Sure is. I have two grandchildren in this age group. I don’t know for sure but am guessing their parents will have them vaccinated but will wait a bit.
It is definitely time now to expand vaccinations for people of ALL ages, no matter how young. As much as I agree with masks, I always felt that 2-year olds were a bit too young. My thought was more like starting at age 4 or 5.
Once they are sure it is safe. Hopefully, that will be possible in time.
That’s awesome! I also have two grandchildren in that range, and it would certainly help to make both school and sports safer for them.
Brazil’s surge is unprecedented. More than 3,000 deaths every day, with under-counting a strong possibility. The P.1 variant behaves more like the 2nd and 3rd wave Spanish Flu variants than the original wild type variant, which predominantly killed older folks. Not only is P.1 more transmissible and lethal, it attacks a much younger group of people. https://twitter.com/fibke/status/1377285050375495683
In Europe, I forgot to mention some of the smaller countries that are in trouble, including Sweden and Greece; both are seeing significant increases in cases, hospitalizations, ICU usage, and deaths.
France will likely declare a national lockdown of the strictest kind this evening. (afternoon our time) I don’t know this for sure. But I am guessing it will happen as Macron addresses the nation in a few minutes. It means no travel outside a 3 mile radius, pretty much confined to home unless going grocery-shopping or the pharmacy (even then you’ll need to carry papers with you – effectively a rationing card; your once a day permission to leave the house). The French word for lockdown is “confinement.” My guess is the lockdown lasts 3 weeks. The hospitals in several region are overwhelmed. Doctors have pleaded with Macron to institute a national lockdown rather than the piecemeal regional lockdowns.
Overall, by the way, France has actually done fairly well in terms of death rate – certainly better than the UK, Italy, Spain, and most Central European nations. Yet, it’s clearly undergoing a massive surge.
At this point I am no longer going out on a limb to say that travel from the U.S. to the continent of Europe this summer is in serious doubt. If I saw improvement in the vaccination rate, or a significant decrease in surge I’d think differently. But, I am not seeing either at this point in time.
Europe is always known to do bad when there is war or a pandemic compared to other locations. I been thinking Europe was goint to struggle massively and the current surge to cements my thinking.
Meanwhile here in the USVI there are 80 cases active cases we are averaging Of course we were doing very well until spring break came along 2 weeks ago. Seems like when ever we get down to nearly 0 cases and even got down to only 15 active cases on the Island there is some holiday or event that changes it. Been averaging about 20 new cases a day this week. 2 weeks ago we were averaging 1.
Europe did very well in suppressing the 1st wave. I think if they had kept at it late last spring and early summer when coronavirus cases were very, very low (in single digits in some countries) they could have crushed it. But, they decided not to, for the sake of summer.
I get what you’re saying, Matt, about Europe. It’s a very complex continent. I find it the most fascinating of all continents in that in across a comparatively small land mass you have a variety of cultures, languages, and peoples that are so different, so incredibly productive and creative, and yet so full of animosity (and sometimes hatred) towards one another. This has led to centuries of wars, political and ideological struggles that make ours look like child play. Europe was also a relatively crowded continent for most of history, and so many of the worst outbreaks in human history – black death – have occurred across Europe.
One thing Americans need to keep in mind regarding the vaccines is that J&J’s vaccine was mostly developed in Europe – Janssen division – in Belgium and the Netherlands. Also, what we invariably call the Pfizer vaccine was mostly developed in Germany by BioNTech. And the mRNA platform, well, practically all of the ideas that went into that are European (Hungary and Germany, in particular).
As predicted, President Macron is implementing a national lockdown. This includes closure of all schools for 3 weeks, with high schools and colleges remaining closed until the middle of May.
Joshua just curious. How are Russia and Japan doing these days? What steps have those nations been taking?
Also, has the Antarctic been able to reverse things since that cargo ship arrived last summer? That was the only Covid-free place on earth for awhile.
I’m afraid this virus continues into at least the first half of 2022. Until the entire world is free of the virus, no one is.
Great questions, Philip. Russia has been impacted, but not as badly as Europe. Probably a function of undercounting. I don’t trust any official data from Russia (nor China, for that matter).
Not sure about Antarctica. Probably some penguins with coronavirus …
You may be right about the virus lingering into 2022. But, I do still think the worst will be behind us later this year, perhaps as early as late spring/early summer in the U.S., U.K. Israel, and some other countries with high vaccination rates, as well as nations that have had successfully beaten back the virus without vaccines, including New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan to a certain extent. You asked about Japan. It has done relatively well. Masks are universal, as is distancing, and contact tracing is extremely efficient.
Why Baker and others think we can avoid this is really puzzling. I do continue to believe the U.S. vaccination drive will blunt the force of the 4th wave. But, that’s not the same thing as avoiding it. It’s here now, intensifying, and we can do more about it than we’re doing. When I see packed restaurants with mostly younger folks, say, 25 to 50, in poorly ventilated spaces I’m somewhat concerned that we’re underestimating this.
Wow
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/31/pfizer-biontech-vaccine-effective-teens-478688
Great news!
Sure is. I have two grandchildren in this age group. I don’t know for sure but am guessing their parents will have them vaccinated but will wait a bit.
