Since COVID-19 entered the United States in January, 2020, Republicans have turned it into a “culture war” issue.
President Donald Trump made wearing a mask a referendum on himself. If you were a “manly man”—and supported him-–you didn’t wear one. Even if it cost you your life.
He—and his followers—fiercely opposed “stay-at-home” orders by governors intent on suppressing rising COVID outbreaks in their states.
And when three vaccines appeared in early 2021, Republicans—again led by Trump—refused to say whether they were vaccinated. Some—like Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene—publicly celebrated low vaccination rates among their own constituents.
Others—like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—threatened to withhold funds from public schools that required students to wear masks. (Only children 12 and older can be vaccinated.)
Ron DeSantis
So it was, ironically, a Republican who fired the first salvo at irresponsible public behavior.
“Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down. We’ve got to get folks to take the shot. It’s the greatest weapon we have to fight COVID,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey told reporters in Birmingham on July 22.
Alabama is one of the least vaccinated states in the country, with roughly 34% of residents fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC had announced in May that fully vaccinated people no longer had to wear masks
But now the even more contagious Delta variant was spreading. Experts warned that vaccinated and unvaccinated people should wear masks indoors where COVID-19 cases were high but vaccination rates were low.
Meanwhile, some of the most prominent corporations in America weren’t waiting for them to do so.
- In May, Delta Airlines began requiring requiring newly-hired employees to show proof of vaccination.
- On August 6, United Airlines announced that it would require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get vaccinated by October 25—or risk termination.
- Hours later, Frontier Airlines announced that its employees must be vaccinated by October 1—or be frequently tested for COVID-19.
- On August 4, Facebook announced that all of its employees would have to prove that they had been vaccinated to return to the office.
- That same day, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a similar email to his staffers.
- Disney is requiring all its salaried and non-union hourly employees in America to be vaccinated.
- Uber announced that its U.S.-based office staff needs to be vaccinated to return to the office. It isn’t requiring the same for drivers.
- Walgreens is requiring vaccinations for all of its corporate employees in the United States.
- Netflix will require COVID-19 vaccinations for the casts of all its American productions, including those who come in contact with them.
- Saks Fifth Avenue is requiring that all employees be vaccinated.
- Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced in a July 30 memo that all of its American-based corporate employees must be vaccinated by October 4.
- Tyson Foods will require that its 120,000 U.S. employees be fully vaccinated. According to the company, about 56,000 already are.
- Ascension Health will require Covid-19 vaccinations for all of its employees.
- On August 4, Twitter closed its offices in New York and San Francisco and paused further office reopenings. It was already requiring employees to show proof of vaccination.
- Lyft is requiring all employees working in its offices to be vaccinated.
- The Washington Post will require all current employees and new hires to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Morgan Stanley is barring all unvaccinated staff and clients from entering its New York headquarters office
More companies will undoubtedly follow suit.
There are two reasons for this:
First, across the country, hospitals are struggling to cope with the Delta variant—the most contagious strain of Coronavirus yet.
Second, it’s clear that simply offering incentives for behaving responsibly isn’t working.
This week, New York City became the first major city to require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants and gyms.
“I do think it may be time for this to happen,” said Katherine Wu, science writer for The Atlantic, on the August 6 edition of Washington Week.
Katherine Wu
“I’ve seen more and more experts come out in support of mandates and requirements like these. You know, it’s sort of a combination of carrot and stick. If you want to keep having these privileges going out into society and being able to lead a normal life, it is probably a really good idea to [get] vaccinated to ensure not only your health but the people that you’re interacting with.”
* * * * *
A policy only of incentives is a policy of bribery. And a policy only of deterrents is a policy of coercion.
Some people can’t be bought and some can’t be coerced. But history shows that a policy employing both carrots and sticks usually proves highly effective in motivating behavior.
As the school season begins in September, children will be increasingly exposed to the dangers of contracting COVID. Many of them will undoubtedly die.
And as their casualties mount, there will be increased demands for punitive measures against those who put their arrogance above the public good.
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A TARGET–FOR BUMS
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 27, 2021 at 12:10 amOn July 23, I sent the following letter to Brian Cormell, chairman of the board and CEO of Target.
