General Coronavirus chit chat thread - non-travel specific

[Pushka]

Very simple, it's about leadership, sending a signal that the vaccine is safe, the virus is indeed real and not some conspiracy theory and people should take the adequate precautions. Without that sort of leadership, it's easy to see, at least in some countries (perhaps not the UK), that 74 million people a big chunk of the population may not want to be vaccinated.

Yes I fully understand that. I just wondered whether others might go - hey - he or she has already had Covid so why are they having a shot? I was more thinking of the announcement that Trump was getting one.

In reality I think that people will be queuing in the streets to get it and that there will be a shortage.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes I fully understand that. I just wondered whether others might go - hey - he or she has already had Covid so why are they having a shot? I was more thinking of the announcement that Trump was getting one.

In reality I think that people will be queuing in the streets to get it and that there will be a shortage.

Never underestimate our friends in America. I suspect a large number of them still don't believe covid is real, and if it is, that it is only mild. Like their president said!

 

[Pushka]

Never underestimate our friends in America. I suspect a large number of them still don't believe covid is real, and if it is, that it is only mild. Like their president said!

I have wiped me hands of USA and focussing on the rest of the world . They have truly entered into Survival of the Fittest mode.

 

[drron]

A few more articles on C19.
Another repurposed drug being trialled.

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

New mutations are occurring.

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

Want to ski in Aspen well now you need a C19 test.

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

And more evidence emerges that China lied and is still lying about C19.

Leaked documents reveal China's mishandling of the early stages of Covid-19 pandemic

Misleading public data, a three-week lag in diagnosing new virus cases, and a previously undeclared regional spike in influenza cases: 117 pages of internal documents show a chaotic and underfunded provincial health care system struggling to confront a mysterious viral outbreak.

edition.cnn.com

People identified with genetic pre disposition to have increased risk for C19.

Common Vulnerabilities Across SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS

Individuals with genotypes corresponding to higher soluble IL17RA levels in plasma are at a decreased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization

www.coronavirustoday.com

And this might lead to new treatments.

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

 

[Cossie]

.....

And more evidence emerges that China lied and is still lying about C19.

Leaked documents reveal China's mishandling of the early stages of Covid-19 pandemic

Misleading public data, a three-week lag in diagnosing new virus cases, and a previously undeclared regional spike in influenza cases: 117 pages of internal documents show a chaotic and underfunded provincial health care system struggling to confront a mysterious viral outbreak.

edition.cnn.com

....

And if you do report it, this is likely to be the end result.

Chinese citizen journalist detained over COVID-19 reporting, ‘fed by tube’

Former lawyer Zhang Zhan, 37, has been on a hunger strike at a detention facility near Shanghai after being arrested in May for allegedly “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” through her repo…

nypost.com

 

[tgh]

Liberating Australia
There must be some numbers being run by the Chinese , the US is rapidly weakening and we have no real defence capability ( or inclination) at all .
Endless crayfish and wine for the Junta to enjoy and enough coal and Iron Ore to support a World Domination campaign.
Must be very tempting, they clearly see us as spoiled ,lazy, poorly trained and in need of liberation.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

.... they clearly see us as spoiled ,lazy, poorly trained and in need of liberation.

hmmm... some of the views on AFF you'd think 'liberation' would be welcome... can't have feet on seats, can't have pets on a plane, must wear modest clothing, can't wear flip-flops.

 

[drron]

Even more worrying is the developement in PNG where China is going to build a big fishing port in the Torres strait.
The Chinese fishing fleets are not there just to catch fish.

China’s Monster Fishing Fleet

Though not alone in its destructive practices, Beijing’s rapacious fleet causes humanitarian disasters and has a unique military mission.

foreignpolicy.com

 

[Cossie]

Even more worrying is the developement in PNG where China is going to build a big fishing port in the Torres strait.
The Chinese fishing fleets are not there just to catch fish.

China’s Monster Fishing Fleet

Though not alone in its destructive practices, Beijing’s rapacious fleet causes humanitarian disasters and has a unique military mission.

foreignpolicy.com

It's alarming given what they have done recently over east.

Crisis in the Galapagos: Chinese fishing fleets and COVID-19 threaten a natural wonder

Just south of the Galapagos' Marchena Island, there's a dive spot known by locals as the "fish arena."

phys.org

Chinese fishing armada plundered waters around Galápagos, data shows

Hundreds of vessels caught logging 73,000 hours of fishing in just one month in new analysis

www.theguardian.com

Was in Coles a couple of days ago, the majority of frozen fish was from or had been processed in the PRC. Aldi the same, unfortunately for what ever reason, people will go for the cheapest option, I realise some don't have a choice.

Off topic, but there is pressure on large clothing companies to stop buying cotton grown in western china due to human rights concerns.

China accused of forcing 570,000 people to pick cotton in Xinjiang

China is forcing hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other minorities to pick cotton by hand, a U.S. think-tank said, sparking calls for governments to ban all cotton imports from the Xinjiang region.

www.reuters.com

 

[drron]

Some more on C19 developements.

Serological Sciences Network to Study COVID Immune Response

NCI established the Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19 to study COVID immune response, improve testing, and speed treatment and vaccine development.

www.cancer.gov

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

Welcome to Precision Vaccinations News

Precision Vaccinations News publishes vaccine news patients can trust to make informed immunization decisions in partnership with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.

www.coronavirustoday.com

Common Vulnerabilities Across SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS

Individuals with genotypes corresponding to higher soluble IL17RA levels in plasma are at a decreased risk of COVID-19 hospitalization

www.coronavirustoday.com

 

[Princess Fiona]

Spoof but wish it was real

 

[Pushka]

Spoof but wish it was real View attachment 235985

And in a similar vein, in a cafe in Adelaide, some just can't help themselves.

