Yes.

Excerpt:

Texas doesn’t have statewide guidelines for critical care and triage, which means that caregivers are left to their own local organizing. But tough times like the ones brought on by low vaccination rates and the delta variant require a re-examination of priors. This fourth wave of Covid hospitalizations differs from all the others, because almost everyone who is severely ill is also unvaccinated. In Texas, more than 12,800 people are in the hospital because of Covid-19, and between 93 and 98 percent of them are unvaccinated.

It’s tempting to blame this wave not on the virus but on the people who didn’t get their shots. “This has been bubbling up—this anger, this frustration, this fear, this worry. Every day, we’re seeing the ascent of the curve. Now it’s the steepest it’s ever been,” Fine says. “So I and the other leaders of the task force, we decided, you know, these numbers are not looking good. These questions are coming up."

  • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    The short-term solution here is to mandate vaccines. We tried the Choose Your Own Adventure route, but that didn't work -- we're back to pushing up against hospital capacity and it's killing people. Ideally it would be paired with paid time off from work or another stimulus payment, but the immediate goal is vaccination.

          • Alex_Jones [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            "The only people left who are police are the ones who care about pubic safety!"

            :angery:

      • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        You'd have to do it in a few waves, and you'd have to take into account the varying reasons people haven't gotten vaccinated. Something like:

        • Wave 1: This would be designed for people who struggle to find time to get vaccinated and people who are worried about potential side effects costing them hours at work/their job. Here, you'd basically try to make it so convenient that there's no justifiable reason to refuse. You set up vaccination sites at grocery stores, maybe you order businesses to close on certain days for a period to allow time for employees to get vaccinated, you'd ideally do another stimulus check. Can you rig up a van to keep vaccines cool? Run one of those out to homeless encampments, or roll it down blocks like an ice cream truck.
        • Wave 2: This would be designed for people who fell through the cracks during Wave 1 plus people who don't want to get the vaccine, but aren't going to go down kicking and screaming if it becomes mandatory. You start requiring proof of vaccination to enter any large public building -- grocery stores, banks, transit hubs, private offices. If someone doesn't have proof of vaccination, you either take down their driver's license, or (if they don't have a license) you give them a notice informing them of the mandate and telling them they'll be fined if not vaccinated within 90 days. Cross-check the information you took down from licenses with vaccination lists if possible, and send the same notice out to people not on the list.
        • Wave 3: This would be designed primarily for hardcore holdouts. Start issuing fines (which could be adjusted to income) for each week they remain unvaccinated. You'd be working with a much smaller population of unvaccinated people at this point (after Waves 1 and 2), which would make this administratively easier. If the income is high enough, don't even rely on them paying -- just garnish their wages/bank account. Refund any fines upon proof of vaccination.

        At that point, assess the vaccination rate and see if anything further is necessary. But I'd bet the combination of it being (even) easier to get and increased pressure (up to taking money out of people's pockets) on holdouts would produce some big results.

        • Dirtbag [they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Good comment. The fining thing is rough, but there does need to be something really unpleasant there at the end to motivate any hold outs.

          If we tied another stimulus check in with getting vaccinated in Wave 1, I think you'd have the vast majority of people lining up. Want another $3k? get the shot.

          • Vncredleader
            ·
            3 years ago

            I could see them trying to do a "if we get to a certain rate of vaccination, we will do another stimulus" that way it is not just restricting needed money. though the shaming and thus further sequestering wouldnt cease because of this; and the dems wouldnt dare give us money. Fines just feels like a recipe for disaster given our government and culture

      • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Good question. Imo the best way to do it is to not actually mandate vaccines but mandate having the vaccine to be able to do things. Concerts, restaurants, schools, bars, government buildings, etc.

        That way cops aren't enforcing vaccines, they're enforcing trespassing when an unvaxxed person won't leave after being told they can't be there. I think this gives the cops enough distance that they won't see themselves as forcing vaccination.

        • Haste_Hall [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          That way cops aren’t enforcing vaccines, they’re enforcing trespassing when an unvaxxed person won’t leave after being told they can’t be there. I think this gives the cops enough distance that they won’t see themselves as forcing vaccination.

          We already went thru this with masks and cops have refused to do this. You're not gonna logic-gotcha the cops.

            • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
              ·
              3 years ago

              So what happens when the unvaccinated won't leave? They'll call te cops and charge them with trespassing

          • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I'm not trying to logic gotcha the cops. Just make it so they don't actually enforce vaccines just existing laws like trespassing.

            You make a good point that a lot of cops didn't want to enforce mask mandates