Vaccine, Covid, and reopening updates

[dvcgirl67]

Knowing that polling has been garbage for the last decade, I think we'll all be very happily surprised by the end of May...

I hope you're right. NJ just opened up to everyone over age 16 this past Monday, and I'm seeing lots of appointments available at the pharmacies in my area, which is surprising, and maybe not so surprising. In South Jersey....(I'm in central NJ), there are appointments everywhere, at pharmacies, clinics and the mega sites.

Now it's going to take more education and more incentive to get people vaccinated. I saw that out in L.A. that the Dodgers are offering an entire section for "vaccinated" fans. I'd love to see more of that.

 

[anniemae]

Today we should hear the decision on J&J.

 

[Moliphino]

After a super bungled and slow rollout, Massachusetts has recovered quite a bit on vaccine distribution and we are now in the top 5 states for percent of population vaccinated according to the NYT tracker. 51% of residents have one shot, 31% are fully vaccinated. Demand is still pretty high here - my cousin was the last adult in our family to snag an appointment and she and I both had to do some website stalking for a few days after she became eligible to find her a spot nearby. Our last all staff meeting at work revealed that most of us have eithet had our first shots or have appointments for it.
My mom got to have a small birthday gathering with her vaccinated sisters and it was so great! Yay for vaccines!

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html

I went to CT for mine, since I was eligible there over two weeks earlier than in MA. I know I'm not the only person at my work who commutes from MA that did this, too.

My sister managed to snag an appointment on day 1 of eligibility, but also tested positive for covid that same day, so had to cancel once she got the results (tested Monday/first day eligible, got results Wednesday). Or she would be getting her first vaccine today.

 

[erin1715]

I hope you're right. NJ just opened up to everyone over age 16 this past Monday, and I'm seeing lots of appointments available at the pharmacies in my area, which is surprising, and maybe not so surprising. In South Jersey....(I'm in central NJ), there are appointments everywhere, at pharmacies, clinics and the mega sites.

Now it's going to take more education and more incentive to get people vaccinated. I saw that out in L.A. that the Dodgers are offering an entire section for "vaccinated" fans. I'd love to see more of that.

Bolded is mine - they are offering that but face masks still required unless eating or drinking (not much incentive to me).

 

[Colleen27]

Bolded is mine - they are offering that but face masks still required unless eating or drinking (not much incentive to me).

I know, right? You get packed in like sardines while the non-vaccinated fans get to enjoy some elbow room thanks to distancing rules, and you've still got to wear your mask. Seems like the opposite of an incentive!

 

[dvcgirl67]

Bolded is mine - they are offering that but face masks still required unless eating or drinking (not much incentive to me).

Ahhh, ok, I just saw the headline. Agree, not much of an incentive. Also, I was thinking that it's great to have vaccinated people sitting near me...outdoors, but would there be a bathroom for vaccinated people only. I'm picturing the symbol on the door of a "person with needle in arm" on the door....lol.

 

[AussieFan8]

I'm envious of those of you with high vaccine rates. Our weekly vaccination rate in Missouri is trending down. Hoping for the best.

 

[huskies90]

I don’t see how much further we can go with reopening at these vaccination levels.

I agree. But what is the alternative? We are pretty sure not enough people are going to get the vaccine to get us to the level of herd immunity we would need to contain it. So our choices are 1) we can continue with restrictions, closures, masks and distancing until we slowly drip by drip get enough people infected to contain it. Or we open things up more and let those who got vaccinated go on with their lives while those who chose to not get vaccinated take their own personal precautions (or lack there of if they so choose). At some point, this needs to shift to personal responsibility and not be the general public's responsibility to contain spread.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

My red county in Tennessee has only 17% vaccinated and the metro area that trends more blue is only 38%. Mask mandates have all expired and distancing is a thing of the past. Very disappointing.

 

[mrs. magoo]

My county has opened up all the county run sites for walkins age 16 and up. This is in western NY. I hope I am able to get my college daughter in when she comes home in mid May.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I agree. But what is the alternative? We are pretty sure not enough people are going to get the vaccine to get us to the level of herd immunity we would need to contain it. So our choices are 1) we can continue with restrictions, closures, masks and distancing until we slowly drip by drip get enough people infected to contain it. Or we open things up more and let those who got vaccinated go on with their lives while those who chose to not get vaccinated take their own personal precautions (or lack there of if they so choose). At some point, this needs to shift to personal responsibility and not be the general public's responsibility to contain spread.

As I think I said in this thread, our governor in NJ said that he's hoping to get to 70% of adults vaccinated by the end of June. He also said that he's going to continue "incremental" opening in the coming weeks.

We're unlikely to hit herd immunity and we're going to see breakthrough infections and outbreaks. So, I agree that this is the way we're headed...toward opening up. The SarsCoV2 virus is much more contagious than the flu and it has such a foothold here and around the world. Even with all of the measures we have in place, we're still seeing close to 70,000 cases a day in this country alone. We may be declining, but we may see a flare up in some of the southern states with lower vaccination rates later this spring/summer. And this virus is still raging in other parts of the world and devastating countries like India and several countries in South America.

