The coronavirus

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  • Weston1283Weston1283 Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 4,617
    edited March 2021
    Unrelated to posts above but something that continues to make no sense to me

    Massachusetts still has a travel restriction in place for every single state in the US.  CT, New York and other surrounding states have all either stopped or loosened the “travel ban”

    I can’t wait to move out of Massachusetts in June.  The travel restriction especially has frustrated me immensely since implemented in August.  I’m starting to really think that 49 states will be opened back up and Charlie Baker will still be stuck in Phase 2-3 of his reopening.

    I work in a hospital and I can’t even begin to tell you how many of my colleagues and other hospital workers have “snuck” out of the state and even out of the country on Vacation.  And no one says anything because the hospital threatens PTO for any time missed, which really does nothing but decrease compliance. And the hospital  just says “well it’s governor Baker’s orders” so no one complies or gets covid tested 
    Post edited by Weston1283 on
    2010: Cleveland
    2012: Atlanta
    2013: London ONT / Wrigley Field / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / San Diego / Los Angeles I / Los Angeles II
    2014: Cincinnati / St. Louis / Tulsa / Lincoln / Detroit / Denver
    2015: New York City
    2016: Ft. Lauderdale / Miami / Jacksonville / Greenville / Hampton / Columbia / Lexington / Philly II / New York City II / Toronto II / Bonnaroo / Telluride / Fenway I / Wrigley I / Wrigley - II / TOTD - Philadelphia, San Francisco
    2017: Ohana Fest (EV)
    2018: Amsterdam I / Amsterdam II / Seattle I / Seattle II / Boston I / Boston II
    2021: Asbury Park / Ohana Encore 1 / Ohana Encore 2
    2022: Phoenix / LA I / LA II / Quebec City / Ottawa / New York City / Camden / Nashville / St. Louis / Denver
    2023: St. Paul II
  • cincybearcatcincybearcat Posts: 16,072
    So what I’m hearing is that if we all put cincy on ignore COVID goes away? Do I have that right? 
    so should we all check in with the cancelled thread so we can update it with Cincy being cancelled?
    Post cancelled by admin
    hippiemom = goodness
  • Halifax2TheMaxHalifax2TheMax Posts: 36,482
    Would Tony Soprano wear a mask?  Christapha was cancelled. So was Pussy. Outrage. Alter, edit, cancel. Stop the madness! 
    09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN;

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  • nicknyr15nicknyr15 Posts: 7,640
    https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/why-are-there-covid-restrictions-on-arenas-but-not-planes/


    Am I missing something? This person took a personal, non essential vacation and then complained about the airplane? STAY THE FUCK HOME THEN. 
  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Would Tony Soprano wear a mask?  Christapha was cancelled. So was Pussy. Outrage. Alter, edit, cancel. Stop the madness! 
    Janice canceled Richie. 
  • nicknyr15nicknyr15 Posts: 7,640
    hedonist said:
    Would Tony Soprano wear a mask?  Christapha was cancelled. So was Pussy. Outrage. Alter, edit, cancel. Stop the madness! 
    Janice canceled Richie. 
    What an episode. 
  • Weston1283Weston1283 Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 4,617
    nicknyr15 said:
    https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/why-are-there-covid-restrictions-on-arenas-but-not-planes/


    Am I missing something? This person took a personal, non essential vacation and then complained about the airplane? STAY THE FUCK HOME THEN. 
    Lol, so true.  I had to fly a few times during the pandemic.  Had one encounter in like August or September where this one guy wouldn't let another passenger sit next to him in the middle seat.  He called the flight attendant over and started going "what are we DOING?!? WHY are we seating passengers in the MIDDLE SEAT?!?!"

    I haven't rolled my eyes that hard in some time.  You're choosing to get on an enclosed vessel with a hundred other people and you're going to raise a stink about having middle seats full?!  Get out of here man.

