October 31, 20214 yr 17 minutes ago, Procus said: Your avatar is of a racist stereotype, so you are just as guilty I wouldn't take it too seriously. He's been taught that it's a finishing move.
November 1, 20214 yr Yah, it's the masks. That's the ticket . . . https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/mask-philadelphia-pennsylvania-mandate-covid-montgomery-chester-20211030.html Philly is less vaccinated than the suburbs, but those counties’ COVID-19 cases are higher. Does masking make the difference? by Jason Laughlin and Aseem Shukla Published Oct 30, 2021 The latest pandemic paradox in the Philadelphia region is that the city, while less vaccinated than virtually all its neighboring counties, has a lower rate of COVID-19 cases than any of them. This has continued even as the suburban counties outstrip Philadelphia’s vaccination rates. The city has fully vaccinated about 56% of its total population. Only Gloucester County has a lower vaccination rate. Bucks, Delaware, and Burlington Counties all have vaccination rates of nearly 65% or better. Yet COVID-19 is still infecting a larger percentage of their populations. The reasons for the seemingly counterintuitive trend are not clear, but the Philadelphia Department of Public Health has a theory "The only difference I see is the mask mandate,” said Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s acting health commissioner. "It’s hard to see what the difference is otherwise.” Philadelphia reinstated its indoor mask mandate in August as the delta variant drove a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The mandate remains in effect and the city said in early September that it had no intentions of ending it any time soon. There is no similar indoor mask mandate through the rest of the state. New Jersey recommends indoor masking but does not mandate it. City-gathered data from early October found about 80% of people entering and exiting shops had masks on, and the majority were wearing them correctly, said James Garrow, a health department spokesperson. "Step on the other side of City Avenue and masks disappear, so we definitely think that Philadelphians are better masked,” he said. During much of the spring and summer, COVID-19 case rates in the city and its surrounding Pennsylvania and New Jersey counties were largely similar. But according to The Inquirer’s tracker of case and vaccination data, that hasn’t been the case since September, when the city began consistently reporting lower case rates than its neighbors. "I think that for all we criticize ourselves for our behavior as sports fans and the hitchhiking robot,” Bettigole said, "we actually are a city that takes care of each other.” National trends are somewhat similar Boston, New York, City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. all have some form of indoor mask mandates, though the policies in their surrounding counties and cities vary. The pattern in the Philadelphia metro area mirrors trends in some, but not all, Northern and Northeastern metros. Suffolk County, Mass., which contains Boston, has both a lower vaccination rate and a lower case rate than surrounding suburban counties such as Norfolk, Essex, and Sussex. Massachusetts recommends indoor masking but does not mandate it. In Illinois, suburban counties have higher case rates than the Chicago metro area in Cook County, although vaccination rates vary in those suburbs. Illinois has had a statewide indoor mask mandate since August. New York City, though, lags its suburban counties in vaccination rates, but only some of its suburbs are currently posting higher COVID-19 case rates. And in the D.C. area, the pattern is inverted: again, the city has lower vaccine uptake, but it also has higher case rates than the suburbs today. Other potential factors Health experts said it’s plausible that masking makes the difference, though other factors could also be in play. "I’m inclined to think that indeed indoor masking is definitely helping in this situation,” said Thersa Sweet, associate professor in Drexel University’s department of epidemiology and biostatistics. Other possible explanations, she said, don’t seem to match the data. The divide between city and suburban case rates could be a result of more testing in the suburban counties, but Sweet said that isn’t likely because Philadelphia’s positivity rate is so low. Natural immunity among unvaccinated people who have caught COVID-19 and recovered likely wouldn’t account for it either, she said, since that protection is less effective than vaccines offer. Health officials elsewhere, though, say it is difficult to prove mask wearing is the difference maker, and there are many other factors that could account for the difference in infection rates. "The many layers of mitigation measures used to control COVID-19, combined with different community settings,” Chester County’s health department said Friday in a statement, "means