You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
Off Topic Chat
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Corona Chat
Kristie wrote: "Janice, I'm so surprised at how some people have responded to this situation. I also say that it is temporary and people look at me like I'm nuts. They keep wanting to call it the "new normal" and ..."I remind them to look at the 1918 Spanish Flu because it's really history repeating itself. Life continued on after that pandemic had run its course, and this will too. I'm not a huge fan of the term "the new normal". Our lives are always marked by significant events that alter things. Normal isn't static. It's always fluctuating.
I agree with you about wearing masks being no different than wearing shoes or seat belts or other restrictions. I really think the anti-maskers are coming from a place of fear, all the while accusing others of being fearful.
Jayme wrote: "I'm at the point now that I don't have any sympathy for people who get COVID and chose not to follow the mandates - masks, stay at home etc. This isn't new anymore. We know what to do. I was readi..."
I'm so sorry to hear that Jayme. That is really really tough. It's hard enough loosing people you care about in normal times, but even worse with all these restrictions in place. Look after you this Christmas
And we are always here for a rant. That's the wonderful thing about this group. We can rant at each other about whatever is going on in our lives, even disagree about things, but we're always around to support one another and make sure we are all reading a good book or two. Sometimes I feel this place is one of the few that has it's priorities straight ;)
The Uk-France border is back open again. Phew. Hey are testing lorry drivers before letting them cross. There is going to be a bqck log and some disruption to supply chain but at least that part of it is moving again even if not all of it is.It's looking like further tier 4 announcements will be made for us here today. Yesterday we had the highest amount of recorded cases (around 37000) in a 24hr period since tthe beginning of the pandemic. Crazy.
Rusalka wrote: "Jayme wrote: "I'm at the point now that I don't have any sympathy for people who get COVID and chose not to follow the mandates - masks, stay at home etc. This isn't new anymore. We know what to do..."Thank you Rusalka for your kind words and support. This group has been a wonderful place to escape and to vent.
@Jayme: sometimes it can be a relief to just put your thoughts here and vet. I’m so sorry for your loss and saying goodbye to a loved one is though on its own, but even harder now. It’s sad that friendships gets broken due to this discussions about masks, vaccins...There are a lot of families and friends where the relationships get broken because of that.It’s sad and worrrying that only the economics and politics gets highlighted in this pandemic. I notice that, in Belgium, there’s not enough attention for the social, mental and emotional impact, especially on the young adults. I thought our government had learned from the first lockdown, but no. I think this will have an impact on us for a long time.
But still, we need to be optimistic. My message on my Christmas-card is:
2020 was the year where we needed to re-invent ourself. 2021 will be the year of optimism and positivism.
It may sound mellow, but that’s my message to the group. Thanks for being such an amazing group!
I just read a headline that Antarctica now has its first case of Covid, so it is now on every continent. My first reaction was - How?! There must have been some travel or something involved, but I didn't read the article. I'm just done with it for the day. This has been a difficult month for covid here personally. I'm pretty exhausted just thinking about it.
My uncle passed this morning due to covid, just two days before Christmas. He and my aunt had 5 children, they are all married, 7 grandchildren all of them with partners as well, some with children of their own. Due to the size of their family, they may have to limit the service just to themselves. I'm really sad that there will be another funeral service that I can't attend.
Sorry for your loss Jayme, I missed that when I first read through thee posts.
Kristie wrote: "I just read a headline that Antarctica now has its first case of Covid, so it is now on every continent. My first reaction was - How?! There must have been some travel or something involved, but I ..."Sorry for your losses, Jayme and Kristie
I faced the same issue early this summer when my cousin passed. Only a few of us could attend. The funeral was streamed for other family members or friends that wanted to attend virtually. Not ideal but better than nothing.
I'm so so sorry to hear that Kristie. Thinking of you and your family :(
Jayme and Kristie, thinking of you both. This make things so much harder...
I'm really sorry to hear about your uncle, Kristie, and your friend Jayme. Its such a difficult time of the year. Big hugs to you both!
Thanks, everyone. I know it’s been difficult for everyone else too.
Kristie wrote: "I just read a headline that Antarctica now has its first case of Covid, so it is now on every continent. My first reaction was - How?! There must have been some travel or something involved, but I ..."Oh that is so sad, Kristie. My thoughts are with you.
Really sorry for your loss Kristie. Sending hugs...
Krisite I am so sorry. Wishing you comfort and sending a big virtual hug.
I'm so sorry for your loss, Kristie, big hugs to you and your family.
