A page about what immunocompromised people have to deal with now.
Note that people who live with or have contact with immunocompromised people also need to consider what they need to do to avoid unintentionally bringing the virus to the immunocompromised people they live or have contact with.
Actually, many of those low pay unpleasant jobs in food service and retail are paying a lot more than that now, because many former employees have left those job categories for better jobs that they were able to take time to find or retrain for during extended unemployment benefits.
That still does not make them particularly attractive or suitable for someone trying to find an alternative to teaching K-12.
Your comment seems like a very dim view of the skills that teachers have to offer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/teachers-are-quitting-and-companies-are-hot-to-hire-them-11643634181
I make no such assumptions. Just stating a simple fact: if folks do not like their working conditions, they need to find a new place to work. And if that results in a pay cut, or relocation, or longer commute, or many other things, it could be worth it for better working conditions. Or not. Their choice.
[full disclosure: my former company was continually hiring teachers across the country and most of the recieved a nice pay raise when they joined the private sector.]
You mean your own unsupported assumption about educators? (Hint: pre-covid teacher turnover ranges from 10-20% annually depending on state. Are all of those folks now âstarvingâ?)
My son makes +/-$40 an hour as a busboy, though I agree itâs not a job most people would seek out as an alternative career.
Letâs move on from the discussion of jobs, please.
Very thought-provoking article; thanks for sharing!
And itâs not just the immunocompromised/immunosuppressed who are concerned. As the article states towards the end, our immune systems weaken as we age. If the country moves towards not counting cases but rather only hospitalizations/deaths, we wonât really have a true count of cases, but rather just general trends. So being able to determine community transmission levels will be difficult.
Iâm told that Iâm free to mask and social distance. Well, of course, and thatâs what Iâm doing. I donât know when Iâll be willing to eat inside a restaurant again (or even at another house), if itâs not outdoors. So while others would chastise me for âfearâ or not âliving my life,â there is another side that I donât think is considered. I will no longer volunteer (was a school volunteer). I wonât consider giving blood (doubt covid mitigations will be stringently applied; I donât want to be anywhere near unmasked/improperly masked people in a setting that probably doesnât care about ventilation/filtration). And my household is O+ and O-, the most desirable blood types.
Weâve donated blood twice since Covid started - far less than normal for us - and yes, itâs because both times Covid mitigations were horrid. The first time was pre-vaccine even. The second was post. Masks werenât being worn properly by some either time. A couple of the nurses drawing blood were openly dissing Covid precautions telling me itâs equivalent to dying in a car accident - to which I replied, âyeah, and I wear seat belts plus donât use my phone at all while driving.â That ended the conversation. Two overseers were busy discussing politics and who should be running for President in 2024 - one with a chin guard, the other had no mask. The first conversation was pre-vaccine, the second was post.
Now that weâre fully vaxxed with boosters, if the rate around us continues decreasing, weâll donate again, but not if itâs bad. I feel for those who need blood, but the distaste for those doing the drives is strong.
Iâve been giving blood as often as I am allowed since there have been constant shortages. Iâm O positive and CMV negative (just learned this with my last donation) which is also very wanted. Stringent protocols were absolutely followed - spacing, masks everywhere, extra cleaning, one-use covers on that thing you squeeze while actually donating, questions on vaccination status, etc. I feel very safe. Iâve probably given more since 8/2020 than I had in the several years before that.
Oh my! That is terrible! My experiences, as noted above, were quite the opposite. I guess blood donating, as is just about everything else, is location dependent. The Red Cross did all mine.
I spent a 40 year teaching career seeing how our society devalues teachersâseeing more of the same here. We do NOT only work 6 hours a day, we do NOT work just 180 days a year, etc.
We cannot just uproot our lives and move on to some wonderful non-teaching jobs, as suggested by some here.
Our society appreciates (in some cases almost worships) the contributions of police, fire, and military, but then has little care for those who educate our most precious ones, our children. If one needs a doctor or lawyer, we want THE BEST, regardless of cost. When it comes to teachers for our kids, we want AS CHEAP as possible, and treat them as almost disposable.
Sorryâthis concludes my rant!
Letâs move on from posts devaluing or defending teachers please.
No doubt there will be many adjustments for many people as we move as a society to a covid-endemic phase. The level of labor mobility has reached unprecedented levels, and some changes appear to be both structural and permanent. Some hygiene measures may continue indefinitely, and travel patterns, at least for business travel and commuting, may never recover. Downtown shops catering to commuters may be impacted, as well as public transit. There may be far more flexibility in where to live. We will all adjust as we see fit.
I, personally, would not let my 91 year old parent take the risk. To me, there are safer ways to celebrate.
To each his own.
I donât want to âletâ my 84-year-old father with lung issues attend church (and potluck lunch afterwards), but he doesnât listen to me. He can still drive, and even after he canât, someone (maybe even an unvaxed relative) will take him. I just try not to think about it. 
I hope that when I am that age others still respect my ability to make my own decisions.
We let 93 year old FIL make his own choices since heâs of sound mind - sound enough that he can still hold his own playing games with us and more.
Heâs fully vaxxed and boosted. I wish all would be to help protect him further, but we all know how that goes. Even so, I canât see restricting his life.
Assuming he is competent, it isnât your choice to make.
I am currently still wearing masks (at least until all age groups have access to the vaccine) in an area that mask wearing is relatively low. I have watched folks on both sides in equal numbers (for masks and against masks) âchastiseâ people in social media settings, but no one has ever approached me about wearing a mask out in public. You have to do what you feel is necessary (everyone should). I also believe that anyone who chooses not to mask or abide by social distancing standards in non-mandated spaces also have a right to do as they please.
America has always seen itself as a country that would sacrifice for the most âdowntroddenâ citizens, but that has always been only up to a certain point (Especially when individual rights are involved). Even if a small majority of American citizens believe they can live a completely normal pre-pandemic lifestyle with little fear of a bad outcome after 2 years in various states of Covid lockdown, the âletâs be carefulâ viewpoint will not matter much (mandates and protocols will vanish overnight is my expectation).
I wasnât wearing a mask for awhile but now I am. Itâs such a simple thing to do, why not?