And probably also would be ideal to separate by people in various stages of vaccination (within 3-4 weeks of their first mRNA dose, people that only got one mRNA dose and just never got the second, people less than 2 weeks out from their last dose, and now people that got a 3rd dose). Then try to track when they got vaccinated to get that fall off sorted. 
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Just to add to the difficulty in analyzing all of this, the above number is very misleading. Many counties in the state have a much lower vaccination rate. King County (Seattle) has a higher rate of vaccination plus a huge percentage of the population so that is driving up the state average. My county, which is adjacent to the south and has the third largest city (Tacom), is about 10 percentage points behind the state average.
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Local school board meeting tonight. They plan on voting on expanding the indoor mask requirement for all students/teachers/staff from k-6 to k-12. That in and of itself made a small group of extremely vocal parents lose their collective minds but now the district is also looking at setting up some guidelines for district teachers/employees (in addition to the masking).
- If fully vaccinated the district will allow up to 8 additional, paid sick days if the employee is diagnosed w/ COVID (breakthrough infection).
- If not vaccinated, each employee will be tested twice a week (I think w/ a rapid test). If the unvaccinated employee is diagnosed w/ COVID they will need to use their existing sick timeā¦
OMGā¦you would think it was end of days. Tonightās board meeting will the the first in person since early March of 2020 (will also broadcast live on Zoom/YouTube and allow remote audience members to comment). They are only allowing 20 people in the on site audience which is kind of funny because I attended almost all the school board meetings from 2011 until around 2019 and usually was the only non-school district employee/board member in the room. They are talking about starting to line up five hours ahead of time. 
Have I mentioned how thrilled I am that my son is attending a private school?
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Listened to an interview on NPR of a doctor here in FL discussing the covid/hospital situation (this is what I remembered):
- There is a shortage of nurses
- They cannot open all the ICU beds b/c they donāt have enough nurses to staff them
- People w/ covid in the hospital are younger and living longer in the hospital preventing beds to be opened for other needed procedures
- Other procedures (bi-passes, stints), that can cure ppl, are being postponed b/c of the covid patients
- Some ppl are staying over night in the ER waiting for a regular bed to open. These ppl are being cared for by ER nurses which is not their normal role.
- Burn out by hospital staff
Group of South Florida doctors stage walkout in protest of unvaccinated COVID patients | The Week
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Andā¦DD20s reservation at the hotel has now been extended to 9/10. 
But today she got into the 2 classes she was on wait-list, so now needs to decide which 4 of the 5 she will keep. Classes start Wed.
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I think this is very fair.
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I do tooā¦apparently others believe it is āincredibly intrusive, intense, & absurd.ā There are also a good bit of predictions that this will cause dozens of teachers to quit rather than āsubjecting themselves to the tyranny of mandated vaccines.ā
I just canāt.
Note that my place of work (a Fortune 500 company) is requiring proof of being fully vaccinated or weekly testing. Sick time isnāt an issue as we are just supposed to take off when we are sick
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You are fortunate, this is not true for vast majority of ppl.
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That kind of sums up the 2020s so far regardless. So at least theyāre sticking with the theming!
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I knowā¦my benefits are really great and I donāt take them for granted.
When I say we are just supposed to take off when sick, they wonāt allow you to stay home for ever. I think there is a threshold where you need to bring in a doctorās note, etc. In almost five years I think I may have taken one sick day. What I generally do is work from home if I am not feeling well. Maybe not at 100%, but still plodding throughā¦and not infecting others!
We also have free on site testing (both PCR and Antibody testing) and are only allowed to wear masks they provide (cloth or disposable options) in the office. I am kind of disappointed about the mask thing as I really like the masks we have and I donāt think I will want to wear the provided ones all day in the office. Iāll see how they are in a couple of weeks.
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Itās going to be interesting to see what happens in Texas. I had noticed the vaccination mandate ban only applied to EUAs.
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I have no issue with that policy. I could even justify mandatory vaccines for public school employees at this point (decided on local level). To be able to still be employed but just have to be tested regularly is not a big deal to me. I have to pick my battles. This seems reasonable.
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Ok, not sure who else needs to read this, but I found it helpful. Because thereās just Too. Much.
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Iām going to have to read that later when I have the available space to process it. 2 paragraphs in and Iām like yeahā¦ this is going to hit real hard. I have said many times this last 18 months that I feel emotionally spent.
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Itās a burden-lifter, not a burden-giver. (hugs)
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Thanks 
That honestly made me tear up. Iāve always been a sensitive soul and overly empathetic person and Iām quite sure this whole thing has taken years off my life.
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I am the same, but I have learned a lot of coping strategies. One of them is to create my own bubble. I donāt read, watch, or listen to things that will upset me. And a lot of things upset me. Nature documentaries, the news, tragic love stories, etc. I do think about what I can do to make things better. Changing habits, donating money, donating time (as long as itās not too stressful) ā¦ anything to make the world a little better. But I donāt eat, drink, and sleep that stuff. I would be a sobbing mess all the time if I did. Honestly. My kids laugh about the time I almost walked out of an Imax theater show on the Arctic. A mother polar bear and her cub were being stalked by a lone male. Who was starving! It was so upsetting to me. People laugh, but I donāt think they always understand how deeply it feels like itās cutting me. Anyway, just sending hugs. Youāre not alone. Hang in there!
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I just checked and Spokane is even worseā¦47% fully vaxed.
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Thanks! I 100% get that. I probably would have fixated on that polar bear and thought about for days. I well to cope most of the time and Iāve even had some weeks or months I felt like normal Lauren. But pretty much since mid July when things started going downhill again itās like it piled on exponentially. I know it will pass and until then I have all of you for support which I really truly appreciate.
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Yeah, I am not surprised! I am looking at 16+ initiating vaccination, since thatās where the 71% seems to be coming from.
King County = 82.1%
Statewide = 71%
Pierce County = 61.4%
Spokane County = 58.9%
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