Covid And The Rest of Us

[disneyholic family]

Wow...Isreal is about the same size as New Jersey. And I can assure you that here in New Jersey, we are quite far from a 24/7 vaccination situation. My sister-in-law manages two Covid units at a hospital here. She won't get her vaccine yet week because they didn't have enough for all of her team and she wouldn't until every person on her team gets vaccinated. She's scheduled for this Thursday if they get their shipment. I'm hoping that the pace really starts to pick up here in the U.S. soon. Also hope you get your vaccine soon!

the US is supposed to be getting all or most of moderna's initial production.
that was part of the warp drive agreement with moderna.
Though i don't know how much they have.
I know that moderna starting producing long before the FDA approval on the assumption that it would be approved.
and all (or most) of Pfizer's North American production is going to North America at this point (i don't know how much Canada is getting. I assume most is going to the USA).
I don't know how much they can produce in a day - from what i understand there are 3 or 4 production sites in the US.
But the US is huge and with what? 330 million people?
of course, kids aren't going to be vaccinated so that reduces it by how many? 80 million?
that still leaves 250 million people.
I suppose there's some small number who can't get a vaccine and i don't know how many will refuse.
I would think that at the very least 200 million people want to be vaccinated.
So 400 million doses of moderna/pfizer?
I don't know how quickly that can be produced.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Israel contracted early on for millions of doses of Moderna and Pfizer.
I think the contract with Moderna was signed in May.
The Prime Minister is what i'd call a corona fundamentalist, or coronaphobic.
He has been serious about it from the beginning.

But of course, we're a tiny country. Both in size and population (9 million people).
So there are a lot fewer people to vaccinate and being small, it's easy to move the vaccine around.
The country is about the size of New Jersey, so you can imagine how easy it is to distribute, even with the difficult storage requirements of pfizer.
.

If I had to guess that might skew your viewpoint on vaccine hierarchy at least slightly and I'm very impressed with the capabilities of where you're at to have the immediate access that must be such a relief.

We have just under 3 million people in my state. I'll be happy as a lark to get just some of the people vaccinated as quickly as can be but quite frankly we've had to fight tooth and nail just to get testing capabilities so I'm just happy anyone is at the point of being able to have the opportunity to be tested for free much less get the vaccine in my state.

 

[disneyholic family]

If I had to guess that might skew your viewpoint on vaccine hierarchy at least slightly and I'm very impressed with the capabilities of where you're at to have the immediate access that must be such a relief.

We have just under 3 million people in my state. I'll be happy as a lark to get just some of the people vaccinated as quickly as can be but quite frankly we've had to fight tooth and nail just to get testing capabilities so I'm just happy anyone is at the point of being able to have the opportunity to be tested for free much less get the vaccine in my state.

there are good things and bad things about socialized medicine.
Dealing with something like this i guess can be considered one of the good things.
When a medical system is centralized in the sense of everything is decided by one authority, it makes dealing with a crisis of this kind easier i suppose.
There are of course, many bad things about socialized medicine, so don't get me wrong.
there's a lot that's bad. Just they were able to move quickly in this.
also testing is extremely widespread, easy to get and free.
Though that was a struggle at the outset.
The government bureaucrats got in the way of that.
But finally that became well organized.
But the vaccines they definitely have gotten right and hit the ground running.
Hopefully, they'll keep it up.

Meanwhile, i have my 93 year old mom in Michigan who will be vaccinated when? It's anyone's guess.
I told her to get someone to take her to the pfizer plant which isn't that far away from her and stand with a sign outside begging for a vaccine.
She's a tiny little old lady, blind and with a walker.
That would make a really nice picture i think. In the middle of the snow and cold.

 

[lisaviolet]

@lisaviolet

Well I certainly won't be as gracious as Annette.

First, how utterly condescending to tell anyone what is off topic - it denotes you rule this thread.

Second, I have no clue what was off topic in your eyes and I don't really care enough to find out before responding. So I will just go all off topic and discuss my post.

So that exact post was answering two posters who had already highlighted my points and thoughts. I thoroughly enjoy both of them because they are not clones of me. So if it was that part to tell me I am off topic to freely discuss their notes on my own damn thoughts, how absurd. And if it was discussing my own health, well that was completely clear - that I thoroughly understood how difficult mask wearing can be with a certain condition ie. empathy. And directly answering the discussion given to me.

