Coronavirus prep

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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    edited March 2022
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    FWIW, as others are saying or implying: I was out and about in stores and such today, and it looks like people are still masking up in about the same numbers as before the recent guidance changes. (We didn't have a full mandate here, though, so there was already some individual discretion in nearly all but health care scenarios.)

    My experience was different. We did have a full mandate, and where I am (the specific areas I am mostly in in my deep blue city), the mandate was pretty well followed -- I'd see maybe one person not wearing a mask on the L, everyone was masked in a store normally, everyone at church consistently, and if anyone walked in my building lobby or gym without one, they would be required to put one on.

    Our mandate is only gone as of this past Monday, and since then -- certainly by Friday/this weekend -- I'd say the numbers wearing them have dropped down quite a bit. It has ranged from about 50% with them (they are still required on public transit, so I'm not including that) to 0% (I didn't see anyone at my gym in one). Based on when they dropped them for a short while in the summer, I expect that number to decrease over the near short term.

    I'm totally fine with this (I actually find people bemoaning the awfulness of people not wearing masks when they are not required by the law/particular establishment to be irritating -- not saying anyone here is doing it, but it's something I've run into), and I am not wearing them unless they are required (which they still are some places) or I'm with someone who is uncomfortable without them (and generally not since those people whom I know are also largely avoiding public in-person stuff still).

    The people in these places, given the area (the vax rate in my city varies quite a bit by neighborhood/zip) are also extremely likely to be vaxxed (the gym in question has a vax requirement and I know a number of businesses in my office building also do, and so on).
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,048 Member
    Back to the antigen testing topic, my first government test order delivery took 3 weeks. A friend alerted me 2 days ago that second orders are available for addresses that already received one order. I ordered and it's out for delivery today. USPS is definitely doing something different with distribution, at least in my city.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    I know the drug companies are continuing to work on figuring out vaccine dosages for children under 5, and I know they're feeling urgency about that. I wonder if it's feeling extra urgent now, with disease incidence in the population starting to trend down a bit?

    As I recall, one factor (among many) in initial vaccine development being able to happen fast was that Covid was so widespread that accumulating evidence of effectiveness against controls was faster than in diseases that are not very common to start with; especially since there was a desire to avoid challenge trials (i.e., exposing people deliberately) given how serious Covid can be for some individuals.

    Presumably, if our contagion levels in the population drop materially (inarguably a good thing!), it will take longer to collect enough data to validate vaccine effectiveness in children (not a great thing).
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,572 Member
    I didn't really do anything different when the pandemic hit. I still did most of my "crap" food shopping online at Walmart and Target and then made weekly jaunts to Trader Joe's and Vons for refrigerated/frozen/produce and any "crap" foods with a good sale items (Hello, 5 packages at one time of smoreos! You didn't last long, didja?!) .
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,366 Member
    I never did curbside grocery shopping. I buy a significant amount of fresh produce and I like to see what I'm buying. Also, it's easier to work out alternates when I can see what is in and not in stock right then.

    Ditto re produce. And their idea of an acceptable substitute might end up being too high in sodium or too low in protein or otherwise not my idea of acceptable.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Seeing many more people without masks now, I'm just curious as to area's numbers of Covid cases and deaths. I haven't kept up but have things improved that much?
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,983 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Seeing many more people without masks now, I'm just curious as to area's numbers of Covid cases and deaths. I haven't kept up but have things improved that much?

    In most areas, yes, it has improved that much. But it depends on where you are...there are still hotspots. For in the U.S., here's a county-by-county map from the CDC...
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/community-levels.html