What is Covid looking like in your community now?

[lewelma]

3 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

This seems to be borne out by the handful of universities & private schools that have actually done universal surveillance testing (and TRACING) throughout this. 

Yes, MIT has required all people accessing campus (faculty, staff, students) to be double vaxed (98% are, so they must have an exemption process). But in addition, all students, faculty and staff have to be tested twice a week with a PCR test or have their access card to all buildings (including the dorm) turned off. My son has said that his nose is getting sore from putting that stick up his nose over and over!

Here are the daily numbers

https://covidapps.mit.edu/dashboard

29,700 tests last week and 24 positives.

Edited November 12, 2021 by lewelma

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

re correlation between folks who are vaxxed and folks who regularly test

Thirding this.  In my town (80% of whole population at least 1 shot, rising daily with 5-11 yo surging), folks test *all the time.*  Before visiting with elders, before certain public events, before and after every plane ride, before every travel soccer game, weekly for certain employers and many schools.  Antigen tests are now widely & easily available and free; PCR tests are easily available by appointment for ~$70-100 ;and available for free if you stand in line (which I've done for as little as 15 minutes and as much as 5 hours over the course of all this) at community health centers.  I couldn't count how many times I've been tested.  The modest inconvenience in *time* is the price we happily pay for return to Nearly Normal.

 

Where does one get free antigen tests?  Not sure if they're available here or not, I hear the Binax in CVS cost $$.  I know where to get PCR tests...

[Pam in CT]

11 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Where does one get free antigen tests?  Not sure if they're available here or not, I hear the Binax in CVS cost $$.  I know where to get PCR tests...

They're not take-home; you have to go to a site that offers them.  Visiting Nurse Association centers, community health centers, medical centers, many (not all) urgent care facilities.  I understand that there is state funding that covers the cost of the kits as a way to ensure that the results go into the state numbers.  (which seems like basic enough public policy I'm surprised MA hasn't done the same thing.)

I'm on the steering committee of an interfaith council that for 15+ years before COVID always organized a community-wide social action event in October that has always drawn HUGE town participation.  We didn't do it last year at all, and in discussing a COVID=cautious way to do it this year decided on protocols (only 12 yo+ up, only vaxxed, fully masked, negative test within 24 hours) that, while we agreed were necessary, we also feared would REALLY dampen participation.  Somebody (not me) had the idea of reaching out to VNA to see if they could do an onsite test site to make it easy/efficient, if we could raise the money for the test kits.  VNA *happily* agreed and told us they didn't need reimbursement for the test kits, it was covered by the state.  They ended up testing over 200 people in a few hours.  And I can't tell you how many people at the test site gave feedback along the lines of I'm so glad you're doing this, and doing it in a COVID-cautious way. 

 

(OT, but Binax-type kits at CVS-type places were scarcity-priced for a while, but they're back around ~$15/test here, usually in packs of 2 tests; and schools and employers who get them in bulk are getting them closer to half that.  And while they're good for personal use, they're not as useful for guiding public policy since the results don't enter into public data.)

[Bootsie]

42 minutes ago, lewelma said:

Yes, MIT has required all people accessing campus (faculty, staff, students) to be double vaxed (98% are, so they must have an exemption process). But in addition, all students, faculty and staff have to be tested twice a week with a PCR test or have their access card to all buildings (including the dorm) turned off. My son has said that his nose is getting sore from putting that stick up his nose over and over!

Here are the daily numbers

https://covidapps.mit.edu/dashboard

29,700 tests last week and 24 positives.

Do you have any idea of what the total number of people accessing the campus are?  I see something about testing twice per week, which would average out to about 15,000 people being tested twice per week if there were about 30,000 tests.  Just trying to compare numbers to my university which has no vax or testing mandates

[Laura Corin]

Symptomatic free PCR testing is just call up then walk in. In addition, two free lateral flow tests per person per week, to pick up from the pharmacy or receive by mail. When you look at UK case numbers, factor in how much we are testing

[lewelma]

4 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

Do you have any idea of what the total number of people accessing the campus are?  I see something about testing twice per week, which would average out to about 15,000 people being tested twice per week if there were about 30,000 tests.  Just trying to compare numbers to my university which has no vax or testing mandates

Yes, that would be my assumption. There are about 12K undergrad and grad studens. 1K academic staff. Leaving 2K staff which seems reasonable. 

