COVID-19 (Aka China Virus)

[SurelySerious]

57 minutes ago, slackline said:

So, my wife and I were talking about th3 stimulus checks. What if we set up a GoFundMe for people to donate theirs (I don't need it for sure) and then find charities that are directly supporting people that have been affected by the pandemic.  I'm sure tons wouldn't give up their free money, but lots would, and it could help a ton of people. Government can't figure it out, so maybe we do it.

 

Thoughts?

The people that have the means to just donate their stimulus don’t qualify for it. 
 

*Generally speaking

Edited December 29, 2020 by SurelySerious

[slackline]

1 hour ago, SurelySerious said:

The people that have the means to just donate their stimulus don’t qualify for it. 
 

*Generally speaking

Highly disagree. Most military qualify (I barely slip in there because of joint filing) but definitely don't "need" it. The Rona has not impacted me financially at all except for what I choose to eat extra from local establishments.  A lot of my family, even non-military didn't lose their jobs.  Just thinking of way to help.  

[brabus]

There are a ton of charities out there. Recommend checking out charitynavigator.org. It rates a ton of charities from all corners of the “market” and gives you a look behind the curtain on their ops (me personally: if more than 15% of my dollar goes to paychecks, you’re off the list). Even if you’re not religious, churches are a good avenue to learn about local stuff like food banks, shelters, etc. (you don’t have to give directly to a church).

[SurelySerious]

18 minutes ago, slackline said:

Highly disagree. Most military qualify (I barely slip in there because of joint filing) but definitely don't "need" it. The Rona has not impacted me financially at all except for what I choose to eat extra from local establishments.  A lot of my family, even non-military didn't lose their jobs.  Just thinking of way to help.  

You can highly disagree, but as a mid-level officer I don’t qualify for a dime. 

[brabus]

I think he’s still right about a large chunk of the officer pool. You even qualify as an O-5 if you don’t have a nice side hustle/your wife isn’t pulling in a decent pay check.

[Homestar]

2 hours ago, SurelySerious said:

You can highly disagree, but as a mid-level officer I don’t qualify for a dime. 

You need more dependents. 

[VolFan]

3 hours ago, brabus said:

There are a ton of charities out there. Recommend checking out charitynavigator.org. It rates a ton of charities from all corners of the “market” and gives you a look behind the curtain on their ops (me personally: if more than 15% of my dollar goes to paychecks, you’re off the list). Even if you’re not religious, churches are a good avenue to learn about local stuff like food banks, shelters, etc. (you don’t have to give directly to a church).

Agree with what brabus said here.  We gave most of our first stimulus payment to our local food bank & homeless shelter.  It seemed like a good way to help out those who lost jobs & housing while we enjoyed a steady paycheck.  Obviously everyone's situation is different but I think money gets where it needs to go more effectively when it's distributed at a local level rather than with the efficiency of the federal government. 

[FLEA]

You can also serve to help the economy and yourself by blowing the money as quickly as possible on a small or struggling business. 

This money isn't entirely intended to directly help those in need, but to also influence some people to make wreckless spending decisions they wouldn't normally be comfortable to make. 

If you simply take the money and invest it in a 401K though, (and there is nothing wrong with this, it is YOUR money) then you aren't meeting the desired intent. 

[jazzdude]

I think he’s still right about a large chunk of the officer pool. You even qualify as an O-5 if you don’t have a nice side hustle/your wife isn’t pulling in a decent pay check.

AD O-4 on the pilot bonus and a wife that works as an RN pushed us over the top.

That said, I think you're right. If you're either not on the bonus, or aren't married to someone pulling in a good paycheck, you'd probably be eligible as an officer for the stimulus checks (or at least a portion of it).

[Lawman]

AD O-4 on the pilot bonus and a wife that works as an RN pushed us over the top.

That said, I think you're right. If you're either not on the bonus, or aren't married to someone pulling in a good paycheck, you'd probably be eligible as an officer for the stimulus checks (or at least a portion of it).

The other major wildcard in the equation is taxable portion of your income.

I’m in an office full of mid-senior grade officers where most of the guys on paper made somewhere in the 30k mark because it was all down range.


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[VMFA187]

16 hours ago, slackline said:

Highly disagree. Most military qualify...  

BAH - It's a hellavu drug!

Wish I could get a tax break like that now that I'm a Civilian and Reservist. Never appreciated it enough when I had it...

[Day Man]

go back to parler bro

Edit: that was for a now-deleted racist post, not for @VMFA187  

Edited January 1, 2021 by Day Man

[Negatory]

Hasn’t it always been known that there need to be 2 doses for that vaccine? Another example of the media making a misleading story.

[Homestar]

2 hours ago, Negatory said:

Hasn’t it always been known that there need to be 2 doses for that vaccine? Another example of the media making a misleading story.

Yeah, that is a stupid, inflammatory non-story. 

[Lawman]

Hasn’t it always been known that there need to be 2 doses for that vaccine? Another example of the media making a misleading story.

They did the same thing with the whole shipping temperature deal.

Like without context it sounds terrifying, and that’s what most of the talking heads will feed the mass tuned into it. Every so often though you get to watch that fall apart like CNN was dumb enough to have the head of a shipping company on that they tried leading to their doom and gloom and he is sitting there like “yes we can and do routinely ship stuff like this.” Dude was polite enough about it, but basically you could tell he was lured on the segment with the idea he would get to explain this is an achievable challenge to moving the vaccine and the host was on a different tack and wouldn’t let it go from the doom gloom scary narrative.


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[BashiChuni]

"stop the spread"

looks like the "science" says you can't "stop the spread"

but follow the science i guess...

