin’ lasers.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Roger Moore:
I read that Michael Flynn’s even more slackjawed brother has COVID and is treating himself with veterinary ivermectin that he picked up at Tractor Supply.
Brachiator
@Chief Oshkosh:
The “truly ”vaccine hesitant'” may be sincere, but they are still idiots who should get the shot.
I dispute that there are lots of people who cannot get the vaccine. Still, if everybody else got vaccinated, we could better protect those who cannot get the vaccine.
raven
@Cameron: I’ve gone back to masking and wearing a Nam Vet hat just daring someone to say something to me.
TriassicSands
The odds are heavily in his favor. He knows how stupid Republican voters are.
Kent
I don’t think you can generalize because private schools are so diverse.
Urban upscale prep schools with rich liberal parents tend to be obsessive about hygiene and mask rules and are obsessive about preventing outbreaks. Right-wing fundy Christian schools are the opposite. Just as you would predict.
sab
@Spanky: Ohio’s urban school boards are all fighting rhe state legislature by mandating masks.
Ken
Jeeze, Frum, don’t give them any ideas.
Jeffro
@Mike in NC: same here! (on the pay thing, not Key West)
No offense to some of our favorite Florida front-pagers, of course
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Anybody who wants a vaccine can get the vaccine. My kid has foreign national friends at college who got the vaccine, no questions asked. There’s no availability issue unless Antifa are hiding the supplies, or somesuch.
JoyceH
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I just can’t get over all these people who frame themselves as Prudent and Cautious to be avoiding an ‘experimental’ vaccine, but will blithely treat themselves with a horse worming med!
trollhattan
@Ken:
“I declare there shall be no coastal high-rise building safety inspections!”
–DeSantis, by Friday at the latest.
germy
sdhays
Democrats are trying to achieve community immunity through vaccinations, but the GQP has decided to finally go all in on what it’s wanted to to do from the beginning – “herd immunity” (since we’re all just cattle to these people) through mass infections. Sure, it may bring their states to their knees for a bit, but then they’ll stand back up more pure. In Red States, they have a majority that it all in on the cult.
It’s the South Dakota model. Now that the important people have the vaccine to protect themselves, they have nothing to temper their depravity. I hope that enough people in some of these states where Republicans don’t have insurmountable majorities (Floriduh?, Texass?) will be angry enough at the betrayal of their governments’ duty to protect them and their children that there will be an electoral reckoning next year.
sab
I am still masking. I haven’t gotten any outright negative reaction, and it’s fun waving back at other masked strangers.
JoyceH
BTW and off topic open thready stuff – the third book in my Regency Mage series, Mary Bennet and the Beast of Rosings Park, is free today and for the next several days. Book Bub promo tomorrow!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZCB252P
germy
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
You have pointed this out before and it may not be the whole story. I think you may also have pointed out that Latinos, for example, are generally younger and so may not yet be in line to get the vaccine. Also, even the poor can be vaccine hesitant for dumb reasons. Recent stories have had examples of poor people deliberately delaying getting the virus or believing misinformation.
Throughout California, you can walk into a grocery store and get the vaccine. I am not seeing stories about tons of venal employees preventing employees from getting the vaccine. Employers with a brain know that it is in their best interest to have healthy employees. Especially if they are having trouble hiring people.
Finally, in Los Angeles county and elsewhere there have been programs to get vaccination stations to low income people in or near their neighborhoods. If we need more of this to reach people who cannot get time off, then this is a matter of using health resources to go to the problem. Spend more time and effort getting the vaccine to those who want it.
sdhays
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’ve long said that if “Anti-fa” was half the organization that the right-wing and Murdoch press claims they are, Rupert and Lachlan wouldn’t dare leave their palaces for fear of being killed.
The Thin Black Duke
germy
JaySinWa
Washington state mandates.
