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

[jlwhitney]

Seems to me their pessimistic attitude may backfire. They are still going on about the variants on the way. Do you happen to know much about that?

Have you also noticed for the last 2-3 weeks maybe even 4 there has been no talk of asymptomatic spread, shortly after WHO updated their stance on the PCR tests and questioned if no symptoms and positive tests and enough days have past then they probably don't have covid.

 

[anniemae]

I am very leery of states opening too soon. I feel we should get more people vaccinated before opening up more and dropping mask mandates. Really concentrate on the vaccination first and put energy into getting needles in arms. Then open. I feel the way its going could wind up biting us. But I do understand the governors are probably under so much pressure to open up and stimulate the economy and places want and need to open.

 

[Southernmiss]

I agree that it's a bad idea to drop the state mandates. I think it will take away any cover that it gave to small businesses that may want to continue to enforce mask mandates...etc. I also think it may backfire. If my state governor came out tomorrow and declared that our state was 100% open it would make me feel much less safe. I am not vaccinated yet and there is no way I would go indoors with people who are not masked. There are millions and millions of people just like me, and a bunch of them live in Texas. So, it may just push some people away from businesses until they are vaccinated and feel safe.

I think one of the reasons that Disney World is drawing people who are not vaccinated yet....is because they have handled mask compliance and physical distancing well. They are big enough to go against the grain with reference to the state where they operate, but smaller businesses will have a tougher time. I'm hoping that we continue to see cases drop and that this sort of "in-between" phase of.....it's safer, but not yet completely safe......goes by quickly.

Your first paragraph is my exact sentiment.
Our mandate was dropped on Tuesday. I had your exact thoughts. On Thursday our state opened vaccines to 50 plus. I was fortunate to get a first dose vaccine yesterday. Such a burden lifted to know that I am on my way to full vaccination. I will wear two masks until I am fully vaccinated and then I'll drop it back to one when I can social distance.

But I know too many who are already maskless because the governor said I don't have to wear one.

Our church is going to be interesting this week to see who shows up without a mask. With the mandate, we had little pushback. But I know we have some who will come in without a mask and push the envelope.

And our Bishop has lifted the dispensation giving people the permission to not attend church effective March 27. So now people will be expected to be back in church. Social distancing will become difficult. I'll then be back to 2 masks for church. And may still sit out if it looks too close for comfort.

 

[grumpy28]

Have you also noticed for the last 2-3 weeks maybe even 4 there has been no talk of asymptomatic spread, shortly after WHO updated their stance on the PCR tests and questioned if no symptoms and positive tests and enough days have past then they probably don't have covid.

True, we haven't heard much of asymptomatic spread recently. I just figured nothing new on that front had changed. Has there been new news? Does any of that have to do with the variants( from my post you quoted). And please know that is not said with any snark (sometimes written word can not be interpreted the way it is intended). Genuinely curious.

 

[Colleen27]

His words "plateau" are just cautious and will have no impact on the spread of the virus. The lifting of a mask mandate in combination with a potentially not as effective vaccine *could* have a very real impact on the spread of the virus. I'm not saying it will, I'm hopeful and optimistic. But part of that optimism is based on the current data we have WITH the current restrictions. If the vaccines are less effective against the variant, the masks *could* be what hold us over until everyone is vaccinated. The dropping of cases you are seeing is WITH the current restrictions.

I'm just saying lifting restrictions is a pretty risky experiment when we are doing so well and we just need to wait a couple months before everyone who wants a vaccine can have one. Everyone hates masks (or at least indifferent). No one wants this. But after a year, I really don't get why waiting a few extra months is such a big deal.

I suspect he's also looking at more than just nationwide case trends. My state hit peak fairly early, well before the national peak, and I would absolutely describe our recent case numbers (which should be substantially effected by any extreme weather event - we had one snow day, but this is Michigan. We get a lot of them, and most things still run as usual) as having plateaued over the last month. That may be the sort of thing he's looking at: the data in "leading" states, along with specific regions and metros, to get a sense of national patterns that are not yet evident.

