I think they are short staffed too. They lost a couple of vets and some techs I think. There are no other clinics to refer to. It's a real problem in this area, when I got the foster dog I couldn't find anywhere to take her, even on an emergency basis, because most of the clinics in central Florida will not see a new patient because they are in the same situation.
It's the same thing here with animal care. I think many of us went out of business during the shutdown without enough work and now nobody is taking on new clients because they're full. Our schedule loosened up a little, but what we really need are regular clients that use us every week. We've been getting a bunch of people that want to only use is occasionally and will pop up asking for stuff with no notice which doesn't work with our schedule.
I know. And it's not going to ever go away, we've known that from the beginning. Just like the Flu never went away. However it could have been under control by now if people had only cooperated. We have yearly Flu Vaccinations to keep up on the different strains and keep it in check. That still kills people every year too, but this is so much more deadlier and capable of mutating to a point where we can't get it under control anymore. If people had just done the basic steps to get this under control, we wouldn't be here right now. It infuriates me to no end.
Sorry to double post, but reading just the first couple of pages brought this up. And although it was selfishness that got us to this point and I was wrong about how serious it was, my prophecy is coming true
So I went to the grocery store today and stocked up on supplies. Not to protect myself from a virus. That wasn't my worry. To protect myself from idiots clearing the shelves thinking that it's the end times. Regardless of what happens, they've bought up a bunch of shit that nobody who needs it on a normal basis will be able to get now. You know what I wish? That this threat was actually at the level that they think it's at and kills off the stupid people.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...out&li=BBnb7Kz
Unvaccinated U.S. Visitors Could Face New Restrictions on Travel to Europe
The European Union on Monday recommended that its member countries reintroduce travel restrictions for visitors from the United States who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus, a fresh blow to the continent’s ailing tourism sector and a sign that potential measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus might remain in place for months.
The European Council, which comprises the leaders of the bloc’s 27 countries, removed the United States from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel without requirements such as quarantine and testing.
The change is not mandatory. Each E.U. member state imposes its own travel rules and can decide whether to follow the guidelines or not, so it was not immediately clear which countries, if any, would reintroduce restrictions or when they might begin.
If enforced, the new restrictions would only apply to unvaccinated travelers — the European Council already recommends that all visitors who have been fully inoculated with an E.U.-approved vaccine be allowed to travel. That includes the three vaccines available in the United States.
South African scientists identify new COVID variant with ‘increased transmissibility’
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavi...zqi-story.html
Here we go again.
A new, potentially more contagious variant of COVID-19 has been found in South Africa, and elsewhere, according to new research.
The C.1.2. variant was discovered by scientists from South African groups the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, known as Krisp and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. It was first flagged in May and has since been spotted in most of South Africa’s 9 provinces as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Portugal, New Zealand and Switzerland.
According to Bloomberg, the researchers said the mutations seen in this variant give it “increased transmissibility” and an “increased ability to evade antibodies,” such as those provided by previous infection and recovery or vaccination.
Tulio de Oliveira, the director of Krisp, said at an immunology conference on Monday that researchers are still examining how vaccinated and unvaccinated people react to the new variant.
“It has only been detected in around 100 genomes, a very low number,” he said. “It’s still a very small percentage, but again we are really keeping a good eye on that. It has all of the signatures of immune escape.”
Still, the researchers noted C.1.2. has a “concerning constellations of mutations.”
According to the paper, the new variant accounted for 2% of all cases in South Africa in July while the delta variant accounted for 89%.
Only about 14% of South Africa’s population is fully vaccinated.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/...s-son-79731230
Judge strips unvaccinated Illinois mom of rights to see son
An Illinois judge has barred a divorced mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she isn't vaccinated against COVID-19.
Rebecca Firlit’s lawyer said the judge, not Firlit’s ex-husband, raised the issue during a recent child support hearing. They have been divorced for seven years and share custody of the boy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday, in what it called one of the first such rulings of its kind.
Cook County Judge James Shapiro asked the 39-year-old mother during an online hearing on Aug. 10 if she was vaccinated. When she said no, the judge withdrew her rights to see the boy until she gets vaccinated.
