COVID-19 2nd wave - Texas only - Stats and such

[Enchubben 5510]

MASK REPORT: went though H-E-B this morning for weekly run. NW Houston, aggy central.... but out of the 200 people or so in the store only a couple of toddlers without masks.

pretty impressed so far. 

[DDD Dad 14351]

Whoops wrong thread.

Edited March 6, 2021 by DDD Dad

[BradInATX 9208]

Well, run it out then, as a forecast.  We'll allow you to include error bars if you're not really all that confident...
 
 

That'd require actual work and y'all don't pay well enough

[Anastasis 23485]

2 hours ago, Enchubben said:

MASK REPORT: went though H-E-B this morning for weekly run. NW Houston, aggy central.... but out of the 200 people or so in the store only a couple of toddlers without masks.

pretty impressed so far. 

Popped into Whole Foods real quick and it was 100%. But yeah, Whole Foods. 

[Message Board User 12396]

46 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Popped into Whole Foods real quick and it was 100%. But yeah, Whole Foods. 

Nice humblebrag.

[fattyflattie 4638]

9 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

Nice humblebrag.

Bro, your Whole Foods isn’t delivered? 

[Heme Doc 417]

4 hours ago, Enchubben said:

MASK REPORT: went though H-E-B this morning for weekly run. NW Houston, aggy central.... but out of the 200 people or so in the store only a couple of toddlers without masks.

pretty impressed so far. 

Fuck those anti-mask toddlers!

[Heme Doc 417]

My hospital had 186 COVID positive patients in house Jan 16.  That was our peak since the start of the pandemic...  

On Friday March 5th we had 41.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

Have noticed no decrease in mask wearing.  We will see on the tenth if it is a difference.  
 

I don’t think it will.  Most people don’t wear them right and are constantly touching them.  

[dcar00 14365]

2 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Popped into Whole Foods real quick and it was 100%. But yeah, Whole Foods. 

read this first as pooped into Whole Foods and thought "we'll that is a unique way to make sure you don't get Covid..by clearing out the store".

[Enchubben 5510]

43 minutes ago, Heme Doc said:

Fuck those anti-mask toddlers!

[rpspeed 1400]

4 hours ago, Enchubben said:

MASK REPORT: went though H-E-B this morning for weekly run. NW Houston, aggy central.... but out of the 200 people or so in the store only a couple of toddlers without masks.

pretty impressed so far. 

The Walmarts here have taken down the mask signage. It was never enforced anyway.

[gmr548 16616]

Pay an off-duty cop to work security at the door. They're usually pretty trigger-happy.

Hardcore anti makers are nearly exclusively white. Cops not gonna be real trigger happy.

[RollLeft 5045]

On 3/4/2021 at 11:01 PM, DDD Dad said:

Which county is this? Asking for my son and his fiancée. Seriously.

Lubbock nearly always has spots available on the HEB website.

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

I know this is the Texas thread, but I had to pop into Walmart today and I occasionally saw others wearing a mask. I’d put it at 90% not, though. 

[Message Board User 12396]

 

[BrazilHorn 6633]

Don't have yesterday's age demo breakdown as Travis County didn't update that but the overall case numbers for Travis County are the best they have been

since Oct 17th.

There were only 60 cases overall yesterday!!!! Just awesome to see. Now what I don't know is that with the vaccine becoming more available are people just saying "fuck it" and not being tested.

222 hospitalized - current course/speed I would expect that to drop <200 by Wednesday at latest. Great milestone.

Only 26 new admits.

All in all it was a good day.

[BrazilHorn 6633]

Here is the mortality data for W/E 3/6. There were 23 deaths last week. I have one caveat to this in that the 30 to 39 age group actually pulled two deaths off the board week over week so there looks to be a little data weirdness at play. As has been all along the deaths are heavily concentrated in the 60+ category.

There were 23 deaths in the 60 + groupings.

There were 2 deaths in the 40 to 49 group and then the 30 to 39 improved by 2.

If you are >60 go get the vaccine. If you choose not to get it, then be careful.

[StruggleBus 3922]

15 hours ago, RollLeft said:

Lubbock nearly always has spots available on the HEB website.

Odessa and Midland too

[XYZ 2154]

1 hour ago, StruggleBus said:

Odessa and Midland too

Yeah, but have you tried to grab one of those spots? They are always already taken. Always.

