Author Topic: Coronavirus COVID-19  (Read 65016 times)

charlie

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #405 on: June 15, 2021, 01:18:44 PM »
Yeah, but even the current administration who agrees that we should be helping the rest of the world doesn't seem to have the urgency I would expect. :|


ober

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #406 on: June 15, 2021, 02:39:10 PM »
I mean.... they just donated 500 million doses.  That's not nothing.

charlie

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #407 on: June 17, 2021, 06:57:57 PM »
There are over 7.8 billion people in the world. If 2.5 billion already have gotten vaccinated... that's 5.3 billion people left.

500 million isn't nothing, but it doesn't show any real sense of urgency either.

We've known this would be an issue for months and months. As soon as we got 90% efficacy data last year on the vaccines (and actually well before then) we should have been planning on how to vaccinate the entire world as quickly as possible with a realistic target of getting most everybody by winter in the northern hemisphere.

Hell even if you're America First this should have been a priority given how variants can still wreak havoc here if the rest of the world doesn't get vaccinated.

ober

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #408 on: June 19, 2021, 11:42:51 AM »
So.... it's our responsibility to take care of the rest of the world?  If 10 other countries did the same as us, problem solved.  I don't think that's unreasonable.  I get the 'it's everyone's problem', but I'm tired of our country trying to fix everything everywhere.  I'm not all super 'America First', but other countries need to have that mentality or we're all fucked.  There are too many countries just hoping the larger economies will swoop in and save everything.

charlie

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #409 on: June 21, 2021, 02:59:01 AM »
>> it's our responsibility?

No, it isn't. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do it.

I mean, if you think it's worth potentially a million more people dying just so that other countries learn that we're not always going to be there to save everything then I guess your position makes sense (except for the part about it also being worth it because it could very likely save American lives, too).

Honestly I don't see a difference between that and people who haven't been infected skipping vaccination, or people regularly going maskless indoors before the vaccines came out. In each of these cases we're asking people to consider the needs of others and do something that helps themselves a little and others a lot while not really being all that difficult to do.

ober

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #410 on: June 21, 2021, 08:18:00 AM »
I think you're twisting my words a bit.  I'm not saying we shouldn't do it.  My question is, why aren't any of the other larger countries doing their part?

charlie

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #411 on: June 21, 2021, 12:00:06 PM »
Ok, fair. I've got no problem with that question being asked if it isn't meant as an excuse for our country to not do anything.

My criticism isn't limited to the U.S. It also applies to every other country that has secured and administered plenty of doses of the vaccine and has the means and capability to distribute more around the world and push manufacturing forward to make enough for everybody ASAP.

Mike

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #412 on: July 02, 2021, 01:57:20 PM »
Well, I now know of at least one person who left (not from my team) because of the return to office.  He moved to another school with full-time telecommute.

Work just announced moving to three days a week.  Meeting with our manager to discuss it this afternoon.  Surveying our team to find out what days work for them but also to gauge the response to it.  Going to push to keep us at no more than 2 days / week.  I was going to wait for it to settle down but since management announced the change I guess it is time to bring it up.

ober

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #413 on: July 30, 2021, 09:55:49 AM »
Looks like we're headed back to wearing masks.  One of the guys at work just told me that even though him and his wife were vaccinated, that his wife got COVID.  I don't know if her being pregnant has anything to do with it but I guess she falls into that small percentage.  And it sucks for him too because they've been super careful.

hans

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #414 on: July 30, 2021, 10:31:05 AM »
Getting COVID is probably inevitable, but being vaccinated against it massively increases the odds it's not going to kill you (captain obvious). I'm still baffled but just how poorly US society has dealt with this. I think it shows just how arrogant we've become collectively.

I'd love to see us just all (or mostly all) wear masks each fall/winter and knock down the flu each year, which I think is probably the measure we should set for how bad COVID is doing.

And I'm equally confused by the back to work thing. Companies are like we all need to be in the office and be together, yet I'm pretty sure that's exactly the opposite of what we should be doing to limit continuing spread. And a tiny rant of the outdated idea that people need to be together for collaboration when most teams probably have some remote people anyways is just silly too.

I've still been wearing a mask even though I'm vaccinated since I'm pretty sure they're still unsure if you can be a carrier and infect other people who are unable to get the vaccine or immunocompromised and thus stuck with the vaccine not helping them out.
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ober

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #415 on: July 30, 2021, 12:05:58 PM »
Yeah, I've only really stopped wearing a mask in the past month and still wear them in some places.  And I'm surprised by your comment about the company thing.  Most companies around here have pretty much gone 'remote first' (specifically my company) but I guess I have heard of others that are pushing people back into the office.  I also don't see the point in rushing people back into buildings.

hans

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #416 on: July 30, 2021, 12:37:16 PM »
My wife's big financial company is trying to get people back in (and failing) and lots of the ones around here are trying to get people back in the office. Thankfully my company has no plans yet, even though we just leased a new office about six months before the pandemic. I think it's going to be interesting seeing how this all shakes out for the big companies that are doing the mandate thing. Also seems lots of companies are doing "remote" things but requiring some days per week in the office which seems silly too. This whole thing highlights just how clueless we all are. Same goes for schools I think.
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hans

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #417 on: July 30, 2021, 12:40:54 PM »
I'm not looking forward to going back even though we have a nice office. I've invested in my home setup and really like my big widescreen monitor and desk. I can probably get them to buy me one but what's the point? I think we've done pretty well with Zoom calls and Slack thus far and with the occasional office get together, which can wait a few more months, I think it's likely we'll just let people work where they want and get a smaller space when our lease is up. We were a distributed company before the pandemic so we already had a pretty good system in place for the folks that weren't centrally located near the office.
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Mike

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #418 on: July 30, 2021, 03:45:57 PM »
Sacramento county just started mandating masks for everyone when indoors.  Work just had us go from 2 days/week in office to 3 starting this week.  I tried to keep my team on 2 days but the big boss said no.  The sucky part is that per the mandate rules we'd have to wear the mask all day at our desk as we don't have individual offices.  So, hoping they relax the in-office requirement.

As for remote vs in-office:  Honestly, in-office has some benefits (quick collaborations, better non-verbal feedback [and even minor vocalizations]) that shouldn't be dismissed.  But, I think it is a bad idea to force everyone back in.  We are also fighting the "we need to be equatable to everyone" mentality where the programmers need to be in 3 days because the accounting staff need to be 3 days.


I will say though, one good thing is that I don't feel weird wearing a mask when I'm not feeling 100%.  Earlier in the week I had a couple days where I wasn't feeling great but didn't think it was serious but I threw a mask on when going out (groceries / drive thru).

hans

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Re: Coronavirus COVID-19
« Reply #419 on: July 30, 2021, 04:51:55 PM »
I will say though, one good thing is that I don't feel weird wearing a mask when I'm not feeling 100%.  Earlier in the week I had a couple days where I wasn't feeling great but didn't think it was serious but I threw a mask on when going out (groceries / drive thru).

I'm really hoping we can keep that part without it being awkward. The rest of the world seems to have figured it out except us. A little signal to say stay away from me.
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