Covid News Around the World One Year Later

[Aragorn243]

Not getting the Michigan panic. Numbers are declining according to the charts, just like almost everywhere in the US. Makes me think this is just media and political panic to keep this going.

I was wondering yesterday after listening to the news why we were in such bad shape after nearly half the population of the state has has at least one dose of the vaccine. Is it not working? We are nearly fully open now. 75% restaurant and bar capacity, museums, gyms, sports venues open again. But the actual numbers simply don't support the news reports. Michigan plateaued on March 30th and started declining on April 14th. Pennsylvania is almost identical only we opened up and Michigan set more restrictions. Numbers are about a third what they were in early December so something does seem to be working.

People have seemingly stopped getting vaccinated. The big push has run out of willing participants. Pennsylvania currently has 27.6% of the population fully vaccinated. 47.68% have received at least one dose. Many supposedly are refusing to go to get their second dose now.

[Aragorn243]

In odd covid news today:

Canada study shows lockdowns are not perceived as beneficial at all. Life lost in lockdown vs actual lives lost.

Oregon is going full lockdown in 15 counties as their numbers continue to go down and the risk of Covid transmission in restaurants is near zero.

The US government is now going to reimburse families $9000 for funeral expenses if your family member died of Covid.

The media has determined that school openings in the US are racist. Apparently white students choose to go to in person classes, Asian student are not with 80% refusing and black and Hispanic students 60% refusing. So personal choice is now racist. Meanwhile, it is the teachers unions that have kept the large school districts closed all this time and these districts are where the majority of the minority students are. These same districts are where the "woke" teachers are.

[USGI]

Oregon is going full lockdown in 15 counties as their numbers continue to go down and the risk of Covid transmission in restaurants is near zero.

I happen to live in Oregon, and numbers in our county and several adjoining ones are increasing. Our governor says it's alright to go outdoors without a mask on, if we are fully vaccinated and alone! Sounds scary, but I'm going out there! - Bob

[MasterChief]

"People have seemingly stopped getting vaccinated. The big push has run out of willing participants."

I recall the panicked, frantic searching for available vaccinations in early February this year, me included. We got our first dose on February 10th and second on March 10th.

I was wrong in thinking the feeding frenzy would result in higher vaccination numbers by now. I am starting to side with the proponents of the natural selection theory in thinking that a significant number of the anti-vax contingent is already resistant enough to raise the overall herd immunity level without needing vaccination.

I have always maintained that the (U.S.) government dropped the ball by not doing more antibody testing from the start of the pandemic.

Rant off.

[ssgross]

the (U.S.) government dropped the ball by not doing more antibody testing from the start of the pandemic.

...but that would've shown so many people had already contracted the virus without ever knowing it, and no need for a year plus worth of prolonged nations wide blanket lockdowns. Can't have facts and real science downplaying our emergency now can we.

C'mon man!

[browningautorifle]

I am starting to side with the proponents of the natural selection theory in thinking that a significant number of the anti-vax contingent is already resistant enough

Means a lot MC, you're up somewhere in the danger zone crowd and yet you question. I'm just not interested in taking vaccinations of something that has no trial time. Just because thousands have been vaccinated, is not the same as clinical trials for several years. That's the normal. With such a high survival rate and I'm not in the danger zone at all, why do I want to be injected with something that isn't proven? More, there's no sign of taking masks off even after vaccination, no sigh of lockdowns ending or distancing ending. We've also been told this vaccine doesn't guarantee you won't catch it, there are different strains so...which vaccine? They tell us this is the new normal? Then I'll just stand back and watch, thanks...

[MasterChief]

Post script to rant:

Forgot to mention...an additional annoyance is the federal government's failure to publish or deliberate decision not to publish statistical data relating to tracking and tracing of covid vectors. Ironically my state of California has been publishing some of the demographic data....although I think this tidbit is soon to go dark because of political incorrectness.

COVID-19 Race and Ethnicity Data
(scroll down in link to charts)

The cultural component(s) of this pandemic would open a few eyes and so must be surpressed.

Not asking for consensus, just voicing my opinion.

Rant off again.

[browningautorifle]

my state of California has been publishing some of the demographic data

Took me a second to get my head around the numbers, percentages and color code. Then to understand it was Cali only...now I got it.

