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

[DisneyJamieCA]

4% is nothing, look at the positivity rates over the last few months out here in California, who has had one of the tightest lockdowns in the country, we easily have had over 10% for way too long. Restrictions do not always equal reduction in cases or even deaths, our death rate has been pathetically high as well.

Since we're now hovering between 1.8%-2%, the argument could be made that the second shelter in place DID work. Our numbers are actually really good for a state of almost 40 million people.

I got my son's 2 shots scheduled just after midnight last night via CVS. His first shot will be Monday!

Yay! It's such a good feeling, isn't it? My DD gets her first one tomorrow afternoon!

My dad got his second shot yesterday. My mom got a call this morning that she's now eligible, so she gets her first on Sunday. DH got a text from My Turn yesterday saying he's eligible, but when we follow the link it says he isn't, so I don't know what's going on there. It does appear he may be eligible through Kaiser, so we're waiting to hear back there. And here I thought I was going to one of the first in my family because of returning to work at my kids' school - and it looks like I may be the last. It's all good though - it now appears that all of those in my bubble should be fully vaccinated by the middle of May (assuming supply keeps up)!

 

[dvcgirl67]

Cases rising in NJ. March 11th: 3,208. March 18th: 3,830. Up about 20% over last week. Hospitalizations up about 2% over last week. Hoping the latter is due to vaccines keeping our older/sicker residents out of the hospital, but we've definitely plateaued on hospitalizations for sure. Population of nine million.....About 2.1 million shots in arms. 1.13 people fully vaccinated.

 

[Mango7100]

i read an article that the TN Dept of Health vaccine appointments are 80% unfilled in West TN (excluding Memphis) and 50% unfilled in East TN (excluding Knoxville and Chattanooga counties). That is mind blowing to me—and they still haven’t opened up eligibility

 

[Colleen27]

Do they have any speculations as to why? Are those counties with high and fast increase in cases the most populated ones and the issue just that there's not enough vaccine per their population to provide a bigger buffer to spread?

It is hard to see any rhyme or reason in it, at least so far. The high and fast increases are mostly in rural parts of the state, but it is too early in the year to blame tourist season for speeding the spread. It is happening mainly in areas that are likely to have high vaccine hesitancy, but that's probably not a big factor yet because all supply is getting used. Restaurants opened six weeks ago, so that may be a factor that is worse in places with more skeptical attitudes about mitigation efforts. But it can be hard to draw any conclusions from some of these areas because of the small populations. My county is the most populous of the ones that are really struggling right now, with 160K residents, but some of the northern counties only have 20 or 30K people in total so a relatively small cluster can make for a very large cases per 100K rate. A few are so small that you basically just have to discard the data entirely; right now, there's a county that has had 3 cases this week, which translates into a rate of 47 cases per 100K. Last week their rate was 0, and it probably will be again next week if history is any guide.

Some of the more urban/suburban counties are seeing increases as well, but slower and more gradual. We're still not doing much genetic sequencing, so it is hard to know if a particular variant plays any role. Four cases of the UK variant have been identified in my county, none of them apparently connected to one another, so we know it is out there but no clue on overall prevalence.

A recent article in the Detroit paper blames school sports, specifically basketball, for many outbreaks, which is consistent with what we've seen in our local schools. It is basically a contact sport, has to be played indoors, players don't keep their masks on properly because they tend to slide down or get dislodged during play, and we have a lot of kids who play (for example, the local high school has boys' freshman and both boys' and girls' JV and varsity teams, so 5 teams total, each with different schedules that bring them into contact with students from different schools two or three times a week). Classroom spread still doesn't appear to be a factor. The problem appears to be all the school-adjacent things where mask enforcement is lax or non-existent, like sports and buses and carpooling and going out for pizza after class.

 

[dvcgirl67]

i read an article that the TN Dept of Health vaccine appointments are 80% unfilled in West TN (excluding Memphis) and 50% unfilled in East TN (excluding Knoxville and Chattanooga counties). That is mind blowing to me—and they still haven’t opened up eligibility

That's sad....here in NJ, so far.....not an appointment in sight. Everything is booked.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

i read an article that the TN Dept of Health vaccine appointments are 80% unfilled in West TN (excluding Memphis) and 50% unfilled in East TN (excluding Knoxville and Chattanooga counties). That is mind blowing to me—and they still haven’t opened up eligibility

Could they send some of those vaccines to Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga areas to make better usage of the vaccine vials they presently have?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Could they send some of those vaccines to Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga areas to make better usage of the vaccine vials they presently have?

This is the part I don't understand. Somebody else mentioned on here that their county, the one north of mine has appointments that aren't being booked and my county is cancelling appointments because we can't get enough vaccine. I'm sure there is some reason they're not, and I am big on shots in arm is what we need so they have the right to vaccinate their population as they see fit, but it would be nice if there was some sharing ability.

 

[piglet1979]

Interesting thought question...if you're unvaccinated, would you rather:

A) run into Target for a few items, following all safety protocols.
or
B) spend the whole day unmasked with a fully vaccinated person?

