First it was Governor Ige mandating earlier that hospitals could not be sued for giving inadequate care to COVID patients. OK... I guess since we're running out of ICU beds and medical staff, this couldn't be helped. I was thinking of all those unvaccinated people who this would affect.
Oops! But then we saw this in the Sunday paper. What? You know it's mostly seniors who've been trying to follow the rules and getting vaccinated for the good of everybody, right?
It turns out there's something Hawaii calls "Crisis Standards of Care." Apparently anyone 65 years and older could be denied medical assistance. And you know seniors do get break through infections, right? Especially now that our vaccinations are slowly becoming less effective as time wears on and we're being exposed to the Delta variant running rampant in the islands.
Apparently 51% of our police officers, firefighters, paramedics and ocean safety workers are using health or religious faith as their reason for getting exempted from taking the vaccination.
What kind of religion would ask you not to take the vaccination? The pope himself has come out saying everyone has a moral obligation to be vaccinated.
This is the link to the Vatican News.
Other religious leaders in Hawaii put out a full page ad in the Star Advertiser.
This was from Hawaii News Now:
"Some 95 pastors and priests have written an open letter in the Star-Advertiser urging the public to get their shot to protect against COVID-19. Those who signed the letter represent various religious organizations from different religions that serve thousands of church goers."
I can tell you that our Buddhist Temple advocates masks and vaccines for the good of all.
I don't understand which religion is saying you shouldn't get the vaccine or why. Even Jehovah's Witness changed their view of vaccination in 1952.
ALSO from the Star Advertiser:
"Jeffrey Harris, an attorney who handles labor issues at Torkildson, Katz, Hetherington, Harris & Knorek, said he supports Honolulu's mandate, which he considers perfectly legal.
The mandate could have been more stringent, because the city "has no constitutional obligation to offer any religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination mandate," Harris told the Star-Advertiser. He cited a legal precedent that determined "the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death."
And then there's the Health exemption. OK. That I can see. IF your doctor says you should not get it, that is understandable and valid.
Let me tell you if I ever have to call the police, fire department, or paramedics I will double mask. I don't have to worry about ocean safety since my kids know I don't go into the ocean much at all. 😄
We're going to have to be really, really especially careful with mom since she'll be 92 in a month. Granted she might be healthier than Art or me. I sure hope we get those boosters soon. 🤞 And I hope they give them to seniors first since we could be last for getting medical care or no care at all.
It's a crazy world out there and full of paranoia! Our poetry groups that are both statewide and nationwide have decided not to meet in public places because if someone get the virus they could sue our organization. We are currently meeting in the senior center center since most of our poets are older but now we are asked not to but instead to met in private homes outside in 100+ weather-it just crazy but everyone is paranoid! Another option is to meet via zoom but many in our group aren't that computer literate. Time to become hermits again?
ReplyDeleteI am careful not to be around the general public with this Delta variant spreading so fast and the public unmasked.
ReplyDeleteHealth should be the only exemption. There are some legitimate reasons for that.
ReplyDeleteI read something about crisis of care recently but thought it was applying to those with Covid and needing hospitalization. Something like triage - deciding who of the sickest patients with Covid had the better chance and focusing care on them. But maybe it's affecting levels of care of heart attacks , strokes, cancer patients too. Sad state of things.
ReplyDeleteI too think health should be the only exemption. I have two friends whose doctors will not allow them to get the shot. One had a life threatening reaction to the regular flu shot and another who can tolerate no medicine what so ever--not even an aspirin. But religious reasons? Not buying it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Arkansas Patti, I'm sorry these people need fired immediately. Pack your things and move to a red state like Alabama or Mississippi, where you'll be welcomed with open arms. Open, infected arms.
ReplyDeleteI think religion is to blame for much of our troubles, and this may be true for the whole world as well as for much of history.
ReplyDeleteDear Anvilcloud, you are quite right, some religions are more toxic than others. Btw, even atheists worship something ... maybe mickey mouse, maybe themselves.
DeleteWe have a state wide mandate in Washington to wear masks outside and so far I am seeing fewer and fewer of them being worn. I don't understand why not? The Labor day holiday is over, kids are back in school and the numbers are rising again. I'm really worried. Religious exemptions, what happened to love thy neighbor? Our hospital is short handed and they fired several for not getting vaccinated. Makes me a little crazy. I'll be there in my masks when the booster shots open up here. Ack.
ReplyDeleteIt's all very sad. Remember I mentioned about "covid centers?" Rationing care is not new. Many states have crisis plans in place if the hospital system was ever overwhelmed and/or understaffed. Some hospitals and states are now having to use those plans.
ReplyDeleteIn his OFFICE, a doctor has the right to refuse to care for Medicare or Medicaid patients, or refuse to care for a particular patient. That doesn't happen very often, but now some docs are refusing to care for patients in their OFFICE who refuse to be vaccinated.
Once you GET INTO an ER or hospital, it does NOT have the right to refuse patients, and are required to triage them, and provide life-saving care. If the ER is full, some hospitals go on diversion, where ambulances are directed to go elsewhere as they are calling in about a potential arrival.
Rationing of medical care, similar to MASH episodes, is usually based on who is likely to survive the injuries or illness. It is done when triaging victims of natural and man-made disasters, (hurricanes, bombings of buildings.) When supplies, staffing or beds are scarce, those who are not likely to survive are kept comfortable and allowed their course of death. With so many unvaccinated people taking up ICU and newly-converted ICU beds in many hospitals, some states and hospitals are reverting to their crisis plans, and starting to ration care. One hospital turned their conference and meeting rooms into covid care units for those patients who were most likely not to survive. The resources are used for those patients who have a better chance of surviving.
