Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Springfield, New Bedford, Bedford: home, public schools, shop)

[id77]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I dunno..i mean we didn't see an outbreak in Chatham and that place gets pretty crowded too. Just seemed like a perfect storm of events for Ptown i guess.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/09...am-restaurant/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/...r-house-party/

Might not of been quite as big as PTown's, but Chatham has also been the source of some outbreaks.

[msRB311]

Those events both happened last year.

[id77]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Those events both happened last year.

So they had an outbreak despite mask mandates and in-person restrictions.

[msRB311]

there was no vaccine back then either.

[id77]

Originally Posted by msRB311

there was no vaccine back then either.

And the US is still just over 50% vaccinated, which means just under half aren't vaccinated. I'm intentionally not using MA figures because a place like PTown in the summer is going to have as many out-of-staters as in-staters there.

[YevTK]

Originally Posted by msRB311

https://www.boston.com/news/coronavi...masks-indoors/

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local...ssion/2467880/

Why is Baker just not making it mandatory? What is holding him back at this point?

While Baker always urges people to get vaccinated he knows that the only way out is for the willingly unvaccinated to get infected. As long as the hospitals can cope he won't reimpose masking.

Masking, even if effective, will only slow the rate of infection. Better for the unvaccinated to get infected now than in the winter.

[YevTK]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Because anyone who cares is vaccinated and can wear an N95 mask to protect themselves. This isn’t like March 2020 when N95 was dedicated to unvaccinated health care workers. I can protect myself and don’t need to depend on a state mask order.

To me, the bigger issue is children under 12.

Thankfully, Covid deaths in the under 12's are rare.

While any death of a child is a tragedy, there are around 26,000 deaths of children under 12 in a typical year.
This compares to 234 deaths so far from Covid in 18 months.

Baker is recommending all children under 12 wear masks until they can get vaccinated. I must say though that when my son was younger there is no way he could have worn a mask in anything but a token manner.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by YevTK

While Baker always urges people to get vaccinated he knows that the only way out is for the willingly unvaccinated to get infected. As long as the hospitals can cope he won't reimpose masking.

Masking, even if effective, will only slow the rate of infection. Better for the unvaccinated to get infected now than in the winter.

Individual towns are imposing the mandates themselves. I know Salem has one going into effect on the 23rd.


I actually prefer this over a statewide mandate. It makes more sense for a large urban city than it does for a small farm town

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Individual towns are imposing the mandates themselves. I know Salem has one going into effect on the 23rd.


I actually prefer this over a statewide mandate. It makes more sense for a large urban city than it does for a small farm town

Depends. If a city can afford to do things online that saves quite a bit of exposure. If a farm town must do things face to face all the time they are screwed

[OutdoorLover]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Individual towns are imposing the mandates themselves. I know Salem has one going into effect on the 23rd.


I actually prefer this over a statewide mandate. It makes more sense for a large urban city than it does for a small farm town

The disease prevalence may vary a lot locally, and it does allow the flexibility to adjust requirements to local conditions.