Neither. This past week was the first time in over a year that I have step foot into a store other then Giant Eagle and Marc's for grocery shopping or Pet Supplies Plus to be able to crickets for DS bearded dragon. We have have done just about all other shopping on Amazon.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is the part I don't understand. Somebody else mentioned on here that their county, the one north of mine has appointments that aren't being booked and my county is cancelling appointments because we can't get enough vaccine. I'm sure there is some reason they're not, and I am big on shots in arm is what we need so they have the right to vaccinate their population as they see fit, but it would be nice if there was some sharing ability.

That's how my state is doing it and they've encouraged sharing from the beginning. They sent excess vaccine from counties that were done with Phase 2 to counties still working on it though that part was sharing but at the directive of the governor and health director rather than pure generosity like before. That did upset people in those rural counties put on the "pause" who just wanted to move on in phases because they've exhausted the interest level/amount of eligible people in the eligible phases and I do understand their frustration. There's merits to the "vaccine in arms" but without a never-ending supply it's like a constant catch up being done elsewhere in the state so you're swapping one problem for another even though I just want everyone to have the chance to be protected whether they live in the sticks or live in a metro. I'd say the message in my state is "look after each other" even if not everyone is receptive to that message or the methods to delivering the message (aka forcing counties to pause).

I'm not saying it's the only way to doing it but if you're seeing 80% of appointments unfilled such that the other person mentioned but you have other areas of the state with such high demand (which I assume those areas do have high demand) that's a lot of people in those high demand areas that could be vaccinated just by shifting the vaccine there. You don't have to shift all of it but that's a lot of appointments (80% and 50%) going unfilled. Now if there isn't high demand in these other areas mentioned that would shift my point to yeah opening up to more eligibility seems to be the better option there.

 

[AvidDisReader]

My daughter is a nurse for a hospital in Northwest Indiana. When they have excess vaccines due to people that do not show up, they reach out to the community to get people in so that no vaccines are wasted -- even if they are not on the official eligibility criteria.

 

[wenrob]

i read an article that the TN Dept of Health vaccine appointments are 80% unfilled in West TN (excluding Memphis) and 50% unfilled in East TN (excluding Knoxville and Chattanooga counties). That is mind blowing to me—and they still haven’t opened up eligibility

This makes me crazy. Quit holding them back for people who might, possibly, maybe, eventually come around. If the appointments are there and no one is taking them it’s time to move on and open up to the next group. The objective should be to get as many needles in as many arms as possible.

 

[wenrob]

Interesting thought question...if you're unvaccinated, would you rather:

A) run into Target for a few items, following all safety protocols.
or
B) spend the whole day unmasked with a fully vaccinated person?

There’s no such thing as “running into Target for a few items.” It just doesn’t happen. You go for shampoo and come home with $200 worth of things you never knew you needed.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Cases rising in NJ. March 11th: 3,208. March 18th: 3,830. Up about 20% over last week. Hospitalizations up about 2% over last week. Hoping the latter is due to vaccines keeping our older/sicker residents out of the hospital, but we've definitely plateaued on hospitalizations for sure. Population of nine million.....About 2.1 million shots in arms. 1.13 people fully vaccinated.

This trend is throughout the NE USA. The NYT just did an article on it. It's alarming for sure but really hoping that continuing vaccinations will put an end to it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

There’s no such thing as “running into Target for a few items.” It just doesn’t happen. You go for shampoo and come home with $200 worth of things you never knew you needed.

You never see the videos of "husbands waiting for their wives at Walmart" that's for sure but you see a ton of those for Target

 

[KBoopaloo]

Interesting thought question...if you're unvaccinated, would you rather:

A) run into Target for a few items, following all safety protocols.
or
B) spend the whole day unmasked with a fully vaccinated person?

Target with full safety protocols no question as that is what I have been doing for a year. I am also personally aware of two cases of fully vaccinated people still contracting COVID so I would not take the risk of hanging out unmasked for a full day with a vaccinated person until I am also vaccinated. And because I know it will be asked, one case was symptomatic and spread it to someone else who became symptomatic and one case was completely asymptomatic and only caught because of required testing at her job after travel (she caught it after a trip to Florida).

Fortunately the symptomatic case was mild which is what you would hope for and expect in a vaccinated person but as an unvaccinated person I would not want to expose myself to the risk when I presumably am only months away of being vaccinated myself.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I was on here whining a few hours ago, but our governor just announced eligibility for everyone 16+ effective 4/12!!! Getting so close!!

 

[Mango7100]

Could they send some of those vaccines to Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga areas to make better usage of the vaccine vials they presently have?

That would make too much sense! Right now they don’t redistribute vaccines, but people in the urban counties are driving to surrounding ones. I don’t know if the increase in pharmacy and hospital supply is contributing to this, but it is crazy to have that much wasted opportunity.

 

[Mango7100]

There’s no such thing as “running into Target for a few items.” It just doesn’t happen. You go for shampoo and come home with $200 worth of things you never knew you needed.

And the Dollar Spot gets me every time

 

[Mango7100]

This makes me crazy. Quit holding them back for people who might, possibly, maybe, eventually come around. If the appointments are there and no one is taking them it’s time to move on and open up to the next group. The objective should be to get as many needles in as many arms as possible.

Absolutely agree. There is a lot of resistance to vaccination in some areas, and I don’t think that will ever change at this point. So give them to whoever is willing to take one.

 

[lovethesun12]

Getting so impatient hearing all the updates. Really can't wait until our rollout increases here