Mormad said:

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Civilized said:

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Mormad said:

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We now have 75 admitted, 16 in the unit, and 12 intubated across our 5 hospitals

About 2/3 of the population 65+ in guilford/ alamance/rockingham counties are vaxed now

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Do recall how those admissions/unit/intubated compares to the peak for you guys?

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Admitted down by 200, unit/tubed down at least 50 percent

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That's fantastic news, thanks!

Mormad said:

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King Leary said:

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Media attacks will be relentless against Texas. This decision takes balls

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Ballsy, but i like it!

(I'd personally go 100% open with masking, but that's just me)

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In my non medical opinion, this is where I fall. I have not been vaccinated yet (had the opportunity, but waiting my turn), but I will be once it becomes widely available to my group (I qualify in group 5 in NC).I have no issues letting people at this point decide their own risk tolerance as it appears to be under better control at this point.

PackPA2015 said:

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Mormad said:

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King Leary said:

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Media attacks will be relentless against Texas. This decision takes balls

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Ballsy, but i like it!

(I'd personally go 100% open with masking, but that's just me)

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This is where I am as well. Open business, but keep masking until vaccination rates improve and cases/hospitalizations/deaths decrease to a tolerable level.

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Exactly where I'm at.

Open up everything fully but wear masks till we think we're in herd immunity territory or some other reasonable benchmark.

FlossyDFlynt said:

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I am as ready as I can be to ditch the masks, but this seems a bit premature. Maybe finish up voluntary vaccinations first?

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Looks like Mississippi has joined Texas.

PackPA2015 said:

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ncsualum05 said:

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Hasn't Florida been open with no mask mandate? Forgive me I don't know the ins and outs of Florida but I know that they have claimed to be more open than any other state.

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According to my brief google search (someone correct me if I am wrong), they have no state mandate, but do have many city and county mandates.

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This is correct and why it is hard to just say "Florida is doing X, so it is better than any other state." I do agree that Florida has had a much better approach and I like the idea of focused masking/etc. instead of a one size, fits all for the entire state. However, it is not correct to say that Florida is doing the same (from a masking and protocols) across the entire state.

I'm only 27 but considered in group 3. I live in Raleigh but nothing available here the next few days.

Signed up on Walgreens for my first and second shot pretty easily (get my first this Friday). Have to drive to Goldsboro to get it.

PackPA2015 said:

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ncsualum05 said:

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Hasn't Florida been open with no mask mandate? Forgive me I don't know the ins and outs of Florida but I know that they have claimed to be more open than any other state.

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According to my brief google search (someone correct me if I am wrong), they have no state mandate, but do have many city and county mandates.

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Then I imagine that places like Austin and Dallas will still have their ordinances. This is probably how it should've been all along.

packgrad said:

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State regulations are weird. I technically qualified as an essential worker...in Kansas (note - I do not live in Kansas, I live in NC)

Some Vaccination Updates for this week:

US Vaccination Tracking (Bloomberg Vaccination Tracker):
Total Doses Available = 102,384,897
Total Doses Administered = 78,631,601
Percentage of Available Doses Administered = 76.8%
Percentage of Population Receiving 1 Dose = 15.6%
Percentage of Population Fully Vaccinated = 7.9%

NC Vaccination Tracking (Bloomberg Vaccination Tracker):
Total Doses Available = 3,026,282
Total Doses Administered = 2,545,103
Percentage of Available Doses Administered = 84.1%
Percentage of Population Receiving 1 Dose = 15.7%
Percentage of Population Fully Vaccinated = 8.5%


1. Some good news!! Looking at the 65+ age group in NC, I estimate 56% of this population has received their first vaccine dose. Based on the latest update from NCDHHS, 974,090 people aged 65+ have received their first dose, out of a total population of 1,751,510 people aged 65+.

2. Supply of the vaccines continues to improve. This week, the supply of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be 15.2M doses (up from 14.5M last week). With the addition of 2.8M J&J doses, the total for this week will be 18M doses.

3. On the local news tonight, they said only 50% of the teachers in Johnson County have signed up to be vaccinated. They also mentioned that this seems to be a similar statistic in other counties. To me, it is very disappointing the number is so low and hopefully more teachers will decide to become vaccinated, when they realize they can get vaccinated more easily now.

