|
Post by bfoley82 on Feb 10, 2022 23:24:47 GMT -5
The only crazy thing is schools having any mask requirement two years into this thing when many others gave up the masks long ago and are no worse off in terms of Covid spread than the ones still holding onto their mask requirements. If you are going to have a policy, enforce it!
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 24, 2022 7:51:44 GMT -5
Unlike previous spikes in positive cases at HC, where the decline in new cases was swift and steep, recent case numbers at Holy Cross plateaued, and now for the three days ending Wednesday the 23rd, have actually risen: 27 new student cases Mon-Wed, doubling the student case count from last week, for the same three-day period.
The number of new cases among HC staff is much lower than January's peak, and remains so.
HC does not publicly publish data indicating whether the new student cases are predominately students living off-campus or on-campus. ICU occupancy in Central Massachusetts hospitals (i.e., Worcester) remains stubbornly high at 95 percent, and is nearly 20 percent higher than the state as a whole. ICU bed occupancy in Western Massachusetts is 57 percent, in Metro West (Framingham, etc.) it is 75 percent.
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Feb 24, 2022 11:48:00 GMT -5
The only crazy thing is schools having any mask requirement two years into this thing when many others gave up the masks long ago and are no worse off in terms of Covid spread than the ones still holding onto their mask requirements. If you are going to have a policy, enforce it! Ordinarily I’d agree regarding policies/regs but the current mask silliness is so nonsensical the fans are better off when the rule is unenforced (and the maskers and glovers are always free to don their ‘protection’ - doubling up and otherwise).
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 24, 2022 16:39:06 GMT -5
This is HC's tracking chart of student cases, as of 4 PM February 24. This is not a profile you want to see. There are least 20 new positive cases among students today. I believe this is the highest daily total ever. If it continues to spike like this, HC will soon be out of isolation space. With regard to masking rules etc., I am certain that HC factors in exposure risk to staff. According to Rougeau, HC has over 100 staff vacancies. Not only can the college ill-afford to lose employed staff who must isolate because they become infected, but it also can't afford to lose staff who fear becoming infected by students on a campus where contagion is high, and don't report for work. Given these numbers, it would not at all surprise me to see an athletic team shut down in the next day or two. ______________________ Whether 'long' COVID affects 30 perfect of Americans who were symptomatically infected with COVID, or 20 percent, or ten percent, this is a serious health care problem in this country. A profile of a noted Broadway music conductor who was stricken with COVID in the first wave two years ago, and subsequently developed 'long COVID', and has yet to fully recover from this condition. See: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/nyregion/joel-fram-broadway-covid.html?smid=em-shareAlso, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/19/science/long-covid-causes.html?smid=em-share
|
|
|
Post by mm67 on Feb 24, 2022 17:58:18 GMT -5
Pak, Once again, I must thank you for a fact based post.
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Feb 24, 2022 18:27:42 GMT -5
This is HC's tracking chart of student cases, as of 4 PM February 24. This is not a profile you want to see. There are least 20 new positive cases among students today. I believe this is the highest daily total ever. If it continues to spike like this, HC will soon be out of isolation space. With regard to masking rules etc., I am certain that HC factors in exposure risk to staff. According to Rougeau, HC has over 100 staff vacancies. Not only can the college ill-afford to lose employed staff who must isolate because they become infected, but it also can't afford to lose staff who fear becoming infected by students on a campus where contagion is high, and don't report for work. Given these numbers, it would not at all surprise me to see an athletic team shut down in the next day or two. ______________________ Whether 'long' COVID affects 30 perfect of Americans who were symptomatically infected with COVID, or 20 percent, or ten percent, this is a serious health care problem in this country. A profile of a noted Broadway music conductor who was stricken with COVID in the first wave two years ago, and subsequently developed 'long COVID', and has yet to fully recover from this condition. See: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/nyregion/joel-fram-broadway-covid.html?smid=em-shareAlso, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/19/science/long-covid-causes.html?smid=em-share I hope to heck neither of our two BB teams have to shut down.
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 24, 2022 19:12:43 GMT -5
Maybe students jumped the gun.
