Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[viper37]

Right next door is maybe 10, 20 miles.

that's a 2 hours drive for the average city?

[Razgovory]

Missouri is doing the worst job with vaccines in the whole USA.   I read a few days ago that I guy had to driver from St .Louis to Kansas city to get a vaccine.  That's well over 200 miles.

By American standards isn't that right next door?

Reminds me of the UKs testing screw ups last year where people had to travel the same distance. A substantially bigger deal here.

The drive takes 3 hours and 40 minutes.  Bus is 4 hours and 20 minutes, and train is 5 hours and 40 minutes.  Since he had to go back home, double those numbers.  Driving over 7 hours in a day can tire you out.

[Syt]

- non-essential shops and "close proximity services" (hairdressers, massage therapists etc.) will close from 1st - 6th April
- from 7th April onward you'll need a negative Covid test to enter the above mentioned businesses (I'm skeptical, because that means that ALL those shops would have to check customers upon entering - that on top of the already existing limit to how many people can be in a shop at any given time)

Addendum: the negative test requirement for shops is till the 11th, i.e. 4 days. 

So the "lockdown" will be three business days, starting in a week, plus 4 more working days of needing tests to enter non-essential shops and businesses.

[celedhring]

The Spanish gov essentially pulled a Merkel but even more feebly. It floated further restrictions for Easter, the regions said "no", and they were "mmm, okay then". 

Now there's talk they will reexamine the rules around restaurants, closing or restricting the interiors, but I won't bet on them trying to push it if there's any kind of significant resistance (and there will be).

[Tamas]

This is going to get worse one more time before it gets better, doesn't it?

I hope the EU won't deny us islanders our rightfully due vaccines because there's no way we are delaying opening up just because the vaccination schedule went all haywire. 

[Tamas]

[Sheilbh]

This is going to get worse one more time before it gets better, doesn't it?

This has strong deja vu for me of the UK in December

But there are vaccination programs so, for example, 90% of people in French care homes have been inoculated. I think most of the 80+s should be vaccinated everywhere in Europe. So hopefully even if this is the mistake I fear it is, it will not be as bad as it was here in January.

[The Larch]

The Spanish gov essentially pulled a Merkel but even more feebly. It floated further restrictions for Easter, the regions said "no", and they were "mmm, okay then". 

Now there's talk they will reexamine the rules around restaurants, closing or restricting the interiors, but I won't bet on them trying to push it if there's any kind of significant resistance (and there will be).

Well, at least they didn't officially announce them only to backtrack later. 

I do have some sympathy for the regions, though. Some of the measures proposed, like the 20h curfew, didn't make any sense, and the intended homogeneization of some of the different regional measures towards easter has been counter-intuitive if not counter-productive. I think this is actually the first time that I've heard some of my friends openly saying that they don't intend to follow some of the new restrictions at all. For instance, over here it's been quite grating for some people that we can no longer meet each other in private houses but bars have been allowed to open longer hours.

[Tamas]

Curfew and in case of Hungary a 7PM close of stores and supermarkets just doesn't make any sense to me. What you see is people all piling up in supermarkets and grocery stores after they are out of work, in a hurry to shop while they can. Normally a lot of places would be open fairly late into the night, so people could disperse over a wider timeframe, but I guess that's too easy.

[Sheilbh]

Curfew and in case of Hungary a 7PM close of stores and supermarkets just doesn't make any sense to me. What you see is people all piling up in supermarkets and grocery stores after they are out of work, in a hurry to shop while they can. Normally a lot of places would be open fairly late into the night, so people could disperse over a wider timeframe, but I guess that's too easy.

Agreed. I've not seen anything that suggests curfews are remotely helpful - for all the reasons you say, especially with essential retail. But I feel like they're "something" in the "we must do something" formula.

[Zanza]

I hope the EU won't deny us islanders our rightfully due vaccines because there's no way we are delaying opening up just because the vaccination schedule went all haywire.

So far, only India has blocked vaccine exports destined for the UK.

[Tamas]

Curfew and in case of Hungary a 7PM close of stores and supermarkets just doesn't make any sense to me. What you see is people all piling up in supermarkets and grocery stores after they are out of work, in a hurry to shop while they can. Normally a lot of places would be open fairly late into the night, so people could disperse over a wider timeframe, but I guess that's too easy.

Agreed. I've not seen anything that suggests curfews are remotely helpful - for all the reasons you say, especially with essential retail. But I feel like they're "something" in the "we must do something" formula.

Yes' it's easy enough to order it as you and your underlings don't have to do anything, and it seems like something is being done. In a lot of countries the political class failed miserably in handling this pandemic.

[Sheilbh]

So far, only India has blocked vaccine exports destined for the UK.

Yeah and it feels like the UK and EU will reach an agreement over the Halix doses (as two customers). Ultimately EU export restrictions would only really impact the UK if they hit Pfizer and it feels like it would be weird to use restrictions that are in part drive by AZ's manufacturing and delivery failures to block a company that is delivering from fulfilling other orders they have.

We have the same issue as everyone outside the US with Moderna too - I don't think we've received any yet and we're back of the queue for J&J (I think). As I say - and maybe it isn't luck and the procurement team just did a very good job - but it is striking how easily this could have gone another way if Moderna and J&J were approved first.

[Grey Fox]

Our curfew, was 8pm now 9h30pm, really helped. It is what finally broke our 2nd wave growth.

While it does stack people in a smaller time frame to do their shopping, it also provides a clear time frame where no one is meeting or cheating the restrictions.

[garbon]

Our curfew, was 8pm now 9h30pm, really helped. It is what finally broke our 2nd wave growth.

While it does stack people in a smaller time frame to do their shopping, it also provides a clear time frame where no one is meeting or cheating the restrictions.

Yes, yes to that bit in build. Makes enforcement all that much easier as there is basically no legitimate reason to be out and about.