No Vaccine? Just Test Weekly!
Still trying to navigate the crazy.
Within the discussion about vaccine mandates and green passports, comes the question of testing. If someone declines to take the vaccine, there are jobs that are now requiring weekly tests instead. On an emotional level, I understand this response. My issue with it is two fold.
1- Legitimacy. I disagree with the government giving itself the right to impose mandates on employers, employees, and citizens who just want to live freely. We are no longer in March 2020. We’re approaching 2 years into this virus, the global response to it, and the fallout from both of those challenges. The vaccines are available to every single person in this country who is eligible and wants one. That should end the discussion right there, and that includes mandated testing.
2- Effectivity. We now know the vaccine is no longer preventing infection or transmission of the virus. That being the case, if the goal is to detect and isolate cases of Covid by mandating testing at random intervals for randomly chosen activities, there’s no logical reason to test ONLY the unvaccinated. Further, once you legitimize testing only a certain group of people, under no circumstances should people with natural immunity be on that list. The only people as least likely as the naturally immune to get sick from Covid are people who were recently injected with their THIRD vaccine. Once you allow govt mandated health tests as a requirement for entry to certain places, there’s no reason to limit it to just one group without any sort of nuance or medical exemptions.
It's hard to believe we've gotten to this place in society, but if you have 2 minutes, listen to this NBA player describe that because he declined to take the vaccine (he recovered from Covid) he has to use a separate locker room, he can't eat in the same restaurants as his teammates, or attend team functions. Slippery slope is an overused term, but damn, it applies here. Imagine if someone told you last year that pro athletes were being segregated due to their medical choices. It's really beyond comprehension, and that's why I'm so against all of this mass coercion. It's smothering everybody and tearing people apart.
