Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

I haven't seen any state that is going strictly based on age. Its a mix of where you work, age and medical conditions.

I am also in favor of going off height.

Alaska opens vaccines up to everyone over 16.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/alaska-becomes-1st-state-open-033208375.h..._test=1_04

Here's a big summary of all of the nutty variations on priority, different in every state. But as the Alaska situation shows, if vaccine supply becomes robust, it may not even matter. My doctor still thinks we'll be there in Florida within a few weeks, and the production ramps sure imply we're headed that way.

The flip side is that we may not get to a total beat-down point because of the people unwilling to get vaccinated, potentially drawing this into an annual thing. I'm definitely not going to feel particularly bad about people refusing vaccination getting sick, provided they're not contributing to infection rates in underserved and rural communities not getting enough vaccine.

I think the assumption that this is going to be a yearly thing is already built into the system, my mother's insurance notified her at least two months ago that the vaccine would be paid for "each year".

Here in Indiana, my wife and I were able to get vaccinated by volunteering to assist with vaccine distribution at a local site (the county fairgrounds, in our case). Seemed like a reasonable way to incentivize people to help the cause, and we took advantage.

I was looking for something like that here, and not so much for a chance at the vaccine, but just to help.
But I suppose they’re not having workers there who aren’t vaccinated, right?

I did it for the vaccine. 😜

Seriously though, it was nice to be a part of the operation. In a 7-hour shift we processed nearly 700 people. The group definitely skewed old, but we did have a fair amount of young people, including a handful in their 20s and even a few 16-year-olds.

Go former home town, Seattle! As expected, the measures did not have an outsized economic impact:

One year later, the Seattle area has the lowest death rate of the 20 largest metropolitan regions in the country. If the rest of the United States had kept pace with Seattle, the nation could have avoided more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths...

Amid widespread economic turmoil, the state’s unemployment rate has been about average nationally, outperforming some places that have pressed ahead with wider reopenings, including Arizona and Texas.

I read that article. It's an important data point and one I happen to believe is indicative, but it's still just one data point. NYC (obviously the most densely populated area in all of North America) had a lot of regulations and a lot of deaths. SF had a lot of regulations and not a lot of deaths. Hard to control for all the variables.

Same is true in terms of economic impact. The more your economy is based on activities that are not happening/have been significantly reduced (such as tourism, conferences/conventions, etc) the more your economy will be negatively impacted. The more your economy is based on activities that have not been impacted as much (or which may have increased such as with Amazon), your economy will do better.

In his press conference today in response to media questions, DeWine said it likely will be a while before the next phase is opened. Biden is supposedly going to direct states in his address tonight to allow access to vaccines to all adults by May 1. Presumably that will come with a substantial increase in available vaccines. Big part of using phases is to allow for orderly vaccination process. Right now Ohio has about 1/2 the population eligible. Adding another 3.5-4 million people without a significant increase in available vaccines will make the process much worse. Reminds me of time at Ohio State where people knew the university didn't issue parking permits; they issued hunting permits.

From my understanding, this is coupled with an order of 100 million new J/J doses.

I hope the United States has Prime.

Right. So there will be a total of 200 million 1 dose vaccines in addition to the 2 dosers. If he's making this announcement he must be very confident in the supply chain.

A lot of folks on the ground here are pretty sure the supply is going to be exceptional in a few weeks. The Biden playbook has been to under promise and over deliver, so it all seems plausible to me.

Per the Forbes article on the 100 million additional Johnson doses:

The doses are likely to come “sometime in the second half of this year,” officials told the Times, and Biden’s announcement Wednesday will only be a “first step” toward negotiations on the extra shots kicking off.

I saw that as well, which seems counterintuitive at first, but it also says that there have also been extra doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s shots already secured (doesn't give a number), and that only 3 of the 20 million J/J shots due by the end of March (which also presumes more coming in April and May) have been delivered.

GoBucks89 said:
In his press conference today in response to media questions, DeWine said it likely will be a while before the next phase is opened. (...)

In his speeches last week he said Ohio's vaccination program would stay with the then-current eligibility for a while as the backlog was cleared. Then a few days later he announced the next phase would start today.

I'm sure DeWine is seeing the same trends that I am*. Combine that with the sheer volume of people already vaccinated and the coming increase in capacity, and I think there is a whole lot of "under promise and over deliver" going on at all levels

--Dave Althoff, Jr., whose jabs are already scheduled.

* I am, after all, using his numbers, and I'm no statistician!

--DCAjr

Guess I don't really see it as counterintuitive at least with respect to the additional 100 J&J does playing a role in the May 1 directive. J&J has promised 100 million doses in arms by the end of June (and they have been specific about that compared to "delivered"). Additional doses odered won't be delivered before that (other than some in late June that will be delivered but not in arms by the end of June).

Biden specifically stated tonight that his directive doesn't mean every adult will have the vaccine (or even the first dose) by May 1. Just that all adults can get in line by that date. Speaking from experience with my dad and in-laws, being in line but unable to find appointments is worse than not being in line. You waste less time when you aren't eligible and the result is the same but the frustrations much less. And if there are more vaccines available in a given state or a state has run out of willing arms that are eligible (or a combination of the two), governors will be quick to add eligible groups/phases. Given current trends, it seems likely the majority of states will get there before May 1. And if they don't it won't because governors don't want to get there; it will be because the supply isn't there to meet demand. Directive tonight was politics more than substance.

And DeWine is being political too. He just added about 1.4 million people to the eligible list today. He can look at numbers and see expected receipts of doses to determine when he thinks he can open up the next phase. Has to do some estimates in terms of figuring out willing arms (of the 1.4 million and rest of the eligible but unvaccinated group) to determine if he can move more quickly to the next phase. If he answers the question "soon" he will get questions every time he talks. Say it will be a while and he can avoid it longer. And by then he will likely have a date certain for the next phase.

It is truly amazing what even a tiny bit of competence - and sense of collaboration - a sense of duty - and frankly, sanity - in leadership positions can do, especially in the highest levels of the US government.

So much preventable suffering and death if not for the narcissism and arrogance of one man, and more importantly the people around him and his party who perpetuated the lies or allowed them to spread unchecked. How many lives would have been saved (or illness avoided) had the last administration spent their final 2.5 months working with the vaccine manufacturers and states to build a vaccine distribution plan and infrastructure rather than trying to overturn an American election?

Hey now. Just today Don was taking credit for any success, reminding everyone to remember to thank him when they get their 1400 bucks next week.