My brother in law and I will probably be the last people of my immediate family to get it since he works for a brewery and I work in insurance. I signed up through DuPage for when my time is ready and I will probably do so through my doctor’s office as well.

My wife is a teacher on maternity leave caring for our son until August, I told her not to miss this phase since she could probably get the vaccine real soon if she signs up. The other person I really want to get vaccinated is my 72 year old aunt who doesn’t leave her apartment much except for appointments or for groceries. Thankfully the rest of my immediate family (except for my wife’s immediate family) are vaccinated. Can’t wait for all of us to be vaccinated.

27 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

I really do not get the whole non-masking thing.  What is the issue with wearing a mask it is the height of stupidity.  I find it insanely baffling. 

People are looking to do the absolute bare minimum and if there's anyone that says that no longer have to wear one they will listen to them.

23 hours ago, bmags said:

Awesome to see! Would love to hear when everyone starts getting shots!

Sounds like yours are being organized through your work?

Yes.  Our health and safety manager worked with the county health department to set up a clinic here.

18 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

I really do not get the whole non-masking thing.  What is the issue with wearing a mask it is the height of stupidity.  I find it insanely baffling. 

Wearing a mask when out in public is one of the easiest things we can do.  There really hasn't been a flu season, and much of that can be attributed to masks and social distancing. That is easy proof of how effective wearing a mask can be.

Were flu vaccinations higher this year? Did anyone see anything about that?

 

33 minutes ago, StrangeSox said:

 

fan-frickin-tastic!

2 hours ago, bmags said:

Were flu vaccinations higher this year? Did anyone see anything about that?

I have read that they were. Something like 20 million more doses given out.

I got one for the first time ever a couple of months ago. My doctor told me that it was a good idea since you can get the flu and Covid at the same time.

3 hours ago, bmags said:

Were flu vaccinations higher this year? Did anyone see anything about that?

Through November, the CDC shows Flu Vaccination numbers being less than 1% lower than as of November 2019, and about 5% higher than November of 2018. 

https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/Weekly-Cumulative-Influenza-Vaccine-Doses-Distribu/k87d-gv3u/data

59 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Through November, the CDC shows Flu Vaccination numbers being less than 1% lower than as of November 2019, and about 5% higher than November of 2018. 

https://data.cdc.gov/Vaccinations/Weekly-Cumulative-Influenza-Vaccine-Doses-Distribu/k87d-gv3u/data

I wasn't sure which way it would go since regular checkups were down so much. A bit impressed it was in line.

The next month is going to be refreshing:

 

Why did Fauci say "April" on Friday and now May, June or July just a few days later? That's a pretty enormous difference.

13 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

Why did Fauci say "April" on Friday and now May, June or July just a few days later? That's a pretty enormous difference.

It's frustrating how much information differs from day to day.  But, it is encouraging to hear that shipments of the vaccines are increasing on a regular basis.  It does sound like if the rate of distribution keeps increasing and the J&J vaccine is approved by the end of the month that there will be enough available by late March/early April to vaccinate most people.  There may some bottlenecks, though, when it comes to actually getting people vaccinated.  Information of how to get a shot is spotty and differs from state to state, county to county, town to town.  If states can start setting up mass vaccination sites, that will help a lot.

I got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.  Aside from some mild arm soreness, I've had no issues.  I did wake up about 2:00 this morning and found myself sleeping on the arm where I got the shot.  That smarted a bit.

wild. COVID sucks

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1362049551490637834?s=20

 

2 hours ago, bmags said:

wild. COVID sucks

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1362049551490637834?s=20

 

Fascinating. So this means some of the NBA players to test positive recently had the new variant?

21 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Fascinating. So this means some of the NBA players to test positive recently had the new variant?

I can't access paper but I wonder how many of the samples they were sent contained it, and if it was part of a teams outbreak.

7 minutes ago, bmags said:

I can't access paper but I wonder how many of the samples they were sent contained it, and if it was part of a teams outbreak.

65 total infected individuals, 7 B.1.1.7. 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/business/kroger-closing-grocery-workers-hazard-pay/index.html

Record profits. Share buy back. But can't pay their employees hazard pay. 

17 minutes ago, Texsox said:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/business/kroger-closing-grocery-workers-hazard-pay/index.html

Record profits. Share buy back. But can't pay their employees hazard pay. 

Why only grocery stores > 85K sq ft? Is working in a smaller grocery store less hazardous? Or is this a backdoor way to force larger grocers to raise their prices and help smaller ones compete. Also, why not drug stores?

2 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

Why only grocery stores > 85K sq ft? Is working in a smaller grocery store less hazardous? Or is this a backdoor way to force larger grocers to raise their prices and help smaller ones compete. Also, why not drug stores?

I can only guess it's the volume of people who are passing through makes it more hazardous. But, I believe it's also politicians seeing record profits from these huge corporations during a world wide crisis and wanting them to spread the wealth a bit to the employees who will spend it in their communities. The idea of cutting taxes on corporations is it will trickle down to the masses. Supposedly higher corporate profits benefits all of us. 

 

1 minute ago, Texsox said:

I can only guess it's the volume of people who are passing through makes it more hazardous. But, I believe it's also politicians seeing record profits from these huge corporations during a world wide crisis and wanting them to spread the wealth a bit to the employees who will spend it in their communities. The idea of cutting taxes on corporations is it will trickle down to the masses. Supposedly higher corporate profits benefits all of us. 

 

I'm not arguing that corporate tax structure is fair. I'm just saying that using the guise of employee safety to go after the profits of specific corporations is shady.

What about higher corporate rates, with large tax breaks tied to the increase of employee wages that provide incentive to pay employees. Could something like that work?

1 minute ago, WhiteSoxFan1993 said:

I'm not arguing that corporate tax structure is fair. I'm just saying that using the guise of employee safety to go after the profits of specific corporations is shady.

What about higher corporate rates, with large tax breaks tied to the increase of employee wages that provide incentive to pay employees. Could something like that work?

I'm not familiar with all the ins and outs of what they are trying to do. Basically they are setting minimum wages for certain industries. The square footage is similar to workplace rules that are implemented based on the number of employees. It seems like a Ayn Rand novel at play.