info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Do lockdowns not work? Why Florida and Texas are doing better than Ontario and Alberta
73 views
Skip to first unread message
Michael Ejercito
May 12, 2021, 9:11:36 AM5/12/21
to
http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/do-lockdowns-not-work-why-florida-and-texas-are-doing-better-than-ontario-and-alberta
Do lockdowns not work? Why Florida and Texas are doing better than
Ontario and Alberta
Why are lockdown-free states suddenly doing as well or better than
locked-down provinces?
Author of the article:Tyler Dawson
Publishing date:May 11, 2021 • 22 hours ago • 4 minute read •
1102 Comments
People drink and eat at Truck Yard beer garden in Houston in early
April. While some Canadian provinces are struggling with lockdowns,
Texas did away with most COVID restrictions in March.
People drink and eat at Truck Yard beer garden in Houston in early
April. While some Canadian provinces are struggling with lockdowns,
Texas did away with most COVID restrictions in March. PHOTO BY FRANCOIS
PICARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Article content
In recent weeks, a seeming contradiction has emerged: States in the U.S.
that have had little to no COVID-19 restrictions have gotten case counts
under control, while in Canada there are provinces still struggling with
a third wave despite having never fully reopened.
It has the potential to become fuel for anti-lockdown protesters: If
those states have opened up and brought case counts down, why can’t we?
Do lockdowns not work?
The reality, experts say, is that there are numerous other factors at
play — from vaccination rates, to immunity from prior infections, to
climate.
Last Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis invalidated all local emergency
orders in the state, meaning there are now no restrictions and people
are free to gather and hit the beach. The decision drew criticism from
mayors, who saw their cities’ rules wiped out. In Texas, restrictions
were lifted in early March, including opening businesses and lifting
mask mandates.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Yet, paradoxically, both places seem to be doing alright in the spring
wave of the pandemic.
Over the last week, Texas has had a rate of 53.2 COVID-19 cases per
100,000 people; Florida’s rate is 126 per 100,000, according to data
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s seven-day case rate is 314 per 100,000 and
Ontario’s is 148 per 100,000 people, according to data from the Public
Health Agency of Canada’s epidemiological survey. Alberta has banned all
indoor gatherings and closed patios and put strict limits on other
outdoor gatherings, while Ontario is still under a stay-home order.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC
In this file photo taken on February 16, 2021 medical worker Robert
Gilbertson loads a syringe with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to be
administered by nurses at a vaccination site at Kedren Community Health
Center, in South Central Los Angeles, California.
How to jump the queue by getting your COVID shot in the U.S.
Some Republican governors stand by mask mandates as Texas and
Mississippi accelerate reopening
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Over the course of the pandemic, however, Canada’s overall case rate of
around 3,300 per 100,000 people is dwarfed by the rates seen in Florida
and Texas, which are both around 10,000 cases per 100,000 people. No
state has an infection rate comparable to Canada, overall.
So why are lockdown-free states suddenly doing as well or better than
locked-down provinces?
The simple explanation is the rate of vaccination, said Thomas Unnasch,
a professor at the University of South Florida who studies diseases.
“It’s starting to get to a point where … the virus is running out of
people to infect, so we’re really seeing a decline in the case numbers
as a result,” Unnasch said.
In Florida, about 42 per cent of the population has had at least one
dose of a vaccine; about 31 per cent are fully vaccinated. In Texas, 50
per cent have one dose, with 37 per cent fully vaccinated.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In contrast, Alberta has given one dose to 32 per cent of the population
and just 6.8 per cent of people are fully vaccinated. In Ontario, about
38 per cent of the population has had one dose, and 2.7 per cent are
fully vaccinated.
Community transmission, explains Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious
disease expert at the University of Alberta, tends to drop when around
50 per cent of the population have some sort of immunity, whether that’s
from vaccination or because of the number of people who already had
COVID-19.
In Florida and Texas, that’s about 10 per cent of the population, with
2.2 million total cases in Florida and 2.9 million cases in Texas. In
Alberta, though, just 4.8 per cent of the population (about 209,000
people) have had COVID-19, and in Ontario, that figure is even lower, at
3.4 per cent of the population (492,000).
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
With such enormous rates of infection seen earlier in the pandemic,
Saxinger explained, at this point, the virus has fewer places to spread
in Florida and Texas.
“It becomes easier to contain it to a lower level level of
transmission,” Saxinger said. “So they’re just in a completely different
place than we are.”
