āI dont get what is happening in Hawaii, as it seems to be a high vaccine state, and one where the weather is conducive to being outdoors.ā
FWIW, Israelās vaccination rate (mainly with Pfizer) is 5% higher than HI, plus they have started a program of third-shot boosters for people over 60. Yet they have seen a surge in cases (less so for hospitalizations and deaths). The viral load in Delta can blow past front-line immunological defenses, relegating the current vaccines to ādamage controlā duty.
I read pre-press medical research (e.g. stuff that hasnāt yet been properly scrutinized for things like sample bias). From a couple of unrelated studies, the odds do not look great for people over 60 (the dividing line in one study) when it comes to effects from even mild symptomatic cases: Call it 50/50 for long-covid or neurological (dementia-like) consequences. That seems ridiculously high, and I ignored the first study until along came the next.
Flawed studies or not, my personal game plan is clear: Wear a mask and try to distance from anyone who a) is breathing and b) has a different-looking weeding ring than mine. Indoors of course, and outdoors if I canāt position upwind (air just doesnāt spread out/mix over short distances as much as people seem to imagine it does). In other words, stay ahead of whatever next monthās headlines are going to be, rather than become part of them.
It seems to me that even with vaccine mandates and/or a negative Covid test that Covid can still be brought in to a country/island.
The only way for Covid to mostly stay out is to have vaccines, negative tests and quarantine. That is economically devastating for countries/states such as Hawaii.
Brown79 - Your profile pic brings back a lot of memories. Wayland arch, right? I canāt tell you how many times I walked through that arch on the way to the Ratty.
Iāve stopped paying attention to the government. The CDC has become an endless parade of contradictions reinforced by news outlets. Now, after getting vaccinated, I have to wear a mask until further notice because Iām somehow still transmitting it, like some kind of airborne radioactive contamination; which defeats the purpose of the vaccine thatās so highly effective. I just turned off the news. If you want to wear a mask, more power to you. I donāt wear one and Iāll never wear a mask again. Breathing natural air is good for the body and the soul.
I would suggest avoiding plane travel then. Not only will those fines hurt the pocketbook, I hear the flight attendants are taking self-defense classes.
Well, good luck with that attitude. Masks are really that painful for you? Itās hard for me to understand. Iām glad you donāt have to follow blackout rules as they did in London for four years. Talk about restrictive!
Regarding the CDC and the āendless parade of contradictions reinforced by news outlets,ā Iām reminded of what Agent K said in the movie Men In Black:
While the CDC has had some problems, being gutted of top employees at or near the top of the list, science changes. It happens.
Iāve stopped paying attention to the government. The CDC has become an endless parade of contradictions reinforced by news outlets. Now, after getting vaccinated, I have to wear a mask until further notice because Iām somehow still transmitting it, like some kind of airborne radioactive contamination; which defeats the purpose of the vaccine thatās so highly effective. I just turned off the news. If you want to wear a mask, more power to you. I donāt wear one and Iāll never wear a mask again. Breathing natural air is good for the body and the soul.
not sure where to put this. I was just at a large conference at a convention center. The rules were that you had to show a proof of vaccination and you had to wear a mask except in when eating in designated areas. We held an important meeting in the eating location and masks were removed. (will i regret this ?) It will be interesting to see if any outbreaks are reported, but likely not, as people traveled to this event and will be going home.
What I actually saw, was that masks all day long were sometimes pulled down for various reasons. Even I did a few times . in the booth next to ours two of the older gentlemen never had their masks covering their noses and were wearing the company logo cloth masks. We have logoāed surgical masks that are of good quality. As a matter of fact, that was one of our giveaways and we were generous with asking people if they wanted one.
Back in June/July, just having everyone vaccinated I would have felt safe. Now I am not sure what to think. Did the masks help when noone was policing it? I have another large outdoor event this coming weekend (similar to attending a sporting event), Masks and vaccines are required and Fauci is one of the guest speakers.
Finally, I took Amtrak yesterday , and they were strict on the train about masks, and did ask someone to keep putting his back on. The train was full! When I booked it a few weeks ago it was only 20% full. I take another train back on tomorrow.
If I come out of all this without Covid I will be thrilled. One of my teammates had covid and was vaccinated of course, and interestingly I felt very safe being around them, versus the teammate was just vaccinated (with JnJ).
In my opinion, people wearing their masks under their nose are basically just giving the room the proverbial finger. They know that doing that completely negates the benefit and they are letting you know they absolutely donāt give a flip.