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

[Skipper 6,340]

12 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Clay Jenkins is on the right side of this but he is a granstander, really hard to like and is likely going to get slapped down once this appeals up the chain.  

I just feel for the businesses trying to figure out WTF to do and then dealing with assholes that are going to challenge them either way.   ("Why aren't you requiring mask, Clay Jenkins says you have to. Fuck You") or ( "Why are you requiring mask, Abbot says I don't have to so Fuck You"). 

It's a god damn disgrace Abbot and Jenkins aren't capable of putting petty politics aside and figuring something out here.   

Edited August 12, 2021 by Skipper

[GreenspointTexas 9,883]

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/08/11/parent-wcsd-middle-schooler-sent-child-school-covid-19/8101021002/

[atomheartbevo 90,148]

3 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

It was hell getting the captain and crew to maintain protocol on the way home from Bora Bora the past couple weeks.  

What about over Macho Grande?

 

[bolverk 29,847]

Texas Hospitals Are Already Overloaded. Doctors Are ‘Frightened by What Is Coming.’
Across Texas, health officials warned of a growing crisis not seen in months, with more than 10,000 Texans hospitalized and intensive care units stretched thin.

Aug. 11, 2021
Updated 7:21 p.m. ET
SAN ANTONIO — At least two hospitals in Houston have been so overwhelmed with coronavirus patients this week that officials erected overflow tents outside. In Austin, hospitals were nearly out of beds in their intensive care units. And in San Antonio, a spike in virus cases reached alarming levels not seen in months, with children as young as 2 months old tethered to supplemental oxygen.

Across Texas, health officials warned of overloaded, strained hospitals, a growing crisis not seen since early February, when a late winter wave deluged the state’s health care system. More than 10,000 Texans have been hospitalized this week and at least 53 hospitals were at maximum capacity in their intensive care units.

“If this continues, and I have no reason to believe that it will not, there is no way my hospital is going to be able to handle this. There is no way the region is going to be able to handle this,” Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, a top health official in Harris County, which includes Houston, told state legislators on Tuesday. “I am one of those people that always sees the glass half-full, I always see the silver lining. But I am frightened by what is coming.”

In recent days, Texas has averaged about 12,400 new cases a day, nearly double the number seen just two weeks ago, according to a New York Times database. The spike comes as about one in five U.S. hospitals with intensive care units, or 583 total hospitals, recently reported that at least 95 percent of their I.C.U. beds were full. One worry about the highly contagious Delta variant, which has fueled surges across the country, is whether it might test the capacity of health systems.

Hospitals in New Orleans, Jackson, Miss., Miami and Huntsville, Ala., have been taxed this week, too, as cases continue to rise in those regions and elsewhere across the South. Texas is among several states grappling with dangerous surges exacerbated by the Delta variant, which the White House recently said was as contagious as the chickenpox.

Earlier this summer, cases skyrocketed in Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas. As in those states, the vast majority of patients hospitalized in Texas are not vaccinated, state officials said.

The sudden increase of infections has refocused national attention on the efficacy of masks and comes as the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, remains firm in his refusal to enact any statewide mandates requiring masks while also prohibiting local officials from doing so in their own communities. To help manage the surge, Mr. Abbott appealed this week to health care workers outside the state to travel to Texas and help the overloaded hospitals.

The number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations across the state is projected to climb to well over 15,000 by the end of August, according to the University of Texas at Austin’s Covid-19 model consortium.

“The fact that we’re having to construct the tents shows that the system in general is not prepared,” said Amanda Callaway, associate administrator for Harris Health System, which oversees the two hospitals in the Houston area requiring overflow space. “There’s lots of concern. There’s only so much you can do, only so many rooms. We’re just trying to respond as fast as we can.”

Aside from the tents, doctors are also treating patients in waiting rooms because of a shortage of beds, she said, adding that at least 90 percent of the coronavirus patients are unvaccinated.

Dr. David Persse, Houston’s chief medical officer, blamed inadequate attention by state officials to highlight the importance and necessity of vaccinations to stem the surge, with Mr. Abbott framing it as an issue of individual rights. “It’s the wrong approach,” Dr. Persse said. “The rhetoric around this has been such that people adhering to their right to make their own decisions are endangering themselves and their families.”

Mr. Abbott, like governors in Florida and elsewhere across the South, maintained his position even after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course and recommended that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks indoors in high-risk areas. He issued an executive order prohibiting local governments from mandating vaccines and prohibiting school districts from enforcing masks.

