quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
After having flu shots every year for maybe 20 years with good results (no flu), I had my last flu shot in my primary care doc's office about 5 1/2 years ago. Six weeks later, Guillain Barré Syndrome. Hospital for a week, a couple of IGIV transfusions, months of physical and occupational therapy, to deal with the major degradation of strength in my hands (grip) and legs, and I was finally able to walk without a walker, using a cane to help with my balance problems.

I do not want to risk Guillain Barré again. On the other hand, I am in a high-risk group for The Virus -- double whammy with age (84) and an already damaged immune system. Kind of a lousy place to be with respect to deciding about the vaccine, damned if I do, and damned if I don't.

If it's any consolation, sir, mother is 86, has had (literal) open heart surgery (had to cut her heart open to remove a benign tumor), hasn't had the Covis, thought the mask was a bunch of bullshit (which it was), hasn't gotten a vaccination and NEVER plans to, and is doing just fine. I'd say she's in a moderate risk group. I think and trust in our Lord that you'll be fine. Blue (Bonanza) skies!!!

Never ending lockdowns in Australia and it’s not even working:

Australia's COVID Outbreak Worsens Despite Economy-Crippling Lockdowns

As someone commented on the article:

“ Imagine destroying your countries' economy and future over 900 deaths”

That’s how many people there have died, and the vast majority of them elderly.

There’s GOT to be something else afoot there, there’s no way a country commits suicide like that over 900 old people.

Interesting website...
The Sewershed Surveillance Project

COVID-19 Tracking Tool

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/s...4da6b5d6fdc07f81aacf

Most of what you hear in the media is propaganda and false.... but this drills down to data at the local level.
The viral load at our local waste water treatment facility is now practically zero.
It peaked around Thanksgiving.


Missouri is being pummeled in the media as a "low vaccination state". Yet, 80% of the age 65-85 population has been vaccinated.
https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/data/
So, why can't they leave the rest of us alone?

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Yeah, anyone who thinks we have turned a corner should take a stroll through an airport. 99% of people are still playing along with this charade.

I was in SLC airport this morning helping my wife and daughters check-in for their flight to Paris. It's 0600 and people are starting to fill the terminal. I'm the only person without a mask. Didn't even have one with me. I was even 15 minutes talking with the Delta agent, and he never said a word to me about it. I understand as an employee he really doesn't have a choice, but the rest of the people? No, if mandates elsewhere come back, 90% of people will fall right back in line. It's a shame.

Was in the terminal the other day, headed to the badging office with my son for the three hours a week they are open to get his badge. (Now that he’s licensed he may as well be able to go to the hangar unescorted to fly). Everyone had a mask on and our area had recently terminated the mask BS (at least for the vaccinated and *nobody* is asking). Asked a young woman who was sitting on a bench, apparently on break, a baggage handler if I had to guess by attire and access badge, “Excuse me young lady, I thought the whole mask think was terminated a week or two ago?” Her reply was, “Oh, the airport is federal, so masks are still required here.” Sigh…

^^^^^
And I've heard that might go away in September. We'll see.....

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
^^^^^
And I've heard that might go away in September. We'll see.....

Rand Paul is supposedly going to introduce legislation to end the federal air travel mask mandate sooner rather than later. Dan Crenshaw and Rick Scott already tried it and the Dims shot it down before the ink was even dry. So not only am I not hopeful it will end before the Sept 13 expiration, I have no doubt with Fauci at the helm the White House will do everything they can to extend it to infinity and beyond.

quote:

Originally posted by Puckpilot78:

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
^^^^^
And I've heard that might go away in September. We'll see.....

Rand Paul is supposedly going to introduce legislation to end the federal air travel mask mandate sooner rather than later. Dan Crenshaw and Rick Scott already tried it and the Dims shot it down before the ink was even dry. So not only am I not hopeful it will end before the Sept 13 expiration, I have no doubt with Fauci at the helm the White House will do everything they can to extend it to infinity and beyond.

Pointless grandstanding. Neither house will pass it, and our vaccinated president won't sign it.

Yeah, the federal mask mandate doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Won't stop me from hoping there won't be an extension though past September.

Here's what's going om in France right now. My wife just arrived there on Monday, the same day that Macron announced these shameful, illogical restrictions. Starting in August, my wife won't be able to do really anything with my two daughters like go to the pool, a restaurant, a shopping mall, a freaking amusement park...without having a damned health pass. Papers! I need to see your papers! Why do people tolerate this? Why?

I'm supposed to join my family there in August. Well, I don't see the point in that now. My wife and I planned on spending a couple of days in Paris with our five year old. She is really looking forward to it. We promised her a "yes" day where she basically gets to pick everything she wants to do that one day. Well, Now we would need to be tested just to ride the train from Brest to Paris. We'd have to get tested again probably while there as it will be more than 48 hours. Then possibly again to return to Brest. Tests in France are now no longer free. This is intolerable. And now we may be forced to break another promise to our daughter. Last year we promised her we were going to Disney World for her birthday in April. Well, the world shut down in March. Another promise broken. Sigh....damn these people in charge. Damn them to hell.

