Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

Ohio has hit three statistical milestones this week...
On Monday, our 7-day average case count dropped to approximately where it was on October 28. The 7-day average has been dropping now for 15 straight days, and apart from a couple of little dips in the graph, has been trending downward since it peaked on December 4.

On Tuesday, my worst-case estimate of odds of meeting a contagious person in Ohio dropped below 1.0% for the first time since November 3.

On Wednesday, the total number of vaccinations started exceeded the total number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in the State.

Exclusive of vaccines, our 'herd immunity' count looks to be between 8.243% and 27.4766%; vaccines add up to 7.77% to that figure.

It's all good news, but that 7-day average is still about three times what it was in August. But at least the numbers are moving in the proper direction, and the trend appears to be accelerating a bit.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It's interesting.

Israel seems to be getting good results. (here & here)

The CDC says teachers don't have to be vaccinated to get kids back in school. (here)

Ohio is vaccinating school employees all over with the idea being things go back on March 1st. (here)

Keep vaccinating the oldest and letting the kids snot on each other (and older kids dry hump) and this thing could really start snowballing away. Granted, we're nowhere near done, but it's gonna be interesting to watch.

Pfizer Vaccine Is 90% Effective 3 Weeks After First Shot, Early Study Shows

What did they discover? According to the study, published Wednesday on the preprint server, medRxiv, and yet to be peer-reviewed, case numbers increased for eight days, before declining to low levels by day 21.

"We found that the vaccine effectiveness was still pretty much zero until about 14 days after people were vaccinated," Hunter said. After day 14, immunity rose gradually -- to about 90% at day 21 -- and then plateaued. All the improvement in protection was seen before any second injection was given.

"This shows that a single dose of vaccine is highly protective, although it can take up to 21 days to achieve this," Hunter said. "Whilst we do not know how long this immunity will last beyond 21 days without a second booster, we are unlikely to see any major decline during the following nine weeks."

This is why, if I have a choice (and that seems unlikely), I think I would prefer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. One shot and done after the ramp up period.

It seemed to be you Florida guys noting a serious lack of mask use. I guess it really is a Florida thing.

Video shows unmasked customers, employees in Florida grocery store

Those little video clips from inside the store are sheer insanity. I've not seen anything even close to this for nearly a year. It simply wouldn't fly around here.

Just. Wow.

Further enforces my belief that once vaccines are available to all, it's on you. Go die in some ****ty Florida supermarket. I'mma be ok.

Well, you saw the owner in that piece, so you shouldn't be surprised. Remember, local municipalities can't do **** because our genius governor overruled local action.

Been a while since I have been to a grocery store with baggers. Are there any videos of full service gas stations? Miss seeing attendants checking air in tires and oil levels.

"Why don't we shut the world down because of a heart attack? Why don't we lock down cities because of heart attacks?"

What a brilliant take.

GoBucks89 said:

Been a while since I have been to a grocery store with baggers.

What grocery stores do you shop at? I don't think I have ever been to a grocery store that doesn't have baggers.

Ditto. All the stores I go to around the Pittsburgh area have baggers, with the exception of the self-checkout lines (which I generally don't use because that sounds like a job I'm not getting paid for.)

Full serve stations are still around here, too, but are generally the smaller neighborhood stations. They pump and clean windows, but you need to ask for the other stuff.

As for the effective after 3 weeks thing, I have a non-peer-tested review.

My wife got the first Moderna shot a couple weeks ago. She's been feeling sick this past week so she got a covid test on Sunday and she got a positive result to the antibody, which meant she has had it recently and could still be contagious. The kids and I went on Monday and were all negative. Turns out the positive result was due to the shot making her body build up antibodies to the virus, not from the virus itself.

What grocery stores do you shop at? I don't think I have ever been to a grocery store that doesn't have baggers.

