Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[celedhring]

Is there any possibility that it could be done by postal ballots or some other covid-safe system?

We have local elections in England, plus Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd elections in May. The English local elections were already postponed by a year so I think it's unlikely they'll be postponed again. My impression is that they still intend to have the elections in May. We'll see if that's attainable as a goal.

Mail vote was expanded, but not much else. One of the things Catalan parties will never agree on (much less in the current political environment) is electoral legislation. It's a devolved power but it has never been used since it demands a 2/3 majority that has never been there. People joke that Catalonia will become independent and still default to Spanish electoral legislation because an electoral law will never, ever, be passed.

Overall, we don't have a legal-proof way to postpone an election (because until now, nobody believed there should be one). There's a disposition that says an election can be postponed if it can't be physically carried out, but its application for Covid is dubious.

Now this is something that the Spanish government should have clarified, even if just temporarily using the emergency decree.

[celedhring]

I'm reading some legal scholar analysis about the decree used to postpone the election and - true to form - the Catalan government has seemingly gone about it in the worst way possible

It essentially cancels the election outright, instead of postponing it. Postponement is already legally thorny, there's absolutely no way an executive can constitutionally cancel an election and just promise (scout's honor!) to call another one. 

[mongers]

Something for Shelf to enthuse about and I agree with it:

Coronavirus: Fresh air 'forgotten weapon' in fight

By David Shukman

For one GP, the very thought of people keeping windows tight shut "makes his head explode with anger".

And a leading engineer says he embarrasses his family in restaurants "by going around trying to bring in fresh air".

They are part of a growing band of medics and experts worried about how the coronavirus can accumulate in stuffy rooms.

And with people gathering indoors in the winter months, they say the authorities need to emphasise the importance of outside air.

According to the GP, Eilir Hughes, who runs a surgery in north Wales, the government slogan "hands, space, face" doesn't go far enough.

It appears on the lectern used by Boris Johnson in Downing Street briefings which gives it massive prominence.

But Dr Hughes - who has become known as "Dr Fresh Air" for his campaigning on the issue - believes it should say "hands, space, face, replace".

He says replacing stale air in a room with fresh air from outside can massively reduce the chances of people becoming infected.

The council in Anglesey is believed to be the first in the UK to display banners spelling out the four-word slogan.

Dr Hughes says the new message has attracted attention around the world.

"I say to people: 'Give the gift of fresh air this Christmas.'"

Full article here:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55435914#footer-navigation

[Sheilbh]

Just like testing and quarantines at the border it's about 10 months too late, but at least it's a start. I find it infuriating how much people still talk about washing their hands, washing the shopping, other surface infection and how little talk there is about VENTILATION which we know is key.

Weird vaccination figures - they've been falling for the last three days and barely above 200k yesterday. I thought it was just a weekend effect for the stats on Sunday and Monday, but today's figures continue the trend which is a bit weird/slightly worrying. By my count we're about 1.7million jabs last week, so little bit short of the 2million target but that seems very attainable especially if we can iron out the weekend numbers issue.

[celedhring]

Is the Pfizer retooling issue affecting UK's supply?

[Sheilbh]

Is the Pfizer retooling issue affecting UK's supply?

My understanding is that it will affect all of Europe not just the EU. But we've also approved the AstraZeneca so we're less reliant on just the Pfizer vaccine.

The other theory I've seen is that there's basically a wave effect. We only have daily data for one week but basically it increased day-on-day until it peaked on Friday and then it's fallen until Monday (the latest data) and might now build to another weekly peak on Friday. That could be to do with the pattern of deliveries or appointments? Or, as you say, there could be a supply issue.

It'll probably be a little clearer tomorrow - hopefully there'll be a big jump and we're back on the wave, if it stays this low then it might be a supply problem.

[celedhring]

We'll hit a supply crunch this week. With the reduced Pfizer shipment we'll have less vaccines in reserve than we use in a week. Gotta say I haven't been paying attention to how they intend to address it - i.e. reducing the pace or just keep working until they run out.

[Grey Fox]

The Pfizer retooling is fucking Canada up royally. We're gonna go atleast a week without any delivery.

[DGuller]

They should've went with dispersed, not concentrated. 

[Sheilbh]

Looks like the slowdown was temporary and hopefully just part of a wave effect (a bit like testing). England was over 300k yesterday (and nearly Friday's peak), Scotland and Wales both reached new peaks yesterday.

Edit: Also I feel this is interesting:

Some I get - suspicion about a Russian, Chinese or Iranian vaccine. But it feels like lots of places may need to adjust their expectations of where (trustworthy) innovation comes from because I think a lot more will start coming from South Korea, Singapore etc. I thought they at least would be seen as "high-tech" nations capable of developing a vaccine

[DGuller]

Looks like Germany is Mr. Congeniality, as always.

[Threviel]

Strange that China has such trust in China. Or distrust for foreigners?

[celedhring]

China's trusts itself vastly more than any other country trusts itself. Ah, sweet nationalism.

[Syt]

Interesting to see how some countries are generally less trusting (US, Poland) than others.

[Sheilbh]

China's trusts itself vastly more than any other country trusts itself. Ah, sweet nationalism.

I wish they'd done a survey in Russia because I'd be really interested in whether Chinese (relative) trust in Russia was reciprocated.