It is definitely time now to expand vaccinations for people of ALL ages, no matter how young. As much as I agree with masks, I always felt that 2-year olds were a bit too young. My thought was more like starting at age 4 or 5.
Once they are sure it is safe. Hopefully, that will be possible in time.
That’s awesome! I also have two grandchildren in that range, and it would certainly help to make both school and sports safer for them.
Brazil’s surge is unprecedented. More than 3,000 deaths every day, with under-counting a strong possibility. The P.1 variant behaves more like the 2nd and 3rd wave Spanish Flu variants than the original wild type variant, which predominantly killed older folks. Not only is P.1 more transmissible and lethal, it attacks a much younger group of people. https://twitter.com/fibke/status/1377285050375495683
In Europe, I forgot to mention some of the smaller countries that are in trouble, including Sweden and Greece; both are seeing significant increases in cases, hospitalizations, ICU usage, and deaths.
France will likely declare a national lockdown of the strictest kind this evening. (afternoon our time) I don’t know this for sure. But I am guessing it will happen as Macron addresses the nation in a few minutes. It means no travel outside a 3 mile radius, pretty much confined to home unless going grocery-shopping or the pharmacy (even then you’ll need to carry papers with you – effectively a rationing card; your once a day permission to leave the house). The French word for lockdown is “confinement.” My guess is the lockdown lasts 3 weeks. The hospitals in several region are overwhelmed. Doctors have pleaded with Macron to institute a national lockdown rather than the piecemeal regional lockdowns.
Overall, by the way, France has actually done fairly well in terms of death rate – certainly better than the UK, Italy, Spain, and most Central European nations. Yet, it’s clearly undergoing a massive surge.
At this point I am no longer going out on a limb to say that travel from the U.S. to the continent of Europe this summer is in serious doubt. If I saw improvement in the vaccination rate, or a significant decrease in surge I’d think differently. But, I am not seeing either at this point in time.
Europe is always known to do bad when there is war or a pandemic compared to other locations. I been thinking Europe was goint to struggle massively and the current surge to cements my thinking.
Meanwhile here in the USVI there are 80 cases active cases we are averaging Of course we were doing very well until spring break came along 2 weeks ago. Seems like when ever we get down to nearly 0 cases and even got down to only 15 active cases on the Island there is some holiday or event that changes it. Been averaging about 20 new cases a day this week. 2 weeks ago we were averaging 1.
Europe did very well in suppressing the 1st wave. I think if they had kept at it late last spring and early summer when coronavirus cases were very, very low (in single digits in some countries) they could have crushed it. But, they decided not to, for the sake of summer.
I get what you’re saying, Matt, about Europe. It’s a very complex continent. I find it the most fascinating of all continents in that in across a comparatively small land mass you have a variety of cultures, languages, and peoples that are so different, so incredibly productive and creative, and yet so full of animosity (and sometimes hatred) towards one another. This has led to centuries of wars, political and ideological struggles that make ours look like child play. Europe was also a relatively crowded continent for most of history, and so many of the worst outbreaks in human history – black death – have occurred across Europe.
One thing Americans need to keep in mind regarding the vaccines is that J&J’s vaccine was mostly developed in Europe – Janssen division – in Belgium and the Netherlands. Also, what we invariably call the Pfizer vaccine was mostly developed in Germany by BioNTech. And the mRNA platform, well, practically all of the ideas that went into that are European (Hungary and Germany, in particular).
As predicted, President Macron is implementing a national lockdown. This includes closure of all schools for 3 weeks, with high schools and colleges remaining closed until the middle of May.
His latest tweet is a plea which I think you can all understand, even though it’s in French: https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1377336062230597632
Joshua just curious. How are Russia and Japan doing these days? What steps have those nations been taking?
Also, has the Antarctic been able to reverse things since that cargo ship arrived last summer? That was the only Covid-free place on earth for awhile.
I’m afraid this virus continues into at least the first half of 2022. Until the entire world is free of the virus, no one is.
Great questions, Philip. Russia has been impacted, but not as badly as Europe. Probably a function of undercounting. I don’t trust any official data from Russia (nor China, for that matter).
Not sure about Antarctica. Probably some penguins with coronavirus …
You may be right about the virus lingering into 2022. But, I do still think the worst will be behind us later this year, perhaps as early as late spring/early summer in the U.S., U.K. Israel, and some other countries with high vaccination rates, as well as nations that have had successfully beaten back the virus without vaccines, including New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan to a certain extent. You asked about Japan. It has done relatively well. Masks are universal, as is distancing, and contact tracing is extremely efficient.
Unsettling news from France, where the ICU patients are getting younger and younger. https://twitter.com/itosettiMD_MBA/status/1377362310948290561
Why Baker and others think we can avoid this is really puzzling. I do continue to believe the U.S. vaccination drive will blunt the force of the 4th wave. But, that’s not the same thing as avoiding it. It’s here now, intensifying, and we can do more about it than we’re doing. When I see packed restaurants with mostly younger folks, say, 25 to 50, in poorly ventilated spaces I’m somewhat concerned that we’re underestimating this.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/world/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-mixup.html
New C-19 for 4-1 is ready.