Snuggie

I was in the same boat, though I was picked up on my second look. 6. From what I've been told PC after being passed over twice isn't impossible, though it takes some extra paperwork. As long as the unit you want to join see it as you getting screwed over by AD and not being a bad bro they will be able to hire you. I was prepared to go down that road but then I was picked up the 2nd look and dropped it. Good luck, it was a massive gut punch for me to be considered bottom 7% of my year group when I did what the AF asked of me. But it made my stay/go decision easier as I knew what big AF thought about my chance to make O-5 and I didn't need to roll the dice.

Article: WSJ Now that my wife has had her first COVID vaccine dose, and gave birth to her comorbidity (his name is Dylan), we have changed our behaviors to including getting my first massage in 15 months. I'm excited to go out to a restaurant after her 2nd dose has taken full effect in a few weeks.

“The vaccine, which is being rolled out in a national immunization program that began Dec. 20, was 89.4% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed infections, according to a copy of a draft publication that was posted on Twitter and confirmed by a person familiar with the work.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-21/pfizer-biontech-shot-stops-covid-s-spread-israeli-study-shows I hope this is right because it changes the conversation about the vaccine. I think you could convince quite a few people to get it if they knew they could safely see their high risk family members again without transmitting it. I know my families behavior will change significantly once my in-laws and my kid’s nanny’s 2d doses take full effect.

We looked into getting solar when we lived in Las Vegas. You can get a good deal on panels and not have to pay anything for electricity. I knew guys who had Teslas and their monthly electric bill and commuting cost to Creech was $0. But leased panels are a pain to deal with when selling a house. My wife is a Realtor and has to deal with a few solar panel sales. I would only put them on a house I planned on staying in long term.

5-6 for Pfizer and 10 for Moderna. The timing is slightly different (somewhere between 6-10 hours) but you start a clock once the vial is taken out of the freezer to use before they expire. So I am happy that people are transitioning from "get the dose in the correct tiered arm" to "get the dose in an arm" when required.

My health system has given at least one dose of a COVID vaccine to 71% of its staff. We are doing a final first round vaccine clinic tomorrow so I expect that number to increase by a few points. I don’t have the exact number but we had a percentage of people who wanted to “wait and see” when we first started in December that are now getting the vaccine. We should get our hard declinations soon as we require people to make their choice known.

I don't hate the idea IF it was a part of a national PR campaign. With so many people being concerned about the speed of the development of the vaccine I would invite celebrities (I don't have to know who they are) that are respected by groups that are being hesitant about receiving the vaccine. Get a Tik Tok star, some professional athletes, The Rock, and an influencer, put them on TV getting the vaccine and have them use their social media to get the word out. Maybe wait a few weeks until the 65+ age group is done but don't be afraid to give it earlier. This also wouldn't be the first time the US has done this, Elvis helped out with the polio vaccine: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/18/elvis-presley-polio-vaccine-confidence-448131

Second dose slightly worse than the first. Sore arm and got hit with fatigue the day after the vaccine. Heard a variety of side effects from staff coming in for their second vaccine, most were pretty mild. My hospital has enough doses to give everybody who wants one a vaccine and should finish with first doses within the next few weeks. I disagree with many parts of my state's COVID policy but they have done a good job so far with vaccinations. Of course the hardest part is ahead as the vaccinations need to go out to the general population.

11U. I'm for enforced mask wearing in public (no mask no service). For closing in-person dining and bars (too much long close contact w/o mask). Probably for closing gyms (I'm torn since the COVID risk is elevated but working out will help you not die from it). Indifferent to other businesses as long as masking is universal. Targeted stimulus to make sure we aren't throwing a bunch of people on the streets in the middle of winter/during a 3rd wave. And for stimulus to help small businesses. I would trade accuracy for speed until we can get wings level and figure out a path forward.

