Coronavirus in Massachusetts (restaurants, buses, bars)

[BostonMike7]

I know a lot of teachers personally (due to wife and family) and i'm not joking when I say it's a behind the scenes ****show trying to figure out everything in time to return to school full time. Every school system was doing something different so trying to get "back to normal" has been a challenge. There's no real guidance coming from the top other than "get back in class".

[htfdcolt]

Still think it's irresponsible to lift indoor dining restrictions, when we have only ~20% who have been partially vaccinated! Hope we don't see another resurgence.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/...ng-rise-cases/

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Still think it's irresponsible to lift indoor dining restrictions, when we have only ~20% who have been partially vaccinated! Hope we don't see another resurgence.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/...ng-rise-cases/

People shouldn't imagine that the pandemic is over, even if the trend is good now, and the vaccination program is making progress. There are a number of scenarios under which things get significantly worse - chiefly from abandoning public health measures and the rise of Covid-19 viral variants which are less susceptible to the current vaccines. It's good to patronize restaurants, but better to do that by ordering takeout.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

Still think it's irresponsible to lift indoor dining restrictions, when we have only ~20% who have been partially vaccinated! Hope we don't see another resurgence.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/...ng-rise-cases/

It is completely incomprehensible to me to risk another wave so close to widespread vaccination. Especially as outdoor dining season is about to become a reality again (60s next week). With spring break travel and widespread elimination of covid restrictions, I don't see how we can avoid fueling a resurgence (from a pretty high plateau to begin with).

[msRB311]

There are loads of people who still haven't been vaccinated yet. I guess the good thing is many if not most of the higher risk people are.

My dad lost a college friend to covid this week. He was 75.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by msRB311

There are loads of people who still haven't been vaccinated yet. I guess the good thing is many if not most of the higher risk people are.

My dad lost a college friend to covid this week. He was 75.

Well - RI still hasn't even *started* high-risk people under 65 yet (except in a few high density communities). And conditions like obesity and high blood pressure are not included under their definition of high risk. So while another wave of infections may not lead to another huge wave of deaths, it will likely still lead to a lot of hospitalizations and long-term complications (including likely a shortened life span in the long-run - which our governors surely are not considering in the trade-off). Also - with the US wide open (when did MA last have no occupancy limits in restaurants, say?), and the variants taking off, who knows, really (look at Brazil right now!). It is also particularly cruel to catch covid and risk death or disability just a month or two before you could be protected - just so that people can eat and drink indoors when it's 60 outside.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by rach5

It is completely incomprehensible to me to risk another wave so close to widespread vaccination. Especially as outdoor dining season is about to become a reality again (60s next week). With spring break travel and widespread elimination of covid restrictions, I don't see how we can avoid fueling a resurgence (from a pretty high plateau to begin with).

You have to add that there's a half million MA residents who have tested positive and have some amount of immunity plus an unknown amount of people who never got tested. It's only going to get tougher for it to spread unless a variant pops up that can break through that.

Now wiping it out completely is going to take some work.

[msRB311]

Covid was basically non existent last summer if I recall? I mean it was there but cases were very low. I'm guess will have the same kind of summer but even better since more people will be getting vaccinated. I still don't know about large venues or groups of people being packed in one place (trains, buses, bars, restaurants) but I do think it will be a better summer than the last one.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

You have to add that there's a half million MA residents who have tested positive and have some amount of immunity plus an unknown amount of people who never got tested. It's only going to get tougher for it to spread unless a variant pops up that can break through that.

Now wiping it out completely is going to take some work.

Hmm, the Brazil variant already breaks through prior infection...the South African also does, to some extent.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by rach5

Hmm, the Brazil variant already breaks through prior infection...the South African also does, to some extent.

I suspect that one of both of those was the cause of the second wave. Another variant is definitely possible though.