wuhan - coronavirus

[bookbard]

496 cases for NSW. 1612 for Vic (lowest figure in 5 days, but may be due to weekend). 

I saw a long line of men outside a barber today which made me grin - first haircut in 6mths! Realised that's why so many men and women have been wearing caps and other hair coverings recently. I have no huge need for a haircut but my boy can't see very well under his mop - the husband will bring him along to the barber's when he's fully vaxxed in a few weeks.

[vonfirmath]

On 10/9/2021 at 7:49 AM, ktgrok said:

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

Locally hospitalizations are dropping precipitously.

[Ausmumof3]

1466 for Vic so second day running.  Really hope that’s the start of a trend of lowering.

 

[Ausmumof3]

360 for NSW and 5 deaths.  

[melmichigan]

While the US is going down, Michigan continues to inch up pretty steadily, although slower than previous peaks which is good. Hospitals follow pretty closely.  I think testing remains a poor indication in my area; we are at 13% positivity.

 

[Mom_to3]

On 10/10/2021 at 6:43 PM, 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 am so sorry. I know the feeling so well.

[Mom_to3]

26 minutes ago, melmichigan said:

While the US is going down, Michigan continues to inch up pretty steadily, although slower than previous peaks which is good. Hospitals follow pretty closely.  I think testing remains a poor indication in my area; we are at 13% positivity.

 

Uhh, that doesn't look good...at all. Here we have more or less plateaued for now - but at higher case numbers than this time a year ago; what makes me concerned is that case just started picking up significantly around this time last year...who knows what this holiday season will bring, especially if flu and covid both take off.

[ieta_cassiopeia]

Testing faciliy access is becoming increasingly erratic here, due to reduced funding. The local council's also taken the COVID-19 data off the front page of its website (though it's still on there). Positive tests in the community are down by 20% compared to the previous fortnight, but hospitalisations are holding steady. It has been noted that in my area, the average positive case in the community is in line with the average age of people in my area, but the 209 positive tests in hospital are mostly over-60s. (We have to be a bit careful with that one, since anyone testing positive who stays in hospital for more than a few days will inevitably have multiple tests, even if COVID-19 has nothing to do with their reason for being in hospital and the infection is less trouble than whatever hospitalised them). Overall cases are holding steady at 0.7% positivity.

Deaths from COVID-19 are falling, and deaths from other causes are falling faster. Optimism is in the air and with it carelessness about biosecurity measures. I continue to use my mask whenever out of the house. There's a big flu campaign but I do not plan to vaccinate for it this year due to my bad reaction to the flu shot last year.

(Also, last time I managed to get a community test, the organiser gave me two home test kits because they'd been told to get rid of them. Note they don't use the home (antigen) test kits to do community testing; they're mostly used for people who want to find out if some illness they have is COVID or not, or to do convenient informal testing before e.g. inviting friends or family for an extended visit).

Edited October 12, 2021 by ieta_cassiopeia

[catz]

2 hours ago, melmichigan said:

While the US is going down, Michigan continues to inch up pretty steadily, although slower than previous peaks which is good. Hospitals follow pretty closely.  I think testing remains a poor indication in my area; we are at 13% positivity.

 

Minnesota is still rising too unfortunately.  Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota are coming down.  Wisconsin is looking peaky maybe? Possibly north dakota?  Hoping that we'll peak soon here up north!  Our positivity is around 6-7% though, they've opened up more testing again.  Out state lower vax areas are driving the wave.  

I have to say, we are in a highly vaxxed bubble.  I hardly know anyone locally who has had a break through case.  My teen's activities are requiring vaccines.  We are definitely living differently than earlier waves and I'm starting to feel ok about it.,  

Edited October 12, 2021 by FuzzyCatz

[Faith-manor]

We have outbreaks in 3/4 of the school districts in my county. These are small districts, often only having 60-100 students per graduating class, with 2 who have 35 or fewer seniors. They have anywhere from a low of 5 per building to a high of 23 students per building. No masks in any district, and in one of them teachers who wore masks to school were physically threatened by parents, our moron district attorney is not pressing charges, so the superintendent told them they can't wear masks to school anymore! I suspect we are going to see more teachers quitting, and every single district has no where close to the faculty and staff they need. I really don't know how this can keep going because teachers are being treated like total crap, and there are a LOT of employment options out there so they could quit. These parents don't seem to consider the consequences of their actions. And of course this is just further proof from the anti-mask crowd that this has nothing to do with "freedom" because they want to restrict the teachers' choice to wear a mask. It is all about forcing their covid is a hoax stupidity down everyone else's throats.

