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US colleges will require students to be vaccinated, despite state policies:
A growing number of US colleges have said all students must be fully vaccinated before returning to campus, in a move likely to anger some state governors. At least 14 colleges have said vaccination will be required so far, according to a CNN tally, and that number is expected to grow.
In late March Rutgers University became one of the first institutions to declare that having all students vaccinated will allow for an "expedited return to pre-pandemic normal."
Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Northeastern, Syracuse, Ithaca and Fort Lewis have made similar announcements, though all will make exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Cornell has also created an online registration tool so students and staff can register their vaccination status.
Two colleges, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Broward, Florida, have gone a step further, requiring students and all campus employees to be vaccinated.
NSU's policy puts it on a collision course with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After NSU's announcement on April 1 DeSantis signed an executive order stating that vaccines are available but not mandated. Crucially the order prohibits any government entity or business from requiring a vaccine passport. NSU said Thursday that it is reviewing the executive order.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday April 12 2021, @04:07PM (7 children)
NZ is a special case, they're suspecting the surge is due to all the people who avoided treatment for the last year due to COVID. They have no reason to believe it's a long-term trend, and so expanding hospitals would be a poor investment.
There is never any financially sound reason to expand infrastructure unless you're expecting a long-term increase in demand.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @06:25PM (6 children)
No they aren't.
Hospitals are overwhelmed every flu season in the US. https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/ [time.com]
The solution is more space and staff, which no one cares to do.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday April 12 2021, @06:58PM (5 children)
Nope, try again - the second paragraph in your own link:
“I’ve been in practice for 30 years, and it’s been a good 15 or 20 years since I’ve seen a flu-related illness scenario like we’ve had this year.”
Building infrastructure for something that happens only once every 15-20 years is extremely unlikely to generate good return on investment. Just like airlines and amusement parks, private hospitals want to operate at very near capacity on a regular basis in order to maximize the return on investment. If that means they have to turn people away during occasional surges, well the lost revenue is far less than the cost of over-building, so it's still an unmitigated win for the investors.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @07:12PM
2013:
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/14/health-officials-say-nj-hospitals-overrun-with-flu-cases/ [cbslocal.com]
2015:
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/hospitals-across-u.s.-are-overrun-with-flu-patients-385536067882 [nbcnews.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @09:29PM (3 children)
Exactly. Just like building a power grid that can withstand the class of storm that only occurs once every 100 years. Oh, wait...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @02:57AM
IF they don't like Texas, they can move to Mexico.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @04:49AM (1 child)
If you are referring to Texas then it was a 'class of storm that only occurs once every 10 years', not 100. IIRC the federal government requires building for 100 year events.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @05:13AM
Whilst technically true, it was billed as a 100 year event.
Which one? Both.