Still, local officials in some of Texas’ largest cities, including San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Austin, have defied Mr. Abbott’s orders and issued new mask requirements in city buildings and schools, citing the unfettered spread of the virus and still too-low vaccination rates. In Texas, about 56 percent of those 18 and older are fully inoculated.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, just shy of 240 Texas children were hospitalized on Tuesday with the coronavirus. Citing those figures, President Biden on Wednesday told reporters that he was exploring whether the federal government has the authority to intervene in state mandates issued by Mr. Abbott.

Over the weekend, the authorities in the State Capitol of Austin warned residents of a “dire” situation in the city, with hospitals so overrun with patients that they were short of both staff and resources to care for the sick.

Earlier this week, the resurgence was playing out in unnerving ways at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, where a growing number of children were being admitted with severe symptoms of Covid-19, including high fevers, chills, coughs and shortness of breath. Many others arriving for unrelated illnesses were also testing positive for the virus, hospital officials said.

The Delta variant and other respiratory infections were to blame for the crowded ward, with up to 15 Covid patients on any given day, said Dr. Norman Christopher, the chief medical officer at the hospital.

“We are now entering a new phase where our volumes are increasing much more exponentially here just like on the adult side,” Dr. Christopher said. “And that’s compared to almost nobody just a few months ago.”

Dr. Abhishek Patel, who works in the hospital’s pediatric I.C.U., walked in and out of a room where a 6-month-old and a 2-month-old were battling severe Covid-19 infections and were breathing with the aid of supplemental oxygen. This week alone, he said, two teenagers, who had other underlying health problems, succumbed to the virus.

In a room nearby, Cerena Gonzales, 14, moaned in pain. Last week, she was an excited teenager looking forward to starting her freshman year in high school. On Tuesday, she was surrounded by hospital equipment. She and her younger sister got sick after their parents, Carlos Gonzales, 47, and his wife Elizabeth, 42, began developing Covid symptoms and were taken to the hospital. None of them had been vaccinated, Ms. Gonzales said.

“We hesitated,” Ms. Gonzales said. “We were all a healthy family.”

As soon as she was discharged, Ms. Gonzales, still breathing with the aid of two portable oxygen tanks, rushed to her daughter’s side. She caressed her daughter’s forehead and tried to keep her upbeat. She recalled in tears the harrowing scene days earlier when doctors put her on a speakerphone so that she could hear as her daughter was intubated. “I thought I was going to lose my mind,” Ms. Gonzales said. “I could not be there with her.”

By Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Gonzales said she believed the worst of the crisis was over. She untangled her daughter’s thick black hair from IV tubes and gently encouraged her to drink orange juice.

Several members of her family had been ravaged by the virus, she said, and so she now plans to organize a family excursion to get vaccinated. “There is no reason any parent should go through this,” she said.

Nearby, Anne Marie Baker, a pediatric nurse, had the grim task of cleaning a room where just moments earlier a teenager had died from the virus. Ms. Baker took off her masks and slumped into a chair to catch her breath. Children under 12, who do not yet qualify for a vaccine, are most at risk, she said.

“In the last two months, we just had all of these patients,” she said. “It’s just so sad.”

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,830]

3 hours ago, 4th_and_18 said:

Niece’s first day of school. They had even more growth in the district than expected. 40+ in each classroom.

Thanks Gregg, you petrified sonuvabitch.   History will judge you poorly.  

[JimmyJames 12,271]

38 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Thanks Gregg, you petrified sonuvabitch.   History will judge you poorly.  

I feel and fear an oncoming disaster. Hope I’m wrong. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,830]

6 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

I feel and fear an oncoming disaster. Hope I’m wrong. 

(Checks notes), you’re not wrong, unfortunately.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,569]

55 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

What about over Macho Grande?

 

No I don’t think I will ever get over mucho grande. 

[Bushwood 16]

4 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

Both of you will get nothing, and like it!

I should have yelled two!

[MissingInAction 25,331]

35 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

I feel and fear an oncoming disaster. Hope I’m wrong. 

There will be bodies in trees, or in the streets at least. 

[ChickenSandwich 9,862]

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

[South Austin 52,771]

7 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

Might not be a popular opinion, but since they're here, why not spend a little money to give them the vaccine?

[smoky 842]

Or, even better why assume they're unvaccinated?

[South Austin 52,771]

13 minutes ago, smoky said:

Or, even better why assume they're unvaccinated?