    Luckily, the flight attendant said "yes sir, all airlines besides Delta have begun seating middle seats again.  You are free to get off and rebook if these accommodations dont work for you" and then he sat down silent the rest of the flight
    2010: Cleveland
    2012: Atlanta
    2013: London ONT / Wrigley Field / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / San Diego / Los Angeles I / Los Angeles II
    2014: Cincinnati / St. Louis / Tulsa / Lincoln / Detroit / Denver
    2015: New York City
    2016: Ft. Lauderdale / Miami / Jacksonville / Greenville / Hampton / Columbia / Lexington / Philly II / New York City II / Toronto II / Bonnaroo / Telluride / Fenway I / Wrigley I / Wrigley - II / TOTD - Philadelphia, San Francisco
    2017: Ohana Fest (EV)
    2018: Amsterdam I / Amsterdam II / Seattle I / Seattle II / Boston I / Boston II
    2021: Asbury Park / Ohana Encore 1 / Ohana Encore 2
    2022: Phoenix / LA I / LA II / Quebec City / Ottawa / New York City / Camden / Nashville / St. Louis / Denver
    2023: St. Paul II
  • Merkin BallerMerkin Baller Posts: 10,390
    hedonist said:
    Would Tony Soprano wear a mask?  Christapha was cancelled. So was Pussy. Outrage. Alter, edit, cancel. Stop the madness! 
    Janice canceled Richie. 
    Anthony Jr’s friends canceled his eyebrows. 


  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Aaaahahaha. Nice one! I completely forgot about that. 
  • F Me In The BrainF Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 30,588
    hedonist said:
    Aaaahahaha. Nice one! I completely forgot about that. 
    Same!
    The love he receives is the love that is saved
  • cutzcutz Posts: 11,400
    https://www.wfmz.com/news/speedy-variants-power-virus-surge-sweeping-europe/article_8844ef8b-a994-5244-9b2a-fde38a00b623.html

    Europe staggers as infectious variants power virus surge

    Fast-spreading mutant versions of the coronavirus are powering another uptick in infections in Europe

    • By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press
    •  
    • Mar 6, 2021
    MILAN (AP) — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.

    Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.

    “This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,’’ lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.


    Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicenter in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbors because of virus variants that the World Health Organization says are powering another uptick in infections across Europe. The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

    Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline in new infections, WHO said Thursday.

    “The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,’’ said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.”

    The variant first found in the U.K. is spreading significantly in 27 European countries monitored by WHO and is dominant in at least 10 countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.

    It is up to 50% more transmissible than the virus that surged last spring and again in the fall, making it more adept at thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts warned. Scientists have concluded that it is also more deadly.

    “That is why health systems are struggling more now,” Kluge said. “It really is at a tipping point. We have to hold the fort and be very vigilant.”

    In Lombardy, which bore the brunt of Italy’s spring surge, intensive care wards are again filling up, with more than two-thirds of new positive tests being the UK variant, health officials said.


    After putting two provinces and some 50 towns on a modified lockdown, Lombardy's regional governor announced tightened restrictions Friday and closed classrooms for all ages. Cases in Milan schools alone surged 33% in a week, the provincial health system's chief said.

    The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which this week registered a record-breaking total of nearly 8,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and imposing a partial lockdown as the U.K. variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to 25% now.

    Two patients from hard-hit Slovakia were expected to arrive Saturday for treatment in Germany, where authorities said they had offered to take in 10 patients.

    Kluge cited Britain’s experience as cause for optimism, noting that widespread restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped tamp down the variants there and in Israel. The vaccine rollout in the European Union, by comparison, is lagging badly, mostly because of supply problems.

    In Britain, the emergence of the more transmissible strain sent cases soaring in December and triggered a national lockdown in January. Cases have since plummeted, from about 60,000 a day in early January to about 7,000 a day now.

    Still, a study shows the rate of decline slowing, and the British government says it will tread cautiously with plans to ease the lockdown. That process begins Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people ages 13 to 17, and officials will watch closely to see whether the return to class brings a spike in infections.


    While the U.K. variant is dominant in France, forcing lockdowns in the French Riviera city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first detected in South Africa has emerged as the most prevalent in France's Moselle region, which borders Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus circulating there.

    Austria's health minister said Saturday the U.K. variant is now dominant in his country. But the South Africa variant is also a concern in a district of Austria that extends from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials announcing plans to vaccinate most of the 84,000 residents there to curb its spread. Austria is also requiring motorists along the Brenner highway, a major north-south route, to show negative test results.

