Lollapalooza was not a superspreader event and did not significantly impact Chicago’s Covid situation.
*No deaths or hospitalizations so far attributed to Lolla.
*Among the approximately 385,000 attendees, there have been 203 Covid cases including 127 vaccinated people and 76 unvaccinated people.
*Chicago has routinely had emergency rooms flag Lolla attendees due to other health concerns such as drugs and heat.
*Some, including city officials, said that about 90% of attendees were vaccinated, but others say the vax-or-negative check at the entrances was not strict enough to say that.
A key quote: Public Health Commissioner “Arwady said that if the [Chicago] region’s COVID rates and hospitalizations were more akin to those in say New Orleans, the city likely would not have held Lollapalooza or other large public gatherings.”
Palm Beach County, Fla., has asked 440 students to quarantine just two days into the school year, after 51 students and faculty had confirmed cases on COVID-19.
The School District of Palm Beach County, the 10th largest school district in the country, teaches an estimated 197,000 students, according to the district’s website. While students and staff are required to wear masks in the district, Interim School District Superintendent Michael Burke said in an interview with MSNBC that 5,700 Palm Beach students have opted out, per an order from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that allows parents to give permission to their children to do so.
Burke blamed the opt-out rule as the reason for the spike in cases, calling on DeSantis to make changes to protect students from infection.
“The governor has got to take responsibility for establishing the ground rules we’re operating under,” Burke said. “This ability for families to opt out is leading to more cases, which will ultimately send more kids home and deprive them of that traditional classroom experience.”
…
Amy Coney Barrett denied an emergency petition that asked SCOTUS to block Indiana University’s vaccine mandate. No justice dissented.
Goldenvoice, the promoter of such huge festivals as Coachella, as well as the operator of many music venues, announced that they will require proof of vaccine at ALL their festivals and venues.
In Texas, we’ve solved the problem of so many kids being exposed that you have to close schools by declaring that only kids who actually have COVID stay home. Close contacts can, but they don’t have to. And they may not know they are close contacts, anyways, because schools don’t have to report them.
The CDC needs to sign off, too, but i gather that’s a rubber stamp, and the EUA will be modified to allow third shots in the US for immune-compromised people later today.
I have never before seen a government approval released after 11pm. Someone was working hard to dot all the i’s on that document yesterday.
Florida is still not reporting its new caseload to the Johns Hopkins site, but according to the Ne York Times, its seven-day-average of new cases is over 21,000. The un-averaged daily maximum is 56,610
Back at the Johns Hopkins site, the (seven-day-averaged daily reported new cases) has hit new highs in
Louisiana (8331)
Mississippi (4494)
Oregon (2450)
Washington state (3873)
I note that all of these added together still don’t approach Florida’s daily average.
Other states shooting up rapidly and poised for record highs 9or which achieved highs recently near or above records:
Hawaii Texas Alabama (almost certain to set a new record in a day or so) Georgia (same) Tennessee Puerto Rico Washington DC North Carolina (also looks like a contender for new record soon) South Carolina (same) Alaska
others are rising very rapidly, but nowhere near a record yet. I note that South Dakota has got a very sudden rise that, in light of the Sturgis rally, bears close inspection over the next couple of weks.
AT&T has told all of its managers to get vaccinated (some exceptions allowed) or face disciplinary action. Does not matter if you are full-time telecommuter, either. So good for them.
I presume they are in discussions with their unions on how/when to require the represented workforce to vaccinate.
I wonder what exceptions are allowed? If it’s anything other than people who are allergic to the shots then it’s almost meaningless. Also, they make exceptions, but not for people who work entirely from home? That seems odd. I’m 100% for everyone at AT&T and everyone else getting vaxxed but it seems a curious policy.
The exception policy is apparently (from the WJS): employees who are unable to be vaccinated for medical or other reasons.
Hopefully “other” is limited to “sincerely held religious belief” (like presumably Christian Scientists) and not “my freedom!” dumb asses.
I like the full-time telecommuters bit - from a societal view point, the more people vaccinated the faster we get to herd immunity. From the company view point, if you come down with COVID you are unable to work and are going to be a major component of health care expenses (I’m pretty sure AT&T is self-insured, hiring Aetna and others to manage care, not actually insure it).