COVID-19 thread

[doctor shark]

In not particularly surprising things, the Dutch government announced a three-week "partial lockdown" due to climbing case numbers: essential businesses and restaurants have to be fully closed by 20:00, with most non-essential businesses having to close by 18:00; more businesses are required to check/verify the Coronacheck passes for more purposes; the 1.5-meter distance rule is back in order (though not legally binding due to legal stuff, but "strongly recommended"); and we're back to "work from home unless unavoidable". The cabinet is planning to also give businesses the power to impose a tighter pass requirement (rather than allowing for access with testing, that you must either be recovered or vaccinated to enter businesses) or, in some businesses where passes aren't obligatory, allowing them to require a pass for entry.

Fortunately, as a lab worker, I can still go to work (in person), though now it's looking like I should pull back to about 50% working time at the uni. However, what's frustrating about this is that a new different tranche of regulations was imposed just last week, and before the measures had time to work their magic, lockdown. And a lot of businesses aren't enforcing the mask requirements, which is frustrating as well: about 85% of people follow the rules, but of course not everyone does. I also get a hunch we may end up with a(nother) full lockdown soon...

[Raphael]

So, there's now a Covid case physically pretty close to me - I don't feel comfortable getting more specific because I don't want to post confidential information online. So, all the best to the person in question and their family, and good luck to the rest of us.

[doctor shark]

So, as of today, the lockdown here tightened to closing practically everything, except supermarkets, between 17:00 and 5:00, and this was before the announcement of the omicron variant. Uni's still open, at least, so I can go to do labwork, but it feels like a lot of yo-yoing between levels of restrictions here, and I have a feeling we may end up with a full lockdown again...

The current restrictions are due to be reviewed in three weeks' time, but I fly back to the US for three weeks on 20 December, so... yeah.

[Vardelm]

The current restrictions are due to be reviewed in three weeks' time, but I fly back to the US for three weeks on 20 December, so... yeah.

Happy European Christmas Vacation???

Rates are up quite a bit here in Michigan, to the point that the feds are coordinating extra medical staff to augment what's here. I don't see us going back to any kind of lockdown; there's just too many idiots on the right here who refuse to take any responsibility aside from praying, which really is the abdication of responsibility in favor of The Holy Someone Else handling it for them. Personally, I'd be happy with yo-yo lockdowns.

The refusal of many to get vaccinated and the inability of governments & corporations to get even more vaccines out to poor countries is - IMV - allowing time & bodies for COVID to mutate. At this rate, I feel like we don't get out of this cycle unless just enough people get vaccinated (with vaccinations continuing to be effective) and enough people dying of COVID that there is no longer enough vulnerable population to allow for variants to spread. So yeah, that's kind of dark.

[doctor shark]

The current restrictions are due to be reviewed in three weeks' time, but I fly back to the US for three weeks on 20 December, so... yeah.

Happy European Christmas Vacation???

Had that last year and was rather sad and lonely, so I'm hoping that's not the case this year! Plus it's been now almost two years since I've seen the kittens and my mother.

That said, for now, the flights to/from the US are still operating, and I am allowed to cross the border in both directions (because I have a vaccination certificate plus a Dutch residence permit and US passport), but I have no idea if that will last given that the Omicron variant got detected both in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Rates are up quite a bit here in Michigan, to the point that the feds are coordinating extra medical staff to augment what's here. I don't see us going back to any kind of lockdown; there's just too many idiots on the right here who refuse to take any responsibility aside from praying, which really is the abdication of responsibility in favor of The Holy Someone Else handling it for them. Personally, I'd be happy with yo-yo lockdowns.

The refusal of many to get vaccinated and the inability of governments & corporations to get even more vaccines out to poor countries is - IMV - allowing time & bodies for COVID to mutate. At this rate, I feel like we don't get out of this cycle unless just enough people get vaccinated (with vaccinations continuing to be effective) and enough people dying of COVID that there is no longer enough vulnerable population to allow for variants to spread. So yeah, that's kind of dark.

Dark as though it may be, I think it's true: the big thing is that enough people need to be protected to slow down the rate of mutations. So either people need to get sick and recover (or not at all) or get vaccinated, and the fact that the poorer countries have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of vaccinations is a big risk, and a lot of people are hopefully seeing that with Omicron. But the bigger issue, to me, is the refusal to get vaccinated, and not just in terms of the lack of protection but also the fact that many of those who aren't vaccinated also seem to have a mentality that the illness won't be that bad after all, and they correspondingly don't take precautions to slow or mitigate the spread.

My problem with yo-yo lockdowns is more the messaging from the Dutch government. Many of the restrictions got lifted last year in August/September, and then we went into a lockdown in October through April. Similarly, numbers shoot up whenever restrictions get lifted, so there's always a knee-jerk reaction and we go back into yo-yo mode all over again (almost all restrictions were lifted at the end of September!).

They are picking up the third dose campaign, but who knows when I'll be eligible: in February, it'll have been six months since my second dose, but...

[Raphael]

In Germany, opponents of Covid measures fascist thugs have held a nightly protest with torchlights at the personal home of the Minister of Health of the State of Saxony, Petra Köpping. I'm really, really, really sick of that crowd.

[Ares Land]

Over here we got a lot of talk about a fifth wave and the Omicron variant. It's not as yet very clear how much we should panic. (My guess: if you work in the ER or anything related, very much, otherwise not very.)
Anecdotally, there sure are a lot of Covid cases around me.

I'd like to get a booster shot soon-ish (I regularly visit my parents in the hospital; in any case I don't have the time for even mild symptoms) but there's apparently no way to get one. That's seriously annoying.

