The 7-day moving average of new cases in my city is now the lowest it has been since April 4, 2020. And that’s with less than 50% of the eligible population vaccinated.
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I’m sure it varies by area, but at least nationally these “as low as 14 months ago” type stats it’s also worth noting we have 3x the number of tests being done right now too. So cases are probably significantly lower than that benchmark even.
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Good point. We have walk-up tests at several locations in the city now, while a year ago you had to have symptoms and make an appointment to get tested.
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Yup, also a lot of people are getting tests as a matter of routine for work/school/day care/travel so we’re likely find a lot of asymptomatic folks.
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All Michigan restrictions will be lifted July 1st.
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One of my dream jobs is to work for The Frameworks Institute. They research messaging around social/economic/political issues to find out what really “works” or creates buy-in/change. They just put out a report about COVID vaccinations in the US. Interesting food for thought if you’re trying to convince folks in your life to get it.
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We went to a small local store today that had a sign on the door saying “Our entire staff has been vaccinated against Covid 19” and I just loved it.
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Our state has made it illegal for public schools to have mask mandates. They went out of their way to do this, as all other laws from this legislative session go into affect either June or July 1, but this one was ‘immediatly’, and public schools end in 1-2 weeks. Local governments can also not issue any sort of mask mandate.
I do appreciate my university is at least still encouraging them.
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It’s so tricky. We’ve started to field calls about if our staff are vaxxed, and it’s not okay. But if all the employees are enthusiastic about sharing their status with the public… except what does that do for a business where everyone wants a vaccine and an employee has been advised against it by their doctor?
I really feel like medical privacy is taking a step back.
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Well, I’m no help because I think you ought to have to show your vaccine card to do a lot of things at this point.
How many people have been told by an actual MD not to get vaccinated? I bet it’s a pretty small number.
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Yeah. I think it is small. I think they are also usually the ones I’m vaccinated to protect. So why would I want to out their health status to people with no right to know it, when I know how bad disability discrimination is?
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Lots of pregnant people were dealing with lack of science around safety of vaccination, and I think a lot of docs were advising wait and see. Additionally, there’s a TON of people that fall in that edge case of “we just have no data about people like you/drugs like yours yet so we might wait and see”. Some people were told to get off certain drugs for X number of weeks/half-lives before vaccination so that it could be more effective.
I want medical privacy which is why I want mask requirements still in place in public/workplaces 
I cannot imagine showing a trader joe’s employee my vax card. But I know that isn’t the way of the future.
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And, to be clear, I do think that there are people who have the right to know my vaccination status:
Border control/immigration before I enter a country
Medical professionals
Some schools and workplaces
And maybe one or two I’m forgetting
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I don’t think this is an issue of medical privacy.
The employees are releasing their medical records to the business themselves. It’s their choice. Yes, it’s a condition of employment, but they don’t HAVE to do it.
Already I have to prove vaccine status to my kids daycare, summer camps, and schools. I had to prove my vaccine status to my university when I started my MBA. (Years pre-covid). This is just one more vaccine.
There just hasn’t been public demand to boast “All our staff are vaccinated against MMR” (though really, I’d like to know that too…)
A business could always say “All eligible staff are vaccinated” if someone is exempted by a medical condition.
We have strict anti-vaccine passport laws here now, but businesses can still require vaccines as a condition of employment. (They cannot as a condition of service.)
(Also, the Republicans who run the state basically did this because they felt the free market would decide if businesses could require this of their employees. They assumed that if businesses did, they would fail, as employees would not be available to them. I guess time will tell. Also, the most conservative republicans were against the bill, because it exempts healthcare from vaccine passports. But a hospital can still make you prove you are vaccinated before you can be a visitor to a certain ward. They didn’t think healthcare should get the exemption.)
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Yeah, I didn’t mean that this example is bad…it just prompted a discussion of why I have concerns about this statement, and I agree that all eligible staff is a way to announce it without discrimination. I also know that different regions and countries will all handle it differently.
I’m okay with disclosing it where I’d normally accept disclosing medical info as relevant. But like @anomalily mentioned, not at the grocery store. And I do think that there are people who want everyone to disclose everywhere.
It’s also a different discussion for me because my province is still vaccinating and still under a stay at home order.
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Just for conversation sake, do you think disclosure at the grocery store is different for someone who works at the grocery store vs. someone who is shopping at the grocery store?
What about at a hospital? Should they require staff to get vaccinated? What about visitors? (Edit: Ooh- here’s an interesting one…what about non-emergency patients?)
(Here’s my answer. I think a grocery store should be able to require it for workers, and they can advertise that they did. That will attract some customers, but here it will also detract some customers. I also think they should not require it for customers, but I’d prefer they require masks for either all customers or for those unwilling or unable to prove they have been vaccinated. I think hospitals should be able to do both. Right now our hospitals are requiring visitors to be vaccinated, but not necessarily staff. Because a decent percentage of healthcare workers refused, and they can’t afford to lose them. There aren’t enough people to replace them.)
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I think that employers can ask employees about their status on all vaccines, and, if it makes sense, make the vaccine a requirement for either working there in general, or performing certain duties, or require different PPE equipment to do the job. I think there should be public officers who can figure out the different lines.
I think it’s wildly inappropriate for businesses in general to ask their customers, but totally appropriate to require PPE of all. If they are going to require vaccination OR PPE it will ought to be on a trust system.
I think places caring for at risk populations can have a system to ensure safe conditions for their residents. Active and passive screening, rapid or recent testing.
For my training I had to be fully up to date on vaccinations and medical exemptions would have been possible but limited the populations I could work with. My license requires me to maintain my health in a manner that ensures I don’t endanger patients. They could require vaccinations, but I don’t think they will. I think that during a pandemic it’s safer to require PPE and trust our judgement.
More than anything I want it to be a public health matter. I’m okay with them inspecting and green yellow red carding businesses
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This is what is happening where I live, for the general public. I do not trust the general public.
I think the pandemic has shown your general public to be better than mine.
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Some states have laws requiring immunizations for healthcare workers and many hospitals do require vaccines.
The hospitals I’ve worked at require proof of current vaccination for Hep B and MMR as a condition of employment, plus yearly TB testing, and yearly proof of influenza vaccine or need to mask in all areas. Currently also requiring proof of covid vaccine or need to mask in all areas including private offices. For the latter two we get colored tags we’re required to wear on our badges.
In veterinary hospitals I was required to have proof of tetanus vaccine and was recommended to have rabies vaccine.
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