I'm appalled at the number of co-worker nurses, and those EMTs and first responders who have stupid reasons for not yet being vaccinated. One "religious" reason is that some think, incorrectly, that aborted fetuses are used to make the vaccine. Such info is not true. One friend's daughter, a nurse, refuses, even if she infects and/or kills anyone else in her family, including children. You can't argue with such selfishness and stupidity. I read somewhere that no religion in the world forbids vaccinations.
Because of the way variants respond and how bodies respond to vaccinations, if a booster is given too soon, it will not help as much. If given at the proper time (to be determined,) it works better to boost immunity.
You're doing a great job, Kay, at keeping your family safe. It might be another year before there is a return to some type of normalcy. If we can get the vaccine for kids, the booster shots approved, I hope there are enough smart people to be vaccinated and create an 80-85% vaccinated rate, in order to create herd immunity. It will be difficult with the anti-vaxxers out there, but their numbers are dwindling. Linda in Kansas
The northern half of my state has already gone to crisis of care standards. It is unconscionable that it had to happen.
ReplyDeleteWe are close to crisis care here too. Our hospitals have told Idaho that we don't have room for their Covid patients. They are anti-vax and anti-mask conservatives and they want to send their patients HERE? It makes me increasingly angry. Insurance companies need to stop paying for the unvaccinated to be treated for Covid in the hospital; perhaps that would convince a few.
ReplyDeleteI would only allow religious exemption with a copy of the church bylaws stating such an exemption. The church of Do-Whatever-The-Heck-I-Want is not a religious exemption.
ReplyDeleteThis is so frightening. Thank you for posting all this today.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if because of my age I would be considered not likely to survive if I got the virus. Although I am fully vaccinated, I was also 78 when I received it, and at my age it's likely that my exposure to Delta might be enough to make me infected. It's terrifying. I'm not eating out anymore, or going to movie theaters, and I'm wearing my mask.
ReplyDeleteDear DJan, usually, in pre-covid days, age by itself wasn't a factor, and seems to be the case now. Hopefully, since you're vaccinated, IF you were to become positive with covid, you probably won't be sick enough to need hospitalization. You seem to be in very good shape for your age, especially being so active.
DeleteThose with underlying conditions: obesity, sedentary, diabetes, asthmatics, smokers, COPD seem to be dying if unvaccinated and acquire covid. Unfortunately, many hispanics have a lot of those underlying conditions, and are not vaccinated, and seem to be a higher proportion of those in ICUs, at least according to a pulmonology NP friend of mine in KC.
Just keep doing your preventative stuff. Remember your annual flu shot, and be current on the now once-in-your-lifetime pneumonia shot, and get in line for the booster when it's permitted. Your PNW fresh air is a plus! Linda in Kansas
I am opposed to mandating vaccination. I chose to be vaxed because of my age, but other people should be allowed to not get the vaccinations. Did you read a couple days ago, in New York state, a hospital had to close their birthing center because so many health practitioners quit rather than be vaxed? The health professionals often hesitate to get the vaccinations, they apparently are concerned about long term effects, etc.
ReplyDeleteThese are interesting and ugly times. One of my absolute favorite musicians, Eric Clapton, had a terrible reaction to Oxford's Astrazeneca vaccine and was against taking any vaccine for personal reasons as well as being diagnosed with emphysema. Prior to, he was attacked with verbal abuse and accused of being a Trump supporter (which he absolutely is not).
ReplyDeleteIt also makes me wonder about why first responders are not getting the vaccine. Perhaps they don't believe in it or are afraid of negative side effects, which are possible but rare. I got my vaccine to put others around me at ease. First responders need to think of those whom they serve and should get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, we can each chose to live in our own "bubble" of safety which seems to be working for most of us.
I am bewildered as to why first responders and medical personnel resist Covid vaccinations. Common sense tells us they should be the first to get vaccinated. Is it really only because they resist being told what to do? Mandate vs personal freedom? Are they really that stupid?
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to be nice sometimes. :-(
Humanity is in crisis.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid vac mandates will only make anti=vaxers MORE stubborn!
ReplyDeleteYEP :)
DeleteI was shocked to see law enforcement and first responders actually refuse to be vaxxed here. I cannot make sense of any of it. No logical reason at all. The dangers of getting it outweighs any argument but then I think I am a reasonable logical person. Maybe cult like groups forbid it? I am so confused by this. I guess it will be survival by immunization now. BB
ReplyDeletePlus the fact... Have you noticed that despite the people who are blatantly breaking the outdoor gatherings of no more than 25, the police are not doing anything? I know this because our friends in Mililani called in a huge party with tents and everything at the park but the police wouldn't go. We've also had so many gatherings reported in the news with no citations being given. It's a joke. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our numbers will actually go down with more vaccines being given.
DeleteSad that the governor thinks of litigation first rather than safety of the public.
ReplyDeleteI need to ask someone what their reasons are but I don't know anyone who has refused to get vaccinated. I just don't get it! First responders not getting vaccinated when they are dealing with the general public every hour of every day? Health professionals quitting their jobs because they refuse to get vaccinated? It is totally perplexing, absolutely frustrating. A great post here Kay, thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy. There has been so much harm done to people following the sensible rules.
ReplyDeleteOur premier has been a lot less than adequate.
This is really hard to understand. Have been concerned about the situation there since reading the news as you've shared here. Do hope you are all staying safe.
ReplyDelete