10 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – December 18 2020”
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – or the more things change the more they stay the same. See newspaper clipping in link below.
We had our share of physician quacks 100 years ago declaring the Spanish Flu was just a bad cold. In fact, these ignorant people went further – asserting that “weather conditions” contributed to the severity of the colds people were experiencing. And yes, you guessed it, these folks were opposed to restrictions designed to limit the spread.
I would be curious though if restaurants, bars, nightclubs, churches, etc. were under any “restrictions” per se like with this one today. And what about schools?
Crazy Joshua
Southern CA ICUs have reached zero capacity. I chatted with Macs brother this am about something unrelated but we both had seen this news today. He has written crisis care manuals for his hospital clients along with his disaster plans. He was absolutely astounded that our restaurants are open for either eat in or outdoor but maybe I am wrong. Are our restaurants still serving indoor meals? Outdoor meals?
Indoor dining still available but just barely, at 40% capacity I believe. Most owners are NOT pleased with the recent new restrictions by Gov. Baker at all.
National media says Ma has done more testing per capita than any other state. And yet it is far from easy to get.
I saw an interview with a doctor and she said that she couldn’t get an appointment for testing until next month.
These testing sites should be available 24/7 (except for severe weather like yesterday). I guess staffing them would be an issue though.
Again nothing from baker re schools except there is no evidence of spread in schools. That, my friends, is either a bald faced lie or simple ignorance. We are full remote because of proven spread in the school. Framingham and others are as well. With nearly 1000 combined teacher and student positives in the past six days, how the heck does he not think some of that spread.
And this is the kicker. Schools have an increased number of teachers quarantining. Sooooooo in-person learning can now have an aid sitting in the classroom while in-person students learn from the quarantined teachers at his or her home. In some cases multiple grades at higher levels sit in the auditorium and learn from a remote teacher.
Vicki, Massachusetts ranks high on the testing per capita chart, but not as high as Alaska and Rhode Island.
Reviewing the data this week, here are the main highlights:
– Global daily death toll reached a record 13,500 earlier this week. The global death count had been declining slightly last week, but has resumed its upward trend this week. Reasons for this include the dramatic increase in deaths in the U.S. 7-day average is now over 2,600 (!), exceeding the worst days of the 1st wave. But, equally important are the stubbornly high daily death tolls in Italy, the U.K., and Germany. Cases in Italy are in decline, but the case fatality rate is very high (may be the highest of all industrialized nations).
– Cases in Europe remain elevated almost everywhere. Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and he U.K. have the highest number of cases per capita. Only Sweden’s case numbers are as high as the U.S. Our let it rip policy is in full swing. Given that we’ve inoculated a grand total of 1.1 million people in one week, we’re not exactly vaccinating our way out of this pandemic yet. That’ll take a lot more time.
– High hospitalization rates (coupled with healthcare capacity issues in a number of regions) and deaths have led to hard lockdowns across the European Continent. These will last until mid January and are the harshest yet imposed in a number of countries, including Germany and the Netherlands. In these two countries, all non-essential businesses are closed – from virtually all retail stores except grocery stores and pharmacies, to gyms, to museums, to restaurants and cafes/bars,
.
– U.K. is lifting restrictions for a brief period around the Christmas holiday.
– Perhaps the biggest reason many states, including Massachusetts, are reluctant to shut down businesses is the lack of federal funding and adequate support systems for small businesses, employees, and the unemployed. To illustrate, while Germany guarantees all small businesses (and large ones, too, through separate programs) will remain going concerns with up to 90% of projected revenues and wages given to business owners and employees, the U.S. has no such program in place. What we do have is relatively meager, and expiring the day after Christmas. What’s proposed and being hammered out in Congress is underwhelming and short-lived (3 months; as if in 3 months the pandemic will be over – I’m very skeptical about that).
– Jobless claims are up for the 3rd straight week, closing in on 900,000 for the week. Millions of others have simply left the labor force altogether since July (especially women; this is really tragic and is yet another sign of the gross inequality between men and women in the labor market). Understandably, Governors are concerned about these numbers, and don’t want to shut down – even partially – without federal guarantees of assistance.
C-19 for 12-19 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – or the more things change the more they stay the same. See newspaper clipping in link below.
