IWXwx

You put it correctly, as in a big IF. Right now without federal government assistance, state and local authorities are reluctant to push for restrictions that would strongly affect the economy, so not much is going to change there. Also, it is obvious that there is a large portion of the population that aren't taking universal precautions for a number of reasons and not much is going to change there either until the horrors of the disease personally affects them.

The infectious disease specialist at our local hospital told staff earlier this week that if the public doesn't begin doing a better job of taking precautions soon, the cases will begin to double every week. Sounds like a little bit of a stretch.Thoughts?

Yes! My first fantasy 6 incher of the year.

Where is Congress is the ultimate question? They're playing political games while the whole country suffers. Trump actually (at least publicly) asked for Congress to write up a relief package. His problem is that he has lost any political clout he had with Republicans in the Senate, while they cat fight with Pelosi. Not that a relief package would fix the pandemic, but it would sure as hell make it easier for people to shelter-in-place and keep some small businesses open.

Concerning an earlier discussion about the logistics of moving quantities of the vaccine at -95°, I spoke with the local health department today and it is going to be a problem, as there is already a shortage of dry ice. Also, their latest projections are for the Pfizer vaccines to be available to healthcare workers by late December and long-term care facilities either then or shortly after. Locally, these will be administered by local hospitals, IF they can get resources needed to keep the vaccine at the needed temperature. Hopes are that the Moderna vaccine will be approved and it will be made available to the general population after the front line workers and high risk are inoculated. After that occurs, local health departments (at least in this area) will set up points of distribution for mass inoculations, based on availability. Very detailed plans are already being put together for this event. All of that being said, it is being planned with the anticipation that the vaccines will be approved for release and that no hiccups occur. EDIT: Oh, and I spoke with the local hospital's safety director and all of this regional hospital's facilities are basically full. There are still ICU beds available, but the general population beds are packed.

Well, the overflow in rural hospitals has begun in this area. A friend who is the the head of safety at the local hospital called our Agency Friday about accessing some dividers. Tomorrow I'm going to help him move some beds from the nursing school at the local university to the hospital to squeeze in more patients. And this is just the beginning.

After case numbers began to rise dramatically in Europe, England and France shut down pubs, restaurants, gyms. Also, Germany and Spain performed targeted shutdowns in hotspots. This New York Times graph shows the effectiveness of these actions compared to the U.S. Their governments are providing economic aid to soften the blow. Meanwhile, a political health vs. economy stare-down is occurring in the U.S., and cases are skyrocketing. As long as Washington remains in a deadlock, the pandemic will rage on and eventually the economy will take a huge hit anyway. I say that because people who follow the science will refrain from shopping and eating out more than necessary. As the anti maskers get sick or see their relatives get sick, they will slowly realize that this is a serious situation, as their numbers dwindle due to illness and death. This is on top of businesses who can't keep enough employees to operate due to illness to the employees and their families. It will be made worse due to inadequate medical attention because the medical profession is being overwhelmed. Not only will illness outstrip their capacity, those in the medical field will also be depleted due to illness and burnout. Therefore, I feel the only way to stop a catastrophic outcome is for the government to close restaurants, gyms, bars, etc., along with Washington once again providing some economic aid to businesses and individuals. Everyday that this does not occur brings the U.S. closer to economic collapse.

I've received flu shots every year for 20 years and every year my body reacts differently, from just a little sore around the injection point to full-blown flu symptoms (non debilitating). As you know, each year they pick the strains they think are going to be most prevalent in the upcoming winter to include in the vaccine. Since everybody's immune system is unique, each person's symptoms will vary in response in a particular year's strain of vaccine and I'm sure it will be the same with the covid vaccine.

A boomer at 3 AM dropped a quick 3/4". Now waiting for the limbs down, power outages, and semi flips.

I don't like the way Indiana has determined county-by-county restrictions using the metrics map, which uses the 7-day positivity rate and cases per 100,000 people in each county. Namely, the arbitrary number limits of people allowed to gather in social settings. A particular head-scratcher is that churches are exempt. Does that mean as a Christian, I'm immune? Just joking, but why is it okay to have more people in a church than, say, a business or restaurant? If the government is really serious about stopping the spread and are sold out on the restrictions, then make it a blanket restriction and not play footsies with certain entities.

I got tested 2 weeks ago and got my results in 2 1/2 days. I just got tested again yesterday morning and they said that due to an increase in the number of tests to not expect my results for 4-6 days. I got tested a second time due to exposures to two people last week who are positive.

OOhhh, Hoosier with a winter prediction.