Students are also *required* to wear masks outside their dorm rooms. And they will be kicked off campus if they fail to comply.

Edited November 12, 2021 by lewelma

[regentrude]

I just saw that the neighboring county here in Germany has broken the four digit mark in the 7-day incidence: 1,031 per 100k. That means more than 1 out of every 100 persons has been infected within the past week.

[MEmama]

11 minutes ago, regentrude said:

I just saw that the neighboring county here in Germany has broken the four digit mark in the 7-day incidence: 1,031 per 100k. That means more than 1 out of every 100 persons has been infected within the past week.

Ugh.

My parents are in process of getting their boosters this week, but those numbers make me very nervous for them. It might be a last opportunity for her to see her brother and hometown again though…

I have a friend who is planning to go in December just for fun and I just can’t even. I’m trying to be neutral about it, but I can’t imagine making that decision just for a vaycay right now. 😞

I hope everyone around you is staying safe, @regentrude. 
 

 

[skimomma]

I just found our actual numbers.  We are currently at 460/100,000 with a positivity rate of 22%. And I assume this is artificially low between difficulty accessing tests and public resistance to testing.  That looks bad.

[mommyoffive]

Just read that Wisconsin added 10k new cases in the last 3 days.  We had been coming down from a surge, but we went right back up.  I am just sad.  When is this going to end? I mean I know the answer.  I am just so tired of trying to figure out what to do and how to get through this without just locking down a ton again.   I can't wait for my whole family to be fully vaxxed.  But honestly, I just feel like I am just holding my breath every day.

[Laura Corin]

20 minutes ago, skimomma said:

I just found our actual numbers.  We are currently at 460/100,000 with a positivity rate of 22%. And I assume this is artificially low between difficulty accessing tests and public resistance to testing.  That looks bad.

Scotland has a similar 7-day case rate per 100,000 but our test positivity is 9.8%. With higher number of tests performed, we presumably catch a higher proportion of cases as well as producing more negatives.

[skimomma]

5 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Scotland has a similar 7-day case rate per 100,000 but our test positivity is 9.8%. With higher number of tests performed, we presumably catch a higher proportion of cases as well as producing more negatives.

That is how I am interpreting the high positivity.....low testing.

 

[KSera]

5 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

(I don't know that it would be any more acceptable than a vax mandate: the test option on the vax-OR-test OSHA mandate has not materially eased the controversy; and I can easily foresee the My Body My Choice refusal to "submit to tyranny" marker being instantly moved to Do Not Tread On My Nasal Passage if a widespread testing mandate were proposed.)

What about wastewater testing for businesses? That seems a feasible option that no one can reasonably complain about, though the issue is in what they do with a positive. Ideally, everyone would test if wastewater were positive. 

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

They're not take-home; you have to go to a site that offers them.  Visiting Nurse Association centers, community health centers, medical centers, many (not all) urgent care facilities.  I understand that there is state funding that covers the cost of the kits as a way to ensure that the results go into the state numbers.  (which seems like basic enough public policy I'm surprised MA hasn't done the same thing.)

Yeah, that doesn't seem to be a thing here.  And now I'm thinking maybe we've sussed out the difference that's keeping CT's rates even way lower than MA's in spite of similar vax rates and both having good mask use.  I think you guys are likely able to easily catch a lot of asymptomatic or low-level cases that then don't go on to infect others.  

Meanwhile, took a trip over the border to NH the other day - their numbers were similar to ours (and CT's) not that long ago - you guys are actually trending down, we've kind of plateaued, and NH is shooting up... well, the masking thing is apparently not going on there anymore.  Had dinner with a friend outdoors - we wore our coats and brought lap blankets!  Everyone else was packed indoors and unmasked.  Hit the grocery store on the way home, scanty mask use.  Glad that locally they reimposed the mandates and hope they stick through the holidays and till the younger kids are vaxxed.  My friend is a teacher there.  She wears a K95 mask, but no mandate for the kids; she says it's maybe a quarter.  She said that the other teachers at least complained enough that they've started doing pooled testing at her school.

