CDC Notifies States, Large Cities To Prepare For Vaccine Distribution As Soon As Late October

[grumpy28]

It is so, so deflating to even hear Fauci say that. The numbers for the virus are going in the right direction. The vaccines prevent death. And for those who may choose not to get it, then that’s on them. But why can we not just say that once the vaccine is available to all (presumably by summer) then we can lift all restrictions.
They keep moving the goal posts to normalcy and it’s exhausting. To me, normalcy is exactly how life was before this virus. No mask, no distancing etc. If our goal was to lower hospitalization and death rates, this vaccine seems to meet those goals. I’m tired of living this way.

You have said exactly what I was thinking!

 

[grumpy28]

I am in Florida also and agree a lot is like pre Covid. Went to the zoo yesterday where no masks are required indoors or outdoors and they reopened the playground too. Today went to church again masks not required and most don’t wear , sit every other row but other than that normal with singing. Now at ruby tuesdays where every table is full with a wait and the yummy salad bar is open .
It has been this way for months and our numbers never went out of control and hospitals never had capacity issue. Nothing worst than the strict locked down areas except better economy and mental health.

Wow, I didn't realize anywhere was that "open" and "normal". Definitely not like this near me.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I'm not making the assumption that *everyone* will seek information that suits their biases. I'm stating that if a physician tells the truth, and a *specific* person refuses to hear what they said, the problem is not that the physician told the truth, the problem is that specific person doesn't want to hear it.

(on another note, now I have Jack Nicholson screaming "You can't handle the truth!!!!" in my head, lol).

This is what I think as well. And I wonder what is wrong with public health leaders telling the public that we're not 100% positive *yet* that vaccinated people will not transmit the virus. They can say that early evidence is leaning in that direction, but for now....vaccinated people must continue to wear masks in public. In fact, I think that's essentially what they are saying.

 

[erin1715]

I am in Florida also and agree a lot is like pre Covid. Went to the zoo yesterday where no masks are required indoors or outdoors and they reopened the playground too. Today went to church again masks not required and most don’t wear , sit every other row but other than that normal with singing. Now at ruby tuesdays where every table is full with a wait and the yummy salad bar is open .
It has been this way for months and our numbers never went out of control and hospitals never had capacity issue. Nothing worst than the strict locked down areas except better economy and mental health.

Its like an entirely different more wonderful world in Florida. No wonder people are fleeing NY to live in Florida. Winters in NY are tough enough mentally but then add a never ending pandemic along with strict lockdown conditions and it’s almost unbearable.

 

[jlwhitney]

Its like an entirely different more wonderful world in Florida. No wonder people are fleeing NY to live in Florida. Winters in NY are tough enough mentally but then add a never ending pandemic along with strict lockdown conditions and it’s almost unbearable.

It really is! I am very thankful to live here. Now I wish the summers weren’t so dang humid and hot but it’s worth it overall.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

There are extremes on both side. Neither should be perceived as the correct path. Lot more of the country is in the middle with some restrictions and mostly open. There are places that only have masks and social distancing. Neither group on the extremes should be acting like their way is the right way. There's nothing wrong with places that have masks as a requirement, there's nothing wrong with places that don't and some places will benefit more with masks because of the demographics including how they live, commute, and also even their climate. We can't on one side advocate for it not being a one size fits all approach and yet on the other side say no place should have this.

What I've been seeing across the threads is people mocking each side. That needs to really stop. As with a lot of things we often benefit from staying away from extremes. This goes more than just restrictions/no restrictions. Look at how people react when the only news or headlines they see are the worst case scenario. Look at how people react when the only news or headlines they see is this rainbows and unicorns outlook.

 

[Joe in VA]

Visited Florida to see relatives and because it was the only place open and I had to cancel several international/west coast trips, it was so hard to travel back to VA where it's not nearly as open. I was downright depressed not being in Florida. It caused me to buy a home in Tampa and now I'm a Florida resident (I'm still keeping a part time home in VA). The attitude and lifestyle is just so much less depressing and closer to normal. I wear masks where they make sense (grocerry stores, blackjack tables at casino, Ubers, planes, etc) but I think there's a generally healthier attitude than VA where I feel like now I'm looked down upon for not double masking on a dog walk.

 

[Pyotr]

Its like an entirely different more wonderful world in Florida. No wonder people are fleeing NY to live in Florida. Winters in NY are tough enough mentally but then add a never ending pandemic along with strict lockdown conditions and it’s almost unbearable.

In my community houses are gone almost instantly from New Yorkers looking to escape. It’s absolutely crazy. My county has no mandates but a vast majority of people wear masks where required. Almost no people wear then going for walks or bike rides. I don’t go to restaurants so I can’t tell you the salad bar situation (Not that I go to salad bars in the first place.)

