We are hopefully seeing the end of the pandemic and moving toward the endemic phase. Hopefully. A lot depends on what comes after Omicron. Which we don't know yet. But hopefully.
I think the long Covid issues are going to be the biggest problem.
Not just the symptoms that some people can't shake after getting Covid but the fault lines Covid has shown in our society.
Right now there is a convoy of trucks in Canada that has been blocking streets and protesting in front of their government buildings for weeks. They are also blocking the roads leading in and out from the USA at certain spots. They are mad (from what I've seen) about the vaccine requirements and that they have to show a card to cross back and forth. The whole anti-vaxx thing that has brewed up.
And I get it. They will say they aren't anti-vaxx they are anti being forced by the government to get vaccinated. I'll say what I've said before, they aren't being forced to do anything. IF they want to keep the jobs they have they have to get vaccinated and get the card. IF they don't want to get vaccinated and get the card they have to find other jobs. It's a job requirement. Among a lot of other job requirements.
Truckers have to have special driver's licenses that show they know how to operate the giant vehicles they are driving.
Food handlers (at least here) have to get a food handlers card to show they know the safety around food prep.
When I was an LMT I had to get licenses from the state that showed I knew what I was doing and how to do it safely.
Crossing the border during a pandemic is safer if you are vaccinated. If you don't want to be vaccinated, fine, then get a different job.
I know that's not a popular opinion and I am supposed to be all for "forcing" everyone to get vaccinated or for not having any requirements at all around vaccinations but I'm not. I think vaccinations are a good idea. I think we should all get them. I think it's lousy that there is so much crazy misinformation out there about them. I think companies and businesses should be able to decide how they want to handle allowing people in their spaces. If they feel like during a pandemic they want everyone around them vaccinated? Okay. If they feel like they don't really care. Okay. Just let people know what they can expect so they know how they want to handle it.
Like, not going to work for someplace that requires vaccinations if you don't want to get one.
Like, not going to a restaurant that doesn't require them if you have people that are vulnerable.
And weigh your options. Make your decisions.
But, for fuck's sake, don't block roads and honk your horns and act like the world is in a big conspiracy against you because you are traveling across the border and back during a pandemic and your employer says you need to be safe to do so. And right now the science says this is what is safest. If you don't agree, find a new job. I'm also slightly second hand embarassed that a lot of the funding going toward those Canadian truckers is coming from conservatives here in the US doing it to keep the culture wars active for the midterms.
That's the calm me. That's the do what you are going to do but stop acting like anyone is forcing you to do things. They aren't. You just don't want the consequences of your actions. You don't want to get the vaccine but you also don't want to be told you can't go someplace because you don't have the vaccine. You feel like being told no is being forced to do the other thing. It's not. And again, I totally get it, I hate being told no. But if it's something I feel strongly about it's not like being told no has ever changed my stance.
The really pissed off me? That's the one that is just so fucking sick and tired of the whole thing. Get it or don't but shut the fuck up. Deal with it. And understand that people who have lost loved ones, people who have gotten really sick, people who have immunocompromised people in their families are going to be pissed off at you. And they get to be. You want to feel your feelings? Fine, but know they (we) are feeling ours as well.
My grand niece got to go home today after a few days in the hospital from Covid. She's 7. You know that age that those anti-vaxx, anti-mask, anti-science people keep telling you can't get Covid? Or can't get that sick? They can. They do. It's a total crapshoot right now on who gets really sick and who doesn't. It's kind of been one all along. Some people have gotten drastically ill. Some have skated on with nothing much. Some have died. You don't know how it's going to affect you. You don't know how it's going to affect the next person. So why wouldn't you want to do whatever you could to protect everyone? To keep everyone as safe as you possibly could?
Get the vaccine.
Get your card.
Keep your job.
Or find something else to do.
Stop acting like...well I would say a child, but that's insulting to children.
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