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/820-105-K12Schools2021-2022.pdf
I don’t know if the private school enforcement will work, but the state private/public school playing field is leveled here.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: My elderly parents are pretty pissed off at the moment – they’d been very good about who they see since they got vaccinated, and before that holed up without and direct human contact in their home for about 10 months.
This last weekend, they met an old friend for lunch. Spent 90 minutes in the car with her and then indoor at a restaurant. Found out today that she wasn’t vaccinated and yelled at her. No one’s tested positive for anything for had any symptoms (even their friend), but they’re really pissed that this person potentially put them at risk of Delta without telling anyone, and more importantly put their grandkids at potential risk.
I think the vaccinated (in general) are much more angry about all this than they have been and it shows.
bjacques
@Brachiator: it’s true idiocy knows no sex, color, creed, or class, but those barriers to the working poor getting vaccinated are real. They’re screwed if they can’t afford the time off to get shots or ride out a day of side effects, or even adjust their commute for one. And the ICE spent the last decade putting the fear into Latinos long before Trump came along.
The COVID heat map looks like the South seceding again, only six feet downward this time, with Betty, Adam, etc. like those Germans massacred while trying to flee the Confederate State Of Texas.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JoyceH:
I wonder if I get ivermectin as a kind of contact treatment when I treat the dog for his heartworms?
(reminds me – he’s a day late on this month’s dose)
stinger
@JoyceH: Thank you — grabbed it!
Roger Moore
@JoyceH:
Plenty of these same people can’t believe that masks can actually prevent infections and claim they block breathing so much they make you stupid. I guess they’ll demand the doctor not wear masks the next time they go in for surgery.
WereBear
I guess it’s a result of four decades of research and experimentation, but it seems the GOP did figure out they can weaponize assholerly.
Florida Frog
@JoyceH: hi Joyce that was my favorite of the Regency mage series.Any possibility of a fifth book?
sheila in nc
@Brachiator: I’ve read where people who do physical labor and don’t have sick leave are more worried about missing a day of work due to the normal side effects of vaccination than they are about anything weird in the vaccine itself. They can get in a visit to the drug store but they don’t feel like they can take a whole day off to recover if they get side effect symptoms the next day.
cmorenc
Good thing for airline passengers that they are under the sort of federal regulation which DeSantis is powerless to countermand. Just took a flight from Denver to RDU yesterday, and I can confirm that United Airlines flight attendants are actively enforcing mask mandates, although some passengers do have partial success evading it via the “while drinking/eating” exception.
Brachiator
@bjacques:
A recent story I read noted lower income workers avoiding the vaccine because they feared losing time off because of side effects. But actual problems due to side effects have been rare. But there is not much you can do to address this fear other than come up with new vaccines.
Apart from this, as I noted, I am not seeing a lot of stories about evil bosses keeping employees away from vaccines. Only stupid bosses would put their customers and employees at risk.
Also as I noted health authorities may need to do more to get the vaccine to people. An LA county program doing this seemed to get good results.
This is easier to do than fretting over anti vaxx morons.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator: State of California pays for 80 hours of time off to get the vaccine and deal with any illness from it.
The Thin Black Duke
I don’t see how this is a winning political strategy for DeSantis when Florida’s medical system crashes because of patients overwhelming the hospitals. How is this a win-win?
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I think we also need to do harder outreach- especially in non-English media- to make two points:
I haven’t heard anyone say explicitly that those two concerns are discouraging minorities from getting vaccinated, but I am confident they are.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: That’s looks an awfully lot like the Apprentice set, doesn’t it?
germy
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
It does. But no Ivanka.
Betty Cracker
@The Thin Black Duke: My guess is he figures the highest risk group, seniors, are already vaccinated, so they’ll be okay, and younger folks might get sick but most probably won’t die or be unwell enough to require hospitalization. He experienced firsthand how easy it is to get pundits from outlets like Politico to throw their panties at him for “winning” the pandemic, so he probably thinks it’s worth the risk. It’s not like he or his family will be in any danger, so why not?
