I am the sole caretaker of mother who lives alone and now needs an aide. I and she can’t afford private care but mother qualifies for community Medicaid in NY ( Nassau County).
Major obstacle that no one seems to be addressing ( ie. politicians and home healthcare agencies) is that the aides refuse to Covid vaccinate and / or covid test weekly. I will not allow anyone near my 90 yr old mother who isn’t and the agencies I’ve contacted are matter-of-fact about it and not forthcoming. They simply say they’re awaiting CDC guidelines.
I don’t hear religious institutions putting in their 2cents about this and getting politically involved ( like they do with abortion etc).
Americans care about their entertainment venues being safe PERIOD. I’m 2nd gen American and find this pathetic how we don’t care for our elderly seniors. Tells us who we are on every level.
Every drug advertised on TV has to have a disclaimer at the end where they very quickly list all the bad side effects. Not so with the vaccines, all we hear is ‘the vaccines are safe and effective.’ If you look online, you may find some non-consequential short term side effects, but absolutely no long term side effects.
I wonder what effects the vaccines might have on girls and young women 10-20 years later with regards to their ability to get pregnant and have healthy children.
On that same note, what effects the vaccines will have on men? Will their sperms be healthy? Will sperm counts be affected?
This side effect is a HUGE one. But of course no doctors or politicians in charge will tell the public anything bad except the vaccines are safe and effective.
By the way, all the pharmaceuticals that produce the vaccines are indemnified from ANY and ALL liabilities related to all deaths and injuries caused by their vaccines. Meanwhile, they are raking in billions of dollars selling their overnight vaccines to the government. One dose, 2 doses, booster doses, the more doses, the richer they are. Without any liability.
I am absolutely not talking about this from a ‘moral’ viewpoint. I couldn’t care less about if the swingers wish to live an ‘alternative lifestyle,’ if that floats their boats. If they want to take the risks of being a swinger, so be it.
I realize that we are a tourist city. These swingers bring in tons of money due to being guests at our hotels and eating in our restaurants, but last year in the peak of COVID, there were tons of new COVID outbreaks because they said that as much as they tried to social distance, that they caved in on the last night and started hooking up with each other. The couple who run this ‘swingers club’ are nuts! The wife has an autoimmune disorder. Lots of them got Covid and spread it around like fools!
So now we have these idiots walking around our streets wearing their stupid ‘lanyards’ so they can recognize each other. Grrrrrrr. These freaking swingers are not going to social distance, nor or they going to be vaccinated or wear masks in their hotel rooms. Everyone knows why they won’t!!!! The poor people innocent around them will once again become infected. It’s sickening. Greedy hotels that want the business but it’s going to bite them in the a** in the long run because non swingers people won’t stay there in the future.
At least their ‘sexual freedom’ parade in the French Quarter was canceled. It’s $700 a couple to attend this event. It’s all about money and of course their ‘alternative lifestyle.’ The news hit our newspaper again. You can read about this foolishness at Nola.com. Last year they said that they were opening another club up in Mexico.
The side-effects from these vaccines are real, read Stacy's comment; I myself was passing out after the Moderna shot #2 and DH was wanting to take me to the ER. Who knows what the long term effects will truly BE? But most just want to poo-poo that away, brush it all under the rug as if there ARE no long term effects from an experimental jab. That's what is unwise & foolish here, in reality.
We should all be up in arms about such a thing. We should all be very afraid of such a mandate happening and our rights being taken away from us! THIS is a much bigger threat to our freedom than a virus with a hugely high survival rate.
It's ludicrous to say "Americans care about their entertainment venues being safe PERIOD. I’m 2nd gen American and find this pathetic how we don’t care for our elderly seniors. Tells us who we are on every level." This 'vaccine' does not prevent you from getting the virus nor does it 'keep you safe in your entertainment venue'! My cousins just contracted Covid after being vaccinated and 'hiding out in fear at home' for the past 1 year +. True story. So the moral of the story is this: If you breathe air, vaccinated or not, you can contract the virus. Nobody is 'safe' from it, vaccinated or not. Treating our unvaccinated population like lepers doesn't make YOU better than them b/c you were vaccinated b/c you have just as good a chance of getting the virus as THEY do.
Stop the insanity & the division in this world that's now happening due to who's vaccinated & who isn't. Who really cares? Realize that it's a personal CHOICE whether to take these jabs or not, and move on with your lives. Stop raking one another over the coals and lashing out over who's 'right' and who's 'wrong'. Chances are good that we are ALL going to get Covid, vaccinated or not. And chances are also good that the vast majority of us will SURVIVE it.
Now, you're saying that social distancing was the reason for practicall no flu deaths, then why did COVID deaths explode? That's illogical. Keep in mind both flu and COVID have roughly the same 98% survival rate.