Lifting restrictions is a risky experiment, but also a necessary one at some point. A few extra months isn't a big deal if you're working from home, your kid is doing okay with online schooling, and you've more or less adjusted to the new normal even if you don't like it, but it is a HUGE deal to businesses that have been closed for all or most of the last year and to people for whom this pandemic-era "normal" is a prolonged state of financial, educational, or social/emotional crisis. My community has lost several small businesses in the last year. A few more months, aka another spring/summer without tourists, and our downtown will likely be right back to the ghost town it was during/after the '08 recession.

I agree that it's a bad idea to drop the state mandates. I think it will take away any cover that it gave to small businesses that may want to continue to enforce mask mandates...etc. I also think it may backfire. If my state governor came out tomorrow and declared that our state was 100% open it would make me feel much less safe. I am not vaccinated yet and there is no way I would go indoors with people who are not masked. There are millions and millions of people just like me, and a bunch of them live in Texas. So, it may just push some people away from businesses until they are vaccinated and feel safe.

I think one of the reasons that Disney World is drawing people who are not vaccinated yet....is because they have handled mask compliance and physical distancing well. They are big enough to go against the grain with reference to the state where they operate, but smaller businesses will have a tougher time. I'm hoping that we continue to see cases drop and that this sort of "in-between" phase of.....it's safer, but not yet completely safe......goes by quickly.

Yeah, I don't think that first point can be stated strongly enough. State and local mask mandates give businesses political cover. They can say "We don't like it any more than you do, but what can you do? Those are the rules and we are a law-abiding organization" and that protects them from the harsher segments of public opinion. Lift the mandates and businesses are apt to become social media targets for the anti-mask crusaders, and small/independent businesses are unlikely to stand against the tide of public opinion to continue requiring masks even if it comes at the cost of losing some customers who aren't comfortable shopping side-by-side with unmasked people right now. Continued mask mandates should go hand-in-hand with relaxed business restrictions, and leaders should be framing them as necessary to reopening rather than including ending those mandates as a part of reopening.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I am very leery of states opening too soon. I feel we should get more people vaccinated before opening up more and dropping mask mandates. Really concentrate on the vaccination first and put energy into getting needles in arms. Then open. I feel the way its going could wind up biting us. But I do understand the governors are probably under so much pressure to open up and stimulate the economy and places want and need to open.

I'll give you my take though I really do see where you are coming from. I think the phrase "opening too soon" is too vague. The reality is many states ARE open and those that were criticized last spring for opening too soon from their stay at home orders..well let's just say that really wasn't an accurate portrayal.

I don't have an issue with occupancy, closing times, gathering size, etc restrictions being lifted which those restrictions don't mean a state isn't open because usually they are. I think a state not being open is that you can't have indoor dining not that indoor dining is limited to 50% occupancy or has to close at midnight. That is totally my opinion though.

I do agree with you on the masks and am more in favor of those being the last to go. But as was discussed on the other thread about Texas, a state-wide mask mandate does not mean everywhere has that within the state and not having a state-wide mask mandate doesn't not mean everywhere in the state does not have it. So it's just more complicated.

I do think it's a bit early to throw it ALL out but that does depend on the given state and what they had going on before they removed it all. I don't think we can realistically keep every restriction as vaccinations are occurring. That shouldn't be seen as a bad thing either. Restrictions are first and foremost put in place for a reason and if that reason doesn't hold up anymore keeping the restriction just to keep it is probably not the wisest course.

I think the message and portrayal a state leader exhibits can speak more to compliance than mandates or restrictions they themselves hand out.

 

[EACarlson]

I agree that it's a bad idea to drop the state mandates. I think it will take away any cover that it gave to small businesses that may want to continue to enforce mask mandates...etc. I also think it may backfire. If my state governor came out tomorrow and declared that our state was 100% open it would make me feel much less safe. I am not vaccinated yet and there is no way I would go indoors with people who are not masked. There are millions and millions of people just like me, and a bunch of them live in Texas. So, it may just push some people away from businesses until they are vaccinated and feel safe.