I saw an article this week about our 2020/2021 influenza season. We've had *2,000* cases this year. Normally we average 206,000 cases. So influenza did arrive here in the states (it's a traveling virus), and yet we've had essentially no flu. And we tested more than we normally do. Normally we do about one million flu tests in the U.S. We did 1.3 million this year. Probably due to clinics and docs doing both Covid and flu testing on patients to rule one or the other out.

Whether we see SarsCoV2 retreat years from now remains to be seen, but it seems like it's going to be with us for quite awhile. So we're going to see how we all learn to live with it. Based on this thread and the dozens like it, it's going to be easier for some than it is for others.

 

[RamblingMad]

I agree. But what is the alternative? We are pretty sure not enough people are going to get the vaccine to get us to the level of herd immunity we would need to contain it. So our choices are 1) we can continue with restrictions, closures, masks and distancing until we slowly drip by drip get enough people infected to contain it. Or we open things up more and let those who got vaccinated go on with their lives while those who chose to not get vaccinated take their own personal precautions (or lack there of if they so choose). At some point, this needs to shift to personal responsibility and not be the general public's responsibility to contain spread.

The problem with that approach is that vaccine levels are not homogeneous across counties in the US.

And those that are not vaccinated can still infect those that are vaccinated.

We need countywide responsibility. If a county wants to reopen, the vaccination rates in that county need to support a reopening.

 

[Disneefun]

It looks like around here we'll be lucky to cap out at +/-50% vaccinated, or less. When I look at our dashboard and compare it to what I hear the news, it seems like counties that reach somewhere around 40-50% of people with first doses start reporting that demand away at that point, to the point where some counties start telling the state not to send more vaccine because they can't give it away, no matter how many clinics they run, or where they run them.

That's a serious bummer, especially since there are counties that are way worse. My semi-rural county is only at 19% of people with first doses and demand has already crapped out. The metro county next door is closing in on 37% of first doses and demand is slowing, although it hasn't dried up yet.

 

[RamblingMad]

It looks like around here we'll be lucky to cap out at +/-50% vaccinated, or less. When I look at our dashboard and compare it to what I hear the news, it seems like counties that reach somewhere around 40-50% of people with first doses start reporting that demand away at that point, to the point where some counties start telling the state not to send more vaccine because they can't give it away, no matter how many clinics they run, or where they run them.

That's a serious bummer, especially since there are counties that are way worse. My semi-rural county is only at 19% of people with first doses and demand has already crapped out. The metro county next door is closing in on 37% of first doses and demand is slowing, although it hasn't dried up yet.

If they don’t reopen, folks might be encouraged to get vaccinated. Otherwise we’re likely to see county/town outbreaks like the measles one in NY.

 

[leahgoogle]

The problem with that approach is that vaccine levels are not homogeneous across counties in the US.

And those that are not vaccinated can still infect those that are vaccinated.

We need countywide responsibility. If a county wants to reopen, the vaccination rates in that county need to support a reopening.

The CDC recently estimated about 5,800 breakthrough infectionsout of estimated 77 million people vaccinated.

That’s a mere .0075%. And, isn’t the vaccine supposed to prevent severe symptoms and death?

 

[Mango7100]

My red county in Tennessee has only 17% vaccinated and the metro area that trends more blue is only 38%. Mask mandates have all expired and distancing is a thing of the past. Very disappointing.

In TN too. My metro county is the only county on my side of the state with a mask mandate still in place, but the sheriff doesn’t agree with it so has publicly said he will not enforce it. We are only at 39% with the first dose and tons of appointments open but no takers. All the adults in my family are fully vaccinated, and DD is in elementary school so that won’t happen for awhile. I wish our vaccine numbers were better...

 

[RamblingMad]

The CDC recently estimated about 5,800 breakthrough infectionsout of estimated 77 million people vaccinated.

That’s a mere .0075%. And, isn’t the vaccine supposed to prevent severe symptoms and death?

That’s with everyone still wearing masks and socially distancing.

 

[leahgoogle]

That’s with everyone still wearing masks and socially distancing.

I wonder what the number of people actually masking and distancing is. I’m sure it varies by the part of the country one is in. Regardless, the vaccine is supposed to prevent severe illness and death.

 

[Joe in VA]

It's extremely unlikely someone with a mask will spread the virus, the vaccine is much more effective than masks at preventing spread. In the rare case someone with the vaccine contracts it, it seems to mostly be very mild or asymptomatic cases.

If you're vaccinated you are at pretty much zero risk, or so close to zero that it is not worth worrying about.

Much of the country is pretty much back to normal, very little masks or distancing. The vaccine is enough.

 

[Joe in VA]

Very interesting study here; https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/23/mit...ndoors-at-6-feet-or-60-feet-in-new-study.html