Ugh, more changes to restrictions today. It's all getting very tiresome and very confusing. We've just moved up to tier 3 so all hospitality closes, I think that's all the difference between tier 2 and tier 3 but I've lost track now. Yesterday we had a record number of 53,000 cases in a 24hr period and now today we've had 981 deaths in 24hrs. That's nearing the amount of deaths we had in the first spike. Yes we have much weaker restrictions in place now than we did then. Our government is ridiculous. We really need a national lockdown, one where the schools close. I know we know have two vaccines approved for use but it's still going to be ages before enough people have been vaccinated to bring the cases down and lift restrictions. Our hospitals and ambulance service are close to breaking point right now.
It's nuts! I am in tier 4. We were placed into tier 4 a week before Christmas and to be honest, I was quite pleased. Spent Christmas at home with Dave and that was that. For tier 4, I have just taken the message "stay at home" as literally as possible - we have stayed at home.
Tier 3 is as you have said Sarah. The Mail Online did a summary this afternoon of each tier which, I must say, for The Mail, is really good!
I think schools will be closed but there is a lot of push back on this. With the new strain, however, I think closure will definitely happen.
Tier 3 is as you have said Sarah. The Mail Online did a summary this afternoon of each tier which, I must say, for The Mail, is really good!
I think schools will be closed but there is a lot of push back on this. With the new strain, however, I think closure will definitely happen.
I see that some schools in tier 4 areas are closing and then a staggered start elsewhere. Stay at home is basicqlly what I've been doing all year regardless of what tier i'm in. I am quite worried about this new strain.
I am too. Our numbers just keep increasing. The schooling is so confusing at the moment. I am glad it is one less thing I have to think about.
So sorry to hear of your losses Jayme and Kristie. As everyone has said, difficultThe UK numbers are scary and we are fast following in your direction. Our new cases are up 62% since last week.
Pete and me are ranting at our media at the moment. They continually refer to the 2nd strain as the "UK strain" or "the strain that originated in GB". Just because you guys had the expertise to detect it it has become your faut that it exists! I see this blame game as being driven by europe as more punishment for brexit. As if the divides weren't bitter enough.....
not sure if i'm making much sense as I'm grotty ATM. Have nasty sinus infection so on antibios, steroids and painkillers :( This is why I'm so quiet these days.
Margo wrote: "Pete and me are ranting at our media at the moment. They continually refer to the 2nd strain as the "UK strain" or "the strain that originated in GB."Interesting Margo. It's being referred to as that here too, as it is so prevalent and highly spread in the UK. Just seems to be a reasonable way to differentiate between the strains. And it's reached Aus from a traveler from the UK too (although I know it was first found in South Africa). Not sure the intention of the media in Europe, but just saying that it's standard here too with no baggage of Brexit.
Hope you feel better soon! Sinus infections are horrible :(
Sorry to hear you guys are being locked down further in the UK, but sounds like a good idea. But that is terrible if they are not being clear about the rules. What everyone needs is certainty. People can usually deal with most things if they know what the frick is going on. Look after you all.We have a couple of clusters in Sydney, but the NSW government won't lockdown outside of a small area and won't mandate masks. Today we have a total of 8 people test positive in Melbourne, and they have mandated masks indoors again, and are locking the border with NSW (Sydney). All other governments are closing borders with NSW and Victoria (Melbourne). The NSW government in contrast still letting 30 000 people go to the cricket tomorrow in Sydney. FFS.
I saw that too Margo. The media does have a lot to answer for.
There aree two new strains here now, onee wwhich originated in South Africa and one which supposedly originated here. I don't think Europe has anything to do with how the media is portraying it. It happened with the original strain being called the Chinese virus in the US. People kicked off about that but aren't doing the same this time around. I'm not bothered about it really. It's here, it's bad, and we need to do something about it. Oh I welcome the restrictions Rusalka. I personally think they need to be stricter. Different regions having different restrictions and them changing every few days is confusing for everyone. Then there are a lot of people not following the rules still.
Amen to that Sarah! We are in country wide lockdown for at least a month.Possibly we're being a bit oversensitive about the media coverage but when it's being rammed home 10 times in every news report that it "originated in Britain". We don't know that, we do know that it was first detected in Kent, near to the channel tunnel. You're right in comparing the situation to Trump's constant blaming the Chinese for the original virus. It's not as obvious as Trump but the intonation is there.
The important thing is that the variants are here. They were inevitable. They are expected to be less deadly but more infectious than the original. This is evolution, they want more hosts who will live longer. According to the virologists each new generation should become less deadly, so yeah, humanity will learn to live with this and hopefully governments will be more prepared for the next one and understand that viruses will spring up and then mutate. It's what they do.