I think one of the reasons that Disney World is drawing people who are not vaccinated yet....is because they have handled mask compliance and physical distancing well. They are big enough to go against the grain with reference to the state where they operate, but smaller businesses will have a tougher time. I'm hoping that we continue to see cases drop and that this sort of "in-between" phase of.....it's safer, but not yet completely safe......goes by quickly.

I think exactly the opposite. It should be up to the businesses to decide what they want to allow or not allow in their businesses. I think that if you had more businesses that actually enforced their policies and either refused service or kicked out the offenders, it would be less of a problem. Too many businesses in my area are using the governor's order as cover, and then not enforcing it anyway. They are too scared of offending anyone. I chose to spend quite a bit of my money early on at the first business in town to put a mask requirement in place and actually enforce it. No kids, masks required and they flat would not let you in if you didn't have a mask or had kids with you.

DIsney is doing exactly what every business should be doing. Putting their rules in place, enforcing them, and pressing charges on those that violate the law in breaking the rules. That is why they are getting the business back. I know what to expect from the time I get through the tapstiles until I leave.

 

[lovethesun12]

Lifting restrictions is a risky experiment, but also a necessary one at some point. A few extra months isn't a big deal if you're working from home, your kid is doing okay with online schooling, and you've more or less adjusted to the new normal even if you don't like it, but it is a HUGE deal to businesses that have been closed for all or most of the last year and to people for whom this pandemic-era "normal" is a prolonged state of financial, educational, or social/emotional crisis. My community has lost several small businesses in the last year. A few more months, aka another spring/summer without tourists, and our downtown will likely be right back to the ghost town it was during/after the '08 recession.

I agree with you. I was referring to lifting mask restrictions not other types of restrictions.

 

[Joe in VA]

1 out of every 16 American adults received a vaccine dose in the last week alone. About 1/11 of Americans who currently say they will take it. Insane and only going up. A matter of weeks folks.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I think exactly the opposite. It should be up to the businesses to decide what they want to allow or not allow in their businesses. I think that if you had more businesses that actually enforced their policies and either refused service or kicked out the offenders, it would be less of a problem. Too many businesses in my area are using the governor's order as cover, and then not enforcing it anyway. They are too scared of offending anyone. I chose to spend quite a bit of my money early on at the first business in town to put a mask requirement in place and actually enforce it. No kids, masks required and they flat would not let you in if you didn't have a mask or had kids with you.

DIsney is doing exactly what every business should be doing. Putting their rules in place, enforcing them, and pressing charges on those that violate the law in breaking the rules. That is why they are getting the business back. I know what to expect from the time I get through the tapstiles until I leave.

Yes, Disney is doing everything right despite what the state of Florida has put in place concerning mandates. However, Disney is like it's own state, or country....fiefdom? I'll go with fiefdom....because they exercise complete and total control over their kingdom. I think that the state mandates provide cover for smaller businesses.

I also believe that people are going to move at their own pace with respect to jumping back in to society, no matter what states say or do. I'm not sure when DH and I will get our vaccines...hopefully within the next couple of months. We were talking last night about this summer and how we kind of see things going. I totally see us socializing indoors with our family members who are vaccinated. I see us eating outdoors, but we both felt like we'd like to wait a bit to eat indoors.

We both said we'd get on a plane...with masks.... to travel someplace relatively close to the U.S. We have a South Africa trip that is supposed to happen in August, but I don't think that will happen. I'll try and push it out further...but we may face losing that money. We agreed that we'd go to the Cabo area as far as international travel. There's a resort there that we really love and all of the eating/entertainment areas are all outside. The resort does covid testing on-site to return to the US. And it's about a 5 hour flight...I can handle that with a mask on. And Mexico has been open throughout this whole deal. We'd love to go to Italy, but we'll wait on that for another year or so. I'm not sure they'll be letting us in this summer/fall anyway.

We both said that we're not comfortable going to two family weddings that have been rescheduled for this summer. These are children of my DH's cousins. And while his cousins and kids are lovely people, neither of us think we'll be ready for a big indoor 300+ people Jersey style Italian wedding. We'll send a nice check. Outdoor concert....absolutely. Indoor concert....we'll wait on that. Broadway....also will wait a bit too.

