I heard on the radio this morning that, according to new CDC guidelines, 90% of Americans no longer need to wear masks.
Brilliant. But then they have not been stellar to date so why change now
I have heard directly and indirectly from a number of superintendents and principals. Now that the mask requirement has been lifted in schools ….Some kids wear masks. Some do not. One kid with a mask can be with another kid without a mask. No bullying. Thank heavens. The overriding comment from every one was that kids for the most part just …did….not….care. We know there are very valid reasons for some. It is a shame the kids handled and continue to handle masks better than the adults. But it is not a surprise. It always bothers me when adults muck up what is a really good learning experience for kids
And speaking of schools. The numbers in school are going down for students. The last week went up slightly for staff
That said, In the past 15 days 11,280 students and 2,448 staff have had covid. It is very important to remember that students and staff are now testing at home and those positives are not close to being consistently reported if at all. So these numbers are a false flag. It is also important to remember the 1 out of 100 long term covid tweet I posted several days ago
It might also be helpful to mention that from October to June 2020 there were 14,137 student and 6,184 staff positives. That is 9 months compared to 15 days
I heard on the news recently that more than 50%+ of Americans have had Covid-19 at one time or another. I am grateful that I am in the minority in that category (so far). Pretty scary especially those included were vaccinated I assume.
I have had the same thought.
Are you feeling 100% now?
Today’s news is a mixed bag. Downward trend in cases, hospitalizations (around 40k nationwide; that’s down by 110k in 6 weeks), and deaths (now at 1,750 a day) continues.
But, there’s an emerging trend in the usual forerunner hotspots – eg, NYC – that BA.2 is in exponential growth territory.
Don’t discount BA.2. It’s causing a modest rise in cases and hospital admissions in the UK, a moderate increase in the Netherlands and Sweden, and a dramatic increase in Hong Kong and a few other places. It’s 30% more transmissible, can cause reinfections (though rare, they say – I’m a skeptic), and may be slightly more virulent than BA.1 (jury is still out).
If authorities wait until a wave is in progress to: a. Reinstitute mask mandates; and b. Promote boosters, I’ll choke on my morning coffee. I especially don’t understand why boosters are not being promoted more vigorously among the vulnerable. Still have many nursing home residents who haven’t been boosted, and even more >65 who haven’t. I simply don’t understand this. Our booster rate is the lowest by far among wealthy, industrialized nations. Why?
What is the source of those numbers you mentioned for student/staff cases in the past 15 days? They are about 5x higher than what I’ve seen reported elsewhere for the period 2/17-3/2.
“From Feb. 17 through March 2, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported that 2,395 students and 689 staff members tested positive for COVID-19.”
The source is DESE. If you look at my link, it has the exact same number of your source. Plus of course the two weeks before which is what I said were three week totals.
The link is down now but every number for every week of this school year and last is listed here. I’ve been posting a spreadsheet where every number DESE has given is recorded.
Remember 2/17 to 3/2 is only five school days. I believe I put a reminder in that in my link. School vacation was in the middle. The numbers I give include 15 school days
Also. Please note my comment re the inaccuracy of the DESE totals due to student home testing now which is rarely, if ever, reported
Bob. The site will be down through the weekend apparently. These are the screen shots of the three school week (15 in school days) I gave in my link (above). I do appreciate your asking. I am very careful to be accurate but also can make mistakes. Please just let me know if you have more questions
I thought about this in the night and realize why I was not clear. DESE reports every Thursday. I think of each 7 day reporting period as 5 days. Non school days can’t be counted as in school cases. My error was saying 15 days and not 15 in school days. I am sorry that my wording was confusing will be more careful in the future.
C-19 for 3-5 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Thanks TK.
I heard on the radio this morning that, according to new CDC guidelines, 90% of Americans no longer need to wear masks.
Brilliant. But then they have not been stellar to date so why change now
I have heard directly and indirectly from a number of superintendents and principals. Now that the mask requirement has been lifted in schools ….Some kids wear masks. Some do not. One kid with a mask can be with another kid without a mask. No bullying. Thank heavens. The overriding comment from every one was that kids for the most part just …did….not….care. We know there are very valid reasons for some. It is a shame the kids handled and continue to handle masks better than the adults. But it is not a surprise. It always bothers me when adults muck up what is a really good learning experience for kids
And speaking of schools. The numbers in school are going down for students. The last week went up slightly for staff
That said, In the past 15 days 11,280 students and 2,448 staff have had covid. It is very important to remember that students and staff are now testing at home and those positives are not close to being consistently reported if at all. So these numbers are a false flag. It is also important to remember the 1 out of 100 long term covid tweet I posted several days ago
https://imgur.com/a/2nbq6qX
It might also be helpful to mention that from October to June 2020 there were 14,137 student and 6,184 staff positives. That is 9 months compared to 15 days
I heard on the news recently that more than 50%+ of Americans have had Covid-19 at one time or another. I am grateful that I am in the minority in that category (so far). Pretty scary especially those included were vaccinated I assume.
I have had the same thought.
Are you feeling 100% now?
Today’s news is a mixed bag. Downward trend in cases, hospitalizations (around 40k nationwide; that’s down by 110k in 6 weeks), and deaths (now at 1,750 a day) continues.
But, there’s an emerging trend in the usual forerunner hotspots – eg, NYC – that BA.2 is in exponential growth territory.
Don’t discount BA.2. It’s causing a modest rise in cases and hospital admissions in the UK, a moderate increase in the Netherlands and Sweden, and a dramatic increase in Hong Kong and a few other places. It’s 30% more transmissible, can cause reinfections (though rare, they say – I’m a skeptic), and may be slightly more virulent than BA.1 (jury is still out).
If authorities wait until a wave is in progress to: a. Reinstitute mask mandates; and b. Promote boosters, I’ll choke on my morning coffee. I especially don’t understand why boosters are not being promoted more vigorously among the vulnerable. Still have many nursing home residents who haven’t been boosted, and even more >65 who haven’t. I simply don’t understand this. Our booster rate is the lowest by far among wealthy, industrialized nations. Why?
What is the source of those numbers you mentioned for student/staff cases in the past 15 days? They are about 5x higher than what I’ve seen reported elsewhere for the period 2/17-3/2.
“From Feb. 17 through March 2, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported that 2,395 students and 689 staff members tested positive for COVID-19.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2022/03/covid-cases-among-massachusetts-public-school-students-drop-below-2400-for-period-that-includes-february-vacation.html%3foutputType=amp
The source is DESE. If you look at my link, it has the exact same number of your source. Plus of course the two weeks before which is what I said were three week totals.
https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/positive-cases/
The link is down now but every number for every week of this school year and last is listed here. I’ve been posting a spreadsheet where every number DESE has given is recorded.
Remember 2/17 to 3/2 is only five school days. I believe I put a reminder in that in my link. School vacation was in the middle. The numbers I give include 15 school days
https://imgur.com/a/2nbq6qX
Also. Please note my comment re the inaccuracy of the DESE totals due to student home testing now which is rarely, if ever, reported
Bob. The site will be down through the weekend apparently. These are the screen shots of the three school week (15 in school days) I gave in my link (above). I do appreciate your asking. I am very careful to be accurate but also can make mistakes. Please just let me know if you have more questions
https://imgur.com/a/xxDrvBq
I thought about this in the night and realize why I was not clear. DESE reports every Thursday. I think of each 7 day reporting period as 5 days. Non school days can’t be counted as in school cases. My error was saying 15 days and not 15 in school days. I am sorry that my wording was confusing will be more careful in the future.
C-19 for 3-5 is ready.