    The South Africa variant, now present in 26 European countries, is a source of particular concern because of doubts over whether the current vaccines are effective enough against it. The Brazilian variant, which appears capable of reinfecting people, has been detected in 15 European countries.

    WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic surveillance needed to track variants across the continent.

    The mayor of Bollate has appealed to the regional governor to vaccinate all 40,000 residents immediately, though he expects to be told the vaccine supply is too tight.

    Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths — mostly among the elderly — since Italy was stricken a year ago. It took the brunt in the resurgence in November and December, and was caught completely off guard when the U.K. variant arrived, racing through schoolage children before hitting families at home.


    “People are starting to get tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Vassallo said.

    AP correspondents Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.
  • Lerxst1992Lerxst1992 Posts: 6,094
    edited March 2021
    Unrelated to posts above but something that continues to make no sense to me

    Massachusetts still has a travel restriction in place for every single state in the US.  CT, New York and other surrounding states have all either stopped or loosened the “travel ban”

    I can’t wait to move out of Massachusetts in June.  The travel restriction especially has frustrated me immensely since implemented in August.  I’m starting to really think that 49 states will be opened back up and Charlie Baker will still be stuck in Phase 2-3 of his reopening.

    I work in a hospital and I can’t even begin to tell you how many of my colleagues and other hospital workers have “snuck” out of the state and even out of the country on Vacation.  And no one says anything because the hospital threatens PTO for any time missed, which really does nothing but decrease compliance. And the hospital  just says “well it’s governor Baker’s orders” so no one complies or gets covid tested 


    Come join us in NY. Our schools have been open since Labor Day , many at 100% capacity (near me in the NYC suburbs) as are restaurants with indoor dining. If cases start to rise, don’t worry, our governor will rewrite the rules to keep everything open and the media here is fully compliant.

    you would, of course, have to deal with one of the worst recent covid rates on the planet, unfortunately. Hopefully risking death doesn’t get you down.
    Post edited by Lerxst1992 on
  • cutzcutz Posts: 11,400
    https://apnews.com/article/rochelle-walensky-coronavirus-pandemic-fe2e65c19506b99ebdb8f1e0badc846b

    Study finds mask mandates, dining out influence virus spread

    By MIKE STOBBE  March 5, 2021

    NEW YORK (AP) — A new national study adds strong evidence that mask mandates can slow the spread of the coronavirus, and that allowing dining at restaurants can increase cases and deaths.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Friday.

    “All of this is very consistent,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing on Friday. “You have decreases in cases and deaths when you wear masks, and you have increases in cases and deaths when you have in-person restaurant dining.”

    The study was released just as some states are rescinding mask mandates and restaurant limits. Earlier this week, Texas became the biggest state to lift its mask rule, joining a movement by many governors to loosen COVID-19 restrictions despite pleas from health officials.

    “It’s a solid piece of work that makes the case quite strongly that in-person dining is one of the more important things that needs to be handled if you’re going to control the pandemic,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University expert on disease dynamics who was not involved in the study.

    The new research builds on smaller CDC studies, including one that found that people in 10 states who became infected in July were more likely to have dined at a restaurant and another that found mask mandates in 10 states were associated with reductions in hospitalizations.

    The CDC researchers looked at U.S. counties placed under state-issued mask mandates and at counties that allowed restaurant dining — both indoors and at tables outside. The study looked at data from March through December of last year.

    The scientists found that mask mandates were associated with reduced coronavirus transmission, and that improvements in new cases and deaths increased as time went on.

    The reductions in growth rates varied from half a percentage point to nearly 2 percentage points. That may sound small, but the large number of people involved means the impact grows with time, experts said.

    “Each day that growth rate is going down, the cumulative effect — in terms of cases and deaths — adds up to be quite substantial,” said Gery Guy Jr., a CDC scientist who was the study’s lead author.

    Reopening restaurant dining was not followed by a significant increase in cases and deaths in the first 40 days after restrictions were lifted. But after that, there were increases of about 1 percentage point in the growth rate of cases and — later — 2 to 3 percentage points in the growth rate of deaths.

