Covid Dilemma

[Kath]

I desperately need my hair cutting and styling.  So I got in touch with my talented hairdresser who comes to my house and is very cheap.  But I've since discovered that he's refused to have any vaccine and is determined not to.

So now that puts the cat among the pigeons for me.  I'm fully vaccinated, but we know that we can still catch it and be quite ill from it.  I dislike anti-vaxers intensely, I think they should be ostracized from society.

But he is the best hairdresser I've ever had. I think I will have to remove him from my friends list on facebook and have no further contact with him, me being an intensely honest person, I think I will have to tell him why, before I remove him... but it will be very hard.

 

[carl.d]

Kath

I would do the same. Honesty is the best policy. We all have to do things that we don't like. You are doing the Wright thing, always put yourself first 😉

 

[twncam]

I agree that you are making the wisest choice albeit a hard one to make.

Our son who is 32yrs refuses to get vaxed.

My wife and I are both vaxed and have told him until he gets vaxed he can't come into the house.

This really sucks but we can sit outside but what about this winter?

We are both in our 60s and I have chronic bronchitis among other issues.

You have made the right choice, you can get another hair dresser but you only have one life.

 

[Kath]

I read an article from Piers Morgan - yea I know he can be a dick head. But he was fully vaccinated and he went to the EUFA final, then he was very ill for a week with covid and he's a lot younger than me.  I'm 72 and struggling with my health right now so I don't want to put myself in any danger at all when I'm so low at the moment.

Yes, being double jabbed is the best way to go, but... don't think you have a get out of jail free card, you can still be infected and be very very sick, as Piers said 'if I had not been vaccinated, it would have killed me'.

 

[Kath]

I've done the deed now, I told him that I won't be asking him to do my hair now.  He can stay on my friends list, it's up to him, he can stay or he can go... He's replied with OK, but knowing him he might throw a wobbler in the next few days.  Just life's great tapestries again.

 

[twncam]

You made the right decision Kath even though I know it bums you out.

Maybe he will change his mind in the future as least we can hope so.

In the meantime I got a nice hat you can borrow 😀

 

[Kath]

Haha twncam, I wouldn't say no to a real Panama hat... I love them, but I'm afraid your hat is (a little old hat), so I wont bother with the loan you offer.... but thank you very much  for the offer 🙂

 

[splitinfinitive]

Panama hats rock!!

 

[Makara]

i find life is about a series of choices we make ... if he decides that he doesn't want vaccinated then you have to accept his choice at the same time it's your choice Kath to decide if you want or not want him to remain as your hairdresser for a while i had my doubts about how effective the vaccines were because of the timeframe involved in their development ... on the other hand i wanted contact face to face with my family again and that's what swung it for me 

 

[Makara]

yesterday over 5,000 new cases of covid 19 in Scotland  yesterday  it's jumped from 4% infection rate to 11% in a week as Pupils went back to School a week ago and now they are being tested again , i can see the same spike happening in the rest of the UK next month when their kids go back to school because School kids couldn't get tested during the summer holidays we never knew how the virus was spreading in the community  i can see Scotland and the rest of the UK go into lockdown again 

now worrying reports that after 6 months the vaccines lose effectiveness against Covid 19 

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/08/25/covid-19-vaccine-protection-waning-in-double-vaccinated/

vaccines should be starting to lose their effectiveness in the next month or 2 in the UK and America 

 

[Kath]

I wonder, should I start wearing my mask again.  I thought we would be clear by now... I guess it's all the non vaccinated that are prolonging this torture.  I think the kids should be done too.

 

[Makara]

because the kids are not in school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland yet UK government is not getting the full picture ... hospitalisations and ICU patients are on the rise again  my neice and her daughter now has Covid as do several other members of my family ... i reckon within 2 weeks of kids going back to school in the rest of the UK the daily figure could reach 200,000 a day if Scotland is getting 6 and 7 thousand a day ..... it's not looking good infection rates are 3 times higher than they were during the Kent variant peak in Scotland 

 

[Kath]

It just goes on and on, it's so depressing.

 

[dvernb]

Very soon in Canada you will need to show proof of vaccination to do almost anything. They are working to finalize it now. You will need proof of vaccination to ride by bus, train or air. Also a requirement to work for the federal government, nursing homes & health care. People who are not vaccinated will be required to be constantly tested.

