25 Replies to "PANDEMIC UPDATES: Weekly check-in #8, 8/29/2021"

• anonyme August 30, 2021 (7:55 am)

  The indoor mask mandate is not being followed or enforced, at least not at the Junction QFC.  I went in yesterday morning and within two minutes had seen 5 people without masks.  I approached the store manager to ask why the mandate was not being followed.  He literally threw up his hands and said “what am I supposed to do?”.  He himself was wearing his mask below his nose, which I’m also seeing a lot of these days.  On Metro, people often get on without a mask and then may or may not put one on after they’ve settled in their seats.  If they happen to be infected, the entire bus is contaminated by that time.   I understand that people are tired, but the virus doesn’t give a crap about our personal feelings.  It is perfectly willing to exploit them.

  • Gym member August 30, 2021 (5:54 pm)

    Imagine my surprise when I went to my gym last Friday and the employee at the front desk was not wearing a mask. Ironically, there was a sign at the front desk saying masks must be worn at all times in the facility. Most members were in compliance, although a handful were maskless.

• Still masking, for a friend August 30, 2021 (8:56 am)

  177 people hospitalized just this last week, in King County?

  • Smittytheclown August 30, 2021 (9:16 am)

    Down from 196 the week prior.  A slight improvement.  Coupled with the case rate sticking around ~4,500 the last three weeks, it appears this may be the peak.  Seeing the same trend nationally.  Schools returning will test that.  Should be interesting to see if cases rise as a result.

    • ws rocks! August 30, 2021 (2:03 pm)

      Not the peak yet. The IHME predicts Washington cases to continue to rise into the end of November. covid19.healthdata.org 

    • High Point August 31, 2021 (2:55 pm)

      They way SPS is handling testing, it’s not clear to me if every positive person on campus will end up actually getting tested and then becoming a datapoint. However, one could safely assume that positive tests will increase as school nurses test students (and parents) who might not otherwise have been tested. Individual cases might not mean much, but if there’s community spread inside schools then we’re in for another long dark winter. 

      • Wseattleite August 31, 2021 (5:31 pm)

        A very valid point.  Many people don’t even know that they have Covid in their body because it is often asymptomatic, but does provide natural immunization.  So more cases may show up, but as the NYT reported last week, the numbers of natural immunized are discounted from most of the data points.

• Sam August 30, 2021 (9:11 am)

  What does “being hospitalized” mean?

  • JamesJ August 30, 2021 (10:59 am)

    It would be nice to get a little more context on that number. Are these ICU cases? What’s the average time of stay? I know someone personally who was so panicked by all the variant talk that he went to the hospital when he started showing symptoms. They checked him in and sent him home almost immediately. With the high percentage of people vaccinated, like he is, I suspect some of this is people with very mild cases because they are vaxxed.

  • Westwood August 30, 2021 (11:10 am)

    Gonna hazard a guess here, but I think it means “being admitted to a hospital as a patient”. 

    • Sam August 30, 2021 (1:53 pm)

      I wasn’t sure if it includes people going to ER but being discharged, or just people assigned to a bed in a hospital.

      • WSB August 30, 2021 (3:56 pm)

        We asked Public Health. Their response: “A ‘hospitalization’ means someone was admitted for in-patient care, related to COVID-19. A visit to the emergency department where someone is discharged would not count.”

        • newnative August 30, 2021 (4:16 pm)

          Considering nearly everyone I personally know that went to the ER with severe COVID symptoms and were not admitted is alarming. There are a lot of sick people out there. 

        • Sam August 30, 2021 (7:44 pm)

          Thanks!

• DBurns August 30, 2021 (8:21 pm)

  I was just in the Bay Area for a long weekend and they had NO problem enforcing the mask mandate and I didn’t see one person [other than one guy at the Oakland airport briefly], not wearing a mask. It wasn’t even a choice. Also had to show proof of vax to go inside any restaurant or bar, as well as some small retail stores. I hope Seattle follows suit SOON!! 

