The comment thread and different readings taken are interesting too. Why don’t we do this routinely. Also, do schools and offices do this?
Our grand niece has covid. She was trick or treating with 5 UNvaccinated children while she was TOTALLY vaccinated.
Go figure. 4 of the other 5 have it as well. Thankfully, she is experiencing mild symptoms. Her Mom is an RN, so hopefully they will take all of the proper precautions.
If you are with UNvaccinated persons, the risk is there even
if vaccinated.
Oh dear. I’ll keep her in my thoughts. My youngest keeps reminding me that every started to ramp up after Halloween last year.
My son had over 200 downstairs. We’re just waiting.
Wow. My granddaughters went with each other and one friend. The wore masks and stayed distanced. Kids here had the haunted house inside. But I put candy out and we had big numbers
Front line health workers in Britain will now be required to be vaccinated. ….according to the NYT
What took so long??????????????????????????
Agree
Thanks TK.
Thank you for sharing the story of your grand niece, JPD.
A few things to report today:
– The U.S. is now clearly in resurgent mode, unfortunately. Don’t say you weren’t forewarned. My weather predictions suck. But, on Covid, I’ve been right a few times (maybe just luck, or perhaps just observing what’s going on around us in the world). I said that case decline would stall by the end of October and begin their ascent in the first 10 days of November. Even here in Massachusetts the test positivity rate has quietly ticked up to over 2%. Still quite low, which is good, but rising, indicating problems ahead.
– Europe is in a very tough phase as restrictions are reimposed, due to an alarming rise in cases, but also hospitalizations (and deaths, at this point). The Netherlands is canceling many outdoor events, including the famous St. Nicholas parade – when children welcome St. Nicholas to the Netherlands (he lives in Spain) for 3 weeks prior to his birthday on the 5th of December, when he returns home on a steamship. The Dutch are also already canceling Carnaval celebrations (akin to Mardi Gras) scheduled for February.
– The UK’s descent in new daily cases has stopped. A plateau has been reached of around 38k cases a day (and 1000 new hospitalizations a day). Way, way too high. Could very well ascend from here. It’s noticeable that deaths continue to rise. Now above 200 a day (7-day average) for the first time in 8 months.
– As noted yesterday, many states have much lower testing than Massachusetts. For example, Alabama; between 4 and 5 times fewer tests. Given that, the new pills – while welcome from the perspective of treatment availability – will do little or nothing to reduce deaths in states with such low testing numbers. In order for the pills to be effective they must be taken very early after contracting the virus. This is why Biden/Congress should have included free rapid tests (3x a month) to all Americans for the foreseeable future as part of the infrastructure package. It would be a very small price to pay for a very large return on investment. Instead, we’re doing what Americans do best: Being extraordinarily inefficient in our healthcare delivery system.
Thank you for your excellent information
If we knew here weeks ago that the surges Europe was experiencing would come here, how do those whom we rely on not see it? How many times does something have to repeat for these folks to learn.
Thanks as always Joshua. 🙂
Thank you. Frankly, I am really disappointed in the way the Biden administration has handled things lately. Far better than trump, but it could be so much better.
I am for some things also; but as I read or skim daily posts from Heather Cox Richardson, I am overwhelmed with what he has on his plate ……needlessly and deliberately in far too many instances. HCR has lost some respect also as she seems to be unable to see any flaws.
I haven’t heard any formal announcements but I imagine the traditional New Year’s Eve gathering in Times Square in NYC will resume again.
Thousands of folks huddled together in one setting out-of-doors for a number of hours with no vaccination proofs required. What can go wrong?? Yikes!!
Also, I haven’t heard about First Night here in Boston. Have you heard anything about that Joshua?
Frankly I really thought trick-or-treating outdoors would be perfectly safe. Now I wonder.
Sorry about your niece JPD. Hope she continues to recover.
With regard to the COVID-19 spread yesterday at the Curry Elementary School in JP (K-8) I do wonder now if trick-or-treating contributed to it.
Based on what I saw, I would say ABSOLUTELY!
I don’t think there’s any appetite for closures or mitigation measures of any kind here in the U.S. There isn’t even a green pass system in most states and cities, let alone a consistent contact tracing system, or consistent availability of testing and test sites.
Exhibit A is New Mexico, perhaps. A blue state, by the way. it’s experiencing a surge in hospitalizations (similar to Colorado). Hospital directors are upset. Some have urged for more measures to be reintroduced. Besides a mask mandate indoors – that isn’t enforced, by the way – more mitigation won’t happen.
If it were up to me, I would add a green pass system and crowd/capacity limits at indoor venues of all kinds. But it’s not up to me.
