* NBC News…

The coronavirus pandemic has brought more than 20 months of uncertainty. And through the mask mandates and vaccination debates, Americans have developed a complicated and somewhat surprising set of voices they trust about the virus, according to the latest NBC News poll.

The poll asked a simple question —”In general, do you trust what _____ has said about the coronavirus or not?” — and subbed in a series of possibilities into the blank space.

Through all the names and groups that were mentioned, one thing jumps out in the data: Americans seem more likely to trust people they know directly or people with whom they have direct contact. For instance, the group that ranked highest was “your employer.”

* Check out the current number for governors and how much it has moved since April of 2020…

It’s only one poll, but a rampant disinformation campaign coupled with incompetent messaging and inaction from the CDC, the White House, etc. are combining to put us all in a very dangerous spot.

* Also…

Teachers’ unions should take note.

       

40 Comments - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:02 am: If there’s going to be a mistake made with Irvin in “Irvin v Pritzker” it’s that the “far Right”, Ives-types, Cultists, will leave Irvin “because purity”… but they all will solidify against Pritzker by a full on attacking of the waning Coronavirus mitigations and restrictions from “today” forward… and the misinformation towards the necessity, (or better, the “unneeded” mitigations others say) and voters “fed up” that normally would never vote Irvin, but “because Covid” CTU… you overplayed a lousy hand. Fold now and hope folks forget the work stoppage. - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:03 am: Spent three decades in law enforcement. If you’re trusting your employer for accurate health info, I can’t help you. - JS Mill - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:10 am: =If you’re trusting your employer for accurate health info= I am not sure what you mean by that? We try to keep our staff well informed, in a responsible way. But we are in a “people” business (education) versus the meatpacking industry and other profit driven businesses. - Excitable Boy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:18 am: The Biden administration started off ok in regards to rolling out vaccines and PPE, but they’ve been sorely lacking the past few months. The fact that we’re almost two years into this and the best they can do is send out 4 tests per household is utterly bizarre and almost comical. - Graybeard - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:18 am: Keep in mind that the governors of the second and third most populous states are Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis, and many states have similar governors. - MisterJayEm - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:22 am: Education has suffered since the pandemic started. That’s a given. But is there evidence (data, not anecdote or presumptions) showing that pandemic education improved since the return to in-classroom teaching? Or is it still in the tank, regardless of how the teaching takes place, due to the ongoing pandemic? If there is data demonstrating a marked difference between the effectiveness of 1) in-person teaching during a pandemic, and 2) virtual learning during a pandemic, I would be very interested to see it. I’m not arguing either side, I just want to know if there’s even data to argue about. – MrJM - Huh? - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:28 am: I am shocked. Shocked I tell you that tramp isn’t to be trusted. Clutching my pearls with smelling salts on the fainting couch. /s - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:32 am: ===I am shocked. Shocked I tell you that=== He’s been encouraging people to get boosted lately. - Anon221 - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:33 am: What is needed to get students back to the classroom is adults acting like adults. Not threatening others at school board meetings. Not filing lawsuit after lawsuit. If there are enough adults in the community out sick that there are not enough bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria staff, substitutes, aides, teachers, and administrators for the school to operate in-person, then educational efforts will continue to deteriorate. Each community in this situation should look inward and see if they had done and continue to do all that they can to defeat the virus and not each other. - Huh? - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:34 am: I tend to give most everyone a pass concerning omicron. The omicron varient blew up suddenly. Government moves glacially slow and consistent advice is hard to come by. The first confirmed case of omicron was 11/30/2021. How long did it take the government to react when covid originally was detected in the US? - Quibbler - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:38 am: == Teachers’ unions should take note. == What a weird thing to say. CTU lost. They were forced back to working in person in mid-January and they’ve been there since. But in any event, if too many teachers are sick for schools to function, that’s the case regardless of whether parents have decided to stop caring about Covid. - Pot calling kettle - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:41 am: ==But is there evidence (data, not anecdote or presumptions) == It would appear that most people don’t do “data” in the sense you are presenting it. The “evidence” they accept is often whatever aligns with what they want to be the case (which often places responsibility elsewhere). And the most trusted source is whoever tells them things that make them comfortable (such as: it’s not your fault). Adding to that is accepting (and embracing) things that align with a person’s affinity group. It makes me wonder what I accept for the wrong reasons. