Coronavirus 4

[Ozlsn]

I am really amazed that cops are not wearing masks. It is absolutely standard here - the minute they have any dealings with the public they put on a mask. Driving usually no, but if they're walking and patrolling they have masks on.

[clueliss]

Someone removed doses of the covid vaccine from a freezer.  Apparently intentionally.  nearly 500 doses are now wasted.  Of the Moderna (the one that small/rural hospitals could use because of the difference in refrigeration)

 

[Coconut Flan]

Finally a tiny bit of good news here.  The new mayor is stepping it up.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/coronavirus/watch-live-mayor-gloria-to-sign-executive-order-to-enforce-public-health-guidance/

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, clueliss said:

Someone removed doses of the covid vaccine from a freezer.  Apparently intentionally.  nearly 500 doses are now wasted.  Of the Moderna (the one that small/rural hospitals could use because of the difference in refrigeration)

 

I hope they are prosecuted. That is unbelievable. 

[Emma]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/12/31/500-doses-covid-19-vaccine-thrown-out-hospital-worker-aurora-removed-from-fridge-on-purpose-grafton/4098837001/
 

According to this it was a pharmacist, who has been fired and is now in jail on felony charges.

[Smash!]

Oh yay, that was just what we needed. And you can guarantee it won't be the only bug too, sigh.

This and the new strains of Sars-2 are one of the reasons why it’s so so important to keep the cases down. We’ll run into huge problems with this. I’m just so sick of governments not doing enough.

[Ozlsn]

Oh yay, one of the new locations listed in NSW as a possible exposure site is Hillsong Church, Hills Campus in Norwest (no idea where that is actually, my Sydney geography is... limited. OK, looked, and possibly unsurprisingly it's north-west of Sydney CBD.) Well they were there for 45 mins on Tuesday, so hopefully a small group Bible study rather than a full worship service. Sigh. There is supposed to be a 1 person per 4 metres sq rule in place there since 21st Dec, but who knows how well that was adhered to.  Maximum 300 people in a venue, providing the previous rule can be adhered to.

Meanwhile the testing queues here are freaking insane (drove past, haven't been anywhere) after state borders all closed again and everyone returning from NSW was required to get tested. Unsurprisingly there were a lot of people visiting friends and family and/or on holiday given it's summer, it's the festive silly season and it was looking OK. Things turn on a dime, again.

[TeaGrannie]

So here in Alberta not one, not even two but four of our elected officials decided to vacation out of country for Christmas. We weren’t allowed to gather with anyone outside our household, missed being at our grandson’s first Christmas in person, and this is how our leaders behaved. So very angry and disappointed in this lack of judgment. They won’t suffer a penalty but if we had gathered it’s a fine of $1,000 per person. https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/premier-kenney-declines-sanctions-over-international-travel-4-mlas-confirmed-to-have-travelled-1.5250579

 

[Ozlsn]

1 minute ago, TeaGrannie said:

They won’t suffer a penalty

They shouldn't count on that. When's your next election again?

And in other news the MMR vaccine may provide some protection against covid.

"The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has been theorized to provide protection against COVID-19. In a new study published in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers provide further proof of this by showing that mumps IgG titers, or levels of IgG antibody, are inversely correlated with severity in recovered COVID-19 patients previously vaccinated with the MMR II vaccine produced by Merck. MMR II contains the Edmonston strain of measles, the Jeryl Lynn (B-level) strain of mumps, and the Wistar RA 27/3 strain of rubella.
 
“We found a statistically significant inverse correlation between mumps titer levels and COVID-19 severity in people under age 42 who have had MMR II vaccinations,” said lead study author Jeffrey E. Gold."

Interesting.

[TeaGrannie]

Just now, Ozlsn said:

They shouldn't count on that. When's your next election again?

And in other news the MMR vaccine may provide some protection against covid.

"The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has been theorized to provide protection against COVID-19. In a new study published in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers provide further proof of this by showing that mumps IgG titers, or levels of IgG antibody, are inversely correlated with severity in recovered COVID-19 patients previously vaccinated with the MMR II vaccine produced by Merck. MMR II contains the Edmonston strain of measles, the Jeryl Lynn (B-level) strain of mumps, and the Wistar RA 27/3 strain of rubella.
 
“We found a statistically significant inverse correlation between mumps titer levels and COVID-19 severity in people under age 42 who have had MMR II vaccinations,” said lead study author Jeffrey E. Gold."