BCHS Class of 1980
@Spanky: I think there’s a subtlety that a lot of people are missing: the “reasonable” GOP is trying to portray itself as pro-vaccine but anti-mask while the rest of the party is just nuts.
The “pro-vaccine/anti-mask” distinction seems lost on many analysts but the GOP is trying to make it a real thing in spite of the logical inconsistency.
A Ghost to Most
The anti-tourism campaign is going very well in SeaFloorida.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Thin Black Duke: OAN and Sky Net Australia will just simply lie and reverse the numbers and The MAGA base will hear what it wants to hear.
geg6
@cmorenc:
One of my best friends is a flight attendant with American. It’s been horrible trying to keep the wingnuts to keep their masks on. She’s had screaming matches with passengers, one who shoved her, another threaten her life. One of her colleagues had a passenger spit in her face. And when these idiots do these things and security comes onto the plane to drag them off, she has to face a plane full of passengers pissed off by the sometimes hours long delays this shit causes. Flight attendants have one of the shittiest jobs in this environment.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Really serious side effects have been rare. Feeling under the weather for a day or two so that you have to drag yourself out of bed is pretty common. If you’re worried about impact on your job, that could be a substantial deterrent. We need to work harder with employers to make sure employees have a real opportunity to get vaccinated, and we need to makes sure that employees know about it.
A good thing all bosses are smart and well informed, then.
ETA: More generally one of the problems is discrepancies between what people believe and what the truth is. Even if the employer would be fine with people taking a day off because they’re tired after getting vaccinated, it won’t help if the employees don’t know or don’t trust what their boss is telling them.
sab
@The Thin Black Duke: Also, property values depend on good public schools.
Omnes Omnibus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Good thing everyone lives in CA then.
gvg
@Kent: Around my area of Florida, the beginning of this Delta surge started in the areas with a high percentage of poor blacks with a very fearful history of dealing with the government and the medical establishment. History really has made them reluctant. I know many areas overcame that but specifically not the area near me(North Florida/Jacksonville). The area also has a lot of really racist white conservatives with an anti expert bias. The two parts combine in a really unfortunate way. I will say their are also plenty of liberal whites, but the vaccination rates are still low. I think it was around 30%.
I will also say the minority areas had early access to the vaccines but they weren’t using it. So much so, that I in a nearby liberal town, could not get an early shot and drove an hour to Jacksonville’s FEMA site in a majority black area and they were not very busy. I was concerned then, and now 4.5 months later, see the results.
There is more to this than just getting the medicine near people, but I don’t have a clue how to fix this. I just don’t want them to die and I know the history why it’s a problem.
Roger Moore
@The Thin Black Duke:
Step one is to blame Those People for taking up all the hospital beds.
West of the Rockies
I cannot fathom considering my political career over the lives of a dozen children who may well die of Covid in Florida.
The Thin Black Duke
@Betty Cracker: Spoiler alert: “Things got worse.”
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That was the actual plot of one of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films. Jonathan Pryce was the villain in that one, very much doing the Rupert Murdoch thing, as I recall. Tomorrow Never Dies.
Major Major Major Major
I did some math (apologies) on the latest KFF data and found that vaccines continue to be effective!
mrmoshpotato
At this rate, DeathSantis might be literally strangling kids on the first day of school.
What a murderous pile of shit.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
She texted: “Attention please! Vaccination is required at this event”
Guffaw. It’s after the date and time. I GUARANTEE there will be people who will say they didn’t see it. I hope we have a big ruckus outside the baptism.
Cameron
@gvg: It probably wouldn’t have hurt for FL to get the Medicaid expansion. People would have had a chance to build up relationships with a primary care physician. Might help with trust issues.
H.E.Wolf
@Spanky:
Threats of violence are reprehensible (per our response when Rep. McCathy does it). I see no reason to imitate wingnut behavior in our speech or in our actions.
If someone has the urge to act in defense of democracy, put it to a good use by donating to Four Directions!
