Covid 19

Unvaccinated Americans not changing their behavior, report finds

ERIKA EDWARDS
August 4, 2021, 4:00 AM

Unvaccinated Americans believe the vaccines are more dangerous than Covid-19, while vaccinated Americans believe the delta variant is worrisome enough that they continue to mask in public and avoid large gatherings. And even though almost 165 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated and the delta variant is raging across the country, the percentage of U.S. adults who say they oppose the Covid vaccines has remained unchanged since December, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The survey's findings, published Wednesday, show some of the striking differences between the two groups and the challenges facing public health officials.

The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed 1,517 adults in mid-July about their thoughts and experiences surrounding the vaccines. At the time, Covid-19 case numbers were rising because of the delta variant of the coronavirus, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not yet recommended indoor mask use in areas with high transmission rates.

Still, 62 percent of vaccinated adults said news of the variant had prompted them to continue masking in public places, and 61 percent said they avoided large gatherings because of the variant.

By contrast, 37 percent of unvaccinated adults said the variant had prompted them to wear masks, and 40 percent said they steered clear of crowds.

"When we look at who's more likely to be changing their behaviors because of delta, it's vaccinated people versus the unvaccinated people. That's what really stands out," said Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The research group has been conducting surveys since December to track changes in attitudes about the vaccines.

One finding has not changed. Staunch opposition to the vaccines has hovered around the 13 percent-to-15 percent range from the beginning. In the latest report, 14 percent said they would "definitely not" get vaccinated.

Those who remain unvaccinated were more likely than people who have had the shots to say media outlets have exaggerated the seriousness of the pandemic and to mistakenly believe that there is more to fear from the vaccines than from Covid-19.

Demographics of each group are largely divided by political affiliation.

The "differences are to a large degree driven by unvaccinated Republicans," the authors wrote. "Majorities of Republicans say they never wear a mask outdoors, in crowded outdoor places, at work, or in a grocery store. Democrats are more likely to report wearing a mask at least most of the time in all of these locations."

The results may not reflect any potential impact of recent messages from Republican lawmakers encouraging their constituents to get vaccinated.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed appreciation for the vaccines Monday, even though he tested positive for the virus after having been fully vaccinated. "I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse," he wrote in a statement.

There appears to be a growing acceptance of the vaccines in places that have logged the greatest increases in case numbers.

"Daily vaccination rates have more than doubled in eight states" with high numbers of Covid-19 cases, Jeff Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said at a briefing Monday.

Some of the increase may be attributed to those whose friends and family have become ill with the virus. Hamel of the Kaiser Family Foundation suspected that the next few surveys may reflect that change in attitudes.

"I think there is still a chance that circumstances on the ground could accelerate people's desire to go out and get the vaccine," she said.

Overall, 70 percent of adults in the U.S. — more than 180 million people — have had at least one dose. Meanwhile, nearly 35 million cases of Covid-19 have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than 611,000 people have died.

 

Michael Shirey
Jutly f3SS1 rpiauogtm ls6torns:4o4odreln hdAdMtc ·
When you're on a plane for takeoff, the seatbelt sign is on. Once you reach about 10,000 feet, the seatbelt sign goes off and it is announced that you may move freely about the cabin until decent begins. However, sometimes you hit turbulence. When that happens, the seatbelt sign goes back on.
The pilot did not "flip-flop". The pilot did not change his mind. The pilot ran into unexpected turbulence and recognizes that it is no longer safe to not wear a seatbelt. The circumstances changed, and now he thinks people should wear their seatbelts.

 

Qasim Rashid, Esq.
@QasimRashid

Just took my daughter to her Kindergarten orientation & we had to show a vaccine passport for her admission. Let that sink in. The Govt is forcing kids to show vaccine passports. Wait...wait my wife is telling me this has been going on for a century & is how we eradicated polio.

4:01 PM · Aug 5, 2021

 

What country? The USA has not authorized any of the vaccines for anyone that young, at least for the Covi vaccine

 

Mr. Rashid, a Virginian, is just being ironic in that post, which doesn’t always come across online, much like sarcasm. He’s pointing out that a “vaccination record”, as required by public and private schools before a child can attend classes, is no different from a Covid “passport”. This is just standard documentation to prove that a person is no longer a public health threat.

 

The real clue to what was meant was in the reference to the polio vaccine, children have been required to show their vaccination records in order to attend school. If they have not been vaccinated they must have some proof they are prohibited by some medical or recognized religious prohibition.

According to NC G.S. 130A-155(a), no child shall attend a school (pre K-12), whether public, private or religious, unless a certificate of immunization indicating that the child has received the immunizations required by G.S. 130A-152 is presented to the school or facility.

 

Remember what I said about Delta a month ago. It has come true. Also remember what I said about "Delta 2" (future variants). The virus, like all viruses and bacteria, will continue to evolve and mutate as long as it has a large enough host pool. The people saying "individual liberty over government tyranny" are infringing upon MY individual liberty to be free of the virus. You want ME to wear a mask for the nest 2 years simply because YOU refuse to for 3-6 months? The "individual liberty" people tend to be (claim) they are good, pious people. Well what does Southern Barptist-ism or any other religion teach you about helping your fellow man? So much for that (just grab a Budweiser, grab em by the pussy and tell the libs to **** off).

