If you evaluate who is currently being hospitalized, the unvaccinated are not really putting the vaccinated at risk.
I believe hospitalizations are something like 95% unvaccinated (read that anecdotally in guardian article I believe)
It would be far easier to deal with the pandemic if we dispensed with the american ideal of individual liberty but alas… we are not china
That’s pretty much on the number. Simply put if you’re get vaccinated, you probably won’t get COVID, almost certainly won’t need hospitalization, and a near statistical guarantee you won’t die from it. It’s a dumb decision not get vaccinated. Still, if you want to make that dumb decision, then don’t allow that dumb decision to impact other people (especially those who can’t get vaccinated).
And in the interest of not getting too deep down the rabbit hole or too political around here, I’ll leave my (fairly obvious) feelings at that.
Yet the disease continues to survive and thrive in the unvaccinated, and as long as it survives it can (probably will) produce more variants. Those variants may be much more successful in breaking through any immunity that vaccines currently have provided us. So in that way, by enabling more variants, the unvaccinated ARE adding to the risk that all of us face.
Separately, hospitals in some areas are being strained by (mostly unvaccinated) COVID patients. If this continues, we may return to times when treatments and surgeries are postponed for us vaccinated people so the hospitals can take care of the COVID patients. That’s another way we may be impacted.
As someone who works in the healthcare industry or at least parallel to it in healthcare IT…let’s have a conversation for the absolutely heartless who don’t care about putting others at risk. Focus on something they may care more about… $.
95% of hospitalized folks due to lack of choosing to be vaccinated…how much financial burden do you think that puts on society in general? The dollars are HUGE - driving up the cost of care and insurance for everyone else.
Same could be said for the obese or those that smoke
Should they have their individual rights curtailed for the good of the collective?
I concede these points btw… merely arguing that the loss of individual rights is far more costly in the long run
I think its a balance, individual rights versus collective good. Specific to vaccinations, we’re long had certain vaccines required for children, so this is an “individual right” that there’s precedent for usurping, in favor of the good of society as a whole. All of our individual rights are limited to some extent. But we’re well off the topic of Bryson, so I’ll try to bring it back there. Bryson is clearly putting his own personal choice above the good of society, which isn’t particularly out of character, in my opinion.
Yeah, the more I think about it (and possibly regret making the comment), the more I think this moves me from “Bryson isn’t a bad guy, he’s just misundersood!” to… no, he’s just a petulant child who’s made millions of dollars being good at a game.
And maybe there is a fundamental conversation to be had about celebrity, early success and mental health (and maybe it’s already happening!)… I’m just done with him… I’m going to stick with the guys I get good vibes from (Homa and Zalatoris are two good examples) and ignore the shenanigans of others… i don’t care about Bryson or Brooks… I won’t ignore their on course performance, but I’m uninterested in hearing more about them off the course.
It’s a great point…but we do curtail rights for people that smoke or are obese or any number of other things. We no longer allow smoking indoors or even within a certain distance of some buildings…there are certainly places where people who are obese can’t sit. And you are correct…both of those conditions, along with many others also drive up the price of healthcare and insurance.
It’s a complex problem with no silver bullets for sure. I doubt there is any answer that doesn’t alienate someone…it’s tough for sure. Probably a topic I know too little about to publish thoughts online :).
I’ll judge for you; he’s a think-I-know-it-all asshole.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes (ok, I guess I’m at 20 characters).
And @jon, this is bullshit because it’s curtailing my rights to be terse. 
What papageorgio said. The science is all over the map on this. Vaccinated people are catching different strains of the bug—with higher average viral loads than unvaccinated, FWIW—and he’s not in an age cohort, or with sufficient co-morbidities that he realistically has to worry about it. Not taking the jab is entirely in character with a player as intellectual as he’s been about approaching the game.
Good for him. Good for us dumping this bug worry down to where we’re saying, “Man, this has been a bad viral pneumonia year!”
You’re over 75, otoh? Go get stuck. Despite the heart arrhythmias my 75+ mother has been exhibiting since vaccination.
As soon as I saw the Bryson quotes on not getting vaccinated this morning, I was afraid it was going to hit this thread because I knew eventually this type of comment would come. Nothing against you personally, but this is simply not true. There is as clear of scientific consensus on the vaccine as there is on virtually anything we have ever done. Over hundreds of millions of doses, these vaccines are incredibly effective and very low rates of side effects. I’m sorry your mother is experiencing something, but even if it’s tied to being vaccinated, it is incredibly rare.
Additionally, I think comparing this to a bad pneumonia year is not only disrespectful to those who have died from COVID and their families, but also the brave men and women working in hospitals during surges. There had never been anything comparable to this in their lifetimes.
All that said, this probably isn’t the best forum for this. I’m happy to talk golf with anyone regardless of non-golf opinions, so I’m perfectly fine if we delete all vaccine talk from here, my own thoughts included.
Can’t help myself though - if you haven’t been vaccinated yet by choice, please take a good, long, and honest look at the reasons why and then reconsider it.
Clearly, I’m not a BDC fan at all, but he looked like a lost soul in today’s round. Actually felt sorry for the guy. the dude was totally out of sync.
(Prevemptive warning: the below does not apply to Ryder/President’s cup)
Haven’t read through all of this but here’s my thought - he’s annoying and brings a lot of this on himself. However - there is no reason for everyone to pile on and heckle him nonstop during rounds.
If you don’t like him, don’t cheer from him or let him have it if he hits a bad shot. No need for the constant heckling like he was getting this week.
The only other heckling like this I can remember (and I was pretty young so can’t remember all of it) was with Colin Montgomerie who had some comments that brought it on himself a bit.
Let him play, give him crap for bad shots, don’t clap for good ones. And let’s move on.
100% agree on the on course stuff!
Shane Ryan wrote a good piece for one of the golf magazines (can’t remember GOLF or Golf Digest) about how he followed him and Harris English as they both imploded on the back 9 Sunday, and how the fan behavior towards Bryson was kinda ugly.
Agree that he brings it on himself, and definitely don’t like him. But let’s also be human how about that
There is an Honorable mention category for those who dont go all in and pop their clogs…
In BDC’s defense (although it isn’t really) he is a fairly typical sportsman. Spoilt and self obsessed.
These people talk about pressure when earning millions to play a game they love. Ask a family in poverty what real pressure is. They focus ONLY on what impacts them and are blissfully unaware of what goes on in the wider world. Not shouting ‘fore’ is an example of this, as are his comments on vaccination (he isn’t arguing about risk, just that it doesn’t impact him).
In all honesty, he isnt worth all this attention and time and your point about focusing more on the ‘good guys’ is spot on. BDC…whose he?
If Bryson could just be this without all the baggage he also brings…