Apple Drops Mask Requirement for Corporate Workers at 'Most Locations'

[PinkyMacGodess]

Has the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 been isolated, until that happens we really don’t know what is infecting people and causing little to no symptoms in many people and mild to severe symptoms in some and death in others.

I understand there is a genetic sequence of what a Corona virus, until it’s isolated all it is is throwing darts in the dark blindfolded and hoping one even hits the dartboard anywhere. What is the PCR test even confirming the same generic sequence without an isolated virus. Got it, I have some snake oil for you that cures all ailments, just take my word for it I wear a white coat and people call me doctor and I have some medical background and oh yeah my paid friends and colleagues agree that this snake oil works. I actually don’t recommend using anything else other than this snake oil because you know science and stuff. 😝

Governments (except largely the US) has been doing genetic sequencing of the virus since the first infections being reported. Most other countries know with a pretty high degree of precision what variants and going through their populations, and if there are any new variants that are found. We in the US were caught flat footed and in the grips of an administration that thought that increased numbers of infections would 'make them look bad'. Without wide scale active genetic sequencing, the health care of citizens has been up to the extremely limited sequencing that has been done. Yes, they are identifying unknown variants in sewage and rivers. Yes, the virus is mutating rapidly. Yes, researchers remain frightened of the potential of a new more deadly variant popping up somewhere, and that they might miss it. My understanding of what limited sequencing that is being done is limited to some areas with sudden surges, and only in very limited areas.

China, Korea, and a surprising number of other countries have sequenced 100% of their residents, and many other nations ahve sequenced over 75%, where US sequencing rates have been pathetic at best. Most of the country is in the dark as to what is coming. Most of the variant news is based on those few cases sequenced and extrapolated spread is based on calculated (guessed) transmission rates.

And now we have Monkey Pox. It is NOT limited to the gay and bisexual population, and spread is possible from anything an infected person had contact with and appears to be aerosolized too, which is disturbing. And Polio is popping up.

Viruses don't care what you think, they are just doing what they do: infect, spread...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The fact that you are chiming in CDC narrative with “animal de-working” and some bleach reference that I suspect is related to the prior President of the USA pretty much sums up the head in the sand attitude.

Hey I have had many friends who have caught whatever is being called “COVID-19” and they symptoms ranged from nothing but a mild like flu for 3 days to some feeling like a ton of bricks fell on them for one day and recovered after 5 while others who took about 10 days to recover and a 98 who died due to medical neglect a couple weeks prior to her 99th birthday and me who has either caught it and experienced nothing or have not caught anything in the last 2.5 years and have not taken any precautions.

Yeah I have a wide spectrum of whatever is being called the virus of the century or is it monkey pox now or whatever avian flu, Marburg or swine flu or whatever spin the wheel of virus doom is being played on the media.

But people are dying. People ARE still dying. People that wouldn't be dead if there wasn't a virus out in the wild, and they had taken precautions against it. Common sense measures that humans have used for over a century. Vaccines work, masks work, social distancing works, genetic sequencing works, being informed and taking care of yourself works.

It's out there, and it really is totally possible that the next variant could be the deadly one. It's playing with fire, as many in government and healthcare have been saying. People don't have to die necessarily from this virus. People don't have to have long covid either, but there does appear to be some genetic susceptibility to the virus for some people.

But just because this latest variant is 'easy' does not mean the next one will be too. Each one is different, each one has a slightly different symptomology, and effects some people in different ways.

 

[GuruZac]

Yeah, Sweden did really well, didn't they.

Sweden is rather isolated, and I'm sure took measures to control/mitigate the pandemic. Still, a lot of Swedes died.

Perhaps too many?

And Sweden DID use mandates. They DID require the other methods that people balked about here, including limiting the capacities of bars and other places. So where did you get your information? I went right to their government website. I've heard a lot about how 'Sweden did nothing' but that seems to be yet another lie sweeping through social media.

View attachment 2038979 View attachment 2038978

First of all, Sweden is not an isolated country. Second of all, over the course of over two years they lost 20K people to COVID in a country of 10.4 million (mortality rate of 0.002%-yes you read that correctly), which I would argue the vast overwhelming of those were elderly, which Sweden admitted early on they did not do a good enough job protecting. And yet you would argue that they could have and should done more? Like what, wreck their economy and ruin their citizens mental health in the process?

