Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

In all seriousness, I wish every bit of safety and wellness for your kids, their teachers/staff, you and your family.

 

Georgia's Cherokee County closes third high school for COVID-19 concerns

 

This coronabro has more bad news to report. Pediactric COVID-19 are on the rise in the US. Cases increased steadily between March and July. Likely will grow even more as schools open.

 

5.5% positivity rate on 777,569 tests today. Those are good numbers. Lowest percentage and cases since June I believe.

 

Big Schloss (real name). It is an outcrop that gives 270 degree views.

 

North Carolina is under 1000 hospitalized Covid-19 cases for the first time in nearly 2 months.

7 Day moving average for new cases is down to around 1200 a day, from a high of nearly 2100 per day in mid-July.

Shame we are going to see cases go the other way with schools opening.

 

Hadn’t heard the term coronabro. I guess it means someone who can comprehend science?
I’m all in.

 

Great shots and looks like a glorious hike. Are the trails well-groomed and is this part of a state trail system?

 

that one is in the George Washington National Forest, so everything is well maintained. Most of the trails around here though, we are fortunate.
Washington and Jefferson National Forests combined cover something like 1.8 million acres and cover parts of three states. It’s a massive size for the east coast.

 

This country seems hopeless sometimes.

'Wild pack of Karens' accuse grocery store of 'committing WAR CRIMES' for denying them entry | Daily Mail Online

 

Just to clear things up a group of Karens isn't a pack, it's a Complaint.

 

Here is some potential good news on herd immunity. Looks like studies show the percent needed for herd immunity for COVID-19 may be closer to 50% than 70%. Still early, but if true, as the article states, there may be small pockets will herd immunity already, like hardest hit areas in NYC. Also, it means a vaccine that is 50% effective will get us to the brink of herd immunity (not every can or will get vaccinated). A vaccination that is 60% effective or more would likely get us to herd immunity on its own.

 

I read the article and I am wondering why they didn't address Sweden. Sweden flattened their curve with the least amount of safety measures(lockdowns, schools and such), you would think they would bring that up. Yes, they had a higher death rate than their Scandinavian countries but less than Italy, Spain, and England. Just think it would've been smart to address the country that did the least during the lockdown.

 

It should be noted that their death rate is 2-7% lower than the hardest hit countries in Europe, which often are either much poorer, older, more densely populated (even after accounting for the fact that most people in Sweden don't live in the very sparsely populated regions), and/or have much poorer extant health.

Sweden's death rate is 5.35-19.76x the death rate of other Scandanavian countries, whose metrics on healthcare and population density are much more similar.

 

What does that have to do with seeing if they already reached herd immunity?

 

They aren't anywhere near herd immunity.

Sweden's COVID Policy Didn't Create Herd Immunity