Benchmarked January Employment in Wisconsin

DWD released benchmarked employment in Wisconsin yesterday. Overall employment was higher in 2021 than earlier estimated, but the slowdown in now more pronounced.

Figure 1: Wisconsin nonfarm payroll employment from January 2022 release (bold blue, right scale), from December 2021 release (teal, right scale), and private nonfarm payroll employment from Jan 2022 release (bold red, left scale), from Dec 2021 (pink, left scale), all in 000’s, s.a. Source: BLS, DWD. 

Leisure and hospitality services employment was also revised higher, but manufacturing was revised downward.

Figure 2: Wisconsin manufacturing employment from January 2022 release (bold blue, right scale), from December 2021 release (teal, right scale), and leisure and hospitality employment from Jan 2022 release (bold red, left scale), from Dec 2021 (pink, left scale), all in 000’s, s.a. Source: BLS, DWD. 

57 thoughts on “Benchmarked January Employment in Wisconsin

  1. macroduck

    Off topic –

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has drawn so much attention that it may encourage other rotten people to do other rotten thing in the hope the world won’t notice. In particular, the generals in Myanmar may be planning something really bad:

    https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/regime-chiefs-plotting-kill-all-torch-all-policy-in-upper-myanmar.html

    It’s not the most objective journalism, but “kill all, burn all” is a worrying possibly. Myanmar has a larger population than Ukraine, but fewer killings since the coup than Ukraine has had since the invasion. That could be about to change.

    1. macroduck

      Sorry for yet another off-topic comment, but…

      Among additional economic sanctions being considered in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a ban on Russian owned and flagged cargo vessels. With ocean shipment rising in cost due to higher fuel prices and long cues at port, this looks like a sanction that could cut both ways. The good news is, this is another area in which the Russian economy is kind of a pip-squeak. From the Hellenistic Shipping News:

      Russian owned vessels represent “just 0.3 percent of the global bulkcarrier fleet of vessels over 20,000 dwt.”

      “Russian-flagged bulkcarriers represent just 0.1 percent of the global fleet.”

      Russian owned vessels represent “just 3 percent of the global crude tanker fleet and 1.5 percent of the global product tanker fleet.”

      The first big problem that comes to mind is Russian grain exports. The Middle East is dependent on Russia for wheat and is already facing supply problems. If Russian ships carry much of Russia’s grain exports, alternate shipping will need to be arrangd in a market in which most veseels are already under commitment.

      1. T. Shaw

        Jen Psaki, “We have basically crushed the Russian economy.”

        Remarkable! He did two economies in one year.

    2. pgl

      Note the title of the next story:

      Myanmar’s Democratic Resistance Can Win—the World Needs to Support It

      A great idea but to be honest, I had not heard about this until you raised it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

  2. Macroduck

    Europe is contending, beautifully so far, with a new surge of refugees. So far, 2 million Ukrainians have fled the country, with another 2 million displaced in country.

    At the same time, the risk of a food shortage in the Middle East is growing. One likely result is an increase in refugees from the region. Many will head for Europe, but also to any nearby country with food.

    Public officials need to be making plans fast. Poland will need lots of money to pay for what it’s already doing. The next their of recipients countries will to.. Any country with a problem with aging demographics should raise its national hand and figure out some best-practice programs for integrating refugees into their labor forces, schools and residential area.

    1. Moses Herzog

      @ Macroduck
      Read a joke in the NYT (February 22) I thought a sharp person such as your self would appreciate. Jews are pretty much masters of humor, and also have found a way to make humor of some of the most dark aspects of life. Pavel Kozlenko, a Jew of Odessa Ukraine told a joke about two Jews standing out in the street speaking Yiddish to each other. A third comes up and says “Guys, why are you speaking in Yiddish?”. So one of them replies: “You know, I’m scared to speak in Russian because if I do Putin will show up and try to liberate us.”

  3. Bruce Hall

    Back on point, given the historical unemployment rate in Wisconsin, the current situation (January) doesn’t look all that out of line or bad. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WIUR

    Perhaps, when revisited in April, January might look pretty good. I’m guessing that there won’t be a huge change, but the private sector is looking a bit softer at present. The health care and social service sector has declined the most, but detail is missing.

