I disagree. We can incentivize vaccinations and/or we can disincentivize no-vaxxing. For the former, we could have a tax credit that only the vaccinated can claim, or lower health insurance premiums for the fully vaccinated. For the latter, we could say you no ride on de airplane or de boat unless you've been vaccinated--or put a hard (and low) cap on medical insurance payments for Covid-related treatment if you're unvaccinated.

We could also load all the no-vaxxers on a giant raft and tell them we're sending them to Freedumb Island. Then we could order the navy to sink the raft. But darn, we probably have too many scruples to do that.

I don't think that 75% or 80% is a pipe dream at all. Where I live, we zoomed past 70% three weeks ago. We're fully opened up and even the Delta variant hasn't significantly affected our low case, hospitalization, and deaths numbers. Of course, we're all flaming commie pinko socialist snowflake liberals here and don't listen to Fox News, which may have something to do with it.

Dead ones asides, the other angle is long hauler syndrome. imagine having a 5 year old kid with a debilitating disease caused by covid for life or a propensity for cancer. Who dumb enough to argue if that's better or worse than death itself?

oh. you actually thought i was being serious about the magnets. that's really cute.

The tax credit would be a good one for the vaccinated. The health insurance premium is probably not as beneficial since there's a significant amount of americans without health insurance.

The airplane or boat situation is novel, though we've already seen that hasnt been widely adopted positively. I think Norwegian is the only cruise line that mandates 100% vaccination and the lobbyists for the airline industries will totally balk at it.

Right, I don’t think we need to forcibly vaccinate people. Just don’t let them into a casino without a vaccine card. Or at the very least don’t let them on a plane without it.

Personally, I'm fine not letting them in anywhere without an official vaccination card but I could see people arguing that food at the grocery store is a basic necessity and that travel is a basic necessity. I can see an anti-vaxxer arguing that they have a right to fly cross country to attend the funeral of their anti-vaxxer relative.

Things like casinos, sporting events, concerts, and cruise ships seem like the most unnecessary luxuries so we can start with these. Even malls and non food stores can fall into the luxury category.

Where is this amazing place you call home?

what would happen if healthcare professionals as a whole refused treatment of anyone with covid under the stipulation that no vaccine = no treatment? If you were previously vaccinated and came in with COVID you would then be eligible for treatment.

Rural Kentucky, of course.

That would violate the Hippocratic Oath. I'm fully on board with charging them out-of-pocket for such treatment, though, and insurance companies refusing to pay. Their irresponsible behavior raises the cost for all of us.

I wonder, in fact, if anyone is keeping a running tally of the costs of hospital care for the unvaccinated who develop covid and have to be wheeled into the ICU. Or the morgue.

True. So does the fact half of this country is obese. Can they charge the fatties more too?

Yes, there is a strong argument to be made for charging people health insurance premiums according to the voluntary choices they make, such as lifestyle. Alternatively, people who practice healthy behavior could be given discounts.

Taking or not taking the vaccine isn't really in the same category, though. It's a one-time, quick, easy decision. People become obese gradually, and often due to a number of factors that aren't completely under their control. No-vaxxers, by contrast, are deliberately making a stupid decision that endangers their stupid lives. It's tough to lose weight. It's easy to drive ten minutes to Walgreen's.

I am fully vacationed. To me it seemed like a no brainer. I did it for a number of reasons beyond my personal safety. I did it because my brother has a heart and auto-immune conditions and has been told by his doctor it might not be a good idea to get the vaccine. I did it because I wish to see my granddaughter with the least chance of making her ill. I do not care how ill she would get; why would i want to make her feel bad. Surely no one would agree that its ok to infect children because they will not get too sick from it.

I also did it because I am a functioning member of society and the people that run that society have told me it will help us all. I realize it is not even close to the same but sort of like volunteering to join the armed forces during time of war.

I grew up in a poor household and through hard work and a lot of opportunities I am now a multi millionaire. I have to feel my country was partially responsible for my success. I lives in a country (Canada) where I think we have a little more trust in our leaders to have our best interests at heart. Perhaps we are naïve.

Yes my main reason was to protect myself but it is not my only reason. I do not try to tell others what to do but if told that i should wear a mask to protect those few that cannot protect themselves I am ok with that (even if it doesn't do much good).

He is 100% right, 95% of the time.

SNHD mandates masks for all employees that work indoors unless they're in their office or cubicle.

I was at Luxor in early June. Property had signage that said vaccinated folks could go mask free in their casino (basically CDC guidelines). So, of course, the non-vaccinated also will not wear masks because NO ONE EVER VERIFIED vaccine status. I'm not asking that someone go around and verify the status of all the unmasked, I'm just appalled a policy like that was ever put in place. Seriously, the honor system, in the city of vice? Lololololol

So here I am at the craps table, vaccinated, wearing my mask, and some drunk drooler is spit shouting at me, "you can take your mask off here". No thanks, bud, I'm ok.

What you suggest would more than likely raise health care costs for the rest of us and would cause the closure of some smaller hospitals.

If you did this which I may be fine with than
Smokers can not get treated for lung cancer or lung transplants
We make it illegal to provide Naloxone to overdose victims
If you do not sign your organ donation card you can not receive one
You could add many more as well

Some in this thread have said exactly that--the little nippers usually survive, so fine, let's infect them and be done with it. Appalling.