I've also been surprised at the number of medical staff at my hospital have refused the vaccine so far. I would peg it at 10-20% though the actual number could be higher. We gave people a chance to wait and not outright decline the vaccine though I know soon we will require an official declination. I have no idea how many people will change their mind once they see their coworkers get both rounds (our second round starts tomorrow) and see that they don't turn into a 5G tower. Some states have done a better job than others at this: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/ . It's interesting to see it isn't really a red vs blue thing on distribution (SD and ME are both doing really well). I now think that our desire to get the vaccine to "the right people" is slowing down the effort, especially if the "right" people are dragging their feet. Give them a chance and move on if they don't want it right then. To my knowledge in my 4 hospital system we haven't wasted a dose because we couldn't find an arm to put it in. But we have had to go to some lengths to find one last person to get vaccinated at each shot clinic.

I don't think that quite fair because the US is far richer than those countries. We have the money to wrap our hands around this. A more equal comparison would be the EU: https://www.gzeromedia.com/the-graphic-truth-two-different-pandemics-eu-vs-us-12072020 Different countries with different rules, higher income and education, and a variety of political leaders. Though they are getting hit hard right now (I'm sure the UK variant isn't helping) the US has kept a higher case load and death count throughout the pandemic vs what Europe has had.

It was blind luck. I was helping administer vaccines for my hospital. We had two extra Pfizer doses and couldn't find any front line staff in the hospital that was able and willing to take it before the dose expired. Had we found two additional people I would have waited. I expected to receive it early (as my state's plan involves vaccinating all hospital staff in the first group) but not this early.

Through some luck and timing I was offered and given the Pfizer COVID vaccine yesterday from my civilian job. So far the only side effect I've noticed is my arm being sore. Otherwise I feel fine. It's only 50ish% effective after one dose so I won't change any of my behaviors until a few weeks after my second dose.

Shack. Members of this board have talked about pilot burnout and lack of appreciation for years, if we don’t change course we could very well do the same thing to our medical staff. It’s easy for them to quit and transfer their skills to an outpatient setting. It’s also hard to look at ICU beds now because their use always lags infections by 2-4 weeks. So hospitals won’t see the results of Thanksgiving gatherings until mid December and by then it will be too late. Finally from what I’ve been told within our medical system COVID patients require a lot more work then a typical ICU patient. Add that to being in a MOPP 4 level of protection every time you step into a room for 9+ months and you have a recipe for burnout.

-I would like to see more emphasis placed on not working/going to school when sick. Zoom class for when somebody is sick. Make sick days something people take without getting question. Ideally mandate them but I know that won’t fly in the US. -Telemedicine options. Do I really need to go into a doctors office for everything? No and it keeps me from being in a room with other sick people. -Wearing mask when you have a cold/don’t feel well but still need to be in public. There is data suggesting the reason Japan and other countries in the region had lower rates of COVID is because mask usage was already a cultural norm.

If we had better contract tracing I would be all for this. If there is one ICU bed and it’s between an essential worker and somebody who has weekly house parties? Sucks to suck but the essential worker gets the bed and the partier get to live with their decisions. Hospitals are already preparing to ration care (and some have started). Personal actions are not playing a role in who will get rationed care but I think it should. If we are going to scream personal liberty then the flip side of liberty (dealing with consequences) should play a role in who receives life saving care with COVID.

Life comes at you fast: Everybody talks a big game until they get a bad case.

If we had a unified federal response to COVID you would have President Trump and President-elect Biden, along with major players from both sides, getting the vaccine together and publicly. I do understand some reluctance to the vaccine but I am firmly in the camp that the disease is worse then the cure so I will be getting it as soon as I am authorized to. I had a talk with my dad yesterday (who was a fighter pilot in the 80's) and the same discussion about the COVID vaccine was happening about the anthrax vaccine. Lots of people concerned that the shot would be worse than the small chance they would be attacked with anthrax. History might not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme.

