Oh, Florida!!! Covid19 Response

[Tyler durden]

Michigan's own Governor and her staff couldnt even follow their own advice. It has a certain Marie Antoinette vibe to it. Or maybe in 2021 terms more of a Gavin Newsom vibe.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/gov-whitmer-facing-travel-backlash-after-going-to-florida-to-visit-ill-father

As for the Texas malt liquor analogy i just done see it. Your not providing any room in your thinking, or at least in your analogy for the lesser of evils. I dont think you mean to suggest we stay shutdown until covid cases are at zero ? if not that means things re open when the situation is less than 100% safe.

[OtherJen]

Michigan's own Governor and her staff couldnt even follow their own advice. It has a certain Marie Antoinette vibe to it. Or maybe in 2021 terms more of a Gavin Newsom vibe.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/gov-whitmer-facing-travel-backlash-after-going-to-florida-to-visit-ill-father

It isn't great, but I can't see how visiting a sick parent is on the same level as flying to Fort Lauderdale to pack the bars for a week with maskless people from all over the country.

I've lost too many friends and relatives in the past year (to non-COVID illnesses) and watched one of my own parents go through cancer treatment last fall. I don't begrudge someone making a careful trip to spend time with a loved one who is ill.

[bacchi]

As for the Texas malt liquor analogy i just done see it. Your not providing any room in your thinking, or at least in your analogy for the lesser of evils. I dont think you mean to suggest we stay shutdown until covid cases are at zero ? if not that means things re open when the situation is less than 100% safe.

As always, there is a huge gap between the two extremes of YOLO and "hiding in a dark house with a HEPA filter."

[OtherJen]

As for the Texas malt liquor analogy i just done see it. Your not providing any room in your thinking, or at least in your analogy for the lesser of evils. I dont think you mean to suggest we stay shutdown until covid cases are at zero ? if not that means things re open when the situation is less than 100% safe.

As always, there is a huge gap between the two extremes of YOLO and "hiding in a dark house with a HEPA filter."

And yet, so many people seem to ignore that spectrum in favor of binary thinking.

[GuitarStv]

I think that's a bit of a tortured analogy, but ok.

Florida isn't doing that terribly, to be honest. They haven't had any meaningful restrictions on anything and they're kinda middle of the pack on outcomes, so I'm not sure the case is clear cut there either.

MI got walloped and it'll be interesting to see why, given that it was overall more restrictive. Just bad timing with variants, I'd guess.

-W

We actually don't have any government restrictions except a 50% capacity limit on restaurants and bars (which is mostly ignored, as far as I can tell), and nightclubs are closed. The restaurants and bars have been open for indoor service for the last 2.5 months. The right wing keeps bleating about how terrible Gov. Whitmer is ("Witler" is a common pejorative for her), but their legislators and the  then GOP-controlled state supreme court stripped her of her ability to issue executive orders last fall. The state health director took over the job of issuing mandates for a bit but then resigned in January.

Businesses where I live still have mask mandates and I rarely see people with bare faces, but much of the state has consistently ignored any regulations, and the regulations we have are barely being enforced, if at all. That's why we're doing so horribly. Combine that with shitty winter weather that keeps people indoors and new variants that are ripping through schools and, well, you get a shitshow.

Things are probably going to get worse in my area. We just had Passover and Easter (and many of my friends celebrated one or the other with extended family). In my community, loads of people were squeezing in all sorts of weddings and parties before Ramadan, and of course now they're having iftar dinners and late-night food events every night. Our local hospital is already at capacity.

That sounds really irresponsible of Michiganders. To not just ignore the science at home, but ignore travel advice from Whitmer and bring the virus to FL during spring break. Now FL is starting to see a rise in cases. Floridians can't catch a break, just like a year ago more than half of new FL cases could be traced back to NY.