I think the better assumption is that they're unvaccinated, but implicit in my idea is that we would actually ask them if they's been vaccinated.  I wasn't suggesting we jab them in the shoulder as they're stepping off the bus with no questions asked.

[smoky 842]

I think the better assumption is that they're unvaccinated, but implicit in my idea is that we would actually ask them if they's been vaccinated.  I wasn't suggesting we jab them in the shoulder as they're stepping off the bus with no questions asked.

Yeah sorry, that wasn't directed at you, more the article.

If I'm migrating away from some shit and there's a cure at the end of my journey, I'm going to hit a CVS first thing where they ask zero questions about where I came from and get a shot.

And I'll admit, my take is pretty shaky, but so is the click bait doom porn article.

[Born to Run 6,591]

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

They should be tested, and that needs to change. However, this is fear mongering considering how many busloads and planeloads of untested, likely unvaxxed enter the city daily from equal or hotter zones for covid. No one is testing fucktards returning from Floribama

However we should not be contributing to the narrative of blaming brown people.

[Foosters 17,980]

18 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

However we should not be contributing to the narrative of blaming brown people.

That's precisely why it was posted.

[mdmost 43,344]

5 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

Yeah not great but get the f'ing vaccine so you don't have to worry about it or can worry a lot less about it. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,569]

5 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

I don't really understand the idea of busing people to Houston, Austin or Dallas since Laredo doesn't have the ability to care for them. Is Laredo cool if those cities did the opposite and also tossed in the homeless population as well?

[Samson's Wig 3,202]

17 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/08/11/parent-wcsd-middle-schooler-sent-child-school-covid-19/8101021002/

There should be general immunity for anyone who beats the shit out of a parent who does this.  

[atomheartbevo 90,148]

5 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/3-buses-of-migrants-never-tested-for-covid-19-dropped-off-in-austin/

I'm not concerned with 150 illegals spreading covid.  I'm concerned with the 10 million+ Texans who aren't vaccinated, and the thousands of people who drive into and out of Austin everyday from outlying areas with low vaccination rates to shop and do whatever, and the tens of thousands who pass through the Austin area every day going north or south.

 

[atomheartbevo 90,148]

1 minute ago, Samson's Wig said:

There should be general immunity for anyone who beats the shit out of a parent who does this.  

Charge them for the amount of time those 80 students aren't in class, charge them for the tests, charge them the salaries of staff members who had to stay home for that time.

Parents would get the idea really quick not to fuck around with other kids.

And these are the same asshole parents who send their kids to school sick because they don't want to watch them (or can't), so that my kid gets sick and misses school and/or passes it to me.

[atomheartbevo 90,148]

5 hours ago, South Austin said:

I think the better assumption is that they're unvaccinated, but implicit in my idea is that we would actually ask them if they's been vaccinated.  I wasn't suggesting we jab them in the shoulder as they're stepping off the bus with no questions asked.

Give them the Pfizer vaccine.  

[Samson's Wig 3,202]

Just now, atomheartbevo said:

Charge them for the amount of time those 80 students aren't in class, charge them for the tests, charge them the salaries of staff members who had to stay home for that time.

Parents would get the idea really quick not to fuck around with other kids.

And these are the same asshole parents who send their kids to school sick because they don't want to watch them (or can't), so that my kid gets sick and misses school and/or passes it to me.

Yep.  Same assholes we've always had.  Fuck the selfish bastards.

[landman 559]

4 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm not concerned with 150 illegals spreading covid.  I'm concerned with the 10 million+ Texans who aren't vaccinated, and the thousands of people who drive into and out of Austin everyday from outlying areas with low vaccination rates to shop and do whatever, and the tens of thousands who pass through the Austin area every day going north or south.

 

I don't disagree with you.  But I do have a problem that if someone flies to Mexico they have to have a negative test to come back, or get quarantined for 14 days if positive, while there is zero testing for those entering the country at border crossings.  

[atomheartbevo 90,148]

8 minutes ago, landman said:

I don't disagree with you.  But I do have a problem that if someone flies to Mexico they have to have a negative test to come back, or get quarantined for 14 days if positive, while there is zero testing for those entering the country at border crossings.  

The airlines want people to be somewhat confident about flying in a little metal tube with a 100+ people in the middle of a pandemic.

