How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[10023]

Originally Posted by TWAK

I really feel lied to...this whole time people were saying CA was some sort of nightmare, but all the signs point to it being better than plenty of places.

They have the advantage of weather. London was just about liveable in April/May 2020 because the weather was fantastic (it was the warmest and driest spring in like 60 years, just in time for Covid). But I had to go to Miami in February after lockdown from November to January in the depth of winter. Picnics in the park were just not an option.

I was in LA at the beginning of May before coming back to London, and it felt pretty restrictive (though still not as bad as the UK - no American experienced a European-style lockdown).

[Pedestrian]

Congratulations Pima County (AZ):

Supervisors OK higher rates for unvaccinated employees
By Mary Glen Hatcher mhatcher@gvnews.com Sep 7, 2021 Updated 21 hrs

The Pima County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved hitting unvaccinated employees in the wallet if they don’t get a COVID-19 shot in the next three weeks.

In a 4-1 vote, with District 4 Supervisor Steve Christy opposed, the board approved a disincentive package for unvaccinated employees that includes mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing; eliminating a health insurance premium healthy lifestyle discount (which will increase insurance premiums paid by employees up to $35 per pay period); and adding a $25.51 surcharge to unvaccinated employees in all tier levels to cover medical expense costs related to contracting COVID-19.

The total disincentive amount for county employees who are unvaccinated would be about $61 per pay period, or $1,573 per year, according to a memo from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. Unvaccinated employees with a valid medical or religious exemption would not be subject to any additional insurance charges.

The earliest the disenctivies could go into effect would be Oct. 9, aligning with the first pay period of the month, but more time might be needed to sort through individual cases, Huckelberry said. The county expects to have the disincentives in place no later than the first pay period in November . . . .

https://www.gvnews.com/news/supervis...iderail-latest

[Minato Ku]

Since last week, activity has increased significantly in Paris. August was pretty quiet as many people were in vacation as usual and with a lower number of tourists.

Many office workers have come back.
It's pretty incredible how in just one week, how the feel in Paris can change.
August and September are complety different months in Paris.

During lunch time, this wednesday.

Boulevard Haussmann, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Rue la Boetie, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Rue de Ponthieu, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr

Charles de Gaulle bridge (eastern Central Paris) during evening rush hour on last Tuesday.

Pont Charles de Gaulle, 12e, 13e by Minato ku, sur Flickr

[homebucket]

^ Looks perfect. Are things back to pre-pandemic levels of activity then?

[Minato Ku]

Vaccination rate is rather high in France, especially among white collar.
You need a "health pass" (not exactly a "vaccination passport" because people with negative covid test can also have it) to go eating on restaurants.

The high increase of case due to delta variant actually began in July especially on coastal areas but thanks to high vaccination rate, hospitalisation rates were much lower than during other waves.
The number of case began to drop by mid August and hospitalisation rate peaked in the end of August and is deacreasing.

We could expect an incease of cases due to the children returning to school.

Originally Posted by homebucket

^ Looks perfect. Are things back to pre-pandemic levels of activity then?

I would say still lower as there are still people working from home but the city is busy and geting busier.
It was already the case in June and early July but there has been a big drop of activity especially in August.

Parisians were in vaccation.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

The high increase of case due to delta variant actually began in July especially on coastal areas but thanks to high vaccination rate, hospitalisation rates were much lower than during other waves.
The number of case began to drop by mid August and hospitalisation rate peaked in the end of August and is deacreasing.

We could expect an incease of cases due to the children returning to school.

That sounds a lot like what happened here in SF as well. Cases of Delta began rising in July, peaked in early August, and have since dropped precipitously. Hospitalizations predictably peaked about 2 weeks afterwards, in mid-August, and have since been dropping steadily. August also saw the most deaths since March, but overall still quite low.

We are currently at 80% fully vaccinated for the eligible population (12+), or 73% fully vaccinated for the total population. Thanks to this, the Delta surge was very much quite manageable, and cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were much lower than during other waves.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

Since last week, activity has increased significantly in Paris. August was pretty quiet as many people were in vacation as usual and with a lower number of tourists.

Many office workers have come back.
It's pretty incredible how in just one week, how the feel in Paris can change.
August and September are complety different months in Paris.

During lunch time, this wednesday.

Boulevard Haussmann, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Rue la Boetie, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr


Rue de Ponthieu, 8e by Minato ku, sur Flickr

Charles de Gaulle bridge (eastern Central Paris) during evening rush hour on last Tuesday.

Pont Charles de Gaulle, 12e, 13e by Minato ku, sur Flickr

Sweet!!!! I was planning on going to Paris for October, but got extremely worried when the EU leveled their new restriction recommendations. But... seeing your post, and the fact France hasn't announced anything new.... Gives me a ton of hope I can experience Paris for the first time next month. Thanks for sharing!

[homebucket]

L.A. is poised to become the 1st major school district to mandate COVID vaccines for students, setting stage for national battle

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Unified School District is poised to become the first major K-12 system in the country to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all eligible students — a move that most Americans say they support, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, but that will likely spark an even stronger backlash among some parents than the one caused by school mask requirements.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that “a clear majority of Los Angeles Board of Education members either favor or lean toward” such a mandate, with board president Kelly Gonez telling the paper that it would be a wise step to take “within a reasonable timeline.”