Interesting.

Not until 2023.....I really hope people remember. 

[clueliss]

Watching GMA right now, looks like Samaritan’s Purse is setting up a field hospital somewhere.  North Carolina maybe.  It was just a clip among a whole series of them.  

[Karma]

NSW premier has finally made wearing masks in most indoor venues compulsory.  No idea why she’s resisted for so long. Hopefully it’ll help get our latest outbreak under control. It won’t make any difference to me - I’ve been wearing a mask everywhere since starting chemo back in September, and also did when our numbers were bad earlier during covid.  

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

Not quite sure where this fits, but we had a video call on New Year's Eve (well, NYE for them, Dec 31st am for us) from some friends who are expats working in Shanghai. First of all it was very weird to see a dance floor full of people out partying. We knew that things in Shanghai were largely back to normal after their lockdown in early 2020. I had seen a few pictures of them going to restaurants and I knew the kid's school had reopened, but seeing so many people maskless crowded together was a bit shocking. They did say they brought masks "just in case"  but I'm not sure what the "just in case " situation would be.  

Im just not sure what to think about China and Covid.  I am extra skeptical of anything China says. I think they probably  do have very low numbers, probably achieved by harsh measures that are not possible in non authoritarian government countries. I just don't quite beleive the risk is as low as my friends want to believe it is. You do see reports of the odd small outbreak in China, very quickly reported to be under control. Those outbreaks don't come from nowhere and the reports are just what the Chinese government allows to bè reported.  

It worries me that my friends are so cavalier about it, although I guess you need some degree of pretending to yourself that there is nothing to worry about if you are going to live in China at all.  Just to see what they would say, I asked them about the news report that the new extra contagious variant had been found in China already. They said "it was just one case and nowhere near them." I said it was only one they were admitting to.  The friends laughed it off saying it was probably just 50 people then, and that it is a big country.  Mm,Kay.  All righty then.  

Being thankful to have life return to near normal is one thing, trusting the Chinese government will keep you safe is another.  Maybe I'm just over cautious, but the whole thing felt like watching everyone dance in blissful denial while the zombies/aliens circle outside, just biding their time.   (Ok, a bit much,  but let's just say it didn't sit right with me. )

 

 

 

[Emma]

On another forum, one of the members is an American married to a Chinese native and living in China for several years. He was telling us about the outbreak from the beginning, when he happened to be in wuhan on vacation and they locked down.  The lockdown started very early and was very very strict. It took something like a month for him and his family to get back home. He talked about having to get a pass from the guard at the door of his apartment building just to go to the grocery store. He also said that his wife worked for the health department and things were much worse than they were telling the public.

Also remember that China is a very very big country, with a population of 1.4 Billion, yes, BILLION.

So personally, I do believe people would not be out dancing if the government didn’t say it was okay, I do believe their numbers were a lot higher than they told us, and I do believe that local outbreaks are shut down hard and fast.

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

2 hours ago, Emma said:

On another forum, one of the members is an American married to a Chinese native and living in China for several years. He was telling us about the outbreak from the beginning, when he happened to be in wuhan on vacation and they locked down.  The lockdown started very early and was very very strict. It took something like a month for him and his family to get back home. He talked about having to get a pass from the guard at the door of his apartment building just to go to the grocery store. He also said that his wife worked for the health department and things were much worse than they were telling the public.

Also remember that China is a very very big country, with a population of 1.4 Billion, yes, BILLION.

So personally, I do believe people would not be out dancing if the government didn’t say it was okay, I do believe their numbers were a lot higher than they told us, and I do believe that local outbreaks are shut down hard and fast.

Yes, my friends experienced the same strict lockdown in early 2020. They are still not travelling outside of Shanghai  (the husband used to travel a lot within China for his company.) All have the required tracking app on their phone. The government there doesn't mess around, so if it detects that you have been anywhere near an outbreak, your movements will be restricted. It has clearly been working, mostly, or things could have been very dire for those 1.4 Billion people.  

I guess I'm just not comfortable with trusting the Chinese government methods.  It works, thus freeing up the expats to party like it was 2019, but the fact that there ARE still outbreaks means that it's a false sense of security built on accepting that you are ok with the notion of the Chinese government hustling you off to their quarantine facilities or whatever, should they decide it's necessary.  They certainly do shut down outbreaks hard and fast, but I sure wouldn't want to experience  being shut down myself! 

