Perhaps being an anti-vaxer doesn't violate any laws. They do seem intent on furthering political or ideological objectives. To the extent that they pursue their goals by showing depraved indifference to the consequences of their inaction, some locales do have laws against depraved indifference.

Definition: "When their actions show an utter disregard for the value of human life, they will be said to be exhibiting depraved indifference. This means that they exhibit a willingness to act, not because they intend to cause harm but because they do not care if their actions will result in harm."

@powder anti vax & mask behaviour is a real & actual threat to further spread the disease. What do you not understand about that?

Or do you think that some holy ghost spreads the disease?

@powder Not at all. It’s all about choices, or what you might call actions and consequences. There is no innate right to be a spreader of a disease. None whatsoever! There is no innate right to retain a job while insisting on behaving in a way that could risk the health of one’s fellows. Cause-and-effect, choices and consequences. It’s a simple as that. Come join the party fully vaccinated, or remain shunned and ostracized. It’s your choice.

@powder There’s no such thing as 100% efficacy. However, the evidence indicates that vaccinated persons are of much less risk of contracting and spreading the disease than unvaccinated persons. Furthermore, unvaccinated persons are, statistically speaking, much more likely to be spreaders and to be hospitalized, thereby further draining the already decimated resources of healthcare systems.

I’ve been through this drill with colleagues already regarding teams and workplace safety as part of a group of engineers who meet and regularly hash out solutions to problems. It can be done virtually but only to a certain point. We have found in our teams that Zoom and all of that virtual stuff is nice for periodic tag ups, but it doesn’t enhance the collaborative juices. We’re glad to be back, working together as we did before the pandemic.

So now we’re left with the dilemma of how to meet as a team, sit around a table and hash out solutions on the whiteboard when just one of our members is unvaccinated. Most of our group are, frankly, sick and tired of wearing masks and feel we would be more at ease and successful without them. Ergo, they would prefer that the one unvaccinated individual not be in the room. The team would rather vote him / her “off the island.” It’s a simple as that.

Look, we are all social beings and succeed or fail as groups and teams. Engineering is no different. We work together and bind ourselves to the mission through trust and collaboration. When one of us is not rowing in the same direction, everyone senses it. Everyone on the team I work with has been vaccinated and meets in person, and the unvaccinated know they would not be welcome.

@powder Thank you for your reasoned reply. I believe you’ve struck the mother load, the heart of the matter.

We seem to be a crossroads, not only in the United States but globally. We as a species possess a body of knowledge, constantly growing and always perfecting, that we call science. And then we have naysayers, fringe ideas and second-guessing armchair quarterbacks.

I learned long ago to rely on the advice of experts in every aspect of my life—finances, legal matters, my health and my career, you name it, the moment you think you know everything, someone’s going to come along and knock your head clean off. As that Dirty Harry line goes from Magnum Force, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

Nowadays it seems with a computer and access to the Internet everyone’s an expert, or at least they think they are. But in all reality, do any of us want to put our lives in the hands of someone who thinks he’s an expert because he’s been reading shit on the internet? Do we want to get on an airplane with a pilot who learned how to fly on the Internet? Or what about a surgeon?

What we read on the Internet is a minute part of the body of knowledge, and contains none of the necessary experience it requires to become an actual expert. True expertise comes with many years of experience and study, and when we knowingly ignore the advice of experts, we do so at our own peril.

No we don't. Some of us value nuance.

@Fernapple There may have been a bit of tongue in cheek there.

@p-nullifidian One bit of tongue deserves another bit.