State health experts are at a loss for solutions.
People have been advised to avoid crowds, socially isolate themselves, and wear masks. People are also reminded of the accessibility of treatments that can save lives.
They have begged individuals to be vaccinated and given booster shots.
The States Don’t Seem to Care
The reaction from state authorities has been primarily muted. Most contagious COVID-19 variants have driven up case numbers and increased hospitalizations and fatalities.
This is a capitulation to the fact that their notifications rarely ring true and most people, including and often especially politicians, are prepared to move on.
“I imply, the text hasn’t altered since the very start,” Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told Politico.
The amount of receptivity to the message, however, is limited; at some point, it also experiences a decreasing return.
New data show Covid infections and deaths in New Zealand have overtaken Australia in the latest Omicron wave despite ultra-strict mask mandates that were dropped in Australia. https://t.co/sE8gtx3cZ1
— Toby Young (@toadmeister) July 19, 2022
A large portion of the South is still unvaccinated and vaccination rates countrywide are significantly lower than what state and federal officials want.
Nevertheless, officials in ten states told Politico that no new plans or daring efforts are in the works.
Instead, federal and state tactics are virtually the same for managing 30,000 current COVID cases years later as they are for handling 130,000 new daily COVID patients in the U.S.
Both red and blue states share the concern that if state authorities raise the alarm about this COVID surge too soon, the public won’t pay attention later when hospital space is stretched or when the rate of daily deaths begins to rise significantly.
Louisiana, for example, has the second-highest incident count in the nation per person. Yet, it only experiences 25% of the daily hospitalizations and 15% of the fatalities that it did during the omicron wave.
The Story
People will tune you out sooner, according to Edwards, if you exert a full-court press constantly, regardless of how your numbers appear.
“However, I think your messaging will really do a greater job if you wait until there is an obviously developing problem, especially hurting hospital space.”
This school in Texas kept Covid out by a few simple measures, all easily doable:
1) Remote learning during wave peaks
2) Daily Covid screens
3) KN95 masks or better indoors
4) Outdoor classes whenever possible
5) Upgraded ventilation/HEPA filtersIt's as easy as that. https://t.co/PXTSnzw1gQ
— Kashif Pirzada, MD (@KashPrime) July 20, 2022
Governors are sticking closely to the long-term COVID response procedures that they revealed this spring, rather than panicking; in some cases, they are still scaling back their epidemic response.
In spite of a 30% increase in case daily numbers, Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who screened positive for COVID this week, stated last week he was easing testing and immunization restrictions for workers in several businesses.
The last statewide school mask requirement in the US, according to health officials in Hawaii, will be eliminated starting in August.
Additionally, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul of New York indicated she has no intentions to change her administration’s stance on COVID-19, despite the fact that cases there increased by more than 70% in the last two weeks.
This article appeared in The Patriot Brief and has been published here with permission.
