The Covid-19 thread.

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Johnson & Johnson is expected to receive approval today and a is prepared to ship a couple of million doses as early as next week. Hopefully for @airdronian and others as more vaccine providers come on line and ramp up production, shots in arms will arrive sooner than September.
 
Here in the GWN the AstraZeneca vaccine was just approved. This one is billed as having just a 62.1% efficacy which looks poor in comparison to Pfizer and Moderna. According to the National Chief Medical advisor, the clinical trials that were undertaken for a number of vaccines involved tens of thousands of people; and of those who did contract Covid after vaccination none died from Covid, none required hospitalization for Covid, and none died from adverse effects caused by the vaccine.

Viewed in that light it sounds just fine to me. And the AstraZeneca only requires standard refrigeration.

So yesterday my son comes home from school and informs us: "one of the guys I walk home from school with said he isn't feeling well and needs to get tested". Oh great. They're teenagers who are masked up all day, and I have no idea what kind of horsing around they do on the way home. They're kids. Happily the test results are back and are negative.
 
Here in the GWN the AstraZeneca vaccine was just approved. This one is billed as having just a 62.1% efficacy which looks poor in comparison to Pfizer and Moderna. According to the National Chief Medical advisor, the clinical trials that were undertaken for a number of vaccines involved tens of thousands of people; and of those who did contract Covid after vaccination none died from Covid, none required hospitalization for Covid, and none died from adverse effects caused by the vaccine.

Viewed in that light it sounds just fine to me. And the AstraZeneca only requires standard refrigeration.

So yesterday my son comes home from school and informs us: "one of the guys I walk home from school with said he isn't feeling well and needs to get tested". Oh great. They're teenagers who are masked up all day, and I have no idea what kind of horsing around they do on the way home. They're kids. Happily the test results are back and are negative.
That the one I had a few week ago, normally with flu jab I have a sore arm but this was fine. The Doctors made me stay for a while to check me over because of my allergies and the possibility that I may go into anaphylactic shock.
As to testing here I have been tested 7 times now because of regular visits to hospital, but the staff are great and my care has been wonderful considering the Hospital I go to is one of the worst ones hit with Covid.

We still see idiots here on the train/bus/ in shops with no care for others lives, why can't they consider suicide by jumping in the Thames no instead we have to go with them, selfish people.

Now please take care guys and stay safe.
One day I hope we all will meet up for coffee and music.
 
So yesterday my son comes home from school and informs us: "one of the guys I walk home from school with said he isn't feeling well and needs to get tested". Oh great. They're teenagers who are masked up all day, and I have no idea what kind of horsing around they do on the way home. They're kids. Happily the test results are back and are negative.
And thanks to COVID, any time we start feeling under the weather now, we're afraid we've caught it....somewhere...somehow. We live in fear of the common cold, in other words.
 
I feel the states here are rushing to reopen everything way too fast. They see a dip in cases, then want to reopen, signaling to everyone that it's OK to go out and socialize again (while ignoring the ongoing mask mandate and other restrictions). I know our state has had restrictions in restaurants, but we've seen many in our area where the parking lots are packed, which indicates these establishments are running at more than the allowed capacity (25% as I write this). My better half went to the Greek restaurant near us to pick up food and saw that the booths and tables were packed.

That's the trouble with loosening restrictions--so many, if given an inch, will take a mile. It was also ridiculous to hear that teachers didn't need to be vaccinated in order to resume teaching in person. Seriously?

I have this feeling that my better half and I will be vaccinated later in March or before April 15. With the grocery store and our city's senior center both doing vaccinations now, and supplies improving, I have a feeling it may go quicker than we anticipated.
 
I feel the states here are rushing to reopen everything way too fast. They see a dip in cases, then want to reopen, signaling to everyone that it's OK to go out and socialize again (while ignoring the ongoing mask mandate and other restrictions). I know our state has had restrictions in restaurants, but we've seen many in our area where the parking lots are packed, which indicates these establishments are running at more than the allowed capacity (25% as I write this). My better half went to the Greek restaurant near us to pick up food and saw that the booths and tables were packed.

That's the trouble with loosening restrictions--so many, if given an inch, will take a mile. It was also ridiculous to hear that teachers didn't need to be vaccinated in order to resume teaching in person. Seriously?

I have this feeling that my better half and I will be vaccinated later in March or before April 15. With the grocery store and our city's senior center both doing vaccinations now, and supplies improving, I have a feeling it may go quicker than we anticipated.
It's hard for restaurants, who have really suffered. They can start this with the best of intentions, but rely on the customers to buy in to the process. Then the restaurants have to police their establishments if "Mike from Canmore"* thinks he's special. Based on everything we've seen over the last year I am quite cynical about the "general public" following best practices.

As for the schools, they were locked down last year March/April until school ended in June. They reopened in September, with parents having the option to allow their child in-person attendance or continue remotely. We decided to see how things went in-person as numbers in the region were down and in-person is a better learning environment for our young lad. Of course the numbers spiked in the fall and it went back to remote for December and then an extended Xmas break. Back they went and it didn't take a week before the first report of a Covid case. There's been six or so since then.

They did put some work into planning the reopening. Staggered start times. Splitting up segments of the school population to use separate entrances. Sanitation upon entry and departure. Mandatory masks. No locker use which helps prevent crowding. One way traffic in the halls, distancing as best they can in the classroom. It seems to largely be working, but there is still risk involved.

Until just recently there hasn't been any vaccine to distribute really. Y'all in the lower 48 are ahead of us in that regard.