[Linguoboy]

Most everyone I know is acting as if rates were still as low as they were a few months ago, when actually they're the highest they've been since April and the availability of ICU beds stands at 10%. The dissonance is confusing. I was planning on a very social weekend--I was even considering seeing a movie in the theatre again--and now I'm wondering if that makes any sense.

[doctor shark]

At Tuesday's press conference, no changes to the rules (still the lockdown-ish regulations from 17:00 to 5:00 every day and emotional distancing otherwise) and people are still recommended to not have more than four visitors for Christmas. That said, they're going to pick up the booster dose campaign and try to have everyone offered the chance to get a third dose by the end of January, in addition to reducing the interval between doses from at least six months to now at least three, which means I'd be able to get stabbed again in January (hopefully) and won't have to investigate how to get stabbed while I'm in the US for a visit.

Also not looking forward to having restrictions possibly change while I'm on the trip... they already reduced the window for the pre-departure test from three days to one day (fortunately I'd not made the appointment, so that was easy to rearrange), and while I don't have a pre-departure test required to return to the Netherlands, the 3-hour layover through London could complicate things.

[hwhatting]

Now that the booster campaign gets going, the incoming Health Minister*) has staken stock and found out that Germany will have too little vaccines early next year... well, it's probably good that they checked at least. Yesterday he held a press conference together with the new Finance Minister announcing extra money for buying vaccines. Fingers crossed.
*) Karl Lauterbach, from the Social Democrats, a trained doctor. He has become a household name over the last two years because he's been arguing for stricter COVID measures wherever he got a pulpit (no talk show on the topic was complete without him), and so people either found him the exactly right choice for the job (those who think that our politicians have sleep-walked through the pandemic, or at least reduced restrictions too early again and again) or groaned (those who just want COVID to go away or think the economic damage from lock-downs is more important than the health damage done by pandemic).

[Vilike]

I'd like to get a booster shot soon-ish (I regularly visit my parents in the hospital; in any case I don't have the time for even mild symptoms) but there's apparently no way to get one. That's seriously annoying.

No way before the end of the year because of the rush towards appointments, or no way at all for you? I am eligible since mid-December, as I had the second jab in July.

[Ares Land]

I've been eligible since early December. Fortunately, I was able to get an appointment today... but I was surprised to find out lots of vaccination centers were closed.

[MacAnDàil]

It's true that me and my girlfriend got our first two doses from the hospital down the road, but we couldn't seem to find the hospital available for third doses. We did get our third doses last week on the other side of town though.

[doctor shark]

And, as of 5:00 UTC+01 on Sunday, we here in the luscious and moist Nether Regions are entering a full lockdown, including total school closures and all businesses closed except for supermarkets and other essential shops.

It also now turns out that there'll be a fairly strict testing requirement for returning to the Netherlands from this week. Up to now, fully vaccinated travellers not from a red-zone country just needed a proof of vaccination; now, there's a requirement for a PCR or antigen test for travel within 48 hours of departure. (So finding a test that'll be acceptable for travel might be "fun"...)

[Vardelm]

now, there's a requirement for a PCR or antigen test for travel within 48 hours of departure. (So finding a test that'll be acceptable for travel might be "fun"...)

That shouldn't be too difficult actually. Quite a few urgent care facilities (the type you find in strip malls) can do PCR tests. They contract with local labs to process the tests. We have several near us, and we live in a relatively small town. They text/email your results to you within 24 or 36 hours, depending on the lab. We had to use them to cross the border into Canada and it mostly went smooth. The most recent one texted my home phone instead of mobile, but we got that resolved the morning we left for Canada.

[Raphael]

Vardelm: the problem might be with finding a test result certification that the Dutch authorities will actually accept. But I don't know anything about Covid-related regulations in the Netherlands, so I'll shut up now.

[doctor shark]

Vardelm: the problem might be with finding a test result certification that the Dutch authorities will actually accept. But I don't know anything about Covid-related regulations in the Netherlands, so I'll shut up now.

At least according to France, the requirements are quite parallel to the requirements I have for travel to the US: nationally approved testing provider, using an approved kind of test (NAAT or antigen), within the time window of travel. The Dutch government has yet to announce what the new requirements will be, though, so I'm keeping an eye open (and will do so throughout the trip!). The big thing is the window: one of the issues with the US requirement was that the test couldn't be older than the day before travel, so that meant pretty much a rapid antigen test rather than a PCR/NAAT.

And speaking of travel, AAAAAAH I LEAVE TOMORROW CUE PRE-TRAVEL ANXIETY FLARE-UP AAAAAAAH

[Vardelm]

The big thing is the window: one of the issues with the US requirement was that the test couldn't be older than the day before travel, so that meant pretty much a rapid antigen test rather than a PCR/NAAT.

Yeah, I guess that 1 day requirement makes things rough. Hopefully antigen is enough.

tiny, tiny things

All the best! You got this!

[doctor shark]

So now the Netherlands has designated the US as a "very high risk" area, which normally would require a 5-10-day quarantine on (re-)entering the Netherlands. Fortunately, however, because my trip to the US is for a "necessary family visit" (under Dutch rules, this includes visits after long periods of family separation due to the pandemic, which was two years for me), I am (for now) still exempted from having to go into quarantine on returning, but I do need to figure out the testing for the return and when I have to get the tests. But, either way, we'll make this work; I still have about two weeks of kitten playtime left.

[Raphael]

I just got boosted. I think that was the longest queue I've ever waited in.