If flu vaccines are only 40%-69% effective, and that we've been working and refining the flu vaccines for decades, then how can the COVID vaccines which were rushed in less than a year or so and used under emergency authorization be claimed to have a 90% or more effectiveness? That's illogical.
Also, record numbers of leople got flu vaccine last season.
Say prayers for all who have COVID and certainly pray for all healthcare workers. Healthcare workers are the angels that are walking among us right now.
Our stats speak for themselves. Louisiana is not in a good place at the moment.
I agree that cases of Covid include those who got hit by buses but also tested positive, but no secret was ever made of that point: they're collecting data on prevalence which must necessarily include every identified case. More responsible publications have routinely spelled out "deaths within 28 days of a positive test" but this is wordy and would ruin a well-crafted tabloid headline. Blame the media for being incapable of presenting a clear narrative, if you like.
That’s a fantastic greeting in my book! I am glad that your workers were fully vaccinated. Yay! Good for them!
It’s puzzling as to why people are opposed to getting the vaccine here. I have faith in our governor and mayor. They seem to be taking it seriously.
I feel for our health care workers. I pray for all of you that are working in health care.
My godson works in the film industry here. He has to be tested weekly.
This week I've had a plumber, a carpenter and two delivery/installation men in the house fitting my new washing machine. I'm amused and pleased to report that instead of "hello" we all exchanged vaccination credentials and everybody was AOK :)
Our musicians have just started playing live music here again and some of the venues are now saying that people will have to show proof of vaccinations before entering the club. I am starting to wonder if we are facing a lockdown again. I hate these fake proof of COVID vaccination documentation.
Unless there is a medical reason not to be vaccinated, everyone should get the vaccine, for themselves and the rest of us. I hear really ridiculous reasons why people aren’t getting them. I can’t believe that people believe that they are being injected with a chip and other crazy crap.
I am truly hoping that more people will get the shot. Our state has done lotteries to encourage people. I think we are all going to need booster shots. We have been told that over 90 percent of our hospitalized patients are those that have not been vaccinated.
There are businesses here are in need of employees because they have people who have gotten COVID and quarantining.
It’s sad. So, please pray for people to get the vaccine here in Louisiana. I think we all agree that it is quite disturbing and everyone is very tired of being fearful of this new variant, due to it being more contagious and aggressive. My cousins are still suffering with COVID. They didn’t want the vaccine. Sadly, they continued to believe that they wouldn’t get it and attend a ‘mega church,’ go out to eat and so on, all while unmasked.
Stay safe, everyone!
2019/2020 flu season: 24,000-62,000 deaths
2020/2021 flu season: 645
645 deaths? Really? I question the accuracy of that number. Why such as drastic drop? Could it be that most of deaths due to flu were classified as COVID? Hospitals were instructed by the White House COVID Response team to label every death as COVID even if the deceased contracted the virus but did not die from it. So, someone died from a gun shot wound but contracted the virus while in the hospital would be labeled as COVID death. Hmm.
Now, they are reporting that the majority of deaths and hospitalizations were from unvaccinated people. I question the veracity of that claim.
Personally, I don't believe those White House doctors. They have turned into politicians. And I do not trust politicians.
I see the media (Twitter, FB, YouTube, etc.) working in concert with the politicians to shut down, censor anyone who question or have a different view on COVID and the vaccines. They also shut down and censor anyone who sound the alarm on the rising number of vaccine deaths and injuries'. This is the definition of fascism.
You have absolutely no concept of what socialized health care is. Do some research.
And "demanding healthy people be injected with drugs is inhumane and unethical" is one of the most ridiculous statements I've read. Perhaps you should do some research on previous epidemics, and widespread contagion. Look up polio and see how many people it affected, and how they were affected. Do some research on third world countries and see how devastating epidemics can be.
I hope you have the common sense to stay away from others. I wouldn't want someone with your attitude anywhere near me.
And I hope that like many others who won't vaccinate that you don't contract the disease.
In March 2020, family was locked out of my parents' assisted-living facility. About two weeks later, they moved in with us; and it's obvious that they are now here permanently, unless the time comes that we can no longer care for them due to our own health issues or something drastically bad happens to one of them.
We haven't found a single caregiving agency in our area (other than hospice) that does testing of in-home caregivers.
With two 90-plus invalid parents here, we buy lots of KN-95 masks and hand cleaner. Anyone coming into our house has to remove their own mask if they have one on (few discard a surgical or KN-95 mask in less than a week, according to what most tell us), sanitize their hands, and put on a new one of ours to use while here. We put on new masks ourselves before opening the door, and parents also wear them as possible while receiving care from hospice nurse, bath aide, etc. When anyone leaves, any surface they've touched is disinfected. I'm so thankful that we can afford to buy these things!
