SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

The new positive test numbers seem to have dropped a lot in my area, Orange County, California. The numbers are at mid November levels, before the big rise in cases due to thanksgiving, etc.
I suppose I should check other areas too, especially nearby (LA, etc) but it seems quite positive, right?
 
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Pogue Mahone said:
Portugal has had to send critically ill patients to other countries because their hospitals completely ran out of capacity. And that’s with a lockdown.
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There’s a counter argument to that though Pogue, as in Portugal is exactly the situation the health authority here warned about and wanted to avoid at all costs.
If lockdowns are misused, they can, and have lead to champagne cork effects when lifted.

Instead of flattening the curve over the entire duration of the pandemic, Portugal misused lockdowns in the Spring and November to devastating effect.
Arruda himself blamed the November restrictions “in preparation for xmas” for causing a champagne cork clusterfeck.
 
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Paul the Wolf said:
:nono:

They started opening on 11 May 2020. Opened fully 22 June 2020 and been open ever since except where individual schools were shut because of Covid.

Have one grandson in collège and one in lycée and they haven't missed a day since June 22 (apart from school holidays of course)
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Thanks

I wrote September because I would have expected normal summer holidays from June to August
 
RedRover said:
We've got all staff at home at the moment, other than a few who have to be in to keep the office functioning. We're finding that people are much less keen on working from home full time during this lockdown. The novelty seems to have worn off and the fatigue is kicking in. We're being told that people are sick of being at home alone all day and are missing colleagues. A few people seem to be having a rough time of it.

I think there's a definite place for working from home for some of the working week. Perhaps some will work exclusively from home if it suits them, but I don't hold with the idea that we'll move to virtual offices generally.
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I agree with all of that, matches my experience exactly.
 
11101 said:
The new Italian government is getting off to a good start.

Ski slopes were supposed to reopen tomorrow morning in low infection areas, ordinance was signed over the last week to set the rules and allow it to go ahead. Resorts stocked up and prepared for the reopening, and people bought lift passes and hotel rooms. At 7pm this evening the government changed its mind and has decided they cant open until at least March, and is now threatening another nationwide lockdown after weeks of falling case numbers.

To say people are annoyed is an understatement. Nobody is going to listen to a word they say if they keep it up.
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I'd say skiing is out this year. I was hopeful but didn't bring any gear with me. What's it like in Milan? Here in Florence we just went to Orange so everybody was out this weekend living it up despite the freezing temps.
 
Grinner said:
I'd say skiing is out this year. I was hopeful but didn't bring any gear with me. What's it like in Milan? Here in Florence we just went to Orange so everybody was out this weekend living it up despite the freezing temps.
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Life is almost back to normal here. Restaurants and bars are full and the streets are busy, so I doubt it will be long before cases go up again.

I'm just going to go over to Switzerland for skiing now i think, as will a lot of people.
 
11101 said:
Life is almost back to normal here. Restaurants and bars are full and the streets are busy, so I doubt it will be long before cases go up again.

I'm just going to go over to Switzerland for skiing now i think, as will a lot of people.
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Once inter-regional travel is allowed I'd be doing that too.
 
Was checking our passports last night, just popped in my head not planning any trips.

my wife’s U.K. passport has expired in September- can do it online but will take at least 8 weeks. Not easy to find a place locally to take pictures either.

my eldest sons Irish passport expires end of this month but the passport office is totally closed so no chance of getting that done anytime soon
 
golden_blunder said:
Was checking our passports last night, just popped in my head not planning any trips.

my wife’s U.K. passport has expired in September- can do it online but will take at least 8 weeks. Not easy to find a place locally to take pictures either.

my eldest sons Irish passport expires end of this month but the passport office is totally closed so no chance of getting that done anytime soon
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Think you can apply online for Irish passport and take the photo at home yourself, assuming it’s the same for UK one?
 
