Love in the Time of COVID-19

Results

As of September 15, 2021, 46 states proposed or enacted 148 legal interventions to impede or facilitate vaccine mandates (Figure). Of these interventions, 19 were administrative or executive actions. More interventions were undertaken to impede mandates (88.5% [131/148]) than to facilitate them (11.5% [17/148]) in each category analyzed (Table): employment (impede: 81.4% [48/59]; facilitate: 18.6% [11/59]), school entry (impede: 80.0% [28/35]; facilitate: 20.0% [7/35]), vaccine passports (impede: 97.4% [38/39]; facilitate: 2.6% [1/39]), and others (impede: 100.0% [32/32]; facilitate: 0% [0/32]). Even though interventions to impede mandates were more common than those to facilitate them, interventions to facilitate mandates were more likely to be enacted (70.6% [12/17]) than those to impede them (32.8% [43/131]).

Our qualitative analysis identified a variety of mechanisms used to impede mandates, such as ensuring that driver’s license renewal was not affected by vaccine status and preventing government funding of mandates. Enforcement tools included facilitating citizen lawsuits against municipal governments that introduce mandates and firing, fining, or imprisoning violators. Some states proactively created exemptions or rights of refusal for any future mandates or established protections against discrimination based on vaccination status. Legal interventions in 13 states cited lack of Food and Drug Administration approval as a reason to impede vaccine mandates.

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I’m so sorry… I hope they get well very soon!

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Thank you everyone for the kind words.

I wanted to give a quick update. My daughter is doing well, with the only symptoms being a mild fever and an occasional cough. She has Asthma, so these symptoms are consistent with other colds she’s had in the past. We’re keeping the temperature under control with Ibuprofen, and the cough is being helped with an Albuterol inhaler, along with her regular Asthma maintenance. We’ve also been monitoring her blood oxygen level, which has been stable in the high 90s.

My wife has had a much rougher time. She’s had a harder time controlling her temperature. It’s doing better, but she’s still having to alternate between Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen to keep up. She’s also using an Albuterol inhaler to help with her cough, although she does not have Asthma. Her blood oxygen level has been less stable, dipping into the mid 90s a few times. She went to the hospital today to get an antibody treatment, which unfortunately had some adverse side effects (dizziness, nausea, chills). They treated her with Benadryl and slowed down the IV, which led to the treatment taking several hours. They gave her even more Benadryl at the end, which caused her to feel dizzy, floaty, and high. Hopefully she’ll be able to recover soon, as she’s been pretty miserable this whole week.

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I’m so glad no one has to be on a respirator.

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i was going to say that if her blood oxygen level gets to 90, head to the hospital immediately, but it sounds like you took the precaution to go in anyway, which seems wise. i’m glad she’s in the hospital now, she will get good treatment there.

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I apologize, as I don’t think I was clear. Her oxygen level hasn’t dropped below 95 as far as we know. We were instructed to go to the hospital if it dropped as low as 92, which it has not done yet. The reason she went to the hospital yesterday was to receive an antibody treatment that was recommended by her doctor due to her other health issues.

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ohh, i see. yeah, one of my nephews is a doctor, and he spent the summer of 2020 in NYC working covid wards, and when i got it he texted me and said “if your blood oxygen reaches low 90s, do not hesitate to head the emergency room.” so i’ve just kept that in my head ever since. good call on your part, anyway. those antibody treatments are supposed to really be helpful.

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This is as good a place to put this:

These devices are super cheap, and easy to use. I’d recommend anyone to get one for their household, as well as a good thermometer, and less critically, an automated blood pressure cuff.

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And they’re getting mighty sick of it:

Last week, the Oz courts ruled that tomorrow’s planned strike was illegal.

They’re striking anyway. No really effective industrial action has ever been legal.

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that looks like what i bought, too. so simple, so quick. we also bought a no-touch/infrared thermometer for forehead readings. we already had a blood pressure cuff, but honestly, we don’t use it as much as we probably should.

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I hope they both recover soon.

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