OT: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Part VII - READ THE OP

[bl02]

Insurance companies don't deny care. They may deny benefits if you lie on your application about smoking, though. If they rescind your policy they will refund your premiums.

Well even if someone says they are a smoker they will be charged a higher premium but they they will be covered say if they needed a cardiovascular procedure or Lung procedure right?

All Obamacare health plans can not deny tobacco users or obese individuals

 

[Machinehead]

The thing that kills me (beyond the anti-vax stuff, but I won't even touch that) are the people that are like, 100% I'm-vaccinated-and-never-wearing-a-mask-again. What's the big f***ing deal? I mean I've been wearing masks for the better part of a year and a half at this point. They don't even bother me anymore. I understand the frustration of people who have to work all day while wearing a mask, but like, is it such a hassle to have to put on a mask entering a restaurant to be seated, keep it on for five minutes until your chips and salsa come out, then take it off and resume your normal dinner? I just don't get it.

My wife's boss is apoplectic that kids are going to have to wear masks in school to start the school year. She's saying she'll pull her kid out if not offered the option for remote learning. I mean, can you imagine that? Her kid is 10, it's not like he's 2 and cries because he has to wear a mask. This woman is so adamantly opposed to masks, because freedom, that she'd rather make her kid sit at home away from all his peers for another year, than have guy wear a mask. It's absolutely crazy.

I was at the doctor this morning. Of course, you wear a mask. It occurred to me as I was in the reception area and there was this skeezy-looking guy coughing up a lung, "Masks are a pretty solid idea, I may wear masks in doctors' offices forever now." I mean really. Other than those uninformed crazies that have turned mask mandates into some sort of personal constitutional crisis, I just don't get why anyone really cares at this point. Don't people want this shit to go away? Isn't that the whole point? None of us WANT to wear masks or any of that, but it's being done now so we don't have to later. Some people can't see the forest for the trees, I guess.

Americans can make their own decisions. Doesn't mean that those decisions don't have consequences (like being banned from public areas).

Many Americans think that freedom of choice means freedom of consequences. This shows me that many Americans are really dumb.

I'm actually all for rights and liberties but a year and a half of this has made me realize that, to a lot of people, rights and liberties means "you can't make me eat my broccoli, mom!"

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

PCR test I got yesterday came back in 27 hours, which is pretty great.

Dont think I’ve ever been more nervous to look at results before lol. To have a trip I’ve been planning for 4 months cancelled due to asymptomatic Covid would have been devastating.

 

[sbjnyc]

PCR test I got yesterday came back in 27 hours, which is pretty great.

Dont think I’ve ever been more nervous to look at results before lol. To have a trip I’ve been planning for 4 months cancelled due to asymptomatic Covid would have been devastating.

Can you get multiple tests on the same day? All you need is one negative test.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Can you get multiple tests on the same day? All you need is one negative test.

Yes, which I plan on doing next weekend before my trip anyway. This week was for peace of mind and to test the time it takes to get results.

But it’s kind of moot if I have asymptomatic Covid, no? They’ll all show up positive.

 

[sbjnyc]

Yes, which I plan on doing next weekend before my trip anyway. This week was for peace of mind and to test the time it takes to get results.

But it’s kind of moot if I have asymptomatic Covid, no? They’ll all show up positive.

The tests aren’t perfect. The only thing worse than canceling a trip because you have asymptomatic Covid is canceling a trip because of a false positive.

okay getting hit hard by Covid is worse.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

The tests aren’t perfect. The only thing worse than canceling a trip because you have asymptomatic Covid is canceling a trip because of a false positive.

okay getting hit hard by Covid is worse.

Fair enough. I plan on taking multiple tests either way - hopefully they’re all just negative anyway.

 

[I Eat Crow]

I mean, I'm fine with that. If that's the thought, the non-vaccinated should see a COVID exclusion on their health insurance (since health insurance is a pool, my premiums are paying for their treatment) as well as being banned from taking up ICU beds.

Not my job to protect them once they get sick.

This is already happening.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

This is already happening.

Not doubting, but where did you see that?

 

[I Eat Crow]

Not doubting, but where did you see that?

Just by word of mouth, but a colleague of mine's wife was told by their employer that they would be charged a premium on their health insurance coverage if they are not COVID vaccinated. It's not the actual insurance company that's doing this....yet, but the employer that's charging the surcharge, which is 100% one of the shittiest things I've ever heard.

I do fear that insurance companies charging COVID vaccine premiums for not being vaccinated is coming, but to me, that would be dubious at best for something that's not fully FDA approved yet. FWIW, I was one of the first in line to get the vaccine as an NP. The numbers don't lie. The vaccine works and is very safe. That said, none of the vaccines out there are FDA approved yet, though they will be soon. Until then, seeing the federal government mandating their employees to get the vaccine is absolutely shocking to me. Private sector companies can set their own policies and procedures, but my jaw literally dropped when I saw the government mandating the vaccines.