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I think that people are making assumptions about the problem instead of trying to figure out what is going on. This may include health officials, who should know better.
My sister in Texas reminded me of a problem, which also happened in California. Low income people knew the vaccine was free and tried to make appointments in their neighborhoods. But more affluent people used weaknesses in the appointment system to snap up the appointments.
These issues have since been addressed, but I remember that appointments had to be cancelled in some places while the issue was addressed.
Vaccine and immigration status. Have no idea how significant an issue this might be. But it is another factor that can be dealt with. But it is pointless to just assume that these are huge obstacles. This helps no one.
JaySinWa
@Omnes Omnibus: And it is good that there are no day laborers in CA as well. //s
Ruckus
@JoyceH:
Never apply sense to anything conservative politicians say or desire.
As the old saying goes, “If sense was so common, more people would have some.”
Right now conservatives are losing, and that’s even with the media hold they have. And it’s because of them trying to kill off people who don’t vote for them and doing it so badly that they are likely going to screw themselves worse. Of course there will be collateral damage at an unheard of level, but that is because they are desperate and have no actual ideals or ideas other than power and money at any cost.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@mrmoshpotato:
Ron DeSantis is Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, only this time grinning and poking a ventilator into some kid in order to salvage himself.
sab
My grand-daughter, age 7, missed kindergarten and her first year 9f school because of autism (protective mom) . Then she missed the next year from Covid. Our local school district had summer autism catch-up school to decide where to place these kids, and she absolutely loved it. I was amazed how much she loved it, and how mych her socialisationn improved. That Republicans are deliberately try8ng to sabotage school openings has me incandescent with rage.
What is weird is that most of the Republicans I know are self-made folks who went to public schools and couldn’t have gotten ahead without them. I am a Democrat from an old Republican family (back before the Civil War) and all my Republican relatives are now independents, except my dad with Alzheimers. He used to be a Democrat, until his brain went and then he returned to the fold.
NorthLeft12
I understand that Florida is a tourist magnet, especially for young families, but who in their right mind would plan a vacation in Florida (or anywhere in the southern US) at this time?
I can’t understand how people can ignore this shit and think they and their kids won’t be at risk in these areas.
Are people really that stupid? Delusional?
Betty Cracker
@The Thin Black Duke: It’s definitely a gamble, but if you were making policy decisions in a political role-playing game where no one would actually die if you fucked up, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bone-headed risk to take because the upside potential (for you, playing “governor” in the game) would be huge.
It’s not a lock that fecklessness will result in disaster. There are a lot of variables. If you look at what’s happening in places like the UK, there’s a chance the delta variant COVID spike will decline without a huge loss of life, and if that happens here in FL, I’m sure Politico et al., will rush to give DeSantis another tuggie.
Of course, the only problem is it’s not a game and real lives will be lost. But he doesn’t give a shit.
danielx
@dmsilev:
I have to admit that threatening to beat the sub’s ass bloody might not be the most effective motivator, but…whatever works.
cope
@raven: I’m still masking in public everywhere (an admittedly tiny universe) and wearing my hippie ponytail, daring somebody to say something to me.
Roger Moore
@sab:
There are plenty of Republicans who believe in pulling up the ladder once they’re done climbing it. Public schools were great when they took advantage of them, and while their kids were there, but once they’re no longer using them they just don’t give a damn.
trollhattan
Answer is right there in the question.
Not to mention who the fuck goes voluntarily to Florida in the middle of summer? Folks who live in the Sahara?
Ruckus
@emmyelle:
Most of his constituents are old? That’s all I’ve got.
It doesn’t make any sense, it’s not supposed to make any sense, he is supposed to be a leader and you are supposed to follow.
Be a lemming, dive off that cliff.
I myself take a different view, but that’s just me. I notice that the percentage of vaccination in FL is actually better than that of other southern states. Maybe a large portion of his constituents are not as stupid as he is.
