wuhan - coronavirus

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-07/sweden-denmark-moderna-covid-vaccine-pause/100519714
 

Sweden and Denmark pause Moderna for under 30s in favour of Pfizer due to slightly higher risk of myocarditis.

[ktgrok]

25 minutes ago, lewelma said:

It's now in 3 gangs, who as you can imagine are not super keen to get contact traced. The government is working with the gang bosses and has given 2 of them exemptions to cross the Auckland border to mediate. Also, looks like it is now outside the second lockdown zone, so there is a massive push to get the whole country vaccinated in the next month to 90+%. Lots of inter-party cooperation, and they are having a single weekend where the entire country will focus on just vaccinating. They asked all of us waiting for 6 weeks between doses to get the second dose immediately (but still 3 weeks apart), so my second is now tomorrow. The move of the virus will still be slowed down/stopped by public health measures and lockdowns, but the focus is now on vaccination as the gangs will spread it. Looks like our 15 months of covid free life is about to end. But they have stressed that this is NOT a let-it-rip strategy. They are still calling it elimination because no covid will be tolerated, but it is not longer eradication.

I hope kids can be vaccinated too, because if those gang members have kids, it will spread that way. 

[lewelma]

12 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I hope kids can be vaccinated too, because if those gang members have kids, it will spread that way. 

Eligible is currently 12+, and they are expecting to go for 5-12 by Christmas. Modelling has suggested that 95% of current eligible people is required to suppress this thing with under 12s being unvaccinated, but obviously they are saying as close to 100% is what is better. They are also very clear here that it is not an *average* of 90+% that they are after, they want that 90+% evenly distributed geographically and racially, because they know that pockets of poorly vaccinated areas will spread it.

In addition, no one here is under the illusion that kids don't get or transmit it.  Schools are still closed in a city of 2 million people that has 39 cases (and that number is with wide, massive testing and contact tracing, so they don't think there is any more). So we are way way way more cautious than the USA. 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by lewelma

[ktgrok]

25 minutes ago, lewelma said:

Eligible is currently 12+, and they are expecting to go for 5-12 by Christmas. Modelling has suggested that 95% of current eligible people is required to suppress this thing with under 12s being unvaccinated, but obviously they are saying as close to 100% is what is better. They are also very clear here that it is not an *average* of 90+% that they are after, they want that 90+% evenly distributed geographically and racially, because they know that pockets of poorly vaccinated areas will spread it.

In addition, no one here is under the illusion that kids don't get or transmit it.  Schools are still closed in a city of 2 million people that has 39 cases (and that number is with wide, massive testing and contact tracing, so they don't think there is any more). So we are way way way more cautious than the USA. 

 

Ah, I missed that school are closed. That helps! If you can get the over 12s vaccinated and kids are not mingling in large numbers that will be a big thing. 

[lewelma]

In a strange twist of fate, I think that with the gangs getting it and being less able to be controlled through public health measures, that there is going to be a lot of fear and thus motivation to get vaccinated. So imagine, we have had no covid for 15 months, and then you see every day in the news how it is creeping towards you. You know exactly where it is and the rate it is moving. It is not in your city, but it is coming and you don't have a lot of time. People are very motivated to go get vaccinated who might not have been if the reopening had been more controlled and planned. So this bit of serendipity may drive our vaccine numbers way higher than they would have been otherwise. 

[tuesdayschild]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

Ah, I missed that school are closed. That helps! If you can get the over 12s vaccinated and kids are not mingling in large numbers that will be a big thing. 

Currently school holidays here, which helps too.  Govt directive when alert levels shifted on Tuesday (was) for Auckland schools to reopen 18th Oct.  I wonder if this will still happen…..  ( have you heard anything more about this @lewelma?)  

Crèches have  “reopened” in Auckland with limited numbers and a cap of 10 children per care bubble, no crossing bubbles.  

[Melissa Louise]

Masks in NSW to be scrapped sooner than planned 🙁

[Melissa Louise]

All students to be back at school by the 25th, meaning the staggered return to school is pretty much gone. 

Time to pray to the weather gods, that summer weather protects the kids, because the Government sure isn't. 

