OLD FOLKS in homes not highest priority

[Lumpenproletariat]

At a time like this they should get it right -- not waste anything when supplies are still limited.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...cination-advice-from-the-jcvi-2-december-2020

It looks like there's a mistake here in the priority for the vaccinations. It appears that the high mortality rate at the old folks' homes is getting too much attention in setting the priorities.


Here's what the priority should be for the vaccines at this early point when tough decisions have to be made:


1. Health care workers

2. Food production workers -- farm, processing, transport, retail stores

3. Vital services workers -- utilities, transportation, police/emergency services, communications

4. Then, after all the above, residents at the old folks' homes where the mortality rate is high.

5. All others


It's wrong to put the old folks in homes at the top of the list. At this point the cold facts have to prevail. Protecting those performing vital functions should take highest priority above all else. Most old folks would agree with this.

 

[Jarhyn]

Predicting nothing but blatant wall of text screed* justifying hanging out the people most likely to die from this disease. The number one impact this virus has is denying us the ability to be with our family. The people most at risk are absolutely the reason we care about this disease at all. That and, you know, the brain damage.

But the fact is, if we take the old people off the board, we can finally be with our parents again. They're really all I or most people at all care about: Covid killing our parents.

If you don't care about that, fuck you with a garden rake.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The skew of those impacted the most definitely indicates that the elderly should be well near the top of the who gets it. The absolute largest threat to America is the overwhelming of our health care system. Reduce the number of people that need hospitalization and we reduce that stress. Our food supply is not currently suffering from the same level of stress on it. If we were talking a disease with a broader distribution, then food supply would be critical. But that isn't the problem. So we need to absolutely protect our health workers, the elderly, nursing home staff, and probably school workers (teachers and staff).

 

[funinspace]

What did your parent(s) do to you?

Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV:
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

I didn't bother voting as your question was binary (like most your thinking). Old folks should be near the top of the list along with first responders (or however one wants to call it).

 

[laughing dog]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

source

BSOD

...

...

*rebooting*

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Republican leaders of the Minnesota Legislature suggested Friday that state lawmakers and the staff who work for them should be among the early recipients of a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available. “I’m encouraging the vaccines, as one of the priority groups after elderly and some of our front-line workers, that we think about the people that have to be essential at the Capitol,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said at a forum with other legislative leaders.

What the fuck?!

Gazelka himself tested positive for COVID-19 in November, along with several other Republican senators who attended a postelection party that the caucus threw at a Lake Elmo restaurant. The Republicans did not in all cases inform Democratic lawmakers and others who mingled with them at a special session in mid-November, and after facing criticism for not disclosing the outbreak, Gazelka later said the situation should have been handled better.

It is like a Peter Sellers political satire came to life.

 

[TomC]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

Pretty much this.

You can probably protect the nursing home patients better by protecting the doctors, nurses, and orderlies who care for them than actually vaccinating them. As well as the families and such of the medical staff. Then there's emergency personnel, from EMTs to police. Their jobs don't allow most protective measures. Then teachers, etc. etc.

However, I'll bet that the rich and the ruthless will get prioritized over anybody else. Because that's how the USA works.
Tom

 

[TomC]

It occurs to me to add this.

I'm sure that there's better informed folks to decide the parameters, based on the good of the country. People who are familiar with the data. People who don't have a political agenda that takes priority over human well being.

Too bad those people have been marginalized and demonized over the last year or so.
Tom

 

[Valjean]

Isn't a great deal of transmission occurring in care homes, jails and prisons? Why not prioritize these?

 

[Politesse]

Both should be prioritized. But those at highest risk should be prioritized more, if it comes down to triage. And we would all be safer if the most common repeat vectors, of which care homes for the elderly are one, were made safer.

A pandemic isn't just an excuse to kill off people you don't value, but rather a communal crisis that we must face with solidarity if we are to face it successfully.

 

[southernhybrid]

All health care workers who work in hospitals, home health, nursing homes, assisted living facilities or hospice should be first. All residents of long term care facilities should be vaccinated along with the staff. One reason is that if the residents are vaccinated, then their families will be allowed to visit them with minor precautions. Right now, my own 95 year old mother is in a nursing home and my sister who lives near the home is devastated because she can't visit her, after caring for her in her own home for 5 years. Since last week, at least 4 staff members and 8 residents have become infected with COVID! One has died. How the fuck do you think that makes the staff and the families of the residents feel! While I'm not sure, I suspect that the staff may have caught the virus from a resident. The homes aren't allowed to refuse to take in COVID patients and that's how this spread started. They admitted a person with COVID as they had no other choice. Having worked in such a facility, I know how rapidly infections can spread in such places as the people are vulnerable and it's difficult to keep protective procedures in place all the time. Plus, the PPE remains in short supply and staff are often required to reuse things that were never meant to be used more than once.