We leave in a few days for the mountain house in Alabama. I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of hunkering down on the mountain and completely ignoring the world.

 

[ktgrok]

My sister with the breakthrough case is still having aphasia and tremors/ataxia. She is 3 weeks past initial infection. She will be starting physical therapy 3 times a week as well as speech therapy. 

[bookbard]

3 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

My sister with the breakthrough case is still having aphasia and tremors/ataxia. She is 3 weeks past initial infection. She will be starting physical therapy 3 times a week as well as speech therapy. 

So sorry to hear it's hit her so intensely. I am glad she's got access to therapy and hope that the early intervention makes a big difference. 

[KSera]

3 hours ago, ktgrok said:

My sister with the breakthrough case is still having aphasia and tremors/ataxia. She is 3 weeks past initial infection. She will be starting physical therapy 3 times a week as well as speech therapy. 

That is so freaky. Have they seen this presentation before? Is she immune compromised or otherwise with any condition that would make her less likely to have a good immune response? I’m so sorry she is going through this 😟. 

[ktgrok]

5 hours ago, KSera said:

That is so freaky. Have they seen this presentation before? Is she immune compromised or otherwise with any condition that would make her less likely to have a good immune response? I’m so sorry she is going through this 😟. 

No underlying issues other than some mild asthma that usually is triggered by illness. And she is overweight, gained during Covid, but also very active. She's a highschool principal at a school with several thousand students and is on her feet all day, every day, plus then on her off time is taking kids to sports events, building her own cabinetry, etc.

And yes, if you google, 1 in 3 people with Covid have neurological symptoms. Usually that's loss of taste/smell (which she also has), but also brain fog, short and long term memory issues, ataxia, and aphasia. 

The question now is how much is from inflammation (can't do steroids, it started while she was on prednisone for her lungs so don't want to do those again) or actual permanent damage from the virus. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by ktgrok

[Faith-manor]

Here is a quick read about a legal case against school districts in Wisconsin for lack of covid mitigation protocols. If this catches on, this could sweep the nation. My guess is school boards across America may regret allowing the ridiculous, wicked " let er rip" parents have the end say in school policy because it is not likely that a court will side with a school who went against th CDC and state health department guidelines. And if some of these kids hammered with covid disability or die, it could lead to some liability on these schools for not attempting to squelch the spread.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/11/us/wisconsin-parent-lawsuit-covid-school/index.html

The school district we are zoned for - ZERO mitigations, business as usual like nothing is going on out there and does not even tell parents when exposures happen - has eleven cases in this high school. 85% of faculty and staff vaccinated, but only 14% of the students. The school contains only 400 students. So 11 is a very worrisome number given that most parents here do not take their kids for the test if symptoms are mild. The county medical director estimates the actual cases to be closer to 70, and judging by actual absences for sick days, he is probably right. That's an actual positivity of 17.5%. That's the kind of positivity rate that gets insanely out of control very rapidly. In terms of this district, that is more than this year's entire graduating class. So classes continue despite high absenteeism. We have no head of the county health department because the right wing nut jobs that are called "county commissioners" here refuse to hire anyone with actual qualifications for the position - they drove out our previous one because she refused to say covid is a hoax and supported universal masking in public places, especially in schools, and of course vaccination - and so we are going through this ramping up of cases in the local schools with no one fit at the helm. The commissioners' current favorite choice, is a former army corpman with a bachelor's degree in biology, and a master's in business management. The state said "Hell, freaking no. This person does not have any of the required qualifications for the position, and we will pull your funding if you even try to install her in the position". This is my world. The Marx Brothers are running the county during a pandemic, and acting like tantruming toddlers with the state trying to figure out how to " spank" them.

I really hope someone with a student in this county gets a son of a bitch, evil, win at all cost attorney and manages to sue the pants off the district and these asshats in charge of the county. These scum bags don't give a crap about human life, but they sure do care about the money.

[SHP]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

 

I really hope someone with a student in this county gets a son of a bitch, evil, win at all cost attorney and manages to sue the pants off the district and these asshats in charge of the county. These scum bags don't give a crap about human life, but they sure do care about the money.

At this point I suspect you are right, lawsuits and the loss of, or the treat to lose, $$$$$ will be the only way, at least in the US. 

I am suffering from empathy fatigue and will refrain from posting my thoughts about punitive measures for those who refuse to take mitigation steps.

[Faith-manor]

2 minutes ago, SHP said:

At this point I suspect you are right, lawsuits and the loss of, or the treat to lose, $$$$$ will be the only way, at least in the US. 