that it is difficult to narrow it down to just masking in schools, masking and proof of vaccination within the workplace, or in restaurants and retail outlets.” About 61% of that county’s total population is fully vaccinated. "In general,” said Richard Lorraine, chief medical officer in Montgomery County’s Office of Public Health, "we are cautious about drawing definitive conclusions from small differences in this data.” That county, where almost 62% of people are fully vaccinated, has reported an average of about 18 cases per 100,000 a day over the past week, he said, compared to almost 13 per 100,000 in the city. The difference isn’t large, Lorraine said, and Philadelphia has a younger population than Montgomery County, which could play a factor in producing fewer symptomatic cases. Other relevant factors include whether people seek care in their own counties or elsewhere, how much people are traveling and moving about the region, employers’ vaccine requirements, and access to care and testing. » READ MORE: After a year of pandemic, wearing masks outdoors is up for debate "Overall, it is unlikely that mask policy accounts significantly for any current differences in COVID case rates between Philadelphia and Montgomery County,” Lorraine said. Montgomery and Chester County officials said the counties don’t track mask-wearing habits. "As far as I know, there has not been any direct study of masking compliance in businesses in either Philadelphia or Montgomery County, so there would be no way to judge this contribution,” Lorraine said. The challenge throughout the pandemic, Sweet said, has been gathering detailed data on a new virus that has continued changing since it swept the world in 2020. "What was first in the American population in the early time in March is a different virus than we got hit with this summer,” Sweet said. "I know the general public probably gets really frustrated with how long it takes to get these answers, but at the same time how do you rush these things?” Staff Writers Justine McDaniel, Erin McCarthy, and Laura McCrystal contributed to this story. Published Oct. 30, 2021
November 1, 20214 yr 30 minutes ago, Kz! said: More of this, please: <br> It was the wind in Dallas. Yah, that's the ticket . . .
November 1, 20214 yr procus having to choose between "vaccines bad" or "masks work" is pretty, pretty, pretty good.
November 1, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, we_gotta_believe said: procus having to choose between "vaccines bad" or "masks work" is pretty, pretty, pretty good. I think the bigger takeaway should be just how little effect vaccination rates have on transmission rates. I posted this a few pages back, but it didn't generate any discussion: On 10/27/2021 at 11:14 AM, Kz! said: Hate to keep bringing up Harvard scientists, but this is worth repeating:
November 1, 20214 yr 16 minutes ago, Toastrel said: An idiot reads and decides to post bikini pictures of his daughter on the Eagles Message Board. Too true. I've seen it first hand.
November 1, 20214 yr Quote Regulatory approval of Moderna’s emergency use authorization request for its vaccine for kids 12 to 17 years of age has been delayed until at least January, the company announced Sunday. The Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm said in a statement that the Food and Drug Administration blamed the delay on an ongoing evaluation of recent international analyses of the risk of myocarditis – inflammation of the heart – after vaccination. Moderna is working closely with the FDA and "is grateful to the FDA for their diligence," the statement said. Wow. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/10/31/fda-delays-ruling-moderna-vaccine-kids-12-and-up-covid-updates/6217286001/
November 1, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said: procus having to choose between "vaccines bad" or "masks work" is pretty, pretty, pretty good. No - Procus is of the opinion that Covid has been hijacked as a power grab and means to tank the economy for the average Joe and otherwise restrict our freedoms. Vaccine and mask mandates are symptoms of these issues that are much much bigger than Covid. WGB has a big blind spot as he's unable to look at the big picture.
November 1, 20214 yr 6 minutes ago, Procus said: No - Procus is of the opinion that Covid has been hijacked as a power grab and means to tank the economy for the average Joe and otherwise restrict our freedoms. Vaccine and mask mandates are symptoms of these issues that are much much bigger than Covid. WGB has a big blind spot as he's unable to look at the big picture. I can buy that Covid is being used as a power grab. There isn't a single president of any party in living memory who hasn't sought to exploit an emergency for political gain. But the rest of your post is insanity. How did we get to a place where one side actually believes the outer side is TRYING to destroy the nation? Fracking insanity.