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:41 am: ===What a weird thing to say. CTU lost=== You think they’re the only teachers’ union? - Hank Sauer - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 11:56 am: Just take a look at how well NYC public schools did vs CTU RUN CPS . Plus NYC paid less tho ghosts not germane to performance - illinifan - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 12:08 pm: People are frustrated with a virus that is not able to be controlled. It is something that no leader of any stripe (witness China) can control. Then throw in muddled messages from the beginning of this virus and trust continues to decline. I know science is important but the answers we get from the CDC is too “if this, or that” in nature. As a public we need simple and few options. KISS principle needs to be heard by the scientists. - PublicServant - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 12:23 pm: === KISS principle needs to be heard by the scientists. === Some things stated as simply as possible, are still too complicated for those with an agenda. - Merica - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 12:24 pm: People want schools open and they want criminals behind bars. - cermak_rd - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 12:41 pm: I mean that distrust goes all ways. I don’t trust the CDC much because I follow other researchers on social media and read scientific papers. Also I read German language press and seems that Germany usually gets hit right before us. I first heard about Covid in a German newspaper. I heard about omicron on SM before the CDC communicated anything. - Quibbler - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 12:46 pm: == You think they’re the only teachers’ union? == They’re the only Illinois teachers union that’s threatened or taken work actions in response to their district’s Covid policies. If you’ve heard that the teachers unions in Kankakee, Collinsville, or anywhere else are planning to work remotely, that would certainly be newsworthy. But of course there are no other unions planning that. - Lurker - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 1:17 pm: “ Spent three decades in law enforcement. ….” It’s always the cops that have to shout the loudest “don’t trust cops” - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 1:22 pm: ===They’re the only Illinois teachers union that’s threatened or taken work actions=== Um, there’s also that little matter here about unlimited paid leave for the unvaxed that the unions pushed through the GA. Take a breath. - thechampaignlife - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:13 pm: ===People want schools open and they want criminals behind bars.=== Does that include the criminals that attack school and library boards? - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:17 pm: ===Teachers’ unions should take note.=== Teachers unions usually aren’t on the ballot. Throughout most of the state teachers unions have gone along with efforts to try to keep the schools open. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Whether or not they’ve over stepped a political hand is moot. It is unlikely in Illinois that we’ll see a significant change in the balance of power at the state level that would negatively impact the sway that the Teachers union has — but more to the point there are certain economic realities that the state has to face. There is currently a shortage of teachers in the state. This shifts the power dynamic onto the labor side of things. If the best contract a teachers union can negotiate isn’t good enough there’s nothing that requires an individual teacher to work under those conditions — they can leave. CTU might have done something unpopular, but they did what their members wanted — and in so doing might have prevented a significant number of their members from making the decision to leave their current teaching job. There are thousands of people across the state rushing to fill teacher vacancies. We might be entering into an era where giving the teachers union what they want becomes standard practice because the alternative involves lowering our standard for whom we deem qualified to teacher. It’s time to start being nicer to public employees. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:18 pm: ===Teachers unions usually aren’t on the ballot=== Well, yeah. But teachers’ unions also rely on the support of the public. - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:19 pm: ===There are thousands of people === Should be there aren’t thousands of people across the state rushing to fill teacher vacancies. - Boone's is Back - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:19 pm: Looking at the crosstabs of these polls it doesn’t seem like anyone is faring well. There isn’t any movement for the GOP and Donald Trump’s numbers have stayed the same or decreased (other than within his most ardent base). Looks to me like people are (rightfully) angry with the lack of direction from our government leaders and tired of the endlessness of this pandemic. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:20 pm: ===Whether or not they’ve over stepped a political hand is moot.=== Not if attaching the negative of what the teachers did is hung on, say, other electeds that are pro CTU… Politics is rarely in a vacuum. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:22 pm: ===Should be there aren’t thousands of people across the state rushing to fill teacher vacancies.=== People rushing or not rushing to fill vacancies does not seem to matter if the polling is how people feel about what teachers are or are not doing. Two different things. - Pundent - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:24 pm: Scientists and Democrats have the same thing in common, they’re both lousy at marketing. - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:27 pm: ===But teachers’ unions also rely on the support of the public.=== They do, but to reiterate my point, if the public decides not to support a teachers union during a contract negotiation or strike or demands a frugal or punitive approach towards a teachers union or teachers in general, the individual teachers can just leave and they will be difficult to replace as the conditions that caused them to leave will be unappealing to the most qualified applicants and the people hired after them will also be encouraged to leave if the conditions don’t improve. It would be a very short sighted political decision to try to hold current opinion pull numbers against teachers or a teachers union. Every parent should take a moment to wonder how much other people really enjoy teaching their kids and how much the last 22 months has made that worse. - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:29 pm: ===Politics is rarely in a vacuum. === Neither is the labor market. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:31 pm: ===Neither is the labor market.=== Is this like cops quitting instead of getting vaccinated kind of thinking? Is that what you’re thinking? - Demoralized - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:56 pm: ==whether parents have decided to stop caring about Covid== Wanting your child in school is not the same as not caring about Covid. You can do both. If they would have asked me the question I would have also voted on the side of caring about my child falling behind in their education because that’s exactly what happened when school was remote. - Unconventional wisdom - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 2:58 pm: As to Trump and his advocacy of taking the shots. He did this over a year ago within a month after the announcement of its immediate release which was only coincidentally announced one week after the election.: =As president, Donald Trump expressed support for the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination by touting their life-saving potential and saying they would be safe and available to all. In a Dec. 17 tweet, he explicitly said, “Get those ‘shots’ everyone!” In short, no. Trump’s public comments about the vaccines were typically in reference to his administration’s efforts to fast-track their development. But in several cases, he touted the life-saving potential of the vaccines. And in a tweet, Trump gave the encouragement Maddow said he never did during his time in the White House.= https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/04/rachel-maddow/what-trump-said-encourage-covid-19-vaccine-use/ Politifact is rated by Allsides. com as being Left Leaning. - Unconventional wisdom - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 3:06 pm: As president, Donald Trump expressed support for the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination by touting their life-saving potential and saying they would be safe and available to all. In a Dec. 17 tweet, he explicitly said, “Get those ‘shots’ everyone!” In short, no. Trump’s public comments about the vaccines were typically in reference to his administration’s efforts to fast-track their development. But in several cases, he touted the life-saving potential of the vaccines. And in a tweet, Trump gave the encouragement Maddow said he never did during his time in the White House. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/04/rachel-maddow/what-trump-said-encourage-covid-19-vaccine-use/ - Candy Dogood - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 3:09 pm: ===Is that what you’re thinking? === Vaccination is only one issue, but I think that you’re making an apples to oranges comparison. I don’t think there are significant long term consequences in-store for the CTU over their actions earlier this month. Their decision to not return to in person education was motivated out of health and safety concerns for themselves and their students and was supported by some public health expert. That is on the opposite side of the spectrum from people refusing to get vaccinated and refusing the terms of a mandate. Similarly, the vaccine mandate they work under isn’t what I would call a vaccine mandate because it is a “vaccinate or test mandate.” If someone wants to “go after” teachers unions for advocating for safer work environments and safer learning environments, that’s fine, they can do that. If someone wants to try to turn a momentary downtrend in popularity caused by relatively novel circumstances into a political win, they can do that too, but there is a limit to how much of that can go into policy before teachers leave the district or leave the state. Is that the same economic principle that cops use to argue against regulations and restrictions on their profession? Sure, but they can get their jobs with a high school diploma and very limited specialized training and usually significantly out earn a teacher in the community they work in and are usually upset about things that are intended to make them more accountable for murdering people or being racist. So, it’s not exactly the same thing and there isn’t a national or statewide shortage of people trying to be cops. Teachers have done a pretty good job of communicating over the last few years as to why they and their colleagues leave their profession. I have yet to hear from a police officer about how they have to wait tables at T.G.I.Fridays to be able to afford rent while somehow finding extra hours to do their official duties outside of their work hours. Teachers already have started voting with their feet in this state. Take a gander at the communities with the biggest shortages of teachers and look at what their starting teacher salary was before legislation was passed that required it to be increased. - Publius - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 3:12 pm: @ Merica hard to do that when the prison guards are out sick and techers, aids, and bus drivers are also. We could just tell everyone to fend for them selves but how long will that last? Schools will close, police/fire will call in sick, hospitals will fill up and be back to March 2020 quick. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 3:23 pm: ===So, it’s not exactly the same thing and there isn’t a national or statewide shortage of people trying to be cops.=== So if it’s a supply-demand issue and the product is still polling poorly to a handling of a global pandemic, you don’t think there will be a political price? That’s a risky venture given the idea “we’re all in this together” and the polling. - Excitable Boy - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 7:00 pm: - It’s gonna get rough because there are sure a lot of big lies being told - Hope you’re not driving, call a cab if you need to go anywhere. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 24, 22 @ 7:01 pm: ===Hope you’re not driving=== The anti-vax nutballs are starting to crack. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.