The Covid19 thread

[Falcon Horus]

The side effects listed on most medications are pretty...big actually.

If I may provide an example: Medikinet -- my ADD meds (the cheaper version Ritalin)

One of the side effects listed: suicide

Made me do a double take when I was reading down the long list of side effects -- headaches are most common (check) and loss of appetite (also check) -- but only when I started taking them. Not anymore.

[Falcon Horus]

The French half of Belgium has altered the times of their curfew. It used to be 11pm to 6am, and they moved it to an hour earlier, from 10pm to 6am.

France, however, has changed their curfew. Theirs used to start at 9pm but has been changed to an hour earlier, to 8pm. Christmas eve is different, but new year's eve is back to 8pm.

[Gen. Chris]

So while we have unofficially crossed 300,000 deaths in the US, it looks like we will officially be across that line this week per the CDC.

My question is...We are at 100x the deaths of 9/11, and we radically altered so much of our nation in the aftermath of that...what, precisely, is it going to take for (a not insignificant part of) America to finally get it?

[aretood2]

So while we have unofficially crossed 300,000 deaths in the US, it looks like we will officially be across that line this week per the CDC.

My question is...We are at 100x the deaths of 9/11, and we radically altered so much of our nation in the aftermath of that...what, precisely, is it going to take for (a not insignificant part of) America to finally get it?

At this point? Ten times as many deaths within a span of a month or two. The conspiracy theorizing has gotten way out of hand, nothing short of a mountain of dead bodies in every city and large town will do.

[Gatefan1976]

At this point? Ten times as many deaths within a span of a month or two. The conspiracy theorizing has gotten way out of hand, nothing short of a mountain of dead bodies in every city and large town will do.

Pretty much. You watch the news and listen to the crap that people spew, especially in the country parts of the US and it's just flat out scary.

[Falcon Horus]

So while we have unofficially crossed 300,000 deaths in the US, it looks like we will officially be across that line this week per the CDC.

My question is...We are at 100x the deaths of 9/11, and we radically altered so much of our nation in the aftermath of that...what, precisely, is it going to take for (a not insignificant part of) America to finally get it?

Nothing will -- it should have been after the first time the deaths of 9/11 were matched, I think.

Besides, the vaccine has arrived. No point in changing (general) your ways now.
Just hold on, and good luck!

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I obviously wish the states (all 50 of them) got their act together and did something substantial to flatten the curve, but I think it's too late for that... Still going strong in that first wave.

[Falcon Horus]

The Netherlands are in lockdown since last midnight.

All non-essential stores are closed. Schools are closed so exclusively teaching by ways of online classes.
They don't have a curfew, and can entertain a maximum of 2 guests per family, except on the 24th, 25 and 26th of December when they can invite 3 guests per family unit.

Which is ridiculous when you know their prime minister, Rutten, said it was imperitive to minimalize contacts -- he should he reduced that to 1 then.

****

In the meantime, Belgium has plateaud and our reproduction number is back above 1 which means that infections are going up again too. However, it should be noted that there is more testing again as we had ceased testing for people who'd come into contact with someone positive but didn't exhibit symptoms themselves. Our labs couldn't keep up and there weren't enough kits available.

****

Vaccinations won't start until the 5th of January over here.

[Falcon Horus]

Brussels region maintains curfew from 10pm to 5am on Christmas and New Year's, while Flanders is still from midnight to 5am and Walloon from 10pm to 5am.

Basically, the holidays are pretty much cancelled.

***

Sidenote: I'm a stone's throw away from the Brussels region (in a manner of speaking), firmly have my feet in Flanders so not bound by their curfew.

[Falcon Horus]

Thanks to a careless tweet by a Belgian politician's communications team, I present to you the price of the vaccines (per dosage) against Covid-19:

AstraZeneca => 1,78 € -- 2,18 USD -- 2,87 AUSD -- £ 1,61

Janssen Pharmaceutica (J&J) => 6,94 € -- 11,18 AUSD -- £ 6,28 -- 8,50 USD

Sanofi/GSK => 7,56 € -- 9,27 USD -- 12,20 AUSD -- £ 6,85

BioNTech/Pfizer => 12,00 € -- 14,71 USD -- 19,36 AUSD -- £ 10,87

Curevac => 10,00 € -- 12,25 USD -- 16,14 AUSD -- £ 9,07

Moderna => 14,69 € -- 18,00 USD -- 23,70 AUSD -- £ 13,32

[Womble]

Thanks to a careless tweet by a Belgian politician's communications team, I present to you the price of the vaccines (per dosage) against Covid-19:

AstraZeneca => 1,78 € -- 2,18 USD -- 2,87 AUSD -- £ 1,61

Janssen Pharmaceutica (J&J) => 6,94 € -- 11,18 AUSD -- £ 6,28 -- 8,50 USD

Sanofi/GSK => 7,56 € -- 9,27 USD -- 12,20 AUSD -- £ 6,85

BioNTech/Pfizer => 12,00 € -- 14,71 USD -- 19,36 AUSD -- £ 10,87

Curevac => 10,00 € -- 12,25 USD -- 16,14 AUSD -- £ 9,07

Moderna => 14,69 € -- 18,00 USD -- 23,70 AUSD -- £ 13,32

And naturally, the two most expensive ones were approved first.

The Russian vaccine is not on the list, I notice.

Israel bought it earlier, but apparently it was not approved for use and was resold to one of the Gulf states, apparently to be donated to the Palestinians. I guess there was some truth in the joke that the only reason Israel could've bought the Russian vaccine was to use it as a weapon...

In other news, the Israeli health ministry is about to declare all countries in the world as "red" countries, which means anyone going anywhere will need to endure a 14 day quarantine upon return. The main reason, apparently is once again political; like with the USA in the beginning of the pandemic, Israel cannot declare UAE a red country without triggering a diplomatic crisis. And my agency has just begun marketing organized tours to Dubai...

[Falcon Horus]

The Russian vaccine is not on the list, I notice.

The list only contains those vaccines Belgian government has bought stock from.

Also, I don't think the Russian one works... I mean, their infection-rate is skyrocketing so I doubt it was of much use.

[Falcon Horus]

Brexit's come early as countries on the mainland are closing their borders to all travelers from the UK, since they are dealing with a mutated covid-strain which appears to be 70% more contagious than the old strain.

The symptoms are the same, except it has a higher contagion level.

The virus adapts.

BUT it does mean that Brexit happens a wee bit earlier than january first.

[Gatefan1976]

We are back in hard lockdown because 2 yahoo's spread covid to 80+ people
People are idiots.

[jelgate]

Even COVID won't stop my yearly bacon party in my shed

I actually tested positive a few weeks ago but I honestly had a very light reaction

[Gatefan1976]

You are in my shed you housebreaking arsehat!!!
But we do have bacon