Will this shit come to America? I don't know about you, but I feel it coming, like an ominous dark horizon; a slowly encroaching storm.

France’s new health pass rules raise questions as many scramble to adapt

Issued on: 14/07/2021 - 18:03
Modified: 14/07/2021 - 18:04


While the extension of France’s health pass and other new anti-Covid 19 measures announced by President Emmanuel Macron Monday night are yet to be hammered out in detail, what’s certain is that a full-throttled return to a normal life of frequenting café terraces, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and other culture and leisure activities will now hinge on having a pass sanitaire (or health pass).

From the moment Macron announced new anti-Covid measures Monday evening that include an extension to the health pass requiring holders be either fully vaccinated or have proof of a recent (taken within 48 hours) negative Covid-19 test, the French have been gripped by panic. Thousands rushed to online medical appointment sites, like Doctolib, which had a record 926,000 people book their first dose within hours of Macron’s address – a record for the site. Hundreds of thousands more continued to book jabs on Tuesday, a vast number of whom are health professionals now subject to mandatory vaccination under the new rules. Simply put, the changes mean that anyone in France – except for those aged 12-17 years – who wants to visit or, indeed works in, a café, restaurant, cinema, theatre, bar or other places of leisure and culture will need to have a health pass.

FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at the changes to the government’s health pass rules.

12-17 year olds exempt from health pass until August 30

Everyone will have to have a health pass if they want to access most leisure and culture spaces from July 21, except those aged 12 to 17 who will have until August 30 to meet the requirement. That means they will need to get “vaccinated quickly”, said health minister Olivier Véran on Tuesday, who added they will have to also continue to wear a mask where necessary.

"We have identified a solution for teenagers aged 12 to 17, so as not to spoil families' holidays. For them, the health pass will apply in all places where it applies, from August 30," the minister said on France 2.

Voluntary vaccination has been available to teenagers since June 15, provided they have the consent of both parents and are accompanied by one of them when they receive their shot.

Health pass valid one week after second dose

Under the new health pass rules, a person is fully vaccinated one week after they receive their second dose and no longer than two weeks, the health minister said. However, under EU regulations they would need to be vaccinated at least 14 days before travelling outside of France to other EU states.

Health pass for long-distance travel but not for local commutes

A health pass will be required for all long-distance travel, for both passengers and employees, and will be subject to on-board checks. However, it will not be necessary for local commutes such as on buses and metros, said Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari on BFMTV.

"It will essentially concern the TGV and intercity trains, coaches making interregional journeys, and domestic travel by plane", said Djebbari, as journeys by plane to foreign countries are already subject to the health pass.

For the transport sector, the health pass changes will present some challenges particularly in stations during the peak summer season, as transport providers will have to carry out checks at the check-in counter, which will likely lead to lengthy queues.

The SNCF, or national rail service, said on Tuesday that it was working with the government to set up procedures to ensure the new system runs smoothly and promised to keep commuters and travellers informed in the coming days.

Flexibility for restaurant and café staff

The government offered assurances that it would show some leeway in the way the new health pass measures are applied to staff at restaurants and cafés who may not yet have been fully vaccinated.

As in the case of 12 to 17 year-olds, these workers would not be immediately subject to the health pass changes. However, they "will have to have received their first vaccine dose by August 1 at the latest, otherwise from August 30 onwards they will have to be tested every two days if they want to continue working", Véran told France 2 on Tuesday.

‘Four issues’ of concern for retailers

Retail industry leaders met with key ministers on Tuesday to raise “four issues” of concern and to dispel some of the confusion over which shopping centres would be impacted.

"Is it over 10,000 square metres, 20,000 or over 40,000?" the minister for SMEs Alain Griset, said on France Info.

Another question concerns "where controls are carried out. Is it at the entrance to the shops or at the entrance to the shopping centre?" asked Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD) in an interview with AFP. “The question is tricky because shopping centres often house food shops and pharmacies. It would be complicated to tell people who don't have a health pass that they can't eat, or go and get tested or vaccinated..."

"The third issue is the vaccination of our employees, namely that many of them are young, and are not vaccinated," he said, adding that they would ask for a postponement of mandatory vaccinations for these workers until September 15.

Finally, Creyssel said, there are unanswered questions vis-a-vis monitoring and surveillance: “How will this be carried out? And by whom?” He said he had told the ministers that this may require the assistance of police.

The representatives told AFP they hoped a new round of consultations in the coming days would help iron out the details.