[Pam in CT]

Sorry to hear that about NH.  We were there over the summer and at that time compliance / seriousness seemed just about what we've seen in CT, MA, ME and VT.

Everyone's tired.

Except the virus.

[Bootsie]

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

Yes, that would be my assumption. There are about 12K undergrad and grad studens. 1K academic staff. Leaving 2K staff which seems reasonable. 

Students are also *required* to wear masks outside their dorm rooms. And they will be kicked off campus if they fail to comply.

My univ is about the same overall size--about 11.5K students;  We have no required vax; over 8,000 people have reported being vaxed but we have no idea what the true number is.  We do not have mandatory testing.   Testing is easy to get; students can test in the health center or across the street at a urgent care after-hours.  There is a non-university run testing center in a parking lot on campus where faculty, staff, students, and the general public can test.

Our mask mandate was followed fairly closely the first month of school, but today when I walked through the building I saw one other person wearing a mask in the hallways.  The classrooms are spotty with some professors still insisting on masks but I just walked by a class with probably 40 students and saw two masked. 

About 5,000 students live on campus.  We are in a metropolitan area with a great deal of employees who live in another county, have their kids in school in a different county, and perhaps a spouse that works in even a fourth county.  We have had large events like parents' weekend, homecoming, large breakfast gatherings, football games, basketball games, etc.  So lots of mixing with a populations outside of the campus community.

Somehow as the activity level on campus has increased and masking has decreased our numbers have dropped substantially.  This week we have had 1 student case so far; last week we had 1 faculty/staff and 4 student cases.  The two previous weeks we had 8 cases and 6 cases.  While we may not be catching as many asymptomatic cases, but the administration says it can't see that we are having more illness than schools that are requiring testing.   Even if we are missing about 75% of the cases, because we aren't requiring testing, we would have the same incidence as MIT.  

[Faith-manor]

So Michigan decided to tell every single state struggling with covid numbers, "Hold My Beer!"

15,800 new cases since Wednesday.

I.am.so.tired.

[math teacher]

We are at 11 cases per 100,000 and 14 cases per 100,000 in the two counties I am in. I still see a lot of masks at the stores. Some teachers are wearing masks, some are not.

[TCB]

5 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Symptomatic free PCR testing is just call up then walk in. In addition, two free lateral flow tests per person per week, to pick up from the pharmacy or receive by mail. When you look at UK case numbers, factor in how much we are testing

When I was in England visiting my parents I arranged to meet a friend. I told her I wanted to stay outside as I was being super careful not to take anything back to my parents. As soon as we met she told me that she had tested that morning and was negative. It was so nice to have that extra layer of care, and so wonderful that she cared enough to do it! It is much more part of life there to test before doing something with possibly more risk, and I really liked that. Such a change to how things are around here.

[Ottakee]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

So Michigan decided to tell every single state struggling with covid numbers, "Hold My Beer!"

15,800 new cases since Wednesday.

I.am.so.tired.

I  am tired too   I work in special education.  We are preparing for virtual learning/shut downs or ????

I am west side of the state that is very red and quite anti vaccine and not liking masks.

We have COVID in every one of our building throughout the county with many staff out.  They are already so short bus drivers and the local k-12 district is stopping bussing for some routes as they just don't have the drivers.

Hospitals are over run.  A friend's sister is critically ill on a vent...and 48 hours ago was home with a bad cold.  Still I keep being told by someone else that we just need to give ivermectin and/or follow some Wyoming state protocol that doctors there are using and all would be fine.

[Faith-manor]

23 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

I  am tired too   I work in special education.  We are preparing for virtual learning/shut downs or ????

I am west side of the state that is very red and quite anti vaccine and not liking masks.

We have COVID in every one of our building throughout the county with many staff out.  They are already so short bus drivers and the local k-12 district is stopping bussing for some routes as they just don't have the drivers.

Hospitals are over run.  A friend's sister is critically ill on a vent...and 48 hours ago was home with a bad cold.  Still I keep being told by someone else that we just need to give ivermectin and/or follow some Wyoming state protocol that doctors there are using and all would be fine.