What you propose? Indefinite lockdowns, masking, social distancing? We aren‘t arguing over how many deaths are acceptable. We don’t want to see anyone die. Stop making this emotional. This virus, like many respiratory based viruses (especially in the coronavirus family) continues to evolve in to something more virulent but less fatal. I simply don’t understand this emphasis on focusing on positive COVID tests when we aren’t seeing any concomitant increase in hospitalizations and certainly not death.

 

[BootsWalking]

Both of you need to do your own homework. Assigned reading, ”The Real Anthony Fauci“ by RFK Jr., “A Plague Upon our House” by Scott Atlas, and “The Bodies of Others” by Naomi Wolf. All have extensive endnotes for you to not believe.

What does Fauci have to do with my comment about hospitals testing for COVID-19?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Both of you need to do your own homework. Assigned reading, ”The Real Anthony Fauci“ by RFK Jr., “A Plague Upon our House” by Scott Atlas, and “The Bodies of Others” by Naomi Wolf. All have extensive endnotes for you to not believe.

You are going to use a liar and fraud like RFK Jr? And Scott Atlas? Scott Atlas was a big proponent of the myth of 'herd immunity'. Herd immunity would result in millions of people dying for a concept that hasn't proven to be achievable with covid-19 and its variants. Both are ghouls and have no compunction of their opinions killing people that follow them.

RFK Jr should know better too! He has been disowned by his family, and appears to just be reveling in the attention and loving the spotlight, both negative and positive. One could call him a cold hearted killer but he's not forcing rubes to follow him, they choose to follow his lies and distortions themselves, and too many have died because of it.

You want to impress me, choose people that haven't been the siren call of the heartless cruel cheerleaders of death.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

First of all, Sweden is not an isolated country. Second of all, over the course of over two years they lost 20K people to COVID in a country of 10.4 million (mortality rate of 0.002%-yes you read that correctly), which I would argue the vast overwhelming of those were elderly, which Sweden admitted early on they did not do a good enough job protecting. And yet you would argue that they could have and should done more? Like what, wreck their economy and ruin their citizens mental health in the process?

What you propose? Indefinite lockdowns, masking, social distancing? We aren‘t arguing over how many deaths are acceptable. We don’t want to see anyone die. Stop making this emotional. This virus, like many respiratory based viruses (especially in the coronavirus family) continues to evolve in to something more virulent but less fatal. I simply don’t understand this emphasis on focusing on positive COVID tests when we aren’t seeing any concomitant increase in hospitalizations and certainly not death.

You are such a ridiculous person to have a conversation with. Learn some logic and come back later. Swinging from one extreme to another is not productive in any discussion. What I am saying is people need to be ready to react to a future variant that could be far more deadly than previous ones. So think about that. Yes, we very well could need drastic measures that have worked before to stop, or slow it, and don't think it's not coming. I certainly hope it doesn't, but the virus has been all over the place on effects so far. Don't count it out yet, and people not vaccinated and taking at least some precautions is making it harder to control it.

AND at-home test kits have made tracking the infections nearly impossible. There is no required notification part of the test kits. Wider spread testing is a good thing, but it's not hiding the number of infected people, and is also hiding the effectivness and accuracy of those tests. How many false negatives are happening, how many false positives... Ho one knows, and that concerns me. This virus is no joke. It's not done...

 

[DD88]

This is how it always should have been from the beginning.

The current strain of covid is basically a cold for most people. Hospitals aren't being overwhelmed by it.

I caught it 4 weeks ago and still struggling a bit with fatigue and aching today , I didn’t eat anything for 6 straight days and was close to hospitalisation because it felt like I had norovirus for the duration of it and throwing up every 30 minutes and my temperature was unbelievable. Then again my doctor told me I couldn’t get jabbed as it would interfere with my stomach issues , which ironically is where the virus has hit me hardest. So perhaps not being vaccinated was why I suffered more than others. My Mum and Dad caught it and while my dad is suffering mild chest issues, my mum said like you it was like having a bad cold. I think mask wearing is fine I still say it’s better than nothing but I don’t see anyone around where I live wearing them now and it’s almost like covid has been forgotten about. Now the news are constantly scaremongering about monkeypox and how we are all going to catch it and need smallpox vaccines for it too.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Both of you need to do your own homework. Assigned reading, ”The Real Anthony Fauci“ by RFK Jr., “A Plague Upon our House” by Scott Atlas, and “The Bodies of Others” by Naomi Wolf. All have extensive endnotes for you to not believe.