Giant Eagle and Aldi mostly. Giant Eagle has a lot of self checkout aisles so there isn't a cashier or bagger. Aisles with cashiers don't have baggers. Aldi cashier puts stuff back in cart but you bag them or just take them to your vehicle. In terms of getting people through the lines and out of the store, I haven't seen anyone faster than Aldi. Heinens still has baggers I think but its been a long time since I have been to one.

I use whatever line will get me out of the store faster. Sometimes its one with a cashier; other times its self checkout. If one or the other has no line, its easy to pick. Otherwise you scan who is in which line, what they are buying and the cashier. Old customer or old cashier will tend to be slower. If both cashier and customer are old, you might as well pull up a lawnchair.

I will generally will trade a little work for time.

Also keep an eye for coupons in hand. Though it’s not as big a problem as it was when it was the trendy thing to do.

Jeff said:

Remember, local municipalities can't do **** because our genius governor overruled local action.

This, this, this...and many more times over. We can be witness to blatant disregard for the most basic CDC recommended protocols and there is nothing we can do about it. It would be as if the Governor preempted the enforcement of all traffic regulations to the state. People could be running stop signs, speeding through town, etc and there would be nothing we as local officials could do about it.

Both of those issues have a direct impact on public safety and public health...yet the Governor feels like local authorities should have no say on Covid.

99er said:

GoBucks89 said:

Been a while since I have been to a grocery store with baggers.

What grocery stores do you shop at? I don't think I have ever been to a grocery store that doesn't have baggers.

In my part of Texas, Market Street, a regional upscale grocer, has separate baggers and that's it. Cashiers do their own bagging everywhere else.

Interesting stuff. Aside from Aldi, which I don't think has ever had baggers because of their business plan, every chain grocery store I have ever shopped at had/still has baggers. Where I grew up it was Buehler's and Kroger, and now that I live in Florida it's Publix. Didn't know so many places did away with baggers.

GoBucks89 said:

https://www.1011now.com/2021/01/29/gov-ricketts-announces-new-direc...-saturday/

From the article: "Nebraskans who have recovered from the coronavirus in the past three months do not need to quarantine after a close contact, though they’re encouraged to monitor for symptoms."

Also read today on Metalbuzz that Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of the band Tool, is back in the hospital with his 2nd serious case of COVID. He had the first in February and has been living with side effects ever since. Obviously it's a news story because he's a celebrity, but I think he might disagree with the above statement from the article.

And the owner of that grocery store is quoted as saying he believes COVID is a hoax. Buyer beware I guess.

Calculator for when the pandemic will end. Lots of assumptions and looking at current paces in a given population.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-04/when-will-covid-...calculator

I think Maynard is out of the hospital. The interview where he said he had it twice was from February 3.

As I’ve said before, my day is Monday and I’ve been busy trying to see how successful I might be in signing up for a time.
Meijer seems like an easy way to get an appointment. I went online and registered. Briefly, when a spot opens for me they will send me a text and I can accept or turn them down. I chose a location south of me but then wondered if it would pay to try each and every store I can get to. I called Grove City and got a nice gal who said I not only should do every store but sign up everywhere- Ohio State, Kroger, Giant Eagle, etc. because availability is scarce. And actually I have attempted that and the message is mixed, but usually it says “no appointments available”. Now I don’t know it they’re sold out or if I’m being turned down due to being slightly early. I stopped by the Giant Eagle pharmacy yesterday while shopping and they had people there but the pharmacist told me next week is already booked solid. I have a feeling it’s not the 65+ folks but the 70+ folks.
Finally the Meijer lady went on to say that they had so far received no doses and so far have administered exactly 0 vaccinations. Oh. I went on ahead and signed up at a couple other stores but why bother if there’s no vaccine being distributed? She did say she knows of people who have had luck by showing up at a location toward the end of day, making their presence known, hoping to squeeze in. I can do that but it seems less than ideal and a huge time waster if it doesn’t pan out, and they probably don’t want a lot of people hanging out anyway.

This is the worst. I’m frustrated, tired, and sick of being afraid. What a cluster. And we’re still toward the top- good luck to you people in your 40’s and 30’s. That 7 year timeline linked above seems about right.