I am suffering from empathy fatigue and will refrain from posting my thoughts about punitive measures for those who refuse to take mitigation steps.

I totally understand empathy fatigue!

[melmichigan]

5 hours ago, SHP said:

I am suffering from empathy fatigue and will refrain from posting my thoughts about punitive measures for those who refuse to take mitigation steps.

Empathy fatigue, that is a very nice way of saying it.

@ktgrok I'm sorry they can't use steroids.  IV Pulse steroids have been a miracle for me in my post vaccine treatment. They saturate the brain and spinal cord and then are out of my system without all the side effects of daily dosing.  I hope it's just inflammation and will improve with enough time. 

[Melissa Louise]

Ok, so ventilation audit/advice for schools here came out.

No CO2 monitors to be used routinely. A small trial of monitors to be run. 

There will be some emergency HEPA air filters for use by schools when weather is bad. In the future - not yet purchased. 

Advice is windows open. Based on a large classroom with 24 students and one adult. In our school, only kindergarten is under 24 students. Normally at least 2 adults, sometimes 3 in the room. 

Sounds like density limits will apply to staff rooms and offices only. 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by Melissa Louise

[Melissa Louise]

80 000 windows yet to be fixed. Greater Sydney schools go back in four days.

P & C organisations to get discouraged from fundraising for HEPA air filters. 

30 schools closed last week due to Covid with minimal staff/students on site. 

 

[Ausmumof3]

2,297 cases, 11 deaths for Vic today after three days of trending downwards. 406 for NSW. And 5 deaths.  
 

Feeling kind of bleak about the news this morning.  The hope is that hospitalisation and death will decouple from the case numbers and that’s happening to some degree.

[Melissa Louise]

2 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

2,297 cases, 11 deaths for Vic today after three days of trending downwards. 406 for NSW. And 5 deaths.  
 

Feeling kind of bleak about the news this morning.  The hope is that hospitalisation and death will decouple from the case numbers and that’s happening to some degree.

God, that's terrible 🙁

I honestly feel like I'm going a bit mad.

Still v concerned about Covid infections + aftermath in much of the population, but I swear everyone else (except OzSage) thinks it's over. 

 

[Arcadia]

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-reports-biggest-rise-covid-19-cases-six-weeks-2021-10-14/
“A total of 71 new local cases were reported in the country, all detected in Auckland, up from 55 a day earlier.

"Today's new case numbers are sobering but not unexpected because of where we are in the outbreak," Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said.

About 2.49 million New Zealanders have been fully vaccinated, or about 59% of the eligible population, with officials promising to end lockdowns once 90% are vaccinated. Officials are looking to administer a record 100,000 doses in a single day during a mass immunisation drive on Saturday.

Even with the Delta outbreak, New Zealand has recorded only 4,472 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths during the pandemic, far lower than many comparable countries.”

[wathe]

A brief report from CMAJ on covid, dementia and other neurological sequelae:

 

Research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference suggests even mild cases of COVID-19 may be associated with cognitive deficits months after recovery.

One Argentinian study of 234 seniors who previously had COVID-19 found that more than half showed some degree of cognitive impairment months later. One in three had severe “dementia-like” impairments in memory, attention and executive function — a much higher proportion than the 5%–8% of seniors in the general population who have dementia at a given time.

“This could be the start of a dementia-related epidemic fueled by this latest coronavirus,” stated presenting author Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio. Researchers will follow the study participants over the next three to five years to see if these problems resolve or worsen.

[lewelma]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-reports-biggest-rise-covid-19-cases-six-weeks-2021-10-14/
“A total of 71 new local cases were reported in the country, all detected in Auckland, up from 55 a day earlier.

"Today's new case numbers are sobering but not unexpected because of where we are in the outbreak," Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said.

About 2.49 million New Zealanders have been fully vaccinated, or about 59% of the eligible population, with officials promising to end lockdowns once 90% are vaccinated. Officials are looking to administer a record 100,000 doses in a single day during a mass immunisation drive on Saturday.

Even with the Delta outbreak, New Zealand has recorded only 4,472 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths during the pandemic, far lower than many comparable countries.”

