Coronavirus in Massachusetts (credit, restaurants, stats)

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by rach5

Well - it s effective Monday. The UK's was effective today...Also, yet again, "U.S. citizens and permanent residents will not be affected by the restrictions" - no hotel (or at least home) quarantine, no mandatory PCR testing etc like other countries are doing? Of course not.

I think you have it wrong. Per US entry requirements, you need a negative PCR test result within 72 hrs of your departure flight to the US. Vaccinated or not. I know, I had to do this when returning from the UK last month.

And as far as effective date...you cannot flip a switch on most of these things. Monday is pretty close to ASAP.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

I think you have it wrong. Per US entry requirements, you need a negative PCR test result within 72 hrs of your departure flight to the US. Vaccinated or not. I know, I had to do this when returning from the UK last month.

And as far as effective date...you cannot flip a switch on most of these things. Monday is pretty close to ASAP.

AFAIK, it's 72 hours prior to departure. So that will still leave plenty of infected people on flights. The quarantine and repeated PCR testing I am referring to and that other countries are implementing are AFTER arrival.
Interestingly enough, other countries are able to flip the switch. We are just not prepared or willing to cause inconvenience, as usual. We rather have refrigerator trucks outside of hospitals.
Announcing on a Friday that come Monday you will close borders to foreigners only is theater to placate the public that something is being done.
Again, I have no idea how bad this variant will turn out to be, especially for vaccinated people - but many scientists and the WHO are very concerned. Furthermore, experience has shown over and over again that with covid you have to act swiftly and decisively before all the facts are known. We just don't (with delta, we had plenty of advance warning, but still decided to drop masking and celebrate independence from covid before *our* delta wave).

[htfdcolt]

For those who think the sky is falling...here's a glimmer of hope:

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wel...variant-687112

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by rach5

AFAIK, it's 72 hours prior to departure. So that will still leave plenty of infected people on flights. The quarantine and repeated PCR testing I am referring to and that other countries are implementing are AFTER arrival.
Interestingly enough, other countries are able to flip the switch. ).

Lest you give the UK too much credit for doing things better than us--from my 10 days spent there in October, I felt extremely nervous and couldn't wait to get back to Massachusetts. Zero restrictions everywhere...pubs/restaurants packed with no masking.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

For those who think the sky is falling...here's a glimmer of hope:

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wel...variant-687112

And why do you think they're doing that? I can only assume they believe current vaccines don't work with Omicron.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by redplum33

It got awful quiet here. I'll bet porterhouse is frantically ordering up all the toilet paper he can find.

Originally Posted by porterhouse

I'll send it right over as you've clearly demonstrated that you have sh*t for brains. You're officially the 2nd person I've had to put on ignore here. Keep screaming into the wind though.

Ah I see. You can talk all kinds of trash to me (and for absolutely no reason) but if I say anything back...

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by redplum33

And why do you think they're doing that? I can only assume they believe current vaccines don't work with Omicron.

I wouldn't assume that. If you read the article, they say that Novavax is specifically targeting these variants of the spike protein. It doesn't follow that the existing ones don't work. Pfizer/Biontech indicated they will know in a couple of weeks. There is a spectrum between 0 - 100%, you know.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by redplum33

And why do you think they're doing that? I can only assume they believe current vaccines don't work with Omicron.

Here's another counter to that. A reassuring quote from the article below. Boost now, everyone!

One bit of good news: studies have suggested booster doses can, at least for a time, elicit such sky-high levels of antibody that they can broadly withstand a mutated virus, even if the antibodies aren’t targeting the specific viral proteins as well.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/11/26/...-south-africa/

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

I wouldn't assume that. If you read the article, they say that Novavax is specifically targeting these variants of the spike protein. It doesn't follow that the existing ones don't work. Pfizer/Biontech indicated they will know in a couple of weeks. There is a spectrum between 0 - 100%, you know.

Here is an article about Omicron from a very knowledgeable guy:

Heavily Mutated Fast-Moving New COVID Variant Omicron – What We Know So Far


And on a side note...

RI stats from last week: "Last week 61% of COVID hospitalizations, and 100% of COVID deaths, were in vaccinated people. Protection from the vaccines seems to be waning faster than people are getting booster shots."

[rach5]

Several dozens of people estimated positive on two KLM flights from South Africa into the Netherlands that arrived today prior to the travel restrictions. 15 of 110 test results already positive, 600 pending. Sh**. I sure hope the Biden admin has made any plans for further highly mutated variants other than let's vaccinate people with a now possibly outdated vaccine.