Vaccine, Covid, and reopening updates

[mefordis]

I figured the "former" part of his job title meant he had a "sour grapes, he missed the money" agenda...

Good point. Wondering what could be motivating him.

 

[easyas123]

In Maryland we are at 44% of the population with 1 dose, and 29% fully vaccinated.
In Delaware (where we actually got our vaccines, and which is a hop, skip & jump from us) 40% have 1 dose, and 26% fully - this is based on all ages, I think they are at about 71% for those over 65 or something along those lines.
I don't know what the FL stats are, but my two old duffers got their second dose 2 days ago thank goodness!

 

[godisney14]

I just read that vaccine administration was down 10% last few days, compared to the same days last week. That is not a good sign. I really hope we aren't approaching that wall that they have warned about.

Clearly the J&J pause has had an effect on willingness of people to get vaccinated.

I would hate to be right about it, but I’ve been saying for months now that the demand will fall off a cliff in May.
J&J matter may have had an effect, but the proportion of vaccinations with J&J at the time it paused was insignificant.

 

[Pink Partridge]

Every resident in my grandmother's assisted living home is fully vaccinated.

If we can show proof that we are also fully vaccinated (and we can!), we can enter the facility and visit her in her room starting next week. Masks must be worn, and we are all perfectly fine with that.

My heart is pounding typing this. And I am crying a bit. I can't explain how excited I am to see her!

Thank you for this thread. It's a great one!

 

[punkin]

That seems mighty risky.

We shall see in 2 weeks!

 

[Colleen27]

This is interesting because it could backfire and you could end up punishing those who are vaccinated if not enough people get the vaccine.

It isn't about rewards and punishments; the virus doesn't care about fairness, only about ability to spread, and if we can't get a sufficient number of people vaccinated there will still be space for significant spread. That means some things that we did before the pandemic won't be safe to do.

I can see the downside, but would much rather go this route than going the California route of needed vaccine passports for concerts, etc. I'd go further and say they should have tied the latest stimulus payments to getting vaccinated.

I'd rather go with the passports, personally, because that shifts it from a group dynamic to a personal one. Right now, we're all doing a group project, and about half the group has decided to sit it out and let the other half do all the work. I'd rather we were doing individual projects.... but then again, I always was kind of that way because I was always the kid who did the project for the whole group. LOL

In NV, apparently, the whole state will drop requirements June 1, pending vaccine numbers.
In VA, the governor is signaling that many, if not all. requirements will drop by late May, pending vaccine numbers.

For those who live in states that are planning a full reopening on/after a specific date, is summer looking like it is going to be normal in your area? Here, I don't think it even matters what the state does at this point. Most of the summer events, festivals, concerts, etc. have already made the decision to cancel and hopefully return in 2022.

 

[fitgirl36]

In Ohio just yesterday, reopening metrics were changed from number of cases to number of vaccinated.

I live in Ohio and have been watching the two week number per 100,000. I see today it is at 185 down from 200. Are you saying this is not the number to watch anymore for reopening? Thanks!

 

[Pyotr]

Demand in my county has fallen off. Yesterday the county run site had 3600 doses to be given “first come first serve.” Guess how many people showed up. 330. That’s not good.

Everyone eligible in my family has had at least one dose.

 

[TwoMisfits]

It isn't about rewards and punishments; the virus doesn't care about fairness, only about ability to spread, and if we can't get a sufficient number of people vaccinated there will still be space for significant spread. That means some things that we did before the pandemic won't be safe to do.



I'd rather go with the passports, personally, because that shifts it from a group dynamic to a personal one. Right now, we're all doing a group project, and about half the group has decided to sit it out and let the other half do all the work. I'd rather we were doing individual projects.... but then again, I always was kind of that way because I was always the kid who did the project for the whole group. LOL



For those who live in states that are planning a full reopening on/after a specific date, is summer looking like it is going to be normal in your area? Here, I don't think it even matters what the state does at this point. Most of the summer events, festivals, concerts, etc. have already made the decision to cancel and hopefully return in 2022.

VA and NV have big tourist sites (VA has DC area and VA Beach/Williamsburg/Busch Gardens and NV has Vegas and Reno). so sending the signal now, especially to those towns, that it can be a normal summer if their areas vaccinate has got to be motivating to small and big business...

I'm betting VA's "late May" is Memorial Day weekend - it's doing pretty well with vaccination (43% of total pop has 1st dose, and they only opened to everyone Monday, so I easily see 60% or so by Memorial Day)...Nevada has similar vaccinated numbers, but I'm not sure when they opened to everyone 16+, so they may have less room to "grow" by their date...

 

[Colleen27]

I hate when my area makes the news. It is never for anything good... but apparently they're bringing in the national guard to do extra vaccine clinics in outlying towns as appointments at the central vaccination site in our county seat go unfilled and people rage on social media against any effort to encourage vaccination. Seniors have been eligible for the vaccine for 3.5 months now and we've only just crossed the 50% mark of getting that group vaccinated.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news...ounty-becomes-michigans-latest-covid-hotspot/

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For those who live in states that are planning a full reopening on/after a specific date, is summer looking like it is going to be normal in your area? Here, I don't think it even matters what the state does at this point. Most of the summer events, festivals, concerts, etc. have already made the decision to cancel and hopefully return in 2022.

Yeah some things in my area are like this. One of the bigger Memorial Day celebrations which is at our Union Station cancelled because as they put it "The consensus of health professionals is clear that keeping people properly distanced is vitally important to containing the spread of COVID-19. The Symphony hopes to be able to hold the event in 2022 when even more people are vaccinated and the coronaviruses aren’t as dangerous." For context they advise that event normally gets around 50,000 people.