4. Durham County has not opened a mass vaccination site they promised a couple of weeks ago. They are saying that vaccine supply has been an issue, but WRAL news reported tonight that between Duke Hospital and the Durham Health Department, they will have close to 10,000 doses made available this week. Hopefully, this will get them to open the promised mass vaccination site.

5. In Wake County, vaccinations are going well and the PNC Arena site is working out very well for the county. The health department mentioned that they have slots available for vaccination later this week. My wife is scheduled to get her first vaccination tomorrow morning. Due to her job, she is in Group 3. She was able to schedule her appointment this past weekend through the county health department with no issues.

6. Reportedly, the Biden administration has set aside $1B to spend on a campaign around vaccines. So far, they have not spent any of this money, citing the limited supply of doses. I would think the time to encourage people to get vaccinated would be now, so the demand is there as vaccines continue to ramp up. It seems rather short-sighted on their part. Maybe spending some of this money would help to address some of the vaccine hesitancy we are seeing in certain communities and groups of people.


US Vaccination Progress - 100M Doses in 100 Days Target:




NC Vaccination Progress - 3.2M Doses in 100 Days Target:

WolfPacker54 said:

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Can anyone explain to me why NC has such a low prioritization of people with pre-existing conditions that are at higher risk (auto-immune diseases, cancer, etc.)? This is considered group 4 in NC, which seems ridiculous to me. Should have been group 2 at minimum in my personal opinion.

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Good question. I looked at the CDC guidelines, since you would expect NC to be closely following these guidelines. In those, they have four phases (1a, 1b, 1c, 2) and people with severe health conditions that put them at risk are in group 1c. It appears NC split the CDC's Phase 1b into Group 2 and Group 3, pushing the people with severe illness into Group 4. I am sure supply of vaccine played a part in some of these decisions, but I personally believe those with severe health conditions (I do not believe people who smoke should be included in this group) should have been in Group 2.

CDC guidelines by phase:

Phase 1a:
Healthcare personnel
Long-term care residents

Phase 1b:
Frontline essential workers
People aged 75+

Phase 1c:
People aged 65+
People age 16+ with underlying medical conditions
Other essential workers

Phase 2:
All people aged 16+ who are not in any previously defined groups



NC's guidelines are:

Group 1:
Healthcare workers
Long-term Care staff and residents

Group 2:
People aged 65+

Group 3:
Frontline essential workers
School and childcare workers

Group 4:
Adults at higher risk for exposure
Adults with increased risk of severe illness

Group 5:
All people aged 16+ not in a previously defined group

Steve Williams said:

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Really afraid that people who refuse to get the vaccine are going to end up in a scarlet letter type situation.

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Yep. I pretty much had to talk my wife into getting hers. Thank god she didn't have bad side effects from the first shot. Basically I told her, particularly under current leadership and social media society, I feel like it's going to be required for everything from travel to dining to sports/entertainment venues etc.

The mark of the devil, as her grandma used to say.

Wayland said:

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FlossyDFlynt said:

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I am as ready as I can be to ditch the masks, but this seems a bit premature. Maybe finish up voluntary vaccinations first?

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Looks like Mississippi has joined Texas.

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Good for them... its about time.

packgrad said:

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Steve Williams said:

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Really afraid that people who refuse to get the vaccine are going to end up in a scarlet letter type situation.

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Yep. I pretty much had to talk my wife into getting hers. Thank god she didn't have bad side effects from the first shot. Basically I told her, particularly under current leadership and social media society, I feel like it's going to be required for everything from travel to dining to sports/entertainment venues etc.

The mark of the devil, as her grandma used to say.

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I got an email from my company this morning that while it is currently "strongly encouraged" to get vaccinated, when it opens up and the vaccine becomes more widely available, it will go into the "required" category.

Full disclosure - I work for a small healthcare consulting firm and all of our clients are hospital systems. This is a slight departure from their past policies, which were left to basically meet whatever the client's policies are. In the end, I dont think itll matter because I cant see a hospital system not requiring it in the future for contractors/sales reps/traveling nurses/etc. Most years, I couldnt step foot in a hospital without an up to date flu shot (and had one client where I had to provide full vaccination record), so I am looking at this the same way.

That's how I got mine when I did. They were requiring it.

packgrad said:

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Steve Williams said:

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Really afraid that people who refuse to get the vaccine are going to end up in a scarlet letter type situation.