“I was confused because it was just supposed to be about expenses and child support,” the desk clerk from Chicago told the Sun-Times. “I asked him what it had to do with the hearing, and he said, ‘I am the judge, and I make the decisions for your case.’”
Firlit said she has had adverse reactions to vaccinations in the past and that her doctor had advised her not to get a COVID-19 shot. The newspaper didn't say if Firlit told the judge about her past problems with vaccinations.
Firlit said she has only been able to speak to her son by phone since the hearing.
“He cries, he misses me. I send him care packages,” she said.
Firlit’s lawyer, Annette Fernholz, said she is asking an appeals court to intervene and overturn Shapiro’s ruling, arguing that the lower court judge is “very much exceeding his judicial authority.”
The boy’s father, Matthew Duiven, is vaccinated and would fight the appeal, according to Duiven’s lawyer, Jeffrey Leving.
“We support the judge’s decision,” Leving told the Sun-Times.
Just wonderful......
Frankly, I don't blame the Father for not wanting her around the kid since he can't get vaccinated. Shipping him back and forth would increase the risk of spreading it as well. IF she really does have a valid reason not to get the vaccine then I would reconsider because if that's the case then she's likely being extra careful. However my bullshit meter on her claims is going way off.
Well that didn't last long.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...s-son-79733730
Judge restores unvaccinated Illinois mom's right to see son
An Illinois judge on Monday reversed a decision to bar a divorced mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she isn't vaccinated against COVID-19.
Rebecca Firlit’s lawyer had said the judge, not Firlit’s ex-husband, raised the issue during an Aug. 10 child support hearing. They have been divorced for seven years and share custody of the boy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday, in what it called one of the first such rulings of its kind.On Monday, Shapiro issued an order that vacated the early August decision, though the filing offered no explanation for the change of heart, according to the Sun-Times.
Last month, Pastor Danny Reeves was fighting for his life in the intensive care unit at Dallas' Baylor University Medical Center. He had COVID-19, and he wasn't vaccinated.
Now, the senior pastor at First Baptist Corsicana in north central Texas regrets not getting the shot earlier, and he plans to tell his congregants his story on Sunday when he returns to the pulpit.
"I was falsely and erroneously overconfident," Reeves told NPR's Debbie Elliott on Morning Edition.
Reeves says he isn't against vaccines, and he encouraged certain people in his community " mostly older adults " to get vaccinated before he contracted the coronavirus. But he thought since he's in his 40s and generally healthy, getting the virus wouldn't be a big deal.
Pastor Danny Reeves on why he didn't get a COVID-19 vaccine
"Unfortunately that was the attitude that I had: That if I did get it, I thought it would just be a nothing issue," he says. "And in that I was deeply, deeply wrong."
Reeves describes his experience at the hospital as "harrowing." At one point during his two-night stay in the ICU, a doctor told him he might die.
Weeks later, Reeves is still recovering.
"It ravaged my healthy body," he said. "There's no doubt."
COVID-19 cases are surging across north Texas, and projections indicate they may soon reach last winter's peak.
Of his first service back, Reeves says, "We're going to praise God together for his rescue. I'm going to lay out lessons that I've learned. ... And certainly I'm going to talk straight to our people about who we can and should be as God's people and what it really means to love our neighbor."
Reeves says he plans to get vaccinated once his doctor tells him it's safe to do so.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/29/10316...ce=twitter.com
So a local big wig (rich guy, state senator, etc.) is having his 90th birthday. The celebrate, he's hosting a J&J pop-up event. First 90 people who get vaxxed will get a $100 gift card. Will be interesting to see how it goes.
Meanwhile
https://www.wesh.com/article/check-o...ember/37440809
Parents line up outside Florida chiropractor’s office to get exemption forms for school mask mandate
Families were lined up outside a chiropractor’s office in Venice on Monday night hoping to get medical exemption forms for their children in response to Sarasota County’s new school mask mandate.