In 2020, Florida encouraged 86.7 million people to visit.  Doing their best to draw tourism via the state run 'Visit Florida' ad campaigns, coupled with DeSantis failing to close the state when problems first emerged and then opening the state sooner than was safe . . . it's very hard to catch a break when you're working as hard as possible to stack the deck against yourself.

Who could have foreseen that increasing the number of people coming to your state would come with increased risk of a highly transmissible disease?

Definitely not Bill de Blasio or Nancy Pelosi.

Also Andrew Cuomo (and all the other Govs who followed his lead) not seeing the threat of sending Covid positive patients into nursing homes...

Not sure I understand your point?

Cuomo clearly fucked up, and put many elderly people at risk.  Pelosi clearly fucked up, and put herself and her hairdresser at risk.  DeSantis clearly fucked up and put the entire state he was responsible for at risk.  The political slant a person holds doesn't change the fact that they should be held accountable for their actions . . . all three mentioned made errors of judgement.  (I'd argue that DeSantis and Cuomo made the more serious ones as they put more people at risk, but that's due to the risks associated with the error.)

Your not providing any room in your thinking, or at least in your analogy for the lesser of evils. I dont think you mean to suggest we stay shutdown until covid cases are at zero ? if not that means things re open when the situation is less than 100% safe.

You don't have to flip between 'snipers on roof who will shoot anyone who leaves their house' and 'encouraging people to take the time to lick every doorknob they pass while walking around outside'.  There's a whole range of things that can be done.

There are zero states fully locked down right now.  Only six (California, New Mexico, Kentucky, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) have stay at home advisories.  Things have been re-opening across the US while the situation is less than 100% safe . .  but there's a big difference between removing any sort of restriction, and re-introducing things in a controlled manner and monitoring the effect of changes as they're made over time.  Simply throwing off all protective measures (including ones that do not negatively impact conducting business like mask orders) is just as stupid as going into a full lockdown where people aren't allowed to leave their houses.

[By the River]

Variety.com is reporting a new mask on/mask off dichotomy.  The Oscars ceremony will require the audience don masks when the show is in commercial breaks but when actually airing, masks can be off.   It would be a better look if you required masks when in the audience but not when on-stage presenting or receiving awards.   But I'm sure there is Science!^tm behind this rule.

[Tyler durden]

The point about the Oscars is interesting.

At this point I feel like people who are going to mask up are going to do so. Just a thought, but what if Biden was on TV all the time ( or any public figure, doesnt have to be political ) not masked at all. And repeatedly stated, yeah I don't mask because Science!!! That might encourage more people to get jabbed, maybe... who knows.

Instead the message now either directly or indirectly is get the jab, and still lock your self inside with a hepa filter and mask. no travel, no seeing people and if you do see them distance and mask anyway. I feel the overcautious approach in the beginning of this mess was warranted but now it might be doing more harm than good. i have to data on this, just a rambling thought.

[OtherJen]

Variety.com is reporting a new mask on/mask off dichotomy.  The Oscars ceremony will require the audience don masks when the show is in commercial breaks but when actually airing, masks can be off.   It would be a better look if you required masks when in the audience but not when on-stage presenting or receiving awards.   But I'm sure there is Science!^tm behind this rule.

WT actual F? It would make so much more sense from a public health perspective to allow only the presenters and receivers to remove their masks only while on stage. Really, it would make the most sense to have the damn thing be virtual, like the Golden Globes, if we have to have it at all. If 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth can sit by herself in a mask during the funeral of her husband of 73 years, I'm pretty sure Hollywood celebs can coordinate their face covers with their couture.

[Chris22]

People are getting sick of the whole masks for show thing. How many of these Hollywood “elites” are not vaccinated?  Give them a 5 minute Covid test if they aren’t, otherwise, put a little disclaimer across the bottom of the screen “all attendees have been vaccinated and/tested negative for Covid thus masks are not required for this show”.

Requiring masks where they aren’t needed just for show really dumbs down the “science” and sends a shitty message if you ask me.