 

[godisney14]

This thread

In my community houses are gone almost instantly from New Yorkers looking to escape. It’s absolutely crazy. My county has no mandates but a vast majority of people wear masks where required. Almost no people wear then going for walks or bike rides. I don’t go to restaurants so I can’t tell you the salad bar situation (Not that I go to salad bars in the first place.)

Cash in on the real estate surge.

 

[Pyotr]

This thread


Cash in on the real estate surge.

I already did. We sold our last house in August. It was listed for 3 hours and we got 4 offers. We were looking to move even before the pandemic and figured since our vacations were cancelled, now was a good time. We got a good deal on a house in the neighborhood we loved. A older Canadian snowbird couple unloaded their house because they didn’t know if or when they could travel again. I’m not moving again for a long, long time.

 

[Pyotr]

The J&J vaccine goes in front of the FDA on Friday. How long do you think it would take to get into people’s arms?

 

[Jonfw2]

The J&J vaccine goes in front of the FDA on Friday. How long do you think it would take to get into people’s arms?

Two weeks after.

 

[Pyotr]

I just want to add, the restrictions are only a small part of what’s driving New Yorkers to Florida. With the increase of working from home, you don’t have to live in the city. For the same price of a small New York apartment, you can get a good sized house in Florida.

The same thing is happening in California. People are leaving for Texas.

 

[Jonfw2]

I just want to add, the restrictions are only a small part of what’s driving New Yorkers to Florida. With the increase of working from home, you don’t have to live in the city. For the same price of a small New York apartment, you can get a good sized house in Florida.

The same thing is happening in California. People are leaving for Texas.

Wealthy New Yorkers now pay up to 80% in taxes, mostly local taxes and fees. Why would anyone stay?

 

[Pyotr]

Two weeks after.

Sigh. I hope it’s offered to me once it’s available. I told my wife I wouldn’t go out to eat until I was vaccinated.

 

[erin1715]

I just want to add, the restrictions are only a small part of what’s driving New Yorkers to Florida. With the increase of working from home, you don’t have to live in the city. For the same price of a small New York apartment, you can get a good sized house in Florida.

The same thing is happening in California. People are leaving for Texas.

Absolutely right. I’m convinced the only reason people stay is because family is here. That’s our only reason. We live about 3 hours from NYC but still pay a ridiculous amount of taxes. With ppl realizing they can still work and live from anywhere, NY is in trouble

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just want to add, the restrictions are only a small part of what’s driving New Yorkers to Florida. With the increase of working from home, you don’t have to live in the city. For the same price of a small New York apartment, you can get a good sized house in Florida.

The same thing is happening in California. People are leaving for Texas.

Absolutely right. I’m convinced the only reason people stay is because family is here. That’s our only reason. We live about 3 hours from NYC but still pay a ridiculous amount of taxes. With ppl realizing they can still work and live from anywhere, NY is in trouble

People have for sure been fleeing NY most especially NYC but some have fled and then wanted back in, some never wanted to leave even with all the issues OR they had enough money to have at least 2 places (one in the city, one out in the country). If we're talking specifically about NYC a lot of people for better or worse find NYC to be their home without any thought to leaving despite issues that come up. There's a level of fierce community there (and you only have to see how many posters from there talk about it and that's not to say that's a bad thing).

My husband's uncle lives in West New York, NJ with a view of the NYC skyline. He's from the Midwest, he's toured all over but his heart is in the NYC area. He thrives off of it and he's in Broadway so right now he has none of that. He gets a slight break in pricing by being in NJ but when a parking space costs your tens of thousands of dollars it still ain't cheap.

You both are right with remote aspect being added for some that pushed them to get rid of living there though.

 

[dvcgirl67]

At the risk of putting words in TL’s mouth, he means as cases and deaths continue to drop and more people are vaccinated, the economy needs to fully reopen and life needs to go back to normal.

I agree that this is what we need to happen. But I think we're pretty far away from getting back to "2019 normal" in certain areas, at least not for the remainder of 2021. Especially with respect to our major cities, particularly cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco. The other area that is going to lag, likely for years...is business travel.

Here in the NYC metro area, most people are still not going into the city to work. My house is two blocks from our town's train station and it is still almost entirely empty every workday. Normally it's packed with a couple of hundred cars with overflow parking on to the side streets. And I don't know anyone who has any plans to go back anytime soon. A few customers have told me that their employer let go of their office space because they've realized they don't need it.

My husband works for a Fortune 100 company based in Seattle, and they've not only extended their "work from home" policy until October 2021 at the earliest, but they are also tinkering with their idea of what their headquarters will be when it's safe to return. The space will be smaller allowing most employees to work from home whenever they want. The space that they do have will be shareable space that can be reserved ahead of time. Nobody will have designated desks....they'll reserve a desk and a parking spot when they do need to be there. And they're ramping up remote working technology so that the employees that do decide to go in can work seamlessly with their team members who are at home. Many Fortune 500 companies are moving in the same direction. There are going to be fewer people working in our major cities.

