Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Springfield, New Bedford, Bedford: buy, safety, health care)

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

My uncle flies his Cessna between home in Southern RI and Carrabasset Valley in the winter (condo at Sugarloaf). I always envied that - it's my favorite ski area in the Northeast, but it's a stretch as a weekend destination from Boston. Barring terrible weather, the trip there is part of the fun.

I took a hard look at changing mountains to Sugarloaf when I lived in Portsmouth NH. It’s superb when it’s good but it has huge wind hold problems with nowhere to hide and it doesn’t see the skier visits to have acceptable snowmaking in lean snow years. Wickid pissah far from Rhode Island. The property tax rate sure is attractive compared to Vermont, though.

Back to CODID, we had a talk this morning and we’re going to go back to masks indoors since the vaccination rate is so lousy in the third world on the South Coast. For us, that’s like an hour or two per week doing retail. N95 to protect against the Delta variant seems like the prudent thing to do.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Back to COVID, we had a talk this morning and we’re going to go back to masks indoors since the vaccination rate is so lousy in the third world on the South Coast. For us, that’s like an hour or two per week doing retail. N95 to protect against the Delta variant seems like the prudent thing to do.

For what it's worth, I was listening to Dr. Jonathan Reiner last evening on CNN. His contention is that authorities are talking about masking up again, only to protect the unvaccinated against the Delta variant. In other words, since the unvaxxed are probably/likely just lying about their status in order to go maskless, the only way to get them to mask up is to mandate it (again) for everyone. He seemed quite confident that the mRNA vaccines are plenty effective in preventing illness from the Delta variant...especially in view of the data released by Moderna yesterday.

If you buy this, then an uncomfortable N95 seems like overkill...but hey, that's none of my business.

[yesmaybe]

https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple...rid-work-plan/

Don't think Apple has any offices here, but they are not backing down from employees upset about being forced back into the office as part of a hybrid plan.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

For what it's worth, I was listening to Dr. Jonathan Reiner last evening on CNN. His contention is that authorities are talking about masking up again, only to protect the unvaccinated against the Delta variant. In other words, since the unvaxxed are probably/likely just lying about their status in order to go maskless, the only way to get them to mask up is to mandate it (again) for everyone. He seemed quite confident that the mRNA vaccines are plenty effective in preventing illness from the Delta variant...especially in view of the data released by Moderna yesterday.

That's not going to go over well if they do that.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

That's not going to go over well if they do that.

I don't care as much at this point, but I do know that there are local authorities (e.g. LA County in CA) who are considering such mandates.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

For what it's worth, I was listening to Dr. Jonathan Reiner last evening on CNN. His contention is that authorities are talking about masking up again, only to protect the unvaccinated against the Delta variant. In other words, since the unvaxxed are probably/likely just lying about their status in order to go maskless, the only way to get them to mask up is to mandate it (again) for everyone. He seemed quite confident that the mRNA vaccines are plenty effective in preventing illness from the Delta variant...especially in view of the data released by Moderna yesterday.

If you buy this, then an uncomfortable N95 seems like overkill...but hey, that's none of my business.

Rasmussen has indicated similar on her Twitter account. Those who are vaccinated might test positive if exposed to the Delta variant, but even if there is a breakthrough infection it is likely transient, asymptotic, and not associated with onward transmission.

I’m certain the primary angst is limiting replication and the possibility of more variants.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

For what it's worth, I was listening to Dr. Jonathan Reiner last evening on CNN. His contention is that authorities are talking about masking up again, only to protect the unvaccinated against the Delta variant. In other words, since the unvaxxed are probably/likely just lying about their status in order to go maskless, the only way to get them to mask up is to mandate it (again) for everyone. He seemed quite confident that the mRNA vaccines are plenty effective in preventing illness from the Delta variant...especially in view of the data released by Moderna yesterday.

If you buy this, then an uncomfortable N95 seems like overkill...but hey, that's none of my business.

Read this back to yourself and tell me it's anything other than a last-ditch attempt to prolong the pandemic at any cost.

"Everyone who wants a vaccine has gotten one, and the vaccines have been shown to be effective against all variants of the virus, but we're still considering mandating masks, which virtually everyone thinks are a pain, 'to protect' the unvaccinated, who do not want and did not ask for this 'protection'."

[robr2]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/apple...rid-work-plan/

Don't think Apple has any offices here, but they are not backing down from employees upset about being forced back into the office as part of a hybrid plan.

They have offices in Kendall (Siri lives there) and at 111 Huntington Ave. in Boston.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

Read this back to yourself and tell me it's anything other than a last-ditch attempt to prolong the pandemic at any cost.

"Everyone who wants a vaccine has gotten one, and the vaccines have been shown to be effective against all variants of the virus, but we're still considering mandating masks, which virtually everyone thinks are a pain, 'to protect' the unvaccinated, who do not want and did not ask for this 'protection'."

For better or worse, it's the responsibility of public health officials to try to protect those that are not interested in protecting themselves. It's a tall order, and likely to fail, but it's part of the professional mandate.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

For what it's worth, I was listening to Dr. Jonathan Reiner last evening on CNN. His contention is that authorities are talking about masking up again, only to protect the unvaccinated against the Delta variant. In other words, since the unvaxxed are probably/likely just lying about their status in order to go maskless, the only way to get them to mask up is to mandate it (again) for everyone. He seemed quite confident that the mRNA vaccines are plenty effective in preventing illness from the Delta variant...especially in view of the data released by Moderna yesterday.

If you buy this, then an uncomfortable N95 seems like overkill...but hey, that's none of my business.

New Bedford is 39% of adults fully vaccinated. I have to assume that the majority of people walking around in the grocery store haven’t been vaccinated. Delta has ~ double the transmission rate of the original virus that shut down the country. 90% effective means I can still contract act the virus. I have some N95 respirator masks with the vent. Those protect me and they’re not awful to wear for a couple of hours per week when I’m pushing a shopping cart around. A cloth mask or cheap surgical mask is useless for that.