Delta is 1,000 TIMES more virulent. What will Iota and Lambda be - 100,000x more virulent? All because YOU can't be a grown up adult and make an adult decision for 3 f'in months? When people's kids (because it's all about the kids, right?) start dying from rampant delta or future variants in the pre-k and 3rd grade classes, then you will see the anti-everythings do an about-face and get vaccinated, just like you are seeing happen in New Hawley (I mean Missouri) now that young people are actually getting severely ill and freaking out.

But hey, don't listen to me, listen to science:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/fau...ant-could-emerge-as-us-cases-near-100000.html

Oh, I forgot. It's Desantis and Phucker Carlson over science.

 

https://www.wunc.org/education/2021...bnRIOcfxiWzk404y0mp292Bf_r1iqXKSu2xUIilguMuig

After Four Days Of School And 80+ Quarantined Students, Mooresville Cancels Mask-Optional Approach
WFAE | By Ann Doss Helms
Published August 6, 2021 at 11:34 AM EDT
Four days after opening schools with masks optional, Mooresville Superintendent Stephen Mauney announced masks will be required to enter the district's seven schools Friday morning.

"I understand that this decision will not make everyone happy, but it is the decision that needs to be made at this point to keep our kids in school," he said in a message sent at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. "In the first four days of school, we have had to quarantine over 80 students, including an entire classroom."

That would have been fewer than 10 if universal masking had been in place, Mauney said. "This data point itself shows we can keep more kids in school when we all wear masks."

Mooresville Graded School District is among 50 North Carolina districts that have announced plans to open schools with masks optional, despite urgings from federal, state and local health officials. They all say consistent masking by students and employees can slow the spread of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 and reduce the need for quarantining exposed students, including those who are too young to be vaccinated.

Mooresville is about 25 miles north of Charlotte in Iredell County. Most districts surrounding Mecklenburg County, including Iredell-Statesville Schools, have mask-optional plans in place. However, most can't open schools until the week of Aug. 23 because of the state's school calendar law. Mooresville has an exemption and opened early.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford and other large urban districts are among 36 districts that have announced plans to require masks when schools open.

 

Well, “duh”, Mooresville. Here are more “freedumb” loving, “amateur epidemiologists”, and miserable “Einsteins” who aren’t letting actual reality interfere with their “beliefs”, however selfish and misguided these beliefs truly are. Just like Scott Apley, the Texas GOPer who continually mocked Covid online, and refused to get vaccinated, but later died from it, quicker than he could say….”Ooops”. He leaves behind a wife and a sweet, little newborn baby who will never grow up knowing her father. No reason for this at all, but plain stubborn stupidity, and a vicious brand of acquired arrogance:

 

So, according to Rep. Madison Cawthorn, requiring children to wear masks in school to protect themselves and others from Covid, is somehow akin to “psychological child abuse”, but they still need proof of vaccinations for other diseases just to attend school. Isn’t causing the preventable death of a child, much worse than so-called “psychological child abuse” just for simply requiring young children to wear masks?

 

Overthrowing the school board? There seems to be a common thread there with some other attempt to overthrow the government .....

 

Remember he was just caught trying to take a pistol and a loaded magazine onto a commercial aircraft too ... protection.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article253145168.html

Rep. Madison Cawthorn tried to carry a gun onto a flight at NC airport in February

U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a first-term lawmaker from far-western North Carolina, attempted to bring a handgun through security at the Asheville airport in February.

His congressional spokesman said it was done in error.

A Glock 9mm handgun was taken from Cawthorn’s bag as he attempted to go through security on Feb. 13, 2021, according to audio first obtained and posted online Thursday by a group trying to oust the congressman from office.

 

Yep, I see you caught that. That particular woman in that picture who showed up in her pajama bottoms (which you can’t see very well in that shot) wanted a “redo vote” too, after she didn’t get the results that she wanted. The nimrod doesn’t know how a democracy is supposed to work. Maybe she can get some pointers from Tucker Carlson who is licking the boots of dictator, Viktor Orbán in Hungary all this week.

 

Yeah, I read that, but protection from WHAT? It’s mostly the GOP, anti-maskers who are going bitshat crazy on airplanes and threatening and assaulting flight attendants and other passengers over mask requirements. And those fruitcakes are in the same league as that awful Cawthorn fellow, who knows SQUAT about American history and probably thinks revered, Southern historian, Shelby Foote, is a new kind of Mustang model. At least based on his previous, ignorant public comments regarding American history.

 

Those "unvaccinated illegal aliens" sneaking onto planes to spread Covid-19 because you know they are the reason for the spike in cases ...

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article253222383.html

NC county school board member blames 'illegal aliens' for COVID spike


BY CABARRUS COUNTY SCHOOLS

AUGUST 3, 2021, 11:32 AM
Tim Furr, a Cabarrus County school board member in North Carolina, makes a baseless claim that "illegal aliens" are to blame for a rise in COVID-19 cases across the U.S. Health experts say unvaccinated Americans are the cause.