Ah, k. Didn't know there were two new strains. Completely agree, lock shit down if you need to. And you should!! But communicate it clearly and consistently. Sounds like that isn't the case in the UK from what you guys are saying. It's also not happening here in Sydney, including locking down and it looks like according to epidemiologists at 150+ cases, they have missed the boat.
My friend just confirmed her son is definitely back to school on Monday. She is very concerned. I've also just told my boss I will be working from home from Monday. Not sure it went down very well, but I don't really care at this point. I'm tier 4, the message being stay at home, and I can work from home.
The tier system, in my opinion, has increased the confusion. Not to mention that people don't always know what tier their county actually falls in. They would be better off just locking us all down again.
The tier system, in my opinion, has increased the confusion. Not to mention that people don't always know what tier their county actually falls in. They would be better off just locking us all down again.
Surely though there is a government website that states "Tier 4 means X, Y, and Z" that you could refer your boss to if they are unhappy?Is this just naive? I would have never thought the wheels had fallen off this badly in the UK, government directives are just that... right?
The government website lists all the rules for each tier but there is room for misinterpretation all over the place. And where people can bend the rules, they are. So in tier 2 you can only have alcohol with aa substantial meal so people were buying a scotcch egg, not eating it until the end of aa night of drinking. And the pubs were encouraging it as they got more money. And there are some blatently breaking the rules. So people from all over the country, mainly from tier 4 areas, were turned away from a national park in Wales which is in national lockdown. People don't seem to either understand 'stay local' and 'stay at home' or they don''t care. There were a lot of parties last night that police attended and broke up despite nowhere in the country being allowed to mix inside with anyone outside your household. Dominic Cummings is to blame for some of this.The gov website also lists the regions in each tier. But it requires people to look at it and not everyone has access. Press conferences aren't stating the restrictions by region any more, relying on people to check the website for themselves. And when they were, when asked questions by the press, they often didn't know the rules themselves and often gave conflicting advice.
In the first lockdown, employers were good aboit the work from home but as time has gone on, they aren't as keen. And because they've worded it as 'work from home where possible' it has meant some employers have insisted their workers go in.
The gov website here is confusing too. And then there are some cases of extra restrictions/recused restrictions e.g.-everybody not an "essential worker" is to work from home.
schools till 1st Feb
-school holidays have been extended to mid Jan
-preschools open as usual
If you understand the reasoning there you're doing better than me!
@Anna - I understand your friends concern. Parents and teachers unions are concerned here as well.
Margo, so hard for parents and teachers. Also, I feel for the kids.
Our company was very good at the beginning but now they have put in place safety measures, they prefer we go in. I am extremely lucky that my office is not full of people and I do have my own office, but I would prefer to limit access to people outside of my household if I can. I think my boss is of the view that our office is "safe" therefore you can come in.
The gov website is helpful, (once you find the section you need) but can be misinterpreted or people put a spin on the rules.
I thought the whole pub thing was ridiculous.
Our company was very good at the beginning but now they have put in place safety measures, they prefer we go in. I am extremely lucky that my office is not full of people and I do have my own office, but I would prefer to limit access to people outside of my household if I can. I think my boss is of the view that our office is "safe" therefore you can come in.
The gov website is helpful, (once you find the section you need) but can be misinterpreted or people put a spin on the rules.
I thought the whole pub thing was ridiculous.
In the middle of December, Alberta declared an emergency and put us in to a lockdown. We're basically to stay in our homes unless there is a need to go out. We cannot have people into our homes or go to others' homes. There is to be no non-essential travel. It's been revealed that our Minister of Municipal Affairs, who is responsible for the roll out of the vaccine, and who has botched it (delays and errors), just returned from a family vacation in Hawaii.
What makes our elected officials, who put the population into lockdown, think they can break the rules? Seriously! This woman lives in my city, and is friends some of my friends. I don't know her personally. But the sheer lack of good judgement in this situation is staggering. The opposition party is calling for her resignation, and I'm on board with that.
Janice, it is infuriating. Such irresponsibility.
Janice wrote: "In the middle of December, Alberta declared an emergency and put us in to a lockdown. We're basically to stay in our homes unless there is a need to go out. We cannot have people into our homes or ..."That makes my blood boil Janice! It seems to be a world wide attitude that those is power don't needs to obey the rules. The restrictions apply to us plebs only 🤬
That's appalling, Janice. She should be sacked immediately. What is it about Hawaii? Our PM buggered off there this time last year when half the country was on fire. His response was "well, I don't hold a hose". Dead set. He, or really his PR team, have realised he can't do that again with the pandemic. Particularly as his job before politics was the head of Tourism Australia, and their slogan/media campaign while he was there was "Where the bloody hell are ya?". Enter the memes...
