Coronavirus in Massachusetts (tenant, high school, live in)

[msRB311]

We'll see I guess. I certainly wasn't expecting there to be a '4th wave' now.

[mdovell]

We have a few odd factors here.

1) It looks like masks are going to be for people that are vaccinated and are inside, including schools. I'm not saying I love wearing a mask but I can't imagine what it would be like to teach early ed. If you can't understand the kids and if the kids can't understand the teacher it's annoying. Literally hundreds of millions of dollars has been provided to school districts to mitigate and make the schools safe for students.

2) The rental moratorium ends in a few days and the mortgage one ends in by October
https://fortune.com/2021/07/26/2021-...e-forbearance/
Even the biggest poverty pimps I know said to keep paying. No one said that the rent was free, it was simply delayed. 16 or so months of back payments adds up. Technically speaking housing is usually propped up with jobs. Job losses can easily be associated with property price drops it was true in gateway cities and the rustbelt etc. The article makes a good point in that housing values have gone up to the point where it make make more sense to simply stop paying but also sell (2008 prices dropped, didn't go up)

3) Extended UI payments end by the end of August but the child payments are starting.

4) Jobs still are being promoted as virtual and remote. In CT it was huge to say that Pratt and whitney employees don't have to go in and now, travelers is hybrid for three days in the office etc. I think it's only a matter of time before major boston based employers make a decision.

So if some mid career professional got let go for whatever reason they'd be apt to be selling their house to get something cheaper somewhere else.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Kids were back in school last year and no one was vaccinated. In my district, the weeks after break were also the worst for COVID cases. While school is probably a bigger risk than an absolute quarantine, I think the school environment has lower transmission than what the average kid actually does.

Delta is much more contagious than the earlier strains - as much as 1000x as many infectious particles are emitted, apparently. What worked on alpha and beta for schools won't work on Delta. If the UK is any guide, hospitalizations and deaths will thankfully be much lower than in earlier waves (not negligible, however - they went from daily covid deaths in the low single digits to now over 90); also, they are quite a bit more vaccinated, and it appears that stretching out the two shots to 3 months was actually beneficial in terms of immunity, and cases started dropping after schools closed for the summer.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by robr2

We went through this last week. When you check in, you sanitize and are given a new mask to replace or wear over the one you have. They would prefer that you replace your existing one. I was a NWH yesterday and that was the process.

Any updates to this for Mass General, especially for MGH Waltham? I feel very uncomfortable, with Delta, removing my brand-new N95 mask in a medical facility, to replace it by a surgical mask...Will they let you keep your own mask and put the surgical one on top?
Also, are waiting rooms still less crowded?

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Ugh...my mother in law wants to come visit this september...kind of thinking this will be a way to get her to stay home...again.

I love it! In-law dynamics are universal, aren't they?

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

I love it! In-law dynamics are universal, aren't they?

When they have to stay at your house for a week or two it can be a PITA.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by rach5

Any updates to this for Mass General, especially for MGH Waltham? I feel very uncomfortable, with Delta, removing my brand-new N95 mask in a medical facility, to replace it by a surgical mask...Will they let you keep your own mask and put the surgical one on top?
Also, are waiting rooms still less crowded?

I have the same question (for any hospital.) I just got N95s and I wouldn't want to take mine off at a hospital. I don't see how you could put a surgical mask over it.

[msRB311]

My work sent out an email (came from a professor/physician who is kind of the point vaccine/covid update person) about the recent uptick and they don't seem particularly nervous about it. They said a small percentage of vaccinated persons have experienced “breakthrough” infections, but these cases tend to have mild or moderate symptoms (or no symptoms). Nearly all serious COVID-19 infections are among unvaccinated persons. Went on to say they will be providing updates but have made no changes.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by rach5

Any updates to this for Mass General, especially for MGH Waltham? I feel very uncomfortable, with Delta, removing my brand-new N95 mask in a medical facility, to replace it by a surgical mask...Will they let you keep your own mask and put the surgical one on top?
Also, are waiting rooms still less crowded?

Same rules still apply - you are given a new mask and you may wear it over your existing mask.

[YevTK]

Originally Posted by rach5

Delta is much more contagious than the earlier strains - as much as 1000x as many infectious particles are emitted, apparently. What worked on alpha and beta for schools won't work on Delta. If the UK is any guide, hospitalizations and deaths will thankfully be much lower than in earlier waves (not negligible, however - they went from daily covid deaths in the low single digits to now over 90); also, they are quite a bit more vaccinated, and it appears that stretching out the two shots to 3 months was actually beneficial in terms of immunity, and cases started dropping after schools closed for the summer.

This is not true for MA.

Data as a percent of entire population:

First dose UK 68%. MA 70%
Second dose UK 55%, MA 63%

So, MA has higher vaccination rates than the UK.

As MA has the highest vaccination rate for any state save VT (which is too rural to be representative), if vaccination is going to reduce the impact of the delta variant, it should happen here first.

As to the schools, I think that if masks are to be re-imposed then there should be a different approach for the under 12 vs the over 12. In my town, the high schoolers are 95% vaccinated so I wouldn't support masking in high school except for the unvaccinated.