Coronavirus

I'm so sorry.

Condolences. I'm sorry that happened.

Gosh sorry to hear that MG.

I can’t wait for this corona to sit its ass the **** down. Here in Denmark things are shutting down, opening up, shutting down etc. And I’m currently educating myself in film and television, which is an education consisting of 5 “parts”, so to speak, each part being a couple of weeks and then back on the workplace that’s connected to my education.

Anyway, the FIRST PART of those five parts, has just been temporarily shut down AGAIN for the SECOND TIME for me... that means, I need to go back to the other side of the country for just one single week because I have to finish it to be able to continue. So yeah, I need to go back for a freaking THIRD TIME now in order to finish. And of course I’m more than saddened to hear of all the death and sickness it has caused. That’s obviously a global tragedy. But there’s so much to this virus. All the jobs lost, all the lives affected by this stupid virus.

And I’m really not happy with the way the government is handling this pandemic in my country. I feel like I’ve been patient and trusted their decisions, but lately I feel like they are taking some very poor choices.*

The sooner we can see some light in all this the better.... I feel like I’ve just about had it with this stupid virus by now.

I’m so sorry, MG. You have my condolences.

New rules for England...


Ok, so the 5 day period over Christmas, of allowing up to 3 households to mix isn't allowed anymore...

However up to 3 households *can* mix on Christmas Day for that one day.

"New tier 4" rules in the SE of England:
No mingling at all of any households over Christmas... apart from on Christmas Day...
No leaving the tier 4 areas... unless it's for work, religion, leaving the country..,
It's also ok to move around and mingle, if you're visiting relatives, but only on Christmas Day.

Also, even in the "new tier 4" in the SE of England... you can have hundreds, or even thousands of people mingling at the same time, without boundaries, also without any particular days banned or not banned... as long as it's in a Church. And this can happen on any day you choose.

It's like saying, "We've tightened the rules to stop the spread of CoVid... by not coughing on people on December 24th or 26th... but if you cough on people on December 25th, it'll be ok, because it'll only be happening on one day... or if you're going to Church, you can move around completely freely and ignore the new rules"

Absolutely backwards.

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The degree to which all of the lockdowns and regulations refuse to really be strict is a big part, in my opinion, of why this continues to linger the way that it does at the high level it's at.

I have to drive 30 minutes to get groceries because my local stores won't enforce mask wearing. Like, at all.

And with the lack of really strict rules, people are just doing whatever they define as "safe". A man in a parking lot the other day found out I was a teacher and yelled at me "You need to reopen them schools!". Okay, sir. He was not wearing a mask and I'd just watched him rant in the face of a customer service person for several minutes. I went to pick up a gift today (ordered online, you go to the store and ring a bell and they hand you your order through a little door, etc), and I was shocked at the number of people just out and about. Lots of people wearing masks incorrectly, jostling past each other. Today I watched a small crowd of people come out of a church, not a mask in sight.

Yep, and it's the lack of definitive rules makes a huge difference.

You can't mingle... but you can mingle... you can't leave certain tier areas... but you can leave certain tier areas... you can't mix households... but you can mix households... you have to wear a mask... but you don't have to wear a mask...


Also... this vaccine...
Have the vaccine... you're now vaccinated... but you still have to wear a mask...

... because you're not vaccinated... even though you are.

Give it another couple weeks, and the whole thing, quoting Dan Aykroyd... is gonna blow like a frog on a hotplate.

I think that part of the problem is that people are just picking and choosing from the science and information that is available.

Masking helps prevent spread. Distancing helps prevent spread. It's not about picking one of those things--it's about doing BOTH.

It's also still too early to know how the vaccine will work. It's possible with some vaccines that you can still catch, carry, and spread the disease--but the vaccine prevents you from getting too sick with it.

For example, my chickens are vaccinated against Marek's disease. But the vaccine doesn't actually keep them from getting sick--it just teaches their body to ignore the virus. If they spread it to an unvaccinated chicken, they could kill it.

So we could end up in a situation where people who are vaccinated can still spread the disease. That would obviously be really dangerous for people with weaker immune systems or people who can't medically get vaccinated.

Again: it's all too early to tell with the vaccine and how it will play out. I just wish that the general approach among the population was to be incredibly conservative about behavior instead of what's actually happening, which seems to be a lot of people doing whatever they want based on some vague gut instinct about safety. Every time I think about that woman saying lockdown needs to end because she wants to get her hair done, or the guy who complained about how his freedoms were being "trampled" because his local bar was closed I kind of want to punch a wall.

According to the NYTimes yesterday, alarming how many countries are not letting Brits in.

Amazing to me (since I don’t live there) is how an island nation has made herself so vulnerable. I recall speaking to one of my bros early in the crisis & he was surprisingly cavalier about the entire thing. Even though his son had just made it out of Italy in the nick of time after a skiing trip.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

It would have been nice if countries had done this first time around, stopping air travel for a certain time...




Tier 4 you can't mix at Christmas at all, not even for the actual day unless you have a support bubble. Not a 'Christmas bubble'.

Some of my relatives are in tier 4 now and they have had to all cancel their Christmas plans because you can not go to other households now even on the day. But my Aunt who lives on her own is going to one house to join her daughter because they are in a support bubble.

As someone who lives in UK I think the government have acted too lax and have not been strict enough. It bothers me that no matter what laws are enforced, I still see many people going about their business like the rules don't apply to them. Come on Boris you can't please everyone. The total country needs a solid lockdown. Not a tier system that has a constant yo yo effect.

Who remembers when a bubble was just ... a bubble?

Also while I'm on a rant I just want to stress how much I loath the media for hyping things up and causing widespread panic. Yes things are bad but, most of what they report is speculation rather than fact. With this and the current Brexit situation, I just want to hibernate.

I read the New York Times every day. I don’t get that impression from them. But, then again, my brother in England has advised me to stop reading it as the news upsets me. He says they need to fill the pages with something!

Well I was cleared to return to work today. My boss's boss gave me the option to return today or tomorrow.. I took tomorrow.. at least I will be there a full day.

NYT's foreign coverage is beyond rubbish. Same goes for WaPo.

I am not defending the UK government and you will have a better idea, being a resident, but I wonder how much of it is also down to people from first world countries refusing to take strict orders, considering how you guys value the concept of freedom.




On a side note, I will applaud the UK government for informing the world about the new strain. It has allowed others to act quickly and stop incoming flights from UK. If only China had done such a thing last year, instead of supressing facts and arresting doctors, we would have been in a better situation.

Yes I agree about people refusing to take orders. I see it all the time even on my street. People seem to think they are above the law and the orders are not applicable to them. Everyone is so sick of the whole scenario but until people are kept apart, this will not just disappear. We need a harsher punishment for those not conforming but I don’t know how they would police it.

I get very frustrated because an honest-to-goodness lockdown would go such a long way!

But what do I hear from my students? "We went to SkyZone yesterday!" (that's a trampoline park, indoors). "We're having a big holiday cookie party with all my mom's friends and their kids!". Our county's positivity rate is 14.5% and climbing.

Everything is being done halfway and it's drawing this out so long. I have seen 6 people in person for the last few months, and they are all immediate family. I leave my house for groceries and once a month for pet food/chicken feed. But when I do leave, I see people inside restaurants! Maskless! It's just bizarre.

It feels like this:
"I need to lose weight so I don't die."
"Then you need to stop eating cakes and ice cream."
"What if I eat SOME cakes?"
" . . ."