[OtherJen]

People are getting sick of the whole masks for show thing. How many of these Hollywood “elites” are not vaccinated?  Give them a 5 minute Covid test if they aren’t, otherwise, put a little disclaimer across the bottom of the screen “all attendees have been vaccinated and/tested negative for Covid thus masks are not required for this show”.

Requiring masks where they aren’t needed just for show really dumbs down the “science” and sends a shitty message if you ask me.

And some of us are getting sick of hearing adults whine about masks during a pandemic. The people who bother to watch awards ceremonies are more likely to be influenced by celebrities. Far too many people in this country are refusing vaccination.

[Chris22]

People are getting sick of the whole masks for show thing. How many of these Hollywood “elites” are not vaccinated?  Give them a 5 minute Covid test if they aren’t, otherwise, put a little disclaimer across the bottom of the screen “all attendees have been vaccinated and/tested negative for Covid thus masks are not required for this show”.

Requiring masks where they aren’t needed just for show really dumbs down the “science” and sends a shitty message if you ask me.

And some of us are getting sick of hearing adults whine about masks during a pandemic. The people who bother to watch awards ceremonies are more likely to be influenced by celebrities. Far too many people in this country are refusing vaccination.

And what better commercial for the vaccine than showing a ton of vaccinated people carrying on as normal.

The vocal anti-vax people I’ve seen on FB all say the same thing: “make me take this untested [their words] vaccine and still mask up and close everything down, what’s the point?” 

You are mad people don’t want the vaccine but then you are mad when people suggest you should show them the benefits of taking it?

[GuitarStv]

I think I agree with Chris on this.

There's no reason to wear masks for show, and doing this kind of safety pageantry undermines the real reason that we wear masks.  If unvaccinated people are attending then there is real risk of covid, then they should mask up and distance the whole time.  If everyone is vaccinated then there is little/no risk of covid then they shouldn't need to wear masks at all.  Splitting the difference makes no sense.  It's just uncomfortable for no benefit.

We shouldn't lie to people.  Early on Fauci lied about the effectiveness of masks and it did massive damage.  Pretending to wear masks if there's no reason to (and then removing the masks half the time proving the lie) seems likely to do more harm than good.

[OtherJen]

People are getting sick of the whole masks for show thing. How many of these Hollywood “elites” are not vaccinated?  Give them a 5 minute Covid test if they aren’t, otherwise, put a little disclaimer across the bottom of the screen “all attendees have been vaccinated and/tested negative for Covid thus masks are not required for this show”.

Requiring masks where they aren’t needed just for show really dumbs down the “science” and sends a shitty message if you ask me.

And some of us are getting sick of hearing adults whine about masks during a pandemic. The people who bother to watch awards ceremonies are more likely to be influenced by celebrities. Far too many people in this country are refusing vaccination.

And what better commercial for the vaccine than showing a ton of vaccinated people carrying on as normal.

The vocal anti-vax people I’ve seen on FB all say the same thing: “make me take this untested [their words] vaccine and still mask up and close everything down, what’s the point?” 

You are mad people don’t want the vaccine but then you are mad when people suggest you should show them the benefits of taking it?

Fair point.

I'm frustrated in general. The vaccines are great. I'm a former immunology researcher; I know how much work went into R&D. I also know that we are nowhere near the end of the pandemic, and a new variant with a mutation that alters the epitopes recognized by T and B cells would be a huge setback. There's one that arose in India now that may be of concern, and it's been detected here.

I live in a state where most people are already pretending things are normal, with utterly predictable effects on our healthcare systems. I hate to add more fuel to that fire with a huge, glittery, televised event unless, as you suggested, the attendees are required to show proof of vaccination.

[dougules]

I'm frustrated in general. The vaccines are great. I'm a former immunology researcher; I know how much work went into R&D. I also know that we are nowhere near the end of the pandemic, and a new variant with a mutation that alters the epitopes recognized by T and B cells would be a huge setback. There's one that arose in India now that may be of concern, and it's been detected here.