    On an anecdotal basis, my wife’s doctor said that one of the McLaren facilities in our area had to be shut down because of staffing issues. https://www.mclaren.org

    I heard that was a problem in a few states. This is a problem for hospitals and may be most acute in the nursing home sector.
    https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-01-13/states-with-the-biggest-hospital-staffing-shortages (about 1/3 of Wisconsin hospitals report a staffing shortage)
    https://healthcareexecintelligence.healthitanalytics.com/news/staffing-shortages-increasingly-impacting-healthcare-industry

    I attribute this mostly to COVID burnout, but also aggravated by the vaccine mandates which caused a some percentage of their staffs to quit or be terminated (plenty of links about that). https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-11-15/us-faces-crisis-of-burned-out-health-care-workers

    1. Baffling

      Nobody should be working in the medical field, especially a nursing home, without being fully vaccinated. First rule of medicine, do no harm. The unvaccinated violate this principle. They are a lawsuit waiting to happen in a nursing home.

      1. pgl

        Yes. This from MAGA hat wearing Brucie boy has been a consistent theme for 2 years:

        “I attribute this mostly to COVID burnout, but also aggravated by the vaccine mandates”.

        What one gets when one relies on Tucker Carlson for medical advice.

        1. Bruce Hall

          Lucy, to what do you attribute the decline in healthcare workers?
          1) Not to COVID burnout… you just mocked that idea.
          2) Not to workers quitting due to COVID vaccine mandates… you just mocked that idea.

          We’re all waiting for your sage wisdom. Oh, wait… I was just being sarcastic. We’re not really waiting to hear your shrieks again. You just like to make a lot of unsupported snide comments.

          1. Moses Herzog

            Some guy gets brain cancer, he goes to the hospital for weeks/months to treat the brain cancer. When he finally gets back to work his co=worker, a hypothetical man we’ll give the name “Bruce Hall” says “Why didn’t you show up for work?? The management here don’t require you to take time off from work because you got terminal brain cancer. Did you think brain cancer killed people or something?? That’s just a liberal media conspiracy. That crushing pressure you felt in your skull from the growing tumor was psychosomatic from watching too much CNN. The medical doctors just created the story about seeing the tumor on your X-ray. Get “woke” to the conspiracy!!!! Those excess death numbers?? They got you to believe that because you’re not using Alex Jones toothpaste sans fluoride. Here take some of mine. Sure…… your teeth will rot and turn green after 3 years, but you’ll finally achieve a reality based view of politics. Look what it’s done for ME!!!”

          2. Bruce Hall

            LOL, Lucy,

            So ad hominem responses are the best you can do? I provide external links to support my positions; you just shriek from your cave and somehow feel morally and intellectually superior. So, you’re now calling USNews (among others) liars. Why stop there? Let’s call them racists and traitors. How about misogynists? Fascists? I’m sure you can come up with better irrelevant name calling than liars.

            Start backing up your objections. Oh, wait. Maybe you can’t.

          3. pgl

            If you once in your pathetic parade of disinformation made one – just one – honest intelligent comment, I might respond. But you don’t. You spin and lie so much no one has time to keep up. I trust Putin is paying you by the word even if it is all absurd word salad.

          4. pgl

            “what do you attribute the decline in healthcare workers?”

            Our host has provided you a smart and honest discussion from 3 years ago that noted the your state has had this shortage because cheapo Republicans like you refuse to provide adequate funding. I get you even supported not letting the Obamacare Medicaid funding come to your state. You are that stupid after all.

            Our host posted this discussion a long time ago and noted just now you never ever mentioned these fundamental (yet fixable problems). Why not Brucie – where you too stupid to get the simple economics? Or noting what Menzie has pointed out would be an honest statement from a MAGA hat liar who is paid to spread disinformation? Yes we know you are paid to lie.