Dude. Do you even know who those people are?

You’re finding literal lunatics to support you. Like, they’re disgraced anti-vaxxers doing anti-vax nonsense and still being wrong about everything they say. Everything they say is going to be for the pointed reason to be anti-vax, not to provide any scientific discourse. Again, they’re lunatics. They’ve not been right one time in their lives on the topic. What’s next? Andrew Wakefield?

 

[cocky jeremy]

Between March 2020 and 2021, 4,899,447 Americans were hospitalized with COVID. Of those, 81.9% had one or more of nine comorbidities. That means 18.1% were otherwise healthy, which represents 886,805 people. That's not consistent with an exception.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2021/21_0123.htm

US "healthy" isn't world "healthy". We're the fattest country in the world, by far.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Between March 2020 and 2021, 4,899,447 Americans were hospitalized with COVID. Of those, 81.9% had one or more of nine comorbidities. That means 18.1% were otherwise healthy, which represents 886,805 people. That's not consistent with an exception.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2021/21_0123.htm

I bet their idea of "healthy" isn't the same as mine, or any other actual healthy person.

 

[I7guy]

I caught it 4 weeks ago and still struggling a bit with fatigue and aching today , I didn’t eat anything for 6 straight days and was close to hospitalisation because it felt like I had norovirus for the duration of it and throwing up every 30 minutes and my temperature was unbelievable. Then again my doctor told me I couldn’t get jabbed as it would interfere with my stomach issues , which ironically is where the virus has hit me hardest. So perhaps not being vaccinated was why I suffered more than others. My Mum and Dad caught it and while my dad is suffering mild chest issues, my mum said like you it was like having a bad cold. I think mask wearing is fine I still say it’s better than nothing but I don’t see anyone around where I live wearing them now and it’s almost like covid has been forgotten about.

COVID on the east coast of the United States has not been forgotten about.

Now the news are constantly scaremongering about monkeypox and how we are all going to catch it and need smallpox vaccines for it too.

Scaremongering as in how we were scaremongered about covid-19 and businesses shut down in March 2020?

 

[BootsWalking]

I bet their idea of "healthy" isn't the same as mine, or any other actual healthy person.

Naturally, since any objective measure of health that contradicts your preconceptions about COVID-19 would be summarily dismissed.

 

[BootsWalking]

US "healthy" isn't world "healthy". We're the fattest country in the world, by far.

Naturally you didn't read the study since one of the nine comorbidities was obesity. Are you even interested in an objective debate? Or is every message just an opportunity for you to present your uninformed opinions?

 

[Razorpit]

You are going to use a liar and fraud like RFK Jr? And Scott Atlas? Scott Atlas was a big proponent of the myth of 'herd immunity'. Herd immunity would result in millions of people dying for a concept that hasn't proven to be achievable with covid-19 and its variants. Both are ghouls and have no compunction of their opinions killing people that follow them.

RFK Jr should know better too! He has been disowned by his family, and appears to just be reveling in the attention and loving the spotlight, both negative and positive. One could call him a cold hearted killer but he's not forcing rubes to follow him, they choose to follow his lies and distortions themselves, and too many have died because of it.

You want to impress me, choose people that haven't been the siren call of the heartless cruel cheerleaders of death.

Dude. Do you even know who those people are?

You’re finding literal lunatics to support you. Like, they’re disgraced anti-vaxxers doing anti-vax nonsense and still being wrong about everything they say. Everything they say is going to be for the pointed reason to be anti-vax, not to provide any scientific discourse. Again, they’re lunatics. They’ve not been right one time in their lives on the topic. What’s next? Andrew Wakefield?

Cheerleaders of death, that’s cute. Saul Alinksy would be proud of you both. When you don’t agree with someone just start calling them names and make ad hominem attacks instead of discussing what you don’t agree with.