Many corporations are also making it mandatory to be vaccinated. Many of them are not allowing any exceptions.

The anti-vaxxers are screaming blue murder but polls show that the general population is very much in favor of this!

I'm sure it is going to be like that in many other countries as well.

It's a different world now.

 

[dvernb]

Vaccine passport goes into effect in Quebec, Canada limiting much of public life for those unvaccinated.

Starting today, proof of vaccination will be as much of a daily necessity in Quebec when leaving the house as a wallet or house keys.

Dubbed the COVID-19 vaccination passport, digital or paper documentation will be required to take part in much of public life, from having a beer to playing badminton.

Other provinces — including British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario — are poised to implement their own systems in the days and weeks to come.

In Quebec, the list of non-essential activities prohibited to those without a vaccine is wide-ranging: restaurants, movie theatres, gyms, team sports and indoor pools are all now off limits to those who aren't adequately vaccinated, or granted a rare exemption for medical reasons.

Many public health experts have welcomed the passport as a useful tool to help contain the spread of COVID-19, particularly in congregate settings, and encourage people to get vaccinated, as Quebec and the rest of the country enters a fourth wave of the pandemic.

"People want to be vaccinated and they want to have a normal life," Health Minister Christian Dubé said in announcing the system. "We went through hell in those first three waves."

Observers are also keen to see how the system works in practice. 

Being first out of the gate in Canada, Quebec's approach could serve as a model for the country, said Kerry Bowman, a University of Toronto professor who teaches bioethics and global health.

In their scope, Bowman said such systems represent an "unprecedented" form of public health policy. He likened it to the Second World War in its emphasis on collective — rather than individual — rights.

More:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-vaccine-passport-starts-1.6159926?cmp=rss

 

[Merlin]

First step on a slippery slope. It seems practical and necessary at first. Then after the slide begins it is hard to stop.

I understand the fear driven rationale but what will be next if this doesn't work? Or what will be next if it does?

 

[dvernb]

Doctors frustrated with 'selfishness' of unvaccinated people, protesters

Some doctors and nurses are frustrated with large groups of anti-vaccination protesters outside hospitals in cities across the country and say limited health-care resources are being used to save the lives of those who decided not to protect themselves against COVID-19.

Dr. Steven Fedder, who works in the emergency room of a hospital in Richmond, B.C., said he has run out of patience for people whose stance against vaccines has larger societal implications.

"I think it's the ultimate selfishness that individuals choose not to vaccinate themselves. And I think they don't realize they are too arrogant to understand that we live in a society where we all have to make sacrifices," he said.

It's time that more employers, including all levels of governments, started mandating vaccines to send a strong message to those ignoring the science behind vaccination, Fedder said, adding the potential of losing a job may be the jolt people need to get immunized.

Patients suffering from other serious illnesses are affected when the health-care system starts to "grind to a halt" from the number of unvaccinated patients being hospitalized and occupying intensive care beds, Fedder said, noting people with chronic conditions often avoid going to emergency departments when cases spike, sometimes worsening their health.

"For the staff, it's exhausting. It's challenging when you have somebody come in who is there when there was a simple route to preventing what they came in with -- a COVID infection. Our job is to be professional and not to be judgmental, but it's very trying for nurses and doctors and all the other health-care professionals to look at somebody who made a conscious decision not to get vaccinated."

More:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/doctors-frustrated-with-selfishness-of-unvaccinated-people-protesters-1.5572140

 

[Makara]

loads of anti-vaxers protesters in the UK as well

meanwhile in Scotland Hospital beds are filling up again as are numbers in ICU wards and the number of deaths are going up as school children are spreading the virus .... i can't speak for England, Wales and N Ireland i'm only seeing mainly Scottish and UK data via worldmeters website which the data is pretty limited but Schools have just started up late this week and early next week in England ... the danger is the cases may also start to pick up in England as well  ... maybe the month difference from Scottish Schools and the rest of the UK has given the rest of the UK time for school kids to beat the virus 

 

[Kath]

I have to be honest, if all non-vaxed people should be totally excluded from society.  To me they are as dangerous as terrorist and should be forced to have a bell round their neck so we can shout 'UNCLEAN UNCLEAN' at them.

Of course there are exceptions, some can't have it due to medical problems. That's a no brainer, we all know that.