      2. Bruce Hall

        I agree that effective vaccines against deadly diseases (which COVID is for the elderly ill) should be required. Since this was known as early as last July, policies should reflect that: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-report-shows-vaccinated-people-can-spread-covid-19/ar-AAML2bE

        My wife recently went into the ER with Afib and tested negative for COVID. Five days later with her only outside exposure being the ER, she had symptoms and tested positive for COVID even though she was vaccinated. There are no guarantees with COVID or the vaccines. But now that we have treatments for COVID, the question remains: how much “risk management” is worth how much economic destruction? Since there is a dramatic shortage of healthcare workers affecting the quality of care, should policies reflect the realities or the fears? Would policies that require testing and masks in high risk environments be as effective as vaccines that still allow transmission of COVID… and eliminate some of the labor shortages?

        1. pgl

          “I agree that effective vaccines against deadly diseases (which COVID is for the elderly ill) should be required.”

          Talk about malleable opinions. FYI dumbass – COVID can be deadly even for kids. And when a nurse is caring for grandma, wouldn’t it be nice if the nurse took the same level of care. You are not only dishonest as one can be on this issue – your dishonesty comes across as dumb in the extreme.

        2. baffling

          I would imagine your wife was infected by a fellow patient in the er. probably one who was unvaccinated. chances are a maga hatter.

          and I agree with you bruce, we should continue to vaccinate and require masking and testing when possible. it is not an either/or situation. hospitals are a well known source of the virus. as such, taking extra precautions in the hospital should be mandatory. bruce, you are lucky you did not die because of your wife’s visit to the er.

          as for “economic destruction”, I have seen very little evidence that requiring vaccines, masks or testing results in any economic destruction. it is the lack of these items which results in virus spread along with illness and death. that is economic destruction. it should be avoided. economically there is no argument that is successful against vaccines, masks and testing, bruce.

          1. Bruce Hall

            Baffling,

            The economic destruction occurs to those who refuse to be forced to take vaccines … and to the healthcare facilities who must remain understaffed and, consequently, underserve those in need. I’ve said that is not the primary reason for the employee shortages, but has contributed to them..

          2. pgl

            Bruce likely could care less about the health of his family as long as he gets to do his job spreading disinformation. He is that kind of a “guy”.

          3. pgl

            “Baffling,

            The economic destruction occurs to those who refuse to be forced to take vaccines … and to the healthcare facilities who must remain understaffed and, consequently, underserve those in need. I’ve said that is not the primary reason for the employee shortages, but has contributed to them..”

            Of course this is all dishonest BS. And since we have not proposed a solution to Bruce Hall’s made up reality, we must be inferior to this Klass Klown.

            Some one must be paying Brucie for all this disinformation but Lord knows who is that STUPID.

          4. pgl

            “I have seen very little evidence that requiring vaccines, masks or testing results in any economic destruction.”

            There is no economic destruction but Brucie is being paid by some rich liar to claim there is. Bruce does not give a rat’s a$$ about reality, about people’s well being – he only cares about the blood money he is being paid to spread this vile.

          5. Baffling

            “ The economic destruction occurs to those who refuse to be forced to take vaccines ”
            Bruce, that is a choice they made. And people making such choices probably should not be in charge of somebody elses healthcare. Or should a pilot be allowed to drink a couple beers before flying the jumbo jet?

          6. Bruce Hall

            Bruce, that is a choice they made.

            That is a choice they should not have had to make. It was based on two faulty “scientific” arguments:
            1) People who are vaccinated will not get COVID
            2) People who are vaccinated will not spread COVID

            After those arguments were dispelled, other rationalizations came to take their place.

          7. baffling

            your list is inaccurate bruce. most scientific people I know in the medical field (and I know plenty) were not saying that those vaccinated would not spread the disease. what they did believe, and it still seems to be true, is that transmission is reduced amongst those with the vaccine. and from the very beginning, after we received the first trial results, it was clear the vaccine would not keep you from acquiring the disease. it reduced your chances of infection. AND it limited severe infection and death. as usual, you want to create straw man arguments.

            health care centers have overwhelmingly required flu shots over the past decade. and it has been effective. should that requirement disappear as well bruce? your argument is simply stooopid.

