I do wonder how this will work for WFH employees.
Also, how does OSHA apply to WFH employees in general.
I know I had a workers compensation claim denied that went no were a year ago, that was denied pretty much because I was WFH and set my own work environment.
when i got tested today they asked me questions as to why iām there in terms of symptoms, and also asked me if i was vaccinated. i assumed itās just for statistical purposes though for now, rather than to determine eligibility to be tested.
actually, the symptoms questions is also if you want both the rapid test and the pcr test. if you have symptoms they will do both. if not, just the rapid test is sufficient.
hmmm, didnāt know this. that seems a little dangerous though. people getting tested is a good thing for stopping the spread regardless of vaccination status. even vaccinated people might want to get tested for a reason unrelated to symptoms.
Now that the precedent is set, why not expand to require annual flu vaccine?
Smoking, drinking, eating fast food, these things are all very unhealthy, so in the interest of health, why not force people to abstain from those things to be employed?
Itās a bit facetious, but, where does the line move over time?
Heart disease and cancer both killed more Americans in 2020 than Covid. Exercise significantly reduces heart disease risk, so why not have the federal government mandate exercise as a condition of employment?
Can you give heart disease to other people? Can your heart disease kill other people?
How about the flu? You can pass it, but is it more or less likely to kill a random adult aged 18-64 than COVID?
Correct, but I wonāt get HD & Cancer by breathing the air next to someone with HD & Cancer.
For me, thatās where I draw the line - how does what āyouā do affect āmeā? If youāre breathing cancer sticks, then I donāt want to breathe your exhalationsā¦same with your covids floating around all willy nilly.
āYouā is the general āyouā in this post, not anyone specifically.
I see your pointā¦and it is a slippery slopeā¦but we canāt go on just letting people spread deadly disease when thereās a way to āstopā itā¦imo.
Fair point on heart disease.
Flu is IIRC more dangerous to young children than Covid.
Once we get to āmore or less likelyā we get onto subjective decisions that may change over time. Covid is more deadly than flu, but at what multiple do we mandate a flu vaccine now that the power to do so is with the federal government?
Depressed people are more likely to come in and shoot up the workplace, should we make sure not to employ them as a preventative measure?
If we get to 95% eligible vaccinated, does that stop anything?
Weāre still waiting on a vaccine for < 12s, so wonāt transmission continue anyway?
What about the next variant?
Covid is not going away, weāll have to live with it.
Flu may be more dangerous in terms of risk given infection.
But covid (especially delta) is much more contagious than flu. It is also straining the public health system, and is more dangerous in general than the flu, at least given our current knowledge.
Overall, I think flu is much less risky.
Vaccinated people are 80% less likely to get covid, and perhaps also less likely to spread it.
They are also 90% less likely to be hospitalized, opening up those resources for others.
I agree that it is not a realistic goal to eliminate covid risk, but that is not the justification for the mandate.
I know of a company which employs actuaries where being a non-smoker is a condition of employment.
I assume this company didnāt always have this policy. Are there smokers who were grandfathered into being allowed to smoke or did they announce one day that all smokers must quit smoking or get fired ASAP?
Also, seems like something someone can easily lie about.
I donāt know, I never worked there, only applied. And I had to attest that I donāt smoke as part of the application process.
You could lie about it, yes. Easily? The smell of smoke on your clothes and body is pretty hard to hide.
Didnāt some Japanese firms have calisthenics before each shift? I thought I remembered seeing that on the news or something when I was growing up. Then, of course, there was Gung Ho.
I donāt disagree, but, now that weāve opened the door to vaccinations as a condition of employment, what stops it extending to the flu shot?
High effort/cost with relatively low benefit?
There are healthcare organizations that do mandate flu shots. Those granted exemptions for whatever reason have to mask during flu season.
You keep saying that as if it would be a bad thingā¦
It wouldnāt be a bad thing if a lot of employers required flu shots, but Iām uncomfortable with this being an executive order. I donāt think the president should have that much power.