Some people make it hard to have sympathy for them:

A GOP official from Texas who regularly espoused anti-vaccine and anti-mask views online has died from COVID-19, five days after posting a meme on Facebook questioning the wisdom of getting inoculated against COVID.

#^&#^&#^&#^&inson City Council member and Galveston County Republican Party chair H. Scott Apley, 45, died in a local hospital around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help Apley’s family with expenses. He was admitted to the facility in Galveston on Sunday with “pneumonia-like symptoms,” and was hooked up to a ventilator as his condition worsened. His wife was also infected, the family said.

“He leaves behind his wife, Melissa, who is COVID positive, as well as their infant son Reid,” according to the fundraiser, which has so far raised almost $15,000 of its $30,000 goal. “Your donations are greatly appreciated and will help the family as they get through this difficult period.”

“My heart is beyond broken for his family,” #^&#^&#^&#^&inson Mayor Sean Skipworth wrote in a Facebook post. “Scott was a new father and that makes this loss especially tragic.”

Texas Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi said in a statement, “Please join me in lifting the Apley family up in prayer. We will miss Scott deeply but find comfort knowing he is at peace in the arms of our Savior.” The announcement did not mention the fact that Apley’s death was COVID-related.

Apley is a staunch conservative and devout Christian. But based on his social media activity, Apley didn’t believe COVID was going to affect him or his family.

In May, Apley posted an invitation for a “mask burning” being held at a bar in Cincinnati, commenting, “I wish I lived in the area!” A couple of weeks earlier, he posted a news article about giveaways and incentives meant to encourage people to get vaccinated, writing, “Disgusting.” Apley also railed against so-called vaccine passports, which restrict high-risk activities, such as indoor dining, to the fully vaccinated. Recently, he suggested that mask mandates in Germany were akin to Nazism.

In one of numerous Facebook posts on the subject, Apley wrote, “Question: If businesses start allowing customers and employees go mask free only with VOLUNTARILY providing their vaccination record (presumably not a HIPPA [sic] violation), wouldn't that basically INVOLUNTARILY identify people who have chosen not to get vaccinated (Which might be indirectly creating a HIPPA [sic] violation)?”

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and prohibits healthcare providers from improperly divulging a person’s private medical information without their consent. It does not apply to private businesses—a bartender asking if a customer is vaccinated, for example, does not constitute a HIPAA violation.

On July 30, less than a week before his death, Apley reposted a meme on his Facebook page that said: “In 6 months, we’ve gone from the vax ending the pandemic—to you can still get covid even if vaxxed—to you can pass covid onto others even if vaxxed—to you can still die of covid even if vaxxed—to the unvaxxed are killing the vaxxed.”In an interview Wednesday with the Galveston County Daily News, Mayor Sean Skipworth said he didn’t know if Apley had been vaccinated against COVID.

Apley’s untimely passing comes as COVID skeptics across the country have died or become extraordinarily sick after rejecting the constant calls by public health officials to get vaccinated and mask up. In Nashville, a right-wing radio host who repeatedly spread misinformation about the virus and mocked the vaccine, is now hospitalized as he fights for his life. A Brooklyn woman who called COVID a “fraud” died after rejecting the vaccine in favor of natural supplements like zinc and Vitamin D.

The family of a Florida woman who refused the COVID vaccine and died in June still refuses to get the jab. A Florida track coach who had resisted calls by friends and colleagues to get vaccinated finally agreed to make an appointment for his shots. However, he contracted COVID a day or two before getting his first dose and died in the hospital after slipping into a coma, leaving behind a wife and four children.

yA CAN,T teach or cure [stupid] :nailem:

There might be a little hope.

Over the last 24 hours, the US saw the highest number of daily Covid-19 shots administered since July 3, with 864,000 vaccinations administered.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

You are so right Mike.

Natural selection tends to cull the stupid from the herd, our problem is that process takes time.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

On and on we go, masks going back on and the fall right around the corner. The longer this goes on with this large a percentage of the country unvaccinated, the more likely yet another and possibly more deadly variant develops. I’m thinking this is now coming down to anti-vaccine anything crowd, rural southern state communities with fear or less access, the young I’m invincible crowd and of course the it’s my choice don’t tell me what to do crowd. Basically the uneducated or the stupid to boil it down. The irony is EVERYONE is sick of it and I think the majority of the country (with a brain) know the key to stopping this is to get the majority of the country vaccinated. I am so glad I’m retired I feel for those still working and especially folks who rely on customers coming into their shops, bars or restaurants.