Joshua, I agree re green pass. We see how it has worked in WA and CA bay area. I don’t know how many states have the system in place. I believe NYC had proof of vaccination for restaurants. I don’t know how many states. I’ll have to check.
Restaurants alone would be some good incentive for folks To be vaccinated.
We also need a better proof of covid card.
Making an appointment for a booster isn’t as bad as for the vaccine, but it isn’t seamless. It took me an hour. I do have one for November 18….not an ideal day for me, but I didn’t want to delay. You have to book online. With my preferred pharmacy, they only give booking options a week out. My second choice books two weeks out.
Very similar situation for me. It wasn’t nearly as hard as in the spring, but still took a while, and I’m not able to go to my preferred pharmacy.
I’m getting boosted in part because I think the rules will change soon regarding proof of vaccination. I do not think that having 2 doses of an mRNA will count as being fully vaccinated by next spring. And so, for travel purposes, it will be helpful to have the 3rd dose. I’d like to see my daughter again in England at some point in early 2022, given that she can’t come here at Christmas.
By the way, my daughter’s best friend in England is quite sick with Covid. She’s fully vaccinated and 28, but still got very ill. It’s been 10 days of fever/cough already but she is apparently “on the mend” as the British say.
Oh no Joshua. So sorry to hear your daughter’s friend is very ill with full vaccine.
The massive surge across Europe is concerning on multiple levels, several of which are being discussed by people like Topol and others. But, others are not being discussed, I believe for fear of raising levels of vaccine resistance.
First, the rolling rally of the coronavirus continues. It won’t just impact Europe and Central Asia. It will (already is) impact(ing) North America, then South America, Africa, etc … It is after all a rolling rally, and not a fun one with duck boats.
Second, herd immunity is totally and completely out the door, unless we pin all our hopes on Israel (but I don’t, not unless the nation repels the next surge in spite of relaxing mitigation and travel restrictions).
Third, the vaccines do NOT work as well as advertised. Period. Full stop. They’re still good. Very glad we have them. But, they’re doing a relatively mediocre job at preventing infections. And even in terms of preventing severe disease it’s not as good as CDC wants us desperately to believe. While it’s much better to be vaccinated, waning immunity is a serious and ongoing problem which we can’t pinpoint in people without antibody tests. The fact that current hospitalizations – ones occurring in October and November – in the Netherlands are now approaching 50/50 in terms of fully vaccinated/unvaccinated should give anyone pause.
Walensky has a very tough job on her hands. She doesn’t want the vaccine hesitant to remain hesitant. But, she also should report on data – updated and in real time. CDC has a tendency to report outdated data to support its premises. For many months it maintained that less than 3% of hospitalizations were fully vaccinated folks. This was massaging the data at best, and misleading at worst. I’d prefer that Walensky (and Pfizer’s Bourla, for that matter) be frank and honest about vaccines, the need to continue to mitigate, to boost (everyone!), and to provide free tests to everyone in order to ensure that the Covid-19 pills can be used optimally.
Early on I suspected something wasn’t quite right with the official numbers on Pfizer and other vaccines’ efficacy. In February of this year, my former brother-in-law, 63, was vaccinated, but contracted a very bad case of Covid from his brother (73, who was unvaccinated). Both had to be hospitalized. My former sister-in-law’s daughter, 29, got a bad case of Covid (not hospitalized) in NYC in March 2020. Was fully vaccinated early this year, and then in April got sick again (not hospitalized). So, the fact that my daughter’s best friend in London got sick in spite of being vaccinated doesn’t surprise me. In most cases, the Covid would have been worse if unvaccinated. In fact, my brother-in-law’s brother spent weeks in hospital, while my brother-in-law spent only a couple of days.
MA numbers … not great. Cases have risen 35% in one week, with a rather alarming number of breakthrough cases. Not surprising to me, but somehow this surprises the authorities. Test positivity is going up, too. I consider 3% a threshold of sorts. We’re not there yet, but will likely be there by next week. Hospitalizations had been dipping gradually for weeks, but have resumed their increase. Deaths fluctuate between 10 and 25 every day. If you are in a vulnerable group and have not been boosted, I urge you to be cautious and try and get a booster as soon as possible.
I was boosted today.
Good, TK. I’m very glad you were able to get a booster.
It’s about time TK! I believe I was the very first booster here. I got it on 9/1 and so far I still feel fine. I get mandatory tested at work (Mass. Art) every other week. Got the results this morning and still continues “negative”. Whew!
TK – Has your mother been boosted yet as well?
Early next week.
Nice job! How do you feel? I forget. Was your mom also?
Early next week.
I am about 20 hours in and my arm is sore very much like the first 2 times. So far, no other side effects that I can tell.