[Aragorn243]

Well, the governor announced yesterday that our state will end all mandates with the exception of the wearing of masks on May 31st. The mask mandates will end as soon as 70% of adults are vaccinated.

Curious because election day is May 18th and he is likely to lose all his authority on that day to maintain the mandates.

Meanwhile states that ended the mandates and mask wearing are getting back to normal while those that continue with both are seeing spikes, at least that's what they are claiming. I'm starting to think that the spikes are being manipulated to maintain the mandates because the actual numbers don't fit the politicians claims.

In the meantime, we need 700,000 more adults to get vaccinated to end the masks.

New York and New Jersey are claiming they are going to end most of their restrictions on May 19th. Only a few restrictions on large outdoor stadiums which remain at 30%. But further reading indicates quite a few restrictions will remain.

[Ovidio]

I was in The Netherlands and in Germany last week.
The trip, by plane and car, was really the weirdest thing that happened to me in the last 15 months.
Amsterdam was just a stop over, at Schipol, then I flew to Düsseldorf, and from there everywhere in Germany by car.
I filled all the requested online forms for Germany, had my PCR test, invitation letters from the customers, my vaccination certificate... Everything.
Before even getting to the Venice airport, I received a telephone call from the German province where I declared I would have my "base", which is where my agent works. They called to ask if I was already in Germany and to tell me that I had to confirm that I was going to stay 5 or 10 days in quarantine at the location I mentioned. I was flabbergasted and told them that I was by no means going to make any quarantine, because I entered the country following all the rules and because I had work to do (I was extremely polite and friendly, but that was the core). At that, the lady apologised and said that if I was there for work, all she said was not applicable. They get the info and contacts of the persons coming to their area, but not the reason why they come. So, in the end, a lot of people move mails, phones calls, talk for nothing...
After that, during my stay in Germany I had a fairly normal life. But for the fact that I could not stop on the road and eat in a civilised manner. You get served what you want and then you have to leave and either eat in your car or outside. I always opted to eat standing outside, like a horse, even under rain. I hate to eat in the car.
In the hotels, if they happen to have the restaurant open, you can eat almost normally. Reduced menu, but otherwise...
Thursday I arrived at a very big meat processing plant just behind an ambulance and a few police cars. I thought there had been an accident, but there had been a murder instead. A guy was found stabbed in the heart in a toilet. Helicopter arrived, CSI units... A lot of fuss.
I could still meet the people I was there for, but the atmosphere was eerie.
After that, I took the car to reach Frankfurt, where I planned to sleep in a hotel close by the airport and get the flight on Friday morning. Luckily, I called the hotel before arriving, and was told by the concierge that I could not stay, because I was coming from a "Risikogebiet", a dangerous zone (Italy). I tried to explain that I was legally in Germany, had all documents and authorisations, but he was adamant in metaphorically throwing me out. So, I called the Airport Hilton and, with the exact same documents, I got a(n expensive) room.
Friday, at the airport, a few minutes before boarding, the ground personnel made an announcement that the boarding would start in a few minutes and reminded everybody that, in order to enter Italy, we had to have filled the online self-declaration form and then, depending on some factors, make 5 or 10 days quarantine. Everybody was bewildered. There is nothing like that self-declaration form on the Italian immigration site. It is still being prepared... So, we got a printed one in the plane, as usual. In Venice, the same policeman who made me fill another strange form a couple weeks ago telling me to contact the sanitary authorities of my town (who never picked-up the phone, so I never made anything but keeping my normal life), this time just asked me if I had a PCR test, which I did, albeit from Monday, and how long I had stayed in Germany. Since it was less than 120 hours, I could go. Which is exactly how it should be, for Italy and surely also for Germany, but there is so much talking, so many changes every day, that most people, also officials, don't know anymore what to do.
Germany was announcing even stricter rules last week.
Now, everywhere I can see (Germany, Italy, Austria, France - if I'm not wrong), all of a sudden, everybody started talking about starting to open up again, green pass for vaccinated or tested people, fewer restrictions... As if an order had arrived form the Almighty.
I can, very sincerely, say that I don't understand anything anymore.
I don't want to be in the hands of every donkey wearing a uniform or a gown, so I decided not to go to Munich to see a customer tomorrow and to have my German agent go there. I'll be present online. It is not the same, but I don't want to get caught in some silly situation just because currently, they let you run a continent only if you can show a certificate of cretinism.