[KSera]

3 hours ago, lewelma said:

In a strange twist of fate, I think that with the gangs getting it and being less able to be controlled through public health measures, that there is going to be a lot of fear and thus motivation to get vaccinated. So imagine, we have had no covid for 15 months, and then you see every day in the news how it is creeping towards you. You know exactly where it is and the rate it is moving. It is not in your city, but it is coming and you don't have a lot of time. People are very motivated to go get vaccinated who might not have been if the reopening had been more controlled and planned. So this bit of serendipity may drive our vaccine numbers way higher than they would have been otherwise. 

For some reason, people in the US have had a tendency through this whole thing to see it in other cities and think it's an "over there" problem and not a "here" problem. Super common for people to say things like, "we don't have very many cases in my town" as if their area is magically protected. I'm glad it's working differently there and people are seeing the writing on the wall before it gets to them so they can hopefully be protected in time.

[Ausmumof3]

Cases for Aus

Vic: 1638

NSW: 587

ACT: 41

[Ausmumof3]

ACT is at 96% of over 16s had first dose now.

[lewelma]

3 hours ago, tuesdayschild said:

Currently school holidays here, which helps too.  Govt directive when alert levels shifted on Tuesday (was) for Auckland schools to reopen 18th Oct.  I wonder if this will still happen…..  ( have you heard anything more about this @lewelma?)  

Crèches have  “reopened” in Auckland with limited numbers and a cap of 10 children per care bubble, no crossing bubbles.  

They announced two days ago the planned (but not finalized) reopening of schools on the 18th Oct. But there has been a lot of pushback by the teachers. Auckland is in a phased reopening and they have said they are signalling plans but not keeping a strict time table as it will depend on the numbers of cases and vaccines. 

 

[lewelma]

In good news, my city (Wellington) has hit the 90% target of 12+ for first doses. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126608294/covid19-wellington-citys-eligible-population-about-to-hit-90pc-vaccine-coverage-for-at-least-one-dose

Edited October 7, 2021 by lewelma

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

ACT is at 96% of over 16s had first dose now.

That's amazing. I was looking at my own area, we're only at 60-69% double dosed, 80-89% first dose, and it hasn't shifted much. I doubt we'll get much over 90% double dosed here - I know a number of pre-existing anti-vaxxers who live here and then there's the 'not sure' people who think 'we're not in the city, so we can't catch it'. Oh, and I still hear people pretty frequently commenting, 'kids don't get it' and 'it's nearly over'. No - and no.

[TCB]

2 hours ago, bookbard said:

That's amazing. I was looking at my own area, we're only at 60-69% double dosed, 80-89% first dose, and it hasn't shifted much. I doubt we'll get much over 90% double dosed here - I know a number of pre-existing anti-vaxxers who live here and then there's the 'not sure' people who think 'we're not in the city, so we can't catch it'. Oh, and I still hear people pretty frequently commenting, 'kids don't get it' and 'it's nearly over'. No - and no.

It really is amazing! My state, which has had a lot of hospitalizations and deaths is still at only 48% fully vaxed and 54% initiated vaccination. I don’t think we are going to get much higher so I guess it will have to be natural immunity with all that entails.

[Melissa Louise]

22 minutes ago, TCB said:

It really is amazing! My state, which has had a lot of hospitalizations and deaths is still at only 48% fully vaxed and 54% initiated vaccination. I don’t think we are going to get much higher so I guess it will have to be natural immunity with all that entails.

Our stats look better than they are, because they only refer to the eligible population ie over 16 yrs. 

Statewide we've got 70% but its actually only 56% of the population. 

So really, we are opening up with just under half the population unvaccinated. 

[Ausmumof3]

6 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

Our stats look better than they are, because they only refer to the eligible population ie over 16 yrs. 

Statewide we've got 70% but its actually only 56% of the population. 

So really, we are opening up with just under half the population unvaccinated. 

Reportedly the new roadmap is not fully supported by Dr Chant?

[Melissa Louise]

21 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Reportedly the new roadmap is not fully supported by Dr Chant?

Apparently. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

Not Covid-related but did people see that WHO have approved a vaccine for malaria? 

[ktgrok]

Florida is reporting 70% vaccinated. Except the fine print 4 pages down explains that includes any vaccination status - single, double, whatever. And of course is only for 12 and up. So 70% of 12 and up having at least one vaccine is not as good as the numbers being touted make it seem. 

The actual useful number is that we are at 58% of the population fully vaccinated. No where NEAR enough for herd immunity. That said, our wave has ended, we are at about 5% positivity, hospitalizations finally dropping dramatically, so the number of people with antibodies from infection is likely high. 