      3. pgl

        Bruce Hall has done such a data dump it seems he does not understand what his various link have said. You might get this line from one of his links:

        “About 20% of health care workers have quit during this period, he said, and 4 out of 5 of those who remain say that staff shortages have affected their ability to work safely and to satisfy patient needs.”

        Well – working safely these days might require all staff to be vaccinated and a proper amount of high quality protective gear (e.g. masks). But Bruce’s hero Donald Trump did not see the urgent needs for protective gear and Brucie boy today still says we should not require staff to be vaccinated.

        I would say NO ONE could be THAT stupid but we all know Bruce Hall is indeed that incredibly stupid.

        1. Bruce Hall

          Lucy,

          Thanks for pointing out that 1 in 5 chose not to have their health choices dictated by a bureaucrat. Of course, you applaud bureaucrats who claim to be on the side of “settled science” even after watching them wiggle from one position to another.

          How about the choice be left up to individuals and their doctors? Especially since the argument about protecting other people is moot if you really believe they are already protected by being vaccinated.

          Baffling,

          You are probably correct that my wife was infected in the ER by someone who was infected. We have no way of knowing if it was a patient or a worker who was asymptomatic. But, damn, those vaccinations we had should have kept her from getting laid up by COVID, especially the mild Omicron variant. Right? Of course, the government pulled the antibody treatments, so she just had to get clobbered by the virus.

          Oh, but it would have been worse…. How do you know?

          BTW, she went to the ER for atrial fibrillation and never had heart problems before. AF is an often reported occurrence after the Moderna vaccine. Perhaps that is just an unfortunate coincidence; perhaps not. No way to be certain. We certainly know that other heart problems crop up after these vaccinations as well as blood clots. We just don’t know the mechanisms or if there is a profile of people most likely to have these problems.

          According to the CDC, anyone who has a known severe allergy (e.g., anaphylaxis) to any of the vaccine ingredients should not receive that vaccine.
          https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-side-effects
          What if you don’t know the ingredients and if you are allergic to them? Shhhush. Well, yes, it would be nice to have more information about that, but VAERS is too controversial and there are no other efforts to really analyze post vaccination problems.

          1. baffling

            “But, damn, those vaccinations we had should have kept her from getting laid up by COVID, especially the mild Omicron variant. Right? ”
            no bruce. they were meant to keep her from dying. you are very fortunate she had access to the vaccine. many parts of the world do not.

            https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0
            “AF is an often reported occurrence after the Moderna vaccine. ”
            it is NOT an often reported occurrence, it is quite rare. and it is a much bigger problem for those who acquire covid disease, than for those who received a vaccine.

            “BTW, she went to the ER for atrial fibrillation and never had heart problems before. ”
            she is old. just like you bruce. AF is expected as you age. this is the most likely cause, not the vaccine.

  4. Bruce Hall

    BTW, here is an update from the CDC regarding COVID vaccinations and transmission of the disease: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/cdc-director-covid-vaccines-cant-prevent-transmission-anymore/ar-AASDndg

    Please consider that before you read and respond to my previous comment with a link that is 6-months older.

    All nursing home patients should be vaccinated unless they currently have a high risk of blood clots which would be exacerbated by the vaccines. Some residents may be vaccinated without receiving any benefit because of their compromised immune systems. Since vaccines provide some protection to the vaccinated, but can still transmit the disease because the vaccines don’t actually stop the virus from replicating, policies in healthcare environments should reflect those realities against the economic impact of losing healthcare workers who choose not be be vaccinated for a variety of reasons. Whatever those reasons are, whether or not you believe them to be rational, they need to be considered in the light of the evidence regarding virus transmission.

    While my wife and I have been vaccinated, it did not prevent her from becoming infected and laid up for a couple of weeks. My own situation is that the vaccines have generated only about 20% of the antibodies that are considered an average level (determined through quantitative blood testing), so my own protection is minimal and probably ineffective. The issue is not black and white. Fortunately, there are new treatments available and becoming available for those most at risk of severe outcomes. Vaccines were a reasonable initial effort, but given their limitations the focus should now be on development of anti-virals and antibody treatments. That would allow a much smaller scale (economic and medical) response to those who actually need treatment given many people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

    1. pgl

      NO ONE ever said that the vaccines prevent transmission. They do greatly reduce the possibility of severe consequences and death. You know that unless your IQ is in the single digits. But you parade of disinformation continues. Come on Bruce – we get you heart Tucker Carlson but your gibberish is a total waste of space.

