[Tyryztoll]

Asa has waded too far into the GOP swamp for my tastes of late, but this is still great news regardless. Once Sarah is Governor a year from now you can expect to see Kristi Noem level common sense applied to this entire fiasco at long last. The media will immediately go after all the governors attempting to free up their states of course, so we're about to find out who's for real and who isn't in correlation. Kristi Noem is a rock star and an inspiration for how this should have been handled across the board.

https://apnews.com/article/public-he...4cff2800f3b1e0

[Hollynla]

Good to hear, this can only go on for so long. Cases have been down considerably lately but I do think covid is here to stay for the most part. We can't restrict businesses and wear masks forever.

[CraigCreek]

How is vaccination coming along in Arkansas? Are most of those eligible getting their shots, or is there still a lot of (unfounded) fear about the vaccine? According to the article linked above, the infection rate is still around 10%, though cases are dropping, thankfully.

Here in Kentucky, where our governor has been very involved in keeping our population as safe as possible, that rate has dropped to 5.52%, and nursing home cases and deaths have plunged. This clearly is due to most nursing home residents and much of the staff having been fully vaccinated- they were at the front of the line back in January, as they were the most vulnerable, and this abrupt change is proof that the vaccines work.

However, as public schools start in-person classes again (just this past week in my community), more and more cases among children are being detected, resulting in classes and their teachers and other staff who may have come into contact with the (probably asymptomatic) children being quarantined. Teachers and school staff have had the vaccine made available to them for the last five weeks or so, but some are still not yet two weeks out from their booster shots. And sadly, some declined to get vaccinated and perhaps some others were unable to get the shots for other reasons.

All children in school are masked and get their temperatures checked each day before they enter the public schools in my area - and only kindergarten through second grade children are presently going to school in person (other levels will be added gradually, a few each week). They eat lunches delivered to their classrooms and only come in contact with the children in their own class - they don't mix with other classes on the playground. Many schools have installed plexiglass barriers around three sides of the desks, and teachers are strongly advised to have all their pupils face in the same direction. Hands get washed regularly. Water fountains are off-limits - individual water bottles are used instead.

Everyone is delighted to have the younger children back in the classroom, but it's not all good, as these previously undetected cases of Covid-19 have emerged.

To have these unexpected and unsuspected cases turn up within just a few days of schools reopening is sobering. Nine elementary schools in my community have been affected thus far - and classes just resumed last Tuesday. So several hundred children and I would assume, their families, are presently quarantined, along with their teachers and anyone else who came into contact with the infected children. I hope when spring comes, it will be possible to move more classes outside, to lessen the danger. But that's still several weeks away for Kentucky.

Overall, however, things are looking encouraging, as the state pushes vaccination and opens many more vaccination sites to increase accessibility to all Kentuckians.

As for me, I got my booster last week (shots were being given to the large crowd of those 70+, teachers and school personnel) as fast as they could be given). I am counting the days - eight to go - until I can loosen my self-imposed limits a careful degree and catch up with postponed household repairs and updates, and personal maintenance and a little entertainment. Making a list and checking it twice!

I don't plan to travel out of state for the next couple of months, and hope that will provide enough time for Covid-19 to simmer down in the places I'd like to go.

So - it's cautious optimism for me, here where I live, right now. I'd be more prone to travel out-of-state if I knew those other states were exerting similar caution in reopening rather than flinging said caution to the winds prematurely, and letting 'er rip. That includes Arkansas, where I'd love to experience some of its always-beautiful spring once again. So I'll keep an eye on things during the weeks ahead, and act accordingly.

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

Good to hear, this can only go on for so long. Cases have been down considerably lately but I do think covid is here to stay for the most part. We can't restrict businesses and wear masks forever.

Covid, in one form or another will be with us for several months, at least. I have been watching some things, and will say more in a couple weeks.

(I discussed this with some of my friends and family, in my personal "intel" news letter, and I can send the regulars who know me, a copy in a DM, if they want to know what I am talking about.)

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

...

However, as public schools start in-person classes again (just this past week in my community), more and more cases among children are being detected, ...

To have these unexpected and unsuspected cases turn up within just a few days of schools reopening is sobering. Nine elementary schools in my community have been affected thus far - and classes just resumed last Tuesday. ...

Since this is "spreading" faster than the incubation time would allow, I would bet your schools are the victim of false positive tests. The most popular test has a 30% false positive rate, and TPTB know it, but they still use it.

[CraigCreek]

Originally Posted by TRex2

Covid, in one form or another will be with us for several months, at least. I have been watching some things, and will say more in a couple weeks.

(I discussed this with some of my friends and family, in my personal "intel" news letter, and I can send the regulars who know me, a copy in a DM, if they want to know what I am talking about.)

Since this is "spreading" faster than the incubation time would allow, I would bet your schools are the victim of false positive tests. The most popular test has a 30% false positive rate, and TPTB know it, but they still use it.

Could be - time will tell if the children and school-affiliated adults who tested positive are actually ill or not. Hence the quarantine - even if this proves to be caused by the 30% false positive rate you cite, the schools won't (and shouldn't) take the chance of these being actual Covid-19 cases.

Just got off the phone with a very cautious biologist friend who has followed Covid-19 developments closely. She expects to still take some precautions for another year, although she got her second Moderna vaccine ten days ago - said she now could do essentials like trips to the dentist and calling a plumber, but wouldn't feel safe eating out or even getting carry-out for some time. She did say she would plan picnics with neglected friends once the weather warms up. She will continue to teach college virtually, from her home, this summer and next fall, as she has done for the last year.

I also plan to continue caution, though not quite as much so as my friend. I might eat on a restaurant's patio or deck but not inside, for example. And I've picked up carry-out or had pizza delivered throughout the pandemic, with no ill effects - thus far, at least.

Like me, my friend is concerned about the variants that are being found in widely scattered places - variants which may not be blocked by the current vaccines. They present a real problem.

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

...
Just got off the phone with a very cautious biologist friend who ...

I have a few things that raise my risk level quite a bit, should I get this virus, but I made peace with my maker, some years back. (See Romans 8:28) He can take me when He wants to. Or leave me here, if He still has things for me to do. (See Ephesians 2:10)
Doing that makes life a whole lot easier.
(I just have to be sure to look for what He wants me to do.)

Like me, my friend is concerned about the variants that are being found in widely scattered places - variants which may not be blocked by the current vaccines. They present a real problem.

Yes, it is the variants that were discussed in the news letter.
(Specific ones, not all of them.)
And some math.

[jimnelson1]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

Good to hear, this can only go on for so long. Cases have been down considerably lately but I do think covid is here to stay for the most part. We can't restrict businesses and wear masks forever.

My wife thinks masks will be with us forever. Personally I feel like an Asian in the airport wearing the silly things. As soon as the CDC admitted that they were inflating covid deaths by 1600%, many of us could see this for the sham it is.

I wish our RINO governor would go all the way and dump the mask mandate. Or at least change it so it's an individual responsibility and not the responsibility of the business owner to make sure his customers comply.

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by jimnelson1

My wife thinks masks will be with us forever. Personally I feel like an Asian in the airport wearing the silly things. As soon as the CDC admitted that they were inflating covid deaths by 1600%, many of us could see this for the sham it is.

I wish our RINO governor would go all the way and dump the mask mandate. Or at least change it so it's an individual responsibility and not the responsibility of the business owner to make sure his customers comply.

Governor said the mask mandate should end by the end of March.

[jimnelson1]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

Governor said the mask mandate should end by the end of March.

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

Governor said the mask mandate should end by the end of March.

Somehow, I expect the federal government to get involved in some way.