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Thursday, March 31, 2022 1:21:12 AM
States Close Mass Test and Vaccine Sites, but Virus May Swell Anew
"Complacency concerns as BA.2 spreads: ‘We need to be wary’
[...]
The rapid spread is due to the sub-variant’s increased transmissibility, with BA.2 estimated to be up to seven times more transmissible .. https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-much-more-transmissible-is-omicron-s-ba-2-sub-variant-20220311-p5a3vm.html .. than the original strain and up to three times more transmissible than BA.1."
Officials say demand has slowed as coronavirus cases have fallen. But some experts question the scaling back of services, especially vaccination campaigns.
Only about 65 percent of Americans have received initial coronavirus vaccines, and less than one-third of Americans have had a first booster shot. Kenny Holston for The New York Times
By Julie Bosman and Sophie Kasakove
March 30, 2022
CHICAGO — As Americans shed masks and return to offices and restaurants, local and state officials are scaling back the most visible public health efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic.
States like Illinois are shuttering free Covid-19 testing sites after nearly two years of operation. Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Ohio have stopped releasing daily data on virus hospitalizations, infections and deaths. And, perhaps most notably, some places are diminishing their campaigns to vaccinate residents even as federal authorities announced on Tuesday that people 50 and older could get a second booster shot.
The slowing of state and local efforts comes as the virus in the United States appears, at least for now, to be in retreat, with cases falling swiftly in recent weeks.
But the cutbacks also arrive at a moment when a more transmissible version of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, known as BA.2, is spreading through Europe, Asia and is now the dominant version of new virus cases in the United States. New coronavirus infections are edging upward once again in several states, including New York.
And Americans are still lagging behind many other countries in vaccination. Only about 65 percent of Americans have received initial shots, and less than one-third of Americans have had a first booster shot .. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/29/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine .
[INSERT: Australia
Australia .... 82.5%, China (Mainland) .... 87.9%, India .... 60.0%. United States .... 66.0%
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=australia+vaccination+stats ]
If another surge in the pandemic is ahead, public health officials said, it could be a challenge to quickly ramp up the vaccination and testing sites and other measures that are now being shut down.
[...]
A Covid-19 vaccination at the Alamodome in San Antonio last year. The site closed on Friday after 15 months of continuous operation and more than 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses. Matthew Busch for The New York Times
“If people aren’t walking in the door, it burns a lot of cash to have a fully staffed testing center,” said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. “So I can understand why states and localities are closing them. We’re going to have to find a way to be flexible.”
[...]
“We’re at that point where the one-on-one conversations and having the ability to have community partners go in and educate on the safety of vaccine and answer questions is giving us a little better acceptance,” Dr. Walkes said. Her department is seeing a higher rate of uptake through mobile clinics at long-term care facilities, schools, workplaces and even soccer games than at mass vaccination sites, she said.
[...]
“I am concerned about this idea that ‘Covid’s over, we can stop funding public health,’” she said. “That will put us right back where we were.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/us/covid-vaccine-testing-states.html
Happy springtime and summer for all. Donald T features with Mickey and gets his ass wuuuupped.
"Complacency concerns as BA.2 spreads: ‘We need to be wary’
[...]
The rapid spread is due to the sub-variant’s increased transmissibility, with BA.2 estimated to be up to seven times more transmissible .. https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-much-more-transmissible-is-omicron-s-ba-2-sub-variant-20220311-p5a3vm.html .. than the original strain and up to three times more transmissible than BA.1."
Officials say demand has slowed as coronavirus cases have fallen. But some experts question the scaling back of services, especially vaccination campaigns.
Only about 65 percent of Americans have received initial coronavirus vaccines, and less than one-third of Americans have had a first booster shot. Kenny Holston for The New York Times
By Julie Bosman and Sophie Kasakove
March 30, 2022
CHICAGO — As Americans shed masks and return to offices and restaurants, local and state officials are scaling back the most visible public health efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic.
States like Illinois are shuttering free Covid-19 testing sites after nearly two years of operation. Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Ohio have stopped releasing daily data on virus hospitalizations, infections and deaths. And, perhaps most notably, some places are diminishing their campaigns to vaccinate residents even as federal authorities announced on Tuesday that people 50 and older could get a second booster shot.
The slowing of state and local efforts comes as the virus in the United States appears, at least for now, to be in retreat, with cases falling swiftly in recent weeks.
But the cutbacks also arrive at a moment when a more transmissible version of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, known as BA.2, is spreading through Europe, Asia and is now the dominant version of new virus cases in the United States. New coronavirus infections are edging upward once again in several states, including New York.
And Americans are still lagging behind many other countries in vaccination. Only about 65 percent of Americans have received initial shots, and less than one-third of Americans have had a first booster shot .. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/29/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine .
[INSERT: Australia
Australia .... 82.5%, China (Mainland) .... 87.9%, India .... 60.0%. United States .... 66.0%
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=australia+vaccination+stats ]
If another surge in the pandemic is ahead, public health officials said, it could be a challenge to quickly ramp up the vaccination and testing sites and other measures that are now being shut down.
[...]
A Covid-19 vaccination at the Alamodome in San Antonio last year. The site closed on Friday after 15 months of continuous operation and more than 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses. Matthew Busch for The New York Times
“If people aren’t walking in the door, it burns a lot of cash to have a fully staffed testing center,” said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. “So I can understand why states and localities are closing them. We’re going to have to find a way to be flexible.”
[...]
“We’re at that point where the one-on-one conversations and having the ability to have community partners go in and educate on the safety of vaccine and answer questions is giving us a little better acceptance,” Dr. Walkes said. Her department is seeing a higher rate of uptake through mobile clinics at long-term care facilities, schools, workplaces and even soccer games than at mass vaccination sites, she said.
[...]
“I am concerned about this idea that ‘Covid’s over, we can stop funding public health,’” she said. “That will put us right back where we were.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/us/covid-vaccine-testing-states.html
Happy springtime and summer for all. Donald T features with Mickey and gets his ass wuuuupped.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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