You know how this story ends a few weeks from now... ‘What’s Covid?’ Why People at America’s Hardest-Partying Lake Are Not About to Get Vaccinated At the Lake of the Ozarks, vaccines are shunned, masks are mocked and the long-term consequences take a back seat to the time at hand. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/27/ozarks-lake-covid-unvaccinated-500784? The petite blonde bartender in ripped jean shorts bounced to each side of a square-shaped bar as women in bikinis and shirtless men lined up on a sweltering afternoon to order Bud Light, vodka and soda, and piles of nachos at this dockside retreat in the Lake of the Ozarks region. In a county designated a Covid hot spot, in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, and in a region where hospitals are nearing capacity as the Delta variant takes hold, Erin, a bartender at Backwater Jack’s, couldn’t be in a more vulnerable position. She interacts closely with hundreds of maskless customers—sometimes on a single day. She knows most of them are probably not vaccinated. And she doesn’t care. She isn’t either. “I’m living, breathing proof—I’ve not been sick once. I’ve been as hands-on as you can be with people from everywhere,” Erin said, as a motorboat thundered to the dock and another group of customers climbed out. Like others who spoke for this article, she asked to go only by her first name. She said she’d heard a rumor—common among vaccine skeptics but also plainly false—that “more people are dying from getting the vaccine this week.” “Personally,” Erin added, “I feel like my immune system is doing a good job, so why pump it full of something that we don’t really know what it is?” A year ago, Backwater Jack’s made national news after photos went viral of partiers packed inside the pool area, ignoring guidelines to avoid crowds and keep a distance from others. Today, as revelers laugh and toss back drinks in shallow pool water, some 600,000 deaths later, they aren’t just forgoing masks, they are forgoing the vaccine. Talk of the vaccine draws scoffs, laughs and even cussing among the clientele. Mask-wearing, which is recommended for those not vaccinated, was virtually non-existent—and, in conversations with a flow of customers over two days, it’s clear that many are not vaccinated. (Much more at above url) Depending on your politics, the scene at Backwater Jack’s is either a symbol of reckless abandon or unapologetic living in the face of a pandemic. It is one pole of the divide that has erupted across the country, which increasingly seems cloven into two Americas: vaxxed and unvaxxed. In the Lake of the Ozarks region, where Missourians and out-of-staters pour in to boat, fish, sunbathe and party, to be unvaxxed is a source of identity and—at times—pride, a totem of one’s independence and politics.
Go take a look in the COVID Vaccine News thread.... unfortunately it appears the large-scale Israeli data over millions of people show that the Pfizer vaccine is only 39% effective at stopping the spread of the Delta variant. However still 90% effective at stopping hospitalization or severe illness from Delta. These recent studies may likely lead to mask mandates coming back -- especially in countries with large number of unvaccinated people such as the U.S.
Thanks to anti-vaxxers allow the wide spread of the Delta variant in the U.S. -- the current vaccines are less effective at stopping the spread but are still very effective as stopping you from being seriously ill with COVID. Sadly the unvaccinated will allow future variants to evolve -- which may be even more infectious, more vaccine resistant, and lead to more deaths.
No point in taking boosters then. I'm certainly not putting a mask on again. I've done anything I'm going to do. My trust in the US govt has gone deeply negative. At this point I'm not sure what could change that.
The vaccines are still very effective as stopping you from getting severely ill and placed in the hospital. Over 99% of those hospitalized with COVID in the U.S. are unvaccinated.
Vaccines working well for those vaccinated. The problem involves those that are not vaccinated...they're in trouble and it's starting to bring back face mask mandates in some problematic areas. Palm Beach (we all know Florida is a fuck up) https://www.wptv.com/coronavirus/palm-beach-imposes-mask-mandate-for-anyone-indoors-on-town-property Savannah (Georgia) https://www.savannahnow.com/story/n...ham-county-georgia-pfizer-moderna/8090211002/ When you see Governors and Mayors in the south getting mad about the bullshit by the unvaccinated...you know there's a big problem. Another issue...some cities have reinstated face mask wear mandates but their state does not have a face mask wear mandate (e.g. Georgia, Florida). I'm not sure how in the hell that will help the specific cities with mandates while the state is wide open. Face Mask To The Rescue (if it's the right type of mask) wrbtrader
So is not being overweight (like you) and healthy, having good vit D levels and eating right. And it doesn't come with vaccine risk.
You say this at a time where the hospital population of COVID victims across the U.S. are increasingly younger and healthier -- because the older population has a high vaccination level.