Testing at amusement parks

Popular amusement parks such as Puy du Fou and Parc Asterix were scrambling to try to meet the government’s new health pass requirements on Tuesday and crucially in time for the holiday peak season.

"We share the goal of putting a definitive end to this pandemic. From July 21, a health pass will be required, except for those under 12, and there will be some flexibility up to the age of 18. We are going to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our visitors, including the offer of on-site testing at our main sites," Dominique Thillaud, managing director of the Compagnie des Alpes, owner of the Asterix park, Walibi parks and the Grevin museum, told AFP.

During the peak summer season Parc Asterix welcomes some 140,000 visitors per week. Thillaud conceded “it’s a big challenge” to get testing up and ready, “especially as two-thirds of our visitors are under 35 years old, and they were among the last to be eligible for vaccination”.

"The agility of our operations is being tested because the deadlines are extremely short," he said.

No health pass at places of worship

While compulsory for all places of “leisure and culture” that bring together more than 50 people as of July 21, then in restaurants and long-distance transport from August, the health pass will not apply to places of worship.

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Worshipers will therefore not have to present a health pass – which attests to either a negative Covid-19 test or a full vaccination – to go and pray.

Since the start of the pandemic, the government’s Council of State has consistently underscored the importance of freedom of worship, which is protected under France’s constitution.

In November 2020, France's highest administrative court overturned the 30-person maximum capacity for religious ceremonies, a restriction initially imposed by the government. In their decision, the judges considered that the activities carried out in places of worship "are not of the same nature" as those in cinemas or theatres and that "the fundamental freedoms at stake are not the same".

Prior to that, the Council of State had ordered, in May 2020, the lifting of the "general and absolute" ban on gatherings in places of worship, which the government wanted to impose as part of a series of restrictions after the first wave.

This article is an adaptation of the original in French.

https://www.france24.com/en/fr...ny-scramble-to-adapt

No I do not see those restrictions coming here. France is a totally different situation. My aunt lived in Paris most of her life. Three years after her death we are still trying to settle her estate. Everyone wants their piece of the pie from the ragpicker to the attorney. They have perfected bureaucracy.

Natural Infection May Offer Better Protection Against Delta Variant, Israeli Health Ministry Says

https://www.zerohedge.com/covi...riant-israeli-health

In recent weeks, Israeli media has become a factory for stories that cut against the 'official' 'scientific' narrative about the COVID-19 vaccines. Most visibly, Israel has made a deal with Pfizer to start doling out "booster" shots for the most vulnerable Israelis, despite the FDA's insistence that there's "no evidence" that a booster shot is necessary.

Now, the Israeli Health Ministry has discovered that the number of patients who had been infected prior to becoming infected again during the latest Delta-driven wave of the pandemic were less likely to be reinfected than patients who have only been vaccinated. The finding directly contradicts research spouted by American experts like Dr. Fauci, along with Pfizer and Moderna, who have previously insisted that the antibodies created by their jabs are more powerful than antibodies produced by natural infection (which is one reason even the previously infected have been asked to get vaccinated).

According to Israel National News, more than 7.7K new cases of the virus have been detected during the most recent wave (beginning back in May). However, just 72 of the confirmed cases were reported in people who were known to have been previously infected - that is, less than 1% of the new cases.

Roughly 40% of new cases – involving more than 3K patients – were infected despite being fully vaccinated.

By this count, Israelis who had been vaccinated were 6.72x more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection, with more than 3K of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave. The disparity has confounded Health Ministry experts, with some saying the data proves the higher level of immunity provided by natural infection versus vaccination. However, others remain unconvinced.

Israel's Health Ministry previously estimated that the efficacy of Pfizer's COVID jab was only 64% against the Delta variant, which helped prompt Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to develop a new jab designed to protect against variants including Delta and Beta (the variant first discovered in South Africa).

Australia update
Victoria:

Ugggh. Another snap lockdown. Entire state.
Even though the problem is in the metro area.

5 days. 5 reasons to leave home.

Cause: C-19 Delta variant - more transmissionable, brought here by travelers from NSW, where it's been spreading.

Typical. We send NSW stuff, they use it and send it back as a "care package".

26 positive cases in Victoria with 75 exposure sites, 1500 primary close contacts and 5000 secondary close contacts.

Hospitals are not inundated, ICU's are not overflowing.

There are some very mad constituents out there.
Finances, income and revenue in tatters.

Some very big egos need to be called out.

FFS. Getting so tired of this bs.

sigh.

Peace out.

</chris>

quote:

Originally posted by cjevans:
Australia update
Victoria:

Ugggh. Another snap lockdown. Entire state.
Even though the problem is in the metro area.

5 days. 5 reasons to leave home.

Cause: C-19 Delta variant - more transmissionable, brought here by travelers from NSW, where it's been spreading.

Typical. We send NSW stuff, they use it and send it back as a "care package".