      1. Bruce Hall

        Lucy, you have a short memory when it comes to your hero.
        https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/fact-check-biden-said-vaccinated-people-cant-spread-covid-19-is-that-right/ar-AAPBmfV

        …and your girlfriend at the CDC.
        https://nypost.com/2021/04/02/cdc-walks-back-claim-that-vaccinated-people-cant-carry-covid/

        They do greatly reduce the possibility of severe consequences and death.
        Somewhat true, that’s why the elderly should be vaccinated, but the people who are immune compromised (many of the elderly in nursing homes) may not be all that well protected or protected at all (those on immunosuppressant drugs) by the vaccines… which is why I keep insisting the focus should be on anti-virals and antibody treatments. 80% of COVID-related deaths are people 65-years and older. Add in those 50-64 years and you’ve got most of the highly vulnerable.

        Now, back to my original point: healthcare facilities are where Wisconsin’s employment shortfall is occurring because of COVID burnout or non-scientific policies that says you have to be vaccinated so that you don’t spread COVID.

        1. Menzie Chinn Post author

          Bruce Hall: Yes, there are problems staffing healthcare facilities. Here’s an article.
          https://www.wpr.org/funding-shortfalls-worker-shortage-stress-wisconsin-nursing-homes

          From February 2019. I don’t recall you speaking out about the problem back then.
          By the way, complaints about “worker shortages” have been a staple of business interest complaints in Wisconsin for years. Of course, it can all be solved in a market system wherein wages rise to equilibrate supply and demand…

          1. pgl

            Wasn’t there a policy about not allowing the spread of COVID-19 disinformation? Bruce Hall has been spreading disinformation in one comment after another. One has to wonder why he is spending so much time doing so unless he is being compensated by some rich but very sick person.

          2. Bruce Hall

            Menzie, yes, but as an expert in economics and business matters, I’m sure you understand the balance between costs and services. If nursing homes and hospitals continue to raise their prices in order to cover significantly higher labor costs, when do they become an untenable business model?

            This is a pre-pandemic look at hospital labor costs:
            https://www.hfma.org/topics/hfm/2019/october/hospitals-innovate-to-control-labor-costs.html
            Certainly, no one is arguing that people shouldn’t be paid a good wage for important work. But that has to be balanced against what will be paid to the hospitals for the care they provide. Question: how much of the labor costs for hospitals is driven by administrative burden of government regulation?

            With the additional burden of the COVID pandemic, those working in the healthcare system became significantly overworked. I personally know two nurses who hung it up because they said the pay wasn’t worth the environment.

            The Biden Administration has committed to expanding healthcare access through the ACA which is admirable sounding, but how does that address the prevalent labor situation? https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-proposed-rule-increase-americans-access-health-coverage-2022

            As far as nursing homes are concerned, it can cost $4,000 per month for very basic assisted living to over $10,000 per month for 24/7 nursing care. Here is a look at the monthly costs for Madison, WI.
            https://www.caring.com/senior-living/nursing-homes/wisconsin/madison

            The Rand Corporation did an interesting analysis of cost, quality, and access for nursing homes.
            https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5012.html
            One interesting conclusion was that it was more beneficial for nursing homes to contain costs than improve quality. Perhaps that is why pay remains an issue in the nursing home industry… and that may be why there is a staffing shortage at nursing homes. I wonder if that is partially driving by an attitude that nursing homes are just warehousing people waiting to die. Politicians claim people have a “right” to healthcare, but is the government willing to reimburse providers at a sufficient level to support the additional healthcare demand they are creating (and make employment more attractive)?

            That seems like a good economics study project. What would be the overall impact of doubling nursing home wages assuming that government reimbursement would cover those costs? On quality of care? On staffing of facilities? On availability? On privately paid services?

