Covid-19 in OKC (coronavirus)

[Pete]

^

All the experts agree we are not at the goal line yet.

Whether we are at the 40, 20 or 5 remains to be seen.

[BoulderSooner]

^

It was due to expire April 30th. They are proposing making that March 31st; and they probably wouldn't be doing this if they didn't already have the votes needed to pass.

This seems like political grandstanding in order to take credit for being "pro freedom".

Edmond allowed theirs to expire and now has no mask mandate as of yesterday ..

[TheTravellers]

The costs of the pandemic that we've barely started to calculate

"What's clear is that the pandemic will leave a lingering social and economic cost that goes beyond just the number of dead. Of those 30 million infected, millions are going to have symptoms that are completely or partially debilitating for a period of months. Some, like SARS patients, may be still be operating at well below their expected capacity years later. Some may never fully recover. That's going to represent both a long-term demand on the healthcare system, and a long-term reduction in productivity, that—like everything else about events of the last year—may be unprecedented."

[Pete]

369 new cases today; 7-day rolling average 347.

41 additional reported deaths; 7-day rolling average 17.7.

Hospitalizations are 217 (-16).

ICU is unchanged at 54.

[Rover]

Edmond allowed theirs to expire and now has no mask mandate as of yesterday ..

Nothing changes..... it didn't seem like anyone up there honored it anyway.

[Roger S]

Nothing changes..... it didn't seem like anyone up there honored it anyway.

I was unfriended on FB by an Edmondite for confirming that wearing a mask didn't make my ***** shrink.

[gopokes88]

Texas quit wearing masks and nothing happened

https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/13...591226883?s=20

[PoliSciGuy]

Your graphs show that mask *mandates* may not have an impact. Having a mask mandate isn't the same as mask effectiveness. Most folks wore masks despite not having a mandate. Masks have been shown time and again to prevent the spread.

[jn1780]

I'll be interested to hear what scientists say once all the politicians and media move on to something else next year. Their has been a lot of mask studies on the flu and they have never been able to find anything conclusive in a real-world setting. It does make a lot of sense at face value that mask would be a lot more effective against the flu than Covid since its success at being airborne is what makes it so much worse than the flu.

[BDP]

Texas quit wearing masks

Only about 20% of Texans said they would stop wearing them and many, many places still require them.

Oh, and surgeons still wear them, too, but maybe they don't have twitter.

[Bill Robertson]

I'll be interested to hear what scientists say once all the politicians and media move on to something else next year. Their has been a lot of mask studies on the flu and they have never been able to find anything conclusive in a real-world setting. It does make a lot of sense at face value that mask would be a lot more effective against the flu than Covid since its success at being airborne is what makes it so much worse than the flu.

I just copied the below from the CDC about spreading the flu. Sounds pretty much identical to spreading COVID.

People with flu can spread it to others up to about 6 feet away. Most experts think that flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Less often, a person might get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.

[Buffalo Bill]

Texas quit wearing masks and nothing happened

https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/13...591226883?s=20

Texas never wore masks in the first place.

[dankrutka]

Texas quit wearing masks and nothing happened

https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/13...591226883?s=20

I live in Texas. People have not quit wearing masks.

[DowntownMan]

This is why the mandate is really pointless at current stage. The vulnerable are mainly vaccinated. The people who aren't going to wear a mask aren't going regardless. The ones who want to wear a mask will do so regardless of mandate. All while we continue to increase our vaccinated percentage and cases keep dropping.
I'll continue to wear mine in any facility that states I need it - other wise I won't but I recommend any store that wants to have a policy to do so and I will honor it. Which that is how I have always been this past year.
What protects me is that I don't get out in groups, I don't go hang out in bars or restaurants with large crowds. I never have been one to be super close to people or large groups. I can get out and do my business and not be in someone's bubble. I guess I was good at social distancing before it was cool you could say.

[dankrutka]

This is why the mandate is really pointless at current stage. The vulnerable are mainly vaccinated. The people who aren't going to wear a mask aren't going regardless. The ones who want to wear a mask will do so regardless of mandate. All while we continue to increase our vaccinated percentage and cases keep dropping.
I'll continue to wear mine in any facility that states I need it - other wise I won't but I recommend any store that wants to have a policy to do so and I will honor it. Which that is how I have always been this past year.
What protects me is that I don't get out in groups, I don't go hang out in bars or restaurants with large crowds. I never have been one to be super close to people or large groups. I can get out and do my business and not be in someone's bubble. I guess I was good at social distancing before it was cool you could say.

