Health section
Welcome to January 2021. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
World governments are trying to deal with the complexity of vaccinating enough of their populations to provide an adequate level of herd immunity to be able to declare that the COVID 19 pandemic is under control. Having a Darwinian health care system and a lack of federal leadership means the U.S. will most likely lag behind the rest of the world in vaccine rollout. Experts are guessing that anywhere from 70-90 percent of people need to be vaccinated to meet herd immunity efficacy .
One of the major problems that all countries face is the fact that no one really knows how the pandemic will play out, even under the best of vaccine rollout scenarios. In addition, there are many unknowns about how vaccines work and how the virus behaves.
Brattleboro, VT — United Way of Windham County has released funds in the amount of $90,322, via a Vermont Department of Health Grant, to 11 area organizations in support of the Collaborative Care Package Project. The participating organizations are: The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, The Brattleboro Community Justice Center, Brooks Memorial Library, Community Asylum Seekers Project, Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, Elnu Abenaki, Greater Falls Connections, Out in the Open, The Root Social Justice Center, The Susu Healing Collective, United Way of Windham County, and West River Valley Thrives.
HB Lozito, Executive Director of Out in the Open says of the project: “we want to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, both those that are direct and indirect, on our most impacted community members—those who are rural, BIPOC, and/or LGBTQ+ by offering care packages that are supportive of people’s whole selves and families. Our goal is to source as many of these items from locally-owned, BIPOC-owned, LGBTQ+-owned businesses as possible. We are happy to live in an area so abundant with local producers!”
Some people are delusional enough to think that humans will eradicate the COVID 19 virus. That is not likely. Consider the fact that the only infectious disease affecting humans ever to be eradicated was smallpox. That disease was declared eliminated on December 9, 1979.
Since then we have been exposed to a number of new and old diseases such as HIV, Ebola as well as the seasonal flu that we have learned how to control but not eliminate. It is estimated that about 35,000 Americans died from the flu during the 2018-19 flu season. That is an average number of deaths according to statistics from the past ten years.
T’is the month of December. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.
You can find the November numbers here, October stats here, September numbers here, August numbers here, July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
It is difficult for the average person to understand what they need to know about a COVID vaccine before they decide to be inoculated. The vaccine will be available within weeks or months and public health officials are urging people to get vaccinated.
Government health officials are saying that the vaccines developed have proven to be safe and effective and that the best chance we all have for moving on and living in a world not controlled by the behavior of a virus is to continue to use masks, social distance and to take the vaccine when it becomes available.
According to Francis Collins MD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it will take 80% coverage (vaccine administration) to get to herd immunity, and that is not likely to happen until the summer of 2021if all goes well.
Every year during Medicare’s open enrollment period, which is from October 15 to December 7 this year, millions of Medicare beneficiaries are bombarded by private insurance companies looking for their business. The advertising makes it sound like these benevolent companies are looking to offer you a pot of gold for free. If it sounds too good to be true then it is too good to be true.
Here’s the story. In 1997 congress authorized the creation of Medicare C which has come to be known as Medicare Advantage. It was an effort by Republicans to privatize Medicare and make it less of a government-run program. It was also a gift for the private insurance industry which continues to haul in huge profits when people switch from traditional Medicare A to Medicare C.
Town Clerk Hilary Francis learned that a person who visited the Legion last week has tested positive for COVID-19. Francis advised Town Manager Peter Elwell immediately of this information and also that someone who was at the Legion yesterday had briefly interacted with the visitor last week. Town Manager Elwell reviewed this matter with officials at the Vermont Department of Health. The department informed him that because of the circumstances of the person’s potential exposure, no one who was at the Legion yesterday was at risk, or are being considered a “close contact.” Also, the Legion was deep cleaned last weekend (as it is every weekend) and best practices to prevent the spread of germs were in place throughout yesterday’s voting at that site.
We’re in November. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro.
You can find the October stats here, September numbers here, August numbers here, July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
It’s October now. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro.
You can find the September numbers here, August numbers here, July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
Sadly, one of the sectors of the economy taking a major hit during the pandemic is the restaurant industry. Many places have gone out of business and those that remain are struggling to figuring out a way to create a new kind of business model that promotes financial viability.