I am so sorry about your friend's sister. I don't know how to get people care. 

[Lanny]

In Cali, Colombia approximately 66% of the people have had at least one vaccination. They were hoping for 75% by the 15th but that's a holiday. Now they are hoping for 75% by the 20th.

DW and I have had our first vaccinations!  We received the AstraZeneca vaccine. It isn't administered in the USA but at least one of the factories is in the USA and that factory is under FDA supervision. There was a  VERY LONG wait the day I got vaccinated, I think I watched 200 or 300 people get vaccinated, and I was one of the last ones that day,  but other than 1 or 2 seconds when I felt the needle go in, I have had no symptoms from the AstraZeneca vaccine. God willing we can go back on the 7th of December and get the  2nd vaccination. 

ETA: They expect the 4th wave (Delta) to hit here in about one month

Edited November 13, 2021 by Lanny
add ETA

[Longtime Lurker]

15 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

So Michigan decided to tell every single state struggling with covid numbers, "Hold My Beer!"

15,800 new cases since Wednesday.

I.am.so.tired.

I have always loved living in Michigan. But the last year and a half, not so much,,,

Edited November 13, 2021 by Longtime Lurker
grammar

[Longtime Lurker]

12 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I  am tired too   I work in special education.  We are preparing for virtual learning/shut downs or ????

I am west side of the state that is very red and quite anti vaccine and not liking masks.

We have COVID in every one of our building throughout the county with many staff out.  They are already so short bus drivers and the local k-12 district is stopping bussing for some routes as they just don't have the drivers.

Hospitals are over run.  A friend's sister is critically ill on a vent...and 48 hours ago was home with a bad cold.  Still I keep being told by someone else that we just need to give ivermectin and/or follow some Wyoming state protocol that doctors there are using and all would be fine.

What have you heard? I think I may be in your county. I work in regular ed, but my son is at a special ed school. I have not heard anything about this.

[amyx4]

I'm in a high vax state but this morning, I went for a PCR covid test and I'm super annoyed about it.

My kid has an indoor 90 min activity with strict masking. I was standing closeish to a mom that is new to the activity for the last 30min. All three masked and two vaxed. I don't know the third mom's vax status this was the first time I met her.

The third mom tested positive a few days ago. The activity won't restart until me and the other vax mom are tested.

I got a phone call Fri night from the coach. So, spend $24 on the rapid OTC test. Myself and my kid came back negative. The other vax mom was able to get a rapid test at work. Rapid was negative. She's also PCR testing this morning.

The team is still waiting on the positive mom's kid's test results. So today's event was cancelled. Waiting to see if Monday's event is cancelled.

So, even in high vax states this stupid virus is still interrupting life.

Edited November 13, 2021 by amyx4

[kbutton]

13 hours ago, Ottakee said:

We have COVID in every one of our building throughout the county with many staff out.  They are already so short bus drivers and the local k-12 district is stopping bussing for some routes as they just don't have the drivers.

My son has had unusual stuff happening with his bus (PT at vo-tech school). Both the regular bus and the vo-tech bus were very late the other day, and I think one of them had extra kids. I think the drivers are having to loop back and do extra routes or longer routes due to illness, but we aren't sure.

Rates here are going up again. I am sure a lot of outdoor parties were not outdoor, or people were crowding. Locally, I saw pics on FB of one where about twenty people were packed around a single picnic table, all eating shoulder to shoulder, some standing and some seated. It's not a highly vaccinated crowd either--I know one person in that group that is vaccinated and a number that are mouthy about not being vaccinated.

 

[Ottakee]

1 hour ago, Longtime Lurker said:

What have you heard? I think I may be in your county. I work in regular ed, but my son is at a special ed school. I have not heard anything about this.

Nothing concrete.  Just that director is in close contact with the health department. knowing the staff that is out, students that are out, and over run hospitals, I think we see this coming.

 

[HomeAgain]

On 11/11/2021 at 6:49 AM, HomeAgain said:

High transmission, low protocols.

Ds's team has 14 kids.  In the past two weeks:

Kid 1: parent exposed to covid, came and told everyone she was exposed to covid, and sat in the locker room with kids while having covid.  Team was not told for a week that she was positive and her kid was now quarantined.

