Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston: rent, how much, houses)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Same here, along with BS conspiracy theories and such. Many of my hobbies are conservative leaving. They amount of garbage I've been reading is astounding. I have to just step away. I used to think I was conservative leaning. Now I don't know where I fit in.

I laughed at the auto-substitute.


The guy I did all my startups with is sucked into the whole Fox News thing. He's putting anti-vax stuff up on Facebook every day. I just shake my head and wonder about the private equity investment I have in his current startup. He's bright and well-educated. I guess anyone can get absorbed into the cult. I can understand voting Republican as a high income person to try to limit my tax burden but this guy put his father in a Florida hospital after a pre-shutdown NYC business trip followed by a family Disney trip. I guess that because he didn't kill off a family member, it's OK to be anti-vax and call COVID-19 the China flu.


I'm your basic Massachusetts Republican from the Rockefeller Republican era. Fiscal conservative. Social moderate. I don't begrudge paying taxes but I want value for those dollars. I'd rather spend on education to break the cycle of generational poverty than welfare and consider education an infrastructure investment. I'm not at all represented by either political party.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I prefer "civic duty" to "patriotic". I guess you need to use "patriotic" with the mouth breathers. My news feed is saying almost half of Trump voters won't vaccinate. WTF!

Well, while I recognize that patriotism and nationalism can be abused and misused by those with bad intentions, I guess I still don't see that tainting the concepts so much that they are dirty words. Civic duty is good too though.

And yes, I saw that 10% of Biden voters report they won't get the vaccine and 47% of Trump voters report the same thing. It's really difficult to fathom, whether you're thinking about the science, the damage from the pandemic, or even the politics. Heck, Trump was a real supporter of the vaccine effort, and in particular, the "Operation Warp Speed" drive to speed up the development process. He's even expressed unhappiness that he's not being celebrated more now... so if you're a Trump voter, and even if you're only thinking about the politics, why would you be against the vaccine? If it's actually because they want Biden to fail by implication, that they prefer the pandemic's ravages to be greater on the nation, those are pathologically screwed-up priorities.

It will make a big difference if 40% of Americans decline the vaccine versus say 5-10%... and can assist the evolution of more easily transmitted and/or more virulent forms, since you'll have a larger pool of susceptible hosts for them to evolve in.

[redplum33]

And this is why I'm not really concerned about the people who are overeager to get the vaccine and attempt to "cut in line". I'm not defending that behavior, but the people who refuse to get vaccinated are the real problem IMO.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Same here, along with BS conspiracy theories and such. Many of my hobbies are conservative leaning. They amount of garbage I've been reading is astounding. I have to just step away. I used to think I was conservative leaning. Now I don't know where I fit in.




EDIT: oops auto-correct

My guess is you are an actual conservative, and that they aren't now and never were.

[NewfieMama]

I am one of the people who is not itching to get the vaccine. I'm not an anti-vaxxer, and I think the fact that we have such an effective vaccine that was developed this quickly is absolutely amazing. But I would prefer to see some long-term data before getting it myself. I'm in a very low-risk group for COVID, in fact I had it a few weeks ago and was so unbothered by it that I would prefer COVID over a mosquito bite. Thankfully I didn't even spread it to my own immediate family--spreading it was my only concern.

I think most people who are not keen on getting the vaccine are more like me than vocal anti-vaxxers. There are many of us who are low risk and are waiting for full FDA approval or long-term data before we inject ourselves. I think it's great that those who are older and high-risk are getting the vaccine--they have more to gain by getting it.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by bohemka

That's ridiculous. That'd be like one of our presidents signing his name on a stimulus check so people thought it came from him. Could you imagine?

In other news about efficacy, I read a short piece the other day on NPR that essentially cautioned the average Joe to stop throwing forth opinions on what shot did what. Some of you here may know what you're talking about, as we do live in a hub for this sort of stuff, but the vast majority—here, and especially elsewhere across this country—have absolutely no clue how one should interpret efficacy rates. Pfizer vs. Moderna. vs. J&J vs. etc. Even the topmost experts have no idea what the efficacy rates are because all of the tests were done differently.

Get a needle in your arm, yes, but stop playing armchair epidemiologists.

Lest anyone thought I was making this up about India's vaccination certificates:

https://theprint.in/india/governance...es-cry/612716/

Oh and it's not a coincidence as to why Modi & a certain former President got along so well.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I am one of the people who is not itching to get the vaccine. I'm not an anti-vaxxer, and I think the fact that we have such an effective vaccine that was developed this quickly is absolutely amazing. But I would prefer to see some long-term data before getting it myself. I'm in a very low-risk group for COVID, in fact I had it a few weeks ago and was so unbothered by it that I would prefer COVID over a mosquito bite. Thankfully I didn't even spread it to my own immediate family--spreading it was my only concern.

I think most people who are not keen on getting the vaccine are more like me than vocal anti-vaxxers. There are many of us who are low risk and are waiting for full FDA approval or long-term data before we inject ourselves. I think it's great that those who are older and high-risk are getting the vaccine--they have more to gain by getting it.

Obviously this is a personal medical decision and not on me or any forum member to tell you how to manage that. But let me just ask you one question. How much "long term data" do you require in order to be convinced enough to receive it? One year? Two years? Five years? The second part of that question is, can our country (both public health wise and the economy) afford to wait that long for the critical amount of the population to be "sold" on it?

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I am one of the people who is not itching to get the vaccine. I'm not an anti-vaxxer, and I think the fact that we have such an effective vaccine that was developed this quickly is absolutely amazing. But I would prefer to see some long-term data before getting it myself. I'm in a very low-risk group for COVID, in fact I had it a few weeks ago and was so unbothered by it that I would prefer COVID over a mosquito bite. Thankfully I didn't even spread it to my own immediate family--spreading it was my only concern.

I think most people who are not keen on getting the vaccine are more like me than vocal anti-vaxxers. There are many of us who are low risk and are waiting for full FDA approval or long-term data before we inject ourselves. I think it's great that those who are older and high-risk are getting the vaccine--they have more to gain by getting it.

Why would you be "itching to get the vaccine"? You just had the disease so you already most likely have a bunch of months of immunity. You can afford to wait for more longer term safety data to accumulate.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I think most people who are not keen on getting the vaccine are more like me than vocal anti-vaxxers. There are many of us who are low risk and are waiting for full FDA approval or long-term data before we inject ourselves. I think it's great that those who are older and high-risk are getting the vaccine--they have more to gain by getting it.

I'd guess you're probably right. I'm very much a believer in the vaccine (I'm fully vaccinated myself), but I've encountered a range of people who are skeptical/hesitant. I wouldn't paint them all (or even the majority) as anti-vaxx nuts. I have a friend who is a CO, had Covid, and isn't getting the vaccine for reasons similar to yours. A coworker who isn't anti-vaxx at all cited race and the newness of this vaccine and the U.S.'s not-so-great history of medical "experimentation" with people of color as her concern (though she thinks she'll eventually get it). But my deeply conservative father and grandfather? No hesitations - same with their peers (though someone did comment on a facebook post about the "nano bots" in the shot).

I've also seen some people start to come around on the vaccine. When we offered the vaccine through my employer, several "No thank you's" in January have been asking if they can now get it. I hope that's indicative of a bigger trend.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Why would you be "itching to get the vaccine"? You just had the disease so you already most likely have a bunch of months of immunity. You can afford to wait for more longer term safety data to accumulate.

Longer meaning "5 months" though, not so much "eh I'll stick it out 2 years or so to see how others..." that I constantly hear.