Mary G
@Kent: They live in food deserts where there are no drug or grocery stores for miles around.
raven
@cope: FUCKIN A, I have a huge beard again (I cut it off when they said they weren’t good for masking) and I don’t know if I have time to get a ponytail again. I didn’t get a haircut for 7 years back in the bay but that would put in at 79 if I did it again!
raven
@Ruckus: They are not southern.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@trollhattan:
“It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all…”
Never underestimate the drawing power of The Mouse. Particularly if a parent or grandparent has scored a coveted Cinderella Castle breakfast.
This, too, I blame on America.
danielx
@West of the Rockies:
Yeah, but you’re not a sociopath.
Delk
Lindsey Graham tested positive for COVID.
raven
@Delk: Hell yes!!!!
“I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now,” Graham said. “My symptoms would be far worse.”
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G:
This certainly wouldn’t explain the 31% black vaccination rate in NYC
cope
@raven: My ancestry conspires against my ever having anything that might be called a beard but after almost two years, my nice thick head hair has gifted me a definite chick magnet ponytail (according to mrs. cope). It’s much longer than I ever wore it in the ‘60s or ‘70s.
Betty Cracker
@Major Major Major Major: Wow, that’s terrible.
raven
@cope: rock on
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
The stupidity is the point, or at least that’s what Krugman has been saying. The basic goal is to prove loyalty to the movement. Doing sensible things doesn’t do that, since anyone might do something sensible just because it’s a good idea. No, to prove your loyalty, you have to do something nonsensical that you would only do as proof of loyalty. The crazier that thing is the more it proves your willingness to do anything for the movement.
(Not actually a) Dr. Thoth Evans
@JoyceH:
These look like books I will probably like, especially at that price.
I’m just delurking to ask if I would need to read the first two books to understand what’s going on?
Gin & Tonic
Over the past couple of decades, my dear wife and I , sometimes alone, sometimes together, have traveled the world. Looking at those two maps, I’m now thinking it’ll be a while before we leave New England.
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker: yeah it’s a problem! I know there’s specific outreach to the AA community but unfortunately all the oxygen is being sucked up by Republican holdouts. No amount of yelling at Sean Hannity will move the needle.
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan:
My son has a lot of friends and acquaintances in a 30-something and 40-something age group in Mexico City, all well-educated urban types, most in the arts or architecture. Nearly 100% of them are fully vaccinated, having traveled to the US (Florida or Texas, mostly) to get their shots. No questions, no problems.
rikyrah
Children are going to die because of these policies.
Then, there will be subset of children that live, but will be afflicted with LONG TERM COVID.
CHILDREN
Gin & Tonic
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
We’re keeping our fingers crossed on Crete in a month, although my inner logician is starting to speak up about what happens if we get there and things really turn to shit while we’re away. We’re probably good on getting there – we gave up our business class UK routing, settling for Chicago to Athens routing instead.
Scenario 1: Domestic air travel between Crete and Athens shuts down, putting us in the bind of finding adequate ferry space from Chania or Heraklion to Athens.
Scenario 2: Both of us test positive in Athens prior to the return flight to the US, sticking us in quarantine hotel.
Scenario 3: One of us tests positive in Athens prior to the return flight to the US, sticking one in quarantine while the other returns.
Scenario 4: We forgot to go to the liquor store to buy large amounts of Raki or Ouzo before getting the test results that apply to Scenarios 2 and 3.
Scenario 5: We get stuck in Greece if the US border slams shut.
Of all of them, Number 4 scares me the most…..
Suzanne
@Chief Oshkosh:
Can we stand our ground against the unvaccinated? Like, what is the law here?
Another Scott
@Major Major Major Major: Made me look.
TheCity.nyc (from July 13):
The map shows the highest positive rates (and presumably the lowest vaccination rates) are a couple of areas in Staten Island, one in The Bronx, one in Brooklyn. I wouldn’t assume that those areas have as much access to vaccines as the rest of the city (but that’s just a guess).