And there are endless articles about business travel not recovering anytime soon, and possibly not ever to what it was in 2019. Many companies have realized that they just don't need to spend the money on travel when remote working technologies suffice. Leisure travel has bounced back to a certain degree, but again...it's going to be awhile.

So I guess my point is that the King of the World (if we had one), could declare that the world is officially open for business, but it's going to look a lot different than 2019. I think we've all learned that global pandemics of this scale leave a mark....a big one. And there will be permanent changes as a result. We always hear that term.."new normal". This time I do really think we're in for a "new normal'. It's going to take some time to adjust.

 

[Farro]

I agree that this is what we need to happen. But I think we're pretty far away from getting back to "2019 normal" in certain areas, at least not for the remainder of 2021. Especially with respect to our major cities, particularly cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco. The other area that is going to lag, likely for years...is business travel.

Here in the NYC metro area, most people are still not going into the city to work. My house is two blocks from our town's train station and it is still almost entirely empty every workday. Normally it's packed with a couple of hundred cars with overflow parking on to the side streets. And I don't know anyone who has any plans to go back anytime soon. A few customers have told me that their employer let go of their office space because they've realized they don't need it.

My husband works for a Fortune 100 company based in Seattle, and they've not only extended their "work from home" policy until October 2021 at the earliest, but they are also tinkering with their idea of what their headquarters will be when it's safe to return. The space will be smaller allowing most employees to work from home whenever they want. The space that they do have will be shareable space that can be reserved ahead of time. Nobody will have designated desks....they'll reserve a desk and a parking spot when they do need to be there. And they're ramping up remote working technology so that the employees that do decide to go in can work seamlessly with their team members who are at home. Many Fortune 500 companies are moving in the same direction. There are going to be fewer people working in our major cities.

And there are endless articles about business travel not recovering anytime soon, and possibly not ever to what it was in 2019. Many companies have realized that they just don't need to spend the money on travel when remote working technologies suffice. Leisure travel has bounced back to a certain degree, but again...it's going to be awhile.

So I guess my point is that the King of the World (if we had one), could declare that the world is officially open for business, but it's going to look a lot different than 2019. I think we've all learned that global pandemics of this scale leave a mark....a big one. And there will be permanent changes as a result. We always hear that term.."new normal". This time I do really think we're in for a "new normal'. It's going to take some time to adjust.

Well to speak for Chicago/Illinois - our percentage positive is 3.3% rolling, today was 2.7%.

Schools are going to re-open (but this is more political than anything)

Restaurants are now indoor dining at 40%.

Lincoln Park Zoo is re-opening in March.

Companies "said" they'd go towards work at home, but just now on the news was a story about how people are heading back downtown to work again.

Traffic that was non-existent is now back full swing unfortunately.

CTA is packed.

But we are all in masks still.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree with you. I just don’t understand why is a bad thing to tell people “get the vaccine and you can start getting back to normal.” I read an article on CNN that recommends that two people who are both fully vaccinated can socialize as long as they’re masked and physically distanced. If someone was hesitant on getting the vaccine, after reading that, why would they want to get it?

The crazy over the top stuff gets media coverage. Look at Osterman and his 8-12 week raging inferno.

I think we read the same article (though I also read almost carbon-copy pieces in Nat Geo and The Atlantic, and caught a headline from WaPo that sounded similar but that I didn't read because of paywall). I get that the idea behind all these experts hitting the media circuit hard with the negative projections is to discourage the public from dropping precautions prematurely but I think the negativity of the messaging is backfiring as far as vaccine acceptance goes. Because even if you think there's only a very small risk to the vaccine, if there is no anticipated reward whatsoever in terms of increased socialization or decreased stress, that small perceived risk might be what tips the scales.

I truly believe messaging with a more moderate attitude balancing the need for continued masking with benefits like being able to go back into a restaurant or out to a movie, with precautions but without fear, would be more persuasive than all of the negativity we're being bombarded with right now.

This is what I think as well. And I wonder what is wrong with public health leaders telling the public that we're not 100% positive *yet* that vaccinated people will not transmit the virus. They can say that early evidence is leaning in that direction, but for now....vaccinated people must continue to wear masks in public. In fact, I think that's essentially what they are saying.

I think if they were only stressing the need for continued public masking, it wouldn't be a big deal. I think the problem comes in with pieces like the one Pyotr and I saw on CNN saying that two vaccinated people should be okay to have a masked, distanced visit but don't you dare think about hugging your grandkid or going out to dinner just because you've had both doses. That level of pessimism is what I see/hear fueling "why bother" attitudes about the vaccine, even in some of the older and higher risk people I know.