    The delay could be because restaurants didn’t re-open immediately and because many customers may have been hesitant to dine in right after restrictions were lifted, Guy said.

    Also, there’s always a lag between when people are infected and when they become ill, and longer to when they end up in the hospital and die. In the case of dining out, a delay in deaths can also be caused by the fact that the diners themselves may not die, but they could get infected and then spread it to others who get sick and die, Hanage said.

    “What happens in a restaurant doesn’t stay in a restaurant,” he said.

    CDC officials stopped short of saying that on-premises dining needs to stop. But they said if restaurants do open, they should follow as many prevention measures as possible, like promoting outdoor dining, having adequate indoor ventilation, masking employees and calling on customers to wear masks whenever they aren’t eating or drinking.

    The study had limitations. For example, the researchers tried to make calculations that accounted for other policies, such as bans on mass gatherings or bar closures, that might influence case and death rates. But the authors acknowledged that they couldn’t account for all possible influences — such as school re-openings.

    “It’s always very, very hard to thoroughly nail down the causal relationships,” Hanage said. “But when you take this gathered with all the other stuff we know about the virus, it supports the message” of the value of mask wearing and the peril of restaurant dining, he added.

  • lastexitlondonlastexitlondon Posts: 11,710
    cutz said:
    https://www.wfmz.com/news/speedy-variants-power-virus-surge-sweeping-europe/article_8844ef8b-a994-5244-9b2a-fde38a00b623.html

    Europe staggers as infectious variants power virus surge

    Fast-spreading mutant versions of the coronavirus are powering another uptick in infections in Europe

    • By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press
    •  
    • Mar 6, 2021
    MILAN (AP) — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.

    Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.

    “This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,’’ lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.


    Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicenter in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbors because of virus variants that the World Health Organization says are powering another uptick in infections across Europe. The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

    Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline in new infections, WHO said Thursday.

    “The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,’’ said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.”

    The variant first found in the U.K. is spreading significantly in 27 European countries monitored by WHO and is dominant in at least 10 countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.

    It is up to 50% more transmissible than the virus that surged last spring and again in the fall, making it more adept at thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts warned. Scientists have concluded that it is also more deadly.

    “That is why health systems are struggling more now,” Kluge said. “It really is at a tipping point. We have to hold the fort and be very vigilant.”

    In Lombardy, which bore the brunt of Italy’s spring surge, intensive care wards are again filling up, with more than two-thirds of new positive tests being the UK variant, health officials said.


    After putting two provinces and some 50 towns on a modified lockdown, Lombardy's regional governor announced tightened restrictions Friday and closed classrooms for all ages. Cases in Milan schools alone surged 33% in a week, the provincial health system's chief said.

    The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which this week registered a record-breaking total of nearly 8,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and imposing a partial lockdown as the U.K. variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to 25% now.

    Two patients from hard-hit Slovakia were expected to arrive Saturday for treatment in Germany, where authorities said they had offered to take in 10 patients.

    Kluge cited Britain’s experience as cause for optimism, noting that widespread restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped tamp down the variants there and in Israel. The vaccine rollout in the European Union, by comparison, is lagging badly, mostly because of supply problems.

    In Britain, the emergence of the more transmissible strain sent cases soaring in December and triggered a national lockdown in January. Cases have since plummeted, from about 60,000 a day in early January to about 7,000 a day now.

    Still, a study shows the rate of decline slowing, and the British government says it will tread cautiously with plans to ease the lockdown. That process begins Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people ages 13 to 17, and officials will watch closely to see whether the return to class brings a spike in infections.


    While the U.K. variant is dominant in France, forcing lockdowns in the French Riviera city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first detected in South Africa has emerged as the most prevalent in France's Moselle region, which borders Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus circulating there.

    Austria's health minister said Saturday the U.K. variant is now dominant in his country. But the South Africa variant is also a concern in a district of Austria that extends from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials announcing plans to vaccinate most of the 84,000 residents there to curb its spread. Austria is also requiring motorists along the Brenner highway, a major north-south route, to show negative test results.

    The South Africa variant, now present in 26 European countries, is a source of particular concern because of doubts over whether the current vaccines are effective enough against it. The Brazilian variant, which appears capable of reinfecting people, has been detected in 15 European countries.

    WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic surveillance needed to track variants across the continent.

    The mayor of Bollate has appealed to the regional governor to vaccinate all 40,000 residents immediately, though he expects to be told the vaccine supply is too tight.

    Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths — mostly among the elderly — since Italy was stricken a year ago. It took the brunt in the resurgence in November and December, and was caught completely off guard when the U.K. variant arrived, racing through schoolage children before hitting families at home.


    “People are starting to get tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Vassallo said.

    AP correspondents Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.
    Our so called Kent variant  is most contagious.  S.A seems most different  of the variants.
    brixton 93
    astoria 06
    albany 06
    hartford 06
    reading 06
    barcelona 06
    paris 06
    wembley 07
    dusseldorf 07
    nijmegen 07

    this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
  • PoncierPoncier Posts: 16,171
    cutz said:
    https://www.wfmz.com/news/speedy-variants-power-virus-surge-sweeping-europe/article_8844ef8b-a994-5244-9b2a-fde38a00b623.html

    Europe staggers as infectious variants power virus surge

    Fast-spreading mutant versions of the coronavirus are powering another uptick in infections in Europe

    • By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press
    •  
    • Mar 6, 2021
    MILAN (AP) — The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.

    Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.

    “This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,’’ lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.


    Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicenter in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbors because of virus variants that the World Health Organization says are powering another uptick in infections across Europe. The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil.

    Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline in new infections, WHO said Thursday.

    “The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,’’ said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.”

    The variant first found in the U.K. is spreading significantly in 27 European countries monitored by WHO and is dominant in at least 10 countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.

    It is up to 50% more transmissible than the virus that surged last spring and again in the fall, making it more adept at thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts warned. Scientists have concluded that it is also more deadly.

    “That is why health systems are struggling more now,” Kluge said. “It really is at a tipping point. We have to hold the fort and be very vigilant.”

    In Lombardy, which bore the brunt of Italy’s spring surge, intensive care wards are again filling up, with more than two-thirds of new positive tests being the UK variant, health officials said.


    After putting two provinces and some 50 towns on a modified lockdown, Lombardy's regional governor announced tightened restrictions Friday and closed classrooms for all ages. Cases in Milan schools alone surged 33% in a week, the provincial health system's chief said.

    The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which this week registered a record-breaking total of nearly 8,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and imposing a partial lockdown as the U.K. variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to 25% now.

    Two patients from hard-hit Slovakia were expected to arrive Saturday for treatment in Germany, where authorities said they had offered to take in 10 patients.

    Kluge cited Britain’s experience as cause for optimism, noting that widespread restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped tamp down the variants there and in Israel. The vaccine rollout in the European Union, by comparison, is lagging badly, mostly because of supply problems.

    In Britain, the emergence of the more transmissible strain sent cases soaring in December and triggered a national lockdown in January. Cases have since plummeted, from about 60,000 a day in early January to about 7,000 a day now.

    Still, a study shows the rate of decline slowing, and the British government says it will tread cautiously with plans to ease the lockdown. That process begins Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people ages 13 to 17, and officials will watch closely to see whether the return to class brings a spike in infections.


    While the U.K. variant is dominant in France, forcing lockdowns in the French Riviera city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first detected in South Africa has emerged as the most prevalent in France's Moselle region, which borders Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus circulating there.

    Austria's health minister said Saturday the U.K. variant is now dominant in his country. But the South Africa variant is also a concern in a district of Austria that extends from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials announcing plans to vaccinate most of the 84,000 residents there to curb its spread. Austria is also requiring motorists along the Brenner highway, a major north-south route, to show negative test results.

    The South Africa variant, now present in 26 European countries, is a source of particular concern because of doubts over whether the current vaccines are effective enough against it. The Brazilian variant, which appears capable of reinfecting people, has been detected in 15 European countries.

    WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic surveillance needed to track variants across the continent.

    The mayor of Bollate has appealed to the regional governor to vaccinate all 40,000 residents immediately, though he expects to be told the vaccine supply is too tight.

    Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths — mostly among the elderly — since Italy was stricken a year ago. It took the brunt in the resurgence in November and December, and was caught completely off guard when the U.K. variant arrived, racing through schoolage children before hitting families at home.


    “People are starting to get tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Vassallo said.

    AP correspondents Jill Lawless in London, Karel Janicek in Prague, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed.
    Author of this AP article is my first cousin.
    This weekend we rock Portland
  • Halifax2TheMaxHalifax2TheMax Posts: 36,482
    Future domestic terrorists?

    Anti-maskers encouraged kids to burn their face coverings on the Capitol steps in Idaho

    Cheering parents watched as children tossed surgical masks into a fire outside the Idaho Capitol in Boise on Saturday as more than 100 people gathered to protest mask mandates as an affront to their civil liberties.

    The rally was one of several held statewide in opposition to the coronavirus-related requirements, which health experts have said remain crucial even as vaccines are distributed and the number of new reported cases has dropped.

    Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) has never implemented a statewide mask requirement, though nearly a dozen areas of the state have local restrictions, including Boise. For months, Little has been at odds with Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin (R) over pandemic restrictions (in Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor run on separate tickets). McGeachin vehemently opposes any mask mandates.

    McGeachin, who appeared in a video last fall that suggested the pandemic “may or may not be occurring,” was photographed speaking at the Boise protest Saturday.

    In a video from the scene captured by Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos, half a dozen children are seen grabbing handfuls of blue surgical masks and dropping them into the fire as adults are heard warning them not to go too fast.

    In the video, a boy is heard shouting, “Destroy them!”

    Organizers for the rally had a permit, but it is being investigated after the fire was set in a barrel, the Idaho State Police said in a statement.

    “Those involved with the event were informed both before and during the event that open flames are not allowed on State Capitol grounds,” according to the State Police.

    Idaho has tallied more than 173,000 cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and at least 1,800 deaths.

    Idaho anti-mask protest: Children, politicians set fire to face coverings at capitol - The Washington Post

    09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN;

    Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.

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  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Awesome parents, eh?
  • Lerxst1992Lerxst1992 Posts: 6,094
    Future domestic terrorists?

    Anti-maskers encouraged kids to burn their face coverings on the Capitol steps in Idaho

    Cheering parents watched as children tossed surgical masks into a fire outside the Idaho Capitol in Boise on Saturday as more than 100 people gathered to protest mask mandates as an affront to their civil liberties.

    The rally was one of several held statewide in opposition to the coronavirus-related requirements, which health experts have said remain crucial even as vaccines are distributed and the number of new reported cases has dropped.

    Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) has never implemented a statewide mask requirement, though nearly a dozen areas of the state have local restrictions, including Boise. For months, Little has been at odds with Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin (R) over pandemic restrictions (in Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor run on separate tickets). McGeachin vehemently opposes any mask mandates.

    McGeachin, who appeared in a video last fall that suggested the pandemic “may or may not be occurring,” was photographed speaking at the Boise protest Saturday.

    In a video from the scene captured by Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos, half a dozen children are seen grabbing handfuls of blue surgical masks and dropping them into the fire as adults are heard warning them not to go too fast.

    In the video, a boy is heard shouting, “Destroy them!”

    Organizers for the rally had a permit, but it is being investigated after the fire was set in a barrel, the Idaho State Police said in a statement.

    “Those involved with the event were informed both before and during the event that open flames are not allowed on State Capitol grounds,” according to the State Police.

    Idaho has tallied more than 173,000 cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and at least 1,800 deaths.

    Idaho anti-mask protest: Children, politicians set fire to face coverings at capitol - The Washington Post


    Not sure I was ever gonna step foot in Idaho, even before covid. Or any other state like that.
  • SpunkieSpunkie I come from downtown. Posts: 5,396
    Poor Joe Blow
  • 23scidoo23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 18,414
    Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015.
    Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
    EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.

    I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
  • PJPOWERPJPOWER In Yo Face Posts: 6,499
    23scidoo said:
    Yes, and this is why:
    From your article...
    “Currently there is no evidence of a causal relationship with the vaccination,” BASG said.




  • 23scidoo23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 18,414
    PJPOWER said:
    23scidoo said:
    Yes, and this is why:
    From your article...
    “Currently there is no evidence of a causal relationship with the vaccination,” BASG said.




    thanks for approving it..
    Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015.
    Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
    EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.

