At this point - when you look at the CDC map - pretty much everyone is in red in the new cases for the past 7 days.

Great link to review: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_community

They laughed at NJ and NY and our Governors in Q1 and Q2 of last year. We did what we had to do in NJ. We've had a great effort at Vaccination - even though I know Trenton wanted our vaccination rate at 90%. We have prepared for a second round of this, and know what steps need to take place to prevent death.

We also know that there CAN be break through infections.

At this point - we gotta make sure we have all of our tools for preparation at the ready. That means keeping our ventilators, medical staff, and pandemic infrastructure in place.

Because of the selfishness and arrogance of the majority rule in Red States - they are sending us backwards to April 2020.

THEY did this to US. Them.

So when get up to Texas levels of new cases in NJ- we need those pandemic tools and human beings who heal.

All of this to say - not out of my backyard. If Massachusetts wants to help Florida - fine.

But we can't take that risk in NJ which includes the greater nyc area.

I'm all for helping EVERYONE who hasn't been vaccinated because we need to protect the vulnerable population who can't get vaccinated, because of age or underlying health issues. I'm far less concerned about those who refused to get vaccinated and are now falling ill to Covid.

But then I remember Abraham Lincoln and him saying something about our better angels Yada Yada.

So I answered yes, because its the humane (human) thing to do.

So, fuck 'em. They're no different today.

Wanted to click the fuck’em option.
But, you know, there’s that karma thing.

COVID-denier patients right now--including in blue areas. Yet as angering, depressing, and frustrating the situation might be, I've yet to encounter any HCW denying them the best care possible. Yet as they see more and more unvaccinated take the beds and vents that others may need, their frustrations are rising exponentially. Still, I've yet to hear from any who seriously suggest a penalty for the sick who willfully refused the prevention vaccination would have offered.

When will that compassion be exceeded and the willfully defiant and irresponsible pay a price? I don't know. I'm angry enough and depressed enough that I can't honestly say they don't deserve it, but, I took an oath...

helping each other out, when some weren't adequately beholden to TFG. I doubt very much the reverse will be the same...because it's not the government, or the party, it's the people

...in the Federal government.

Helping them deal with all the dying patients won't actually help end the crisis.

need that hospital bed for some other reason. Accidents and illnesses happen. And, lots of them will remain in pain while their knee and hip replacements are put off, along with all the other elective surgeries.

then yes. If they do not (lots of states are experiencing outbreaks at the moment), then I would understand if they cannot.

I disagree with the idea of "your people are uneducated and didn't get the vaccine so we will callously watch you die and say ha ha about it." This isn't a democratic attitude. This isn't the attitude we take when we're talking about sending foreign aid to poor countries (intended to help citizens who are less educated and also make decisions we do not agree with.) This isn't the attitude we should have when encountering the homeless--you made bad life choices, so eff you, you can just die like a dog in the street.

No, we try to be good people and have a heart and realize that privilege is a part of why we made better choices. I came from a good family that was privileged to have enough food to eat and a roof over our heads. My parents sent me to good schools and taught me to believe in science. As a teacher, I encountered ALL SORTS of kids from households where parents are not educated, and that generational lack of education just gets passed down and causes further harm. We need to keep getting the word out about the vaccine, even if it's one news story, one conversation with a doctor at a time.

But, even though they may not appreciate it, doing the right thing is in our own long-term interests.

I do, however, think non-vaccinated should be a lower triage priority than those who did the right thing and got sick anyway.

We need to work together and for each other, despite what some foul republican't politicians would have you do.

Theirs is a failed view.

Typically, six months of sobriety is required.

If the red states allow mask mandates and have policies requiring vaccinations, then yes

Of course the bastards who “govern” those states would not likely return the favor as they and a too large chunk of their people follow the NeoConfederate credo of “we hate you and the founding principle of the US Constitution” that the primary duty of the federal government is to promote the general welfare of all people, but, ironically gladly take the tax dollars of we who believe in that principle. That said, since we believe in that ethos we must adhere to it, even for the ungrateful, although I wager the majority of patients in those ICU wards would be grateful, and certainly the medical staff who are being subjected to inhuman stresses because of this human conflagration certainly would. The latter group who chose human service as their life’s calling certainly never anticipated they would be in the midst of such hell and certainly never conceived that their state governments would be their enemy in this struggle. They need all the help we can give them.

