Coronavirus Outbreak

[silentreader]

Is this true? It was in the Washington Post.

U.S. Postal Service workers were not included in Biden’s executive order requiring all federal employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss not-yet-public portions of the president’s plan.

USPS has a separate statutory scheme and is traditionally independent of federal personnel actions like this, the official said, though postal workers would be strongly encouraged to comply with the mandate.

The move exempts a massive chunk of the federal workforce — 644,000 employees and growing as the agency ramps up seasonal hiring — that interacts daily with an equally large swath of the public.

One of the Postal Service’s powerful unions, the American Postal Workers Union, in July criticized the administration’s efforts to require federal workers to be vaccinated and demanded that postal leadership collectively bargain on the issue.

“While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent,” the union said in a statement.

The Postal Service is an independent agency of the executive branch, and it is required to be specifically included in executive orders that apply to working conditions for federal employees. The virus has taken a toll on mail delivery; agency officials have said some delays are because of a lack of worker availability and generous leave time for employees who are isolating or taking care of family.

[Ken]

Apparently the White House issued two separate vaccine mandates under two separate legal authorities. The first one doesn't apply to the USPS but the second one does. Hence the initial confusion.

First, the White House issued a mandate for Federal employees under which they have direct control that is an absolute mandate with no opt-out for weekly testing. The USPS apparently does not fall under this mandate because the USPS is not under direct control of the White House, it is an independent agency that answers to the Postmaster General and USPS board.

Second, the White House issued a simultaneous second vaccine mandate for all employers with more than 100 employees under OSHA workplace safety authority. the USPS does fall under this mandate. So the USPS will be required to implement mandatory vaccines for all employees or implement weekly testing for those who opt-out. Just like for all other large employers.

NOTE: The weekly testing "out" for employers with more than 100 employees is optional. The employer does not need to provide that accommodation. Many are choosing not to.

Here is a FOX news article that explains the difference between the two separate mandates: https://www.foxnews.com/media/washingto ... ne-mandate

[RZehr]

Something that has been intriguing to me is to observe the common media narrative that the majority of the unvaccinated are Trump supporters, and yet it was Trump who started Operation Warp Speed to get the vaccines developed and available ASAP. Similar to some of the assumptions being made on MN, to this day Trump claims that millions more lives would have been lost if not for Operation Warp Speed. On this particular issue, it's intriguing to me that the true Trumps supporters are those pushing the vaccines while the media narrative "Trump supporters" are not his supporters at all. What a mixed up world we live in!

Young people, blacks and Hispanics are among the most vaccine hesitant. They also are a very large Democrat voting Bloc.

I know. I was just thinking that this morning. The media can’t touch that. It’s much to inconvenient and sensitive for the DNC electors.

It is a weird. We also have the RNC leader’s berating the whole thing, while their supporters are getting the shots.

[QuietlyListening]

Actually the media around here do mention that many in the black community and the immigrant community are not getting vaccinated. Many of the pastors or other community leaders have been trying to reach out to them thru mobile clinics, going to churches etc.

But I am also aware of many very conservative right wing folks who are not getting it either, either they don't trust it, are anti vax period or as some at our church say- if I get it I say I'm not trusting God.

So I'm hearing of all and the media speaks of the ones I first mentioned often.

guess it depends where you live.

[Ken]

Something that has been intriguing to me is to observe the common media narrative that the majority of the unvaccinated are Trump supporters, and yet it was Trump who started Operation Warp Speed to get the vaccines developed and available ASAP. Similar to some of the assumptions being made on MN, to this day Trump claims that millions more lives would have been lost if not for Operation Warp Speed. On this particular issue, it's intriguing to me that the true Trumps supporters are those pushing the vaccines while the media narrative "Trump supporters" are not his supporters at all. What a mixed up world we live in!

Young people, blacks and Hispanics are among the most vaccine hesitant. They also are a very large Democrat voting Bloc.

I know. I was just thinking that this morning. The media can’t touch that. It’s much to inconvenient and sensitive for the DNC electors.

It is a weird. We also have the RNC leader’s berating the whole thing, while their supporters are getting the shots.

Actually the least vaccinated subset of the American population is White Republican Trump supporters. Both Blacks and Hispanics are vaccinated at significantly higher levels.

Data that simply looks at race misses this because the low vaccination rate by White Republicans is obscured or hidden behind the exceptionally high rates of White Democrats, who have the highest rates of all.

Furthermore, when people are surveyed. unvaccinated Black and Hispanic respondents don't profess as much adamant opposition to the vaccine, just "hesitancy" or "haven't gotten around to it". So the thought is that they are more reachable by vaccine campaigns compared to many on the right who have hardened their opposition. Here is one recent survey that looks into that question.



And here is an article that looks into the topic in depth: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... to-blacks/

[nett]

Young people, blacks and Hispanics are among the most vaccine hesitant. They also are a very large Democrat voting Bloc.

I know. I was just thinking that this morning. The media can’t touch that. It’s much to inconvenient and sensitive for the DNC electors.

It is a weird. We also have the RNC leader’s berating the whole thing, while their supporters are getting the shots.

Actually the least vaccinated subset of the American population is White Republican Trump supporters. Both Blacks and Hispanics are vaccinated at significantly higher levels.

Data that simply looks at race misses this because the low vaccination rate by White Republicans is obscured or hidden behind the exceptionally high rates of White Democrats, who have the highest rates of all.

Furthermore, when people are surveyed. unvaccinated Black and Hispanic respondents don't profess as much adamant opposition to the vaccine, just "hesitancy" or "haven't gotten around to it". So the thought is that they are more reachable by vaccine campaigns compared to many on the right who have hardened their opposition. Here is one recent survey that looks into that question.



And here is an article that looks into the topic in depth: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... to-blacks/

that graph makes no sense, there is no scale, and where is "fully vaccinated"

[Ken]

that graph makes no sense, there is no scale, and where is "fully vaccinated"

The bars are out of 100% so no scale needed. They all add up to 100%

It is a survey about vaccine VIEWS, so it is assumed that those who have gotten at least one dose are not opposed. Here is another graph from the same article that shows the results of a different survey that used slightly different sub-categories but produced similar results.

[Josh]

Where’s the data for “black Republicans” and “black Democrats”? If you’re going to parse out white people by race, you need to break out everyone else by race.

[nett]

that graph makes no sense, there is no scale, and where is "fully vaccinated"

The bars are out of 100% so no scale needed. They all add up to 100%

It is a survey about vaccine VIEWS, so it is assumed that those who have gotten at least one dose are not opposed. Here is another graph from the same article that shows the results of a different survey that used slightly different sub-categories but produced similar results.

I think something is seriously off with that data, I can't corroborate it anywhere, and it's not even close to what KFF is reporting. I suspect the author of that article made a statistical error, like mixed absolute and per capita somewhere.

Here's what KFF has.

[ohio jones]

Where’s the data for “black Republicans” and “black Democrats”? If you’re going to parse out white people by race, you need to break out everyone else by race.

Black Republicans? They ain't black.