[fattyflattie 4638]

17 hours ago, Message Board User said:

 

No Maroon column?  Seems like some more BOM to me. 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

17 hours ago, Message Board User said:

 

Wonder how many total have antibodies?  There is overlap as plenty of people who’ve had Covid have also been vaccinated.  Just wondering what percentage of people have antibodies now.  It isn’t a small number considering confirmed cases, vaccines and people who were positive but weren’t tested.  

[atomheartbevo 89799]

HEB keeping mask requirements.

https://newsroom.heb.com/h-e-b-takes-additional-steps-to-safeguard-partners-by-providing-masks-and-gloves/

Quote

At H-E-B, our top priority is protecting the health and safety of our Partners, customers and the communities we serve.

While statewide policy has changed, our store protocol has not. Mask use at our stores will remain. Our signs requiring mask use will remain posted at entrances and we will continue to make announcements in store.

We will continue to expect shoppers to wear masks while in our stores. Additionally, we will still require all our Partners and vendors to wear masks while at work.

H-E-B has always been a strong proponent and advocate of mask use even before mandates and orders were passed.

The CDC, state and local health officials strongly advise the use of masks or facial coverings in public spaces as a proven way to prevent the spread of Covid-19. To help keep Texans healthy, we’ve had several safety protocols in place since the early days of the pandemic, and until all Texans including our Partners have access to the Covid-19 vaccine, we will continue these efforts.

Throughout the pandemic, we are thankful that we’ve seen strong compliance with mask wearing at our stores. But we need the help of all Texans to ensure compliance continues. For those customers without masks we will give them one.

The ending of mask ordinances puts real pressure on retailers to enforce an emotional topic for many. We ask for kindness and understanding from our customers in our expectation of them to wear masks in our stores. Also, we understand some customers cannot wear a mask due to medical exceptions. We request all customers adhere to the Covid-19 protocols we have in place while shopping.

 

[XYZ 2154]

I thought that HEB had announced that they would encourage but not mandate mask use from customers.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

3 minutes ago, XYZ said:

I thought that HEB had announced that they would encourage but not mandate mask use from customers.

I think they changed their mind. I suspect most businesses will mandate masks for another two months or so.

[Deej 76920]

“Expect” and “request” customers wear masks is not the same as “require”.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

53 minutes ago, Deej said:

“Expect” and “request” customers wear masks is not the same as “require”.

It says their signs saying masks are required will remain.  

[BrazilHorn 6633]

two day true up here for Travis County as the DBA for Travis couldn't flip switch on the age demo data yesterday. So while the two day jump is 191, we had 131 cases today in Travis County breaking our two day run of <100 cases. 25 new admits and 225 folks in the hospital.

Age Bracket	<1	1 to 9	10 to 19	20 to 29	30 to 39	40 to 49	50 to 59	60 to 69	70 to 79	>80	Total
New Cases 3/7 vs 3/5	0	11	15	47	48	30	21	12	4	3	191
% of Daily Change	0.00%	5.76%	7.85%	24.61%	25.13%	15.71%	10.99%	6.28%	2.09%	1.57%
% of Total Cases	0.57%	4.12%	10.11%	25.56%	20.86%	15.08%	11.44%	6.75%	3.31%	2.20%

[rpspeed 1400]

7 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

It says their signs saying masks are required will remain.  

ive seen those signs outside many stores where its not enforced.

[3adays 454]

HEB is in a tough spot. You can’t expect even people at “management” level to be willing to engage all the maskless fucks that have to go to their store. What do people expect them to do, hire armed security for ALL of their locations?

[Johnny Sack 8397]

13 minutes ago, 3adays said:

HEB is in a tough spot. You can’t expect even people at “management” level to be willing to engage all the maskless fucks that have to go to their store. What do people expect them to do, hire armed security for ALL of their locations?

Most HEB's have security.  In any event, I doubt it will be a big issue.  Has not seemed to be in other states where masks mandates were removed.

[XYZ 2154]

Why did hospitalizations in Texas start falling fast in mid-January? I mean, it’s not like around that time we all decided to stop fucking around and start being diligent about distancing, masks, etc. And it was way too early for vaccinations to start putting a dent. Herd immunity? Less virulent strain?

[Johnny Sack 8397]

3 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Why did hospitalizations in Texas start falling fast in mid-January? I mean, it’s not like around that time we all decided to stop fucking around and start being diligent about distancing, masks, etc. And it was way too early for vaccinations to start putting a dent. Herd immunity? Less virulent strain?

It has gone up and down. And was going to continue to until we reach herd immunity through vaccines or enough cases.

[LurkingHorn 1069]

Tuesday's catchup day will be interesting to see. Cases have dropped off tremendously week-over-week since last week. If it's true and not just noise, I'm wondering how effective these first doses really are. I can't think of any other reason for the steep decline at this point. 