          3. pgl

            “Some nursing homes in Wisconsin are closing or losing money due to challenges covering costs and a shortage of workers. Providers and counties say the state’s low Medicaid reimbursement rate is largely to blame. As a result, advocates for the state’s nursing facilities are asking state lawmakers to invest $83.3 million in the next two-year budget.”

            So the core problem is that the Republicans in your state (the people Bruce Hall shills for) are too cheap to pay for decent health care. I lose track but did your state accept the Obamacare Medicaid money? Or did the idiot Republicans that Bruce Hall lies for on a routine basis block that implementation?

            Risking people’s lives but not requiring nurses to be vaccinated is dangerously stupid policy. Which of course Bruce Hall and his cheapo Republican masters would address the shortage not by paying people but dangerously stupid policies of no vaccine mandates. Typical.

          4. pgl

            “Bruce Hall
            March 13, 2022 at 11:12 am
            Menzie, yes, but as an expert in economics and business matters, I’m sure you understand the balance between costs and services. If nursing homes and hospitals continue to raise their prices in order to cover significantly higher labor costs, when do they become an untenable business model?”

            Accepting the Obamacare Medicaid expansion would have helped immensely. But Bruce Hall and his GOP masters turned this down. MORONS!

          5. pgl

            ‘Question: how much of the labor costs for hospitals is driven by administrative burden of government regulation?’

            Is Bruce Hall really so effing stupid that he does not get that private insurance companies choose to have incredibly high operating expenses. This is not brought on by governments but by their own greed. Now if we let the government insurance programs run the show these expenses would be cut in half.

            How many questions based on total disinformation will this troll be paid to waste our time with? Bruce Hall has never ever been interested in an honest discussion on this or any other matter. He is paid not to.

          6. pgl

            We do see this interesting paragraph in Bruce Hall’s last minute internet search:

            “These actions demonstrate a strong commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to extend health insurance coverage to the uninsured and improve Exchange operations. They also align with the Administration’s commitment to protect and expand Americans’ access to comprehensive, affordable health insurance, and to ensure that systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and other underserved groups are not perpetuated, as described in President Biden’s Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. These proposals also will further support the Administration’s efforts to build on the successes of the ACA to meet health care needs created by the COVID-19 public health emergency, reduce individuals’ health care costs and make our health care system less complex to navigate.”

            All grand ideas – most of which in the past have been undermined by people like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. The same people Bruce Hall works for. Go figure.

          7. Bruce Hall

            Re: We do see this interesting paragraph in Bruce Hall’s last minute internet search:
            “These actions demonstrate a strong commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to extend health insurance coverage to the uninsured and improve Exchange operations.

            Yes, precisely my point: The government is attempting to expand healthcare demand while the labor supply in this industry is eroding rapidly. That can only result in a happy ending, eh Lucy?

            At present, hospitals and nursing homes are significantly understaffed. This can be handled presently by short-shrifting each patient’s care or by turning away people. So you think adding demand is going to make everything work better?

            Now that you’ve set the goal, Lucy, what is your solution to the labor problem? Doubling healthcare worker wages? I’ve already suggested that as a nice economics project for Menzie or one of his classes. There should be a nice chart available for that. Wages-pricing-demand-revenue.

    2. baffling

      your argument is misleading bruce. vaccines may not stop transmission, but they certainly reduce transmission. and that is still of great value. given recent evidence of brain damage resulting from covid infection, as a nation we should do as much as possible to reduce transmission. the long term effects will be costly.

      “Vaccines were a reasonable initial effort, but given their limitations the focus ”
      you emphasize their limits too much. they are very effective. and it is better to use vaccines than treatment for an acute infection.

      no healthcare worker should be permitted to work without the vaccine. first rule in medicine, do no harm. their are other lines of work for those who feel disrespected by the use of a vaccine. there is no legitimate argument for somebody to accept the virus but refuse the vaccine.

      1. Bruce Hall

        Baffling, I’ve said many times that they do suppress the symptoms of COVID for those who have been vaccinated… except for those who have some manner of a weakened immune system (usually those who die from COVID as in the elderly population). There is nothing misleading about that, especially when connected to the knowledge that even if their symptoms are well suppressed (asymptomatic), they can be infected and spread the disease.