The following communication is dated February 21.
|
|
|
Post by lou on Feb 24, 2022 22:43:49 GMT -5
This is HC's tracking chart of student cases, as of 4 PM February 24. This is not a profile you want to see. There are least 20 new positive cases among students today. I believe this is the highest daily total ever. If it continues to spike like this, HC will soon be out of isolation space. With regard to masking rules etc., I am certain that HC factors in exposure risk to staff. According to Rougeau, HC has over 100 staff vacancies. Not only can the college ill-afford to lose employed staff who must isolate because they become infected, but it also can't afford to lose staff who fear becoming infected by students on a campus where contagion is high, and don't report for work. Given these numbers, it would not at all surprise me to see an athletic team shut down in the next day or two. ______________________ Whether 'long' COVID affects 30 perfect of Americans who were symptomatically infected with COVID, or 20 percent, or ten percent, this is a serious health care problem in this country. A profile of a noted Broadway music conductor who was stricken with COVID in the first wave two years ago, and subsequently developed 'long COVID', and has yet to fully recover from this condition. See: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/nyregion/joel-fram-broadway-covid.html?smid=em-shareAlso, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/19/science/long-covid-causes.html?smid=em-share These are two terrific articles, thanks for posting. The first describing the long covid suffered by the conductor of the Broadway play "Company"
|
|
|
Post by bfoley82 on Feb 25, 2022 1:22:27 GMT -5
This is HC's tracking chart of student cases, as of 4 PM February 24. This is not a profile you want to see. There are least 20 new positive cases among students today. I believe this is the highest daily total ever. If it continues to spike like this, HC will soon be out of isolation space. With regard to masking rules etc., I am certain that HC factors in exposure risk to staff. According to Rougeau, HC has over 100 staff vacancies. Not only can the college ill-afford to lose employed staff who must isolate because they become infected, but it also can't afford to lose staff who fear becoming infected by students on a campus where contagion is high, and don't report for work. Given these numbers, it would not at all surprise me to see an athletic team shut down in the next day or two. ______________________ Whether 'long' COVID affects 30 perfect of Americans who were symptomatically infected with COVID, or 20 percent, or ten percent, this is a serious health care problem in this country. A profile of a noted Broadway music conductor who was stricken with COVID in the first wave two years ago, and subsequently developed 'long COVID', and has yet to fully recover from this condition. See: www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/nyregion/joel-fram-broadway-covid.html?smid=em-shareAlso, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/19/science/long-covid-causes.html?smid=em-share I hope to heck neither of our two BB teams have to shut down. St. Mike's just got bounced from the NE-10 tourney over COVID. www.smcathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/20220224mgiyaa
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Feb 25, 2022 7:10:41 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Feb 25, 2022 9:24:03 GMT -5
Timing is interesting
Mandate goes away right after Winter Homecoming when there will be a lot of visitors to the campus. Hockey on campus will be done. There may or may not be a mens home basketball game. Very unlikely there will be multiple home games. All that is left next week for a decent number of indoor visitors to campus is women's basketball tournament. I wonder if someone looked at a calendar and picked this date partially based on sports and homecoming
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 25, 2022 10:51:22 GMT -5
Timing is interesting Mandate goes away right after Winter Homecoming when there will be a lot of visitors to the campus. Hockey on campus will be done. There may or may not be a mens home basketball game. Very unlikely there will be multiple home games. All that is left next week for a decent number of indoor visitors to campus is women's basketball tournament. I wonder if someone looked at a calendar and picked this date partially based on sports and homecoming May have been a factor, but........... Last night, Massachusetts published case counts for the two week period Feb 6-19. i believe these are on a per 100,000 basis. Worcester 795 Millbury 30 Auburn 62 -------------- Boston 3226 Chelsea 17 Cambridge 531 Newton 601 Somerville 423 Watertown 61 Brookline 177 Cohasset 17 It would appear that the great majority of positive cases in Massachusetts in this two week period were centered in cities and towns with high numbers of college students and young adults. ____________________________________ For the five days this week, through 10:30 AM Friday (today(, the number of new HC student cases reported:: Monday: 5 Tuesday: 12 Wednesday: 11 Thursday: 24 Friday: 15 (so far). I'll make a bet now that this is the result of partying last weekend, one or more parties that appear to have started a super-spreader event. 67 students currently in isolation are utilizing about 2/3rds of HC's isolation capacity in Loyola.
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Feb 25, 2022 23:28:37 GMT -5
BB players don't party in season, so we're safe.
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Feb 26, 2022 4:48:41 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Feb 26, 2022 8:24:18 GMT -5
This chart displays the number of intubated COVID patients in Massachusetts hospitals over time. High was 842 in late April 2020. On February 24, 2022, it was 52 On February 24, 2022, there were 483 patients in MA hospitals who had COVID; for 282 of these patients, COVID was incidental to their admission; i.e., they were primarily admitted for treatment of an injury or a non-COVID illness. For 201 patients (42 percent of the total) treatment for COVID was the reason for their admission. A month ago, the number of hospital patients with COVID in MA was 2,984, evenly split between those with incidental COVID, and those with COVID as the reason for their admission. The CDC relaxed its mask-wearing guidance yesterday for those areas of the country where hospital capacity was not being strained by COVID patients. A month ago, MA hospitals were under strain with COVID patients, today they are not, except perhaps in Worcester where ICU capacity is at 92.5 percent, significantly higher than elsewhere in MA. In MA, by state law (I believe) an intubated patient in an ICU is required to have one nurse solely dedicated to that patient, that nurse not being shared with other patients. This is 24/7. One can appreciate the staffing demands when ICUs are overflowing with COVID patients, -- particularly unvaccinated COVID patients, for whom there is probably little empathy at this point. ------------------------- In the years 2019 and 2020, MA averaged 325 deaths from traffic accidents. On Jan 24, 2022, the seven day average of COVID deaths in Massachusetts was 69. More people were dying of COVID that week than died in traffic accidents over a whole year. If 70 people were dying every week in traffic accidents, I suspect the general public would demand government take strong action to reduce the toll.