As a bar certified practitioner of law, I'm very curious about your take on it. Though I think a large scale class action lawsuit is not likely to be successful, it's incomprehensible to me that the public sector is mandating something that's not fully FDA approved yet. Of course, this all goes out the window when full FDA approval will be granted in months, if not weeks.

On an unrelated note, the media fear mongering is real. I see lines around the buildings at the local Costco again. People need to calm down. The vaccine is working. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID are way down even though case numbers are increasing.

 

[sbjnyc]

I don't think it would be legal.

 

[Machinehead]

If you see anything about dwindling effectiveness/efficacy, keep in mind that this is a relative number.

Take, for example, the Austin TX area which is tracking hospitalization shares.

Uh oh! Nearly 17% of them are vaccinated!

But then look at Virginia's data. Virginia is tracking raw totals.

That yellow line is vaccinated people and it never moved. What we see here is shares vs totals at work. The share went up because the unvaccinated pollution saw an improvement, with this improvement being reflected in the drastic dip of the blue line. The improvement is due to the fact that many of them ended up getting vaccines and many others already got covid and are now immune at least for a time.

In other words, yellow got closer to blue not because yellow went up but because blue came way down. This can be expressed, statically, in a relative drop in vaccine effectiveness which measures shares.

To use a hockey example, let's say Kreider scores 50 points in 21-22. Before the 22-23 season, Panarin announces his retirement to become a space minister. Kreider scores 50 points again. Without Panarin's 112, his point share skyrockets. He is now statically "more effective" in the sense that he's driving more of our offense, even though he's the same player.

 

[sbjnyc]

What am I missing here? The numbers literally don't add up.

 

[Peltz]

Still, at the end of day, my post was really about the one thing--why is wearing a mask a big deal? Whether it's the government mandating it or the private restauranteur, it just doesn't both me in the slightest. Wearing a mask, after all this time, it's just not a bother for me. I learned to wear seatbelts after growing up laying on the floor for long car rides. My kids learned to wear helmets when riding bikes and scooters. It's just not a big thing, for me, and I still don't really understand why it is for most of those that are opposed to it. It's like putting on socks for me, at this point, but on my face. It's NBD.

It's not a big deal. Wearing a mask is a nothing level of effort and inconvenience.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

PCR test I got yesterday came back in 27 hours, which is pretty great.

Dont think I’ve ever been more nervous to look at results before lol. To have a trip I’ve been planning for 4 months cancelled due to asymptomatic Covid would have been devastating.

Same thing happened to me last week, and it was negative. Glad you get to go

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Same thing happened to me last week, and it was negative. Glad you get to go

Not out of the woods yet! That was just a test run.

My flight is this Sunday, so I’ll go get tested Friday and Saturday just to be safe. I feel fine though and haven’t done anything crazy this past week, so should be fine.

 

[bobbop]

I just got home from Iceland. Had PCV test 3 days prior and tested every day on the ship. All negative. Foreign countries are simply not letting anyone in who tests positive and you need a negative test to get back in the US.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

It's not a big deal. Wearing a mask is a nothing level of effort and inconvenience.

It's gotten to the point of little effort when I stopped wearing them outside, but I've always still hated them. I really hope some day soon we can all stop wearing them. Plus if I'm on a plain ride that's hours long that would be brutal.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I went to a party and one person wasn't vaccinated and tested positive. I got my test today, but I've felt no symptoms. I'm expecting it to be negative. I haven't had one test done and now I have had like two in a week and a half, the first was negative and I assume so will the second one be.

 

[eco's bones]

I just got home from Iceland. Had PCV test 3 days prior and tested every day on the ship. All negative. Foreign countries are simply not letting anyone in who tests positive and you need a negative test to get back in the US.

We’re hoping to go to Iceland once my cancer maintenance normalizes and the covid thing hopefully is more in the rear view mirror (if that ever happens). The Northern Lights for us is one main attraction but when my brother was in the Air Force (and I think he was in 13/14 years) that was his favorite time and place bar none.

 

[Negan4Coach]

It's not a big deal. Wearing a mask is a nothing level of effort and inconvenience.

It is nothing to people like you and me who go into the grocery store, for 20 min. It is a BFD to people who have to wear them all day every day. Wow.

 

[Peltz]

It is nothing to people like you and me who go into the grocery store, for 20 min. It is a BFD to people who have to wear them all day every day. Wow.

After a while, you don't even realize it's there. Like any other article of clothing you wear.

 

[Leonardo87]

I’m heading to Florida next week. Should be interesting.

 

[Negan4Coach]

After a while, you don't even realize it's there. Like any other article of clothing you wear.

Not if you're wearing one that actually DOES something other than give you the opportunity to virtue signal, like a KN-95. That is all I wear, and you notice it, and would suck if you wore it all day.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Not out of the woods yet! That was just a test run.

My flight is this Sunday, so I’ll go get tested Friday and Saturday just to be safe. I feel fine though and haven’t done anything crazy this past week, so should be fine.

Oh shit. Lol.

Its pretty crazy to think about the state of things right now and the last what 18 months?