[Snake Diggity 4627]

11 hours ago, XYZ said:

Why did hospitalizations in Texas start falling fast in mid-January? I mean, it’s not like around that time we all decided to stop fucking around and start being diligent about distancing, masks, etc. And it was way too early for vaccinations to start putting a dent. Herd immunity? Less virulent strain?

Because it was the backside of the post holiday surge.

[gmr548 16616]

Tuesday's catchup day will be interesting to see. Cases have dropped off tremendously week-over-week since last week. If it's true and not just noise, I'm wondering how effective these first doses really are. I can't think of any other reason for the steep decline at this point. 

It’s not Thanksgiving/Christmas anymore?

[utee94 15862]

54 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Because it was the backside of the post holiday surge.

Yup that's my assumption as well.

I've been wondering whether or not we were going to see any fallout from Freezepocalypse a couple weeks ago.  On the one hand, nobody was out and about at restaurants or retail shops for almost a week.  So it's possible that the infection numbers would decline sharply as a result.  

On the flipside, a lot of people ended up shacking up together with multiple families in the same house.  At one point in the midst of it, we had 4 separate families living in my house, since I never lost power or water.  Plus, some of those pictures of lines inside grocery stores, people were well within 6 feet of one another, for up to hours at a time.  So it's also possible that infection numbers would see an increase as a result.

Anyway, just curious how that all worked out.  I'd expect to see it in the numbers starting now, so perhaps no significant change either way.

[Snake Diggity 4627]

24 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Yup that's my assumption as well.

I've been wondering whether or not we were going to see any fallout from Freezepocalypse a couple weeks ago.  On the one hand, nobody was out and about at restaurants or retail shops for almost a week.  So it's possible that the infection numbers would decline sharply as a result.  

On the flipside, a lot of people ended up shacking up together with multiple families in the same house.  At one point in the midst of it, we had 4 separate families living in my house, since I never lost power or water.  Plus, some of those pictures of lines inside grocery stores, people were well within 6 feet of one another, for up to hours at a time.  So it's also possible that infection numbers would see an increase as a result.

Anyway, just curious how that all worked out.  I'd expect to see it in the numbers starting now, so perhaps no significant change either way.

Yes, I am curious to see how that plays out as well, but my expectation is that the net effect is positive, since to me the factors working for the spread (folks shacking up together because of the storm) are less impactful than the factors working against the spread (nobody getting together in large groups indoors like workplaces, restaurants, churches, malls, etc.).

 

I have seen nothing over the last couple of months that would change my prediction that we are essentially back to normal by Memorial Day.  Olds will be past herd immunity threshold in <2 weeks (I know that's not how it works, but that % of olds being vaccinated means their hospitalization rate will drop), the weather is warming, and the vaccination rate of 1B/1C groups is such that hospitalizations are likely to continue to drop steadily until it's below any threshold that would warrant restrictions.  We may still have cases because vaccine hesitancy and delays in vaccinating children may prevent herd immunity among the general population, but the cases were never the reason for the concerns, it's hospitalizations, and those should be almost entirely eliminated by the end of April.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Snake Diggity

[Hate 20145]

Here is another potential game changer.

http:// https://www.khou.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-pill-early-testing/507-9a2eb09d-c857-4e98-907c-4f4230a49472

[BrazilHorn 6633]

Another low day for Travis County with 104 new cases. 31 admits and there are 228 people hospitalized. Good overall day.

Age Bracket	<1	1 to 9	10 to 19	20 to 29	30 to 39	40 to 49	50 to 59	60 to 69	70 to 79	>80	Total
New Cases 3/8 vs 3/7	0	9	14	23	18	13	16	9	2	0	104
% of Daily Change	0.00%	8.65%	13.46%	22.12%	17.31%	12.50%	15.38%	8.65%	1.92%	0.00%
% of Total Cases	0.57%	4.13%	10.11%	25.55%	20.86%	15.08%	11.45%	6.75%	3.31%	2.19%

[Message Board User 12396]

Only 1,084 cases reported statewide today - the fewest since 06-08-20.  And hospitalizations continue to plummet.

Texas COVID-19 Hospital Resource Usage (csullender.com)

[atomheartbevo 89799]

On 3/7/2021 at 11:33 AM, XYZ said:

I thought that HEB had announced that they would encourage but not mandate mask use from customers.

They changed their mind after a shitload of customers complained.

