Coronavirus Safety Protocol - please read and discuss

[Futureshock]

No chance NFL will make vaccines mandatory after FDA approval

Posted by Mike Florio on August 24, 2021, 8:20 PM EDT

Getty Images

For plenty of employers, the arrival of FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine has opened the door to mandatory vaccination requirements. Not for the NFL.

A source with knowledge of the dynamics between the league and the NFL Players Association was asked whether FDA approval would do anything to spark a late pivot to mandatory vaccinations.

“No at all,” the source said.

So that’s that. The league and the union already have agreed that vaccines will not be required for players. Any player who gets vaccinated will do voluntary. Some will realize, if they haven’t already, the benefits of being vaccinated. Others will hold firm. Some of them may get cut within the next week.

With most players vaccinated (especially at the bottom of rosters), it’s likely that the coming reduction from 80 to 53 per team will cause vaccination rates to decrease. Most of the vaccinated players know that their choice won’t affect their roster status — even though it obviously could affect their availability for any an every given game.

[Futureshock]

NFLPA still does not believe vaccine mandates are the best approach

Posted by Mike Florio on August 26, 2021, 9:22 PM EDT

Getty Images

The NFL disputes the NFL Players Association’s contention that the league never asked for a vaccine mandate for players. It ultimately doesn’t matter, because the NFLPA wasn’t going to agree to a mandate.

“The union and player leadership did not believe mandating vaccines for players was the best approach, as JC [Tretter] has pointed out repeatedly,” NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told Mark Maske of the Washington Post. “We know vaccines are effective but we also know our strict protocols — when followed — are effective, as we proved last year.”

The NFL may have wanted vaccine mandates for players, but the league knew that the union wouldn’t agree to it. The league believes that union leadership would be at risk of a revolt if vaccines became mandatory, given the number of high-profile players who have resisted vaccination. Besides, even if the NFLPA would relent, it would have required more of a concession than the league was willing to offer.

And so the league and union (whose non-player leadership definitely believes in the COVID vaccine) came up with an approach that strongly incentivizes vaccination. Vaccinated players are tested less frequently. They aren’t subject to a mandatory five-day absence after close contact with an infected person. They don’t have to wear masks in the facility or on the sideline. They can travel out of town for multiple days, since they aren’t required to be tested every day.

It has worked, to an extent. Some players continue to refuse to get the vaccination. Most of the holdouts surely believe that they aren’t subject to being cut next week. And most likely won’t be. Which means that they’ll constantly be subject to being gone for five days (for a close contact) or 10 days (for a positive test).

[Futureshock]

NFL refutes NFLPA’s assertion the league never asked for vaccine mandate

Posted by Charean Williams on August 26, 2021, 6:20 PM EDT

Getty Images

NFL Players Association president JC Tretter insinuated earlier this week that the NFL never sought a vaccine mandate for players. The Browns center added “it’s the NFL’s choice on the mandate.”

The NFL strongly denied that in a conference call, saying it has wanted and still wants mandatory vaccines for players. It is the NFLPA that has opposed the mandate, NFL deputy general counsel Larry Ferazani said.

“We saw that same quote. I honestly don’t understand where that came from,” Ferazani said. “We’ve been discussing with the Players Association mandatory vaccination from the start. In fact, as you recall, we took the lead and required staff and coaches to be vaccinated in order to have access to a player. Beginning at that point, we began banging the drum for what their experts also concede is the single greatest way that we can protect the players and the staff, which is to get to a 100 percent vaccination level. That was our request from that, and we would still love to see that mandate go into effect tomorrow.”

Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said on the call that 93 percent of NFL players are vaccinated as of Wednesday. NFL coaches and staff are required by the NFL to be vaccinated to work in person with players.

“We still could improve, with the final 7 percent, and we would love to see that,” Ferazani said.

Perhaps it is semantics. Perhaps the NFL didn’t explicitly ask the union for mandatory vaccines, knowing the NFLPA would not agree to one. In any event, the NFL wants a mandatory vaccine. The union believes players should be vaccinated but won’t go as far as requiring vaccines.