Even with the active case rates being lower in Florida and Texas than
many parts of Canada, and the vaccination rates being substantially
higher, death rates, both historic and current, are higher than north of
the border.
In Canada, the overall death rate is 65 per 100,000; Alberta’s is 48 per
100,000 and Ontario’s is 56 per 100,000. Over the last seven days, the
death rate in Canada, Alberta and Ontario is just one in 100,000.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Florida’s overall death rate is 166 per 100,000 and, in the last seven
days, the rate is 2.2 per 100,000. In Texas, the overall death rate is
170 per 100,000 and in the last seven days, it’s one per 100,000 — on
par with Canada’s death rate. (About half of the U.S. states have a
seven-day death rate on par with or lower than Canada’s.)
Even Quebec, the worst-performing Canadian province for deaths, with 128
per 100,000 people, performed better than all but 13 U.S. states and all
of the territories.
There have been, over the course of the pandemic, around 35,000 COVID-19
deaths in Florida and just shy of 50,000 deaths in Texas. Canada has had
a total of 24,655 deaths.
There are other factors that have helped states like Florida and Texas
get case rates under control, including good weather that encourages
people to move outdoors.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“This is the prime time of the year here in Florida, right, in terms of
weather,” said Unnasch. “People are outdoors a lot more, they’re not
spending that much time inside, they’re not spending that much time
crowded together.”
Whether people are at work, and under what conditions, as well as more
complex factors, like seasonal variations and climate, may also impact
cases. For example, humidity seems to make it more difficult for the
virus to spread.
“Those are much more speculative than the partially immune from natural
infection and vaccine-induced immunity group, which I think is probably
the lion’s share of the difference that we’re seeing,” Saxinger said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported
Canada’s active case rate as its overall case rate. The Post regrets the
error.
Do lockdowns not work? Why Florida and Texas are doing better than
Ontario and Alberta
Why are lockdown-free states suddenly doing as well or better than
locked-down provinces?
Author of the article:Tyler Dawson
Publishing date:May 11, 2021 • 22 hours ago • 4 minute read •
1102 Comments
People drink and eat at Truck Yard beer garden in Houston in early
April. While some Canadian provinces are struggling with lockdowns,
Texas did away with most COVID restrictions in March.
People drink and eat at Truck Yard beer garden in Houston in early
April. While some Canadian provinces are struggling with lockdowns,
Texas did away with most COVID restrictions in March. PHOTO BY FRANCOIS
PICARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Article content
In recent weeks, a seeming contradiction has emerged: States in the U.S.
that have had little to no COVID-19 restrictions have gotten case counts
under control, while in Canada there are provinces still struggling with
a third wave despite having never fully reopened.
It has the potential to become fuel for anti-lockdown protesters: If
those states have opened up and brought case counts down, why can’t we?
Do lockdowns not work?
The reality, experts say, is that there are numerous other factors at
play — from vaccination rates, to immunity from prior infections, to
climate.
Last Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis invalidated all local emergency
orders in the state, meaning there are now no restrictions and people
are free to gather and hit the beach. The decision drew criticism from
mayors, who saw their cities’ rules wiped out. In Texas, restrictions
were lifted in early March, including opening businesses and lifting
mask mandates.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Yet, paradoxically, both places seem to be doing alright in the spring
wave of the pandemic.
Over the last week, Texas has had a rate of 53.2 COVID-19 cases per
100,000 people; Florida’s rate is 126 per 100,000, according to data
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Meanwhile, Alberta’s seven-day case rate is 314 per 100,000 and
Ontario’s is 148 per 100,000 people, according to data from the Public
Health Agency of Canada’s epidemiological survey. Alberta has banned all
indoor gatherings and closed patios and put strict limits on other
outdoor gatherings, while Ontario is still under a stay-home order.
In this file photo taken on February 16, 2021 medical worker Robert
Gilbertson loads a syringe with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to be
administered by nurses at a vaccination site at Kedren Community Health
Center, in South Central Los Angeles, California.
How to jump the queue by getting your COVID shot in the U.S.
Some Republican governors stand by mask mandates as Texas and
Mississippi accelerate reopening
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Over the course of the pandemic, however, Canada’s overall case rate of
around 3,300 per 100,000 people is dwarfed by the rates seen in Florida
and Texas, which are both around 10,000 cases per 100,000 people. No
state has an infection rate comparable to Canada, overall.