And if it was about oximeters and at-home Covid care I will just put a big fat huh? Because if one person grabs one due to reading that and it saves their life/health or their loved ones', well wonderful. Certainly not something to get all up about. And I did put a damn line to show it was a separate thought.

And for ****'s sake this thread has gone a myriad of off topic places - many times fun and interesting - and me responding to those who spoke to me and giving crucial Covid information is highlighted?

Here's off topic -

Annette, forgot to give you this Christmas present -

That psychic re: Ford and French lessons. Said psychic has released 2021 predictions. He has some to say about your favourite man at the top.

 

[lisaviolet]

...but each cluster mailbox in our neighborhood has 1 larger slot where the postal worker will use a key to open, lock the package up and then put the key in your assigned mail box to open.

We have that as well, for those who have neighbourhood boxes.

-------

I have the best, I live in a condo so everything is picked up for us and we just go down and claim. Totally secure and easy. And during this climate, total fun to get the text "your package is here".

I am also curious to what data they have stating it’s more contagious. Just wondering right now is it simply coincidence? Colder weather driving people indoors? Just happens to be this genetic gnome. Is it human or mutant behavior???? Online and can’t find any specifics. Just that cases are skyrocketing. Pretty sure many factors are cause.

I definitely would like hear a more expansive discussion, on the changes.

I have always suspected that fifteen minutes was an approximate pivotal amount of time for contagious spread. But they were just not telling us, as people would push their contact time a la I only stayed fifteen minutes! When it really was a half an hour.

I wish they wouldn't pussyfoot around with the facts, assuming they themselves understand it all.

• Non-essential retail can remain open, but shops have been asked not to have January sales events
• Gyms and swimming pools can remain open

Both these decisions are interesting to read. And are often the points that are argued during our lockdowns. Gym owners have said that there is no evidence of spread. And keeping all stores open would level the playing field for survival. And spread out the shopping public.

Who knows what the right choices are, but it will be interesting to follow the outcome.

- There are some restrictions in Sydney, although to us in Victoria they really don't seem strong enough. The Northern Beaches area is locked down with only 4 reasons to leave home: to shop for food or other essentials; go to work; visit a sick relative or on compassionate grounds; and to exercise.

We have similar measures but my Christmas calls to friends and relatives revealed that we have minimal compliance here.

And the irony is that all that were following mandates around here were in the big bad city!

@elphaba91 quick question. Facebook keeps pushing me Jimmy Rees videos about Australia. Is his portrayal of the different moods in the different states accurate?

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2096234147180800

(And is the rest of Australia really that mean to Tasmania ;-) )

Good luck with flattening the curve to those in Ontario. Sorry to hear cases have increased and a shutdown was determined necessary.

We need good luck because compliance is waning.

we're moving to 24/7 vaccinations....
vaccinations will be given 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week...

How interesting and exciting for your country.

 

[ronandannette]

...Annette, forgot to give you this Christmas present -

That psychic re: Ford and French lesson. Said psychic has released 2021 predictions. He has some to say about your favourite man at the top.

Love it! And while my favourite man at the top is Jesus, I have a feeling you're talking about someone else. Is there a link?

 

[lisaviolet]

Love it! And while my favourite man at the top is Jesus, I have a feeling you're talking about someone else. Is there a link?

I will try to find it. And the time note in a very long prediction cycle, that put me into a very deep and peaceful sleep.

I did perk up when news about your great love came on though!

Although it is not as interesting as French lessons.

 

[SirDuff]

The USA already bans UK travelers. There was a Presidential Executive Order signed in March which bans citizens from UK, Ireland and other European countries from entering USA. It is being worked on at the moment and it is very likely it will be removed by January.

You keep saying this and it is inaccurate. It has nothing to do with citizenship* but where you live/visit. I’m a Canadian living in Europe and I cannot get into the US. My British uncle, living in Canada, has no problem flying into the US.

*Citizenship does matter in that US citizens (and permanent residents) are allowed into the US even if they are coming from one of the countries on the list.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html

 

[bcla]

You keep saying this and it is inaccurate. It has nothing to do with citizenship* but where you live/visit. I’m a Canadian living in Europe and I cannot get into the US. My British uncle, living in Canada, has no problem flying into the US.