  • Pessoa August 30, 2021 (9:41 pm)

    No, lets hope not. 

  • MaskUp August 31, 2021 (12:03 pm)

    Agree! Masks work. Don’t be selfish Pegasus. It’s not just about you. 

    • Pessoa August 31, 2021 (1:29 pm)

      By the by, its “Pessoa,” not “Pegasus.” 

    • Pessoa August 31, 2021 (3:53 pm)

      MU: There is no such thing as unadulterated selflessness, every so-called altruistic act has a reward, either self preservation, or psychological self enhancement. In other words, selfishness. Most of us understand this by a certain age, sobering realization that it is.  

• Pessoa August 30, 2021 (9:36 pm)

  It is shocking the restrictions on personal liberty people are willing to accept in the name of the “greater good. It is one thing to encourage vaccination, it is quite another to make that a requirement to participate in society. There is at least a sliver of resistance in LA from where I just returned. 

  • Charles August 31, 2021 (9:06 pm)

    If you are intentionally or recklessly bringing risk and harm to society by not masking, not vaxxing, etc, you fundamentally don’t understand “society”.  These individuals are a parasite, looking to gain from society without giving back or helping protect others selfishly.  I hope that’s not you.  I don’t get it.  Do people not understand they can be asymptomatic and still spread, possibly killing or maming your at-risk family, friends and neighbors?  How do you sleep at night?  It’s a simple mask.  It’s one more vaccination on top of the ones you already have that will not hurt you.  Enough.  Grow up.  We’d love to have you in society but we need to know you aren’t gonna hurt us first.  There’s plenty of communes or Amish-like communities that are willing to give up some of the perks of society if that’s too much to ask.

  • zark00 September 1, 2021 (11:47 am)

    If you refuse to be vaccinated you are a danger to everyone else. YOU are making the choice to not participate in society based on nothing – there is no reason not to get vaccinated, none.  If you are trying to say that we should all respect your unfounded beliefs over facts and science, not gonna happen.  You have proven that you are unable to make an informed, educated, decision and that the decisions you do make put others in harms way, We’re going to take your license if you put people in danger by drinking and driving, and we’re going to take away your ability to harm others by willfully transmitting a deadly disease for the same reason.  You are a threat to others, period, and you’ve proven you can’t control yourself so you must be controlled. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. 

    • alkiobserver September 2, 2021 (12:00 pm)

      @Zark00 your hyperbole aside, even fully vaccinated are equally a danger to others. An ugly reality is that a lot of the holdouts are not radical right wingers, but from key blocks of the liberal voting base that don’t trust the medical establishment or the government. Your statement that “you’ve proven you can’t control yourself, so you must be controlled” sounds hellishly from the fringe… Yikes! Where do you draw the line? Just the vaccines for COVID, or what else? And then, what punishment to be enforced by whom?

  • miws September 1, 2021 (3:24 pm)

    Pessoa, Please tell us what you’d say to the mother and other loved ones of the veteran that died of a non-Covid condition and no ICU beds were available because of so many of them being occupied by non-vaxxed Covid patients. What would you have said to him while he was still alive and suffering? https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/08/30/daniel-wilkinson-us-army-veteran-dies-treatable-illness-icu-texas-keilar-newday-ldn-vpx.cnnAlso, what do you have to say to all of the medical personnel that had to work in unimaginably overwhelming conditions in beyond full hospitals last year, only having to do it again this year because of so many unvaccinated people? Among all of the other stress and tragedy Covod causes, what about the physical and emotional toll on nurses and other staff? Do you even care? https://youtu.be/nasDt9-smOQ—Mike

• billy August 31, 2021 (11:59 am)

  Do we know how many kids in our area under 12 years old have a) tested positive, b) gotten sick, and c) been hospitalized? This is what parents want to know! 

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