Kid 2&3: parent came down with covid, kids played in a game while mom was feeling off, did not come the next day.  2 days later other parent shows up to be on the ice with the kids because he had no symptoms, but had quarantined kids and wife at home.

 

DS has an appointment tomorrow.  DS has been fully bubbled and masked because trust is very low.  DS is not allowed to hang out in the locker room, do supplemental activities, or be in common areas.  DS is allowed to walk in, finish putting on gear, play, and go out the side door to immediately shower, sanitize gear, and place all washables in the machine.  DH and I are still fully masked, doing the same protocol to keep him from having to cancel that ever-so-hard-to-get appointment that will take an entire afternoon driving.  We are NOT thrilled with the absolute idiots in our community.

Quoting myself here for an interesting update.

We walked in this morning and most of the parents were masked.  Ds was not the only masked kid on his team on the ice, and most wore masks to the locker room.  

Also, by next week at least half his team will have had their first shots.  That's more than the state average of 5%. 

[Spryte]

22 hours ago, regentrude said:

I just saw that the neighboring county here in Germany has broken the four digit mark in the 7-day incidence: 1,031 per 100k. That means more than 1 out of every 100 persons has been infected within the past week.

Wow. Hoping that you and your family can stay safe. I’m so sorry that this is happening on top of everything else.

DH has to go to Germany in mid-Dec, and these numbers are nerve-wracking.

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

Wow. Hoping that you and your family can stay safe. I’m so sorry that this is happening on top of everything else.

DH has to go to Germany in mid-Dec, and these numbers are nerve-wracking.

I just found out my uncle and his partner in Germany have Covid. He seems to have recovered but his partner has many serious health conditions and is not doing well. He was vaccinated but it’s unclear whether she was able to get hers due to possible interference with some of her medications. They are in their 80’s. Damn. 😞 

My parents are going over next month to visit them. I’m very worried. 
 

[Spryte]

9 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I just found out my uncle and his partner in Germany have Covid. He seems to have recovered but his partner has many serious health conditions and is not doing well. He was vaccinated but it’s unclear whether she was able to get hers due to possible interference with some of her medications. They are in their 80’s. Damn. 😞 

My parents are going over next month to visit them. I’m very worried. 
 

Oh no. I’m so sorry. I hope they both recover well, it’s so hard to feel so helpless.

DH’s longtime colleague and friend in Germany just came back to work. He’d been out over a month. He and wife were both vaccinated (fully for four months), older teen was vaccinated, and youngest was not. Youngest brought it home from school—school tests daily, everyone else is at home. All but older teen were very, very ill. Older teen was symptomatic but not bad. Wife, younger kid and DH’s friend/colleague were extremely ill. It was confirmed to be Delta.

 

[history-fan]

Cases are really rising fast here. The newspaper headline was how the hospital is full and the news channel lead is "We are at the crisis level of 2020 but without the same level of covid precautions in place"    And even with that info the only place requiring masks are Dr's offices.      

[Longtime Lurker]

9 hours ago, Ottakee said:

Nothing concrete.  Just that director is in close contact with the health department. knowing the staff that is out, students that are out, and over run hospitals, I think we see this coming.

 

That makes sense. Thanks!

[wathe]

Our county has announced that they will announce new public health measures next week.

(They love to announce that they will be making an announcement.  Makes me nuts.  Just make a decision already!)

[Faith-manor]

And in more brain bleeding news, tonight was the last of three performances of "Chicago and All That Jazz" put on by the music and theater departments of the local high school. They sold 600 tickets, 200 per night for a venue that has seating for 250. No mask mandate. The school had more than 50 students out with covid in the high school building which is about 10% of the student body. One singer reportedly performed with a face shield (no mask) because she is still getting over covid. I know the gal who was the pianist. She signed the contract to do it back in August when cases were low and felt obligated to stick with it for the sake of the kids. She called to tell me that she could count the number of audience members with masks on her fingers.

I figure 5-7 days from now, the town is going to be very sick.