So why are lockdown-free states suddenly doing as well or better than
locked-down provinces?
The simple explanation is the rate of vaccination, said Thomas Unnasch,
a professor at the University of South Florida who studies diseases.
“It’s starting to get to a point where … the virus is running out of
people to infect, so we’re really seeing a decline in the case numbers
as a result,” Unnasch said.
In Florida, about 42 per cent of the population has had at least one
dose of a vaccine; about 31 per cent are fully vaccinated. In Texas, 50
per cent have one dose, with 37 per cent fully vaccinated.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In contrast, Alberta has given one dose to 32 per cent of the population
and just 6.8 per cent of people are fully vaccinated. In Ontario, about
38 per cent of the population has had one dose, and 2.7 per cent are
fully vaccinated.
Community transmission, explains Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious
disease expert at the University of Alberta, tends to drop when around
50 per cent of the population have some sort of immunity, whether that’s
from vaccination or because of the number of people who already had
COVID-19.
In Florida and Texas, that’s about 10 per cent of the population, with
2.2 million total cases in Florida and 2.9 million cases in Texas. In
Alberta, though, just 4.8 per cent of the population (about 209,000
people) have had COVID-19, and in Ontario, that figure is even lower, at
3.4 per cent of the population (492,000).
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
With such enormous rates of infection seen earlier in the pandemic,
Saxinger explained, at this point, the virus has fewer places to spread
in Florida and Texas.
“It becomes easier to contain it to a lower level level of
transmission,” Saxinger said. “So they’re just in a completely different
place than we are.”
Even with the active case rates being lower in Florida and Texas than
many parts of Canada, and the vaccination rates being substantially
higher, death rates, both historic and current, are higher than north of
the border.
In Canada, the overall death rate is 65 per 100,000; Alberta’s is 48 per
100,000 and Ontario’s is 56 per 100,000. Over the last seven days, the
death rate in Canada, Alberta and Ontario is just one in 100,000.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Florida’s overall death rate is 166 per 100,000 and, in the last seven
days, the rate is 2.2 per 100,000. In Texas, the overall death rate is
170 per 100,000 and in the last seven days, it’s one per 100,000 — on
par with Canada’s death rate. (About half of the U.S. states have a
seven-day death rate on par with or lower than Canada’s.)
Even Quebec, the worst-performing Canadian province for deaths, with 128
per 100,000 people, performed better than all but 13 U.S. states and all
of the territories.
There have been, over the course of the pandemic, around 35,000 COVID-19
deaths in Florida and just shy of 50,000 deaths in Texas. Canada has had
a total of 24,655 deaths.
There are other factors that have helped states like Florida and Texas
get case rates under control, including good weather that encourages
people to move outdoors.
Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“This is the prime time of the year here in Florida, right, in terms of
weather,” said Unnasch. “People are outdoors a lot more, they’re not
spending that much time inside, they’re not spending that much time
crowded together.”
Whether people are at work, and under what conditions, as well as more
complex factors, like seasonal variations and climate, may also impact
cases. For example, humidity seems to make it more difficult for the
virus to spread.
“Those are much more speculative than the partially immune from natural
infection and vaccine-induced immunity group, which I think is probably
the lion’s share of the difference that we’re seeing,” Saxinger said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported
Canada’s active case rate as its overall case rate. The Post regrets the
error.
HeartDoc Andrew
May 12, 2021, 10:02:18 AM5/12/21
to
places is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding
out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who among us
are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in
order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12) for them to
call their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of
stopping this pandemic. Thus, hoping for the best while preparing for
the worst-case scenario of the "UK variant mutations" **and** others
like the Brazilian, Californian, Texan (BV-1), South African &
"cluster-5 mink mutations" (read more via Google) combining to render
current vaccines ineffective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Cardiologist with an http://bit.ly/EternalMedicalLicense
2016 & upwards non-partisan candidate for U.S. President:
http://bit.ly/WonderfullyHungryPresident
and author of the 2PD-OMER Approach:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewCare
which is the only **healthy** cure for the U.S. healthcare crisis
Michael Ejercito
May 13, 2021, 9:19:05 AM5/13/21
to
Michael
HeartDoc Andrew
May 13, 2021, 9:34:37 AM5/13/21
to
MichaelE wrote:
> I am wonderfully hungry!
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
0 new messages