        Which, again, for your sake and Lucy’s, is why the focus should be on anti-virals and antibody treatments. The data shows that even without the vaccines, 98% of the infected people recover on their own. So focus on the 2% that require treatment.
        https://abcnews.go.com/Health/fda-authorizes-monoclonal-antibody-treatment-fight-omicron/story?id=82835573

        1. pgl

          You have also denied that certain segments are vulnerable. Those denials are of course lies.

          “is why the focus should be on anti-virals and antibody treatments.’

          Well if one is rich enough to have easy access – great. Of course not everyone is. But how would you know since you live in the Faux News bubble.

        2. baffling

          “Baffling, I’ve said many times that they do suppress the symptoms of COVID for those who have been vaccinated…”
          bruce, you will not admit that they will also suppress the transmission of the virus. at that is what i mean by misleading. but you knew that already. it was the main point of my comment “vaccines may not stop transmission, but they certainly reduce transmission. and that is still of great value. ” and yet you mention something that was not stated in my comment (suppressed symptoms). as i said, you are simply making misleading arguments bruce.

          “The data shows that even without the vaccines, 98% of the infected people recover on their own. So focus on the 2% that require treatment.” and the data also shows that many of those people suffer from long covid. and more recent evidence suggests long term cardiovascular and brain damage due to even mild covid infections. these are problems that will play out over the long term and become quite costly. i know you are old and no longer care about the long term. but i do.

      1. baffling

        bio labs are simply a non issue. anybody repeating that argument are simply repeating what the kremlin wants. it is not a factual argument. on par with all the nazis running around in ukraine.

  5. Anonymous

    pgl seems to have this thesis:

    • Wisconsin hospitals and nursing homes are understaffed, but it’s not because of COVID burnout, workers quitting rather than taking forced vaccinations, or low pay.
    • Despite Rand Corp. research that Increasing the rate of reimbursement for Medicaid patients would induce nursing homes to admit more Medicaid patients, but it would not lead to higher quality of care, because improving quality is very expensive and is targeted toward the private-pay market… all the government has to do is expand the Medicaid program without increasing reimbursements and, BINGO, magically, there will be plenty of rooms and workers available. (Apparently companies will fall all over themselves to get those low reimbursement rates and pay whatever it takes to get necessary staffing)
    • Companies will seek low-return government reimbursement rather than privately paid for services to fill their rooms because they are all altruistic and don’t care about profits.
    • The USSR healthcare system was the best in the world. Our government should covert warehouses into nursing homes and staff them with $2.00/hr. federal prisoners and the economics work out to provide service for everyone at minimal cost.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/323229/average-nursing-home-revenue-in-top-and-bottom-three-states/

  6. Bruce Hall

    pgl seems to have this thesis:

    • Wisconsin hospitals and nursing homes are understaffed, but it’s not because of COVID burnout, workers quitting rather than taking forced vaccinations, or low pay.
    • Despite Rand Corp. research that Increasing the rate of reimbursement for Medicaid patients would induce nursing homes to admit more Medicaid patients, but it would not lead to higher quality of care, because improving quality is very expensive and is targeted toward the private-pay market… all the government has to do is expand the Medicaid program without increasing reimbursements and, BINGO, magically, there will be plenty of rooms and workers available. (Apparently companies will fall all over themselves to get those low reimbursement rates and pay whatever it takes to get necessary staffing)
    • Companies will seek low-return government reimbursement rather than privately paid for services to fill their rooms because they are all altruistic and don’t care about profits.
    • The USSR healthcare system was the best in the world. Our government should covert warehouses into nursing homes and staff them with $2.00/hr. federal prisoners and the economics work out to provide service for everyone at minimal cost.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/323229/average-nursing-home-revenue-in-top-and-bottom-three-states/
    Looks like the average net income for nursing homes in the U.S. was about 1% so they should be able to pay higher wages for more workers while being reimbursed at lower rates.

    Of course, pgl just makes up his “facts” as he goes along.

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