I disagree. Laws encourage or nudge more people to wear masks. While there are some people who will wear or not wear masks regardless of the policies in place, there's also a portion of the population who are going to follow whatever rules exist. A mask requirement puts the burden on anti-maskers to "break" the existing rules. When a mask mandate is in place it protects businesses and others enforcing who can just reference the policy and not fight with anti-maskers. COVID-19 is all about shifting the odds in your favor and a mandate does just that. Even if just 10% more people wear masks because of the policy, those numbers add up across people and over time. Statistically, we know it will save some people's lives.

[jerrywall]

I disagree. Laws encourage or nudge more people to wear masks. While there are some people who will wear or not wear masks regardless of the policies in place, there's also a portion of the population who are going to follow whatever rules exist. A mask requirement puts the burden on anti-maskers to "break" the existing rules. When a mask mandate is in place it protects businesses and others enforcing who can just reference the policy and not fight with anti-maskers. COVID-19 is all about shifting the odds in your favor and a mandate does just that. Even if just 10% more people wear masks because of the policy, those numbers add up across people and over time. Statistically, we know it will save some people's lives.

Agreed. I saw a significant increase in mask wearing in Edmond when the mandate was put into place. It took a week or two, but besides the few obstinate idiots, mask compliance improved SIGNIFICANTLY. It went from seeing half the people in Crest walking around without masks, to just the random one or two persons. Since the mandate has ended, just as quickly I'm seeing people drop the masks, and now I don't even feel justified saying anything to them, because if the business isn't enforcing it, I really don't have anything I can say (besides let the business know why I won't shop there).

[oklip955]

Agreed and when all the stores seem to be the same, few people wearing masks then what is one to do? If you live out the grocery delivery area and if you do the onlline ordering or trying, I am not good at that, and you dont recieve much of your order, then what? Add in the problem I keep writing about, the problem of those people who dont wear masks feeling like the can physically asult you. I am getting tired of being knocked to the floor. When you are an older lady with knee issues and osteoprosis it is an issue. I think people think I am younger since I dont have the gray hair, sorry my family doesnt usually get much gray hair even in their 70's or older.

[oklip955]

Why do upper middle class men think it is ok to push, hit with their shopping carts or otherwise hurt older women because they disagree with an older woman wearing a mask? Where is our society going?

[Bill Robertson]

Why do upper middle class men think it is ok to push, hit with their shopping carts or otherwise hurt older women because they disagree with an older woman wearing a mask? Where is our society going?

It's going places I don't want to think about.

[Bill Robertson]

We've had an interesting morning. For the first time in over a year my wife went somewhere other than home and work. I dropped her at Kohl's and ran next door to Home Depot. Then went back and found her in Kohl's. It has been a great morning!

[Pete]

467 new cases today; 7-day rolling average 354.

14 additional reported deaths; 7-day rolling average 15.6.

Hospitalizations are 220 (+3).

ICU is 56 (+2).

[oklip955]

I dont like to see hospitalizations ticking up. I hope this is not a trend. The other day I saw on a Minn news site, I forget which one, TV I think, that they are getting cases of fully vaccinated people getting the UK variant and some having to be admitted to the hospital. Pete this is something that someone might want to farther research. I am thinking this is why the cdc is saying to keep wearing masks and social distance.

[Bill Robertson]

^
Over the last 4 days we've had hospitalizations go down by 20. They're going to go up and down but if still going down on average its good.
I looked up an article on Minnesota. It pointed out that yes, there have been 89 cases of the variant showing in positive tests in fully vaccinated people. Out of 800,000 fully vaccinated people. Or .01 percent. No deaths and of the hospitalizations the cases are considered milder. So actually much better than what we might expect given the efficacy levels that are indicated.

[PoliSciGuy]

One thing to keep in mind re: hospitalizations is that now that there's more room, hospitals may be a bit more liberal in deciding who gets hospitalized rather than sent home for monitoring. At the peak, with rooms and beds filling, borderline cases were sent home with pulse oximeters and other tools to self-monitor and only come back if their symptoms worsened. Those cases now may be able to get hospitalized from the get-go.

Not that that explains *all* uptick, but it could explain some of it.

[kukblue1]

https://www.startribune.com/minnesot...als/600038033/ I don't like seeing cases around 500 a day still. Not with more and more getting vaccinated