NFL officials, who have a union, also do not have a vaccine mandate, Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s chief football administrative officer, confirmed on the call.

[Futureshock]

Sean McDermott frustrated by Bills’ low vaccination rate

Posted by Charean Williams on August 26, 2021, 2:44 PM EDT

Getty Images

Bills receivers Isaiah McKenzie and Cole Beasley were fined $14,650 each for violating the league’s mask policy for unvaccinated players. Beasley’s violation was caught on video Tuesday, while McKenzie was seen in person twice without a mask when NFL officials were at the team facility giving a presentation on COVID-19 rules. McKenzie previously received a warning.

Bills coach Sean McDermott is frustrated by his team’s low vaccination rate and is out of ideas on how to convince his unvaccinated players to get vaccinated.

“It’s tough. It’s frustrating. It’s challenging, however you want to say it,” McDermott said Thursday, via John Wawrow of the Associated Press. “But I can’t make the decision for them.”

The Bills placed four unvaccinated players, including Beasley, into five-day self-isolation on Tuesday after the players came in close contact with a vaccinated trainer who tested positive for COVID-19. Receiver Gabriel Davis and defensive tackles Star Lotulelei and Vernon Butler were the other unvaccinated players who must continue to quarantine this week.

Vaccinated players who are high-risk close contacts do not have to isolate.

McDermott acknowledged his team could face a competitive disadvantage because of its low vaccination rate. The Bills have around 80 percent of their players vaccinated, according to Wawrow.

“There’s people’s livelihoods at stake in terms of people’s jobs,” McDermott said. “Being able to count on people is important, so when you’re going through a week — if this were a real week — and having the players out that we’ve had, that makes it harder to win games that way.”

[Futureshock]

NFL has issued $14,650 fines to 25 players for failing to wear masks or tracking devices

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 26, 2021, 12:33 PM EDT

Getty Images

Bills receiver Isaiah McKenzie identified himself publicly as a violator of the league’s COVID-19 policies, but he’s far from the only one.

The NFL has fined 25 players for either failing to wear a mask or failing to wear the tracking devices used to determine which players have been in close contact with each other, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

Those fines have all been for $14,650.

McKenzie’s fellow Bills receiver Cole Beasley, who has stridently refused to get vaccinated, was also fined $14,650.

The NFL has also given 120 players written warnings that they were observed in violation of the league’s COVID-19 rules and are subject to fines in the future.

Players can face increasing discipline for repeat violations, including a four-game unpaid suspension.

[whatever_gong82]

Well, I'm not an NFL player, but today, I just got the 2nd Pfizer vaccine shot, making it the 3rd vaccination that I've had this year (J&J back in March, and the 1st Pfizer back on the 6th of this month.)

[Forsh]

Well, I'm not an NFL player, but today, I just got the 2nd Pfizer vaccine shot, making it the 3rd vaccination that I've had this year (J&J back in March, and the 1st Pfizer back on the 6th of this month.)

Wow, huh ... so you've been fully vaccinated twice

[edindetroit]

Boy ain't playing.

[-Deborah-]

Screenshot_20210827-200631_Facebook.jpg

[Tom]

Or it’s not being reported…

[whatever_gong82]

Florida woman hospitalized for covid finds husband dead - The Washington Post


Wife hospitalized for covid gets home to find husband dead from the same virus: ‘It was like walking into a horror movie’

By Andrea Salcedo
Today at 8:11 a.m. EDT


Lisa Steadman could not wait to go home to her husband.

The nail technician had spent more than a week in a Central Florida hospital recovering from a serious case of covid-19 while Ronald Steadman, who had also contracted the coronavirus, battled a milder case from home.

During many of their check-in phone calls, she relayed to him how scared she was of dying alone in the hospital. Her health was improving and so was his, he reassured her. Soon, they’d be back together at the Winter Haven, Fla., home they were in the middle of renovating.

