It's been interesting reading about Australia and covid the last few days. They have a 90% vaccination rate, and vaccines are essentially nonpolitical. The basic attitude seems to be "WTH, they work. Not perfectly, but a damn sight better than nothing. What's the downside? Get the jab."

Public support is very high for cancelling the visa of Novak Djokovic for lying about his vaccination status on his visa application, refusing to get vaccinated, and for violating safety protocols when he caught covid in Europe and continued public contacts without masking. Australians basically consider him an arrogant f***wit, to borrow a word from Bridgette Jones Diary.

That, incidentally, was the attitude in the US ("what's the downside? Get the jab) when I was a kid, and got smallpox and polio vaccines, among others. I still have my yellow fever certificate to get into Brazil in the 1960s.

I was in the Azores late last summer, which are a state of Portugal (like Hawaii is to the US). Portugal had a pretty bad outbreak last winter and spring, and put a general in charge of getting the country vaccinated. By the time I got there, vaccination among those eligible was in the high 90s. Everybody wore masks indoors and on transit, both public, and in taxis, except when eating. Every airport was set up with testing stations at the exits, and you couldn't get out of the airports without having your vaccination status checked, and an instant on-the-spot rapid antigen test administered if your certification was not up to snuff.

You were expected to fill out certification information online before your flight between islands or on arrival in Portugal, which sped the process up. I needed a PCR test for US customs clearance on return to US. I was able to make an appointment online, had to request a change in the time because it conflicted with a tourist thing I was doing - that was immediately granted. I showed up at the local hospital to take the test, results promised in 8 hours, actually got them electronically with QR code and all that in only 2 hours, and all the tests I had in Portugal were free and minimum wait time.

Portugal clearly had their act together. Nobody bitching and moaning about masks, safety protocols being observed as a matter of course, and near universal vaccination six months after they became available in country.

An then there's the US, waddling through the pandemic like a stunned ox. Tests are hard to arrange/find, and expensive. Two <bleeping> years into the pandemic, and N95 masks that are not counterfeit are STILL difficult to find. WTF? They ought to be on every store shelf and available in every government building by now, at a bare minimum.

We do have good vaccines, widely available, but a third of the people won't take them, though they seem willing to take just about anything else (zinc, ivermectin, various pills recently approved, monoclonal antibodies, hydroxychloroquine, vitamin D3, and god knows what else), some of which are effective, though not as effective as the vaccines, and some of which are pure quackery.

I ran into Canadian and British tourists when I was in the Azores, and of course Portuguese. Their general attitude toward the US was a combination of pity and disgust at our abysmal handling of the pandemic.

Portugal, which even other European countries are impressed with, clearly has their act together. The US, not so much. Still.

So tell me about the covid cult, Human.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2022 01:06PM by Brother Of Jerry.

Interesting about Portugal.

It's so frustrating here. We can't get anywhere with the COVID situation because certain types keep hitting the brakes every time we try to do something. Then these same types bitch about the problems that arise from people out with COVID. 100% freedom in areas of public health ultimately results in less public health.

Interesting, thought-provoking post, BoJ.

But this is my favourite phrase of the day, week, month, year:

"waddling through the pandemic like a stunned ox".

Do you mean it won't?? GASP GASP

Cancelled as this was largely in response to now-deleted post so no longer applies.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2022 02:23AM by Nightingale.

WARNING: Drinking bleach will not make you white and delightsome.

I wasted the bleach? Damn.

I thought maybe you were speaking from experience. Will it remove all my freckles?

I'm willing to do many things like get vaccinations and boosters and even monoclonal antibodies, but like I said on a prior thread, drinking my pee is not an option. I'll die before I do that. I've also told my kids and "husband" to NOT put me on a ventilator. Let me die rather than do that. I don't think it will come to that, but just in case. After I read someone's post a few months ago about what it was like to be on a ventilator. I'll pass!

I know you're kidding about the freckles, cl2, but just in case - for anybody else: Bleach on the skin is also contraindicated. It is altogether toxic to human tissue, wherever it is.

No, I can't find many uses for bleach, and no uses at all for pee--least of all, drink either one.

If I find a freckle remover, you'll be the first one I tell the secret.

I had to smile at your post and things to "rather die than. . . " That is a more valuable list than "things to be thankful for," if you ask me. Pee drinking and ventilators would be on the RDT (rather die than) list for me, too!

What cheese pairs nicely with pee?

Asking for a friend.

I was in Portugal in December and had a great time. 90% vaccination rate and everybody wore masks, usually M95 or surgical masks. Vaccinations there are medicine, not politics. I asked about the high vaccination rate and a local told me the general of the military who was put in charge of vaccinations got on TV every week to talk on the subject.

COVID-19 is an airborne respiratory illness caused by a virus.

Wearing a mask, washing your hands, and avoiding contact with people in confined spaces and crowds will help prevent you from getting infected and infecting others.

COVID vaccines keep you from being infected or becoming seriously ill if you do become infected, and the vast majority of people who are now becoming infected and hospitalized with COVID are the unvaccinated -- and they are overwhelming hospitals, putting a strain on the entire health care system.

Those are the facts.

So why can't we stop the virus and end the crisis?

Because some people have been led to believe that loyalty to their "tribe" or religion is more important than being healthy and staying alive, and they prove their "loyalty" by playing Russian roulette with the virus — at the cost of their lives.

Imagine you are in a lifeboat and resources are critical. One of your companions starts drinking seawater. You tell them not to and that they'll die of dehydration. The same goes for urine. They become ill and die after a few days. Your tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen.

Think about the people who are going to try and save your life no matter what you believe or think. Think about the people you love that you will infect and put at risk before you die. It's not just your "choice."

Remember Jonestown? No cult is worth dying for.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2022 09:22PM by Tevai.