Sunday, January 2, 2022

From Biden making COVID the states' problem, to a ramble about politics and culture

"Look, there is no federal solution," Biden said Monday, according to a transcript of a conversation he had with a group of governors. "This gets solved at a state level."

What does this mean?

Having spent a trillion or more "responding" to the Pandemic with zero benefit or accountability, during which all the friends of government should have made their killing, does the White House now need to drip out money to the states to keep the blue state governors on board with the lockdown measures? 

I can tell you that in Maine we have a governor who is broadly unpopular but has doubled down on the mandates, despite losing votes because of it.  She is probably hoping to throw money around to help win another election.  I don't think the pols in their cocoons understand the depth of resentment within the working classes, the essential workers, the ones who have been thrown under the bus (and not only once) and are now saying screw you, we aren't going back to work under these conditions.

Which gives me an excuse to mention one of my pet peeves:  the fact that work used to be a lot more fun.  Before everyone became frightened to tell a joke, before employees were encouraged to snitch on each other, before the administrators went to conferences to learn to squeeze the last drop of blood from each employee, employers and employees had a lot more trust and loyalty toward each other.  That got trashed these last 20-30 years.  And imho, one reason people are not going back to work is because of these cultural changes.

Once employers learn to be nice again, the employees might come back. And when the President stops taking away our livelihoods, stops messing with our schools, and stops the illegal power grabs, maybe people will start to respect the feds. These are baby steps but they might be a start.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, when your district superintendent wants to cripple or kill you with a mandatory injection, that kindof spoils the fun of working for the schools.

OldLeonB said...

So well said, Dr. Nass. Thank you as always.

Anonymous said...

In our local K-5 school the poor kids desks are 6’ ft apart, they are masked all day and they are not allowed to talk during lunch. Can you imagine that!? The school recently received $40,000 in covid relief money. One of the things they did was to put up a green house near the playground. Presumably to put the “positive” kids in!? Can you imagine? What an awful place to spend the day. And on top of all that they have the whole testing and quarantine/isolation nonsense going on too. This is in rural Maine!

Thanks for the covid fear Maine CDC/janet mills.

Anonymous said...

Old Man River never sleeps.

After two years of 911, people went about their business once more. And ditto, today.

When the bluest of blue towns, Amherst, Mass., -- when they have 'lost the plot' -- the gig is up?

+++
COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness comes under scrutiny at Amherst Board of Health emergency meeting; mandating shots to enter businesses put on hold

AMHERST – COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness came under scrutiny at last week’s Board of Health emergency meeting, when it was decided that mandating shots to enter businesses be put on hold, and that surgical masks are now required for anyone entering Town Hall.

BOH Chair Nancy Gilbert began the Dec. 30 meeting -- to discuss “vax mask and test,” she said -- by thanking Amherst health director Jennifer Brown for simultaneously performing those duties and working as the municipal public health nurse, for the past four months.

Although Amherst Cinema now requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination to patronize that theater, Gilbert said: “at this point, I don’t see us moving rapidly forward in mandatory vaccination to get into restaurants and other public venues.”

Residents and those frequenting Amherst businesses and those running establishments told the board to avoid issuing mandatory vaccination policies as a condition of being able to enter local businesses, during 45 minutes of public comment.

The general manager of Bistro 63 told the BOH to stay “as far away from the mandated proof thing as possible.” And said: “we also need to remember we are not just a 94% vaccinated town, here. We’re also a stop on a giant roadway between schools. . . staff isn’t equipped to enforce” mandatory vaccination requirements. “We can’t expect a 19 year old hostess to enforce this. It is not a restaurant worker’s job.”

“Those are very good points for us to hear,” Gilbert said.

“I remembers when vaccinations were new (a year ago) and everyone thought that being vaccinated, you would be able to take the mask off, and return to some normalcy,” BOH member Lauren Mills said.

“From my understanding, you can still spread covid, even if you have been vaccinated, it wears off, so . . .I just feel like, a mandate, to show a vax card: what does that really prove?” she said. “I feel like there’s this kind of paranoia feeling – because this is like a constant thing in our minds, in the news and so forth” and “the information is always changing. . . We are being so bombarded by all this daily reporting, it’s very anxiety driving,” she said.

BOH member Maureen Millea said, “I see now the number everywhere, even in places that have [vaccine] passes like that as a whole country, that those case rates are skyrocketing in that same straight line that we’re seeing everywhere else. . . .That’s the sense that I have of where we are at the moment.”

Also, Brown said cloth masks are not adequate to protect individuals from the virus.

“Everyone is going to be required to wear a surgical mask” such as the KN95 or KF94 respirators, to access Amherst Town Hall --- the public, and employees – the health director said at the Dec. 30 virtual meeting.

The CDC website states: “BE AWARE: About 60% KN95 respirators in the United States are counterfeit (fake) and DO NOT meet NIOSH requirements.” NIOSH is National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/types-of-masks.html
-30-

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2022/01/amherst-puts-hold-on-mandating-vaccination-to-enter-businesses.html