Banner Health Leading the Way in COVID Battle

Discussion in 'Sun City General Discussions' started by aggie, Jul 21, 2021.

  1. aggie

    aggie Well-Known Member

    It's about time private industry does what our Governor and Legislators won't do. To not require vaccines for people that are in high exposure situations, especially when immune compromised individuals are involved is beyond inexcusable. Our (dis)honorable legislators won't even let cities or towns pass mask mandates.

    Maricopa County is nationally #2 in the number of cases and #4 in deaths according to Johns Hopkins today. With over 1000 new cases a day in AZ for the past week we are definitely not taking these new variants seriously.

    Here's an excerpt from the Banner news story which appeared today on the KJZZ website:

    "Banner Health, the largest hospital network in Arizona, will require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Workers have until November to get the shot."
     
  2. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    I suspect aggie the court cases yesterday that said hospitals could in fact mandate their employees be vaccinated paved the way. Thank God. This is the time for my annual checkup and in the past month have been in 5 different doctor's offices. Each and every one of them has mask mandates in place. I honestly don't understand the anguish from many over masks and don't even get me started on those fighting getting vaccinated. Everyone screams about getting back to normal and this was the pathway there.

    As sporting events once again allow packed stadiums and arena's i cannot begin to imagine the spread. No masks, no social distancing and at least half those in attendance not being vaccinated. My guess is very soon we will see the nightly news start showing hospitals being inundated with cases and a plethora of patients as they die; almost always with the crawler at the bottom of the screen with the simple statement they weren't vaccinated. Don't ya all just love "freedumb.?"
     
  3. suncityjack

    suncityjack Active Member

    Banner has always been proactive in such matters and I'm thankful. At Banner Olive Branch some volunteers would gripe about being required to have flu vaccines, but it's the right thing to do and I'm on the side of the health professionals rather than some cranky folks trumpeting their rights while trampling our right not to be placed in unnecessary jeopardy.
     
  4. fixj

    fixj Active Member

    November? Seriously? I guess there is no hurry when it comes to a pandemic. What could happen in 5 months?
     
    BPearson likes this.
  5. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    I have been vaccinated and I wear a mask when required, and, granted corporations and business' have the right to mandate masks and vaccination in their facilities, but if I have to choose between safety or freedom, I will choose FREEDOM every time. I don't want to trust my safety to the government!

    "Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not our by inheritance, it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again".

    I will continue the follow the requirements as stated, but am quite frustrated how a supposedly 2 week shut-down as turned into over a year! The reason I got vaccinated was so I no longer needed to wear a mask??? I want a year of my life back!
     
  6. IndependentCynic

    IndependentCynic Active Member

    FYI, personally I don't see the conflict between freedom and most rules for safety you seem at odds with. They're seldom in actual conflict. History is replete with requirements that citizens get vaccinated, licensed, isolated, etc for the good of the community -- and without those mandates many of us would have contracted polio, small pox, tuberculosis, etc. and led miserable lives or died.

    I got the Covid vaccination for two reasons -- to protect myself and to protect my friends and family. I wear a mask for the same two reason. My doing so does not impinge on anyone else's rights or safety, nor has either particularly impacted my life in an irreparable way. My not doing so, however, would put others at risk. You blaming masks and vaccines is misplaced anger, IMO. You do have the right to not get vaccinated and not wear a mask, but you do not have the right to risk spreading the disease amongst the rest of us. Instead of blaming everyone else, perhaps you should reconsider your own reasoning.
     
  7. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    You make some good points however, I believe the whole process that was only suppose to last for 2 weeks and ended-up lasting over a year was, and still is, full of contradictions. First Fauci said masks weren't required then ended up saying wearing two masks is better. Today I see where the CDC quietly removed 6000 deaths from those that were originally listed as Covid deaths. I think over time you will see more studies that show Covid deaths may be no worse on the elderly than the yearly flu??

    I've seen studies that show where even the people who wore masks 75%-80% of the time, the Covid rate continued to fluctuate wildly, and in the case of North Dakota and South Dakota where one state had no restrictions and the other one had restrictions, there was very little difference in the infection rate and in fact, the state with the least restrictions even faired out a little better???

    I think the vaccinations and elimination of smallpox, polio, tuberculosis were a long time in coming while the Covid thing hit us in February and we were in total lock down in March.

    We apparently will agree to disagree, but when I wanted to take my own bocce or lawn bowling balls or even mini-golf putter and go play at a rec center, I found fences and security guards chasing me away! Meanwhile...no problem with golf! As a matter of fact, let's allow non-residents in to play! Yeah, that make$ $en$e!

    None of vaccination have even received final approval yet by the FDA, they were only authorized for emergency use!

    If you've been vaccinated then why are you still wearing a mask? Why are we all still wearing masks if we've been vaccinated? We can supposedly no longer get the virus or pass it on? We are also now seeing reactions to the vaccines that could be life threatening! Do you want to be forced by your government to receive a vaccine that nobody REALLY knows its efficacy or ramifications! If I were to believe that I would be negatively affected by the vaccine I would certainly want the final decision to be made by me and not forced on me by the government!

