Tag: COVID

Did the CDC Contradict Itself?

Officially, the CDC says the definition of “fully vaccinated” is not changing. Here’s a source that is unlikely to go away — the CDC likes to “keep its website up to date” and get rid of what it said previously. But here’s what they say about post-exposure quarantine for health care workers (note that I’m adding an image from their site because it will someday “be updated” and disappear):

Source

Sure looks like unless you’re boosted, you might as well not be vaccinated under this guidance.

For right now, the official guidance on how long people who get COVID should stay home is here. This headline puts it succinctly: it meets corporate needs. I get that it’s hard to run an airline or a hospital when much of your staff is sick. Having them come to work while sick and make your remaining staff sick is not the answer. Nurses are concerned, and we’re the ones that make hospital care possible.

I have bent over backwards to both follow what the CDC says, do what they say, and not speak ill of them. My patience wears thin.

Reminder: Omicron may not make you as sick, but it is very easy to transmit. There are millions of new cases; between lack of hospital beds and sick hospital staff that can’t take care of patients, it’s a mess. Keep your hands clean and your mask up over your nose where it belongs. Stay safe out there.

Why the Vaccine Mandate Does Not Violate the Tenth Amendment

For your reference, here’s the announcement, and here’s the Tenth Amendment.

The mandate is broken into three big pieces, which will be addressed individually: government employees, health care workers, and employees of large employers.

Government Employees:

The Federal Government is acting as an employer, not as the government. The courts have long held that it’s ok for an employer to say “no smoking” or “we don’t cover birth control pills.” The courts have also said it’s ok to have requirements for a job. Schools — a specialized “employer” — have required certain vaccines since before I was a small child. That ship has sailed.

Health Care Workers:

The Feds are using their authority under the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services Conditions of Participation. They are in essence saying “If you want our money, you must do these things.” Since at least 99% of hospitals receive money from Medicare, Medicaid, or both, effectively all hospitals will be finding ways to comply with this rule once the actual rules are finalized (it’s already a done deal in some states like California). This is another case where the courts spoke years ago and the ship has long since sailed.

There are a few places that think they can legislate or make executive orders to make this go away. Florida’s governor appears to be backing down about a half step, only vowing to fight the mandate for businesses. Texas’s governor not so much. There are teams of hospital lawyers girding up for battle, because hospitals want to get paid and federal regulations overrule states.

The one aspect of this I find interesting is that the mandate as announced (no word on implementation yet) does not appear to have a loophole to regularly test employees that have legitimate medical contraindications to the vaccine. I do have a horse in this race. My building could lose employees if there’s not a loophole. However I’m the sucker who is going to be running a lot of COVID tests if there is.

Large Employers:

Here’s where stuff gets interesting. The rule would require employers with 100 or more employers to mandate vaccines. And there’s a testing loophole. This falls under OSHA. Fun thing about the law creating OSHA, the OSH Act. There’s a part of it called Section 18 that allows states to have their own OSHA rules. There’s your Tenth Amendment compliance right there. Done. However, those rules have to be at least as strong as the federal rules. You can have your state rules, but only if those state rules also include stuff like the vaccine mandate.

The Vaccine Mandate doesn’t violate the Tenth Amendment, stop saying it does.