I know who they are. I have just about nothing in common politically with RFK Jr. His family was a plague on our government. Scott Atlas was in the room with Fauci and Birks and repeatedly battled them on the lunacy of their plans for the nation. Call them whatever you want but their work is well documented.

You left out Naomi Wolf what’s wrong with her? 😆

 

[DD88]

COVID on the east coast of the United States has not been forgotten about.

Scaremongering as in how we were scaremongered about covid-19 and businesses shut down in March 2020?

Covid is much more severe than Monkeypox, plus its not transmissible via air like covid is and the majority of the people getting monkeypox are gay men and no one else as the virus spreads through skin to skin contact only. In the UK the news is already acting like there will be another super pandemic and millions will die, and it’s getting a little tired. I don’t know how things operate in the US, but in the UK we usually do things right and the world follows us. That was also when Trump was in charge, the man who advocated drinking bleach to kill covid

 

[Razorpit]

Covid is much more severe than Monkeypox, plus its not transmissible via air like covid is and the majority of the people getting monkeypox are gay men and no one else as the virus spreads through skin to skin contact only. In the UK the news is already acting like there will be another super pandemic and millions will die, and it’s getting a little tired. I don’t know how things operate in the US, but in the UK we usually do things right and the world follows us. That was also when Trump was in charge, the man who advocated drinking bleach to kill covid

Wow. If we can’t trust you on the simple things to get right “when Trump was in charge, the man who advocated drinking bleach to kill covid”, how can anyone trust you with anything else you have to say?

 

[BuffaloTF]

Cheerleaders of death, that’s cute. Saul Alinksy would be proud of you both. When you don’t agree with someone just start calling them names and make ad hominem attacks instead of discussing what you don’t agree with.

I know who they are. I have just about nothing in common politically with RFK Jr. His family was a plague on our government. Scott Atlas was in the room with Fauci and Birks and repeatedly battled them on the lunacy of their plans for the nation. Call them whatever you want but their work is well documented.

You left out Naomi Wolf what’s wrong with her? 😆

I didn’t leave Naomi Wolf out. She’s a disgraced anti-vaxxer. They all are. They’ve all never made a correct statement on the topic. And anything they write is only to say “vax bad” without contributing anything to the discussion.

Who I didn’t mention was Jenny McCarthy… now I am. They are as intelligible on the topic as she is, which is to say not at all.

There’s no death from any modern vaccine. Being anti-vax is being a cheerleader of death, though. Bravo.

 

[I7guy]

Covid is much more severe than Monkeypox, plus its not transmissible via air like covid is and the majority of the people getting monkeypox are gay men and no one else as the virus spreads through skin to skin contact only. In the UK the news is already acting like there will be another super pandemic and millions will die, and it’s getting a little tired. I don’t know how things operate in the US, but in the UK we usually do things right and the world follows us. That was also when Trump was in charge, the man who advocated drinking bleach to kill covid

This could be another aids epidemic. Wonder why various governments are taking it seriously.

 

[DD88]

This could be another aids epidemic. Wonder why various governments are taking it seriously.

I doubt that very much, but obviously who knows what will happen

 

[Dark_Omen]

Just did a quick Google search and found this article regarding Measles coverage under Medicare - sounds convoluted:

Does Medicare Cover the Measles Vaccine? | Medicare Benefits

Anyone who got the MMR vaccine as a child probably doesn't need a booster shot as an adult. Learn if Medicare covers the measles vaccine.

www.medicarebenefits.com

In the Nexium's case, maybe take 2 OTC pills instead of one to get the same dosage? The price of one bigger bottle of the OTC version usually still comes out cheaper than the Rx version, otherwise how else will the pharmacy get compensated for the bottles, printing labels, technicians/pharmacists' labor, however long it takes them to perform all relevant tasks?

My 40mg of Nexium is $30 for a 90 day supply under insurance. A single 10 pill bottle OTC @ 20mg runs about $15.

 

[Dark_Omen]

But people are dying. People ARE still dying. People that wouldn't be dead if there wasn't a virus out in the wild, and they had taken precautions against it. Common sense measures that humans have used for over a century. Vaccines work, masks work, social distancing works, genetic sequencing works, being informed and taking care of yourself works.