I don't personally put a lot of faith in the vaccines OR testing to keep my parents or us from getting COVID. We know we're taking a risk anytime anyone comes in, which is a minimum of four times weekly - and we also had 8-16 hours of paid agency caregiving (no testing, no vaccine requirement) daily for several weeks, which we just ended last week, mainly because the caregiver has several school-aged children who will be back in school shortly.
We wear masks when we go out, do drive-through for groceries and meds, order things online almost daily, don't eat out or do other unnecessary public activity. We're rarely in public buildings for anything other than medical care; exceptions are for things like getting car re-licensed. We shower and change clothes as soon as we get home, bagging dirty clothes and leaving them in garage until laundry is done. We follow CDC hand-washing/hand-sanitizing guidelines. We check all our temps AM and PM. Telehealth/virtual office visits and lots of phone calls to doctors' nurses and the pharmacy reduce potential exposure to COVID carriers.
Despite all this, we can get COVID-19. That's a fact we can't change. We just do what we can to minimize the risk.
We've gotten lots of rude comments from various people, including family, who feel we're obsessing about COVID risk. We can take that. Some people have had to walk away from our door without coming inside, because they refused to do as asked. But the people who come regularly just follow our rules; and most of them now think we've been wise to be so careful. The faith they had in vaccines and testing is lessening, now that long-term immunity is in doubt, transmissible breakthrough infections are occurring in the vaccinated, COVID variants create new concerns, etc. We have no idea if the vaccines "took" with my parents and whether they actually have any significant immunity.
Many of our hospice caregivers had COVID themselves or in their family, before vaccination was available. Testing by the agency may have helped them know sooner that they needed to isolate, or we may just have been lucky not to catch it from them.
Both parents have been in the ER and hospital, between the end of May and July. We were appalled by the carelessness of staff regarding sanitation every time, and the care left much to be desired; my parents have still not recovered from the neglect they suffered in hospital. Hospice says the hospitals are too short-staffed and too tired to keep high standards anymore.
Wishing you and your Mom the best, whatever you decide to do.
"...many who are capable of helping the situation only see their actions from a personal freedom or no-need-at-the-moment point of view. "
Truer words were never written. The self absorption of some Americans is more than sad and regrettable; it's dangerous.
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/03/scicheck-texas-doctor-spreads-false-claims-about-covid-19-vaccines/
My very foolish cousins who ‘don’t believe’ in the shot, all got COVID! Yep, it started when the eight year old got COVID, then the twelve year old, then mom and dad got it! I am so glad that I declined to have lunch with my cousin.
They had the Delta variant which is rapidly rising here. Breakthrough cases are happening in the fully vaccinated. My daughter got Covid after being fully vaccinated. In fact, her entire office is vaccinated and several employees got Covid. My daughter ran a fever, respiratory issues, no taste or smell, body aches and fatigue. The new strain is highly contagious!
We are not going to rid our world of Covid until everyone has had their shots..... similar to back when my generation all got our Small Pox vaccine and the Polio vaccine.
I know a family that has insisted upon their rights i.e. no mandates. An elder step parent was already ill and got Covid shortly before he died. A more distant relative in the same family (young/middle age couple) each caught Covid. She recovered with little problem. Her husband got bad enough to need the ventilator. Gradually the family is shifting it's attitudes to mirror their experience.
What I'm taking away from this whole mess as it unfolds, it's hard to care about others if we don't care about ourselves. No cares, no connections to the bigger world. I guess we need the staff, employers, and sometimes the government to step in and require we do something we don't want to do - wearing masks to start. Covid is a public enemy and has to be taken seriously.
I would still tell the agency I want their staff to wear masks when in Mom's house. I'd have a box of masks on hand and give one to the staff as they arrive.
All non-human service companies that I've had to call upon - technicians, landscapers, mechanics usually have a mask and wear and do when asked to do so. So, if non-human services staff can accommodate such requests, I think the agency and/or staff you're dealing with are trying to pass the buck.
The hourly staff from a care agency probably has to be taught to look out for herself because the employer certainly is not helping. If she learns to look out for herself, she'll know to look out for you mom. She is a part of the bigger world once she steps beyond her own person and property.
And yes - religion and politics are both very selective. Covid is a test of whether or not persons and institutions are able and willing to respond to the needs to protect our young and old. We've had plenty of examples of religion and politics being put ahead of healthcare for both vulnerable and healthier populations.
I know a nurse who says we do what matters in life. Until we view everyone's health and life to be just as important as ours, you and Mom have to somehow be able to get the staff to wear masks when at your home.