Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

They are beginning Monday. I’m not in that bracket.

 

I can’t speak for anyone else, but if I were in your shoes I wouldn’t have an ethical issue getting the parents in line, since they will almost certainly be eligible by the time the appointment arrives.

 

No, my parents qualified and got it.

The question was should my wife and I get it? Apparently, they are only making sure you have an appointment at the distribution sites, not checking to see if you meet eligibility requirements. When you go through the online process to get an appointment, it just accepts anyone and gives them an appointment even if they answer honestly and don’t meet eligibility standards.

My buddy thought he was going to get on a waiting list, ended up getting an appointment and got the vaccine without an issue.

I didn’t do it and maybe they’ll figure out what’s going on and stop it (or maybe they figure shots in arms is more important than turning people away), but I’m curious what people think.

If someone follows the process, answers honestly and still gets an appointment, do you think it’s acceptable for them to use their slot, or do ineligible people have a responsibility to wait until they qualify? I think it’s interesting moral/ethical question.

EDIT: this specifically applies to people following the process as run by the state, not bribing their way in, or calling in favors or politicking to get the shot.

 

If I was in your buddy’s shoes and thought I was setting up for the future only to be whisked into line with a waiting needle, yeah I would have gone ahead and done it. I’d have given myself a good ole guilt trip, but under those circumstances it can be considered honest good faith.

Now being in your shoes and knowing the score up front? I don’t think I could go through with it.

 

Yeah, he said he kept thinking at some point the system would tell him he was ineligible and put him on the wait list. Then he got the appointment and was like, well, I’ll give it a shot, figuring they’d turn him away. As you said, he felt a little guilty, but he also felt like he followed their process, he was honest and they let him get it, so screw it.

 

The speed of the hospital drops has slowed over the previous week for the second day in a row. But the entire difference is coming from snowed-in states (Texas alone accounts for about 1/3rd of the gap from where we are to where we would be if the same pace of drops had continued). States like Arizona, California and Florida are still dropping right on schedule, maybe even a little faster. My *guess* is that the hospitals are backing up a little bit because they aren't going to release people into an apocalyptic snow disaster and we'll see it even out in the next week or two. But that's just a guess.

The flip side of the same issue is that cases are dropping even faster than expected, and that's almost certainly being driven by low reporting from those same states. If you fill in where you'd "expect" them to be, the drops are right about on pace with where they have been for the last few weeks, which is insanely fast.

We have about the same number of cases now as we did during the July high of the second wave. But we are also doing a lot more testing back then. If you look at test positivity or try to estimate true infections like covid19-projections.com does, we're about even with some of the late-fall lulls, but still worse than the period between the March/April and Jun/July waves.

So all in all, still approaching the end at a breakneck speed, although things could always go wrong. It doesn't look like we got a Super Bowl spike as many predicted. I'm kind of hoping that the snowstorm turns into a de-facto lockdown for much of the country and really kicks the last leg out from under this thing, but that's more hope than prediction.

 

It is looking more and more like the pandemic is nearly over.

Opinion | We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April

 

It's cheap and easy to stay vigilant

 

The Rupert Murdoch corporatist foghorn.

 

In England, I knew "pissed" meant something different than in the States...but not that.

 

I’ve been sitting in line for the last half hour after an hour and a half drive to get poked. The crazy drivers are interesting. Not sure if they are cutting in line or trying to get Adobe m around. Waiting to see if people are throwing down. I may get my shot tomorrow. My appointment is in 5 minutes ... in theory.

 

There’s an ad to see The Weeknd in concert. I’m looking to see if I’ll still be in this line to see it. Some Karen in a Tesla is throwing some crumby food dish her gullet behind me. It’s making me think about my almond stash. Trying not to get into it so I don’t drink more water. I can tell my bladder is about to hate me.