*Citizenship does matter in that US citizens (and permanent residents) are allowed into the US even if they are coming from one of the countries on the list.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html

One would need to go through an intermediate country for a 14 day period. However, it might get tougher as a lot of countries are no longer allowing people in who have spent more than a short layover in the UK.

Between the US and Canada is really weird. They have heavy restrictions for road vehicle crossings, but the rules still "allow" air/rail/sea crossing. I'm more familiar with crossing between Washington and BC. Washington State Ferries has discontinued service between Vancouver Island the Washington although it looks like they still have service to the San Juan Islands that's normally part of their service. Black Ball Ferry has suspended operations. They say they're not going to reopen until discretionary travel has opened. The Seattle-Victoria ferry is showing a schedule starting April 30, 2021, but who knows if it will really being then.

It looks like Amtrak service to BC has been discontinued. So yeah, air travel is the only way.

 

[ronandannette]

OK - so how was everybody's Covid Christmas (God willing, the only one we will ever have)?

Today is the first day since before the holiday that official information has been released for Alberta. Our cases are way down, almost by 75%, but so has our testing been over the past week, so that's nothing to cheer, really. The UK variant is present here (shocking, right?) and fatalities amongst the elderly are rampant. We have now exceeded 1,000 deaths, of the 15,121 deaths nation-wide. Although practically every province in the country is locked-down tighter than a drum, numbers aren't receding. Nor, for that matter, does one observe them receding anywhere, no matter what measures have been (or not been) implemented. Morale amongst many is very low, including my own. If anybody has genuine good news about their local situation, I'd be very edified to hear it.

Vaccine-wise, our Moderna supply is now on the ground in the Northern Territories and will start to be administered in remote communities tomorrow. Our first order of 168,000 doses will be distributed nation-wide in the coming days although I can't find any information on how it will be allotted to the provinces. When Alberta gets ours, the first priority will be getting it into senior's facilities to vaccinate the residents and I'm all for that. We put all our first allotment of Pfizer (6,000 doses) into front-line heath care workers and first responders. The next 6,000 we get will be for their 2nd doses.

 

[elphaba91]

OK - so how was everybody's Covid Christmas (God willing, the only one we will ever have)?

Today is the first day since before the holiday that official information has been released for Alberta. Our cases are way down, almost by 75%, but so has our testing been over the past week, so that's nothing to cheer, really. The UK variant is present here (shocking, right?) and fatalities amongst the elderly are rampant. We have now exceeded 1,000 deaths, of the 15,121 deaths nation-wide. Although practically every province in the country is locked-down tighter than a drum, numbers aren't receding. Nor, for that matter, does one observe them receding anywhere, no matter what measures have been (or not been) implemented. Morale amongst many is very low, including my own. If anybody has genuine good news about their local situation, I'd be very edified to hear it.

Vaccine-wise, our Moderna supply is now on the ground in the Northern Territories and will start to be administered in remote communities tomorrow. Our first order of 168,000 doses will be distributed nation-wide in the coming days although I can't find any information on how it will be allotted to the provinces. When Alberta gets ours, the first priority will be getting it into senior's facilities to vaccinate the residents and I'm all for that. We put all our first allotment of Pfizer (6,000 doses) into front-line heath care workers and first responders. The next 6,000 we get will be for their 2nd doses.

Christmas Day was very standard for our family. Actually, if it weren’t for COVID then it likely would have just been our little immediate family of 3 as my aunt would have gone to Uganda for the birth of her new granddaughter on the 21st. It was very interesting though spending the day with 2 people who have lived in areas largely without COVID - my cousin who lives in northern NSW (near Byron Bay where Chris Hemsworth and now Zac Efron live) and her boyfriend who has spent most of the time in WA. There were immediate kisses when we arrived, very little hand washing, picking at the salad out of the bowl, etc. that made us as Melburnians shudder.

Christmas Eve was a bit of a bummer, with our beloved Carols by Candlelight that we have attended in person for the last 7 years being without an audience. However I thought they did a fantastic job in the circumstances.

The Sydney version on a rival network the night before was filmed in an empty theatre rather than outdoors, with not much acknowledgment of the situation aside from the frequent shots of empty seats and not much social distancing.