26 positive cases in Victoria with 75 exposure sites, 1500 primary close contacts and 5000 secondary close contacts.

Hospitals are not inundated, ICU's are not overflowing.

There are some very mad constituents out there.
Finances, income and revenue in tatters.

Some very big egos need to be called out.

FFS. Getting so tired of this bs.

sigh.

Peace out.

</chris>

I don’t understand why you all aren’t just saying “NOPE, we’ve had enough of this!” and just simply not comply any longer? Are they going to arrest 25 million people?

You’re putting up with this way too long and it’s going to reach a boiling point.

These people, these so called leaders from the US to Europe to Australia, are nothing short of villainous. Ghouls in suits and ties and women's pants suits. They all deserve merciless retribution for the things they are doing. I pray they get it.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
These people, these so called leaders from the US to Europe to Australia, are nothing short of villainous. Ghouls in suits and ties and women's pants suits. They all deserve merciless retribution for the things they are doing. I pray they get it.

I seriously don't get why the Aussies are still going along with all this and not starting to string people up from telephone poles.

They can't ALL be cucks, can they?

quote:

Originally posted by cjevans:
Australia update
Victoria:

Ugggh. Another snap lockdown. Entire state.
Even though the problem is in the metro area.

5 days. 5 reasons to leave home.

Cause: C-19 Delta variant - more transmissionable, brought here by travelers from NSW, where it's been spreading.

Typical. We send NSW stuff, they use it and send it back as a "care package".

26 positive cases in Victoria with 75 exposure sites, 1500 primary close contacts and 5000 secondary close contacts.

Hospitals are not inundated, ICU's are not overflowing.

There are some very mad constituents out there.
Finances, income and revenue in tatters.

Some very big egos need to be called out.

FFS. Getting so tired of this bs.

sigh.

Peace out.

</chris>

Australian government canceled the MotoGP round at Phillip Island. Really sucks.

Australia update
Victoria:

Oh, we are venting ...

An extract from a news.com.au online story:

Victorians vent

********

Furious Victorians have hit out at NSW after the state was plunged into the fifth lockdown since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the snap, five-day lockdown on Thursday afternoon, after NSW's spiralling outbreak spilled over the border.

Well-known Victorians and everyday citizens alike immediately took to social media to voice their anger, with many blaming NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and rule breakers from her state.

"Every single a***ole who came into Melbourne from Sydney, broke the rules and f****d us all again need to be named and shamed and jailed for life. And maybe some water boarding too," AFL star Dane Swan posted on Twitter in an expletive-laden rant.

"F*** u Gladys. Such a massive f***ing kick in the guts for Victoria," writer Clementine Ford added, as the hashtag #ThanksGladys began trending.
(note: Gladys is the NSW State Premier, a role similar to our US Governor)
It comes as protesters took to the Melbourne CBD just hours before the lockdown kicked in last night in opposition to the latest development.

********

The problem though, is that many Australians are to complacent. "She'll be right mate" needs to change.

With our Westminster constitution, there is no protected free speech, only that for political free speech.

In the meantime:
Nowhere to go, all day to get there.
Victoria: the Disaster State

</chris>

quote:

Originally posted by cjevans:

Well-known Victorians and everyday citizens alike immediately took to social media to voice their anger, with many blaming NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and rule breakers from her state.

"Every single a***ole who came into Melbourne from Sydney, broke the rules and f****d us all again need to be named and shamed and jailed for life. And maybe some water boarding too," AFL star Dane Swan posted on Twitter in an expletive-laden rant.

"F*** u Gladys. Such a massive f***ing kick in the guts for Victoria," writer Clementine Ford added, as the hashtag #ThanksGladys began trending.

OH MY GOD. These people seriously have their heads up their asses. So they continue to blame so called "rule breakers" rather than these insane, ineffective, potato-up-your-ass restrictions for their continued draconian lockdowns by their pathetic, cowardly leadership. My lord in heaven. Where have all the rational, brave people gone?

A coworker of mine recently went to a family wedding in Florida. There was 27 people in the group. Thirteen came down sick with COVID. He is in early 50’s and ended up in ICU. His wife and son also hospitalized. Here’s the kicker, all 13 infected and sick were vaccinated( all varieties or brands). Members of the group who had previously had COVID and did not get the vaccine were not affected.

quote:

Originally posted by crue-dell:
A coworker of mine recently went to a family wedding in Florida. There was 27 people in the group. Thirteen came down sick with COVID. He is in early 50’s and ended up in ICU. His wife and son also hospitalized. Here’s the kicker, all 13 infected and sick were vaccinated( all varieties or brands). Members of the group who had previously had COVID and did not get the vaccine were not affected.

Of the vaccinated who got sick, how severe were the symptoms? Did any vaccinated people end up in the hospital?