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Feb 26, 2022 8:47:10 GMT -5
/\ There’s a bit of snickering (given the timing of the brand new hospital-based/unmask metric) in some media since there doesn’t seem to be much of a rational link between masking the kids in schools and reducing Covid hospitalizations at this point in any case. But again, most of the country has tuned out the CDC on Covid restriction matters (as they do on safe meat temperatures, daily servings of water, etc.).
Here in NY the CDC’s brand new hospital-based un-mask metric will be an opportune off ramp for certain pols who said they linked future school unmasking with an increase in child-vaxxing and boostering. (Parents have balked and you can’t mask ‘em up forever).
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Mar 1, 2022 11:43:17 GMT -5
As of yesterday masks are not required on campus except in special circumstances
PP's post of the letter from last week does not list Hart as a required zone. It will be interesting to see if the gameday staff get the memo. I will likely have one with me just in case
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 4, 2022 5:25:06 GMT -5
It’s not HC, but our friends at Princeton University are ditching the indoor mask mandate and going to monthly (!) testing. Apparently they’ve just ( ) realized something regarding college kids and Covid: The University’s approach to monitoring and responding to COVID-19 is evolving to “not just focusing on numbers of cases, for instance, but looking at what the severity is, what the impacts of that those are, and, for our campus, are there hospitalizations, …
These changes come amid a surge of COVID-19 cases among undergraduates on campus. In the past week, there have been 336 new cases reported in the asymptomatic testing pool.
The memo stated that “although COVID-19 infection is never welcome, the good news is that students’ symptoms have remained mild and there have been no hospitalizations.” www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2022/03/princeton-covid-19-policy-change-mask-mandate-lifted-testing-reducedOn the one hand their realization this week (after two years) regarding college kids and Covid is interesting but on the other hand a move to monthly (not a misprint) asymptomatic Covid testing is interesting too. I don't know why folks tend to ridicule professors and universities.
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Mar 4, 2022 6:58:42 GMT -5
As we know, it’s always been political with corona, pride.
|
|
|
Post by nycrusader2010 on Mar 4, 2022 22:55:04 GMT -5
"Monthly testing" -- totally pointless if being taken seriously, unless the science has changed and you can only get infected on the 15th of the month.
Sounds more like, "we purchased all these rapid tests and need an excuse to use them rather than simply throw them out".
Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to get tested to know you have it.
|
|
|
Post by longsuffering on Mar 5, 2022 0:07:02 GMT -5
The testing is similar to the waste water surveillance done in big cities. It's to guage where the Princeton community stands compared to previous months. If there is a month over month increase the school could respond appropriately.
|
|
|
Post by hcpride on Mar 5, 2022 3:40:45 GMT -5
"Monthly testing" -- totally pointless if being taken seriously, unless the science has changed and you can only get infected on the 15th of the month. Sounds more like, "we purchased all these rapid tests and need an excuse to use them rather than simply throw them out". Imagine a virus so deadly that you have to get tested to know you have it. Would be just as funny if they had shifted to monthly masking. Meanwhile I haven’t seen much on the popular airwaves from Dr. Fauci the last three weeks. Perhaps he’s being limited to monthly appearances also.
|
|
|
Post by Crucis#1 on Mar 7, 2022 10:52:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 10, 2022 16:35:54 GMT -5
92 new positive tests today among students. Far and away a new daily record. 138 active student cases. I believe this number exceeds the College's isolation capacity. The College reimposed an indoor mask mandate on May 3rd to stem a sharp rise in cases at the end of April, first several days of May. That appeared to work in reducing cases until yesterday and today.
Very likely, IMO, these cases stem from weekend partying before finals week. The college's concern, which was emphasized to students re: the mask mandate, was to get through finals and hold an in-person commencement. Particularly, IMO, the latter, which is in an indoor setting.
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on May 10, 2022 16:45:14 GMT -5
It would be very HC if they made the decision to limit attendees at graduation.
|
|