The mask mandate in Sarasota County schools went into effect on Monday and, while the district says compliance so far has been good, they are dealing with a few challenges vetting medical exemption forms. As the district works through the exemptions to make sure they’re valid and correct, some parents are voicing concerns over the local chiropractor, who confirms to 8 On Your Side he’s signed dozens of exemption forms in the past week.
Paulina Testerman says she was in disbelief when she heard claims that Twin Palms Chiropractic was offering up mask exemptions to anyone who wanted one. Her family went to check things out for themselves.
“We were in and out, came in, signed a clipboard and handed a sheet,” Testerman said. “Nobody asked to see our children. The forms were pre-signed, there was a stack behind the counter and they were just passed out.”
District officials say they’re aware of the situation and are concerned about the claims they’re seeing online.
“We have got a fair amount of exemption forms from that practice,” Craig Maniglia with Sarasota County Schools said. “They are being looked into. They have been given to our attorneys.”
8 On Your Side spoke with Dr. Dan Busch outside his attorney’s office to get his side.
“This is not a political thing. I am not an anti-mask person or an anti-vax person, but I am a pro-freedom, pro-choice person,” Dr. Busch said.
The chiropractor told us his policy is to meet with the student and their legal guardian to see whether or not they qualify for an exemption.
“I myself, I will tell you I have not given exemptions to any parents that I have not met with,” Busch said.
We asked Dr. Busch what kind of diagnosis chiropractors can make when it comes to a mask exemption.
“It is any Florida licensed health care physician. Your dentist could do this, your psychiatrist could do this, your psychologist can do this,” he explained. “You were looking at things like respiratory distress, hypoxia, asthma, anxiety, depression – there are a lot of qualifying conditions.”
Testerman says she wants to know why parents don’t just go to their pediatrician for a mask waiver.
“That answer is really quite simple. Pediatricians are trained to diagnose and treat children and they recognize the dangers that COVID presents,” she said. “Signing a mask waiver would go against one of their tenants of their Hippocratic oath [to] do no harm.”
13 charged with paying ‘AntiVaxMomma’ for fake documents to avoid free vaccine: Manhattan prosecutors
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...=chartbeat-flt
Manhattan prosecutors have found 13 essential workers — including hospital, nursing home and school staff — who preferred to pay $200 for fake COVID-19 vaccine documents than get a free-of-charge jab in the arm.
The scam’s accused mastermind — Jasmine Clifford, 31 — was expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court on felony conspiracy charges for forging at least 250 fake vaccination cards and then selling them to her followers on Instagram.
Clifford had help from Nadayza Barkley, 27, who fraudulently entered the names of 10 of the scam’s customers into the state’s “Excelsior Pass” system, which provides vaccine documents to users’ cell phones, prosecutors say.
Barkley, of Bellport, L.I., had access to the state database through her job at a medical clinic in Patchogue.
Clifford, a Lyndhurst, N.J. resident who used the Instagram handle “@AntiVaxMomma,” accepted $200 payment for vaccine cards via CashApp and Zelle, said prosecutors. Clifford’s Instagram page was down on Tuesday.
Having Barkley enter the customers’ information in the Excelsior Pass database cost Clifford’s customers another $250, prosecutors said.
Clifford sold about 250 of the forged cards, prosecutors say.
The DA only charged the 13 essential workers with buying the cards. Each of the 13 was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and conspiracy. One of the 13 was also charged with offering a false instrument for filing, for paying the extra $250 to be entered in the Excelsior Pass database.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance said case-by-case prosecutions won’t be enough to deal with the public health issues raised by fake vaccine card scams.
“We will continue to safeguard public health in New York with proactive investigations like these, but the stakes are too high to tackle fake vaccination cards with whack-a-mole prosecutions,” said Vance.
“We need companies like Facebook to take action to prevent the fraud happening on their platforms. Making, selling, and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes with serious public safety consequences. This investigation is ongoing.”
The Manhattan DA’s office has urged anyone aware of similar fake vaccine card scams to call the office’s Financial Frauds Bureau at 212-335-8900. Tips can be confidential.
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