COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (12 Viewers)

[Doug B]

So it doesn't surprise me that states with lots of small rural towns, and maybe 1 or 2 highly populated urban areas would see such a disparity in Vaxs

So, what's going on in the rural Northeastern U.S.? Vermont, New Hampshire, etc.?

 

[Infoman]

U.S. States Populations, Land Area, and Population Density

www.states101.com

I have to disagree. My state of Ms. isn't a very densly populated st,but there are others with less dense populations blowing us out of the water. We were also one of the first states giving the vaccine via a walk in appt. The local pharmacy in my neighborhood was also vaccinating Ala. and La, residents. There really is no excuse for Ms. to be dead last.

You disagree with my personal experience with people? It's not my opinion... It's what I have personally noticed when engaged with people from both location types... Like I said... Take it FWIW... which is not evidence or opinion.... rather anecdotal thought.

 

[Infoman]

So, what's going on in the rural Northeastern U.S.? Vermont, New Hampshire, etc.?

Again... my personal experience... I have no idea what the thought process is for people I have not spoken to in Vermont...

I am not putting forth a theory... I am conveying what I have experienced personally.

 

[faceman]

So, what's going on in the rural Northeastern U.S.? Vermont, New Hampshire, etc.?

https://state.1keydata.com/state-population-density.php

Mississippi - 63.2 residents per square mile.

Maine - 44.2

Mississippi- 34% fully vaccinated

Maine - 56.3.

Once again,no excuse.

 

[faceman]

Again... my personal experience... I have no idea what the thought process is for people I have not spoken to in Vermont...

I am not putting forth a theory... I am conveying what I have experienced personally.

I understand, and hope I didn't come off as badgering. My personal experience is most people in my home state are simply dumb.

 

[Infoman]

Here, I'll give you a quick and simple example of what I am talking about...

I have a brother that lives Uptown, and works Downtown.... He knows lots of people that have had Covid. He got the shot as soon as he possibly could.

I have a cousin that lives alone in Summerfield, LA, and manages and maintains multiple deer leases for a living... He lives in a town with like 300 people, and knows no one impacted by Covid... He could care lees about getting a shot right now.

It's anecdotal - I just wanted to point out how someone's personal situation and location could determine their decision (or sense of urgency) to get the shot(s).

Not saying I agree or disagree... just pointing out what I have experienced.

 

[faceman]

Here, I'll give you a quick and simple example of what I am talking about...

I have a brother that lives Uptown, and works Downtown.... He knows lots of people that have had Covid. He got the shot as soon as he possibly could.

I have a cousin that lives alone in Summerfield, LA, and manages and maintains multiple deer leases for a living... He lives in a town with like 300 people, and knows no one impacted by Covid... He could care lees about getting a shot right now.

It's anecdotal - I just wanted to point out how someone's personal situation and location could determine their decision (or sense of urgency) to get the shot(s).

Not saying I agree or disagree... just pointing out what I have experienced.

Another thing I've noticed is the Asian population in Ms. is nearly 70%. That's not a small # either. The coast has a large Vietnamese population. One is a very close friend of mine. He told me it's common practice for residents in his home country to wear masks during Flu season. There are many people in the states who believe it's taking away their freedom.


My FB feed is loaded with quotes like it has a 98% survival rate. I respond by saying do you want to be in the 2% where it doesn't? I don't. Please get vaccinated

 

[Infoman]

Stay off of FB and Twitter... 98% of your problems will disappear. LOL

 

[sammymvpknight]

Child Suicides Drive Hospital to Declare State of Emergency

Colorado's Children's Hospital is "overrun with kids attempting suicide and suffering from other forms of mental illness," prompting the institution to declare a "state of emergency."

www.medscape.com

This was one of my significant concerns about social isolation in children.

 

[Saint_Ward]

LA, MS, and AL once again at the bottom.

Living in NOLA, the vax % is much higher than the rest of the state. When the state opened up for everyone to get them, there was an initial mad rush to get them that was awesome. Now that everyone who wanted them got them, we're left w/ the part of the population who refuses to get them for various reasons.

The other problematic one is the part of the population who have difficulty being able to actually get vaccinated.

VACCINE DIVIDE: How low COVID-19 vaccination rates in rural areas impact New Orleans

Three rural areas in Southeast Louisiana have rates under 15%. Some New Orleans areas have rates over 60%.

www.wdsu.com

Yep. Just think how low the rest of the state is.

See map above. For Fully vaccinated, here are the breakdowns... remember, the reference value for the State as a whole is 18+ 41% are fully vaccinated.. For total population ("All"), it's 32.1% fully vaccinated.

Orleans
All - 45%
12+ - 51%
18+ - 55%
65+ - 73%

Jefferson Parish
All - 41%
12+ - 48%
18+ - 51%
65+ - 78%

St. Tammany
All - 36%
12+ - 42%
18+ - 46%
65+ - 79%

 

[Saint_Ward]

Child Suicides Drive Hospital to Declare State of Emergency

Colorado's Children's Hospital is "overrun with kids attempting suicide and suffering from other forms of mental illness," prompting the institution to declare a "state of emergency."

www.medscape.com

This was one of my significant concerns about social isolation in children.

I saw some studies showing increases, but we've had a pretty big increase in suicides over the last decade. So, is this a real jump or more of a sad continuation of this trend? Probably a bit of both.

"The suicide rate increased from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 in 2018."