If we had enough N95 mask for everybody I would agree with you. Those who are concerned could wear a N95 and protect themselves while everybody else could live their best lives. I purchased KN95 mask (not exactly the same but a step up from a surgical mask) specifically to use when I am forced, due to job requirements, to sit two feet away from another person for two hours at a time. But we don't N95s for everybody. The studies on mask usage varies on how well they work but everything points to masks reducing the number of COVID virus particles that a sick person (even if asymptomatic) pushes in the air and the mask helps those who are not sick. So those few times I do have to go out and interact with others I can only increase my protection by you taking an action. It's the swiss cheese theory, it's another slice that can prevent the virus from spreading. That's because the SD and ND governors are looking at elections for their actions. The ND gov did his mask mandate once his election is done and the SD governor is refusing to because she thinks it will help her in Iowa in 2024.

We could have a group of people from CMS (Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services) meet and determine what health factors and state of diseases would cause CMS to no longer pay for treatment. Since Medicare pays for a vast majority of health coverage for people over the age of 65 their decisions would reverberate throughout the industry. I like "panel" but I can't think of a first word that could go in front of it 🤔. Dark jokes aside I suspect the glibness of the federal COVID response contributed to Trump losing the election. Seniors typically vote heavily Republican but didn't at the same levels this year. I assume the federal message of "only old people are dying from COVID" didn't help.

-Is this worth the number of hospitals that have had to close because COVID doesn't pay? We are at 47 closed or heading to closure as of last month and I would assume the number will go up: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/47-hospitals-closed-filed-for-bankruptcy-this-year.html -Is it worth burning out experienced medical staff? Just as you can't replace a 15 year EP with a UPT grad you can't easily replace an experienced ICU nurse with a new grad from nursing school. UNMC in Omaha has been screaming that the situation is dire and our governor has thrown his hand and shrugged (well he has put a blue porch light on in support of healthcare workers so that's nice). : https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/americas-best-prepared-hospital-nearly-overwhelmed/617156/ -How many long term complications will come from COVID? And how much will be covered by the taxpayers? I think the number will be high. -How many strokes, cancers, and heart attacks will be missed because doctors don't have the time and space to treat them? We might never know but the number is not zero. It is about to get really bad in Nebraska and there is lots of blame to go around. Part of it is that the Governor has not followed his own advice: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/fired-waitress-says-she-posted-video-of-ricketts-unmasked-because-she-was-aggravated/article_adf0d949-e8b6-5027-b630-21d5dd7ffe56.html. I will second @17D_guy ,this is about individuals taking action to help the collective that might not directly help themselves. I've asked many of my libertarian leaning friends a question and haven't gotten a good answer: how do you convince somebody to take an action (wear a mask, skip seeing your friends, etc) that might not directly benefit them but benefits the whole?

This might be the biggest issue with the decentralized response to COVID in the US. There is no real safe way to eat in a restaurant indoors: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/can-you-get-coronavirus-inside-restaurant/617151/ But closing restaurants is hard, and would require major government intervention to keep them from going bankrupt, which as a country we have proven we won't do. So we are doing "virus theater" and pretending it's ok because the tables are slightly farther apart. I haven't eaten inside a restaurant since mid-March, and don't plan on it until my family is fully vaccinated.

I sat in on a meeting about distribution, and I don't think it will be as hard as we feared. Many major hospitals have ultra cold storage, and with the goal of getting the vaccine into people as soon as possible a lot of the storage will be of the "just in time" variety. This will be harder in rural areas/less developed countries but the Moderna vaccine just requires a standard freezer. I'm with @pawnman , I'm part of the 50% that will get it as soon as it's available to me. My wife is pregnant and I am the most likely vector of the virus into my house, so if I can reduce that probability of people getting sick I'm going to take it. I suspect airlines and other high risk events (i.e. live sports) will require proof of vaccination once it is widely available until the case load drops to almost nothing. I don't see a lot of states making it mandatory due to people's hesitancy so businesses will have to take the lead.