When restaurants ramp down and close there are all kinds of ripple effects in the economy. People lose jobs and supporting industries, which include farmers, also feel the pinch. If one looked at the pandemic solely from an economic viewpoint that would mean that opening all public businesses would be the highest priority.
Welcome to September. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro.
You can find the August numbers here, July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
The literal meaning of the Yiddish word bupkis is nothing. But as is the case with many Yiddish words, bupkis can add richness and nuance to the description of situations. For example: I got bupkis for presents from my friends on my 70th birthday. Bupkis implies disappointment and some degree of anger, as well as an expectation of a specific kind of behavior from friends.
As the current pandemic unfolded in this country it became clear that the American health care non-system is not meeting the needs of a large segment of the population. It was not exactly a revelation, but it should have been a wakeup call.
Politicians offered their usual meaningless rhetoric and there was no legislation put forward to address the sickness of the health care system. In fact, the pandemic legislation that passed became a financial windfall for obscenely rich Americans while the rest of us were thrown a few crumbs: political bupkis.
It’s now August. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro.
You can find the July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
Listening to news reports one might think that the only way that we can move from pandemic mode to some degree of post-pandemic normalcy is to have a vaccine to rid us of COVID 19. Any vaccine that is developed will not magically make COVID 19 go away. It might help a little, but a magic bullet cure is unlikely.
The sound bite, short-attention span world is not suited to explaining complex issues such as how vaccines are developed and how they work. Instead, the world sees hope when a lab developing a vaccine sends out premature press releases of success so their stock value can increase.
There are well established scientific protocols in place for vaccine development and they all require years of trials and research. Sometimes vaccine development efforts are successful and sometimes they are not. When a vaccine is developed and made available to the public it takes years for us to see the big picture of how the vaccine works.
It is clear that the United States is doing a deadly poor job of controlling the pandemic. There are too many people who think that having a beer and mingling in crowds is more important than saving lives. And there are too many people in power who have turned the pandemic into a political battle.
As of July 20, 3,834,208 Americans have been infected with COVID 19 and 142,601 have died. The U.S. has had 24% of the 606,173 deaths worldwide.
Most other countries have slowed disease spread because they have had organized government efforts to provide citizens with the tools to stay safe. There is no national effort in this country and that means the numbers will continue to rise and more people will die, despite the best efforts of individual states.
Welcome to July, and continued reporting of COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro.
You can find the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
Good news!! The Brattleboro VFW at 40 Black Mountain Road is scheduled to open Monday, June 15th. Our new hours will be Mon-Fri from 11am-7pm. Sat & Sun from 1pm-7pm. Yes, we will be serving lunches Mon-Fri from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, with doors opening at 11 am. There will be slight price increases at this time, with prices subject to change. Our lunch specials will now be $7. Lunches will be served on our hall side due to social distancing restrictions. Entrance will be through the glass doors, and the public is welcome to lunches. Hand made burgers, fries, chicken wings, chicken fingers, etc. are still available. Watch our Facebook page for changes and updates (Vfw Post 1034, Carl Dessaint, Brattleboro, Vt)
For better or worse, we start the June dashboard numbers roundup, with numbers from the Vermont Department of Health and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital with looks at nearby counties in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
You can find the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.
Brattleboro, Vermont. May 20, 2020 10 -11 am Brattleboro Area Hospice’s Taking Steps Brattleboro (TSB) program will host a zoom Advance Care Planning/Advance Directive Question and answer Information session. If you are interested in attending, please contact Don Freeman by email: don.freeman@brattleborohospice.org or calling 802.257.0775 ext 101 and leave your contact information so that you can receive the emailed zoom invitation and/or telephone call-in number.
Interested people are encouraged to attend this informational session to ask questions about how to complete or update an Advance Directive for healthcare including where do I find the forms, who should be named as an healthcare agent, who do I give the completed form to, and how do I talk with my family about my healthcare wishes if I am unable to speak for myself? Anyone over 18 years old should have a completed Advance Directive. This is the third weekly zoom informational session, which will be held each Wednesday from 10-11 am through June 24, 2020.
