I spoke to my brother a bit ago. He lives in NH. He is disgusted by Sununu. There is more but… His wife is a cancer survivor. She has had most of one lung removed. They were not able to have a vaccine until March 16 and just had their second. And now sununu is opening some NH vaccine locations to Massachusetts.
Mask order lifted but individual businesses can still insist on customers to wear masks. I wonder about major supermarkets?
It will be interesting if the major supermarket chains and department stores will still insist on masks there.
I think that most will. But maybe that’s wishful thinking.
I’m unsure what the strategy is of governors who lift mask mandates (that were never enforced to begin with). There’s an understandable desire to be done with the pandemic. I think that this plays a role. But, governors need to be mindful of data. So long as there’s significant excess mortality, case and hospitalization numbers remain elevated, it’s best to take precautions.
The Dutch PM extended his country’s lockdown (not the strictest of lockdowns, by the way, but stricter than any we in the U.S. have had) until the middle of May. The PM is a conservative, libertarian, who initially was opposed to all forms of lockdown. But, he changed his mind. If I had to hazard a guess I’d say the Netherlands will still have some restrictions all summer, including little or no international travel. The situation there isn’t improving, in spite of a vaccination campaign that has accelerated a bit in recent weeks. Same applies in many European nations. Could it change for the better soon? Yes. But, it would have to change rather dramatically to allow for international travel this summer.
I do also.
An estimated 40,000 young children have lost a parent to Covid-19.
37,300 to 43,000 range
Just horrific
Not to mention the number of “adult” children who have lost a parent. I can only imagine those stats.
Didn’t President Biden order all 50 states to “mask up” right after he was sworn into office?
Biden can recommend that everyone wear a mask, but he’s very limited in his authority to order a mandate. Note, it does apply at Amtrak stations and in Amtrak trains, most airports (most are partly federally financed and under some kind of federal authority), post offices (another federal facility), and federal offices and facilities of all kinds, including VA, all federal government departments.
Thanks Vicki and Joshua.
U.S. government is unique in terms of its separation of powers, but also the autonomy of states and even locales. The vast majority of countries do not have this. Even when they do grant provinces or states some autonomy, it’s much more limited than in the U.S. When I lived in Europe I would often tell friends and colleagues there that my local leaders – whether the mayor of Boston or the governor of Massachusetts – have much more influence over my daily life than the President.
Joshua, are you still feeling confident about your trip to the UK this summer? I think you said August?
Our trip to London starts June 4th, and to complicate things, I need to apply for a visa as we are giving notice to get married. The turnaround time on the visa is 3 weeks, but they were down to one biometric appointment per day (at noon) last October, so that added time to the process. It’s submit applications -have biometrics done (photo and fingerprints)- send passport to NYC – wait. I did start the application process in October, and ended up canceling and getting my money back. It’s probably the strategy I need to take this time.
More confident than I was for last fall’s trip, which I had to cancel.
Still not much clarity around quarantine and whether proof of vaccination will override need to do tests and quarantine.
i do hope for you that everything works out. Hope you get the visa soon. I do think that by June things in England will be much better than they were during the winter months, and much better than the conditions on the continent of Europe.
Photo I.D. will no longer be required to get a vaccine in MA as long as the person has an appointment. When I received my first shot, I do recall showing my drivers license at least twice including the nurse giving me the shot.
I believe I heard that any vaccination site that insists on an I.D. will face serious consequences, if I understood correctly.
That just seems odd
Canadian critical care physician explains eloquently the situation in Toronto, as it impacts the socioeconomically disadvantaged (just as it has here, disproportionately): https://twitter.com/iamSas/status/1383133041892147205
As we continue to vaccinate at a steady clip, we’re nevertheless seeing evidence of a ripple/wave. Nationwide, cases and hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been in 7 or 8 weeks. Deaths are in the 800 to 1,000 range on a daily basis on weekdays; lower on weekends. I’m hopeful we can turn the tide with more vaccinations. But it’s going to take some time.
Globally, we’re not in a good place, as cases and hospitalizations are nearing their January peak. In January I did not think this would happen. Deaths are also rising worldwide, though it doesn’t appear they’ll quite make it to the levels seen in early January. But it’s not out of the question. https://twitter.com/CIDRAP/status/1383162745403670530
Schools are on the same sad track. In the month of February there was a total of 2,531 combined students and staff positives.
For the week of April 8 through April 14….last week…the combination was 1,279
Remember the first is a MONTH with one week of vacation. The second is a WEEK with kids back in school. We are increasing each week. And I believe the school cases are under reported even if they are not….that is a number better than 50 percent in a week than previously in a month
But covid doesn’t spread in schools. These over a thousand cases just happen to show up with it
Did I mention that month of February was the highest count this year
C-19 for 4-17 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
I spoke to my brother a bit ago. He lives in NH. He is disgusted by Sununu. There is more but… His wife is a cancer survivor. She has had most of one lung removed. They were not able to have a vaccine until March 16 and just had their second. And now sununu is opening some NH vaccine locations to Massachusetts.