Sucks

The vaccine is a GIFT! Never did I think in my wildest dreams back in March, April, and May, that we would be concerned with people not getting vaccinated.....

George Carlin would have to remind you that half of the people in this world are dumber than you and the other half are even dumber.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

actually "the fittest" do pretty well with Covid...it's the unfit...fat and suffering from another of many self-induced health issues that experience bad outcomes from Covid exposure...maybe we should be lecturing the unfit to get their $h1t together :biglaugh:

Covid has culled the unhealthy from the herd...is that natural selection?

we know that if you are healthy and maintain a healthy immune system your unlikely to die from covid....

if you overeat, pound sugar, saturated fats, carbs, alcohol, tobacco etc.....you are probably going to be overweight and have heart disease or high blood pressure or hypertension or liver disease or lung disease etc...which according to the statistics is prevalent in a ridiculous percentage of Americans and which pretty much guarantees a bad outcome if you get covid

how many Americans spent the covid months binge watching-eating-drinking-smoking etc? According to the study I saw America got fatter and less healthy during those months....probably sitting around waiting for a shot to cure everything so they could continue on with an unhealthy lifestyle:chased:

maybe we should fine or jail people who won't get vaccinated and double if they smoke(wait, that doesn't include pot right?)

And what Scott there are no defiant don’t force me to mask or vaccine people spreading it to the elderly and people with underlying health issues? You I think would fit it well in FL and you constantly bitch about CT, maybe it’s time for a move.

People in Texas and other states with low vaccination rates seem to be having different results with healthy and younger people dealing with Covid.

Covid cases in the Lone Star State have exploded in the last few weeks. Texas is averaging about 15,419 new cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of Wednesday, up 34% from a week ago and more than double the seven-day average of 6,762 just two weeks ago.

“What’s concerning about the trajectory is that we’re seeing a much more rapid increase in the number of cases,” said Dr. Trish Perl, chief of infectious diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“We are seeing unvaccinated people that are younger as opposed to earlier in the pandemic when we saw a lot of hospitalizations over 65. Now, the largest and the highest increases that we’re seeing are the 18-to-49-year-olds, and a lot of these people don’t have underlying illnesses.”

pretty sure I have never bitched about Connecticut...I live in RI

Rhode Island 69% vaccinated

August 12 ,2020 93 cases

August 12, 2021 364 cases


I blame Texas....

You always can obfuscate and throw smoke

“We are seeing unvaccinated people that are younger as opposed to earlier in the pandemic when we saw a lot of hospitalizations over 65. Now, the largest and the highest increases that we’re seeing are the 18-to-49-year-olds, and a lot of these people don’t have underlying illnesses.”

There is a significant correlation between low vaccination rates and hospitalizations/deaths and the current anecdotal evidence is that is happening to younger and healthier people.

on our local news this morning they reported that there is a significant amount of covid being found in deer in Pennsylvania...not sure if they are vaccinated or unvaccinated

Meanwhile our borders are wide open with illegals flooding into the country with the virus 🤔
Was reported 40% of them have it but you won’t hear about that in the media
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Health experts refute the far right wing claim immigration policy is fueling the rise in covid, its Delta, no shock you would be tuned into the far right.

Health experts are on the lefts payroll so believe what you want.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I believe in science and the far right media has you believing exactly what they want and need you to believe.

I find it so ironic that these GOP governors are suggesting they are protecting their constituents right to chose, while removing not only their right to chose, but their school districts funding for choosing to protect their kids with mask mandates. Like anyone with a brain can’t see the political calculus at play, roll the dice I hope it blows up in their faces.

