Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Lynn, Salem: marble, tribe, how much)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

We never had a lockdown. We had a partial shutdown with limited regulations and enforcement, and uneven application across the country. Even that was enough to tamp down the spread for a good long while in states with more severe shutdowns, like New York, Hawaii and here in Massachusetts. And even though we're increasing here in Mass far more than most of us are comfortable with, we're still in the lowest 15 states for new cases per 100,000.



Unfortunately for Mass, people are getting laxer, but it's still unclear that we have the community spread that states like Tennessee and Florida have - certainly not to the same extent. We've been hearing a lot about how most of our spread are from gatherings rather than restaurants or the grocery store.



Of course we don't know when this will end. What we do know is that the more people insist on trying to live normally, the worse it's going to be both economically and for the spread of the pandemic. The worse numbers get, the more people voluntarily stop spending money. So then we have an economy limping along with more than half of the country (half being roughly the number of people at high risk) severely limiting what they do.

This. If we had actually done a hard lockdown for let's say 2 months beginning back in February, we would be in a much better place right now no question. Less needless suffering would have taken place, and far fewer long term economic damages. Oh well, now we know...

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by massnative71

This. If we had actually done a hard lockdown for let's say 2 months beginning back in February, we would be in a much better place right now no question. Less needless suffering would have taken place, and far fewer long term economic damages. Oh well, now we know...

I don't know why people think that. The states that didn't go along with the shutdown didn't have many cases at the time.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

I don't know why people think that. The states that didn't go along with the shutdown didn't have many cases at the time.

And look at them now.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

I don't know why people think that. The states that didn't go along with the shutdown didn't have many cases at the time.

Exactly.

Locking down Massachusetts in the spring was likely appropriate given the level of community transmission in the area at the time.

I live in a county in extreme northeast TN. I just casually looked at a graph, and I don’t think my county of ~160k had more than ten cases on any one day until after July 4. On July 1, there were only two deaths in the county that I could tell.

Locking us down in early April was pointless simply because there was very little in the way of community transmission at the time.

My county and the next largest county in the area hit a combined 38% positivity rate one day this week. Overall, the 21 county hospital service area is now above 12% positivity, and this includes some lightly populated counties in VA that are doing fairly well. The hospital system is about 90% designated COVID capacity and is cutting back on some elective procedures.

This area should lock down now. It was meaningless in the spring. The “shot was shot” on the previous lockdown. There is certainly no political will to lock down at the state level in TN, and people are just fatigued with it all at this point.

The gates to many areas in the Cherokee and Jefferson National Forests were closed well into June with practically no cases, but jamming in with hundreds of people at Lowe’s was deemed essential. People are going to ignore schizophrenic policy like that.

[msRB311]

It's ridiculous to say we'd be in a much better situation if we had shut down in February. WHY?? Our numbers were very low all summer and here we are now again, they are high. Shutting things down can't go on forever.

Also it's complete BS that it's only the SCHOOLS that get shut down, but nothing else. Restaurants arent shutting down, basically anywhere that kids parents work (unless they're a teacher) is NOT being shut down. Sports are still happening. Why is the answer to shut down education? Remote learning is a joke for the younger kids.

Coronavirus is not going away. Shutting down schools is not the answer. I feel for anyone who has kids at BPS. My kids go twice a week and it's a struggle.

I feel angry at this point that BPS is the ONLY thing the city of Boston has decided to shut down.

[BostonMike7]

I think other school systems will follow shortly. Cases are popping up in classrooms and there’s been a lot of confusion as to how to handle that. I know in my wife’s school there have been individual students testing positive and not being entirely sure if the class needs to quarantine or not. Right now teachers are being told if they are concerned to go get tested, but they must quarantine until they get the results. My wife tells me at least 4 teachers may do this and quarantine. That’s a disruption in itself.

I wouldn’t be surprised if cases still continue to climb to see more and more school systems go remote.

I was just starting to enjoy having the house to myself while I WFH.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by massnative71

This. If we had actually done a hard lockdown for let's say 2 months beginning back in February, we would be in a much better place right now no question. Less needless suffering would have taken place, and far fewer long term economic damages. Oh well, now we know...

The outbreak was announced on January 3rd and China notified CDC Director Robert Redfield. We just needed a 14-day quarantine order on all international flights by mid-January. Problem solved. Biogen was February 26th. The super spreader event that crushed Massachusetts wouldn't have happened. Taiwan got the memo and did exactly that. New Zealand pulled it off. ...and in hindsight, the clown show at the CDC contaminating the first COVID-19 tests in January shouldn't have happened. With testing that worked, the number of cases in the US was so low that we could have stuck with test, contact trace, and quarantine.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I'm sorry to say it but i feel like the ferry was kind of a luxury experience for people living in Hingham and Cohasset to commute in to work. Sure anyone could drive there to take the ferry but it catered to those high end seaside towns. I think you could even get alcohol on it?

The ferry system carries about 1% of T riders so eliminating it or at least some of the trips makes the most sense. The T is looking where cuts will impact the fewest passengers. Right now the schedule for Hingham runs fairly often with every 3rd boat stopping in Hull. The T could reduce frequency between Hingham and Boston direct and have every boat go to Hull. It adds 8 minutes to the trip.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The outbreak was announced on January 3rd and China notified CDC Director Robert Redfield. We just needed a 14-day quarantine order on all international flights by mid-January. Problem solved. Biogen was February 26th. The super spreader event that crushed Massachusetts wouldn't have happened. Taiwan got the memo and did exactly that. New Zealand pulled it off. ...and in hindsight, the clown show at the CDC contaminating the first COVID-19 tests in January shouldn't have happened. With testing that worked, the number of cases in the US was so low that we could have stuck with test, contact trace, and quarantine.

This all actually makes sense. So, you're saying that shutting down flights to/from China on Jan 29 and to/from Europe on Mar 11 doesn't deserve accolades, congratulations, and a big parade?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

This all actually makes sense. So, you're saying that shutting down flights to/from China on Jan 29 and to/from Europe on Mar 11 doesn't deserve accolades, congratulations, and a big parade?

What’s that saying about a broken down, busted clock?