C-19 for 11-11 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Interesting comment re indoor air. For the life of me, I do not understand why masks are not mandatory in every indoor setting
https://twitter.com/masks4allcanada/status/1457778874771644416?s=21
There ya go
The comment thread and different readings taken are interesting too. Why don’t we do this routinely. Also, do schools and offices do this?
Our grand niece has covid. She was trick or treating with 5 UNvaccinated children while she was TOTALLY vaccinated.
Go figure. 4 of the other 5 have it as well. Thankfully, she is experiencing mild symptoms. Her Mom is an RN, so hopefully they will take all of the proper precautions.
If you are with UNvaccinated persons, the risk is there even
if vaccinated.
Oh dear. I’ll keep her in my thoughts. My youngest keeps reminding me that every started to ramp up after Halloween last year.
My son had over 200 downstairs. We’re just waiting.
Wow. My granddaughters went with each other and one friend. The wore masks and stayed distanced. Kids here had the haunted house inside. But I put candy out and we had big numbers
Front line health workers in Britain will now be required to be vaccinated. ….according to the NYT
What took so long??????????????????????????
Agree
Thanks TK.
Thank you for sharing the story of your grand niece, JPD.
A few things to report today:
– The U.S. is now clearly in resurgent mode, unfortunately. Don’t say you weren’t forewarned. My weather predictions suck. But, on Covid, I’ve been right a few times (maybe just luck, or perhaps just observing what’s going on around us in the world). I said that case decline would stall by the end of October and begin their ascent in the first 10 days of November. Even here in Massachusetts the test positivity rate has quietly ticked up to over 2%. Still quite low, which is good, but rising, indicating problems ahead.
– Europe is in a very tough phase as restrictions are reimposed, due to an alarming rise in cases, but also hospitalizations (and deaths, at this point). The Netherlands is canceling many outdoor events, including the famous St. Nicholas parade – when children welcome St. Nicholas to the Netherlands (he lives in Spain) for 3 weeks prior to his birthday on the 5th of December, when he returns home on a steamship. The Dutch are also already canceling Carnaval celebrations (akin to Mardi Gras) scheduled for February.
– The UK’s descent in new daily cases has stopped. A plateau has been reached of around 38k cases a day (and 1000 new hospitalizations a day). Way, way too high. Could very well ascend from here. It’s noticeable that deaths continue to rise. Now above 200 a day (7-day average) for the first time in 8 months.
– As noted yesterday, many states have much lower testing than Massachusetts. For example, Alabama; between 4 and 5 times fewer tests. Given that, the new pills – while welcome from the perspective of treatment availability – will do little or nothing to reduce deaths in states with such low testing numbers. In order for the pills to be effective they must be taken very early after contracting the virus. This is why Biden/Congress should have included free rapid tests (3x a month) to all Americans for the foreseeable future as part of the infrastructure package. It would be a very small price to pay for a very large return on investment. Instead, we’re doing what Americans do best: Being extraordinarily inefficient in our healthcare delivery system.
Thank you for your excellent information
If we knew here weeks ago that the surges Europe was experiencing would come here, how do those whom we rely on not see it? How many times does something have to repeat for these folks to learn.
Thanks as always Joshua. 🙂
Thank you. Frankly, I am really disappointed in the way the Biden administration has handled things lately. Far better than trump, but it could be so much better.
I am for some things also; but as I read or skim daily posts from Heather Cox Richardson, I am overwhelmed with what he has on his plate ……needlessly and deliberately in far too many instances. HCR has lost some respect also as she seems to be unable to see any flaws.
I haven’t heard any formal announcements but I imagine the traditional New Year’s Eve gathering in Times Square in NYC will resume again.
Thousands of folks huddled together in one setting out-of-doors for a number of hours with no vaccination proofs required. What can go wrong?? Yikes!!
Also, I haven’t heard about First Night here in Boston. Have you heard anything about that Joshua?
Frankly I really thought trick-or-treating outdoors would be perfectly safe. Now I wonder.
Sorry about your niece JPD. Hope she continues to recover.
With regard to the COVID-19 spread yesterday at the Curry Elementary School in JP (K-8) I do wonder now if trick-or-treating contributed to it.
Based on what I saw, I would say ABSOLUTELY!
I don’t think there’s any appetite for closures or mitigation measures of any kind here in the U.S. There isn’t even a green pass system in most states and cities, let alone a consistent contact tracing system, or consistent availability of testing and test sites.
Exhibit A is New Mexico, perhaps. A blue state, by the way. it’s experiencing a surge in hospitalizations (similar to Colorado). Hospital directors are upset. Some have urged for more measures to be reintroduced. Besides a mask mandate indoors – that isn’t enforced, by the way – more mitigation won’t happen.
If it were up to me, I would add a green pass system and crowd/capacity limits at indoor venues of all kinds. But it’s not up to me.
