The New Normal

[MarzNC]

I found this. I’m kind of surprised the numbers per mile driven got worse even though the overall numbers improved.

In North Carolina, the number of accidents was down for 2020 but the incidence of fatalities was up. Not much of a surprise to me. My observation was that there was a far higher percentage of people going well over 80 mph in places with speed limits of 60 or 65, or over 90 mph when the speed limit was 70. Same speed differential on 2-lane highways. I typically drive 5-10 mph over speed limits on major highways. Traffic was lighter July-Sept but picked up starting in October. With my daughter in college in Asheville, I was on I-40 between Raleigh and Asheville several times. Saw similar situations on I-40 and the other major highways in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).

As an aside, NC accident stats and info are some of the best in the country. I know because I worked at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center while I was in college and grad school. Accident report forms evolved in the 1970s to help provide more comprehensive data for accidents on all roads including minor roads in the middle of nowhere. Helped that NC has more state-maintained road than most other states, as opposed to leaving it up to local jurisdictions. We could even do research on how many accidents were caused by flying insects or fiddling with the radio back when a text search required running a special computer program overnight on a mainframe.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Crap

'Get used to the idea' that COVID isn't going away completely, says doctor

WASHINGTON (SBG) - “I don’t think we’re going to ever eradicate this virus,” said Dr. Jeffrey Singer of the CATO Institute to The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat Friday morning. “We’ve only eradicated one virus against humans in history, and that's smallpox, and that took 200 years. ” Dr. Singer...

cnycentral.com

 

[Harvey]

I saw that, but I'm choosing to ignore it.

 

[Brownski]

That is just an alarming headline. Did anybody think Covid would be stamped out 100%? I didn’t. There’s a lot to be encouraged by in there too
“Getting reinfected with a new variant seems to be a much milder version of the infection,” said Dr. Singer. “There are at least 27 million people who've been infected in this country with confirmed cases, and the CDC tells us that actually maybe four to five times that amount, and then we already have 27 million people who've gotten at least one dose of the vaccine We might be up to 40% of the population that already has some degree of immunity.”

 

[Harvey]

That is just an alarming headline. Did anybody think Covid would be stamped out 100%? I didn’t. There’s a lot to be encouraged by in there too
“Getting reinfected with a new variant seems to be a much milder version of the infection,” said Dr. Singer. “There are at least 27 million people who've been infected in this country with confirmed cases, and the CDC tells us that actually maybe four to five times that amount, and then we already have 27 million people who've gotten at least one dose of the vaccine We might be up to 40% of the population that already has some degree of immunity.”

Something is bringing down our cases and somehow I don't think it's our awesome social distancing game.

 

[JTG]

That is just an alarming headline.

Yes, the author is trying to be alarmist, but the idea, no the fact, that COVID isn’t ever going away isn’t alarming at all. While I may not agree with my nurse brother that COVID is just a bad flu, it has been apparently from day one that in the future we will always have the cold, flu, and COVID season....as opposed to just the cold and flu season we used to have.

 

[tirolski]

... the fact, that COVID isn’t ever going away isn’t alarming at all... it has been apparently from day one that in the future we will always have the cold, flu, and COVID season...

Yup. Best to find therapies and/or vaccines ASAP and continue to study SARS-CoV2. I for sure don’t mean dragging bats from caves to labs and doing Gain of Function studies on the viruses.

 

[Campgottagopee]

This is a good sign. Right?

Great Escape announces reopening plan following Cuomo announcement to open theme parks

Following a recent announcement by Gov. Cuomo to allow outdoor venues to reopen, the Great Escape has announced a reopening plan. Six Flags Great Escape will be open weekends and select dates beginning May 1, and weekday operation starting June 24th. The indoor waterpark, according to the park...

cnycentral.com

 

[MarzNC]

Something is bringing down our cases and somehow I don't think it's our awesome social distancing game.

Ever look at the graphs for other pandemics? Or a deadly local epidemic? Human nature hasn't changed much in the past 200+ years. When things get really bad, more people start changing their behavior to avoid getting sick. Those who are most at risk get sick and die sooner. The survivors figure out how to stay healthy and a population moves towards "herd immunity." These days that includes vaccination.

A lot of factors related to the spread of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 just happened a lot faster in 2020 than a hundred years ago. For instance, by the time the Spanish flu made it to Australia during the 1918-20 pandemic, doctors and nurses working in hospitals already knew that it was important to keep symptomatic patients isolated from other patients. People weren't flying all over the world back then.

From an R&D standpoint, the speed at which multiple types of vaccines were developed since early 2020 is truly amazing.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Our local hospital lost one of it's doctors yesterday due to Covid. He got Covid while treating a patient of his. According to my wife he was a great man and in his career saved many lives.