Does the Indian variant or any other existing ones alter those epitopes, or are you just speaking about a hypothetical variant?

[OtherJen]

I'm frustrated in general. The vaccines are great. I'm a former immunology researcher; I know how much work went into R&D. I also know that we are nowhere near the end of the pandemic, and a new variant with a mutation that alters the epitopes recognized by T and B cells would be a huge setback. There's one that arose in India now that may be of concern, and it's been detected here.

Does the Indian variant or any other existing ones alter those epitopes, or are you just speaking about a hypothetical variant?

There's a double-mutant variant that is fueling the current surge in India right now. I think they've determined that the Pfizer vaccine still has some efficacy (although considerably reduced) against it.

Basically, any mutation in the viral genome that doesn't lead to an early "stop" codon or some other amino acid change resulting in a non-functional peptide could potentially produce a functional mutated viral protein. The mutation may be harmless to us, or it may mean that the short amino acid sequence recognized by the vaccine-induced memory T cells is destroyed or the overall protein structure targeted by antibodies produced by vaccine-induced memory B cells is altered beyond recognition.

Such mutations happens naturally; it's why we are recommended to get new flu shots every year. RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2 are especially prone to random mutation, as RNA is inherently less stable than DNA. Given that we're still learning about SARS-CoV-2 and the population has a much lower level of natural immunity, the prospect of new variants that might escape any existing host immune surveillance (induced either by infection or vaccination) is concerning.

[By the River]

Stanford med school professor praises DeSantis' handling of pandemic.   https://www.newsweek.com/stanford-doctor-jay-bhattacharya-praises-ron-desantis-covid-response-hes-extraordinary-1586445  (from Newsweek)

[bacchi]

Stanford med school professor praises DeSantis' handling of pandemic.   https://www.newsweek.com/stanford-doctor-jay-bhattacharya-praises-ron-desantis-covid-response-hes-extraordinary-1586445  (from Newsweek)

As long as we're linking to opinion pieces...

David Gorski, also a med school professor, earlier wondered if Bhattacharya, writing the Great Barrington Declaration, is "motivated as much by ideology as [his] interpretation of COVID-19 public health science" or if he's just a "useful idiot" for the AEI.

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/great-barrington-declaration/

[Chris22]

So clearly if we have two people who are supposed “experts” (at least I am not in a position to question either of their credentials) it sorta seems like maybe the science isn’t as cut and dried as is often made out to be, no?

[GuitarStv]

So clearly if we have two people who are supposed “experts” (at least I am not in a position to question either of their credentials) it sorta seems like maybe the science isn’t as cut and dried as is often made out to be, no?

That's certainly the argument that tobacco lobbyists used to argue that cigarette smoke wasn't harmful, and that oil/gas lobbyists used to argue that climate change wasn't real, and that antivaxxers have used to argue that vaccination is unsafe.

I'd say that it was getting to be a lazy tactic at this point if it wasn't so effective.

[bacchi]

So clearly if we have two people who are supposed “experts” (at least I am not in a position to question either of their credentials) it sorta seems like maybe the science isn’t as cut and dried as is often made out to be, no?

You can find an "expert" who dis/agrees with anything. There are "experts" who claim that oil is a renewable resource (as in, near real time, not over millions of years).

In this situation, I'll go with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America, an association of more than 12,000 disease scientists and doctors across the U.S., said last year the [Great Barrington Declaration] was "inappropriate, irresponsible and ill-informed."

[jehovasfitness23]

FL Man in full effect... Mission Accomplished

https://www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-signs-bill-banning-vaccine-152548890.html

[By the River]

For what it's worth, I'm going to stop posting daily numbers unless something interesting happens with TX. I don't think there's much point anymore.

-W

Texas reported 0 daily deaths over the weekend which was great.  They also have their lowest number of hospitalizations since last June. 

[Tyler durden]

For what it's worth, I'm going to stop posting daily numbers unless something interesting happens with TX. I don't think there's much point anymore.