For the Melbourne version however, they were very upfront that it was an unusual Christmas Eve (that will hopefully not be repeated) and it was worked into the Santa segment, one singer doing I’ll Be Home for Christmas with Love Actually-style footage of airport reunions, etc. They also had removed the seats from the lower section and had members of the choir spread out so the singers weren’t just singing to a sea of emptiness. Most of the choir wasn’t actually there in person and they had them perform the Hallelujah chorus by Zoom. Then for the finale when normally all of the performers would crowd the stage to perform a medley they just had a Gospel choir instead.

Oh, and the new favourite of this thread, Jimmy Rees performed!

 

[Nora03]

Annette, you were looking for some good news. Manitoba only had 107 new cases today, of which 43 were in Winnipeg. That’s the lowest it’s been in a long time. We have been following all the rules. Only me and DH for Christmas. We FaceTimed with our kids and grandkids. They sent lots of pictures and videos throughout the weekend. I’m anxious to get our vaccinations, but it will be awhile. We’re in our seventies, but can stay safe at home. I realized today that I haven’t been anywhere since October 29, when we got our flu shots. I can’t take any chances. Colds hit me hard and usually last six to eight weeks, sometimes turning into pneumonia. So, I need to stay home. Online groceries and curb side pickup only. Thanks for starting this thread. We’ll try to be patient, and hope for the best. There has to be an end to this. Thankful that none of my family has contracted Covid. Grateful for the frontline workers.

 

[Karin1984]

And Ireland has starting vaccinating so The Netherlands is officially going to be the last in the EU...
We are out our max of ICU capacity, hospitals almost full and the army is going to help in nursing homes!
But as of today you need a negative test to get into the Netherlands, so that's something I guess...

 

[disneyholic family]

And Ireland has starting vaccinating so The Netherlands is officially going to be the last in the EU...
We are out our max of ICU capacity, hospitals almost full and the army is going to help in nursing homes!
But as of today you need a negative test to get into the Netherlands, so that's something I guess...

how is the Netherlands so slow?
They're usually much better than this.
Was there a snafu in delivery?
.

 

[Karin1984]

how is the Netherlands so slow?
They're usually much better than this.
Was there a snafu in delivery?
.

No, the vaccin is here, it's the administration.
And with the mix up that happened in Germany, maybe that's good. But yeah, it doesn't look good to the rest of the world.

 

[disneyholic family]

No, the vaccin is here, it's the administration.
And with the mix up that happened in Germany, maybe that's good. But yeah, it doesn't look good to the rest of the world.

what happened in Germany? - i have to go check google..
oh - an overdose....that's happened a few places....
it's because of the way the vaccine is delivered....
there are 5 doses in the vial...
i think we had one case....it happened to a pharmacist of all people...
but apparently there have been no after effects..

.

 

[ronandannette]

what happened in Germany? - i have to go check google..
oh - an overdose....that's happened a few places....
it's because of the way the vaccine is delivered....
there are 5 doses in the vial...
i think we had one case....it happened to a pharmacist of all people...
but apparently there have been no after effects..

.

Do tell more...I haven’t seen anything about this.

 

[BadPinkTink]

https://www.thejournal.ie/first-coronavirus-vaccine-ireland-5312217-Dec2020
A 79-YEAR-old woman from Dublin has become the first person in the Republic of Ireland to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

Annie Lynch, a grandmother from Dublin’s inner city, was vaccinated at St James’ Hospital at around 1.30pm this afternoon.

A small number of vaccines will be administered today at Beaumont and St James’ hospitals in Dublin, along with Cork and Galway university hospitals.

10,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in Ireland on St Stephen’s Day and have been in cold storage since then.

Professor Brian MacCraith, chair of the government’s vaccine taskforce, said Annie’s husband passed away earlier this year.

“She has 10 grandchildren, one of whom works in the ICT department at St James’,” MacCraith told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

“I’m told that she is delighted to be getting the vaccine and feels very privileged to be the first person.”
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said today is a “proud day for the profession” after a nurse administered the first vaccine this afternoon.

 

[disneyholic family]

Do tell more...I haven’t seen anything about this.

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-g...ccidentally-given-vaccine-overdose/a-56077717
.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-g...ccidentally-given-vaccine-overdose/a-56077717
.

I had not heard of that yet. Glad to hear it doesn't appear to have resulted in serious reactions yet at least.