WTF can,t we play nice ??

it doesn,r seem what the issue is .red vs blue states or blue vs red states ............ what ever happened .whats best for the people :bgi:

No sh*t Mike when idiots play with other peoples lives for political reasons they just plain su*k
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

no matter what they vote on ..........you can tell the ya & nay by the color ........... they don,t actually vote for the people of their states .they vote to keep staying in office & building on their pensions ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Booth sides .its not whats best for the country ..its whats best for [ME} really sad :af::hs::hs:

We need term limits and that with some changes to their pensions, health insurance and perks, suddenly people with some integrity might be running for office.

Lots of vaccine mandates enacted immediately after the FDA approval, hopefully that gets more shots into arms of the reluctant. Going to be either get vaccinated or look for another job or potentially loose out on your college enrollment.

United Airlines, get vaccinated or find another job.
Delta Airlines, get vaccinated or if on their health plan, getting additional $200/ month charge and employee must pay for testing out of pocket.

Enjoy the slippery slope this will open up.

I'm glad the FDA approved it, and I hope more people get it now because of this, but monetarily punishing people and threatening their livelihood, sorry not a fan
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

As opposed to letting unvaccinated threaten the rest of the workforce, student body or other passengers on planes and public transit systems in the name of personal right to choose? It’s not like vaccine mandates are new, unless your home schooling your children, they are all mandated to get the required vaccines to attend public schools. If this were about your common flu vaccine I’d agree with you it would be crazy to mandate something with far lower effectiveness and hasn’t been so deadly or spread so easily.

But bc Delta is self funded, Delta has to pay for 100% of those extra claims. I believe it is costing Delta $40,000 for every Covid patient who goes to the hospital. So the people who are not getting vaccinated are causing economic harm to the company. Next year when Delta looks at their current year claims and how much they funder and then determines the employees cost share and the % Delta will fund they will set the ee contributions higher to account for the increased claim costs. So the people who are incurring the $40,000 claims are causing every employee at Delta (and Delta itself ) to pay more.

I actually know the person working on the Delta account and I sent him an IM this morning

[10:55 AM] SXXXXX, Paul

Delta Air Lines is intensifying pressure on employees to get vaccinated with a series of increasingly burdensome requirements over the coming weeks and months, though it stopped short of the mandates that other airlines and businesses have put in plac
Why Delta Is Leaving Middle Seats Empty During the Pandemic (Published 2020)An executive for the airline explains its distancing practices and approach to cleaning at a time when its biggest rivals are selling all the seats they can.www.nytimes.com​[10:56 AM] Stamos, Paul P



On Sept. 30, unvaccinated workers will lose pay protection for employees who test positive for the virus and miss work while having to quarantine. Finally, starting on Nov. 1, any employee who remains unvaccinated will have to pay an additional $200 per month to remain on the company’s health care plan.

“This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company,” Mr. Bastian said. “In recent weeks since the rise of the B.1.617.2 variant, all Delta employees who have been hospitalized with Covid were not fully vaccinated.”






The average coronavirus-related hospitalization has cost the company about $40,000 per person, he said. Like many large employers, Delta insures its own work force, meaning it pays health costs directly and hires insurance companies to manage its plans.

I get it, still don't agree with it.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

yup...the unvaccinated are basically a terrorist threat to the vaccinated.....probably a good time to build those camps to house and re-educate them

Your usual stellar contribution to the discussion, tell me why employers don’t have the right or why you think it’s not required, snarky gets old.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I never said or implied that they don't or shouldn't.....and I don't feel threatened by the unvaccinated

Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz, shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine of 1949 for the "discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses", "surgically induced childhood" the awarding of the prize has been subject to controversy.

There have been calls in the early 21st century for the Nobel Foundation to rescind the prize it awarded to Moniz for developing lobotomy, a decision that has been called an astounding error of judgment at the time and one that psychiatry might still need to learn from, but the Foundation declined to take action and has continued to host an article defending the results of the procedure.

IMO we have been sliding down that slope for quite a while and some of these control freaks have been coming up with more and more all the time.

Same with me, don't agree with it or any forcing, shaming, cancelling, firing or any other tactics. More people need to speak out against this crap.

And If my position on liberty is one that has Mike making a statement about not knowing me and that is sad, then so be it.

Why should I or your company have to pay more for insurance because you won't take something that will prevent you from getting sick? Also, if you can get people in our company sick bc you refuse to take a vaccine, why should we allow you to come in and infect us?