So I think it will vary person by person.

 

[Colleen27]

I think exactly the opposite. It should be up to the businesses to decide what they want to allow or not allow in their businesses. I think that if you had more businesses that actually enforced their policies and either refused service or kicked out the offenders, it would be less of a problem. Too many businesses in my area are using the governor's order as cover, and then not enforcing it anyway. They are too scared of offending anyone. I chose to spend quite a bit of my money early on at the first business in town to put a mask requirement in place and actually enforce it. No kids, masks required and they flat would not let you in if you didn't have a mask or had kids with you.

DIsney is doing exactly what every business should be doing. Putting their rules in place, enforcing them, and pressing charges on those that violate the law in breaking the rules. That is why they are getting the business back. I know what to expect from the time I get through the tapstiles until I leave.

Most businesses don't have Disney's clout, though. Disney has a unique product and basically do whatever they want with confidence because people will still come - if cost increases and service cutbacks and new fees don't shrink their customer base, masks certainly won't. But local businesses seldom have that kind of loyalty and seemingly inexhaustible customer base. Even with the state mandates, a lot of businesses around me aren't enforcing mask requirements either out of concern for backlash/aggression against their employees or because they are afraid of losing the roughly 50% of locals who oppose masking as customers. Remove the state mandate and I doubt any area business would attempt to require masks at all, given the mindset of area residents and the viciousness of the backlash against the mandate up to this point.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Most businesses don't have Disney's clout, though. Disney has a unique product and basically do whatever they want with confidence because people will still come - if cost increases and service cutbacks and new fees don't shrink their customer base, masks certainly won't. But local businesses seldom have that kind of loyalty and seemingly inexhaustible customer base. Even with the state mandates, a lot of businesses around me aren't enforcing mask requirements either out of concern for backlash/aggression against their employees or because they are afraid of losing the roughly 50% of locals who oppose masking as customers. Remove the state mandate and I doubt any area business would attempt to require masks at all, given the mindset of area residents and the viciousness of the backlash against the mandate up to this point.

And the thing with Disney, especially with people who would make their way to boards like this one....is that we'd be too scared to misbehave at Disney because they might not let us come back. .

 

[lovin'fl]

1 out of every 16 American adults received a vaccine dose in the last week alone. About 1/11 of Americans who currently say they will take it. Insane and only going up. A matter of weeks folks.

What % of the US population will refuse to get vaccine I wonder? And how long until all who want it are vaccinated? And will the govt then open up shop or say 'well, X% do not want to get vaccine and they are not safe so we still need to protect them'?

 

[jlwhitney]

What % of the US population will refuse to get vaccine I wonder? And how long until all who want it are vaccinated? And will the govt then open up shop or say 'well, X% do not want to get vaccine and they are not safe so we still need to protect them'?

if someone who can get one both medically and because their is availability and open to them and they choose not to get it then that is on them.

 

[Joe in VA]

What % of the US population will refuse to get vaccine I wonder? And how long until all who want it are vaccinated? And will the govt then open up shop or say 'well, X% do not want to get vaccine and they are not safe so we still need to protect them'?

I think it’ll end up being slightly higher than the 70% who currently say they’ll get one. I think by the end of April everyone who wants it will have at least one needle in their arm.

 

[snappy]

I think it’ll end up being slightly higher than the 70% who currently say they’ll get one. I think by the end of April everyone who wants it will have at least one needle in their arm.

This is my hope.

 

[KBoopaloo]

Almost 3 million doses! Gah, I want mine. .

https://twitter.com/x/status/1368291039501557763

 

[AvidDisReader]

I am very leery of states opening too soon. I feel we should get more people vaccinated before opening up more and dropping mask mandates. Really concentrate on the vaccination first and put energy into getting needles in arms. Then open. I feel the way its going could wind up biting us. But I do understand the governors are probably under so much pressure to open up and stimulate the economy and places want and need to open.