Mayo has the county listed as a hotspot at 67.1 cases per 100,000 daily. Probable cases here doubled in just two days. And Mayo is wrong. It is worse than that. 52,000 people in this county, 149 new cases in two days, and the county EMS director says most people are not testing so they are catching only the cases that come into urgent care, ER, or work jobs that require testing.

But here is what is breaking my heart the most. The director of Dispatch announced he is done. He no longer wants to serve in a community in which no one seems to care about this, in which the county commissioners are evil to anyone who stands up about it, and where there is so little respect for EMS. 1/3 of the staff walked off the job with him. He literally resigned with no notice. Just done, exhausted, and at his rope's end.  They will all be able to get jobs in other counties, but now we operate with a skeleton crew and no director. People will call 911, and they aren't going to get an answer because the call volume is going to bizarrely exceed the staffing to handle it. They waited until the end of shift, and then bam.

The two local supermarkets discontinued curbside pick up. I am driving outside my county, about 45 minutes one way, to get groceries. I was supposed to go get my eyes checked, and I desperately need new contacts and glasses. But, I canceled my Dec. 1st appointment because by then this is going to be a dog eat dog, Dark Ages, effing plague of epic proportions and far worse than any previous outbreaks. I just can't imagine my mask and Moderna being able to overcome this, and I am so looking forward to Christmas. I am not willing to keep the appointment and then end up really sick or worse.

And I am really struggling with how much I hate the general public at this point.

One small good thing, very small. People are getting a bit nervous, and 1st dose vaccination rate went up from 39%-48.4% in just 10 days. It isn't enough to shake a stick at. But I just hold out the last measure of hope I can find today that this wave of running to get vaxed will continue until we get some good numbers. However that is probably folly.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Faith-manor

[TravelingChris]

On 11/11/2021 at 9:30 AM, TexasProud said:

Because this just isn't making sense to me. At the height of the Delta surge when hospitals were overwhelmed, my community did nothing. I mourned the fact that no masks at the schools and high schoolers meeting and hugging little elementary kids at the door. Packed high school games. Packed community events and yet our rates have continued to fall and fall until now when the community spread is nearly nil DESPITE the fact that no one took any precautions at all.  I have sat over the last month and watch PACKED college football games on tv in our state with no masks at all and yet our rates continue to fall.  Scientifically, this makes no sense to me. Being as careless as they are, according to this board, and heck according to everything I have read the rates should be horrible. I just don't understand.  I continue to mask, but I am not sure why at this point and my husband has ditched his masks other than in high traffic areas. We still wear them in stores and at big church services, but he doesn't wear them to committee meetings or doing his work in the community unloading and loading stuff.  Because of my mom, I wear them everywhere, but I am the only one and feel rather foolish to be honest.

I figure a lot of people have had Covid but never gotten tested.  Plus the football games are outdoors.

I don't wear masks unless required.  And I am high risk. But I have decided that I have had three shots.  And since we are older, and both had parents die in their early 60s, we aren't going to miss out doing everything.  I went to the U. of Al football game two days ago. It was outside, we were all vaccinated, and are all back on a city where if we get Covid, we would get Monoclonal antibodies.  Since this may well be the only Al football game I ever go to in person, I didn't want to miss the chance.  ( My dentist gave me his tickets). 

We had high Covid in July through part of September but it is back to being fairly low again.

 

[Farrar]

Looked again. Averaging 80 cases a day in the city. I wish it would go down to the levels over the summer when it was hovering around 10 a day. But the test positivity rate is still leveled off just above 1% and we do test a LOT. You can pick up free take home tests and drop them off. I know a number of people doing that pretty routinely.

[ktgrok]

Didn't read all the posts, but here things are much better. Staying at 3% positivity or less, down from highs of 20%. Hospitalizations are way down, etc. I really think a lot of it is that those not willing to vaccinate have already been infected - which isn't perfect protection but certainly is significant protection! And for 90 days at least is very very good protection and I think we are still in that window of time. @TexasProud I bet your area is experiencing something similar - our areas tend to follow the same trend. 

Its nice feeling like we can do masked outdoor things, or have vaccinated family over unmasked, etc right now. Need it to hold off as I get the kids vaccinated!