[Faith-manor]

So here is what is happening in my state. 100 schools with outbreaks, cases rising rapidly, deaths rising. But hey, let's cut the funding of the health department if they dare to do anything to mitigate this.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/06/politics/michigan-whitmer-local-health-departments-mask-mandates/index.html

[Laura Corin]

9 hours ago, ktgrok said:

Florida is reporting 70% vaccinated. Except the fine print 4 pages down explains that includes any vaccination status - single, double, whatever. And of course is only for 12 and up. So 70% of 12 and up having at least one vaccine is not as good as the numbers being touted make it seem. 

The actual useful number is that we are at 58% of the population fully vaccinated. No where NEAR enough for herd immunity. That said, our wave has ended, we are at about 5% positivity, hospitalizations finally dropping dramatically, so the number of people with antibodies from infection is likely high. 

The UK is at 67 percent of total population fully jabbed. We are at over 80 percent of adults.eta I just checked and Scotland is at 85 percent of over-16s double jabbed.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Laura Corin

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2021/10/06/origin-very-close-relatives-of-sars-cov-2-identified-in-laotian-bats/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
 

I don’t have time to read now but saving this here for later as it looks interesting.

Origin: Very Close Relatives Of Covid-19 Virus Found In Laotian Bats

[Ausmumof3]

1,838 cases for Vic.  So depressing 😞

[Melissa in Australia]

11 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

1,838 cases for Vic.  So depressing 😞

Numbers seem to be following  the dohaty modelling. Predicted to be 2500 in 2 weeks. Aparently defence personal will start driving ambulances from next week to spread out the Ambos

[Melissa Louise]

12 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

1,838 cases for Vic.  So depressing 😞

Vax rates are so low compared to here, because of the feds inability to get vaccines into VIC in a timely way. Dd's inner Melb suburb is lagging behind mine, for example, by 30%.

I hope rising vaccination rates make a difference soon. 

[Melissa Louise]

Vaccination mandate for health workers in SA. 

[Arcadia]

19 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

1,838 cases for Vic.  So depressing 😞

3,483 new cases for Singapore, population smaller than Vic. 

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

3,483 new cases for Singapore, population smaller than Vic. 

Oh, so sorry to hear that - it underlines that vaccination rates just aren't enough to kick this delta version.

Numbers rose a bit today for NSW (646 cases) - not surprised as there is already increased movement between LGAs. Our town is bracing for the tourist influx over the next few weeks. Trying to work out how to keep safe - we have masks, air purifiers and natural air flow at work. Will keep kids home from school for the next few weeks at least. As far as I know, the riskiest places are social meetups - we aren't doing that right now. Any other ways to keep safe that I haven't thought of? I'm really hoping kids can get vaxxed by the end of the year. 

[Arcadia]

1 minute ago, bookbard said:

Oh, so sorry to hear that - it underlines that vaccination rates just aren't enough to kick this delta version.

Singapore is very densely populated and the govt has switched to treating Covid19 as endemic. The primary school kids were doing home based learning but would be back to school next week. The primary 3 and 5 final exams are already canceled and some parents were hoping that the current home based learning would be extended until end of the school year (19 November).

 

[bookbard]

Wow, very low ICU numbers compared with Sydney or Melbourne - 37 vs 181 NSW or 115 Vic, very low death rate too. So I guess that's what an outbreak looks like with high vaccination rates. 

[bookbard]

Oh, and there was mention that some of the delta cases in Sydney seem to be slightly different, a different genome. So not sure what that means - has it mutated or has it come from a different source (eg overseas traveller) but they haven't linked it? 

[Melissa in Australia]

34 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Wow, very low ICU numbers compared with Sydney or Melbourne - 37 vs 181 NSW or 115 Vic, very low death rate too. So I guess that's what an outbreak looks like with high vaccination rates. 

Some of the hospitalisation in Melbourne is because they put people who are on their 90s into hospital as soon as they have covid, even if it is very mild, because at that age it can go downhill very rapidly

[Ausmumof3]

We have two cases one from overseas one from a truck driver who lives in a share house unfortunately.  They’re hopeful it has been caught early.

[ktgrok]

22 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

The UK is at 67 percent of total population fully jabbed. We are at over 80 percent of adults.eta I just checked and Scotland is at 85 percent of over-16s double jabbed.