Interesting, but anecdotes are not data. For those like that, they need their own Mary G to tell them to get their shots or move into the alley. :-/
tl;dr – People are complicated. Ways to get them to act must be customized.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Not “thoughts and prayers”
It’s “tots and payers”
Likely they have been misinterpreted by having their voices muffled by speaking with their heads up their own asses.
James E Powell
@mrmoshpotato:
And somehow this will make him more popular with Florida voters and more charmingly authentic to the national press/media.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
And in California, employers always follow the law.
James E Powell
@NorthLeft12:
That “right mind” is doing all the work there.
James E Powell
@The Thin Black Duke:
He knows that it no longer matters. DeSantis is betting that his voters will come out because they are angry about losing in 2020 and because they hate the rest of us. They do not care how bad COVID gets because they don’t want him to fight COVID, they want him to “stand up to” & own the libs.
Every Republican is betting on this and voter suppression
And DeSantis also knows that if he had some major epiphany and came out and said, “I want you all to wear masks & get vaccines as soon as possible” his voters would turn on him & another pro-death pro-chaos Republican would primary him.
JoyceH
@Florida Frog:
Continuing the series is my hope and plan. Right now, though… I’m in a slump. I don’t think it could technically be called writer’s block, since I’m not sitting staring at a blank screen, but more writing avoidance. Telling myself I need to get back to the manuscript, but I’m working out and getting a lot of stuff done around the house, arranging repairs, going through clutter, and so on. I’ve only written something like 4 chapters since Jan 2020, after publishing 4 books in 2019.
Thing is, the last book I published, Shades of Pemberley, was the last book of mine that Jane ever read. I’d always send my manuscripts to her for her input before publishing. And the next book will be the first book I publish without Jane reading it. It shouldn’t matter. And yet, somehow… it does.
trollhattan
@Delk: And may have acquired in on Joe Manchin’s houseboat. Frealz.
mrmoshpotato
@Delk:
How is all of this Trump-humping trash testing positive for something they bellowed was a hoax for months on end?
rikyrah
@MisterForkbeard:
We are pissed. I know that I am.
rikyrah
@Kay:
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
JoyceH
@(Not actually a) Dr. Thoth Evans:
Each book is a stand alone story. I do a bit of explaining in the early chapters to let the people just joining us understand the situation, and have some references back to previous events, but not enough to make the book baffling to the newcomer. It’s not like an epic fantasy series, where book 1 has a cliffhanger and book 2 picks up right where book 1 left off. It’s more like a mystery series with the same sleuth but a new mystery every book, with references back to events in the sleuth’s life that occurred in previous volumes.
Peale
I just want Justin and Melba to have a normal childhood! Why are you liberals robbing them of their innocent normal childhood?
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: Whocouldaknowed that a man who wrote a book about the benefits of slavery wouldn’t display any empathy?
Roger Moore
@James E Powell:
I suspect he’s also more worried about the Republican primary than about the general election. Voter suppression won’t win him the primary; only playing to the craziest elements of the party can do that, or at least that’s what he believes.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
40%?
PHUCK THAT.
He’s responsible for at least 90%of our COVID Dead.
And, I believe if we’d had President Hillary Clinton, 90% of our COVID Dead would still be here.
rikyrah
@Kay:
so true, Kay.
So true.
Kathleen
@West of the Rockies: That’s because you are not a soulless Zombie ghoul.
Kathleen
@Kay: I picture people flinging holy water and bludgeoning each other with candle snuffers.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Roman Empire never existed, it was all the Byzantine Empire all along so once again Libertards are POWned
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-white-supremacists-qanon-enthusiasts-222625204.html
Kathleen
@Delk: Oh, look. I just summoned a sniff.
rikyrah
@Kay:
UH HUH
UH HUH
sab
@raven: Florida. In my childhood in Florida the saying was, the farther north you go the more southern, and the farther south you go, the more northern.
So Miami was another NYC borough, and Jacksonville was deep South.
