Pennsylvania health officials brace themselves as measles outbreak expected to spread

175

"She added that although many Amish people have not been vaccinated, it’s not because they are anti-vaxxers, but rather because “they were either unaware of it or they don’t seek out healthcare as frequently as other residents”.

She added: “But they’re willing to have the conversation and make a decision on what’s happening today. They’re not making decisions based on the myths out there, but because their neighbors are impacted.”"

Small glimmer of hope that outreach programs, at least in that area's Amish, may be a good idea and work?

127

u/MirrahPaladin 6h ago

Funny that the people who choose to live in the 1800s are more open to change and modern medicine than conservatives living in the modern day

34

u/ThatSmile 6h ago

Some even drive better than idiots in the modern era.

12

u/ajaxfetish 4h ago

The advantage of not being distracted texting or checking facebook while behind the reins of your buggy.

23

u/jazzhandler 5h ago

It’s because they don’t have the Internet actively dragging them back to pre-Enlightenment beliefs. Oh, the irony.

2

u/linux_transgirl 5h ago

It's less resistance to change and more resistance to convenience. They choose to make work harder for themselves

9

u/dogs_gt_cats 3h ago edited 3h ago

The general approach the Amish take towards technology (at least newer order sects) is whether or not it strengthens or weakens the bonds of the community. They prioritize enriching social and local ties. So while they acknowledge that telephones have a use to communicate with children who chose to leave the community or for business, phones in the home distract from spending time with the family. So they compromise by having shared phones that the community all uses.

A horse and buggy can be built locally, the horse bred locally. The money stays local and strengthens local ties. They may have a communal truck to ship goods and a handful of people to markets in larger cities. For example, in Philadelphia, half of Reading Terminal Market is Amish shops. But generally they don't like things that require reliance on others outside the community.

It also doesn't prevent them from using technology at work, as many Amish work outside of their communities. They just don't take it home with them.

They don't choose to make work harder for themselves, they choose to make maintaining their community easier, because that's what they prioritize.

They're an interesting bunch.

Source: am from PA, grew up outside Lancaster.

2

u/BrothelWaffles 1h ago

It also doesn't prevent them from using technology at work, as many Amish work outside of their communities. They just don't take it home with them.

Yup, I had a custom shed made by an Amish company and it kinda threw me off when I walked in after checking out the demo units and the guy was sitting at a computer. Definitely recommend them over getting one from Home Depot or Lowe's too, they do a damn good job.

0

u/hindus0ul 2h ago

Lot of snake oil salespeople as well

3

u/Consistent-Throat130 3h ago

not making decisions based on the myths

Literally living in an isolationist religious ~~cult~~ community

75

u/Peach__Pixie 6h ago

“We have people in key positions saying it isn’t an outbreak, it isn’t a problem. We have people who approach our nurses and say that they were told the vaccine will make them sterile, or that there’s a microchip within it,” Franklin said.

Imagine vaccinating your children, just to see them grow to adulthood and become anti vaxxers. Because most of the conspiracy theory anti vaxxers are vaccinated. They just let THEIR children suffer these painful, debilitating, and sometimes deadly diseases. These idiots will deny some of their kids a chance to grow up because of their ignorance.

40

u/skwirly715 5h ago

It gets even crazier when you find out some of the vaccine information is being spread BY NURSES. I know a ton of nurses who became anti vax during COVID because they think they are experts and bought into the conspiracy.

7

u/Main_Photo1086 3h ago

Same here. It’s wild to me.

4

u/Present_Influence315 2h ago

A lot of people become nurses not because they're interested in the science/medical aspect or helping people - it's to make money. My wife has a few friends who are nail techs/hairstylists etc - and joined nursing school just to make money.

•

u/Lithium_Lily 18m ago

Imagine spending much of your day inmersed in a device that allows you to access the entirety of humankind's collective knowledge and yet you won't believe something is real until it is actively biting your own nuts off.

135

u/-SaC 6h ago

If only there was something people could do.

Ho hum.

11

u/theguyfromtheweb7 5h ago

...wait a minute.

31

u/ketchfraze 6h ago

Darwin works in mysterious ways.

•

u/Germanium235 25m ago

There will be collateral damage when immune-compromised people die because they can't get a vaccine.

35

u/heloguy1234 6h ago

They didn’t start giving 2 doses of mmr until 1989 so if you are a little bit older consider getting a booster. It’ll bring the effectiveness up to 97%.

