petrea_mitchell (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
petrea_mitchell) wrote2021-01-24 04:36 pm
petrea_mitchell) wrote2021-01-24 04:36 pm
Entry tags:
The upswing, week 1
Well, I hope it is. At any rate, it's officially 2021 now, as the calendar I ordered online finally arrived Tuseday night.
Oregon's governor gave a State of the State address this week where she noted that it's been exactly one year since she set up a taskforce to start planning for the arrival of the new coronavirus. IIRC, by then it was being widely reported that it might be transmitted asymptomatically and the incubation period could be as long as 14 days, which meant everyone had enough information to figure out that a pandemic was inevitable.
The latest state models say to never mind about a possible surge, infections are dropping. The positive test rate is down to 4.7% (5%-plus being the benchmark for declaring rampant uncontrolled community spread). In fact, rates are dropping all across the US now, probably because of how far we are from Christmas and New Year's now.
Also in local pandemic news, Oregon has chosen to start vaccinating teachers before it finishes vaccinating the most elderly. The current scientific consensus is that in-person schooling with appropriate measures does not result in big outbreaks, but teachers' unions everywhere are freaking out at the prospect of going back without vaccinations, so I can understand how that looked like the path of least resistance to getting schools up and running again.
In my personal bubble, it is still cold and mostly damp. With the clouds, it's still dark at 7am most mornings.
Oregon's governor gave a State of the State address this week where she noted that it's been exactly one year since she set up a taskforce to start planning for the arrival of the new coronavirus. IIRC, by then it was being widely reported that it might be transmitted asymptomatically and the incubation period could be as long as 14 days, which meant everyone had enough information to figure out that a pandemic was inevitable.
The latest state models say to never mind about a possible surge, infections are dropping. The positive test rate is down to 4.7% (5%-plus being the benchmark for declaring rampant uncontrolled community spread). In fact, rates are dropping all across the US now, probably because of how far we are from Christmas and New Year's now.
Also in local pandemic news, Oregon has chosen to start vaccinating teachers before it finishes vaccinating the most elderly. The current scientific consensus is that in-person schooling with appropriate measures does not result in big outbreaks, but teachers' unions everywhere are freaking out at the prospect of going back without vaccinations, so I can understand how that looked like the path of least resistance to getting schools up and running again.
In my personal bubble, it is still cold and mostly damp. With the clouds, it's still dark at 7am most mornings.