But Ronald, 55, did not appear to be home when Lisa returned Aug. 11.

“Ron? Ron?” Lisa, 58, yelled while searching for him throughout the house.

Eventually, the barking of their three dogs led her to their bedroom.

When Lisa cracked open the door, she found Ron unresponsive on his side of the bed and their three dogs in distress. By then, his body had already begun decomposing, she told The Washington Post. The dogs looked as if they had not been fed or given water for at least two days, she said.

“I just went hysterical,” Lisa said. “It was like walking into a horror movie. That’s what I see now when I think of him.”

Neither Ron, who died of covid-19 complications, nor Lisa had been vaccinated, Lisa said. Both had agreed they would wait longer to schedule their shots. Lisa rarely got sick and left her house only for work, and Ron, who was in charge of running the couple’s errands during the pandemic, always wore his mask and stayed away from large crowds, Lisa said.

“Both of us thought that [the vaccine] came out so fast. How could they have done so much testing on it? I was just cautious about it,” she said. “It’s not that I was against vaccines.”


The couple, who met through a Christian dating website after losing their previous partners, were part of the tens of millions of Americans who have not yet received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, which are available free to anyone 12 and older. Like the Steadmans, many people remain reluctant about the shots. Others have put off getting inoculated.


Nearly 52 percent of Floridians are fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by The Post. In the past week, new daily reported cases and deaths in the state rose nearly 10 and 66 percent, respectively, The Post’s coronavirus tracker data shows.


Health officials continue to stress that the vaccines significantly lower one’s chance of becoming severely ill or dying of the virus as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads across the country.

Ron, a mechanical and electrical engineer, was the first one to test positive Aug. 1, Lisa said. Doctors at the urgent care site he visited sent him home with medications and asked him to return if his condition worsened. Two days later, Lisa, who had gone to the emergency room because she started exhibiting symptoms, also tested positive. She was sent home, only to return days later after her oxygen levels dropped to 80 percent and she lost consciousness at home.

The couple kept in touch throughout much of her hospital stay, Lisa said. How are the dogs doing? How do you feel today? Have you called your family? Lisa said the couple would ask each other. After nearly a week in the hospital, Lisa reported feeling better. Ron was also improving, she said.


Days before she was expected to be discharged, Ron told her that his phone was not working properly. At one point when Lisa could not reach him, she called the Winter Haven Police Department to go check on him, she said.

Police called her back to report that her husband was doing fine, which the department confirmed to The Post. So when her phone call went straight to his voice mail Aug. 10, Lisa didn’t think much of it, she said. After all, Ron had said his phone wasn’t working and was known for being a deep sleeper. Police had already reassured her that he was doing okay. She told herself they would be reunited the next day when she was discharged.

“I thought he was just going to be fine and that his phone wasn’t working,” she said.

Local authorities later told her that he was likely already dead.


Lisa, who would have celebrated her fourth wedding anniversary with Ron on Oct. 28, said she expects to get vaccinated in September — a decision she had already made before leaving the hospital.

She has been hurt by comments on social media criticizing her decision not to get the vaccine earlier.

“I did what I thought was best for me,” Lisa told The Post. “Even if you don’t agree with me that I didn’t get the shot earlier, you don’t say, ‘I bet you wish you would have gotten the vaccine so your husband wouldn’t be dead.’ ”

She added: “We wanted to make sure [getting vaccinated] was safe.”

She plans to finish the home the couple were remodeling in honor of her husband. That’s what he would have wanted her to do, she said.

“That was Ron’s dream,” Lisa told The Post.

[dpatnod]

That is terrible.

[-Deborah-]

Or it’s not being reported…

I don't lend credence to crackpot conspiracy theories that require tons of people all over the globe to collude and keep quiet.

[dpatnod]

That's how they get ya.

[Tom]

For the record, I was just kidding. I got my 2nd Phizer shot in January and am going to get the booster as soon as I can.