Edited August 12, 2021 by atomheartbevo

[Bevo 13,661]

21 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm not concerned with 150 illegals spreading covid.  I'm concerned with the 10 million+ Texans who aren't vaccinated, and the thousands of people who drive into and out of Austin everyday from outlying areas with low vaccination rates to shop and do whatever, and the tens of thousands who pass through the Austin area every day going north or south.

Why not both?

[sidis 9,893]

5 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Why not both?

 

19 minutes ago, landman said:

I don't disagree with you.  But I do have a problem that if someone flies to Mexico they have to have a negative test to come back, or get quarantined for 14 days if positive, while there is zero testing for those entering the country at border crossings.  

completely fair.

[dcar00 14,633]

20 minutes ago, landman said:

I don't disagree with you.  But I do have a problem that if someone flies to Mexico they have to have a negative test to come back, or get quarantined for 14 days if positive, while there is zero testing for those entering the country at border crossings.  

well that would be logical and we can't have that.  if 150 canadians crossed the border illegally the same would apply.

[DDD Dad 14,437]

21 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

Masking in Monaco was spotty for the last two months I was there.  

How was it in Gstaad?

[DDD Dad 14,437]

21 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Yeah, I pretty much typed this verbatim. But in Cloak Room. So I’ll be on a plane to Negrep, Bolivia. 

[Brisketexan 105,787]

2 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

How was it in Gstaad?

I was too distracted by the fact that I didn't have my Rouchefouecald watch with me to know.

[Trey3216 15,382]

23 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I was too distracted by the fact that I didn't have my Rouchefouecald watch with me to know.

In Philadelphia, it's worth FIFTY DOLLARS  

[JesusSweatDuck 17,893]

New cases in Austin continue to trend downwards day over day.  478 reported today, compared to 533 yesterday and 640 last week Thurs.  Hospitalizations up to 608 (+12 from yesterday), we're still not at the peak of last winter (619).  We started to see case drops 5 days ago, so hopefully we'll start to see hospitalizations improve next week (minus back to school chaos).  ICU admits at 196 (-2 from yesterday) and Vents is 127 (-5 from yesterday)

 

Deaths at 912, so most of that ICU/Vent relief appears to come from someone passing away

 

 

 

 

Source - https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/39e4f8d4acb0433baae6d15a931fa984

Edited August 12, 2021 by JesusSweatDuck
more data

[South Austin 52,771]

1 minute ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

New cases in Austin continue to trend downwards day over day.  478 reported today, compared to 533 yesterday and 640 last week Thurs.  Hospitalizations up to 608 (+12 from yesterday), we're still not at the peak of last winter (619).  We started to see case drops 5 days ago, so hopefully we'll start to see hospitalizations improve next week (minus back to school chaos).  ICU admits at 196 (-2 from yesterday) and Vents is 127 (-5 from yesterday)

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but the part in bold is the wildcard that worries me.  Worth more concern than just a parenthetical.  Good to see the continuing downward trend, though, and hope that by October we're back to where we were in early summer.

[JesusSweatDuck 17,893]

1 minute ago, South Austin said:

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but the part in bold is the wildcard that worries me.  Worth more concern than just a parenthetical.  Good to see the continuing downward trend, though, and hope that by October we're back to where we were in early summer.

Totally aligned here.  Just sent my kids (one too young to be vaccinated) back to school today with no mask mandate.  I'm curious to hear from them when they come home on how many kids were wearing one.  My guess is the number will be low.

[Snake Diggity 4,646]

Mandatory 1st day rapid antigen testing for all unvaxxed students and unvaxxed staff seems like an easy way to ensure the school year gets off to a good start.  I didn’t see a single mention of that idea anywhere.  Seems like that plus minor ventilation improvement measures and mandatory masks would be high value moves.  Wtf.

My biggest question about how the pandemic has been handled in the US and more specifically Texas/Austin is why the test/trace mechanisms weren’t WAY bigger parts of the solution.  Seems like that effort was just never a focus.

Sending my oldest to kindergarten Tuesday.  She will wear a mask but I am resigned to her getting the virus.  We’ve had that attitude since it became clear society wasn’t going to do what was required to keep it from becoming endemic and that kids wouldn’t be able to get the vaccine before this fall.  We’ve had her in daycare so my hope/guess is she’s already been exposed and didn’t have major symptoms.  Shitty situation; hoping for the best.  

Edited August 12, 2021 by Snake Diggity

[South Austin 52,771]

I wish you all the best.  Fortunately my fifth-grader is at a school in which I think the large majority of parents and teachers support masking.  And my son got used to it when he finished out the final three months of the last academic year in school and understands the need to keep the mask on for a few months longer. 

