Weeks after return to school, Covid-19 trending down here.

AnnieA

AnnieA

Well-known Member
Location
Down South
K-12, colleges and universities in Mississippi have been opened 3-4 weeks. Most high schools have two to three football games behind them with band, drill team and cheerleader participation. Crowd capacity is limited at games to two spectators per student participant. A few games or 'spirit' groups performances have been cancelled on a case by case basis if students in the team or group test positive. Ten school districts and a few smaller colleges cancelled the season.

So far, cases, hospitalizations and deaths have gradually trended downward during this time-frame. There have been a few closures and re-openings in areas with school outbreaks; schools that haven't closed have students with symptoms sit out while waiting for test results, quarantine if positive, and there's also contact tracing if results are positive. It's super easy to get tested in the state these days.

Hoping and praying that we continue the trend but I'm worried that restaurants increasing to 75% capacity this week will bump us back up ...not thinking that's a smart move at all! ...especially since the weather is getting pleasant for outdoor dining and will be for the next month. But it's great!!! to know that school has not caused an uptick in cases, hospitalizations or deaths.
 

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I hope all works out well for Mississippi. As it happens, this morning I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about reopening too soon. This paragraph really hit home:

“The virus is the same. The (infection rate) numbers we generate are markers of how efficiently we’re avoiding the virus,” said UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. “We’re not doing anything to the virus except avoiding it.”
 
I'm glad your state is doing well. Wish mine did better. Yesterday's numbers were up in Florida. An additional 6,777 positive cases in today's daily posting with 327 of those requiring hospitalization and another 201 deaths.

Same period - my county added 250 new cases, my zip code added 4.

I am a contented recluse, venturing no further than my mail box.
 

gennie said:
I'm glad your state is doing well. Wish mine did better. Yesterday's numbers were up in Florida. An additional 6,777 positive cases in today's daily posting with 327 of those requiring hospitalization and another 201 deaths.

Same period - my county added 250 new cases, my zip code added 4.
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:( I imagine Florida's population density and the many tourists make it harder to control the infection than here. Not many tourists visit Mississippi unless it's for the Blues!
 
StarSong said:
I hope all works out well for Mississippi. As it happens, this morning I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about reopening too soon. This paragraph really hit home:

“The virus is the same. The (infection rate) numbers we generate are markers of how efficiently we’re avoiding the virus,” said UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford. “We’re not doing anything to the virus except avoiding it.”
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This seems so very true to me. I wonder about "opening up" vs "shutting down", when in both scenarios, the virus itself has not changed. How do we know when it is time to open up or shut down? I suppose watching the numbers of people testing positive or, more importantly, the numbers of people requiring medical care as the result of the virus go up or down. Regardless of what we are doing, the virus is still there.

Tony
 
tbeltrans said:
This seems so very true to me. I wonder about "opening up" vs "shutting down", when in both scenarios, the virus itself has not changed. How do we know when it is time to open up or shut down? I suppose watching the numbers of people testing positive or, more importantly, the numbers of people requiring medical care as the result of the virus go up or down. Regardless of what we are doing, the virus is still there.

Tony
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Seems like baby steps made according to demographics of a place has a lot to do with it. We didn't stay with extreme closures long at all here. There was no mask mandate at the beginning, and our health dept and governor initially implemented mask requirements on a county/community level as numbers spiked. Now we're under a statewide mask mandate and are continuing to gradually open back up. Case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths are decreasing. I do think masks are key in that mild and asymptomatic carriers aren't spreading it.
 
AnnieA said:
Seems like baby steps made according to demographics of a place has a lot to do with it. We didn't stay with extreme closures long at all here. There was no mask mandate at the beginning, and our health dept and governor initially implemented mask requirements on a county/community level as numbers spiked. Now we're under a statewide mask mandate and are continuing to gradually open back up. Case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths are decreasing. I do think masks are key in that mild and asymptomatic carriers aren't spreading it.
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I agree. Things seem to get confusing when, in the media, there is a swirl of conflicting information and opinions by so-called "experts". Everybody seems to dig up some sort of "expert" whenever there is news to report. I always wonder what constitutes an "expert" in those situations.

If the media would put aside their need to rake it (profits) in during the pandemic and just let the real experts speak in a unified voice (assuming they ARE unified), maybe this all could have been dealt with more expediently. The one consistently solid piece of advice seems to have been to wear masks. It is one thing we all can do, and it still surprises me how many refuse.

Tony
 

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