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-11-508.pdf


https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-pandemic-may-be-driving-up-kids-suicide-risk

Other places are seeing a rise in 2020 numbers compared with 2019 as well.

The number of kids with suicide attempts coming to the emergency room at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, in California, in the fall of 2020 was double the number in the fall of 2019, says Marisol Cruz Romero, a psychologist and the coordinator for the hospital's behavioral emergency response team.

At Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, the number of children and teens hospitalized after suicide attempts went up from 67 in 2019 to 108 in 2020. And October 2020 saw a 250% increase in these numbers over the previous October, says Hillary Blake, a pediatric psychologist at the hospital.

Psychiatrists and other doctors who work with children say the pandemic has created a perfect storm of stressors for kids, increasing the risk of suicide for many. It has exacerbated an ongoing children's mental health crisis — suicide rates had already been going up for almost a decade among children and youth.

The problems brought on by the pandemic, they say, only highlight the weaknesses in the mental health safety net for children — and point to an urgent need for new solutions.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Go kids.

 

[Arathrael]

Go kids.

From what I'm seeing over here, those vaccinations could be crucial if the USA is going to avoid, or at least minimise, a Delta variant wave.

We're seeing a definite third wave over here, new cases are apparently over 90% Delta variant, and the data indicates the wave in cases is carrying over into a wave of hospitalisations.



In terms of restrictions here, we still have social distancing measures in place (so, limited capacity in indoor venues like bars, theaters), and mask wearing, but we do have bars open, and people are able to meet albeit with limitations (e.g. a maximum of 6 people or two households indoors). We also have good vaccination rates, with 54.8% of people (over 18) fully vaccinated, and 77.6% with at least one dose (good news is, that does appear to affecting hospitalisations, with the rates rising rapidly in the lower-age (and less vaccinated) age groups, rather than the older, fully vaccinated groups; in principle that should mean less deaths, which is also good, but with the rates we're seeing it still has the potential to overwhelm healthcare if it really surges, plus there's the implications for long-term effects, and likelihood of further variants arising).

You can also see that in the case data heatmaps broken down by age. Have a look here:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=ltla&areaName=Blackburn%20with%20Darwen

This is the data for Blackburn with Darwen, which is currently undergoing a big wave. If you scroll down to the heatmap, you can see the older age ranges are less affected so far than in previous waves... but you can also see the younger age ranges are experiencing higher rates than previously.

So it continues to look like the Delta variant can really spread, and with vaccination having a protective effect, the surge is really going through younger age groups.

The USA has the advantage of not being hit as hard as the UK by this variant yet, which means more time to roll out vaccinations, and if enough people get vaccinated, maybe it won't get hit as hard as all. But I think it's really going to depend on those vaccinations.

 

[Saint_Ward]

From what I'm seeing over here, those vaccinations could be crucial if the USA is going to avoid, or at least minimise, a Delta variant wave.

We're seeing a definite third wave over here, new cases are apparently over 90% Delta variant, and the data indicates the wave in cases is carrying over into a wave of hospitalisations.



In terms of restrictions here, we still have social distancing measures in place (so, limited capacity in indoor venues like bars, theaters), and mask wearing, but we do have bars open, and people are able to meet albeit with limitations (e.g. a maximum of 6 people or two households indoors). We also have good vaccination rates, with 54.8% of people fully vaccinated, and 77.6% with at least one dose (good news is, that does appear to affecting hospitalisations, with the rates rising rapidly in the lower-age (and less vaccinated) age groups, rather than the older, fully vaccinated groups; in principle that should mean less deaths, which is also good, but with the rates we're seeing it still has the potential to overwhelm healthcare if it really surges, plus there's the implications for long-term effects, and likelihood of further variants arising).

You can also see that in the case data heatmaps broken down by age. Have a look here:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=ltla&areaName=Blackburn%20with%20Darwen

This is the data for Blackburn with Darwen, which is currently undergoing a big wave. If you scroll down to the heatmap, you can see the older age ranges are less affected so far than in previous waves... but you can also see the younger age ranges are experiencing higher rates than previously.

So it continues to look like the Delta variant can really spread, and with vaccination having a protective effect, the surge is really going through younger age groups.

The USA has the advantage of not being hit as hard as the UK by this variant yet, which means more time to roll out vaccinations, and if enough people get vaccinated, maybe it won't get hit as hard as all. But I think it's really going to depend on those vaccinations.

United Kingdom Coronavirus Map and Case Count

See the latest charts and maps of coronavirus cases, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccinations in United Kingdom.

www.nytimes.com

 

[sammymvpknight]

I saw some studies showing increases, but we've had a pretty big increase in suicides over the last decade. So, is this a real jump or more of a sad continuation of this trend? Probably a bit of both.

"The suicide rate increased from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 in 2018."

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-11-508.pdf


https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-pandemic-may-be-driving-up-kids-suicide-risk

I think that you're right. That's pretty much the point that the article was making. Things were bad...COVID made it worse. Not to mention that burnout is incredibly high with healthcare providers right now. At my work...over half of our employers have either retired, changed jobs, or went on leaves of absence. You have an increased number of depressed kids...and fewer providers to see them. Right now...we simply don't have reasonable mental health resources...and Jacksonville, all things considered, has done very well during COVID. I suspect that its worse elsewhere. I'm really glad that things are opening up. I think that we have to be very careful asking kids to continue to live in a COVID world while everyone opens up just because they haven't been vaccinated. I've long believed that isolation is much more dangerous for these kids than COVID...and nothing over the past year and a half has changed that opinion.