Keep that look for a few more days and we'll be having Thanksgiving outdoors

Because it won't be widely available in a couple of months. The first batches will go to front-line workers (health care, first responders,etc.). Then it will sent to long-term care facilities and other high risk groups, then law enforcement, fire, dispatchers. During that time, mass production will be ramping up and I don't look for wide distribution until April at the earliest. Secondly, even though early tests are encouraging, it's true efficacy it still unknown.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN 1112 AM EST WED NOV 11 2020 ...SUMMARY OF RECENT RECORD WARMTH FOR INDIANAPOLIS... THE LAST EIGHT DAYS HAVE FEATURED A PROLONGED UNSEASONABLE AND RECORD NOVEMBER WARMTH ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA. NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURES DURING THIS PERIOD ARE IN THE 50S. BELOW IS INFORMATION FOR THE INDIANAPOLIS AREA, WHICH HAS RECORDS BACK TO 1871. DAILY RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES - 79 11/8/2020 (OLD 76, 1999) - 78 11/9/2020 (OLD 76, 1999) - 77 11/10/2020 (OLD 75, 1949) DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE - 57 11/10/2020 (OLD 55, 1882) THE WARMEST NOVEMBER DAYS ON RECORD 1) 81 11/1/1950 T2) 79 11/8/2020 T2) 79 11/1/2016 T2) 79 11/1/1999 THE SIX LONGEST CONSECUTIVE STREAKS OF 70F+ IN NOVEMBER T1) 6 DAYS 11/8-13/2010 T1) 6 DAYS 11/1-6/2008 T1) 6 DAYS 11/1-6/1977 T1) 6 DAYS 11/14-19/1953 T5) 5 DAYS 11/6-10/2020** T5) 5 DAYS 11/14-18/1971 **NOVEMBER 2020 RECORD WARMTH MISSED AN ALL-TIME LONGEST (7-DAY) STREAK BY 1 DEGREE DUE TO THE MAX TEMPERATURE OF ONLY 69F ON 11/5/2020 THE SIX LONGEST CONSECUTIVE STREAKS OF 65F+ IN NOVEMBER 1) 9 DAYS 11/1-9/1977 T2) 8 DAYS 11/3-10/2020 T2) 8 DAYS 11/7-14/1879 T4) 7 DAYS 11/4-10/1975 T4) 7 DAYS 11/12-18/1971 T4) 7 DAYS 11/1-7/1938 $$ NWS IND CLIMATE TEAM

I'm tired of it too. Imagine the chaos, the massive number of illnesses and deaths, if everyone ignored the science like these guys.

I see that North Carolina is bumping up against 3,000 new cases a day, higher than the spring. Meanwhile, their neighbors to the north instituted a mandate of no gatherings larger than 10 people. The paradise of the Southeast is not looking much better than the rest of the country at present.

FWA set another record with 77° today. This also ties the record for the most 70° or higher days in a row, which happened on four previous occasions (1938,1964,1998, and 2015). They will break the record tomorrow with a predicted high of 75°. I want to thank IWX for providing this stat. I also inquired about the most 70° November days and didn't get an answer to that. I don't know of a data source to easily come up with that.

I'm an old fart, so I remember the old daytime Jeopardy. I thought the same thing when the show was resurrected after Art Fleming was the host until 1975. If you get a chance, you should find a You Tube of the old show from the 60's - 70's. EDIT: Here is final old Jeopardy

Yes, I thought the same. They are still going to air all of the shows he taped. I believe that takes it up to around Christmas.

I was outside doing some yard work today and actually worked up a sweat. IND hit 79°, beating their old record of 76°. FWA not only set a record, they crushed the old one. RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA 440 PM EST SUN NOV 8 2020 ...RECORD DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT FORT WAYNE... ...RECORD WARMTH SO LATE IN THE SEASON... A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE HAS BEEN SET TODAY AT FORT WAYNE. THE HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 78 DEGREES WAS SET AT 257 PM EST. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 73 DEGREES SET IN 1915. THIS IS ALSO THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE RECORDED SO LATE IN THE SEASON. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 78 DEGREES SET ON NOVEMBER 6, 1975.

Locally, our tests have a 48-72 hour turnaround. I don't think that's bad considering the numbers being tested. Also, in Indiana, I can get tested daily if I so desire. However, I don't know how government can force frequent testing. A percentage of the population won't even wear a mask. Do you think people with that mindset will agree to the government requiring frequent testing?

This is water under the bridge. Pointing fingers now is a waste of time, but the CDC and Fauci were throttled by the White House. I watched several of the briefings, and after Fauci spoke strongly on multiple occasions, the President would blow him off, attempt to minimize what he said, and in fact got pissed with him. Anyway, like I said, too late now. I would love to see the CDC be released to do their job the way it should have been done in the first place.

I'm pretty sure that Dayton is socked in with clouds and 49°. Meanwhile, it is a sunny 71 locally. Later, I'm going to dig up the number of 70 degree and above days for November at FWA and SBN. I'm guessing that this year will bump up against the records.

The large Northeast IN regional hospital (including seven satellite hospitals) I mentioned in an earlier post is at 81% capacity (1,067 total beds), which equates to 203 beds available. I couldn't find the number of ICU beds, but they do have 163 "special care" beds, which I would assume most of which are ICU beds. Anyway, they have 30 ICU beds available. It's not going to take many more serious cases and there's going to be trouble. I'm not only speaking from a healthcare standpoint, but also a financial one. Most of the area businesses and and industries utilizes PPOs and HMOs for their employees and use this large regional hospital. If they can't get a bed, a patient will have to go out of network (if they can find an open bed)for treatment, which would result in much higher patient costs. There are only three other hospitals in this 10 county area, one large, one medium, and one small one.