Another reason to love Scotland. American men try to pretend they are all tough, macho cowboy types, but are afraid of a vaccine. The Scots are the real tough ones! 

In all seriousness, I keep hoping we can go back for an anniversary trip some day, and bring the kids. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by ktgrok

[Ausmumof3]

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2021/10/snow-leopard-at-south-dakota-zoo-dies-of-suspected-covid-19/
 

I don’t know why this feels so much sadder than the multitudes of human deaths but it does 😞 

 

[Ausmumof3]

VIC had 1965 cases, 5 deaths

NSW 580 cases and 11 deaths

QLD 0

ACT 25

 

[Ausmumof3]

Are the US figures accurate?  Typically when we start having forum people with exposures it’s been going up again but at this point it still seems to be decreasing? Are people testing less?

[Ausmumof3]

Re the new Delta Strain,

Looks like it’s most likely been a separate quarantine leak in NSW

[Ausmumof3]

Brazil passed 600,000 deaths yesterday.

 

[ktgrok]

9 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Are the US figures accurate?  Typically when we start having forum people with exposures it’s been going up again but at this point it still seems to be decreasing? Are people testing less?

Both are true, I think. Some of the southern states that were so high before are going down, mostly because so many have had it recently I think. And becasue we are SLOWLY vaccinating more people. But yes, more people are testing at home, or not testing, especially in hard hit areas as testing can't keep up with demand. 

The New York Times info is one of my go to spots as it shows by what percent cases went up or down as well as what percent testing went up or down. It also shows hospitalizations which are a good indicator and less likely to be thrown off by lack of tests, etc. 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

[bookbard]

477 cases for NSW, although testing has really dropped recently. 1,890 cases for Victoria which is very, very high. ACT has 30 - it has been so steady with numbers around that. 

Tomorrow lockdown is lifting for double-vaxxed in NSW. 90% have a single vax dose, 72% double. This is only 16 plus - it's 50 something for 12-15 and of course 0 below 12. Cannot wait for the kids vax. 

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, bookbard said:

477 cases for NSW, although testing has really dropped recently. 1,890 cases for Victoria which is very, very high. ACT has 30 - it has been so steady with numbers around that. 

Tomorrow lockdown is lifting for double-vaxxed in NSW. 90% have a single vax dose, 72% double. This is only 16 plus - it's 50 something for 12-15 and of course 0 below 12. Cannot wait for the kids vax. 

I’m glad it’s got so low though is suspect it will turn around once reopening happens unfortunately.  Although it’s still a fairly cautious reopening.

I was pretty shocked to read that vic plans to have 10,000 at Melbourne cup. That doesn’t seem wise.

[Melissa in Australia]

10 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I’m glad it’s got so low though is suspect it will turn around once reopening happens unfortunately.  Although it’s still a fairly cautious reopening.

I was pretty shocked to read that vic plans to have 10,000 at Melbourne cup. That doesn’t seem wise.

I think everyone is pretty shocked

And downright furious 

It is UNBELIEVABLE 

[Melissa Louise]

2 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I think everyone is pretty shocked

And downright furious 

It is UNBELIEVABLE 

I don't even understand it. 

What on earth is happening? 

[Melissa Louise]

Well, officially 'free' today now my lockdown as a double vaccinated person is over. 

Feels pretty much the same as lockdown, honestly. I might return the library books I borrowed 4 months ago, lol. 

I actually feel pretty blah about it. 

[Melissa Louise]

Queue at midnight outside a local club. Sad. People lining up to gamble in the first minute they legally could. 

[Melissa in Australia]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

I don't even understand it. 

What on earth is happening? 

I don't understand 

Why

Why

In the meantime time people in rural areas with not one single case are losing jobs because they cannot get vaxed before the deadline 

 

[Melissa Louise]

20 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I don't understand 

Why

Why

In the meantime time people in rural areas with not one single case are losing jobs because they cannot get vaxed before the deadline 

 

It's horrible. Everything.

I feel so anxious about sending DS off to work today that I can't get out of bed. It doesn't feel like our governments have our best interests in mind. 

[ktgrok]

11 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

It's horrible. Everything.

I feel so anxious about sending DS off to work today that I can't get out of bed. It doesn't feel like our governments have our best interests in mind. 

I'm so sorry. The dread and fear are palpable. And made worse knowing others are pretending it doesn't exist. It's like every horror movie ever, in real life. As a person dealing with it here, I'm sorry. It's broken me in some ways.