Sorry, I thought the ‘with Covid’ part regarding hospitals was implied because that’s what we were talking about. I’m aware that, unlike about 13-14 months ago, or even more recently to a lesser extent, Covid is no longer the significant driver in hospital burdens. Our local paper does some updates on I U bed occupancy and the like; undoubtedly less detailed than what you see and hear but still enough to get a general feel for our state’s current medical burden. And I’m fine to mask up whenever needed for Covid, flu, or anything else at certain times if a system like that came down. Heck, we’ll probably do it of our own volition a lot during the winter, we were not ignorant of how we had no illnesses at all for a year and a half (though of course, that’s also because we encountered far, far fewer people). But as much as we did enjoy the fun times we had at home during all those months, it’s also our duty as parents to make sure our kids can socialize and be a part of the world now that it is safe to do so, and quarantining would have no appreciable difference in a society where a significant minority gives the human race the middle finger and spreads the virus with nary a care. Especially since we homeschool, so they don’t have a lot of friends outside of each other.
As for the unvaccinated, I don’t want them to die. Especially this way, which seems to be quite an isolated and painful way to go. I’m simply honoring their choice: by going without the shot, they are saying they don’t really care if the virus kills them or not (or for that matter, if it kills anyone else through them, which is the selfish, me-first part of it that infuriates so much since it lacks any sense of loyalty to community). If they don’t care, figure I shouldn’t either.
@kennfusion Well said about work from home. I am glad my position is supposed to stay hybrid, with a week in the office and a week at home in perpetuity. But Biden saying stupid, pandering junk like that is going to convince a lot of employers to yank these sorts of options (or at least to use his speech as an excuse to do so), which is going to hurt a lot of families for no other reason than to feed the economic beast. It’s pretty cold and heartless, all things considered. And also aggressively dumb; WAH appeals to people regardless of political affiliation. That corporate money isn’t going to buy the votes he probably lost for going out of his way to attack something with universal appeal. I mean, geez, why not badmouth Tom Hanks too if you’re committed to being deliberately self-destructive?