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Yep. I pretty much had to talk my wife into getting hers. Thank god she didn't have bad side effects from the first shot. Basically I told her, particularly under current leadership and social media society, I feel like it's going to be required for everything from travel to dining to sports/entertainment venues etc.

The mark of the devil, as her grandma used to say.

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Unless you are coming into the country illegally it appears... then you are fine.

Daviewolf83 said:

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WolfPacker54 said:

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Can anyone explain to me why NC has such a low prioritization of people with pre-existing conditions that are at higher risk (auto-immune diseases, cancer, etc.)? This is considered group 4 in NC, which seems ridiculous to me. Should have been group 2 at minimum in my personal opinion.

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Good question. I looked at the CDC guidelines, since you would expect NC to be closely following these guidelines. In those, they have four phases (1a, 1b, 1c, 2) and people with severe health conditions that put them at risk are in group 1c. It appears NC split the CDC's Phase 1b into Group 2 and Group 3, pushing the people with severe illness into Group 4. I am sure supply of vaccine played a part in some of these decisions, but I personally believe those with severe health conditions (I do not believe people who smoke should be included in this group) should have been in Group 2.

CDC guidelines by phase:

Phase 1a:
Healthcare personnel
Long-term care residents

Phase 1b:
Frontline essential workers
People aged 75+

Phase 1c:
People aged 65+
People age 16+ with underlying medical conditions
Other essential workers

Phase 2:
All people aged 16+ who are not in any previously defined groups



NC's guidelines are:

Group 1:
Healthcare workers
Long-term Care staff and residents

Group 2:
People aged 65+

Group 3:
Frontline essential workers
School and childcare workers

Group 4:
Adults at higher risk for exposure
Adults with increased risk of severe illness

Group 5:
All people aged 16+ not in a previously defined group

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Yeah, this really bothers me based upon the principle of it... why does someone 55+ (they have a 65+ age bracket that was in Phase 1 Group C) now all of a sudden have to compete with a 16+ yo (of any health) for a shot when the demographics (of death) are substantially skewed towards the higher age groups and it doesn't break from that trend down to age 0... I probably don't even need the shot - but this makes zero sense if they are continuing to follow the "SCIENCE"...

packgrad said:

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Steve Williams said:

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Really afraid that people who refuse to get the vaccine are going to end up in a scarlet letter type situation.

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Yep. I pretty much had to talk my wife into getting hers. Thank god she didn't have bad side effects from the first shot. Basically I told her, particularly under current leadership and social media society, I feel like it's going to be required for everything from travel to dining to sports/entertainment venues etc.

The mark of the devil, as her grandma used to say.

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A lot of companies are going to require it, for you to return to the office environment and working from home will not be an option for many when offices begin to reopen. Same will go for universities (both staff and students) in the Fall.

Based on the new NC guidelines, college students living in dorms and other congregate settings will be able to get vaccinated near the end of March. I fully expect all the athletic teams at my son's school and other area schools to be vaccinated before the end of the Spring semester. They may hold off on sports that are still in-season, but vaccinate them when their seasons end. The universities will want to get rid of the testing expense they are currently funding and getting all staff and students vaccinated is the quickest way to do so.

Steve Williams said:

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Really afraid that people who refuse to get the vaccine are going to end up in a scarlet letter type situation.

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Pregnant with the preacher's baby?...

packgrad said:

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That's how I got mine when I did. They were requiring it.

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I had offers to go to Kansas and get it done (company is based in Kansas and did a deal with the local health department). Time off/travel/expenses covered, but there isnt a business need from my company's end or my clients end as I have been working from home for a while and my situation work wise is covered until July at the moment. Ill get it done once group five starts. If my situation changes for whatever reason, I did get them to send over documentation so I could make arrangements locally.

So I just got word that I'll be receiving the Moderna vaccine (late next week) as set up by my employer.
I'm guessing this is okay, and I shouldn't be trying to set up something on my own for one of the others? Pfizer, etc.

Thanks

AlleyPack said:

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So I just got word that I'll be receiving the Moderna vaccine (late next week) as set up by my employer.
I'm guessing this is okay, and I shouldn't be trying to set up something on my own for one of the others? Pfizer, etc.

Thanks

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I don't think it really matters. I've heard people with side effects with each, but most with no side effects from each. Just the luck of the draw I think.