Coronavirus Outbreak

[ken_sylvania]

In one of the Mennonite groups, the total number of deaths recorded in the official church paper for 2020 was 5% less compared with 2019.

[Josh]

I hope, as a teacher, to get the vaccine in February.

Bad news; your governor decided it’s better to throw millions of doses away and impose a $1 million fine on any provider who gives a vaccine to a unworthy person. On the plus side, your mayor is upset about this.

[joshuabgood]

I hope, as a teacher, to get the vaccine in February.

Bad news; your governor decided it’s better to throw millions of doses away and impose a $1 million fine on any provider who gives a vaccine to a unworthy person. On the plus side, your mayor is upset about this.

I don't live in NYC anymore.

[mike]

I don't know when the reporting will catch up from the irregularity over the holidays, but here's what the charts are showing this morning. Hospitalizations still seem like the most consistent metric, and that number continues at record highs.



These are the US states that have above average COVID deaths/million.



Here are the top 28 countries in the world for COVID deaths/million. In the last month, Sweden has dropped from #24 to #28.

[Dan Z]

I think by next Monday the holiday irregularities should be through the system and the seven-day average should be caught up. This week will be telling. Like you, I am concerned that hospitalizations continue to rise like they have...and also that the vaccine rollout is generally not going as well as hoped. The political instability and uncooperative/disengaged nature of the federal government transition is making things worse I think.

Still hopeful for brighter days ahead in a month or two.

[Josh]

I think by next Monday the holiday irregularities should be through the system and the seven-day average should be caught up. This week will be telling. Like you, I am concerned that hospitalizations continue to rise like they have...and also that the vaccine rollout is generally not going as well as hoped. The political instability and uncooperative/disengaged nature of the federal government transition is making things worse I think.

Still hopeful for brighter days ahead in a month or two.

I'm a little confused why you'd think that. What does a federal Presidential election have to do with distributing the vaccine? Can't the various states step up to the task and distribute it?

So far, we have seen that New York State is monumentally incompetent at distributing vaccines, just like they were monumentally bad at keeping people from dying of COVID.

[Dan Z]

I think by next Monday the holiday irregularities should be through the system and the seven-day average should be caught up. This week will be telling. Like you, I am concerned that hospitalizations continue to rise like they have...and also that the vaccine rollout is generally not going as well as hoped. The political instability and uncooperative/disengaged nature of the federal government transition is making things worse I think.

Still hopeful for brighter days ahead in a month or two.

I'm a little confused why you'd think that. What does a federal Presidential election have to do with distributing the vaccine? Can't the various states step up to the task and distribute it?

So far, we have seen that New York State is monumentally incompetent at distributing vaccines, just like they were monumentally bad at keeping people from dying of COVID.

Not sure how big a roll the federal government is playing, but since they are at the center of initial vaccine distribution, and since they have the biggest stage for encouraging societal response, I primarily see two issues:

• 1) Because of the antagonistic nature of the transition, the outgoing and incoming administrations are reportedly not cooperating or communicating well in a variety of ways - including COVID response.
  2) The lame duck president and his representatives have been essentially AWOL in their public presence on this issue for the past few months.

I'm not well versed in New York's response - sorry to hear what is happening. So far my state, Minnesota seems to be doing fairly well (#16 in overall distribution per million population) but because of distribution issues both upstream and down, it is going slower than initially hoped.

[mike]

I know that Trump is supposed to be very bad for not displaying a dour enough public countenance in relation to the virus, and Biden is supposed to be the wonderful healing balm for the nation, but I seriously wonder whether you can actually attribute COVID deaths to the one and a national recovery to the other. There are so many dynamics at play, many or even most of which are out of our control. For millions of people to be vaccinated, an incredible amount of logistics need to fall in place, and finally, people actually have to get in line to be vaccinated. I think there are a lot of people who are not concerned enough to be breaking down the doors to get the virus, but they will step up to get it once it is readily available and convenient for them to do so. (I would fall into this category.) It will take some time. Just like we see various levels of concern in relation to other mitigation factors such as mask wearing, there will be various levels of urgency in relation to the vaccines. Lots of people will just not bother but most will eventually get it.

[Dan Z]

I know that Trump is supposed to be very bad for not displaying a dour enough public countenance in relation to the virus, and Biden is supposed to be the wonderful healing balm for the nation, but I seriously wonder whether you can actually attribute COVID deaths to the one and a national recovery to the other.

Mike - I'm confused - are you reading this into my post above, or are you responding to someone else or something more general?

[silentreader]

Thought of this verse lately....

Revelation 6:8
English Standard Version
8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

...got a ways to go yet.