Well, let's be clear that we are at 80.2% of the eligible population with one vaccine, and vaccines have only been available to people under 55 for about 6 weeks, and they initially reccommended a 6 week lag, so people are only now getting the second.  So they are expecting the 59% with 2 doses to get up to 80% within a month. The rural areas are lagging, Auckland and Wellington are over 90% eligible vaccinated with 1, expected to all go and get their second this month.  They have mandated that all teachers and health care workers plus staff in those locations must be fully vaccinated by Jan 1 so that will up the numbers. They are also implementing the vaccine certificate requirement for all large venues starting November 1, and are still deciding on restaurants and bars. And our certificate is not forgeable because we have a national health care system and the certificate will give the scanner a QR code to verify. Basically, we were off with a late start to vaccination because of India deciding not to export earlier in the year because of their own outbreak, so we are currently working as fast as we can to get to 90% double vaccinated by December. We currently at 105% of the planned rollout.

As for the outbreak, it is still contained in Auckland.  Luckily they caught it in two nearby localities before it spread, and we are not getting cases outside of Auckland. So ONE city of 1.6 million people with 71 cases today. They believe the r value is about 1.2 or 1.3, so they know it will grow, but they are preventing an r value of 6 through all the restrictions in Auckland. The rest of the country has only really 2 restrictions: masks required in public indoor areas, and gatherings are under 100. The problem with Auckland is that it is now in 3 gangs who aren't very forthcoming about who they have interacted with when talking to contact tracers. So the government doesn't feel like stricter lockdowns will help because the groups it is spreading in won't follow them. But on the good side, one of the chief gang members just got vaccinated on TV to encourage his gang to get it done. It is a business after all.

Basically, Auckland is holding it back, but barely. The rest of us know it is coming so are very motivated to get vaccinated. My suburb is now at 93%. I am feeling very positive.

Edited October 14, 2021 by lewelma

[Ausmumof3]

Analysing the true death toll/IFR in developing countries.

preprint only.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.29.21264325v1

[Ausmumof3]

AY23 strain?

What do we know about it? Should we be worried?  Apparently it has pretty much replaced the original delta strain in Singapore.

[Melissa in Australia]

:https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-15/data-shows-fully-vaccinated-deaths-in-nsw-aged-care-homes/100539620

😢

[KSera]

8 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

:https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-15/data-shows-fully-vaccinated-deaths-in-nsw-aged-care-homes/100539620

😢

That’s why settings like that really, really need to be making sure anyone in contact with the elderly is vaccinated and masked. That’s the population that has the highest likelihood of a serious breakthrough infection. Given that the vast majority of them are vaccinated, it’s going to be expected that most of the infections and deaths there are vaccinated. Are they going to be boosting the elderly in Australia?

[Melissa Louise]

There's no word on boosters..

Third doses only for extremely immunocompromised people. 

[Melissa in Australia]

 

I think that one of the nursing homes in NSW all the staff were vaccinated and masked. But one of the staff  had a breakthrough case and no symptoms. 

They have also had breakthrough cases amongst nurses in hospitals. All fully vaxed and wearing ppe

Vulnerable people will soon be able to get a booster shot.. I think 6months after their last dose .

[Corraleno]

48 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

AY23 strain?

What do we know about it? Should we be worried?  Apparently it has pretty much replaced the original delta strain in Singapore.

AY.23 is a sublineage of Delta Plus, so it's not so much that a new variant that has replaced Delta, it's more like that's the version of Delta that is dominant there, like AY.4 is dominant in the US. Delta Plus = Delta + the K417N mutation that also exists in Beta and Gamma, and I think there are 29 AY sublineages so far (Wiki lists 28, but I recently saw a report about AY.29 in Japan.) 

[Melissa Louise]

11 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

 

I think that one of the nursing homes in NSW all the staff were vaccinated and masked. But one of the staff  had a breakthrough case and no symptoms. 

They have also had breakthrough cases amongst nurses in hospitals. All fully vaxed and wearing ppe

Vulnerable people will soon be able to get a booster shot.. I think 6months after their last dose .

Not all vulnerable people. 

Only people with severe immune problems - and for them it's not a booster but a third dose of their first course of vaccination.

Anecdotally, that's also a mess with many eligible people so far unable to access the 3rd dose (being turned away at hubs, GPs).

Vulnerable people ( the old 1a category - healthcare, elderly) are already 6 months out or rapidly approaching, and there's zero word on boosters. In fact, disabled 1a people are not fully covered for their first vaccinations yet. 

 

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

AY23 strain?

What do we know about it? Should we be worried?  Apparently it has pretty much replaced the original delta strain in Singapore.

Couldn’t find any details about AY.23 other than this saying its 96% of cases

https://covid19dashboard.regeneron.com/?tab=Home&subTab=Asia

Australia has a AY.30 https://covid19dashboard.regeneron.com/?tab=Home&subTab=Oceania

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-new-cases-oct-14-deaths-locally-transmitted-hospital-icu-moh-2243956
“SINGAPORE: A 23-year-old person became the youngest COVID-19 fatality in Singapore as 15 more people died from complications due to the virus. 