-W

Texas reported 0 daily deaths over the weekend which was great.  They also have their lowest number of hospitalizations since last June.

That’s unpossible! I’m told on good authority they are Neanderthals who are going to get themselves killed.

[bigblock440]

For what it's worth, I'm going to stop posting daily numbers unless something interesting happens with TX. I don't think there's much point anymore.

-W

Texas reported 0 daily deaths over the weekend which was great.  They also have their lowest number of hospitalizations since last June.

That’s unpossible! I’m told on good authority they are Neanderthals who are going to get themselves killed.

This thread got interestingly quiet recently. 

[Michael in ABQ]

Florida does have the 6th most new cases per capita and second most new deaths per capita. However, as a whole the US is back down to case numbers from a year ago at 23k per day (less than half the numbers from a month ago) with average deaths per day around 500.

[JetBlast]

For what it's worth, I'm going to stop posting daily numbers unless something interesting happens with TX. I don't think there's much point anymore.

-W

Texas reported 0 daily deaths over the weekend which was great.  They also have their lowest number of hospitalizations since last June.

That’s unpossible! I’m told on good authority they are Neanderthals who are going to get themselves killed.

This thread got interestingly quiet recently.

It was unpossible.

The current data on the state's COVID dashboard, which is still labeled as incomplete, shows 46 deaths over that weekend instead of zero.

[RetiredAt63]

Manitoba was first on the list for the US/Canada combined.  Our numbers are going back down but some of the Canadian provinces had really bad 3rd waves.

Personally I don't trust some of the American numbers - Biden started having less testing to free up staff for vaccination clinics.  Florida had reporting issues a while back, do I trust their numbers?  Not much.

Nova Scotia, on the other hand, encourages lots of testing in the general population, and have been really good at tracking.  I wish I lived in Nova Scotia instead of Ontario in terms of how my Provincial government has handled things.

[jrhampt]

Manitoba was first on the list for the US/Canada combined.  Our numbers are going back down but some of the Canadian provinces had really bad 3rd waves.

Personally I don't trust some of the American numbers - Biden started having less testing to free up staff for vaccination clinics.  Florida had reporting issues a while back, do I trust their numbers?  Not much.

Nova Scotia, on the other hand, encourages lots of testing in the general population, and have been really good at tracking.  I wish I lived in Nova Scotia instead of Ontario in terms of how my Provincial government has handled things.

I don't know about Florida, but in CT our positive test rate has been less than 1% for at least the last week or so.  So we may be testing less, but people are also less sick here.  I think the nationwide test positive rate is more like 8-9%.

[dougules]

It seems like COVID is following a pattern a lot like the flu where it improves quite a lot in April and May.  It will be interesting to see what happens in November and December.  Hopefully we've vaccinated enough people by then that this coming winter is pretty light. 

[jrhampt]

Maybe?  Last year April was horrible, though —at least in New England/NY/NJ/CT. I think it’s the vaccines in large part driving it out.

[JGS1980]

Oh, Florida!!!

Last 15 days Covid count in Florida, in reverse chronological order:

12647
8988
8012
8010
8490
8225
7011
6425
5095
5094
5790
4840
3911
2303
2301

Desantis quote from today (7/22/21) -he refuses to change Florida's approach to Covid 19 as "We need our kids to breath."

He can't back down since he has already claimed victory and beat the pandemic (after minimizing it's effects for months). This fucking country...

[Dollar Slice]

Last 15 days Covid count in Florida, in reverse chronological order:

I've been watching the charts anxiously... those lines are just shooting up so fast. I have family in Florida. :-( 

Although since the pandemic started, three of my family members there have moved away and one died, so... not as much family in Florida as there used to be. They couldn't stand what it's become there. One of them is immune-compromised and people were just horrible to her, yelling at her about their "rights" and "freedom" when she asked them to wear a mask in the store that she owns and runs and is physically inside all day. They were miserable dealing with people like that daily.

