Covid19

[vertical_doug]

So does that mean that closed borders are now status quo and to reopen them, movement will have to occur in Brexit negotiations? Covid has infected Brexit in other words.

The siege of the UK begins?

It's called more papering.... UK Gov was already running adverts about the upcoming changes and the need to make sure your documents. The only problem is 'what documents?'

Also, I suspect tourists and truck drivers will need a negative COVID test to enter. I think BA is requiring a COVID test to fly to US as of today. (Not confirmed)

[BBB]

There was earlier question about how Australia had done well. Well, I'm on the Northern Beaches. Yesterday morning, there was one case reported at Avalon. As of 11am this morning that was up to 28 cases (I think). Well hellfire and damnation. There is no suggestion it will just blow over. 28 cases. Not 280 or 2,800 or 28,000. 28. Things are being done about it.

If you live on the Northern Beaches stay the fuck home is the recommendation. Not an enforceable law, but people generally are. Not a very convenient time of year to be staying at home, but suck it up princess. We've got three days. If it's under control buy Sunday night, then it's all good. If it's not, I suspect polite requests to not be a fcuking idiot will become a bit more forceful.

This is a real blow right before Christmas. I can't quite work out what the NSW Government is doing. Why aren't masks being made mandatory? And what precisely is locked down in the northern beaches area? And I can't quite work out what Government at all levels in the country are doing. Seeing we have worked hard to get Covid under control, why are airline crews being given a free pass?

Stay safe.

[Colinmclelland]

This is a real blow right before Christmas. I can't quite work out what the NSW Government is doing. Why aren't masks being made mandatory? And what precisely is locked down in the northern beaches area? And I can't quite work out what Government at all levels in the country are doing. Seeing we have worked hard to get Covid under control, why are airline crews being given a free pass?

Stay safe.

To add to the craziness NYE fireworks are going ahead but “please watch them from home”. FFS. Masks is a bit wierd, but they have asked you very nicely to wear one. The health order is you can’t go to the shops (beside food) but all the shops are still open. Double weird.

[thollandpe]

Meanwhile in Massachusetts...

Massachusetts GOP leader says he likely got covid-19 at a White House Hanukkah party: ‘I’m paying the price’

“Let’s put it this way, when I went down to Washington DC for the White House Hanukkah event, I was perfectly fine. And three days later after that event, I was in the hospital… ready to be put on a life-saving ventilator.”

[davids]

Meanwhile in Massachusetts...

Massachusetts GOP leader says he likely got covid-19 at a White House Hanukkah party: ‘I’m paying the price’

“Let’s put it this way, when I went down to Washington DC for the White House Hanukkah event, I was perfectly fine. And three days later after that event, I was in the hospital… ready to be put on a life-saving ventilator.”

This story made me see red.

Sorry for the bad pun, but this moronic behavior absolutely infuriated me. I read the Boston Globe's story this weekend - placed right next to a heartwarming story about a neighborhood coffee roaster (down the street from my wife's school) that has brought a community together during this horrific year - and when I got to the part where Tom Mountain, the Vice Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, infected his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his mother-in-law I really wanted to go find this irresponsible idiot and kick his teeth in.

He says, "I didn't listen to the warnings of my own family and now I'm paying the price." Fuck this guy. He endangered - he sickened - at least four other people, members of his family who had asked him not to go.

[earlfoss]

It's nice to see the GOP doesn't even give a damn about their own. At this point enough of them have been taken out by the virus that you'd think the lesson would land, but instead it appears to have them doubling down on their commitment to "freedom" and misguided sense of being oppressed. I have zero sympathy for these folks when they face the consequences of their actions.

So we have a pandemic that has and continues to harm and kill US citizens, and we have a vaccine. It really doesn't seem like its timely distribution is a priority. It's disgusting that more folks aren't shouting for a coherent and organized way to get it out and end this idiocy. Meantime more people are getting sick and dying while the virus has an opportunity to mutate. With murky timelines that stretch out to Q3 2021, I just shake my head. I have heard some messed up stories from frontline workers regarding vaccine distribution. Sorry, just needed to vent.

[thollandpe]

Oh, Christmas tree.

An outbreak has killed one, infected 43 at California hospital. An inflatable holiday costume is likely to blame, officials say.

As someone who has been studying since March how airborne transmission works, and helping to implement measures to reduce its likelihood, this gobsmacked me. That somebody put on a costume that has a battery-powered fan designed to inflate a bag and pump their effluent out a few high-velocity openings, and parade around a hospital. Well anywhere, really. Not to condemn them, I’m sure they’re wrecked by this. But seriously, let’s all give this some thought.

We know how this virus is transmitted. We know how to interrupt that path. Just fucking do it. Two weeks, two months? Head down, elbows in, start doing your time trial math. Let’s drop this motherfucker.

[Bobonli]

... It's disgusting that more folks aren't shouting for a coherent and organized way to get it out and end this idiocy. Meantime more people are getting sick and dying while the virus has an opportunity to mutate.

I hate to break it to you, but there's a LOT of skepticism and distrust. We got our asses kicked in NY in the spring. Yet there are vaccine distribution PODs where people sit all day.....and no one comes! And I'm not speaking about resources tied to the local government (which is doing a pretty crappy job), but managed by large health systems going out to health care facilities and frontline providers. A local hospital near me only used something like 13% of it's allocated supply.

Think on that a bit. That means even in a hospital where the patients and staff are getting their asses kicked, the employees are not lining up to get vaccinated. Some are, but not nearly enough. There's some faulty, magical thinking happening that people think they can take a pass on this.