(* Mike from Canmore is a character from a skit in the Royal Canadian Air Farce tv show on CBC. Apologies to any real Mikes from Canmore ;) )
 
Based on everything we've seen over the last year I am quite cynical about the "general public" following best practices.
Oh definitely. I feel for the restaurants in our area. We have few chains--most are mom and pop restaurants or part of local restaurant groups who may have three or four locations. They've all been hurt. Some around us have closed. They've all been putting in the effort to find creative ways to stay open, but once they open the doors to the public, they let in a percentage of those idiots who feel they are above the law, or the virus is fake, and refuse to wear a mask and keep their distance. My better half even noticed this when they restaurant was partially open for the summer and she'd pick up food during the dinner hours--there was always that one group of customers giving flack to the hostess about being asked to put a mask on.
 
It’s a tough situation all the way around. Being fortune to be employed, I eat out and try visiting/support less mainstream restaurants to help in keeping them afloat. I ask for outside seating as much as possible and skip overly populated ones or those not enforcing safe practices.
Vaccines are only part of the solution. It is as much about hygiene, disinfecting and staying home when you are not feeling well. Prior to COVID, I’d usually get sick once a year (during winter), but since closely following recommended practices, I’ve yet to get sick. I keep my face covering on more than most and I’m ok with that given, especially given where it’s gotten me this far.
 
I've taken to meeting the kiddos at a mall near their house. We've been there a few Sundays and there aren't many in the mall. All the restaurants are closed; a couple of the snack vendors are open though. My oldest is oblivious to it all, but my youngest stops dead in her tracks if there is a person near us who isn't masked up. And I've probably said it earlier, but her campus is very strict about restrictions and will escort anyone not wearing a mask off the campus. Thankfully they are only requiring in-person for very few classes (only one of hers), and since the rooms they are in at the art school are very large, they do "split" classes where only half the class comes in at a time so they can stay well-distanced. She has a work study job, so they require her to get a quick test regularly (the school does it for them); since the admissions office is closed to visitors, she can stay in her area and work alone. They seem to have a handle on it.

I ask for outside seating as much as possible and skip overly populated ones or those not enforcing safe practices.
We walked out of a restaurant this past summer when we saw nobody in the kitchen wearing a mask, and the hostess's shoulder shrug about our complaint kind of told us what we needed to know. We're lucky the other places we attended were more strict, but we were quite limited where to eat at since even if they distanced the tables and cut capacities, the wait times were very long. (We visit a few restaurants at the lake, and they're wildly popular in the summer.)
 
I've been trying to get my 83-year-old mother her vaccination in Oregon, but so far, no dice. We thought we had an appointment, but by the time all the information was entered, it had been snapped up by someone else.
 
We're about ten days from the one year anniversary of this thread. What a ride. It was just about a year ago that I was in a restaurant in Ferndale Michigan, and I was looking around at all the patrons who, by their actions, hadn't really been following the news. I told my wife, "I kind of wish I was them, they obviously have no idea how this is all about to change." But here we are. We were super paranoid at first but a few months in we just started going about our lives as before, but with more precautions, determined to not lose ourselves in trying to protect ourselves. Now I'm on a couch at my in-laws in Bogota, Colombia, while back then we were scared we wouldn't ever see them again as they aren't the healthiest, and who knew how a country like this would handle a pandemic? Turns out, better than our own country in many respects (except for vaccine acquisition). Unlike a year ago, I went to get coffee this morning and sat in the coffee shop. I ate lunch at a restaurant yesterday, on their patio outside in the sun. And I'm not washing bags of potato chips I bring inside with disinfectant. We've been to the fancy mall here about 4 times in two weeks, just strolling around... everybody, again, in masks and hand sanitizer everywhere but not hiding inside 24/7. Back then, the first time I went to the grocery store I dressed like Darth Vader. This morning, we walked in with our cloth masks, sanitized our hands, and just got tomatoes and left, without much thought. My parents got their second dose of the vaccine a few days ago. My sister, a teacher for special-needs kids, just got her first dose last week. It's pretty amazing that there are MULTIPLE vaccines for this thing a year into it.

So here we are. Onward into year two! Keep on keepin' on.....
 
I believe 99.9% of people with a background in science will agree, the U.S. response was a COMPLETE JOKE (for proof see data).

Then the U.S. data can be broken down state by state, etcetcetc.

Stooopid.

Insert YG/Nipsey Hussle video here.
 
Dont mean to bring 'tics into this website but the U.S. is where we are bc of the above. IMHO a federal mask wearing mandate should have been issued ASAP. Period. And I am not saying this in hindsight. AT ALL.
 
This morning, we walked in with our cloth masks, sanitized our hands, ...
In Germany, it has to be medical masks for several weeks now when shopping, FFP2 or KN95 preferred. This rule is in force for all shops, malls, etc. including the adjacent parking areas. Most shops are still closed, anyway.

We brought our infection rates down to about 60 per 100.000 citizens per week, from about 200 before christmas. Now the bottom seems to be reached, curve is clearly heading up again thanks to the mutants.

And the organization of vaccinations is a tragic desaster in Germany! At the moment, only 22 % of AstraZeneca delivered so far has been applied. Thanks to talk shows in TV and the press seeking clicks and views a reluctant sentiment against this vaccine has been produced which is absolutely not appropriate.

'Communication was not perfect', an official of a federal health authority stated yesterday. What a 'nice' understatement!
 
For awhile in Colombia it was specified that everybody should at least have a KN95 and also double up over it, but that went away. I'd brought a bunch of KN95s here because of the rule, but its gone now and we're mostly wearing well fitted cloth masks. They had temperature checks at the entrance to every big restaurant and big store/mall, but that rule was relaxed as well. The cases have plateaued here far below what the peak was, but are still going down though a lot more slowly. Maybe they've flattened? The problem here is there is NO vaccine whatsoever. And they don't know when its coming, despite making vague 'soon' promises.

The economy here can't withstand a total lockdown so they have gotten really good at just being responsible.
 
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