November 1, 20214 yr 37 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: I can buy that Covid is being used as a power grab. There isn't a single president of any party in living memory who hasn't sought to exploit an emergency for political gain. But the rest of your post is insanity. How did we get to a place where one side actually believes the outer side is TRYING to destroy the nation? Fracking insanity. All you need to do is open your eyes and see what is going on in the country and the world. There are enough people here and elsewhere who will focus on just the actual disease - which can be nasty. But people are going nuts with this stuff. Today, I saw a guy outside on the very busy street riding a moped with no helmet and a mask. It's gotten to the point of insanity. From the medial aspect, there are many here and elsewhere who are harping on preventative measures. But you won't hear a peep from them about treatment options. They may respond if treatment options are mentioned - but it's absolutely criminal that treatment protocol is not emphasized as strongly as preventative measures. This is especially egregious on the part of the media and our representatives in government and as well, the interests of Big Pharm. But again, the non-medical aspects of this are horrible. Our economy may never recover, and the overall ramifications to the average person from that will dwarf those from the risk of infection. I won't even get into the power grab that's going on - and the power grab from this is like NOTHING we have seen before outside of war.
November 1, 20214 yr 22 minutes ago, Procus said: No - Procus is of the opinion that Covid has been hijacked as a power grab and means to tank the economy for the average Joe and otherwise restrict our freedoms. Vaccine and mask mandates are symptoms of these issues that are much much bigger than Covid. WGB has a big blind spot as he's unable to look at the big picture. They're doing a really sheety job of it. The markets reaching record highs, there are jobs everywhere and it's never been easier to improve your station in life. You're in a cult. Seek help.
November 1, 20214 yr 35 minutes ago, Procus said: No - Procus is of the opinion that Covid has been hijacked as a power grab and means to tank the economy for the average Joe and otherwise restrict our freedoms. Vaccine and mask mandates are symptoms of these issues that are much much bigger than Covid.
November 1, 20214 yr 8 minutes ago, VanHammersly said: They're doing a really sheety job of it. The markets reaching record highs, there are jobs everywhere and it's never been easier to improve your station in life. You're in a cult. Seek help. When the dollar is tanking and interest rates hover around zero, and the market is being propped up, yes it will go higher. But people are poorer today overall than they were in 2019. 7 minutes ago, Gannan said: And what's your excuse?
November 1, 20214 yr Sorry your house burned down, but we had to close down a bunch of fire stations over the vaccine mandate for your safety.
November 1, 20214 yr 23 minutes ago, VanHammersly said: They're doing a really sheety job of it. The markets reaching record highs, there are jobs everywhere and it's never been easier to improve your station in life. You're in a cult. Seek help. With inflation soaring and everyone in the know promising it will get worse, you have to honestly wonder if Van's trolling or if he really is this stupid. It's a cult. That's all you can say.
November 1, 20214 yr 23 minutes ago, Procus said: When the dollar is tanking and interest rates hover around zero, and the market is being propped up, yes it will go higher. But people are poorer today overall than they were in 2019. You watch too much news that pumps the doom and gloom. People are not "poorer" today overall. Wage growth has been phenomenal and shows no signs of weakening.
November 1, 20214 yr 12 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said: You watch too much news that pumps the doom and gloom. People are not "poorer" today overall. Wage growth has been phenomenal and shows no signs of weakening. If he is poorer, we are all poorer, because Socialism, aka, Brandon, aka Sleepy Joe
November 1, 20214 yr China Locks 30,000 Visitors Inside Shanghai Disneyland After One Guest Got Covid-19 https://www.wsj.com/articles/shanghai-disneyland-suspends-operations-as-visitors-queue-for-covid-19-tests-before-exiting-11635755117 Just like the USA lockdowns!
Create an account or sign in to comment