    As I said, I will continue to follow proper protocol with the masks, but I think some of the strong arm tactics, like losing your job if you refuse to get vaccinated, is going a bit too far! The only employee's supposedly at risk are those who didn't get vaccinated! If they want to roll the dice, so be it, but they are of no risk to those employees who were vaccinated!?!?!

    Not looking for an argument here, just voicing my opinion!
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2021
  8. IndependentCynic

    IndependentCynic Active Member

    The overwhelming majority of the science/medical community said Covid was going to be of pandemic proportions almost from day one -- those that didn't were mostly supporting Trump's fantasies that it would be "over in a couple weeks" or some other autocratic leader in another country (like Bolsonaro in Brazil) being macho.

    It's true that early on Fauci said don't mask up, but you're ignoring why he said that.

    Why do I still wear a mask since I'm vaccinated? Well, the vaccines prevent a high percentage of vaccinated people from getting/dying of Covid, but not all. So even though I'm vaccinated I could still get Covid and spread it to others -- ie, those unvaccinated or those susceptible even though they are vaccinated. Thus, when in situations where the vaccination status of others is unknown it seems smart to me to protect myself by wearing a mask and, should I unknowingly get infected, to protect others from getting infected by me. New variants pop up every day and here in AZ we're still a long way from herd immunity. It's certainly your choice to risk yourself. But should you be completely free to make the choice to knowingly risk others?

    I take a big clue from the fact that every doctor's office I know of still requires masking up. Last week I overheard the receptionist at my PC doctor's office tell someone apparently refusing to wear a mask: "Everyone has the freedom to get vaccinated, to wear a mask, or not. Decisions have consequences. In this office you have the freedom to wear a mask or leave.
     
  9. aggie

    aggie Well-Known Member

    Time to make more people give up a bit of "personal freedom" to stop or at least slow down the increasing spread of COVID. Arizona figures this morning show 1900+ new cases, 24 deaths and below are the stats for Maricopa County. Hospitals are starting to be stretched to their limits again and schools are about to start in many areas of AZ. We can't make it to the #1 worst county for COVID only because Los Angeles County's population is so much more than ours. Aren't we just proud of our efforts to save people's lives.....:(

    Today, 1,383 #COVID19 cases and 13 deaths are being added to the Maricopa County COVID-19 dashboard. For more data, including case count and hospitalization epi curves, see the dashboard: http://www.maricopa.gov/COVID19 .
     
  10. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    I am so tired of the arguments; so let me be clear and concise: You want your freedom...get vaccinated. You want for everything to return to "normal"...get vaccinated. You don't want your loved ones to end up in the hospital or at the morgue...get vaccinated. You don't want to have face mask mandates and businesses closed down...get vaccinated.

    It's that damned simple. It's not right or left; not blue states or red states; not trump or biden...it's just doing the right thing for one another.

    Get freaking vaccinated.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2021
  11. Adam560

    Adam560 Member

    My wife and I have both had the vaccine and will wear a mask when required, although it is a bit of a pain in the ass.

    What I really appreciate is the civil tone of the preceding posts. People stating their position without calling each other names.

    What a refreshing change !! Let's keep up the good work.
     
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  12. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    I agree. I was vaccinated and wear a mask when required. The funny thing is, I just got back from a trip to Florida and even though the airports and planes makes you constantly wear a mask, they still jam you into the tram that get's you from one terminal to the other, there's nobody there cleaning those bins that go thru the x-ray machines that everybody touches, and people are walking around in their bare feet because we still have to remove our shoes!?!?!? Just seems like one action contradicts the other! Go figure!
     
  13. carptrash

    carptrash Active Member

    Always interesting to hear different points of view, I notice that Florida leads the nation in new cases yesterday while North & South Dakota are first & third in new cases by % of population.
     
  14. aggie

    aggie Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't it be great if COVID turned the infected a bright shade of blue :confused:? We'd know right away to steer clear of that person. How about if those vaccinated had a purple :rolleyes: V that showed up on the back of their hand and it would stay as long as the vaccine was effective? Once again we'd know who to use extra caution around.

    We are so doomed to more super spreader events with NFL games kicking into gear this month. I do like the idea that teams may face a forfeit if a game has to be cancelled due to a COVID outbreak in a team that hasn't been vaccinated. There won't be postponed & then make-up games this year. Too much lost revenue for the teams and losing money is the only way to get them to do the right thing.

    Time to don my helmet & chains so we can motor off to Sturgis!!
     
    BPearson likes this.
  15. carptrash

    carptrash Active Member

    Among the last few days of well known people's covid-19 deaths there are these. Check out the ages:
    Dalal Abdel Aziz, 61, Egyptian actress
    Paul Johnson, 50, American DJ
    Alejandro Oviedo, 33, Costa Rican sports journalist,
    Zelá Brambillé, 27, Mexican writer and novelist.
    No need, Auggie, to go to Sturgis, our friends and neighbors will bring it to us.
     

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