comment: >
  
  My wife's mom, dad, brother, and sister in law all have covid, and can't smell or taste anything. 
  Guess what my MIL is doing all next week?
  Working.... at the hospital she's been at for 20 years because she's afraid she'll be fired if she misses any more work.
  Saying people aren't taking this seriously is a massive understatement. 
  A more accurate description is "Nobody gives a fuck."
context: What do you expect people to do? You're not going to mandate that employers give people sick leave, or indeed any paid leave at all; you're not going to cover any expenses for people who can't work, you're not going to give people healthcare. You're not going to mandate businesses enforce social distancing or anything like that. When you say "take precautions and avoid close contact" you mean "... except for sitting in a crowded office for 50hrs/week". >
  
  I got COVID last year. Wore a mask constantly but none of my coworkers did. Zero social distancing. I was required to not be at work for two weeks. And I had to use my PTO. So because I had to go to work in person, was the only one wearing a mask and my mouth breathing coworkers didn't care anyway I got sick and had little time off last year other than being told to stay at home. Gee can't imagine why people are burnt out. >
  
  All my PTO this year went to covid and then the flu a few months later.
  No vacation for me. >
  
  Will increasing the price of the vaccine from $0 to $140 be helpful? >
  
  I was just about to say, doesn’t seem like any of these pharmaceutical manufacturers are considering Americans safety a priority with the 400% increase either. >
  
  They never were. >
  
  I hate to say it but this deep into the pandemic it's going to take 100,000's of deaths very quickly to even get an iota of the publics attention again. >
  
  I'm confused about why this is news... "People are not taking this seriously" was pretty clear at the start of this pandemic. >
  
  It's interesting. Of course we are all aware of the people who never took it seriously but lets not forget that their were many of us who took it very seriously. 
  We obeyed the lockdown(s), we spent Christmas alone, we worse masks, we did a lot. 
  It got the point where the same amount of people that died during 9/11 were dying each day of Covid. I think now most people don't really care now even if that many were dying a day. >
  
  And it's not just the people deciding they don't care anymore. The lockdowns have almost all ended, the travel bans have lifted, the mask laws have loosened. People stopped isolating and masking because they don't have to anymore. 
  Then there's our mental capacity. 2020 took a toll on most, if not all of us, one way or another. The stress was huge. But we can't live in such stress too long. We just wouldn't make it. So we get used to the situation, and stop stressing that much. 
  Take a war for example. I can't speak about WW2, but I can speak about the current war in Ukraine. It depends on where you live, but I'm in Poland and housed and talked with Ukrainians and I've heard at least some anecdotal information. At first, everyone was terrified. Some managed to leave and run to safety. But the people who stayed and continued to live under the attacks, they can't just spend 24/7 in their basements. They have to keep going to work if they can, they have to go out to buy food, medicine etc. And sure they're all still scared, and they're all still in constant danger. But they have to live with it, and can't take all the safety precautions forever. >
  
  The London Blitz mentality. Keep calm and carry on. >
  
  Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way >
  
  The time is gone, the song is over >
  
  Thought I'd've something more to say >
  
  Home, home again, I like to be here when I can >
  
  They really don’t. My work wanted me back after 5 days despite me still having a fever and full symptoms. I lasted 5 minutes before I was told to go home and talked to about putting others at risk. You told me if I didn’t go in I would be fired. >
  
  
  You told me if I didn’t go in I would be fired.
  
  A friend of mine at a previous job was pulled into a meeting with HR and his boss. They told him that he was in trouble for working more than 30 hours a week the last two weeks because he wasn't supposed to have benefits, but working that many hours would require it 
  He replied that they had been the ones to set his schedule, not him.
  They ignored that and told him not to do it again.
  He pointed out that he was already scheduled for more than 30 hours the next two weeks.
  They replied that he wasn't to go over 30 hours.
  He asked if they were telling him not to come in the next day.
  They told him no, he was scheduled for that day, so he needed to be there.
  He pointed out that this would put him over 30 hours. They told him he couldn't do that.
  Again he asked "So I shouldn't come in?"
  He was told he had to be there, and he'd be punished if he didn't show up, but he would also be punished if he went over thirty hours.
  My best guess with this runaround is that they hoped to intimidate him into showing up but not clocking in. >
  