Kathleen
@James E Powell: NYT: “Ron DeSantis’ ‘laying on hands’ initiative prevented more Covid deaths than vaccinations according to unnamed sources.”
Another Scott
For those wondering – J got her 2000 Corolla back this afternoon (it had a major brake fluid leak). Roughly 3 weeks in the shop (they were short handed). They replaced a lot of the brake lines for the back half of the car (“very rusty!”). Flushed the system, said it’s fixed. $85 in parts, lots and lots of labor, $1635 all up.
:-/
But cheaper than a new car. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
I got my shots (Pfizer) on Fridays. For the second shot I felt fine for 12 hrs, went to bed and Saturday was in a major daze. Physically and mentally. Sunday was better but work either day if I had to? NFW, I couldn’t barely find the bathroom. Monday morning I woke up and it’s been great sailing for the past 7 months. I have had far longer and far worse reactions to vaccines before. And worth the downtime? You bet your ass. Please understand that I react negatively to a lot of meds/vaccines and have for all my life. I’m in that few percent that just can’t do well with a lot of meds. I’ve had doctors walk out on me when I tell them where they can put the med they have prescribed and that I’ve tried and it was far worse than the issue it’s supposed to be for. There have been massive hallucinations, high fevers for days on end, and/or they make the condition worse. I’m amazed that I can be anesthetized safely.
James E Powell
@Roger Moore:
Does anyone think he’s wrong? Even if COVID deaths go sky high, he will still be re-elected.
mrmoshpotato
@Kathleen:
I feel this headline would be more accurate.
J R in WV
@JoyceH:
Well, on the bright side, none of those folks will have worms, right? Having worms AND Covid would be really bad~!!~ And it isn’t experimental, our critters have been taking ivermectin for years now.
. . ;~)
Ruckus
@raven:
I didn’t know that being from the south was a disease…..
I lived in SC for 2 yrs, I’ve worked in the south a lot when I worked in Pro Sports and know a bunch of people who fled snow for FL when they retired, and actually what I do know is that there is something in the water or air or both that not everyone is effected by, but those people who are can be really fucked up. Either that or there just are a lot of people who are normally fucked up. Come to think of it, I’ve met some of them in all of the 46 states that I’ve traveled to, so maybe it’s just humanity, some people work (and work hard) at being stupid. Maybe it’s easier for them.
Kathleen
@mrmoshpotato: Ha! And of course NYT has to follow suit!
J R in WV
@JoyceH:
Already have both #3 and #4 in the reader tablet. Thanks for the read, I’ve never enjoyed Regency fiction before, excepting Sherlock Holmes and similar adventures. Great work!!
Betty Cracker
@sab: Yep. The version I heard growing up was “The farther north you go, the further South you are.” It’s largely true too, though the Midwestern wingnut colonization of The Villages has diluted that truth a bit.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@danielx: However, the threat to NOT whip their butts “might” work.
Betty Cracker
@JoyceH: That’s got to be rough. I’m sorry.
Ruckus
@raven:
Have had my beard for just over 48 yrs now. I started growing it as I walked off the gangplank for the last time, July 6 1973 at 11:59am. It used to have a rather red tint, which is strange as the rest of my hair is/was about half way between brown and blonde. But now it’s mostly white. Not having to shave has been one of the best parts of the last 5 decades. My hair was shoulder length for a long time but the stuff on the top has declared itself hair non gratis going on 20 yrs ago so what is there on the noggin is trimmed short. I’ve been on TV but no one has or ever will pay me for that. I’m not sure the hair is the issue…..
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
I think it’s possible that the stupid was built in from the factory…
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
Exactly. The COVID vaccine was the toughest I can remember getting, much worse than the annual flu vaccination. I can totally see people being worried about getting vaccinated if being unable to work for a couple of days because of the after effects of the vaccine might lose them their job.
Elizabelle
@JoyceH: Got it. It reads wonderfully. Thank you for the alert.