There is an elephant in the room regarding Covid mandates, including masks. They are that the mandates are allowed due to emergency powers that I do believe all states have given to their governors. The question becomes how long do governors have to use these powers before they expire. I got a clue when watching C Span and a governor was talking about it is coming up on the one year anniversary of his mandates and he is going to need legislative action to keep them in place. This means whether we like it or not, most mandates will expire in April/May of this year. As I have opined in other posts, no legislative body is going to pass legislation to mandate the use of masks and other Covid policies, as they will never hold up if challenged in court (just take a look at the make up of the Supreme Court and it does not take a legal expect to realize these mandates will not be upheld). The good news is that as all governors come to the same conclusion on that the current mandates cannot be extended that the number of vaccinations should be topping 50% of the population.

 

[Jonfw2]

More than 1% of the entire US adult population got a vaccine shot in one day. Wrap your brain around that.

 

[EACarlson]

Most businesses don't have Disney's clout, though. Disney has a unique product and basically do whatever they want with confidence because people will still come - if cost increases and service cutbacks and new fees don't shrink their customer base, masks certainly won't. But local businesses seldom have that kind of loyalty and seemingly inexhaustible customer base. Even with the state mandates, a lot of businesses around me aren't enforcing mask requirements either out of concern for backlash/aggression against their employees or because they are afraid of losing the roughly 50% of locals who oppose masking as customers. Remove the state mandate and I doubt any area business would attempt to require masks at all, given the mindset of area residents and the viciousness of the backlash against the mandate up to this point.

It's not about clout, it's about backbone. If the businesses had the backbone to enforce their policies, I bet they would see a net increase in business from all of those in the middle.

Yes, Disney is doing everything right despite what the state of Florida has put in place concerning mandates. However, Disney is like it's own state, or country....fiefdom? I'll go with fiefdom....because they exercise complete and total control over their kingdom. I think that the state mandates provide cover for smaller businesses.

I also believe that people are going to move at their own pace with respect to jumping back in to society, no matter what states say or do. I'm not sure when DH and I will get our vaccines...hopefully within the next couple of months. We were talking last night about this summer and how we kind of see things going. I totally see us socializing indoors with our family members who are vaccinated. I see us eating outdoors, but we both felt like we'd like to wait a bit to eat indoors.

So I think it will vary person by person.

Why is it in spite of what the state has put in place? Why is it such a revolutionary point of view that people and businesses should be able to decide for themselves what policies and procedures they should allow in their lives and businesses without government mandates that are killing them and their businesses? Theoretically every company and business owner has the right to run their businesses as they see fit, in many places they have been prevented from operating their business at all, or at least in any kind of profitable manner for a year now.

People are going to move at their own pace and what they are comfortable with, why shouldn't businesses be allowed to do the same? No one is saying you have to go out and do those things, what almost all of us that are advocating opening up and removing mandates are saying is that maybe others should be given choices rather than the government making those choices for everyone.

There is an elephant in the room regarding Covid mandates, including masks. They are that the mandates are allowed due to emergency powers that I do believe all states have given to their governors. The question becomes how long do governors have to use these powers before they expire. I got a clue when watching C Span and a governor was talking about it is coming up on the one year anniversary of his mandates and he is going to need legislative action to keep them in place. This means whether we like it or not, most mandates will expire in April/May of this year. As I have opined in other posts, no legislative body is going to pass legislation to mandate the use of masks and other Covid policies, as they will never hold up if challenged in court (just take a look at the make up of the Supreme Court and it does not take a legal expect to realize these mandates will not be upheld). The good news is that as all governors come to the same conclusion on that the current mandates cannot be extended that the number of vaccinations should be topping 50% of the population.

I think in most of the states that are the most resistant to opening up, they will do exactly what the Governor of WI has done. Issue another emergency order, which may or may not be legal depending on how the emergency powers clause of the state constitution is written. In MN, the governor extends the state of emergency and has to be overridden by a joint resolution of the legislature. In WI, the governor cannot extend a state of emergency without a joint resolution of the legislature.