    I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
  • PJPOWERPJPOWER In Yo Face Posts: 6,499
    23scidoo said:
    PJPOWER said:
    23scidoo said:
    Yes, and this is why:
    From your article...
    “Currently there is no evidence of a causal relationship with the vaccination,” BASG said.




    thanks for approving it..
    Thanks for using a reputable source.
  • Weston1283Weston1283 Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 4,617
    edited March 2021
    The CDC has just stated that fully vaccinated individuals can gather indoors, without masks, but should continue to wear a mask in public

    https://apnews.com/article/cdc-fully-vaccinated-can-gather-without-masks-b9775dcde0254037e012ea9447e49917
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/health/covid-vaccine-cdc-guidelines.html
    2010: Cleveland
    2012: Atlanta
    2013: London ONT / Wrigley Field / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / San Diego / Los Angeles I / Los Angeles II
    2014: Cincinnati / St. Louis / Tulsa / Lincoln / Detroit / Denver
    2015: New York City
    2016: Ft. Lauderdale / Miami / Jacksonville / Greenville / Hampton / Columbia / Lexington / Philly II / New York City II / Toronto II / Bonnaroo / Telluride / Fenway I / Wrigley I / Wrigley - II / TOTD - Philadelphia, San Francisco
    2017: Ohana Fest (EV)
    2018: Amsterdam I / Amsterdam II / Seattle I / Seattle II / Boston I / Boston II
    2021: Asbury Park / Ohana Encore 1 / Ohana Encore 2
    2022: Phoenix / LA I / LA II / Quebec City / Ottawa / New York City / Camden / Nashville / St. Louis / Denver
    2023: St. Paul II
  • elvistheking44elvistheking44 Posts: 4,205
    The CDC has just stated that fully vaccinated individuals can gather indoors, without masks, but should continue to wear a mask in public

    https://apnews.com/article/cdc-fully-vaccinated-can-gather-without-masks-b9775dcde0254037e012ea9447e49917
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/health/covid-vaccine-cdc-guidelines.html
    Flood gates wide open. It’s over folks. People are gonna do their thing now no matter what.
  • tbergstbergs Posts: 9,195
    The CDC has just stated that fully vaccinated individuals can gather indoors, without masks, but should continue to wear a mask in public

    https://apnews.com/article/cdc-fully-vaccinated-can-gather-without-masks-b9775dcde0254037e012ea9447e49917
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/health/covid-vaccine-cdc-guidelines.html
    Flood gates wide open. It’s over folks. People are gonna do their thing now no matter what.
    Hmmm, maybe in a few months if Biden's promise holds true for the end of May. Not quite there, but we know how good people are at abstaining...
    It's a hopeless situation...
  • HughFreakingDillonHughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 35,808
    I don't know how the hell this happened, but in a matter of weeks we (low risk folks in Manitoba) went from being vaccinated september at the earliest/late year at the latest now to April or May of this year. 
    Darwinspeed, all. 

    Cheers,

    HFD




  • tbergstbergs Posts: 9,195
    I don't know how the hell this happened, but in a matter of weeks we (low risk folks in Manitoba) went from being vaccinated september at the earliest/late year at the latest now to April or May of this year. 
    Thanks, Obama! Haha!
    It's a hopeless situation...
  • Spiritual_ChaosSpiritual_Chaos Posts: 28,867
    Sorry for a dumb question, I don't have time for keeping up with covid now when Neil Young is releasing new stuff on vinyl every week.

    But my brother got a positive corona-test. My sister got positive for having antibodies. 

    Can they now visit my mom on her birthday mid march? Or can you still carry the disease, even when "immune"/having had it?
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • PJNBPJNB Posts: 12,625
    I don't know how the hell this happened, but in a matter of weeks we (low risk folks in Manitoba) went from being vaccinated september at the earliest/late year at the latest now to April or May of this year. 
    J&J plus Pfizer and Moderna finally coming through with promised shipments. Not sure about your province but ours is spreading out the first dose which pushes that timeline up too. 
This discussion has been closed.