Janice wrote: "In the middle of December, Alberta declared an emergency and put us in to a lockdown. We're basically to stay in our homes unless there is a need to go out. We cannot have people into our homes or ..."There is a pretty long list of elected officials in Canada that went abroad. I really hate the "do as I say, not as I do as i am above all this" way of thinking.
The Quebec City area has been in the red zone (we have colors instead of tiers here) so basically the highest level possible. They restricted more for the holiday, closing down all non essentials services until Jan 11. And not allowing anyone to regroup for the holidays, placing a heavy fine for everyone that did. I suspected that it would lead to many parties in house basements. I believe i was right as cases are going up. I suspect January 11th will not be the end of our confinement.
Rusalka wrote: "His response was "well, I don't hold a hose."Maybe he should have been holding a hose.
Sandra wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "His response was "well, I don't hold a hose."Maybe he should have been holding a hose."
Yes. Exactly. Not hard to get, is it?
Now I am extremely grumpy at politicians of all stripes thinking they are above the rules and it's 2am. I'm still flabbergasted, particularly as you say Esther that it's really commonplace.More wine!
Our exalted premier (heavy sarcasm) called a press conference yesterday. It was the first time ever a premier has done so on New Years Day. He was fashionably late, keeping reporters waiting and wondering if he was even going to show up.He revealed that Tracy Allward wasn't the only one of the MLA's who left the country for Christmas. One went to Mexico and two went to the US. The premier refused to sanction any of them. While he said that it was poor judgement on their part, he wasn't going to sanction them. "I don't think it's reasonable for me as a leader to sanction people who very carefully followed the public health orders and the legal requirements," said Kenney. They followed the public health orders that said NO NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL??
Allward, in her press conference, apologized and said that she was upholding a family tradition. FFS! When people have had to forego family traditions (like holding a funeral), she thought her family tradition of vacationing on the beach was more important. While she was away, we had another 2 deaths in Grande Prairie which is her constituency. I'll bet those families are thrilled to know that the person they voted in was partying on the beach in Hawaii while their family member died.
I'm furious over this. I feel like booking a plane to Hawaii this week and going to visit my sister whom I haven't seen in almost 2 years. If the MLA's can thumb their noses at emergency measures they put into place, how can they expect others to comply? Except, I'm more responsible than that.
Janice wrote: "Our exalted premier (heavy sarcasm) called a press conference yesterday. It was the first time ever a premier has done so on New Years Day. He was fashionably late, keeping reporters waiting and wo..."Well, you would have "very carefully followed the public health orders and the legal requirements" until the moment of your trip to Hawaii, so I guess you would be covered. :/
I guess they don't have a concept of what the word "Mandatory" means when they post on the government website, "Mandatory measures in place".
Yep, this is what happened with Dominic Cummings here. No apologies. No sacking. And sinnce then, people are less compliant with the restrictions.
Yep, that's what happens when our leaders lose moral authority. Question Janice -do you think your Premier could haven took an little break for himself?
Sarah wrote: "Yep, this is what happened with Dominic Cummings here. No apologies. No sacking. And sinnce then, people are less compliant with the restrictions."Even I know this guy's a bellend.
Margo wrote: "Yep, that's what happens when our leaders lose moral authority. Question Janice -do you think your Premier could haven took an little break for himself?"
Nothing has come forward to suggest that he was away.
He said that he wasn't aware that the MLA's were away. Many people are questioning that because it's common practice that MLA's get clearance to go on vacation so that their responsibilities can be covered by others. You would think that the Minister responsible for the Covid vaccine roll out would certainly have had to cover her responsibilities.
What's angering many people is that all the MLA's had pre filmed Christmas greetings. While they were soaking up the sun in tropical places, they were posting these greetings showing them at home in the snow all bundled up. It looks suspicious, but the government says that it's common practice for them to pre film these greetings. I get the logistics of pre film greetings, but the whole thing is just tone deaf.
People in Grande Prairie are really angry at Allward. They are demanding that she resign. I didn't vote for her myself, but those that did feel betrayed.
You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Catch-22 (other topics)The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories (other topics)
As our immunity when we get the vaccin, it's up to a maximum of 7 months, but no one is talking about what is next then.
As the new strain is more serious for kids: children can get really rare diseases after getting covid, but the cases are not high.
Viruses are mutating, that's normal. It's only when a virsu doesn't mutate, like ebola, then it's get really dangerous.
Stay safe everyone.