Going to put all my replies in one place. For context, I work in a busy ED in a large southeast medical center.
Huh, I resumed activities before this fiasco even started without wearing a mask. Can count on one hand how many times I wore a mask in the last year-ish.
Just like my local Menards does. Claim to be vaccinated to get out of their stupid mask policy, they demand to see your card stating you've had the vaccine.
It died, you didn't hear?
Well, when you stop testing for the flu the numbers are destined to drop considerably. When's the last time you heard of ANYONE getting the flu test since this stuff started? Flu numbers would be at normal rate if the C19 test worked for both Flu and C19, but they're only looking for one thing, C19 numbers.
I know right, so glad something else with a 95% survival rate is gone!
In our ER, almost every patient who got a COVID test (who was symptomatic) also got a Respiratory Viral Panel test. This test checks for multiple respiratory viruses all at once, including Flu A and B. We saw almost NO flu this year. We may still be in the single digits of positive flu tests out of 10's of thousands of tests.
That's not going to happen. That "card" is part of your medical records. No one can just ask to see it without a release from you. And it's not a form of ID.
There's a whole slue of Constitutional reasons why you don't need to prove anything. Of course, businesses don't have to let you in the door either.
Anyone can ask to see your medical record. The thing about HIPAA is that it only applies to certain entities. It also doesn't apply AT ALL to you disclosing your medical information. The only real restrictions that non-covered entities have on asking about your medical information concerns the ADA not HIPAA. If you have a disability, you may be asked to provide your restrictions and necessary accommodations but may not be required to disclose the exact reason for your restrictions. For business owners this most often applies to Service Animals. A business owner can ask you what your animal is trained to do, but not why you need them.
It seems like just four days ago they told us we couldn't be outside fully vaccinated without a mask...wonder what medical breakthrough happened in the last four days to make this okay?
Science changes things. I think the CDC finally felt they had seen enough data on the effectiveness of the vaccine to make this change. This was always going to be an abrupt change since the CDC does not make policy but only recommendations.
People that know of "COVID" death cases. I know of none and ask any hospital I am in or funeral directors, if they know of any. So far none. No one I know knows anyone that's died. So that's MY reality.
So I would be very interested in actual, DEATHS, AGE and pre-existig conditions.
HEY, BTW anybody, I mean anybod heard of an old person dying from the Flu in the last year or so?
As for COVID deaths: Our medical center created a COVID unit early on to house all of our covid patients. It took over a complete inpatient unit. At the peak of the pandemic, it expanded to taking over 3 inpatient units. They were having multiple people die EVERYDAY on average.
That's my whole point. They announce it as a "law". It's not a law. But the airlines have been mandated by someone. I'm sure they didn't have a group meeting and decide they were going to require masks. As far as staying home, nothing would make me happier. It won't be long. I have to travel for work, I don't do it for pleasure. That I can assure you of.
There kind of is a law. The law is that you have to obey the instructions of the airline and refusing to is a federal crime. This is the same law they used to kick off unruly passengers before the pandemic. In effect, all of the airline's rules have the force of law for this reason.
I wonder what the long term cost of other symptoms of Covid (like long haulers) will be. Will it be a "preexisting condition" that will affect health coverage? Will it affect a persons ability to get employment? Will another variant hit again this Fall?
Our medical center has set up a program to study the effects of "long-haul." I personally know someone who has cardiac problems and a implanted defibrillator as a result of having covid. Luckily, pre-existing conditions may no longer be considered by health insurance plans for the purpose of determining coverage or cost of insurance. That was part of the Affordable Care Act, and remains the act's most popular action. I wouldn't expect it to go away as even the republicans claimed it would remain as part of the "repeal and replace" plan they never followed through on.
Medical errors are the 3rd largest cause of death in the USA (before COVID).
Kill 250,000 folks per year.
Never heard a peep about that before.
MoKelly
This has long been a cited statistic. The problem is that the determination of "error" was extremely broad. More recent studies place it about 7,000 avoidable hospital deaths.