One of the many disgusting elements of American culture is distrust of the government. What's really rich is that many of those rugged individualists live in rural areas where government money is the only thing that keeps them from drying up and blowing away. We killed millions of Indians and slaughtered countless wildlife to settle regions that weren't worth settling. But walk into any bar in Skeleton Gulch, Wyoming and you'll hear a loud diatribe about that big bad gummint.

I've always admired Canada for being a true democracy, for being diverse without ethnic conflicts, and for putting the interests of its citizens first and foremost.

We, on the other hand, are a nation of idiots, 75 million of whom recently voted for one of the worst human beings to ever walk the planet. He wouldn't have gotten six votes in Canada. You also don't have propaganda outlets masquerading as news sources; those outlets flourish because of the large population of brain-dead nimrods who listen to them.

So can I move there? I understand you still have lots of room

It would do the exact opposite. Medical resources and funds wouldn't be wasted on desperate treatments to try to save these people from their own folly.

For instance, if we simply shot all smokers in the head, that would save tens of billions of dollars. It costs big bucks to care for Puffy McDoofus as he slowly wastes away, coughing up blood in an oxygen tent.

(And before anyone points out that a less drastic solution would be to ramp up anti-smoking campaigns, I should mention that the powerful tobacco lobby has largely squelched such campaigns for decades. As far as encouraging people to quit: a) no smoker ever quits, not for good; b) all smokers shot in the head definitely do quit.)

He misspoke. He meant "probably not." But maybe that would have sounded "weak" and Fox News would be all over it within five minutes.

I'm down with Biden's essential message, which is a vast improvement over "it'll magically go away" and "drink bleach."

The argument that anyone should not bother to get vaccinated because some vaccinated people get infected anyway is akin to the argument that even sober people get into accidents, so why not drive drunk?

The whole you don't need a mask if your vaccinated is a very common posting outside of every store, restaurant, etc... here. I am fully vaccinated and still wore my mask for quite a while after that mandate went to affect because I would look around and despite ~50% of all people being vaccinated it would be me and 2 other people wearing masks in a crowd of 50+.

I think some of us have repeatedly tried to point out that this thread was specifically *supposed to* be about Covid in casinos in Las Vegas. Not what happens to a random 4 year old in a grocery store in Omaha.

And while I am normally very anti-kid in casinos/Las Vegas anyway, I am even more so now. If someone wants to bring a kid to a casino in a middle of a pandemic and putting a mask on the kid isnt good enough - then maybe its not the right place for you to be for the time being. But then don't look around at all the consenting, vaccinated adults and try to guilt trip us even more because your kid might be at risk and him being masked up isnt good enough for you. Maybe Disney would be a better choice for now.

Not sorry.

At great cost to everybody (via taxes, insurance premiums, and lost productivity for all involved), doctors and hospitals treat

• smokers who develop lung cancer
• collision casualties driving under the influence or not wearing seat belts
• violent criminals injured by cop fire (at least if they are white)

Basically, the sense of mutual responsibility for each others' physical wellbeing expressed in the structure of the US society (and vehemently opposed by people with libertarian views) extends to people who display misconceived, stupid, and even malevolent behavior.

In the meantime, MMR vaccination is universally required in the US for children attending pre-K, child care, and K-12 schools, public or private, plus most colleges & universities. Short of 44 states offering religious exemptions, and 15 states offering philosophical exemptions.

Additionally, most states have required vaccinations against "diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus or DTaP for childcare and schools; Haemophilus influenzae type B or Hib for childcare; measles, mumps and rubella or MMR for childcare and schools; polio for childcare and schools and varicella or chickenpox for childcare and schools" (Source: CNN)

The argument against similar requirement for COVID-19 vaccinations have mainly been, that no COVID-19 vaccine currently has received FDA approval.

While some think it may happen earlier, there is no guarantee that this approval will happen until January 2022.

You should be

Let me update you on the reality of things...casino workers have children. The people who live in Vegas have children. The folks who handle your baggage at the airport have children. Taxi and Uber drivers have children.

So the increased risk to children from the massive surge of tourists to Vegas--both vaccinated and unvaccinated--is indeed a significant aspect of the topic: "Corona virus situation in Las Vegas now."

My reaction to the recent massive Delta-fueled surge in covid cases has been to put my Vegas travel plans on hold. I suppose I could justify feeding my casino jones by saying that I'm fully vaccinated and pose minimal risk to others. But I think that given the crowds, I could easily be infected and pass it on to others. Others who may have children.

Oh wow, what a genius, thanks for updating me that people have kids. By your logic all service workers everywhere should not be at work.

Do you know what the likelihood of a vaccinated person 1 - getting infected and 2 - passing it to another vaccinated person 3 - through a mask? The CDC has said its basically nonexistent.

You make up data or just make up your "estimates" based on how you want your narrative to be but its not based in reality at all. You estimate X number of dead kids. Based on nothing - but because you want us to read about dead kids. If you "think" you are more likely to do something but you're not interested in reading the data - then thats on you.

Personally my guess is 99% of the workers in Vegas would rather not return to the days of a complete shutdown where many of them weren't working.

But - thats my own made up statistic.