 

[Lynda2475]

From SMH:​

Coronavirus spreads to Antarctica​

The last continent on earth untouched by COVID-19 has now recorded its first cases with 36 Chileans on an army base in Antarctica now testing positive for coronavirus.

ABC and Newsweek are reporting up to 36 people connected with a Chilean Army base on the continent were confirmed positive for the virus on Monday.

The base is located close to the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in West Antarctica well away from Australia’s bases in East Antarctica
The Australian Antarctic Division is seeking confirmation with Chilean authorities.

All 36 people have reportedly been evacuated to Southern Chile, where they are reported to be under isolation and in good condition. The station personnel were replaced by a new crew who had been quarantined and tested negative prior to their journey.

The Chilean Navy also reported on Monday that three crew members of a ship that provided logistical support to the Antarctic base had tested positive for the virus after returning from their mission, while the entire crew had tested negative before leaving for the voyage.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Taiwan reports first locally transmitted COVID-19 case since April​

I hear Taiwan has one new locally acquired case (first time since march). What are the details of this case?

-World watcher

You're living up to your name here, World watcher.

Taiwan has reported its first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since April 12, a friend of a New Zealand pilot who was confirmed to have been infected earlier this week, and is testing more than 100 contacts of the woman.

Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention methods and widespread mask wearing, with all new cases for more than the last 250 days being among travellers arriving on the island.

 

[Happy Trails]

Thailand has had a significant outbreak, the first in a long time.
Mainly among migrant workers from Myanmar.

Samut Sakhon goes into lockdown

Samut Sakhon has been put under lockdown with a curfew from 10pm-5am in effect until Jan 3 following a surge of more than 500 Covid-19 cases on Saturday.

www.bangkokpost.com

Samut Sakhon has been put under lockdown with a curfew from 10pm-5am in effect until Jan 3 following a surge of more than 500 Covid-19 cases on Saturday.

People’s movements out of the province are also banned.

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said the 12 local infections initially reported earlier in the day had surged to 548 following the testing of 1,192 people in the province. Most of them are migrant workers from Myanmar.

 

[drron]

A report of the new UK mutation.At the end of this article you can download the full report.

Rapid increase of a SARS-CoV-2 variant with multiple spike protein mutations observed in the United Kingdom

By Denise BaezNEW YORK -- December 21, 2020 -- A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant has been identified in the United Kingdom, and preliminary analysis suggests that the variant is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants...

dgalerts.docguide.com

 

[Princess Fiona]

Christmas came early this year

 

[drron]

Some more treatments not fulfilling their hopes.

Monoclonal antibody LY-CoV555 not efficacious among hospitalized patients with COVID-19: Study

Monoclonal antibody LY-CoV555, when coadministered with remdesivir, did not demonstrate efficacy among hospitalized patients who had coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) without end-organ failure, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.“The day 5 outcomes that were...

dgalerts.docguide.com

And halted for severe cases but still ongoing for less severe cases.

NIH trial of anticoagulants pauses enrollment of critically ill COVID-19 patients

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that three clinical trial platforms working together to test the effects of full doses of anticoagulants in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have paused enrollment for one group of patients. The NIH noted that among...

dgalerts.docguide.com

 

[Flashback]

I don't get the conclusion, sorry. AP would have been in possession of the letter from your PO to (I'm guessing), the overseas air contractor in your city, or maybe Sydney. Many other hands hurdles and black holes after that I'm not one usually to defend AP, but I haven't had the bad experiences of others in the past 6 month, including overseas letters.

Edit: I guess you meant AP and its consequent handlers as a whole, as opposed to using a commercial courier.

Not much better here (UK), whether it be Royal Mail on the departing end or AP on the receiving end. Christmas cards I sent mid-November took 5, 6 and 7 weeks to arrive in Australia!
Meanwhile, we've used DHL and FedEx to send various things globally and they've arrived in a matter of days. You certainly know you've used them when you see the bill though....

My poor brother - he and my sister-in-law are getting Covid tests today and if they are negative plan to fly back to South Africa via Dubai on the 31st. However cases are escalating in South Africa with a very strict lockdown just announced, so he will be going from a Tier 4 lockdown in London to an even stricter one.

Possibly going up to a new 'Tier 5' here in London and the South East as it's just spiralling even further out of control. However, schools still open apparently so the only change really is outdoor sports <18's and places of worship will close. Not really much different......

People just don't care though, across the road I saw our neighbours have 2 sets of visitors today. Each set was > 1 person, so wouldn't have fallen under the support bubble exemption. These are people who I'd usually consider to play 100% by the book, so if they're flouting the rules ....... what hope do we have? It's just ridiculous and the next few months are really going to suck. I've hardly left the house in a week too, because it's cold (more so than usual right now), damp, wet, grey, miserable......

 

[Flying mermaid]

Possibly going up to a new 'Tier 5' here in London and the South East as it's just spiralling even further out of control. However, schools still open apparently so the only change really is outdoor sports <18's and places of worship will close. Not really much different......

People just don't care though, across the road I saw our neighbours have 2 sets of visitors today. Each set was > 1 person, so wouldn't have fallen under the support bubble exemption. These are people who I'd usually consider to play 100% by the book, so if they're flouting the rules ....... what hope do we have? It's just ridiculous and the next few months are really going to suck. I've hardly left the house in a week too, because it's cold (more so than usual right now), damp, wet, grey, miserable......

I think it’s a mixture of people getting used to the virus and starting to think it’s not that bad and also natural “it won’t happen to me”. Seeing it here in Australia where people seem to think it’s all over . Of course much worse over there

it’s going to be a long miserable winter for the Northern Hemisphere but hopefully in a few months the vaccine will make a difference and Spring and Summer will be normal. Stay safe just for a few more months!