Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Newburyport: home, university, deed)

[rach5]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Err. BC is 17 per 100,000. Massachusetts is 28 per 100,000. Your hyperbole doesn’t align with the data. BC has real public health. They just pulled the plug on Whistler. The New England ski resorts are all open despite having higher infection rates. Canada finally has vaccines. They’re likely to hit herd immunity in June. The United States may never get there because of the 40% who have fallen into the Fox News vortex. Americans are unlikely to be allowed into Canada without a vaccine passport. I don’t blame them.

Ha - I know. BC is still setting pandemic records for their province, which is what I meant. They just put the breaks on before they reach our sort of daily calamity of illness and deaths. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...ount-1.5975494!! (Which, yes, is embarrassing for us, for sure - the world will never look at us in the same way ever again). I agree- Canada has public health - as does much of Europe (some places where restaurants haven't had indoor seating in 4+ months at all).

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by redplum33

I'm not convinced either. Approximately 40% of new cases are variants, and I believe the % is expected to keep going up. The current vaccines should protect you against the UK variant, but I don't know about the others (Brazil, New York, etc.).

I think it's irresponsible to say 100% effective.

Apparently, the most concerning variant is now the one from India. It's popped up in CA now.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Err. BC is 17 per 100,000. Massachusetts is 28 per 100,000. Your hyperbole doesn’t align with the data. BC has real public health. They just pulled the plug on Whistler. The New England ski resorts are all open despite having higher infection rates. Canada finally has vaccines. They’re likely to hit herd immunity in June. The United States may never get there because of the 40% who have fallen into the Fox News vortex. Americans are unlikely to be allowed into Canada without a vaccine passport. I don’t blame them.

"Real public health" doesn't protect anyone from getting COVID, of course. Or, allegedly, even half the Vancouver Canucks.

Would vaccine distribution here be considered real public health? I'd argue it is. We have widespread free testing and free vaccines, and other than the massive queue to get jabbed and not enough supply, I don't know of any bureaucratic or financial barriers between patients and vaccines.

[bizcuit]

Well, I am happy to say that I am now in possession of an appointment (this Friday). It will be a 30 minute drive from home, but I am so relieved to finally have it on the calendar!

[mdovell]

With respects to public health initially last year I thought the US would be the worst off...but at this point looking at europe and other areas we aren't. I've seen a ton of ads from the one.org pretty much arguing that the developing world is getting vaccines before the rest. It's going to be a long time before we see the same immigration from Africa. I met plenty back in the day in the Boston area going specifically for education. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, South Africa etc.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by mdovell

With respects to public health initially last year I thought the US would be the worst off...but at this point looking at europe and other areas we aren't. I've seen a ton of ads from the one.org pretty much arguing that the developing world is getting vaccines before the rest. It's going to be a long time before we see the same immigration from Africa. I met plenty back in the day in the Boston area going specifically for education. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, South Africa etc.

I have kept track of a region in Europe that was hit early and hard, and is still struggling to get sufficient vaccines, but the deaths per capita compared to RI (same size) are like 1/5. Ditto for the number of cases. No comparison, really. Restaurants haven't been open in months except for take-out, they've had real lockdowns periodically, people are provided free N95 equivalent masks and easy access to tests, people who can't work are financially supported, etc. Yes - they are getting the vaccine a bit later, but I suspect ex post, they will still come out far ahead - especially once we realize the full impact and cost of long covid. I am rather envious of their response (which has been far from perfect).
Of course we aren't the worst off. But considering that we are amongst the richest nations in the world, our response has been one big and embarrassing failure overall.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by rach5

I have kept track of a region in Europe that was hit early and hard, and is still struggling to get sufficient vaccines, but the deaths per capita compared to RI (same size) are like 1/5. Ditto for the number of cases. No comparison, really. Restaurants haven't been open in months except for take-out, they've had real lockdowns periodically, people are provided free N95 equivalent masks and easy access to tests, people who can't work are financially supported, etc. Yes - they are getting the vaccine a bit later, but I suspect ex post, they will still come out far ahead - especially once we realize the full impact and cost of long covid. I am rather envious of their response (which has been far from perfect).
Of course we aren't the worst off. But considering that we are amongst the richest nations in the world, our response has been one big and embarrassing failure overall.

The EU problem was that they weren't proactive like the United States in securing a vaccine supply. The US threw money at the problem. There's also the Oxford-AstraZeneca glitch where the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine is not to the level of Pfizer. The US had weak Federal leadership during the Trump year of the pandemic but the vaccine part was significantly better than the bureaucratic mess in Europe. The UK after Brexit just got on with it and vaccinated everyone. In that specific case, a more nimble independent country handled the vaccine issue better than the bloated bureaucracy.



Now, we just need to make vaccination not be a political issue. The message from day one should have been flag waving and civic duty to keep 'Murica economically strong by having everyone vaccinated so we could declare ourselves #1.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Now, we just need to make vaccination not be a political issue. The message from day one should have been flag waving and civic duty to keep 'Murica economically strong by having everyone vaccinated so we could declare ourselves #1.

Exactly! Using all tools in our tool box, including vaccinations.

[Boston Shudra]

Looks like we're in the clear, guys!

[msRB311]

is this really in the clear?

https://www.boston.com/news/coronavi...y-april-5-2021