I never received the courtesy of a reply. And the conditions I wrote about remain uncorrected.
Dear Sir:
On October 10, 2012, Target opened its main store in San Francisco at Geary and Masonic Streets. Its hours spanned 9 a.m. to midnight every day.
Today, its hours span 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Why?
Four letters will answer that question: DDMBs—Druggies, Drunks, Mentals and Bums.
That is: The legions of hardcore drug addicts, hardcore alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums who have become this city’s untouchables.
And conferring that status upon them are none other than the Mayor, London Breed, and members of the Board of Supervisors.
In Politically Correct San Francisco, they are euphemistically referred to as “the homeless.”
Their rampant shoplifting has led to the closing of seventeen Walgreen’s stores in the city—as well as several CVS Pharmacies. And no wonder: Prices for illegal drugs—such as heroin—are high, and it takes a lot of stolen merchandise to translate into cash to buy them.
Many DDMBs refuse to enter the city’s available shelters. Some claim these places are dangerous—understandably so, since they’re peopled with drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums.
But another reason why many of these shelters go unused: They don’t allow their guests to drink up or drug up.
Current estimates peg the “homeless” population of San Francisco at about 8,000. In 2019, a survey found that an estimated 2,831 members of this population were sheltered. Another 5,180 were unsheltered. This made for a total of 8,011.
The city will spend about $852 million in 2020-21 on DDMBs. Dividing that amount by about 8,000 DDMBs provides the figure of $106,500 per DDMB per year.
And yet the situation remains unchanged from year to year—as increasing numbers of DDMBs pour into San Francisco.
Huge areas of the city are covered in feces, urine, trash and used hypodermic needles. Hospitals overflow with patients that have fallen ill due to the contamination.
In February, 2018, NBC News surveyed 153 blocks of the city—an area more than 20 miles. That area includes popular tourist spots like Union Square and the cable car turnaround. It’s bordered by Van Ness Avenue, Market Street, Post Street and Grant Avenue. And it’s also home to City Hall, schools, playgrounds and a police station.
Most of the trash found consisted of heaps of garbage, food, and discarded junk—including 100 drug needles and more than 300 piles of feces throughout downtown. And once fecal matter dries, it can become airborne and release deadly viruses, such as the rotavirus.
There is no point in expecting the Mayor and Board of Supervisors to alter their Untermenschen-friendly policies.
Nor can Target expect to receive help from the police and District Attorney’s Office.
The website Only in Your State cites “the eight most dangerous places in San Francisco” as:
Those areas encompass the major parts of the city—which is only 46 square miles. That alone tells you how ineffective the SFPD is at preventing crime.
Then there’s District Attorney Chesa Boudin—the son of Weather Underground parents convicted of murdering two police officers and a Brink’s security guard in 1981. Boudin was raised by two more Weather members—Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.
Chesa Boudin
SFGovTV, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Boudin blames “society” for the crimes committed by hardened criminals—and the victims they leave in their wake.
I realize that you are the CEO of a highly reputable, nationwide company—not a social worker or police administrator. Nevertheless, only you—and other prominent executives—have the power to turn this despicable situation around.
And you can do this by bringing social, political and economic pressure on the powers-that-be in this city—and thus forcing them to crack down on a population of parasites and predators that no city should tolerate.
It is as much in your own economic interest to do this as it is in that of law-abiding San Franciscans.
Thank you for the courtesy of sharing your time and consideration with me.
* * * * *
Ideally, a solution to the “homeless” problem should come at the Federal level, in a nationwide effort. Otherwise, those cities that attempt to provide free housing for Druggies, Drunks, Mentals and Bums will be swamped by legions of them.
Of these groups, the needs of the mentally ill can be most easily met—by returning them to the State mental hospitals closed by former Governor Ronald Reagan during the 1960s-70s.
Those who have burned out their brains on drugs and/or alcohol will remain forever incapable of leading productive lives. Putting them in subsidized housing will simply result in their trashing it. There is, in short, nothing that can be done for them.
As for those who prefer to sponge off others: They are parasites, and should be recognized as such. They should be bluntly told: “You’re not welcome here”—and shown the door.
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