  I would ask for them to please put this in writing for me, so that I won't forget the policy, and be able to properly follow it. >
  
  That's where you follow up with an email and bcc your personal email. State you were told you were required to come in tomorrow, this will put you over 30 hours, if they don't want you to come in, please let you know in writing. >
  
  And then let the state labor board know. >
  
  Some states like FL have no state level DoL while others like MO have no teeth to do anything but provide documents that may be used as proof in your favor that can be used in small claims (another can of worms). In that case, they need to go to the federal DoL. >
  
  Might as well write the same article every day for 3 years straight maybe it will work at some point. >
  
  Yep. It's already too late, people are "bored" of covid so good luck getting most folk to mask and social distance again. 
  Edit: I'm pro vax, fyi. quit yelling at me. >
  
  
  people are "bored" of covid
  
  Yes, because it's totally normal for millions of people to live in constant fear of getting sick for 2+ years straight with 0 hope of it getting any better.
  People learn to accept the new level of risk and go on with their lives. Can't hide in a hole your whole life. I wouldn't call that being "bored" of covid, it's more of tired of living in fear of something beyond our ability to contain further.
  A good chunk of this country alone is batshit insane thinking vaccines are the true threats and would rather inject bleach into themselves. What can you do about a section of the population basically intentionally ensuring covid never dies? We're all fucked and covid restrictions are not sustainable. Ensuring children are required to be inoculated against covid is about the best result we'll get going forward. It's already been made a stupid political game. >
  
  Except that it's not that difficult to contain. People were refusing to wear masks a month after the original outbreak due to conspiracies and political tribalism and we STILL have people insisting that the vaccines turn their nipples turquoise and are actually tracking chips.
  Coming to terms with reality does not mean denying reality. The risk is being forced on all of us. There is a reason our death toll is well above the worldwide average. >
  
  
  it’s not that difficult to contain 
  people were refusing to wear masks a month after the original outbreak
  
  It is difficult to contain, because a large number of people suck and there’s nothing any of us can do about it >
  
  My government job required all the employees to mask up two weeks ago.  Literally and I mean literally no one wore them and it was just dropped. It's now just tracked as flu 2.0 on our daily emails. >
  
  My government job was work at home until May 2021 when we were ordered 100% back to the office with about 10 days notice from the Governor's office. About a year later, we stopped tracking or doing anything COVID related because the Governor's office declared victory over the illness. We had an outbreak in December (2022) but the organizational safety folks ignored it and continued writing people up over failing to observe proper procedure when fastening and unfastening the seat belt in a car. >
  
  sounds state level.  what state? >
  
  In unrelated news, all of these companies are doing back to office >
  
  Fatigue is real and if I'm still in danger after being triple vaxxed and having it twice... what the fuck are we supposed to do? >
  
  Not to mention that we aren’t being compensated for not working. I literally can’t afford to miss a week a work over a runny nose. >
  
  Idk about just a runny nose. I had it last month, I am vaxed & boosted 3 times, and it still knocked me and my spouse on our asses for about 3 days. >
  
  The people who downplay covid either haven't had it, or were lucky enough to not be effected by it that much. >
  
  True.  I have it and am sitting here with weird tingly body aches and a 101 fever, feeling delusional.  It can be nasty. >
  
  This paragraph right here:
  “There’s accumulating data that repeated Covid accumulates risk for short- and long-term complications, including cardiovascular, mental health and other problems,” Ray said. “We will only know in retrospect exactly how big this cost is. But evolving data suggests that there is a cost that’s incremental as we accumulate infections.” >
  
  Why doesn’t the immune system get stronger with repeated exposure. That’s terrifying. >
  
  Because you’re NOT a perfectly designed machine. Upper level college science courses always tell you it’s less “survival of the fittest” and more “reproduction of the good enough”. It’s the same reason that gazelles don’t just “get faster” and outrun the cheetah by now. >
  
