Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Honestly, didn't expect this: Australia recognises the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.

https://www.tga.gov.au/media-release/tga-recognises-gamaleya-institute-vaccine-sputnik-v-russian-federation-international-travel-australia

Hope all the proven vaccines get mutually recognised asap...

[Duque de Bragança]

Pravda.ru?

Does it still exist?

But no — Panorama: https://panorama.pub/

For example, one of their articles: "US threatens to disconnect Russia from Bitcoin."

Yep, pravda.ru still exists and they still have their (Brazilian) Portuguese section. 

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Yep, pravda.ru still exists and they still have their (Brazilian) Portuguese section. 

Just looked them up — yep, they're hanging in there. They look like a news aggregator though, unlike the Ukrainian Pravda which runs editorials...

[Syt]

Health minister Mückstein said that Austrian police should verify vaccination status as matter of course during routine stops and controls (like traffic stops) and in general.

The social democrat and FPÖ police unions have come out against this suggestion, saying it's not the police's job to police this law, and the police shouldn't politicized like this.

Vaccinations in Austria will be mandatory starting Feb 1st. There will be spot checks starting mid-March, before the vaccination database becomes integrated enough to track it through that. Unvaccinated people will receive a deadline to get vaccinated and will be fined if they fail to get the shot (600 EUR, up to 3600 per year).

While vaccinations will be mandatory, it will not be forbidden for non-vaccinated people to enter their workplace.

A very Austrian solution.

Also, there will be a vaccination lottery. Every vaccination entry will be a "ticket". One in 10 tickets will win a 500 EUR voucher, to be used with local businesses.

Additionally, municipalities with high vaccination quotas will receive financial incentives. Overall it's a €1.4 billion program.

[celedhring]

So, the Catalan government has announced that barring nasty variants, they will classify Covid as a flu-like illness and essentially stop counting cases and isolating people by April.

[Tamas]

What will be interesting to see if this changes long-term behaviour of ill people. Especially things like, ok I am down with a fairly nasty cold I will work from home instead of going in and risking infecting everyone needlessly. It will require an attitude change both from workers and their bosses.

[Sheilbh]

What will be interesting to see if this changes long-term behaviour of ill people. Especially things like, ok I am down with a fairly nasty cold I will work from home instead of going in and risking infecting everyone needlessly. It will require an attitude change both from workers and their bosses.

Agree - I think this has already changed. Certainly I am like that now and speaking to other people, including bosses they take that approach because working from home has been normalised. At the same time the idea of going into work or using public transport while you're actually ill/have symptoms of something now seems quite strange.

Of course this doesn't necessarily affect the 50%+ of workers who have never WFH because they can't and who may have to work because they're on zero hour contracts/don't have good employment rights. But that's a wider issue we need to fix.

I read Devi Sridhar's piece in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/science-covid-ineradicable-disease-prevention) - and she was speaking at a work event I went to (remotely) today - and I do think we're at the end now. I don't see restrictions coming back and we're moving into the world of vaccines, anti-viral treatments and probably winter boosters for whatever variants are prevalent at that time - it is becoming, finally, like flu or like any of the other nasty diseases that are always floating round us. As Sridhar advises the Scottish government I expect them to shortly announce that they're lifting all restrictions, except, say, mandatory table service in pubs so they have a millimetre difference between them and England/Johnson so they can claim to be more cautious

At least unless a new super-lethal variant emerges that can also outcompete omicron in which case all bets are off.

[Legbiter]

So, the Catalan government has announced that barring nasty variants, they will classify Covid as a flu-like illness and essentially stop counting cases and isolating people by April.

Yeah it's heading in the same direction here. Quarantine rules are being relaxed even further, hospital admissions are on a steep decline since delta went all but extinct. All in all I'd say we handled this quite well and got lucky a few times as well.

[Sheilbh]

Amazing appeal in Italy

Leonardo Carella
@leonardocarella
Convicted burglar appeals against his sentence with the aggravating charge of concealment on the grounds that "face covering is mandatory".

[Syt]

[Eddie Teach]

Fewer than four. Dr Chan has her shit together.

[Grey Fox]

So far I've accumulated 20 rapid test. Only 3 of 4 can use it and I doubt I'll notice any symptoms other than lost of taste and a fever.

[Zanza]

Rapid tests have been ubiquitous here for about a year or so. I have used dozens and every school or kindergarten child here is tested three times a week with a rapid test.

[The Larch]

Neil Young demands Spotify remove his music over Joe Rogan vaccine misinformation
'They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,' writes musician in an open letter to his management that has since been taken down from his website

Neil Young has demanded that his music be removed from Spotify due to vaccine misinformation spread by podcaster Joe Rogan on the streaming service, saying: "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."

In an open letter to his manager and record label that was posted to his website and later taken down, Young wrote: "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule."

Young specified that his decision was motivated by The Joe Rogan Experience, which is currently Spotify's most popular podcast and one of the biggest in the world. Rogan signed a US$100m deal in 2020 giving Spotify exclusive rights to the show.

"With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy," he wrote, adding: "I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform ... They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."

The letter was addressed to his manager Frank Gironda and Tom Corson, the co-chairman and chief operating officer of Warner Records, which releases Young's music through its Reprise Records imprint.

Gironda confirmed the letter was authentic to The Daily Beast. "It's something that's really important to Neil. He's very upset ... we're trying to figure this out right now."

Good to know that there are still classic rockers who are *not* deranged anti vaxers. 

[Eddie Teach]

Simply deranged. What does he think he's accomplishing?