However, my caveat would be this, along with the aid comes a request that these Merchants Of Death who “govern” those states and are responsible for this catastrophe because they have knowingly endangered their citizens with their murdeous orders, exercise some of that sacred personal responsibility they prattle on about endlessly but never practice, and demand they rescind those orders at once. If not, and they likely wouldn’t, as it allows them to pander to the knuckle dragging fascists they service, then we federalize their national guards and put them into Public Health Service, deduct the cost of such aid from the money they would receive from the Covid relief money already appropriated to those states, or from future infrastructure money, and the Justice Department should intervene in every legal case on behalf of all local governments who are challenging the murderous mask prohibitions. So Abbott and DeathSantis pay some price for their wretched actions since they are chiefly responsible for this.

Lots of good liberals in red states, many of us in true blue counties and cities. We hate our governors and Senators and actively work to not have them elected and reelected. I give money I really can't afford to give to Val every week.

Thanks so much for letting those of us in red states know exactly how you and many other DUers think of us and our families. I guess it's okay if we fucking die. I would suggest you self delete this post, but thank you, OP, thank you for letting us who are in red states know how much it's okay to discuss letting us die.

As a lifelong Democrat in Texas, I find some views on DU abhorrent. The only way out of this is for ALL of us to work together. Why should I be held responsible for Greg Abbutt when I’ve worked my ass off to get him ousted. And because of gerrymandering and stupid idiot Trumpers, he stays in office.

I’m glad to see Democratic mayors like my own, Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, taking decisive action.

I’m an American damn it. And that should count for something even though I live in looneyville. (Should count for ALL of us).

It appears they were aimed at me. Were they?

Yes, deplorables take advantage of the decency of others.

They rely on it. They count on it. They expect it.

They are selfish, self-centered, and their hypocrisy bothers them not at all.

But it's still about the kind of person we want to be.

Their "rugged individualism" is a self-satisfying lie and their delusions are deadly to us all.

Yes, the world would actually be better without them.

Still...

The decent thing to do is to help them as much as possible.

They won't thank us. They'll claim is was their own hardiness and all those thoughts and prayers - and not the kindness and duty of strangers who paid all those tax dollars that provide a social safety net, free medicine, and tax payer paid life-saving equipment to make them better.

They'll say that as a citizen it is their right to get those things - all the while complaining about welfare mothers, people taking handouts, government overreach, and how evil socialized anything is for people.

Yes, I can see how I am making an argument to not help.

Still, it's about who I am as a person. Not who they are as assholes.

But if Covid is allowed to spread unchecked through those red states then it might come back to bite the rest of us. A new variant which is more virulent and more resistant to vaccines might emerge in one of those red states. And if that happens it could spread to the rest of us. So yes for our own protection we need to help those red states.

in the not too distant past. We were holed-up like mole people last winter, while (some of) these assholes were having a gay old time, mask-less and going everywhere (and mocking or harassing us for being careful).

Triage the patients. Treat the vaccinated and all children first. The unvaccinated-by-choice should be last, always.

But we can't.

those righties who didnt want to help blue states.

And what affects one state or region affects all.

The partisan mindset is rarely a good one. Red state, blue state. Humans are humans, some good and some bad. Some conservative, some liberal. Some smart, some dumb.

We don't make decisions about the right thing to do based on whether or not we like someone. At least, functioning adults don't. Especially not those who forever claim the mantle of empathy. It's easy to help when you want to. Anyone can do that. It's when you don't want to that it oftentimes matters the most and is the better mark of character.

These are human beings who are dying (albeit some have very poor judgment). I live in Florida and someone who lives in NY or California isn't more Democratic than me. Not that it should matter when it comes on to offering life-sustaining help. When NY was the epicenter of the pandemic here, did you question whether help should be given?

were ineligible for the vaccine.

Law of supply and demand, laissez faire capitalism. Something I am SURE their upright conservative, pro-business philosophy will appreciate.