  Yup. And the other key thing is that if something doesn't have an onset until after child bearing age, it has far less selective pressure against it. That is why some afflictions of the elderly never seem to get less common and we as a species don't really get better at dealing with them. They have next to no impact on our ability to reproduce and pass on our genes. >
  
  And our adaptations are frankly, very bad. “Oh malaria keeps messing with your blood?  Well now your blood cells twist into an unusable sickle shape. You’ll die slightly less so I count this as a win!” >
  
  And Moderna will start charging for a medication that was paid for by us. Over 100 a shot of you want protection. Pharmaceutical extortion. I hope the CEOs all get genital warts on their faces. >
  
  If you haven’t learned anything from the past 7 years, know this: society is fucked. Capitalism rules and controls all, efforts to address global warming, pandemics, gun violence, medical/drug prices, women’s rights, wage disparities, political/justice corruption, gerrymandering, higher education costs, etc are only going to make progress if there’s something corporations gain from supporting it. There’s no morality only convenience and profit.  
  What’s going to happen is we are going to continue to complain on social media while the country burns, people are so divided politically that it’s impossible to unite for a common cause due to hatred of other people’s differences. People/companies with money only care about more money and support a divided country that can’t condemn them unequivocally >
  
  This is what national strikes are for. We are going to have to get serious about making changes, if we want anything to change. Folks aren’t quite hungry enough but we will get there. An ideological revolution is in progress, and inflation is throwing gas on the fire right now. >
  
  
  This is what national strikes are for.
  
  Which would be fine if the average person had enough money saved up that they could handle being out of work for the time required to do that, but with stagnant wages and inflation and such that's rare... and in the U.S. their healthcare also being tied to their employment...
  You'd almost think things were rigged in such a way as to specifically discourage people protesting and striking during circumstances like these... >
  
  You're not even close.
  The system isn't just rigged. It's hidden in plain sight and has been a part of us since the founding of our country. Americans both want the lie to some extent and are ignorant of it at the same time. Income inequality is part of our culture.
  I actually know how to overthrow a civil oligarchy. But I cannot say without getting banned from reddit and possibly flagged by the FBI. 
  That's what makes this problem so extreme. The "cure" to fix it is just as bad as the "disease". And nobody is going to fight a war when no one understands the problem or really believes in the cause.
  My advice, get used to the way things are because it is what it is. As a Gen X, I plan to ride this shit storm until I die >
  
  I work in healthcare (imaging) and we have no quarantine rules. If you are positive and symptomatic, you still have to come in to work. >
  
  Yeah, it's insane that the government just threw up their hands and went "it's your responsibility" after removing worker protections, widespread free testing, mask mandates, etc. >
  
  The whole thing highlighted that government's only master is business. They do whatever companies decide is best for their profits. >
  
  We are way past the point of getting the general public to care again. It's been at least a year since there were any kind of restrictions or major precautions around here and getting anyone to go back is going to be impossible. Most people believe COVID is over and will continue to think that unless people start falling over dead in the streets. >
  
  Look, I am fully Vaxxed and boosted and wore a mask for the two weeks after the holidays just to be safe in the office. But in general people are not dying of Covid anymore, and the incidence of serious illness, especially those resulting in an admission, are extremely rare. I’m just not sure that quote “Covid” means but it did two years ago.
  I worked on a Covid only inpatient unit in literally one of the first cities in the country that was hit with Covid. We brought in freezer trucks to store bodies because our morgue ran out of space. We literally ran out of body bags. Two of my colleagues ended up in the ICU, intubated.That is absolutely not happening right now.
  So, while I have been very supportive, obviously of Covid science, and lockdowns, when appropriate, the idea that the situation we are dealing with today, deserves the same level of urgency, scrutiny, and awareness that Covid did one to three years ago is a stretch I think.
  To me, this is really simple: be fully vaccinated. If you are not feeling well, test yourself. If you are negative and have cold symptoms, wear a mask and encourage others to wear a mask around you if you were Covid positive, isolate yourself. What I just outlined is insufficient, what exactly are we all proposing?