We had our share of physician quacks 100 years ago declaring the Spanish Flu was just a bad cold. In fact, these ignorant people went further – asserting that “weather conditions” contributed to the severity of the colds people were experiencing. And yes, you guessed it, these folks were opposed to restrictions designed to limit the spread.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46965411/the-wichita-beacon/
I would be curious though if restaurants, bars, nightclubs, churches, etc. were under any “restrictions” per se like with this one today. And what about schools?
Crazy Joshua
Southern CA ICUs have reached zero capacity. I chatted with Macs brother this am about something unrelated but we both had seen this news today. He has written crisis care manuals for his hospital clients along with his disaster plans. He was absolutely astounded that our restaurants are open for either eat in or outdoor but maybe I am wrong. Are our restaurants still serving indoor meals? Outdoor meals?
Indoor dining still available but just barely, at 40% capacity I believe. Most owners are NOT pleased with the recent new restrictions by Gov. Baker at all.
National media says Ma has done more testing per capita than any other state. And yet it is far from easy to get.
I saw an interview with a doctor and she said that she couldn’t get an appointment for testing until next month.
These testing sites should be available 24/7 (except for severe weather like yesterday). I guess staffing them would be an issue though.
Again nothing from baker re schools except there is no evidence of spread in schools. That, my friends, is either a bald faced lie or simple ignorance. We are full remote because of proven spread in the school. Framingham and others are as well. With nearly 1000 combined teacher and student positives in the past six days, how the heck does he not think some of that spread.
And this is the kicker. Schools have an increased number of teachers quarantining. Sooooooo in-person learning can now have an aid sitting in the classroom while in-person students learn from the quarantined teachers at his or her home. In some cases multiple grades at higher levels sit in the auditorium and learn from a remote teacher.
Philip, to answer your question on closures and social distancing during the Spanish Flu, yes, these standard public health measures were implemented across the U.S. Masks became universally worn in many cities, especially during the 2nd wave. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/how-cities-flattened-curve-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-coronavirus/
Vicki, Massachusetts ranks high on the testing per capita chart, but not as high as Alaska and Rhode Island.
Reviewing the data this week, here are the main highlights:
– Global daily death toll reached a record 13,500 earlier this week. The global death count had been declining slightly last week, but has resumed its upward trend this week. Reasons for this include the dramatic increase in deaths in the U.S. 7-day average is now over 2,600 (!), exceeding the worst days of the 1st wave. But, equally important are the stubbornly high daily death tolls in Italy, the U.K., and Germany. Cases in Italy are in decline, but the case fatality rate is very high (may be the highest of all industrialized nations).
– Cases in Europe remain elevated almost everywhere. Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and he U.K. have the highest number of cases per capita. Only Sweden’s case numbers are as high as the U.S. Our let it rip policy is in full swing. Given that we’ve inoculated a grand total of 1.1 million people in one week, we’re not exactly vaccinating our way out of this pandemic yet. That’ll take a lot more time.
– High hospitalization rates (coupled with healthcare capacity issues in a number of regions) and deaths have led to hard lockdowns across the European Continent. These will last until mid January and are the harshest yet imposed in a number of countries, including Germany and the Netherlands. In these two countries, all non-essential businesses are closed – from virtually all retail stores except grocery stores and pharmacies, to gyms, to museums, to restaurants and cafes/bars,
.
– U.K. is lifting restrictions for a brief period around the Christmas holiday.
– Perhaps the biggest reason many states, including Massachusetts, are reluctant to shut down businesses is the lack of federal funding and adequate support systems for small businesses, employees, and the unemployed. To illustrate, while Germany guarantees all small businesses (and large ones, too, through separate programs) will remain going concerns with up to 90% of projected revenues and wages given to business owners and employees, the U.S. has no such program in place. What we do have is relatively meager, and expiring the day after Christmas. What’s proposed and being hammered out in Congress is underwhelming and short-lived (3 months; as if in 3 months the pandemic will be over – I’m very skeptical about that).
– Jobless claims are up for the 3rd straight week, closing in on 900,000 for the week. Millions of others have simply left the labor force altogether since July (especially women; this is really tragic and is yet another sign of the gross inequality between men and women in the labor market). Understandably, Governors are concerned about these numbers, and don’t want to shut down – even partially – without federal guarantees of assistance.
C-19 for 12-19 is ready.