Eire Red United said:
Think you can apply online for Irish passport and take the photo at home yourself, assuming it’s the same for UK one?
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My experience of doing passport photos at home is that they get rejected. That’s why I liked using https://www.camera.ie/ because they check it passes the requirements before emailing it to you.

can’t find anything about Irish passport online applications for renewals. Maybe they do but can’t find it, could only find a message about offices being currently closed.

https://www.dfa.ie/passportonline/

Which I do get as it’s level 5 and we don’t have reason to be travelling. My wife is just worried in case anything happens to her parents in England
 
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More coronavirus funding for Scotland, more moaning from the SNP for increased devolution. I'm a bloody nationalist (albeit Labour voting nationalist, weird huh) and even I'm sick and tired of it now. Westminster done good. Leave it at that. There will be plenty to complain about tomorrow or something.
 
golden_blunder said:
My experience of doing passport photos at home is that they get rejected. That’s why I liked using https://www.camera.ie/ because they check it passes the requirements before emailing it to you.

can’t find anything about Irish passport online applications for renewals. Maybe they do but can’t find it, could only find a message about offices being currently closed.

https://www.dfa.ie/passportonline/

Which I do get as it’s level 5 and we don’t have reason to be travelling. My wife is just worried in case anything happens to her parents in England
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I renewed mine online the last time as far as I remember. Maybe the staff need to be physically on site to process online applications. If the worst does happen, slip up to Belfast and you’ll get over to England on a driving licence.
 
golden_blunder said:
Was checking our passports last night, just popped in my head not planning any trips.

my wife’s U.K. passport has expired in September- can do it online but will take at least 8 weeks. Not easy to find a place locally to take pictures either.

my eldest sons Irish passport expires end of this month but the passport office is totally closed so no chance of getting that done anytime soon
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Do you have Timpsons in Ireland, if so they will take the photos to the right standard and email them to you to go on your application.
 
I've had an alert on the covid app this lunchtime saying I've come into contact with someone that's tested positive. It's told me to isolate until Friday at midnight.
 
Boris press conference.

Celebrating the success of the rollout so far, however an almost downbeat atmosphere with the emphasis being it isn't over yet, there is a long way to go.

Glad to see this approach tbh, the cnuts from the tory bench are popping up a lot more re ending lockdown, so this more downbeat approach will hopefully quieten them down.
 
Tibs said:
Boris press conference.

Celebrating the success of the rollout so far, however an almost downbeat atmosphere with the emphasis being it isn't over yet, there is a long way to go.

Glad to see this approach tbh, the cnuts from the tory bench are popping up a lot more re ending lockdown, so this more downbeat approach will hopefully quieten them down.
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The pace of the vaccine rollout next phase will be interesting though as we're going to have to deal with more than 7 million people in the 16-64 group who are carers and those with underlying health conditions (after the over 65s) so the over 60s and over 50s might have to wait some time. In addition March is around the time they'll have to start having a think about offering the second jab to those previously vaccinated.

There is a significant number of those who were offered the Pfizer vaccine as their first so any supply chain issue could slow the second jab as well. I think its good that they are focusing on pure number of people vaccinated. Although slightly annoys me when they say "have been vaccinated" rather than "have had first jab" because the latter is ultimately the goal.
 
Do you know what could be the next step in England? And if yes, when?
 
The Dutch covid loons (Virus waarheid) have succesfully sued the state over imposing curfew. The judge has ruled that curfew has to be lifted immediately.

Im conflicted on this. I'll think it through tonight whilst drinking in a park.
 
golden_blunder said:
Was checking our passports last night, just popped in my head not planning any trips.

my wife’s U.K. passport has expired in September- can do it online but will take at least 8 weeks. Not easy to find a place locally to take pictures either.

my eldest sons Irish passport expires end of this month but the passport office is totally closed so no chance of getting that done anytime soon
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Is there a Photo Me booth in your biggest supermarket? Those also give you a digital code you can use for online applications.

We renewed oates's last year from here in Italy, and I downloaded the picture I took even though the UK Gov site said it wasn't acceptable, because it was obvious it was fine. It was accepted. If you take a pic against a white wall and it looks OK to you, it's probably OK.

The photo checking thing they have online is still fairly new and doesn't seem very reliable.
 
