Covid 19 CRISIS

It really is incredible what we can achieve when we work towards a single goal, I can't imagine seeing the world working 'together' like this again in my lifetime.


Now just imagine we would get rid of stupid wars and religious idiocy and use the same attitude to work together for stuff like ending poverty, space exploration or finding out who killed Epstein.
 
Now just imagine we would get rid of stupid wars and religious idiocy and use the same attitude to work together for stuff like ending poverty, space exploration or finding out who killed Epstein.
You damn commie!
 
Now just imagine we would get rid of stupid wars and religious idiocy and use the same attitude to work together for stuff like ending poverty, space exploration or finding out who killed Epstein.

Captain obvious here. The problem is that wars and religious idiocy don't affect everyone equally the way COVID does.
 
Now just imagine we would get rid of stupid wars and religious idiocy and use the same attitude to work together for stuff like ending poverty, space exploration or finding out who killed Epstein.

No, you get rid of those and we begin fighting over shiny rocks, or the price of tea in china, or that country's flag, which has prettier colors than yours, or your sports team, or tulips, or indeed anything that can be used as an excuse.
 
Quebec government just reduced the minimum suggested spacing between mRNA doses from 16 to 8 weeks (AZ was already reduced to 8 weeks a few days ago).

It means I might be eligible for my second shot 2 days before I fly to Germany for work later this summer. I say might, because we are still supposed to follow the age/health/essential group priority.

Followup on that.

They released a calendar containing the dates where each age group is eligible to rebook the second shot (at a minimum 8 weeks after the first).

I should have been able to rebook mine next Wednesday (June 16).

Yesterday I got an email from work on my cellphone (good thing I did not turn off Outlook notifications despite taking the day off) saying basically, for our own company internal vaccination program, everybody can now rebook, just need to make sure the new appointment respect the minimum of 8 weeks between shots, and the aforementioned calendar.

I literally ran upstairs to my office, and managed to book my second shot on the one day I could before my trip to Germany.


Later in the afternoon, the government announced that people fully vaccinated (2 shots + 10 days) will be exempt exempt from the mandatory 3 day quarantine in an Hotel, and the 14 day isolation period at home will be reduced to just the time needed to get a negative PCR test results after arriving back in Canada.

So I will be fully vaccinated at Ringmeet, and I wont have to do a full quarantine/isolation when I get back :dance:
 
Noice! :thumbup: I got my second shot this Tuesday, so I can be a bit less terrified about becoming a “superspreader” while travelling for work. I think the same pretty much applies to you, right?

Yep.

It will make the work related travel a lot less stressful.
 
So Friday marks Illinois fully reopening again.

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Which the proof is there that we're done with it I guess. That said, the largest hospital network in Northwestern Illinois marked their 25,000th case treatment of Covid a few days ago.

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That is the greatest way of getting people to get vaccinated I have seen so far.
Certainly one of the most effective ways, I think we can all agree on that... utterly unthinkable here, ofc (and I'll admit, that's probably good, but still).

Meanwhile, over here, you can basically do whatever the hell you want (since numbers are what counts as "low" nowadays), even without getting tested. That's something I don't really get, honestly. Getting tested may be "annoying" and cost the state a lot of money (... which is their own fault), but it's no more than an inconvenience, surely? Ah whatever! Open everything up, screw it! :|
 
Meanwhile, over here, you can basically do whatever the hell you want (since numbers are what counts as "low" nowadays), even without getting tested. That's something I don't really get, honestly. Getting tested may be "annoying" and cost the state a lot of money (... which is their own fault), but it's no more than an inconvenience, surely? Ah whatever! Open everything up, screw it! :|
Yup. Once again, decisions like these (political or personal ones) will help the virus spread and prolong this mess. All while we actually have the infrastructure to test people regularly and would only need another couple of months to get everyone who wants it vaccinated.
 
Certainly one of the most effective ways, I think we can all agree on that... utterly unthinkable here, ofc (and I'll admit, that's probably good, but still).

