Canada has announced one year ban on cruise ships (Hope: safe, guidelines)

[Metlakatla]

Just so you guys know, most of the cruises up through the Inside Passage and back begin and end in Vancouver. That means that people from all over the world fly into Vancouver, stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and whatever for a day or so before their ship sets sail and after it returns to port while waiting to fly back home.

With the new variants just beginning to gain traction, I'm not against the ships taking another year off.

ETA it's not only going to affect SE. The interior land tours won't happen this year either.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Well, this should ensure that the border will stay closed, for a long, long, long time. Canada would be nuts to reopen the border, under these conditions.



‘Uncharted territory’_ Cheers, deep frustration as Alaska loses state COVID-19 emergency declaration - Anchorage Daily News

Yes, it will be interesting. Juneau just dropped down to level 1 advisory for coronavirus. It's on the retreat pretty much everywhere nationwide. Yesterday only 40 new cases in Alaska. Our vaccination rate is the highest in the country. Also:
2h
"We've probably got protective immunity in about 40% of the public," says
@ScottGottliebMD
. "The spring and the summer will be relatively quiescent."

[Arktikos]

By HNN Staff | February 18, 2021 at 11:02 AM HST - Updated February 18 at 11:02 AM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii has been ranked the second safest state in the country during the pandemic, according to a new survey by Wallethub.

The survey compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia, basing their rankings on the rates of vaccinations, infections, hospitalizations, deaths and transmissions.

Using these five metrics, Wallethub scored Hawaii as number one for low positive testing rates and low hospitalizations due to contracting the virus. The state was ranked second for the least amount of deaths, eighth for transmission rate and rated as average for administering vaccinations.

According to the survey, Alaska was given the number one spot as the safest state during the pandemic.

Ohio, South Carolina, and New York were given the lowest ranks.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

By HNN Staff | February 18, 2021 at 11:02 AM HST - Updated February 18 at 11:02 AM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii has been ranked the second safest state in the country during the pandemic, according to a new survey by Wallethub.

The survey compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia, basing their rankings on the rates of vaccinations, infections, hospitalizations, deaths and transmissions.

Using these five metrics, Wallethub scored Hawaii as number one for low positive testing rates and low hospitalizations due to contracting the virus. The state was ranked second for the least amount of deaths, eighth for transmission rate and rated as average for administering vaccinations.

According to the survey, Alaska was given the number one spot as the safest state during the pandemic.

Ohio, South Carolina, and New York were given the lowest ranks.

It also puts North Dakota as the 4th safest state, despite the crazy high COVID-19 rate in North Dakota. North Dakota is ranked #11 for deaths per million, and #1 for total cases per million, but they rank it as the 4th safest state.

That list is complete BS, but if it makes you feel good to believe it... Believe what you want. Alaska is reasonably safe from COVID-19, but it is not the safest.

[Frostnip]

That survey looks like a textbook example of what happens when you "analyze" stats without considering context.

Alaska has a lower Covid-19 death rate and hospitalization rate primarily because people who are medically fragile don't tend to stay here. That doesn't make it "safer" for any random joe schmo. We're not doing anything extra to keep people alive or prevent infection compared to other states.* We just have a lower percentage of our population in the highest risk categories for Covid hospitalization and/or death. Alaska has one of the lowest median ages in the US, ranking 51 out of 56 states/territories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_median_age

*with the recent exception of the better-than-average vaccination rollout...but even so, we haven't yet vaccinated enough of the population to make a typical person safer, nor does a typical person here have access to the vaccine.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Alaska has a lower Covid-19 death rate and hospitalization rate primarily because people who are medically fragile don't tend to stay here.

That's true, and it's true of most of the states with a comparatively lower covid mortality rate. I created a table of states that included percentage of residents in nursing homes and covid mortality rate. Other than a few very rural states that ranked low on mortality, it tracked pretty closely - states with a high percentage of nursing home residents had a comparatively high mortality rate, states with a low percentage of nursing home residents had a comparatively low mortality rate.

For all the ink that's been spilled talking about each state's response to covid and its effect on the state's mortality rate, the mortality rate has basically come down to how many vulnerable people live in each state. Very little to do with government actions. I'm sure government actions had some effect around the edges, but it wasn't the primary driver of outcome.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

It also puts North Dakota as the 4th safest state, despite the crazy high COVID-19 rate in North Dakota. North Dakota is ranked #11 for deaths per million, and #1 for total cases per million, but they rank it as the 4th safest state.

That list is complete BS, but if it makes you feel good to believe it... Believe what you want. Alaska is reasonably safe from COVID-19, but it is not the safest.

It looks to me like the title of the article is grossly misleading, since they're only using 6 days of data!

It should say: Safest states presently, in which case it may be fairly accurate.

Yeah, you "Believe what you want" too.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

That survey looks like a textbook example of what happens when you "analyze" stats without considering context.

Alaska has a lower Covid-19 death rate and hospitalization rate primarily because people who are medically fragile don't tend to stay here. That doesn't make it "safer" for any random joe schmo. We're not doing anything extra to keep people alive or prevent infection compared to other states.* We just have a lower percentage of our population in the highest risk categories for Covid hospitalization and/or death. Alaska has one of the lowest median ages in the US, ranking 51 out of 56 states/territories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_median_age

*with the recent exception of the better-than-average vaccination rollout...but even so, we haven't yet vaccinated enough of the population to make a typical person safer, nor does a typical person here have access to the vaccine.

Maine and Vermont are two of the oldest states, yet their death rates are near the top for being best.

Low population, lack of large cities and isolation are beneficial factors too.

[Arktikos]

Story on APM radio this morning suggested that it's a possibility Canada could "change their minds" in the months to come, if pandemic appears to be collapsing. CDC guidelines for cruise ships during Covid require substantial changes that the Cruise lines are scrambling to adopt.

Regardless of how 2021 pans out, just about everyone is expecting an especially big year in 2022.

[alaskaflyer]

It will be interesting to see how "pent up demand" affects any number of industries and activities. For example, will there be a giant fire sale on RV's and yachts and horses, all of which are in short supply at the moment as people spent the last year finding recreational activities that they could do with little pandemic interference but then tire of, or else return to their normal vacation programs and city dwellings? Time will tell.