And to Todd's point. Yes people know what has to be done to control the spread. And they don't care. They want to gather, party, fly etc. because ....f*ck it, it won't happen to me.

Until it does.

I'm guessing that in NY we're less than 10 days away from a mandatory vaccination order for all healthcare and frontline people if for no other reason than we are sitting on vaccine that's not being used. Not sure why it hasn't pushed out to the gen pop if there's something of a surplus. Whole situation doesn't make sense.

[j44ke]

Is it like there is some kind of professional bravado kicking in? People afraid to look weak at work by getting a vaccine? There are sometimes those unspoken taboos about getting into lifeboats first or second or even getting into them at all in the life saving fields.

[Saab2000]

Am I to understand there are distribution points that aren't being fully utilized? Next in line then. None of this should go to waste.

[gregl]

Is it like there is some kind of professional bravado kicking in? People afraid to look weak at work by getting a vaccine? There are sometimes those unspoken taboos about getting into lifeboats first or second or even getting into them at all in the life saving fields.

I think it’s more likely years of anti-vax propaganda, distrust of science/government, and incompetent federal leadership are all contributing to the reticence. Look at the Wisconsin pharmacist who deliberately left vaccine out of refrigeration because “...he thought it would alter DNA.” Just because people work as medical professionals doesn’t mean they are immune to the constant onslaught of lies promulgated in the media (both social and news).

Greg

[Saab2000]

I think it’s more likely years of anti-vax propaganda, distrust of science/government, and incompetent federal leadership are all contributing to the reticence. Look at the Wisconsin pharmacist who deliberately left vaccine out of refrigeration because “...he thought it would alter DNA.” Just because people work as medical professionals doesn’t mean they are immune to the constant onslaught of lies promulgated in the media (both social and news).

Greg

Yup.

A pilot friend of mine was once asked by a physician (not his AME for the record) if he could see the curvature of the earth from the flight deck (you really can't at the altitudes we fly at) and he became a bit suspicious and asked a couple questions. The doctor admitted to being "Flat Earth Curious". I would never go to that doctor again.

I also once received a very serious PM on the other cycling forum many of us go to where the question was about 'Chemtrails". Initially I thought it was a joke. It wasn't.

There's lots of misinformation and a lot of seemingly bright people fall into these misinformation rabbit holes. Some escape. Some don't.

[gregl]

I also once received a very serious PM on the other cycling forum many of us go to where the question was about 'Chemtrails". Initially I thought it was a joke. It wasn't.

I had an intelligent, well-educated (Villanova) family member ask about chem trails. I rarely claim expertise in any field, but I'm an experienced professional pilot, aeronautical engineer, and I cut my teeth in aviation pumping jet fuel and servicing aircraft. I explained to the family member that the chem trail conspiracy would require literally hundreds of thousands (if not a million plus) of people to be involved. It would take scientists to develop the theory (what chem trails are used for, what chemicals are used, how are they deployed), industry to manufacture the chemicals and supporting infrastructure, technicians to maintain the equipment on the aircraft, pilots to monitor and/or control the actual dispersals. It all added up to an impossible number of people to keep the big secret. He still feels its possible, if not probable, that chem trails exist for nefarious purposes. If calm, measured logic won't move these people, what will?

Greg

[thollandpe]

If calm, measured logic won't move these people, what will?

The 46-year-old pharmacist who sabotaged the vaccines "is an admitted conspiracy theorist and that he told investigators he intentionally tried to ruin the vaccine because it could hurt people by changing their DNA."

Also a prepper, guy who brings his guns to work, and his wife fears for the safety of their children.

Prosecutor: Wisconsin pharmacist thought vaccine was unsafe

[monadnocky]

I get a kick out of how these folks believe that government - on any level - is fundamentally corrupt and utterly incompetent, yet can manage to pull of something as organized as 9/11 or chemtrails, and have thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of people, keep these things completely secret.
The mind boggles.

[Chik]

Not the best of news, but it reminded me of Paul mentioning that breathing is still not back to normal.

Many 'long Covid' sufferers unable to fully work six months later
Respondents to global survey report 205 symptoms across 10 organ systems after infection

[jimcav]

yep, last Holidays I could still run a 6-min mile, now I feel in the coffin trying a 9-min mile pace, but that is a great improvement from late July, when I couldn't even jog. We all hope for continued improvement

[Paul Jacobs]

Not the best of news, but it reminded me of Paul mentioning that breathing is still not back to normal.

Many 'long Covid' sufferers unable to fully work six months later
Respondents to global survey report 205 symptoms across 10 organ systems after infection

The breathing is slowly improving but my wife, who got Covid one day before me, and I both are still experiencing speech and language problems like using the wrong word or failing to find the correct word quickly enough to conduct fluent speech. For me at least it just appears to be a speech problem, I can still do crosswords.

[XR2]

Well I felt like crap at work yesterday so I left early. Got home walked the dog and made a cup of tea. Get a message from my boss someone has tested positive for Covid. Drank the tea and went to bed. Sweating shitvering and other wonderful things for 12 hours. Called the Dr. today and will be getting a test at 3:45. So I get to stay home for a couple days. And worry about this crap. Kinda knew it would happen eventually but not happy that it has.

[echappist]

Well I felt like crap at work yesterday so I left early. Got home walked the dog and made a cup of tea. Get a message from my boss someone has tested positive for Covid. Drank the tea and went to bed. Sweating shitvering and other wonderful things for 12 hours. Called the Dr. today and will be getting a test at 3:45. So I get to stay home for a couple days. And worry about this crap. Kinda knew it would happen eventually but not happy that it has.

Speedy recovery!