Wolverine said:
The pace of the vaccine rollout next phase will be interesting though as we're going to have to deal with more than 7 million people in the 16-64 group who are carers and those with underlying health conditions (after the over 65s) so the over 60s and over 50s might have to wait some time. In addition March is around the time they'll have to start having a think about offering the second jab to those previously vaccinated.

There is a significant number of those who were offered the Pfizer vaccine as their first so any supply chain issue could slow the second jab as well. I think its good that they are focusing on pure number of people vaccinated. Although slightly annoys me when they say "have been vaccinated" rather than "have had first jab" because the latter is ultimately the goal.
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Do you not get a breakdown of first and second jabs? Our covid hub in Ireland breaks it down into first and second doses. So we can fully appreciate how incredibly slowly our population is getting vaccinated.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Brutal!

What's the delay due to now? HSE or lack of vaccinations? Or both?
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It’s been the same delay all along. Supply of vaccines. With an added complication of the AZ vaccine lacking data in the groups we’re prioritising first (the elderly)

It seems to be ramping up now though, finally. 80,000 jabs scheduled for this week.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s been the same delay all along. Supply of vaccines. With an added complication of the AZ vaccine lacking data in the groups we’re prioritising first (the elderly)

It seems to be ramping up now though, finally. 80,000 jabs scheduled for this week.
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Let's hope so. I think people will lose their fecking mind if we have another lockdown like this one and can't do things by summer time. Plus, the economy is bolloxed and we have a debt we can never repay!
 
Massive Spanner said:
Let's hope so. I think people will lose their fecking mind if we have another lockdown like this one and can't do things by summer time. Plus, the economy is bolloxed and we have a debt we can never repay!
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Didn’t we have one of those already after we bailed out the banks?! I try not to think about that stuff. Macroeconomics is weird. It’s not real money. We’ll muddle through, I’m sure.

I think people are losing their minds with this lockdown, never mind another one. They really need to get the fecking schools open soon.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s been the same delay all along. Supply of vaccines. With an added complication of the AZ vaccine lacking data in the groups we’re prioritising first (the elderly)

It seems to be ramping up now though, finally. 80,000 jabs scheduled for this week.
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Very frustrating comparing the south to the north. I wonder what will happen if (hopefully) everyone over 50 is jabbed in the north by the end of April and the south are lagging behind?
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Do you not get a breakdown of first and second jabs? Our covid hub in Ireland breaks it down into first and second doses. So we can fully appreciate how incredibly slowly our population is getting vaccinated.
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A lot of those who got second jabs were before the government recommendation to increase the interval to 2-3 months to space out the Pfizer and AZ vaccines. Mainly those who got second jabs were very elderly folks in London and some NHS staff

A few GPs have said feck it and went rogue against NHS England and decided to honour their commitment during consenting procedure to the ones they had already vaccinated before that advice came out and gave them the second jab around 28 days later. I don't think that's a lot of people in the grand scheme. There were a lot of cancellations for staff and patients too with regards to second vaccine appointments.

As of yesterday 15,300,151 people have received first dose, with 539,630 of those having a second dose
 
Eire Red United said:
Very frustrating comparing the south to the north. I wonder what will happen if (hopefully) everyone over 50 is jabbed in the north by the end of April and the south are lagging behind?
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Yeah it’s going to be tricky. And will be a complete reverse of last year, where the virus was largely suppressed south of the border but running amok further north. Whatever, the more people vaccinated in (the island of) Ireland the better.
 
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Eire Red United said:
Very frustrating comparing the south to the north. I wonder what will happen if (hopefully) everyone over 50 is jabbed in the north by the end of April and the south are lagging behind?
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No doubt Sinn Fein will call for border closures like they do with the rest of the U.K.
 
ThierryHenry said:
I agree with all of that, matches my experience exactly.
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Yeah, tough times for some. I don't think there's any one size fits all approach here - some love it and would do it full time, others hate it and want to be the office and there's the middle ground (like me) who'll probably mix it up. I think we'll be more malleable with staff when this is all over.
 
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