[LifeHappens]

He can't back down since he has already claimed victory and beat the pandemic (after minimizing it's effects for months). This fucking country...

This is pretty much it. He wants to run for president* and that takes precedent over keeping people alive. Never mind many of those people are his voting base.

*I have already seen a "Trump/Desantis" flag. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster help us all.

[jinga nation]

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/07/23/coronavirus-is-surging-in-florida-is-the-state-doing-enough-to-fight-vaccine-hesitancy/

He doesn't care about COVID-19 or Red Tide severely affecting the Tampa Bay area's beaches.
He's too busy posturing in Texas for a 2024 POTUS run.

I want a mano-y-mano old-fashioned slugfest between 45 and DeSantis. SquaredCircle time. Words, actions, kicks, punches, cussing, rasslin', name-calling, and more!

I'll have my popcorn and old-fashioned ready to sip.

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

[Chris22]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

[JGS1980]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

Chris22, would you knowingly place yourself in a closed, nonventilated room with a Covid19 positive person for 30 minutes at a time?

I'm vaccinated, but I wouldn't take the chance that I'm in that 5% of folks for which the vaccine did not produce antibodies. In addition, even if I'm vaccinated, it does not mean I would like to be sick, or god forbid spread it to others (nonvaccinated or otherwise).

[Michael in ABQ]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

Chris22, would you knowingly place yourself in a closed, nonventilated room with a Covid19 positive person for 30 minutes at a time?

I'm vaccinated, but I wouldn't take the chance that I'm in that 5% of folks for which the vaccine did not produce antibodies. In addition, even if I'm vaccinated, it does not mean I would like to be sick, or god forbid spread it to others (nonvaccinated or otherwise).

But the odds of you being in a room with someone who is infected are still miniscule.

Florida for instance has a population of about 22,000,000. Currently there are about 9,000 new cases daily. If we round that to 10,000 and assume everyone is contagious for two weeks that means there are 140,000 potentially infectious people in the state. That translates to roughly 1 in 160 people in Florida. For the US on average it's about 1 in 500.

[OtherJen]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

For COVID, "mild" means "no need for hospitalization." My fully vaccinated friend and her husband recently took a road trip to Colorado and tested positive for COVID within 24 hours of returning home to Michigan (they got tested because they were wheezing and slightly feverish). They're not anywhere near requiring hospitalization, but she described her main symptom as "all of her joints being on fire" and also lost her senses of smell and taste.

I work full time in a managerial position and serve as president on the board of a local nonprofit. I also have a much anticipated camping trip coming up next month. I'd prefer not to have to miss work or my trip because I can't stop coughing and all of my joints are on fire.

I wore a mask to the store today.

[Chris22]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

Chris22, would you knowingly place yourself in a closed, nonventilated room with a Covid19 positive person for 30 minutes at a time?

I'm vaccinated, but I wouldn't take the chance that I'm in that 5% of folks for which the vaccine did not produce antibodies. In addition, even if I'm vaccinated, it does not mean I would like to be sick, or god forbid spread it to others (nonvaccinated or otherwise).

Sure. I had Covid. A nonevent for me. And I’ve been vaccinated. Between those two I do anything I want without a second thought.

[nick663]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

Conversely, what does it harm to wear a mask?  I have also gone back to them indoors as it's a small amount of additional protection against surging cases from new variants.

I'm not limiting my travels or anything.  Just taking some small precautions while doing so based on what is going on in the world.

[Paper Chaser]

I've gone back to wearing a mask in public, zero trust in humans.

What about other people do you need to trust?  Presumably you’ve been vaccinated, right?  So what do other people have to do with anything?  Vaccination means you won’t get it, or if you do it will be extremely mild. I don’t understand this “I’m vaccinated but all these other people are putting me at risk” idea.

Conversely, what does it harm to wear a mask?  I have also gone back to them indoors as it's a small amount of additional protection against surging cases from new variants.