The board subsequently scheduled a special meeting for Thursday to vote on the measure, which would require students 12 and older without “qualified and approved exemptions” to receive their first vaccine dose by Nov. 21 and their second by Dec. 19 in order to begin the next semester fully inoculated (while giving younger students 30 days after they turn 12 to get their first shot).

The resolution is expected to pass with broad support.

So far, only one other district in California, Culver City Unified, has issued a student vaccination requirement, which has yet to take effect. It is thought to be the first in the nation.

But Culver City serves just 7,100 K-12 students. LAUSD — America’s second-largest school district — serves more than 600,000.

...


Proponents of student vaccine mandates argue that states already require students to show they’ve been vaccinated against other infections before they can attend class. In California, that list includes polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles and pertussis.

“We are living in a global pandemic, so if a vaccine can save and protect a student’s life, how is requiring students that are eligible for the vaccine any different than what is already being done?” L.A. school board member Scott Schmerelson told the L.A. Times.

“If all eligible children were vaccinated, we would dramatically reduce transmission both in school settings and in after-school sports programs and in extracurricular activities,” added L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer last week. Such measures could also minimize disruptive quarantines.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/la-is-poi...152430407.html

[chris08876]

Biden announces plan to mandate vaccines at businesses with 100 or more workers.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/b...n-mandate.html

" Biden to ask OSHA to mandate vaccines at businesses with 100 or more workers "

[Steely Dan]

this thread is to discuss how covid is affecting life in your city.

please stay on topic.

[10023]

Rode the London tube for the first time in a bit after a few weeks in France. At 9pm it was a fairly full train (not pre-Covid rush hour, but definitely no free seats) and down to about 1 in 5 people wearing masks.

[iheartthed]

I've only been on the NYC subway on weekends recently, but ridership seems to be about 70-75% of normal for the weekend. Most people continue to wear masks, as it is still required by law.

[10023]

^ Here it’s required by law “unless you’re exempt”. And so at this point most people just don’t wear one because no one is verifying exemptions (which would be logistically impossible).

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 10023

^ Here it’s required by law “unless you’re exempt”. And so at this point most people just don’t wear one because no one is verifying exemptions (which would be logistically impossible).

That's the policy in NYS for indoor public spaces except transit. The transit rule is federal. Everyone is required to wear a mask on all forms of public transit in the United States.

[10023]

^ Does that apply to taxis and Ubers?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by 10023

^ Does that apply to taxis and Ubers?

Not sure but the policy or Uber and Lyft is that you must wear a mask and they actually ask if you are wearing one when you try to request a car. Haven't taken a taxi in a L-o-o-ong time but I assume they are the same.

[Pedestrian]

Idaho Hospitals, Overwhelmed With Covid-19 Patients, May Begin Rationing Care
By Jennifer Calfas
Updated Sept. 16, 2021 5:13 pm ET

Hospitals across Idaho may begin prioritizing and rationing limited resources, the state’s health department said, as a surge in Covid-19 hospitalizations overwhelms healthcare systems.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Thursday it activated its crisis standards of care statewide after doing so for north Idaho last week. The protocol is a last-resort method of rationing medical care when hospitals and healthcare systems are out of resources, including staff, during a disaster, like a pandemic.

. . . Alaska’s largest hospital this week activated its own crisis standards of care, the first time it has done so during the pandemic. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear last week warned hospitals there were close to doing the same . . . .

In Idaho on Monday, 678 patients with suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19 were in hospital beds, the most at any other point during the pandemic, according to the state’s most recent data. Around 173 were in intensive-care units, tied for the highest level.

Covid-19 cases have been climbing in the state since the onset of summer, with higher rates of positive cases among unvaccinated residents than those who are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s health department . . . .

Just over 50% of Idaho residents aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to state data, though the rates vary widely across counties. The state has among the lowest rates of vaccinations of any U.S. state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . . . .

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee last week asked Idaho leaders to implement mitigation measures like mask mandates to slow the spread of the virus and lessen the burden on healthcare systems in both states.

Hospitals in Washington have received many requests to accept patients—both those with Covid-19 and without—from hospitals in Idaho, and some patients have traveled across the border to seek care themselves, said Cassie Sauer, chief executive of the Washington state Hospital Association. Washington hospitals, already inundated with Covid-19 patients, have denied many of these requests, she said . . . .

Idaho’s Crisis Standards of Care Activation Advisory Committee determined Wednesday the state didn’t have enough resources to provide the kind of care it can under normal circumstances, and recommended Dr. Jeppesen activate the crisis standards of care protocols statewide.

The goal, Idaho officials and crisis plans say, is to save as many lives as possible, which may involve considering expected survival rates to determine the type of care a patient will receive.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/idaho-h...d=hp_lead_pos8

[chris08876]

[chris08876]

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Biden announces plan to mandate vaccines at businesses with 100 or more workers.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/b...n-mandate.html

" Biden to ask OSHA to mandate vaccines at businesses with 100 or more workers "

I'm hearing from some fairly liberal legal commentators that attempts to enforce an OSHA mandate for vaccines will probably fail in federal court. OSHA has had virtually no success in court trying to enforce similar workplace orders."Emergency Temporary Standards" — under which the rules are being implemented on a fast track — have been particularly vulnerable to challenges in the past. Some legal scholars think the severity of the covid situation will be compelling enough to produce a favorable court outcome. Others are very doubtful that OSHA will prevail in court.