Edited November 15, 2021 by ktgrok

[Dmmetler]

6 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Didn't read all the posts, but here things are much better. Staying at 3% positivity or less, down from highs of 20%. Hospitalizations are way down, etc. I really think a lot of it is that those not willing to vaccinate have already been infected - which isn't perfect protection but certainly is significant protection! And for 90 days at least is very very good protection and I think we are still in that window of time. @TexasProud I bet your area is experiencing something similar - our areas tend to follow the same trend. 

Its nice feeling like we can do masked outdoor things, or have vaccinated family over unmasked, etc right now. Need it to hold off as I get the kids vaccinated!

It's kind of a trade off. We're seeing that in TN where the counties that had put in mask mandates/restrictions through the Delta surge are now having a smaller, secondary surge a few weeks after the mandates were lifted (mine being one of them). And, you see comments at the state level (where the state legislature just passed a bunch of stuff that will prevent cities and counties from putting in mandates based on local conditions) that "see, this proves it wasn't needed, because we didn't and now their numbers are worse than ours.

 

And I can only think that it's due to the fact that those areas now have a higher percentage of people who CAN get infected, and who have now dropped masking and are. 

 

I'm not planning to drop my mask, even with my three Pfizer doses yet. I'm mentally aiming for Martin Luther King Day. That will be long enough after the "Happy Holidays" season to see what is happening. I deliberately set my start date for Spring semester after that point, too. 

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

It's kind of a trade off. We're seeing that in TN where the counties that had put in mask mandates/restrictions through the Delta surge are now having a smaller, secondary surge a few weeks after the mandates were lifted (mine being one of them). And, you see comments at the state level (where the state legislature just passed a bunch of stuff that will prevent cities and counties from putting in mandates based on local conditions) that "see, this proves it wasn't needed, because we didn't and now their numbers are worse than ours.

 

And I can only think that it's due to the fact that those areas now have a higher percentage of people who CAN get infected, and who have now dropped masking and are. 

 

I'm not planning to drop my mask, even with my three Pfizer doses yet. I'm mentally aiming for Martin Luther King Day. That will be long enough after the "Happy Holidays" season to see what is happening. I deliberately set my start date for Spring semester after that point, too. 

OH yeah, I mean, the trade off is we had way more sick and dead people in order to get to this lower rate. Hardly worth it. 

[RootAnn]

To the question in the OP:  My area looks like, "Covid? That was so 2020!"

Very few masks. No distancing. Activities on like normal.

Dd#2's college supposedly requires masks but DD says more & more kids are in class without one & no one says anything. They are reporting 1 or 2 positives per week with free testing but only on certain limited days & times. Very tiny campus, like 1,000 students on campus (and another 1,000 online).

[Syllieann]

5 hours ago, Dmmetler said:

It's kind of a trade off. We're seeing that in TN where the counties that had put in mask mandates/restrictions through the Delta surge are now having a smaller, secondary surge a few weeks after the mandates were lifted (mine being one of them). And, you see comments at the state level (where the state legislature just passed a bunch of stuff that will prevent cities and counties from putting in mandates based on local conditions) that "see, this proves it wasn't needed, because we didn't and now their numbers are worse than ours.

 

And I can only think that it's due to the fact that those areas now have a higher percentage of people who CAN get infected, and who have now dropped masking and are. 

 

I'm not planning to drop my mask, even with my three Pfizer doses yet. I'm mentally aiming for Martin Luther King Day. That will be long enough after the "Happy Holidays" season to see what is happening. I deliberately set my start date for Spring semester after that point, too. 

I'm not sure how relevant it is to what's happening by you, but my county seat implemented a mask mandate and the county next to us didn't.  The schools for both counties did have mandates.  The covid cautious from the non-mandate county made a point to go do their errands in the county with a mandate and the covid minimizers in the mandated-county made a point to do their errands (changing churches too!) in the non-mandated county.  Rates are nearly identical in the counties, but I think the non mandate county is where most out-of-home transmission is occurring but the cases are reported in the county of residence.