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, Karma said:

NSW premier has finally made wearing masks in most indoor venues compulsory.  No idea why she’s resisted for so long. Hopefully it’ll help get our latest outbreak under control. It won’t make any difference to me - I’ve been wearing a mask everywhere since starting chemo back in September, and also did when our numbers were bad earlier during covid.  

Seriously it has been weird watching this. I think most of us here are most bemused by the cricket going ahead with spectators. Oh and the NSW premier going on holiday, which was an unexpected announcement. We're all watching location lists like hawks, again.

[Cartmann99]

 

[Karma]

13 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Seriously it has been weird watching this

Today’s 11am press conference was stressing how masks are going to save us all. Seriously do they think we’ve all forgotten that they’ve been saying for the last 11.5 months that there was no need to make masks compulsory?  Even a couple of days ago they were resisting pressure to make them compulsory at least on public transport.  I ducked up to my local shopping centre today and was pleased to see about 98% of people wearing masks.  Even my son went out and bought reusable ones (although more in the interests of not getting fined than health reasons).

I was surprised by Gladys’ holiday announcement as well. And even though I’m benefiting from the funds raised for breast care nurses, I can’t believe the cricket is going ahead with 50% crowd capacity (for those not Australian it’s the major fundraiser for the McGrath breast care nurses - women diagnosed with breast cancer are assigned a nurse and I can email or phone mine with any queries. If I was having treatment thru the public system I’d see her in person at the chemo ward.).  

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Smash!]

 

This is fucking terrifying. For the UK but also for the US and a lot of European countries who have cases that are way too high to absorb a mutation that’s 50% more transmissible.
It’s northern Italy all over again except we’re now one year in the pandemic. Who said 2021 was gonna get better? [emoji53]

[Black Aliss]

I. Am. Dead.

Quote

Though 5G technology and the coronavirus have absolutely nothing to do with one another, that hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists around the world from falsely linking the two.

One of these debunked theories is that the recently rolled out COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips with 5G technology, designed supposedly to track our every movement. To that end, what was promoted as a leaked photo of the top-secret schematic of this microchip recently began going viral. 

Of course though, the schematic in question doesn't actually display a top-secret 5G chip. In fact, what it shows is the reworked circuit of a Boss Metal Zone distortion [guitar] pedal.

https://www.guitarplayer.com/news/viral-conspiracy-theory-image-of-covid-19-vaccine-5g-chip-is-actually-the-boss-metal-zone-circuit

[47of74]

This lady’s family definitely had some shade for Covid Kim and Caligula II. 

Quote

Her death was devastating and unexpected with her family expecting her to live maybe another 15 years or more. She will miss seeing her only grandchild grow up and graduate from high school due to this premature death. She is gone now because of the lies and incompetence of the people in power who were elected to protect us. Their failure to do so during a pandemic is glaring evidence of negligence of the highest order

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Coconut Flan]

Hot bed of MacArthurism and other COVID defiers:

https://ktla.com/news/leaving-home-considered-high-risk-as-l-a-countys-coronavirus-deaths-surpass-11000-officials-say/

[Alisamer]

On 1/2/2021 at 9:41 PM, Cartmann99 said:

 

Well that's one way to add authenticity to a Republican-themed party!

12 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

What exactly does that mean? 

I heard on the radio today that the county I work in (basically Charlotte, NC is the county more or less) has vaccines available for those 75 and up, by appointment, taking place at one of our sports arenas - but all the appointments are full through the end of January. I'm not sure what's going on in the county I live in, but if they're using the same system then my parents won't qualify for the vaccine just yet - they're not quite old enough.

I had a discussion with a man in a waiting room a few days ago while getting my car inspected at a tiny local place, and he kept saying he didn't understand why it kept spreading if masks helped because "everyone wears masks in public!" Meanwhile, the guy across the room from us (age 81, he said) had a mask on but it was down on his chin not actually covering his nose or mouth at all. 

I refrained from pointing out that "wearing a mask" and "wearing a mask correctly" are two wildly different things (dammit if you breathe through it, cover it! Mouth, nose, whatever you have!), though I did point out that the problem was likely mostly attributable to the people who are all like "Oh, it's just a few of us, and I know my friends are OK..." and then gathering maskless without realizing that yeah, their friends are probably OK, but what about their friends, and their kids' friends, and their co-workers, and how it only takes a couple degrees to include hundreds of people and just one of them has to be infected for it to spread.