Mask order lifted but individual businesses can still insist on customers to wear masks. I wonder about major supermarkets?
It will be interesting if the major supermarket chains and department stores will still insist on masks there.
I think that most will. But maybe that’s wishful thinking.
I’m unsure what the strategy is of governors who lift mask mandates (that were never enforced to begin with). There’s an understandable desire to be done with the pandemic. I think that this plays a role. But, governors need to be mindful of data. So long as there’s significant excess mortality, case and hospitalization numbers remain elevated, it’s best to take precautions.
The Dutch PM extended his country’s lockdown (not the strictest of lockdowns, by the way, but stricter than any we in the U.S. have had) until the middle of May. The PM is a conservative, libertarian, who initially was opposed to all forms of lockdown. But, he changed his mind. If I had to hazard a guess I’d say the Netherlands will still have some restrictions all summer, including little or no international travel. The situation there isn’t improving, in spite of a vaccination campaign that has accelerated a bit in recent weeks. Same applies in many European nations. Could it change for the better soon? Yes. But, it would have to change rather dramatically to allow for international travel this summer.
I do also.
An estimated 40,000 young children have lost a parent to Covid-19.
37,300 to 43,000 range
Just horrific
Not to mention the number of “adult” children who have lost a parent. I can only imagine those stats.
Didn’t President Biden order all 50 states to “mask up” right after he was sworn into office?
Or was that just a suggestion? I forget.
I think it can apply just to federal employees
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-the-federal-workforce-and-requiring-mask-wearing/
Indeed. Vicki is right.
Biden can recommend that everyone wear a mask, but he’s very limited in his authority to order a mandate. Note, it does apply at Amtrak stations and in Amtrak trains, most airports (most are partly federally financed and under some kind of federal authority), post offices (another federal facility), and federal offices and facilities of all kinds, including VA, all federal government departments.
Thanks Vicki and Joshua.
U.S. government is unique in terms of its separation of powers, but also the autonomy of states and even locales. The vast majority of countries do not have this. Even when they do grant provinces or states some autonomy, it’s much more limited than in the U.S. When I lived in Europe I would often tell friends and colleagues there that my local leaders – whether the mayor of Boston or the governor of Massachusetts – have much more influence over my daily life than the President.
Joshua, are you still feeling confident about your trip to the UK this summer? I think you said August?
Our trip to London starts June 4th, and to complicate things, I need to apply for a visa as we are giving notice to get married. The turnaround time on the visa is 3 weeks, but they were down to one biometric appointment per day (at noon) last October, so that added time to the process. It’s submit applications -have biometrics done (photo and fingerprints)- send passport to NYC – wait. I did start the application process in October, and ended up canceling and getting my money back. It’s probably the strategy I need to take this time.
More confident than I was for last fall’s trip, which I had to cancel.
Still not much clarity around quarantine and whether proof of vaccination will override need to do tests and quarantine.
i do hope for you that everything works out. Hope you get the visa soon. I do think that by June things in England will be much better than they were during the winter months, and much better than the conditions on the continent of Europe.
Photo I.D. will no longer be required to get a vaccine in MA as long as the person has an appointment. When I received my first shot, I do recall showing my drivers license at least twice including the nurse giving me the shot.
I believe I heard that any vaccination site that insists on an I.D. will face serious consequences, if I understood correctly.
That just seems odd
Canadian critical care physician explains eloquently the situation in Toronto, as it impacts the socioeconomically disadvantaged (just as it has here, disproportionately): https://twitter.com/iamSas/status/1383133041892147205
As we continue to vaccinate at a steady clip, we’re nevertheless seeing evidence of a ripple/wave. Nationwide, cases and hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been in 7 or 8 weeks. Deaths are in the 800 to 1,000 range on a daily basis on weekdays; lower on weekends. I’m hopeful we can turn the tide with more vaccinations. But it’s going to take some time.
Globally, we’re not in a good place, as cases and hospitalizations are nearing their January peak. In January I did not think this would happen. Deaths are also rising worldwide, though it doesn’t appear they’ll quite make it to the levels seen in early January. But it’s not out of the question. https://twitter.com/CIDRAP/status/1383162745403670530
Schools are on the same sad track. In the month of February there was a total of 2,531 combined students and staff positives.
For the week of April 8 through April 14….last week…the combination was 1,279
Remember the first is a MONTH with one week of vacation. The second is a WEEK with kids back in school. We are increasing each week. And I believe the school cases are under reported even if they are not….that is a number better than 50 percent in a week than previously in a month
But covid doesn’t spread in schools. These over a thousand cases just happen to show up with it
Did I mention that month of February was the highest count this year
C-19 for 4-17 is ready.