[Faith-manor]

My morning included a phone call from my mom who was crying really hard. One of her closest friends in this whole world, someone who has been a huge support for her but whom she has not been able to see since March 2020 because they adopted the "liberals are making it up" covid is a hoax stance and refuse to mask, distance, vaccinate, meet outside, was put on a ventilator this morning. She and her husband got it at their very large, anti-precautions church in Grand Rapids who is having its third wave outbreak and still refuses to cancel services or do anything. Husband was quite sick, but came through with oxygen and breathing treatments at home. She went down the tubes rapidly. The doctors have told the family she has a less than 5% chance of coming off the vent. One of their children called my mom to let her know. Mom is heartbroken, just bereft. There is nothing I can do to console her.

These folks are honorary aunt and uncle to my sister who is much younger than me. When my dad was dying of cancer, they came here numerous times to help, and then after he died, helped us get the business ready for sale and auction of contents. I feel very numb one second, raging angry the next, and then profoundly sad immediately after in thr this vicious cycle.  It is not even remotely safe for us to go to Grand Rapids, hold their kids close, and cry together. She is going to die alone in that hospital with her kids and husband saying goodbye on a zoom call. Her husband is beside himself, weak as sheep and in despair that they didn't believe it was real and could happen to them. My sister is inconsolable and cannot come home from France to at least be here with mom and I.

I have cried buckets today. More than I cried for my own grandparents or father.

All of the covid deniers who keep running off their damn mouths and prattling effing conspiracy theories can go to hell today! I am just beyond done.

The husband has expressed his desire to die now too. I don't know if he will hurt himself or not, but if dying of a broken heart is a thing, then I suspect that is in the near future for him.

My only consolation is dh got his Pfizer booster the other day, my mom had her Moderna booster last week, ds3 and I have our boosters this coming Saturday, Dd and hubby have their boosters, and thank the universe, our five year old grandson got his Pfizer this morning and my mother in law on team JnJ got a Pfizer at lunch. The other two adult sons have another month before they qualify for a booster, and that leaves our two year old grandson. Everyone is doing a hunker down beginning Dec. 10 when all the bachelor college uncles (1 undergrad in dorms, 2 grad school but living alone) come here to form a pod so we can all spend Christmas together in Alabama at the new house.

Together. Today that word means more to me than any other. This day sucks to the utter limit.

[regentrude]

@Faith-manor I am sorry for the grief this causes your family. 

I saw my oldest best friend here in Germany. She just lost one of her closest friends,  whom I remember fondly from our teenage days. Covid. Our age, a doctor, unvaccinated (and actively anti vax). Leaves 4 kids. Makes me so angry.

[Faith-manor]

Just now, regentrude said:

@Faith-manor I am sorry for the grief this causes your family. 

I saw my oldest best friend here in Germany. She just lost one of her closest friends,  whom I remember fondly from our teenage days. Covid. Our age, a doctor, unvaccinated (and actively anti vax). Leaves 4 kids. Makes me so angry.

💔

[MEmama]

oh, @Faith-manor

((hugs)).

I am devastated for you and yours. There are no words to this madness. 😞 

[MEmama]

And @regentrude. Sending you both many virtual ((hugs)).

[Faith-manor]

The Saturday, Sunday, Monday covid count for Michigan is 21,034 and 95 new deaths.

Genessee County, the only county anywhere close to me with a mask mandate for schools, is rescinding the mask mandate on Dec. 22.

I have thoughts about the above information, none of which are fit for print here.

[melmichigan]

14 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

The Saturday, Sunday, Monday covid count for Michigan is 21,034 and 95 new deaths.

Genessee County, the only county anywhere close to me with a mask mandate for schools, is rescinding the mask mandate on Dec. 22.

I have thoughts about the above information, none of which are fit for print here.

We have no mandates!  It's unreal.  I had IV this morning so I got to overhear the overview for the nurses this morning including census.  Our inpatient is climbing.  

[Faith-manor]

38 minutes ago, melmichigan said:

We have no mandates!  It's unreal.  I had IV this morning so I got to overhear the overview for the nurses this morning including census.  Our inpatient is climbing.  

I am so sorry you had to hear that! It is insane, and if one has to be at the hospital for a procedure, absolutely nerve wrecking!

My guess with my mom's friend is that as soon as her daughter gets there from Minnesota, they will discontinue life support. Her condition has deteriorated throughout the day.