I'm not limiting my travels or anything.  Just taking some small precautions while doing so based on what is going on in the world.

It reinforces vaccine hesitancy and anti-maskers to see fully vaccinated people wearing masks. I've heard lots of things like:
"Why should I get the vaccine if those who have gotten it don't trust it enough to go maskless?"
"Why would I get the vaccine if I still have to wear a mask and take many of the same precautions as I would if I remain unvaccinated?"

[rantk81]

It reinforces vaccine hesitancy and anti-maskers to see fully vaccinated people wearing masks. I've heard lots of things like:
"Why should I get the vaccine if those who have gotten it don't trust it enough to go maskless?"
"Why would I get the vaccine if I still have to wear a mask and take many of the same precautions as I would if I remain unvaccinated?"

It doesn't matter what the facts are.  The people who have bought-into the politicization of this pandemic will rationalize anything that is spewed out on the right-wing-propaganda tee-vee stations.

[nick663]

It reinforces vaccine hesitancy and anti-maskers to see fully vaccinated people wearing masks. I've heard lots of things like:
"Why should I get the vaccine if those who have gotten it don't trust it enough to go maskless?"
"Why would I get the vaccine if I still have to wear a mask and take many of the same precautions as I would if I remain unvaccinated?"

It doesn't matter what the facts are.  The people who have bought-into the politicization of this pandemic will rationalize anything that is spewed out on the right-wing-propaganda tee-vee stations.

^this

I'm over convincing people that don't want to be convinced.  I'm just doing what is best for me and my family.

[partgypsy]

If I am indoors with family and friends who are all vaccinated, we eat, drink, hang out together sans masks. Also outside events, don't wear a mask. Traveled and visited family in March, will do again in September.  In my area it's open you can now go indoors into stores and restaurants without masks (if you are vaccinated). But no one is checking vaccination status will bet dollars to donuts there are unvaccinated peeps not wearing masks indoors, at the same time highly contagious variant is spreading.  I've gone back to donning a cloth mask in these indoor situations,because the risk if infection depends on dose, and mask wearing reduces my exposure, and it's only in those high risk situations (indoors, unable to socially distance with people of unknown vaccination status).   Anyways bc of dumb asses both not wearing masks and not social distancing there will be an increase in cases and deaths, estimated to peak around October. After which they say the virus would have burned through those most suspectible, and rates will drop.

[partgypsy]

But yeah I'm over trying to convince dumbasses to: get vaccinated, mask up, or social distance and rather doing what is best for me and my family. Those d-asses are causing Covid (and more contagious versions of it) to stick aroundl onger so yeah I am resentful of them increasing costs, burdens, and restrictions on everyone. But whattya going to do.

[OtherJen]

I wonder if we'll see the same pattern as last year, wherein the southern and southwestern states saw spikes in case numbers as the outdoor temperatures increased and people began to spend more time indoors in AC. Case and hospitalization numbers here in Michigan have nearly rebounded to the levels seen a year ago, and our case numbers have been much higher since September (schools, cold weather) than they were last summer.

There's not that much fuel left to burn with all the infections that have happened and the now pretty rapid pace of vaccinations. But that's certainly possible. Is it AC weather already in TX in April?

-W

Summer temps + Delta variant + low vaccination rates certainly seem to be fueling a Southern spike.

[jinga nation]

https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/26/new-way-visualize-covid-19-case-surge-us/

Some Louisiana and Florida data viz in there.

[OtherJen]

As of this afternoon: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors when in areas with "substantial" and "high" transmission of Covid-19, which includes nearly two-thirds of all US counties.

From the CDC COVID Data Tracker

[OtherJen]

COVID hospitalizations are up 70% nationwide in the last 2 weeks. Hotspots so far are very localized. (Source: NY Times)

[OtherJen]

Florida breaks record with more than 21,000 new COVID cases (AP News)

So the pandemic situation in Florida may be worse now than during the last peak. And yet,

The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials’ ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month.