Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Springfield, Bourne, Gill: move, retiree, medical)

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by redplum33

I realize the numbers were low last summer, but doesn't humidity makes it worse? Like it hangs in the air longer? I recall some doctor saying every house should have a dehumidifier.

I believe it's actually the opposite.

Dry air causes moisture in your breath to evaporate more quickly leaving the virus to remain aloft for much longer and travel further. When it's more humid, the vapor in your breath remains intact and gives gravity enough time to pull it to the ground, especially larger spittle. It's one of the main reasons why respiratory diseases tend to proliferate in the winter when the air is drier.

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/n...3%20percent%29.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by msRB311

New Hampshire's mask mandate ends tomorrow

Thank G-d I'm moving my grandmother to assisted living outside of NH this weekend.


She's 90 years old and couldn't even get her vaccine until recently because she doesn't feel comfortable driving more than 10 minutes away and was told for months that there was a program that would come to her house (or else I would have taken her) only for it to never materialize. She missed her 2nd dose due to a hospitalization this week, but at least she'll no longer be going to stores where people aren't masked.



Mass definitely isn't the only place struggling to get to homebound folks!

[charolastra00]

Look at these death numbers hit the cliff: https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comm...19_data_41521/


That's the vaccine in action.


Hospitalizations are skewing much younger, but anecdotally I've heard from friends in the medical field that while some younger folks are showing up sicker, they also can accept many more people who would have been sent home to recover in January because the hospital isn't filled with people over 70.

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Look at these death numbers hit the cliff: https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comm...19_data_41521/


That's the vaccine in action.


Hospitalizations are skewing much younger, but anecdotally I've heard from friends in the medical field that while some younger folks are showing up sicker, they also can accept many more people who would have been sent home to recover in January because the hospital isn't filled with people over 70.

Yes, I haven't read too much about it, but my impression was that the higher percentage of young people being reported in hospitals in recent weeks may simply be due to their age group having the lowest percentage of penetration of the vaccine.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

Yes, I haven't read too much about it, but my impression was that the higher percentage of young people being reported in hospitals in recent weeks may simply be due to their age group having the lowest percentage of penetration of the vaccine.

It does seem logical that this is the case. Hopefully this changes in the next few weeks.

[wolfgang239]

There are also more people moving about and doing things now that they know mom/dad, their grandparents, older people etc are vaccinated. People I know weren't going to target or a restaurant to eat because they weren't essential activities but now they are beginning to venture out. That and a sense of safety from having one shot whether they've waited long enough or not.

My in-law side is all in Israel and they saw a very similar pattern. Obviously many factors at play but I can see how it would play out this way.

[redplum33]

More young people are getting hospitalized as a 'stickier,' more infectious coronavirus strain becomes dominant


"What used to be a mysterious new variant first detected in the UK is now the most dominant coronavirus strain in the US.

And unlike the original strain of the novel coronavirus, the more contagious B.1.1.7 strain is hitting young people particularly hard.

"(Covid-19) cases and emergency room visits are up," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated."

Now doctors say many young people are suffering Covid-19 complications they didn't expect.

And it's time to ditch the belief that only older adults or people with pre-existing conditions are at risk of severe Covid-19."

[queerfaith]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

The thinking is that the rare blood clotting that's been observed with the AZ & J&J vaccines likely has a common mechanism, and that this may indeed turn out to be a class-wide phenomenon. They are both adenovirus vector vaccines, and for both, the aberrant clotting occurs along with low platelet counts.

More info here:
https://www.biospace.com/article/cov...e-top-stories/

All indications though, are that the benefits far outweigh the risks for these two vaccines, so these issues seem to be playing an outsized role in the public consciousness, which is regrettable.

Also note that Dr. John Campbell on his daily YouTube updates (4/15) also "thinks" that current approved vaccine injection techniques into deltoid may have an impact on the CVT diagnosis/complication and that it could possibly be solved by returning to aspirating site of injection prior to injection of vaccine-which the Danish Nurses Association has already advised. They have begun using the AZ vaccine again there after a temporary stoppage a few weeks ago. Canadian study from nearly ten years ago in lab animals supports this hypothesis. Because there is some anatomical variety in humans-blood vessels are sometimes located where you do not expect them. These vaccines are approved only for intramuscular injection. References are given in Campbells video.

[GeoffD]

I had to Google aspirating an injection site. In my vocabulary, aspirating is accidentally inhaling food. I had no idea what that meant.

[yesmaybe]

Walgreens has a bunch of openings right now. I was able to sign up for an appointment on Monday.