Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Threviel]

My wife was also sick and got it before me and she had colleagues that had been skiing in Italy and had become sick with the flu there. Our kids got it and they were sick for like a day. We didn't start to think about Covid until a few months afterwards and might misremember the sequencing. So I don't know and I'll never get to know.

You say BB, it's unlikely to have been Covid.

[Threviel]

Today, I'm working at home trying to quarantine myself so that I can spend christmas with my elderly relatives. Or at least see them.

My aunt, with a bad heart, overweight and definitely in the risk zone pesters me about coming to collect christmas cookies. My parents, overweight and definitely in the risk zone pesters me about coming and helping out with their motorhome and wanting to see the kids. My wife's parents won't leave us alone and sees us every day.

My in-laws plan on spending new years eve with their regular gang of old and sickly friends.

It seems I'm the only one taking this shit seriously.

[Zanza]

Situation in Germany:

[Threviel]

Yeah, the part not very affected in the first wave can probably expect a severe second wave. 

We can only hope that the vaccines works as expected and that production goes well.

[celedhring]

Both the regional and national governments are already signaling that they will tighten up restrictions before Christmas... (numbers have been getting worse this week, particularly in Catalonia).

[Sheilbh]

So there is some good news with the vaccines - I think last wek in the UK it was only offered in hospitals (so for example none in the county my parents live in) while this week it starts to be rolled out to GPs and health centres.

The government has (unsurprisingly) been shit on releasing data but there's now pressure for more information so I think we'll get regular updates (and, again, the Welsh government has done better on this than anyone else). But last week about 140,000 people were vaccinated. From my understanding the first priority are people in care homes and the over 80s so people who would be extremely vulnerable to this disease so last week probably saw a fair few lives saved which is great. Hopefully now it's in GPs it can be ramped up pretty quickly (and hopefully my dad gets his soon).

In grim news the government have apparently clocked that Christmas might be a disaster - I still basically agree with Mark Drakeford the Welsh First Minister that it is better to have consistent rules across all four nations for the Christmas period, rather than a free for all as people just break the rules - but the infection rate is rising especially in big cities and there's about to be a big circulation of people. But the government(s) have concluded that it's too late to change the guidance on Christmas

As with schools and universities re-opening causing a spike in cases (and demands for testing) this is all so fucking predictable and should have been prepared for

Semi-relatedly there are a number of factors driving which tier a region is in, rather than simply the number of cases/infection rate. So the reason Kent and some other rural areas have been in Tier 3 while London hasn't is because of NHS capacity - they're running out and London has a lot of spare capacity right now (not least because I imagine Christmas party season is traditionally busy in A&Es). Obviously the idiocy of that is that loads of people from those urban areas that are semi-open and have high case rates are about to travel to those areas with lower case rates but running out of NHS capacity

[Tamas]

But the government(s) have concluded that it's too late to change the guidance on Christmas

I guess from their point of view those who die of the virus won't vote for them anyways, but the disgruntled, Christmas-ridden Dorseys of the country still might, so better safe than sorry.

[celedhring]

The Interior Minister of the Catalan government just said that we might have to celebrate Christmans in February or March 

[Sheilbh]

I guess from their point of view those who die of the virus won't vote for them anyways, but the disgruntled, Christmas-ridden Dorseys of the country still might, so better safe than sorry.

I don't think that's right though. There's no more important bloc of voters for the Tories than the elderly

[Duque de Bragança]

The Interior Minister of the Catalan government just said that we might have to celebrate Christmans in February or March 

So not even Julian Christmas will be enough.

[The Larch]

The Interior Minister of the Catalan government just said that we might have to celebrate Christmans in February or March 

Christmas recommendations for Galicia were communicated just this morning. Maximum number of people who can gather will be 6, up from 4 at the moment in my city (which is in the 2nd highest tier of restrictions right now), from a maximum of two family units, and kids 10 and younger won't count for the limit.

I wonder how they'll be defining the "family unit". Am I in the same family unit as my parents? We don't live in the same appartment, but meet regularly. Would me having Christmas eve dinner with them already gather two different family units? I was considering bringing over a buddy who is alone for Christmas as a guest, but now I'm not sure if that's doable.

[Tamas]

I think at the end of the day, a lot of if not most people will interpret the various Christmas meeting rules in the way to fit their own circumstances. Most of the rest will ignore it. Best we can hope for is that the majority will establish similar precautions to what Sheilbh is doing, but I have my doubts. I have heard a few colleagues/their friends doing just that, but the more socially needy colleagues seemed very unenthusiastic at the notion of a 10-day precautionary isolation.

[Duque de Bragança]

The figure of 6 is also used in France but means 6 adults, children not included.

[Sheilbh]

In the UK you can form a Christmas bubble and it's the number of households, not people, that is relevant:

Between 23 and 27 December:

    you can form an exclusive 'Christmas bubble' composed of people from no more than three households
    you can only be in one Christmas bubble
    you cannot change your Christmas bubble
    you can travel between tiers and UK nations for the purposes of meeting your Christmas bubble
    you can only meet your Christmas bubble in private homes or in your garden, places of worship, or public outdoor spaces
    you can continue to meet people who are not in your Christmas bubble outside your home according to the rules in the tier you are meeting in
    if you form a Christmas bubble, you should not meet socially with friends and family that you do not live with in your home or garden unless they are part of your Christmas bubble

Full guidance here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family/making-a-christmas-bubble-with-friends-and-family

And I saw separately there is very detailed guidance around Christmas carols. I think the UK state may have gone from one extreme of not enough guidance to possibly too much

[Duque de Bragança]

Besides, different rules for Christmas and New Years' Eve.