[atomheartbevo 89799]

On 3/7/2021 at 9:01 PM, 3adays said:

HEB is in a tough spot. You can’t expect even people at “management” level to be willing to engage all the maskless fucks that have to go to their store. What do people expect them to do, hire armed security for ALL of their locations?

Their CEO or one of their VPs said in an interview that they had over 2,000 confrontations between employees and customers trying to skip the mask thing.  And they have security.

It'd be great if a lot more people caught that stuff on video and posted it on social media and named and shamed those fucks who think they have the right to chew out employees over this shit.

[sasquatch69 603]

In McKinney.

A mask-less Trader Joe's customer in Texas had a meltdown after being denied entry — and it reveals how states' new rules endanger workers

https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-less-trader-joes-meltdown-texas-rules-impact-workers-2021-3

(Edit: Tried to embed - didn't work.)

Edited March 9, 2021 by sasquatch69

[3adays 454]

7 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Their CEO or one of their VPs said in an interview that they had over 2,000 confrontations between employees and customers trying to skip the mask thing.  And they have security.

It'd be great if a lot more people caught that stuff on video and posted it on social media and named and shamed those fucks who think they have the right to chew out employees over this shit.

OK, so 2000 confrontations, but how many arrests? I know they have security, but I said “armed” security. I’m guessing most HEB’s don’t have that and until you put some teeth behind the policy, a bunch of baggers and checkout clerks yelling at anti-maskers isn’t going to do shit. I’ve routinely watched HEB employees turn a blind eye to plenty of maskless people they could’ve confronted. 

[Neonmoon 38130]

7 hours ago, sasquatch69 said:

In McKinney.

A mask-less Trader Joe's customer in Texas had a meltdown after being denied entry — and it reveals how states' new rules endanger workers

https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-less-trader-joes-meltdown-texas-rules-impact-workers-2021-3

(Edit: Tried to embed - didn't work.)

Haha these people are too stupid to breathe. I feel sorry for the employees. 
 

[Newdoc 3453]

25 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Haha these people are too stupid to breathe. I feel sorry for the employees. 
 

They breathe and breed. No Darwin effect here. They've already passed the genes and the behavior to their offspring. Lucky us.

And this genius in the video has no idea about federal law and refusal of service. It's a general policy that is applied to all customers and does not discriminate against a federal protected class.

[Snake Diggity 4627]

I’m a little surprised/disappointed that daily new hospitalizations in Austin seem to have stalled around 30 over the last few days.  Was hoping we’d continue to see steady drops.  Still not worried, but I expect those numbers to regularly be in the low 20s next week.  If the 7 day avg is over 30 by the end of next week, it’ll be a slightly worrying sign, although nothing to panic about.  Once we get below 10 daily admits I don’t think it’ll ever get above that again.

[BradInATX 9208]

4 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

I’m a little surprised/disappointed that daily new hospitalizations in Austin seem to have stalled around 30 over the last few days.  Was hoping we’d continue to see steady drops.  Still not worried, but I expect those numbers to regularly be in the low 20s next week.  If the 7 day avg is over 30 by the end of next week, it’ll be a slightly worrying sign, although nothing to panic about.  Once we get below 10 daily admits I don’t think it’ll ever get above that again.

I saw that too, even a little wobble upward. Although it's Austin we're talking about so for all we know they're still not caught up from the ice storm.

But it wouldn't completely surprise me to see a little bit of a plateau until vaccines start really exerting downward pressure on the numbers. Anecdotally I know two people that just caught Covid between their first and second shots. There's definitely a little bit of premature load-blowing in terms of people acting like the pandemic is over. Hell I'm between my first and second shots and I find the urge to YOLO it and go hit the bar or whatever is creeping in.

I'm not really concerned by it, outside of it killing a handful of people at the 11th hour which is a bit tragic. I saw someone, can't remember where, compare the deaths between now and summer to the people that died in WW1/WW2 battles that happened after the war was already over. Collapsing dead 5 feet from the finish line. That sucks.

Edited March 9, 2021 by BradInATX

[Storm the Field 5302]

14 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Their CEO or one of their VPs said in an interview that they had over 2,000 confrontations between employees and customers trying to skip the mask thing. 

Saw my first of these the other day, though not really sure you could call it a "confrontation." Younger guy probably early 30's walked in mask-less along with a masked friend.

Teenage employee standing near front door asked if he had a mask, he said no and just walked by her, she then said "I can get you one" and he just said "no thanks, I'm good" and kept walking on into the store. Poor girl looked like a deer in headlights. I'm sure that guy felt like a real big man.