Yeah...no. We currently don’t have a lot of Covid restrictions in this country, yet many other countries are announcing new lockdowns, or extending the ones they have. They are not copying what we are doing, and instead are literally doing the OPPOSITE of what we are doing.
Our county is now averaging 340-410 doses per day, they just did the nursing home this week with Walgreens. Adult population is 31345, 1063 fully vaccinated, and 4689 first dose administered. So 55,875 doses for 100% adult population to go. I still see full day openings as soon as next Wednesday Feb 10th at the hospital. Health department 3 blocks from the hospital doesn't have availability until Feb 24th. I really don't see why the large discrepancy except the health department was the only place for awhile and booked over a month out when it was 70+ or HCW.
Remember that there really aren't any federal restrictions per se. In our system, those kinds of things are left up to state governments. Each state is going to be different in how quickly restrictions are lifted. I think you will see some states push to lift all restrictions and return to total normalcy by early Spring. I think you will see other states that try to hold on to some restrictions through the end of the year. A lot, of course, depends on how things ultimately play out with vaccine distribution as well as trends of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. But, regardless, not every state is going to do it the same.
It goes beyond even the states. FL right now has almost no restrictions on any activity but local governments and individual businesses are setting their own rules. For example Disney has implemented restrictions far greater than what the state of FL would require. So not only will each state relax restrictions at different times but large national chains and companies like Disney or the NFL or hotel operators could still choose to keep covid restrictions longer.
^ I think the pandemic will be over by then in end of the summer so there may not going to be more cases in next winter @danlb_2000 right @GoofGoof?
Like a flu?
Worldwide the pandemic won’t be over by the end of summer. My guess is if the US has things under control (God willing) we will still see heavy restrictions on international travel and cruise ships. This is why they still need to invest in testing and tracing going forward. The timeline may not be linear for this pandemic. If we continue to ramp up testing and tracing and then if there’s an outbreak we can react, snuff it out and move on similar to a measles outbreak on a larger scale. With a large portion of the population vaccinated it should be difficult for community spread to get ramped up and if we do mass testing and heavy tracing we should be able to isolate the sick and prevent major spread in the unvaccinated or under-vaccinated crowd. Will there be a winter wave like this year, I would hope not.
Assuming the virus doesn't ( god forbid) mutate past the workings of the vaccine. The logistics of making this a yearly shot are scary.
Pfizer and Moderna can quickly modify their mRNA vaccines and as we speak Pfizer is working through a process to manufacture a powder version that doesn’t need the cold storage that should be ready before the end of year. I’m not saying a severe mutation isn’t a big deal, but it can be dealt with using the vaccine technology. If it becomes an annual shot it will become more like the flu shot which rarely has issues with lack of availability.
Sure
I view it as being realistic rather than throwing in the towel, particularly in light of what most scientists seem to be saying. I live in the US and don’t expect things to be back to normal by the summer, much as I hope they will be.
Some restrictions will be gone by fall here. They expect masks and social distancing to still be around for a little after people are vaccinated. It's cause the vaccine doesn't get rid of Covid or stop the spread. It just makes symptoms less severe. I personally don't mind wearing masks or being physically distant from others. I like my space.
So Disney could debut a new nighttime parade this fall if all goes to plan... I'm not gonna think about it now because there's too much uncertainty but if it's not the Main Street Electrical Parade I riot