That said we've had farmers markets return (one of the bigger ones was drive-up last year and now has returned last week as fully pedestrian again but with masks and other such still required) and other such things so it's not been everything.

I'm interested to see how 4th of July goes. One of the largest in the metro displays announced last year they would have it but just days before they cancelled.

I think places in my area are heavily considering how many people typically get drawn to a specific event because just being outdoors won't be the safer bet (especially if mask mandates go away for the summer).

 

[Ariel484]

I live in Ohio and have been watching the two week number per 100,000. I see today it is at 185 down from 200. Are you saying this is not the number to watch anymore for reopening? Thanks!

He hasn't changed it yet but is thinking about it.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021...oronavirus-case-levels-to-vaccine-levels.html

 

[Heigh-Ho]

In Ohio just yesterday, reopening metrics were changed from number of cases to number of vaccinated.

I can't find a link that says that. Can you provide one? Would be interesting how they are doing it.

 

[Jonfw2]

I can't find a link that says that. Can you provide one? Would be interesting how they are doing it.

Sorry- considering.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021...oronavirus-case-levels-to-vaccine-levels.html

 

[Heigh-Ho]

Sorry- considering.

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021...oronavirus-case-levels-to-vaccine-levels.html

Thanks, that's a big difference between doing it and considering it. But sounds like there's a lot of different things being discussed and they are at least really looking at it!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

J&J matter may have had an effect, but the proportion of vaccinations with J&J at the time it paused was insignificant.

Well at least in terms of number of vaccinations that can be done it appears to have had a significant impact here at least in terms of a mass vaccination event. Arrowhead had done something like 8,000 people over 2 days with J&J in mid-March.

The 2nd event that was to be held next Thursday and Friday that would have had thousands of people again mysteriously showed up cancelled. A bit of digging from the news and this is what was said: "I think initially the state of Missouri had set a goal to double the size of the event,” said Jackson County’s Assistant Health Director Ray Dlugolecki, but on Wednesday the state announced the second mass vaccination event at Arrowhead was canceled. The Department of Public Safety cited logistic and scheduling issues, “but I think that temporary pause of the J&J vaccine was probably one of the biggest factors,” Dlugolecki said. He says organizers considered using other vaccines, but “I don’t believe that Arrowhead was actually available to hold the subsequent follow-up doses that would be necessary with both Pfizer and Moderna,” he explained."

That said just like my county on the other side of the state line they are looking at shifting to primarily focus on smaller events while keeping mass vaccinations around in some capacity.

You're not entirely wrong about a slowdown in demand but the pause on J&J also had/has an effect on people trusting getting a vaccine (stories about that out there) and on the ability to vaccinate people which impacts percentage of vaccinations in a given area depending on how much they were going to do with J&J.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Dr. Mike Yeadon, a former CSO & VP with Pfizer Global is making rounds expressing "grave concerns" about the vaccine. I've seen some articles pop up recently. Wondering if anyone else has.

Yeah I've noted it. It is good you brought him up so I can debunk him once and for all.
This is the same doctor that last spring said “there is nothing especially virulent or frightening about covid 19 … it’ll all fade away … Just a common & garden virus, to which the world overreacted.” And he predicted in a subsequent tweet that it was “unlikely” the death toll in the UK would reach 40,000.
XXXXX wrong there Dr. Quackdon.
Then when Great Britain had over 45k deaths he said that Covid would soon fizzle out and they should go back to normal. Note that they're up to 137k deaths now. Yeah buddy. Some fizzle. Nostradamis he aint . The quack also told everyone to ditch their masks with the infamous hands face embrace poster.
He has also claimed without an ounce of evidence that it made women sterile, a claim long since debunked.

I figured the "former" part of his job title meant he had a "sour grapes, he missed the money" agenda...

He founded a biotech company of his own and got quite a bit of venture capital and then sold it for millions without really doing much of anything.

 

[Colleen27]

Yeah some things in my area are like this. One of the bigger Memorial Day celebrations which is at our Union Station cancelled because as they put it "The consensus of health professionals is clear that keeping people properly distanced is vitally important to containing the spread of COVID-19. The Symphony hopes to be able to hold the event in 2022 when even more people are vaccinated and the coronaviruses aren’t as dangerous." For context they advise that event normally gets around 50,000 people.

Memorial Day makes sense to me - that's only a month out and we'll still be in the middle of the vaccination effort at that point. But we've had events in July, August and even as far out as Labor Day weekend already cancel or announce modified/virtual formats (like the fair happening but only with youth exhibitors, modified judging, and no carnival or live entertainment or fireworks). And these aren't 50K attendance events. In a good year, our fair attracts about half that over the span of a full week, and the other events are smaller/shorter and don't even come close to that.

 

[lovethesun12]

I'd rather go with the passports, personally, because that shifts it from a group dynamic to a personal one.

For those who live in states that are planning a full reopening on/after a specific date, is summer looking like it is going to be normal in your area? Here, I don't think it even matters what the state does at this point. Most of the summer events, festivals, concerts, etc. have already made the decision to cancel and hopefully return in 2022.

The only thing different about my summer is the same one thing that was different last summer - I can't visit WDW. I REALLY want to visit WDW , I'm with you on vaccine passports because I don't see another way I could get there earlier than late 2022 without one. But who knows.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

California has the lowest case rate in the contingous US! After such a terrible winter, this really feels like a win.

https://ktla.com/news/california/ca...se-rate-is-the-lowest-in-the-continental-u-s/
California is set to "open up" June 15th. Masks will stay, likely distancing. No other specifics have been given for what that means.