I would put essential workers in other areas like grocery stores etc. next in line. Then those of us who are over 65 as well as those who have high risk underlying conditions should be next, as this group is also at fairly high risk for complications or death. Many older adults in the US are responsible for caring or in some cases raising their own grandchildren. Just because someone is old don't mean that they aren't important or needed.

Next would be healthy adults by age, since there are more deaths and serious conditions in 60 year olds than there are in 20 year olds. Healthy children without underlying conditions should be last since most have mild or asymptomatic cases.

Republican lawmakers should be last since they haven't take this pandemic seriously and they have often been involved in super spreader rallies. Let them wait! Fucking hypocritical assholes! When powerful and wealthy people become infected, they are offered the best medical care and treatments available, so they almost always survive. Case in point: Chris Christie and Donnie Trump! The rest of us don't have that advantage.

But, this is out of our hands. In the US, it's up to the CDC to decide who gets the vaccine first.

 

[TomC]

Isn't a great deal of transmission occurring in care homes, jails and prisons? Why not prioritize these?

What a delicious bit of irony.

Let old people die and save Social Security the money. Protect the incarcerated to avoid the costs of treating them.

You're brilliant, Seyorni.
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

And nursing home workers aren't healthcare workers??

 

[laughing dog]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

And nursing home workers aren't healthcare workers??

I don't know if they are counted as health care workers or not. For example, are the maintenace workers or food service workers or pastors or book deliverers considered healthcare workers?

 

[Bronzeage]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

And nursing home workers aren't healthcare workers??

Some of them are. For the most part, nursing home workers are janitors, housekeepers, and cooks. The same workforce will be found in any hospital, so it really depends on how broad one wants to stretch the definition.

My mother in law moved into a retirement community about two years ago. She has her own apartment and meals are provided in a common dining room. The place looks like any other large apartment complex, but there is a nursing care wing, for those who can no longer live independently. When the pandemic began, center management took immediate precautions. Resident's meals were brought to their apartments. No visitors were allowed in the building. Staff wore masks at all time.

At this point, not a single resident has contracted Covid19. Two staff workers have tested positive, but the precautions have protected the residents.

I think this illustrates that it's not urgent to vaccinate nursing home patients. They can be given reasonable protection without the vaccine.

 

[Jarhyn]

The poll options are too limited. I think health care workers and nursing home workers should be first. Then nursing home residents along with essential workers.

As an aside, after spending the pandemic lambasting the Mn Governor for his stay at home and mask orders and not wearing masks, the Mn GOP leadership in the legislature said that legislators and their staff should be in the first priority list.

And nursing home workers aren't healthcare workers??

Some of them are. For the most part, nursing home workers are janitors, housekeepers, and cooks. The same workforce will be found in any hospital, so it really depends on how broad one wants to stretch the definition.

My mother in law moved into a retirement community about two years ago. She has her own apartment and meals are provided in a common dining room. The place looks like any other large apartment complex, but there is a nursing care wing, for those who can no longer live independently. When the pandemic began, center management took immediate precautions. Resident's meals were brought to their apartments. No visitors were allowed in the building. Staff wore masks at all time.

At this point, not a single resident has contracted Covid19. Two staff workers have tested positive, but the precautions have protected the residents.

I think this illustrates that it's not urgent to vaccinate nursing home patients. They can be given reasonable protection without the vaccine.

The problem here is that they still can't see their families.

I could take or leave restaurants and bars.
I could take or leave being healthy myself.
I could take or leave being able to do something other than use a drive through.

I can't take another 6 months of not seeing my own goddamn parents, so long as they are still alive.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The problem here is that they still can't see their families.

I could take or leave restaurants and bars.
I could take or leave being healthy myself.
I could take or leave being able to do something other than use a drive through.

I can't take another 6 months of not seeing my own goddamn parents, so long as they are still alive.

It's called Skype. Or Zoom.

My wife went about 9 years without seeing her parents and only very rarely even talking to them (most of that time there was no way to talk, and when it became possible it was at over $1/minute), although they frequently exchanged letters.