Meanwhile, over here, you can basically do whatever the hell you want (since numbers are what counts as "low" nowadays), even without getting tested. That's something I don't really get, honestly. Getting tested may be "annoying" and cost the state a lot of money (... which is their own fault), but it's no more than an inconvenience, surely? Ah whatever! Open everything up, screw it! :|

didnt they make their money on insisting people a specific brand of n95 masks?
 
didnt they make their money on insisting people a specific brand of n95 masks?
It was only nearly as direct as that. FFP2/N95 or, alternatively, surgical masks became mandatory and by miraculous good fortune, some friends and relations of CDU/CSU politicians were contracted to supply shipments of those. In some cases, the masks supplied were actually worse than the cloth ones they were supposed to replace.

Same thing happened earlier with cloth masks: the son of the CDU chairman (and hence probably the next chancellor) was lucky enough to be able to broker a very advantageous deal for lots of them with van Laack. I couldn’t possibly comment on whose the advantage was.
 
didnt they make their money on insisting people a specific brand of n95 masks?
also quick-test sites could just randomly bill the state for any odd number of tests they supposedly had done on any given day. zero oversight, zero checks or evidence of tests done (not even a receipt for buying the corresponding number of tests)... no, just say you did 500 tests and you'll get reimbursed at 18€ a pop.
... ofc after the some public broadcaster actually found proof of shenanigans, suddenly a lot of people got very concerned and "will look into it" and lower the reimbursement. after spending half a billion on those tests in like two months or sth.
 
also quick-test sites could just randomly bill the state for any odd number of tests they supposedly had done on any given day. zero oversight, zero checks or evidence of tests done (not even a receipt for buying the corresponding number of tests)... no, just say you did 500 tests and you'll get reimbursed at 18€ a pop.
... ofc after the some public broadcaster actually found proof of shenanigans, suddenly a lot of people got very concerned and "will look into it" and lower the reimbursement. after spending half a billion on those tests in like two months or sth.

LOWER the reimbursement. Not add oversight, not check back on these test sites and get their money back. Just spend less, brilliant. :D
 
While I agree with @eizbaer and @calvinhobbes that tests (or full vaccination) should remain mandatory for everything that's not basic grocery shopping, the way Germany treats the current situation worries me. I understand that being cautious is a good thing, but not even allowing "mass" (over 500 people) events even for September basically hands control to vaccine refusers: If out of fear of a fourth wave we can't go back to concerts and weddings even with everyone who wants vaccinated, the refusers hold society hostage.

This must not happen.
 
not even allowing "mass" (over 500 people) events even for September

Are you referring to some specific event or to a general policy? I would hate to be in the position of someone who wants to organise an event in the autumn, but has barely any guidance on what will be allowed. But predictions on what measures will be needed in September would seem a little far-fetched.

I haven’t been making plans for anything more than a few weeks in the future (depends on whether it’s for work or something private) for a long time, so I haven’t been following the scenarios, but that obviously wouldn’t work for people planning, say, a festival.

I do agree that once the vaccination campaign has progressed further - how much further would have to be determined - we should capitalise on that and allow more and bigger gatherings. Unless, of course, some new variant pops up and requires a new round of vaccinations. :huh:
 
While I agree with @eizbaer and @calvinhobbes that tests (or full vaccination) should remain mandatory for everything that's not basic grocery shopping, the way Germany treats the current situation worries me. I understand that being cautious is a good thing, but not even allowing "mass" (over 500 people) events even for September basically hands control to vaccine refusers: If out of fear of a fourth wave we can't go back to concerts and weddings even with everyone who wants vaccinated, the refusers hold society hostage.

This must not happen.
Kiel's government just confirmed that they are proceeding with third-ish scale Kiel Week plans for September, ie low seven figure people.



Unless, of course, some new variant pops up and requires a new round of vaccinations. :huh:
While annoying, an updated booster mRNA dose would rip through the population fairly quickly. We have the tech, we have the evaluations, and we have the scaled-up production capacities with RNA printers going brrrrrr everywhere, and - unless some not-smart politicians or GP lobbyists manage to tear them down - we have the scaled-up infrastructure to innoculate the people.
No month-long agonizingly-slow ramp-up, full steam ahead.
 
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