[mcbush]

2 hours ago, MyCS said:

Different note. I saw on Twitter that Osan is back in HPCON Charlie because cases are spiking again in Korea. I thought from media stories I saw months ago that Korea was handling the virus well because they wear masks? Maybe its because Korea is a social gathering oasis? They are always in close contact?

 

US population: 331,981,544

US new cases today: 166,044 (500 per 1M pop.)

US total cases: 20,617,346 (62,104 per 1M pop.)

US new deaths today: 2,129 (6.4 per 1M pop.)

US total deaths: 356,445 (1,074 per 1M pop.)

 

ROK population: 51,291,516

ROK new cases today: 1,029 (20 per 1M pop.)

ROK total cases: 61,769 (1,204 per 1M pop.)

ROK new deaths today: 17 (0.3 per 1M pop.)

ROK total deaths: 917 (18 per 1M pop.)

 

source

[FLEA]

Was surprised to learn my 72 and 74 year old parents were both called to Jury duty in this debacle. Like really? That wasn't an obvious thing to dismiss people over 65, hell maybe even 55 for? 

[Snuggie]

6 hours ago, MyCS said:

I get the numbers. But S. Korea doesn't have 50 states to contend with or a populace of 300M+. Wouldn't a fair comparison be India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Brazil due to population size? For example, India and Brazil number of cases are close to each other. Not to mention the number of people who were traveling to the US before travel restrictions were implemented.

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.  

[slackline]

The simple answer is because our country politicized this from the beginning.  Had this been taken seriously by leadership, people would be doing more to help each other.  Instead, it's a political issue to show your allegiance with your side...

[Scooter14]

Alarming number of US health care workers are refusing COVID-19 vaccine. 
https://nypost.com/2021/01/01/alarming-number-of-us-health-care-workers-are-refusing-covid-19-vaccine/
Medical/first responders on my base are receiving a second chance to receive the vaccine for those who declined. I don't think they are going to change their minds. 

Well, this is what happens when you get media reports every day of only the bad things that happen.

“Doctor has major reaction to Covid Vaccine” then you read the article and the dude is allergic to everything under the sun and then uses his own epi-pen to snap himself out of anaphylactic shock.

Or the nurse that passed out when she got the vaccine. Oh my God! Apparently she has passed out after every vaccine she’s ever had.

My wife (an RN) got it last week. No issues. Someday I’ll get mine and it’ll take it’s place next to like 20 anthrax boosters, so much yellow fever, flu, whatever that one they inject into your ass cheek that feels like a lump of peanut butter, and the rest.

As the article states, the politicizing of this whole thing makes me laugh. Some of the same folks I know that are virtue signaling mask-shamers that want me to stop the spread and stay at home and not kill grandma are the same ones that won’t take the vaccine...that will stop the spread...so we don’t have to stay home...and we don’t kill grandma...

But whatever. People make choices. Some people like Burger King more than McDonalds.

It’ll be funny when you can’t board a plane or enter another country without one though...

[nsplayr]

If anyone doesn't want their vaccine, at this point, fine. I'll take yours and if there's more to dole out I've got plenty of friends and family that want theirs ASAP too.

While we're still supply-constrained and bottlenecked at distribution here early on, I honestly don't care if people decline it or not; that's on them. With a vaccine that's 95% effective honestly the people who get it don't have to give a f*ck if other people don't. I'll happy take mine and once my family is all vaccinated we can put the pandemic behind us while the Darwin Award winners of the world continue to be vulnerable.

Unfortunately the people who get hurt most by that ultra-individualistic mindset are those who want the vaccine but are ineligible to get it at all (weird health conditions, etc.) or are so far down on the priority list that they won't have a chance for many months (young kids). I'd attempt to make the argument that, "Hey, everyone should get it to help your fellow man blah blah blah so we can reach some level of population immunity," but that ship has long sailed for far too many Americans. As a wise person once said, I don't know how to explain to you why you should care about other people.

IMHO we should continue to follow the mostly age-based & somewhat job-based distribution plans but speed things up as much as humanly possible. If there are leftover vials at the end of the day, just jam that shit into anyone who wants it. 24/7 vaccination centers, etc. Don't let a single drop go to waste & try your best to make available vaccines = vaccines administered. It ain't doing anyone any good sitting in the fridge.

Edited January 3, 2021 by nsplayr

[brabus]

 

50 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

With a vaccine that's 95% effective honestly the people who get it don't have to give a f*ck if other people don't.

95% effective at reducing/eliminating symptoms, but we have no idea if the vaccine stops transmission (we’re assuming no until proven otherwise). So honest question, why are we so concerned with 80% of people getting the shots - as you put it, let Darwin take its course.  If people get their shots and are protected, then why do they care if their neighbor does? In theory you have the full vaccination and I sneeze in your face, you’re protected at a 95% rate...this point has even more efficacy if the vaccine doesn’t stop transmission (unknown currently).

Edited January 3, 2021 by brabus

[Snuggie]

3 hours ago, MyCS said:

Alarming number of US health care workers are refusing COVID-19 vaccine. 

https://nypost.com/2021/01/01/alarming-number-of-us-health-care-workers-are-refusing-covid-19-vaccine/

Medical/first responders on my base are receiving a second chance to receive the vaccine for those who declined. I don't think they are going to change their minds. 

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. 

 

1 hour ago, nsplayr said:

IMHO we should continue to follow the mostly age-based & somewhat job-based distribution plans but speed things up as much as humanly possible. If there are leftover vials at the end of the day, just jam that shit into anyone who wants it. 24/7 vaccination centers, etc. Don't let a single drop go to waste & try your best to make available vaccines = vaccines administered. It ain't doing anyone any good sitting in the fridge.

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. 

[Guardian]

Why isn’t the world pushing this stuff so no one has to take the vaccine?