International COVID-19 Megathread

[Silent Hunter]

I live in Britain. 4 hours plus in our emergency rooms is common for stuff that doesn't need ICU. Take a good audiobook.

[Silent Hunter]

What were their medical backgrounds?

[Silent Hunter]

I thought the Pfizer vaccine (also used on many Brits, of course) has a shorter "shelf life" than AZ?

IIRC, it was harder to transport and store than AZ. That may have changed.

[Silent Hunter]

Had my holiday there at just the right time it seems. Went in early October and they seemed to be taking Covid very seriously; yet Germany has fallen over just like everyone else. It seems every country is merely slowing down the flood - none can stop it.

[Silent Hunter]

I do not understand why countries just do not deploy their armed forces to force vaccinations? It seems more logistical than shutting the economy endlessly.

Restrictions on the use of the armed forces to enforce domestic law for one thing; many countries have their own versions of the Posse Comitatus Act. Using them to administer those vaccines is perfectly fine though - army medics are trained with using those needles.

[Silent Hunter]

There have now been a couple of cases of Scary New Variant confirmed in the UK.

And it's been enough for the Government to introduce some of the Plan B measures.

[Silent Hunter]

Also, if the virus is killed more quickly, there's less chance of a mutation spreading.

[Silent Hunter]

Not a Zero Covid proponent, but I'd rather not let it run wild if we can help it.

[Silent Hunter]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-covid-booster-vaccination-rates-tower-hamlets-newham-hackney-b972414.html

Low vaccination rate won't help.

[Silent Hunter]

Ironically, Britain with its higher rate of infection and vaccination is probably in a better place than many countries to deal with Omicron.

[Silent Hunter]

Great Britain for the first time in a while reports over 100,000 new cases in a single day. Omicron is dominating now.

First time full stop - we didn't do mass testing during the first wave, but it was estimated to be around 200,000 at the peak there.

[Silent Hunter]

A game I've started playing later is counting the number of Covid-19 people credited in TV shows.

[Silent Hunter]

The ZOE Covid tracker in the UK suggests a slowing of infection growth there.

[Silent Hunter]

We already restricted PCR tests here to those with symptoms.

Antigen/lateral flow tests are less reliable at detecting infections, but still very good at detecting if you're infectious. PCR tests can go too far the other way - you can test positive on a PCR for months after your infection because of residual virus traces in your system.

[Silent Hunter]

They've got that with face masks - advice is to consider wearing them in enclosed crowded spaces:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I doubt Transport for London will lift their requirement for them.

[Silent Hunter]

They've got that with face masks - advice is to consider wearing them in enclosed crowded spaces:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I doubt Transport for London will lift their requirement for them.

They dropped them as a condition of carriage today, still strongly recommended.

[Silent Hunter]

The article doesn't say that. It's an awful lot of coulds and maybes.

In any event, I have my booster booked.

[Silent Hunter]

This thing is so infectious now that just a bit of cloth isn't going to do a lot of good now.

[Silent Hunter]

Infectious, but happily not that serious for most.

I caught Omicron (probably) at the end of June. Had to work from home for a while and it took a month for the cough to go, but otherwise not too bad.

[Silent Hunter]

That would still be better than the United States per capita, mind.

[Silent Hunter]

Is there a news article for that? I want to share it with my European railway group.

[Silent Hunter]

Thanks.

[Silent Hunter]

Less than that on London transport now. More like 2%, if that.

[Silent Hunter]

Four times vaxxed and at least once infected myself. We'll see what happens in the autumn.