15

u/chef-nom-nom 6h ago

My wife and I both did about a year ago. We're in PA, not effing around with something that can so easily be dealt with.

6

u/heloguy1234 6h ago

I got mine last year as well since I travel a lot for work. It was free with insurance, I had no sides from it and I was already there to get my flu and Covid shots. Well worth it imo.

6

u/MarketingSpecial6604 6h ago

Omg this man got the jab and lost his sides! This poor soul has to walk around side less now thanks to Biden!

6

u/Pretend-Path4754 6h ago

You can also get a titer to check your levels if you’re unsure of your vaccine history. That’s what I did bc I’m an old 😂

5

u/auntiepink007 4h ago

My parents also did the titres because I'm immunosuppressed and they wanted me to be/feel safe around them. Neither one needed a booster but it was comforting to find out.

8

u/Tomahawk72 4h ago

As someone with a newborn due in Feb, this terrifies me

21

u/templeofsyrinx1 6h ago edited 6h ago

The Amish community's lower vaccination rates combined with the drop in vaccination rates across the state and the anti-vax trash the Trump administration spreads is a recipe for absolute disaster. Large swaths of PA counties went for Trump last time around.

This problem has been going on for a while now not just in PA but across the nation in recent years and we are now seeing the results.

This winter may be one for the record books.

If you have not been vaccinated yet this year please go get it done. It's as easy as walking into a CVS/Walgreens and they are covered by insurance for most people.

5

u/GumbyDolphin 5h ago

Most of PA is like the deep south but worse.

8

u/ajaxfetish 4h ago

Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, Alabama in between. I also like the label Pennsyltucky.

1

u/janosslyntsjowls 3h ago

Hmm. Why do so many tourists show up here then? Do you live in one of the ugly swamp parts next to Ohio or something?

6

u/hefty_load_o_shite 6h ago

The brain worm must increase it's high score

4

u/No_Cucumber3978 6h ago edited 6h ago

...“only a matter of time” until the disease spreads beyond the outbreak’s epicenter.

Has anyone seen that film from 1995 where Dustin Hoffman basically tries to shoot a monkey in the head? I forget the name.

But Bruce Willis comes back in time to be stop him only to be foiled by a great big bear in a hazmat suit near Philadelphia museum? And Donald Sutherland tried to pin it on Morgan Freeman?

Brad Pitt kills Morgan Freeman and it ends up that he has to go to Korea to get the cure off of a toothless David Morse (who he leaves in a cell to later be called up to go back in time to stop Bruce Willis releasing it at a party run by that guy out of Inception and Batman Begins in a high rise block in California?).

Can't we just like, do that?

5

u/Few-Pen5351 6h ago

It’s called Outbreak

3

u/Turbulent-Bother8058 6h ago

I thought that was 12 monkeys

0

u/No_Cucumber3978 6h ago

Nah man, that's the one with Kevin Spacey where he helps his girlfriend commit suicide only to be imprisoned and later put to death that failed because of some guy called Rolo Timasi? He later breaks out of prison to become the democratic nominee.

It's on the tip of my tongue. ☣️

2

u/Few-Pen5351 6h ago

[1]

Movie Overview
Title: Outbreak

Release Date: March 10, 1995

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, and Cuba Gooding Jr

A white-faced capuchin monkey carrying a lethal, Ebola-like virus called the Motaba virus is smuggled from Africa into the United States. When the monkey is sold in a pet store in California, the virus starts spreading fast through a small town. Dustin Hoffman plays Colonel Sam Daniels, an Army virologist who races against time to find the monkey and stop the deadly outbreak before the military takes extreme actions.

2

u/No_Cucumber3978 6h ago

Are you asking me out on a date?

I don't think it is playing in my local. Might need to, look at other sauces.

2

u/Few-Pen5351 6h ago

Oh you saw right through me 😉

0

u/No_Cucumber3978 6h ago

No tongues.

2

u/Few-Pen5351 5h ago

That takes the fun out ☹️

1

u/No_Cucumber3978 5h ago

Yo! Theres a meezles outbreak. 😳

1

u/AsianAsshole 6h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Nora19 5h ago

Is this trumps way of saving some of the 5k checks he’s allegedly gonna send?
Not vaccinating your kid is ridiculous… unless they truly have a medical reason not to be.

Pennsylvania health officials brace themselves as measles outbreak expected to spread

You are about to leave Redlib