[Homercles 10,206]

57 minutes ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

New cases in Austin continue to trend downwards day over day.  478 reported today, compared to 533 yesterday and 640 last week Thurs.  Hospitalizations up to 608 (+12 from yesterday), we're still not at the peak of last winter (619).  We started to see case drops 5 days ago, so hopefully we'll start to see hospitalizations improve next week (minus back to school chaos).  ICU admits at 196 (-2 from yesterday) and Vents is 127 (-5 from yesterday)

 

Deaths at 912, so most of that ICU/Vent relief appears to come from someone passing away

 

 

 

 

Source - https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/39e4f8d4acb0433baae6d15a931fa984

Great news.  Good work everyone, let’s do this all again for the fourth wave

[UT_OB1 2,229]

We’re enrolling our 2 in Montessori for at least the first month, hoping the vax gets approved down to 6 years soon. We did home school last year, and education wise it was fine, but my kids have had only 1 (sort of) friend for the last almost 2 years (and haven’t seen any family other than 1 set of grandparents in a gas station parking lot).  9 yo daughter has broken down crying a few times about not seeing anyone. Wife is terrified of sending them even to Montessori, but they need to go. The Montessori school requires mask for kids, vax for teachers, and they don’t allow adults to come in the building. I’m very confident they’ll be find, and we need to get them back in. 

[utee94 15,907]

1 hour ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

Totally aligned here.  Just sent my kids (one too young to be vaccinated) back to school today with no mask mandate.  I'm curious to hear from them when they come home on how many kids were wearing one.  My guess is the number will be low.

My kids just finished their first day at an LISD middle school.  They said about 50% had masks on (including them, of course).

 

[South Austin 52,771]

1 minute ago, utee94 said:

My kids just finished their first day at an LISD middle school.  They said about 50% had masks on (including them, of course).

Only 50% of your kids wore masks?

[Anastasis 23,529]

We may be turning a corner in ATX.  Hope that I am not being overly optimistic, but numbers appear heading in right direction.

[JesusSweatDuck 17,893]

7 minutes ago, utee94 said:

My kids just finished their first day at an LISD middle school.  They said about 50% had masks on (including them, of course).

 

Mine said, "almost no one" but I just hope they're exaggerating.  😕

[utee94 15,907]

5 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Only 50% of your kids wore masks?

I might have misplaced a modifier or two...

 

1 minute ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

Mine said, "almost no one" but I just hope they're exaggerating.  😕

50% is more than I expected but I'll be pretty surprised if it sticks.  Without someone insisting on it throughout the day, I expect the usage to drop over time. 

 

[gsoda3 3,317]

1 hour ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

Totally aligned here.  Just sent my kids (one too young to be vaccinated) back to school today with no mask mandate.  I'm curious to hear from them when they come home on how many kids were wearing one.  My guess is the number will be low.

5th grader, everyone was wearing masks.  21 kids.

3rd grader, all but 2 were wearing masks, 20 kids.

2nd grader, all but 2 were wearing masks, 20 kids. 

[JesusSweatDuck 17,893]

8 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

5th grader, everyone was wearing masks.  21 kids.

3rd grader, all but 2 were wearing masks, 20 kids.

2nd grader, all but 2 were wearing masks, 20 kids. 

I have a feeling masking will be higher in elem due to 100% of students not being able to be vaccinated.

[Post Oak 20,365]

26 minutes ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

I have a feeling masking will be higher in elem due to 100% of students not being able to be vaccinated.

I just left Meet the Teacher.  Maybe 1/3 of teachers, parents, and kids were masked.  My wife thinks it was less than that.  

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  I don't understand it.  I'm not sure it's sustainable.

***Now that I think about it I don't think any teachers or staff were masked.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Post Oak

[gsoda3 3,317]

I just left Meet the Teacher.  Maybe 1/3 of teachers, parents, and kids were masked.  My wife thinks it was less than that.  
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  I don't understand it.  I'm not sure it's sustainable.

That's crazy. What school district?

[conVINCEd 21,474]

1 minute ago, gsoda3 said:

8 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

I just left Meet the Teacher.  Maybe 1/3 of teachers, parents, and kids were masked.  My wife thinks it was less than that.  
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  I don't understand it.  I'm not sure it's sustainable.

That's crazy. What school district?

I’m gonna guess East Texas.