ETA: what does “mage” mean? I get the Regency part. (I have never read the Harry Potter books, alas.). Is it along the lines of “magic?”
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: At least two of the families killed in the Surfside FL condo collapse had traveled to the US from South America to obtain vaccine shots. One with a 14-year old daughter in tow. They made a holiday of it as well.
There were likely many more stories like that.
Elizabelle
At least he is one of the smarter GOP members, who supports vaccination. Here’s one way to get a vacation. Wonder if this takes him out of voting on any infrastructure packages. (WaPost story)
J R in WV
@cope:
A long time ago, anyone with a ponytail was probably a hippie… but now lots of them are bikers and RWNJs, just look at the photos of those arrested for their invasion of the US Capitol — long hair, beards, crazy eyes.
Anyways, ponytail is not really a liberal tell anymore most places. I’ve been a hippie since I got out of the Navy (actually was one while serving…) and no one has ever, ever given me a hard time.
Here in WV long hair and 6′ 250 isn’t someone to fool around and find out with. So they don’t, so far!
Now that I think of it, some fucker did give me a hard time off the base in about 1972… wife jumped on him about “You don’t know what scar that beard covers up, do you?” and he scurried away. Wife has brass!
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Their movement is crazy and very, very much self serving to the movement leaders. Well except for the enhanced ability to die off.
Movement followers seem to me to be often not a smart thing. Jonestown comes to mind. Scientology comes to mind. (and yes I know people deep, deep into scientology, it seems to be a nice derangement, if you like that sort of thing…) Following a creed that has no basis in science is sort of like huffing dinosaur farts…. in a world that is getting more and more difficult to survive reasonably by huffing dinosaur farts or walking around with your head up the exit orifice.
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
I’ll correct this one more time:
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Nine days with a 105 fever, in a hospital was a lot worse than 2 days in a fog. I was able to feed myself, relieve myself and do so reasonably without knowing I was going to hurl up parts of my internal organs that have proved to be useful. Two days was nothing compared to that 9 days. Or to the couple of weeks after that it took to feel back to normal and be able to actually eat. BTW did I fail to mention that I didn’t eat for the 9 days?
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
I believe that payers is the correct concept here, these after all are mercenary politicians who give not one fuck about the people they are supposed to represent or even the ones that actually voted for them. They care only about power and money.
glc
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Sounds like someone in that group has encountered the New Chronology, which as I understand it is the theory that the history of Rome was rearranged by medieval monks to align with the history of Jerusalem (or perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is the claim that the chronologies can be aligned, and that this proves various startling things about the fidelity of historical records).
The QAnon version appears to take it to 11, in the manner of fan fiction generally.
sab
@Elizabelle: Practitioner of magic. Also wise man who knows about magic stuff.
Elizabelle
@sab: thank you
sab
@Roger Moore: I got the swine flu vaccine ( thanks Rumsfeld) back in the 1970s and I was sick as a dog and it it put me off flu vaccines for 20 years, so I understand vaccine reluctance.
I just don’t understand not fearing Covid. I knew people who died of it. Healthy people.
WaterGirl
@NorthLeft12: My extended family. sigh.
JaySinWa
@J R in WV: Non sequiturs are us. Tots and payers sounds like adults have to pay but kids get in free.
Tots and pears sounds like a bad Minnesota hot dish, but it’s the version I hear most often.
Chris Johnson
@Another Scott:
I just did about $1300 of brake work on my Subaru, so I can relate. It’s nice having a seriously capable, not-falling-apart vehicle. I am always reminded of when that was about all the money I’d have all year, though.
Ksmiami
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Diocletian would like a word…
Obvious Russian Troll
@J R in WV: Beards? Sure, some of them have beards, but I’ve never seen such a sad-looking collection of goatees, soul patches and reverse goatees in my life as I’ve seen among the people arrested for 1/6.
Kayla Rudbek
@JoyceH: Thanks for the reminder! Now to go back and reread the entire series…