It's out there, and it really is totally possible that the next variant could be the deadly one. It's playing with fire, as many in government and healthcare have been saying. People don't have to die necessarily from this virus. People don't have to have long covid either, but there does appear to be some genetic susceptibility to the virus for some people.

But just because this latest variant is 'easy' does not mean the next one will be too. Each one is different, each one has a slightly different symptomology, and affects some people in different ways.

1) Grandma could die after running a red light and getting t-boned by a semi. They have the same % chance of dying from Covid as getting t-boned.

2) Which omicron variant is deadily? In fact, which variant of SARS-Cov-2 has been deadily? The percentage dead is less than any other so called “pandemic” in history at less than 1%. It’s a cold virus. That’s what a Coronavirus is… And SARS-Cov-2 is a Coronavirus and gives people cold illness symptoms just like any other cold virus.

3) If vaccines worked, people who are vaccinated wouldn’t have to quarantine, even after being exposed. There’s no real evidence to suggest vaccines prevent more severe disease or hospitalization…. Except numbers written by the vaccine manufacturers themselves. There’s never been a vaccine for a cold virus (that’s what Covid 19 is) because they mutate quickly.

4) The fact that you put faith and trust in the government and what they say is hilarious.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

4) The fact that you put faith and trust in the government and what they say is hilarious.

No, you are precious. The previous government tried to run nearly every facet of our lives. Effect the laws and warp the application of regulations.

I trust that someone in government has a brain, and is using it to support the prime function of government: To help the people live their lives to the fullest. I though still have a working brain and can think for myself, and am pretty well educated (All of it at public schools) and think that I can decide what is agenda and what is truth. I KNOW masks work because I have severe allergies to pine pollen and had the best falls of my life and didn't need pallets of Kleenex and jugs of antihistamines. I *hope* the vaccines work, and having gotten covid in April and not having long drawn out symptoms, feel they likely did their job. Enough I got boosted again. I feel staying away from people is working because an outing that I begged out of resulted in over a dozen people getting covid. I feel I dodged the axe/bullet/whatever.

Ronald Reagan said that the main purpose of the government was to not run people's lives. I took that as not ruin people's lives too.

I also am an educated medical consumer too, after having a few incidents where doctors have tried to steer me wrong in the past, when I was much younger, I too am very skeptical of physicians, but feel I know what is BS and what isn't. It's worked pretty well so far.

Be educated, be inquisitive, be skeptical, but not ALL of government is to be dismissed. When a politician says, like happened today, that Medicare and Social Security should be defunded, people need to take that seriously. Many people depend on those two government programs and there will be much suffering if they are defunded and disbanded.

But, do what you want. The virus doesn't care. It's just doing what viruses do. You do you.

Eventually the government will get tired of paying for the healthcare needs of the deliberately uneducated and unvaccinated. They are a 'drain on the economy', for sure.

And I'm done. These threads usually devolve into a head-hitting-desk exercise. Do what you want, but remember when you can't work, or want healthcare, you are another 'mouth to feed', and with their desire to end such 'frivolous expenditures', you may find you are all alone. I wish you the best. Bye...

 

[Cartaphilus]

Finally it's about time masks have proven to not work this is just more government and big business control.

Um, how can you know whether people close around you are contagious or not?

Certainly if you are never within six feet or so from anyone who is contagious, a mask could be unnecessary; if you are surrounded with people in a closed area like a car, packed bus or plane, and those people are contagious, a decent mask used correctly will save you anywhere from feeling crummy for a few days to dying on a ventilator. Of course, if you yourself are contagious, it'd be nice if you stayed isolated, and if you can't, it'd be polite if you would avoid infecting another person with what you have by wearing a mask if you're going to be close to other people--or you could just make other people sick or dead.

If you buy a lousy mask, or if you don't follow the directions to use even one of the best, you'll still be at high risk of illness. If you have a physician ask him or her if masks have been proven to not work. If you're told that they don't work, you have a rotten doctor.

And by the way, all governments control their citizens--that's why we have governments--to defend those who can't defend themselves.

 

[cane811]

Then why is Maine doing twice as well as Florida?

Population density? Mind blown I know. More people live in Miami-Dade than all of Maine.

 

[JoeShades]

This could be another aids epidemic. Wonder why various governments are taking it seriously.

There is a vaccine