Joshua, I agree re green pass. We see how it has worked in WA and CA bay area. I don’t know how many states have the system in place. I believe NYC had proof of vaccination for restaurants. I don’t know how many states. I’ll have to check.
Restaurants alone would be some good incentive for folks To be vaccinated.
We also need a better proof of covid card.
Making an appointment for a booster isn’t as bad as for the vaccine, but it isn’t seamless. It took me an hour. I do have one for November 18….not an ideal day for me, but I didn’t want to delay. You have to book online. With my preferred pharmacy, they only give booking options a week out. My second choice books two weeks out.
Very similar situation for me. It wasn’t nearly as hard as in the spring, but still took a while, and I’m not able to go to my preferred pharmacy.
I’m getting boosted in part because I think the rules will change soon regarding proof of vaccination. I do not think that having 2 doses of an mRNA will count as being fully vaccinated by next spring. And so, for travel purposes, it will be helpful to have the 3rd dose. I’d like to see my daughter again in England at some point in early 2022, given that she can’t come here at Christmas.
By the way, my daughter’s best friend in England is quite sick with Covid. She’s fully vaccinated and 28, but still got very ill. It’s been 10 days of fever/cough already but she is apparently “on the mend” as the British say.
Oh no Joshua. So sorry to hear your daughter’s friend is very ill with full vaccine.
The massive surge across Europe is concerning on multiple levels, several of which are being discussed by people like Topol and others. But, others are not being discussed, I believe for fear of raising levels of vaccine resistance.
First, the rolling rally of the coronavirus continues. It won’t just impact Europe and Central Asia. It will (already is) impact(ing) North America, then South America, Africa, etc … It is after all a rolling rally, and not a fun one with duck boats.
Second, herd immunity is totally and completely out the door, unless we pin all our hopes on Israel (but I don’t, not unless the nation repels the next surge in spite of relaxing mitigation and travel restrictions).
Third, the vaccines do NOT work as well as advertised. Period. Full stop. They’re still good. Very glad we have them. But, they’re doing a relatively mediocre job at preventing infections. And even in terms of preventing severe disease it’s not as good as CDC wants us desperately to believe. While it’s much better to be vaccinated, waning immunity is a serious and ongoing problem which we can’t pinpoint in people without antibody tests. The fact that current hospitalizations – ones occurring in October and November – in the Netherlands are now approaching 50/50 in terms of fully vaccinated/unvaccinated should give anyone pause.
Walensky has a very tough job on her hands. She doesn’t want the vaccine hesitant to remain hesitant. But, she also should report on data – updated and in real time. CDC has a tendency to report outdated data to support its premises. For many months it maintained that less than 3% of hospitalizations were fully vaccinated folks. This was massaging the data at best, and misleading at worst. I’d prefer that Walensky (and Pfizer’s Bourla, for that matter) be frank and honest about vaccines, the need to continue to mitigate, to boost (everyone!), and to provide free tests to everyone in order to ensure that the Covid-19 pills can be used optimally.
Early on I suspected something wasn’t quite right with the official numbers on Pfizer and other vaccines’ efficacy. In February of this year, my former brother-in-law, 63, was vaccinated, but contracted a very bad case of Covid from his brother (73, who was unvaccinated). Both had to be hospitalized. My former sister-in-law’s daughter, 29, got a bad case of Covid (not hospitalized) in NYC in March 2020. Was fully vaccinated early this year, and then in April got sick again (not hospitalized). So, the fact that my daughter’s best friend in London got sick in spite of being vaccinated doesn’t surprise me. In most cases, the Covid would have been worse if unvaccinated. In fact, my brother-in-law’s brother spent weeks in hospital, while my brother-in-law spent only a couple of days.
MA numbers … not great. Cases have risen 35% in one week, with a rather alarming number of breakthrough cases. Not surprising to me, but somehow this surprises the authorities. Test positivity is going up, too. I consider 3% a threshold of sorts. We’re not there yet, but will likely be there by next week. Hospitalizations had been dipping gradually for weeks, but have resumed their increase. Deaths fluctuate between 10 and 25 every day. If you are in a vulnerable group and have not been boosted, I urge you to be cautious and try and get a booster as soon as possible.
I was boosted today.
Good, TK. I’m very glad you were able to get a booster.
It’s about time TK! I believe I was the very first booster here. I got it on 9/1 and so far I still feel fine. I get mandatory tested at work (Mass. Art) every other week. Got the results this morning and still continues “negative”. Whew!
TK – Has your mother been boosted yet as well?
Early next week.
Nice job! How do you feel? I forget. Was your mom also?
Early next week.
I am about 20 hours in and my arm is sore very much like the first 2 times. So far, no other side effects that I can tell.
C-19 for 11-11 is ready.