Singapore reported 2,932 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Oct 14), as the death toll from the coronavirus rose to 207“

[Melissa in Australia]

2 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

Not all vulnerable people. 

Only people with severe immune problems - and for them it's not a booster but a third dose of their first course of vaccination.

Anecdotally, that's also a mess with many eligible people so far unable to access the 3rd dose (being turned away at hubs, GPs).

Vulnerable people ( the old 1a category - healthcare, elderly) are already 6 months out or rapidly approaching, and there's zero word on boosters. In fact, disabled 1a people are not fully covered for their first vaccinations yet. 

 

The vaccine roll-out is an absolute mess isn't it

[Ausmumof3]

Vic, 2179

NSW 399

Edited October 14, 2021 by Ausmumof3

[Melissa Louise]

20 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

The vaccine roll-out is an absolute mess isn't it

It's pathetic. 

 

 

[Melissa Louise]

Last of my kids is now fully vaccinated; bonus kid is also fully vaccinated. 

[KSera]

62% of US police officer line of duty deaths in 2020 were due to Covid

 

 

[JennyD]

19 hours ago, lewelma said:

But on the good side, one of the chief gang members just got vaccinated on TV to encourage his gang to get it done.

Wow.  Remarkable. 

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

AY.23 is a sublineage of Delta Plus, so it's not so much that a new variant that has replaced Delta, it's more like that's the version of Delta that is dominant there, like AY.4 is dominant in the US. Delta Plus = Delta + the K417N mutation that also exists in Beta and Gamma, and I think there are 29 AY sublineages so far (Wiki lists 28, but I recently saw a report about AY.29 in Japan.) 

So is the reason it’s replacing the original Delta version right place, right time, or some kind of competitive advantage?

[Melissa Louise]

Ok, so NSW border will open to international travellers without quarantine in just two weeks time?  The same time we ditch any mask mandates. 

Also..what? I can go to Melbourne from Sydney, but I can't visit DD in her home, but I could stay in a motel near them, and see them outdoors,  but they can't come here? 

I'm so confused. Covid is over in NSW, that's what every newspaper is telling me. 

Am I the crazy one still being cautious? 

[Rosie_0801]

6 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

Ok, so NSW border will open to international travellers without quarantine in just two weeks time?  The same time we ditch any mask mandates. 

Also..what? I can go to Melbourne from Sydney, but I can't visit DD in her home, but I could stay in a motel near them, and see them outdoors,  but they can't come here? 

I'm so confused. Covid is over in NSW, that's what every newspaper is telling me. 

Am I the crazy one still being cautious? 

You know you're not. 

Vic is opening borders?

[Melissa Louise]

6 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

You know you're not. 

Vic is opening borders?

To double vaccinated travellers from NSW, I heard, but once in VIC, subject to local health orders. 

[Corraleno]

44 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

So is the reason it’s replacing the original Delta version right place, right time, or some kind of competitive advantage?

The K417N mutation that distinguishes Delta Plus from "original" Delta does seem to provide an advantage in terms of increased antibody evasion. It's believed to be one of the reasons that the Beta (South African) and Gamma (Brazilian) variants seemed to result in lower vaccine efficacy and more reinfections. Whether AY.23 in particular is any more infectious or evasive than any of the other 30 AY sublineages, I don't know. The US has a whole bunch of different Delta Plus sublineages, each of which may be more or less prevalent in a given area, but overall A.4 seems to be the predominant one here. But there was just a story in the news about an unvaccinated man in Nevada who had the "original" Delta, recovered (negative PCR test), and then got reinfected just three weeks later with AY.26. 

[KSera]

I keep seeing reports of people who are testing positive on home antigen tests (lateral flow) and then negative on PCR, now I’m seeing UK media is picking it up as a potential issue, but they’re not sure if it’s a bad batch of tests or what. This is specific to an area of the UK, but it made me think of some posters here who have recently expected to be positive but tested negative. Hopefully it’s just a very localized testing problem.
Lateral flow tests: Health chiefs probe ‘high number’ of positive rapid Covid tests followed by negative PCRs

eta: up with insomnia, and it looks like this has escalated in the last few hours: 

Covid PCR tests: at least 43,000 in UK may have had false negatives

Yikes. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by KSera

[whitestavern]

12 hours ago, KSera said:

I keep seeing reports of people who are testing positive on home antigen tests (lateral flow) and then negative on PCR, now I’m seeing UK media is picking it up as a potential issue, but they’re not sure if it’s a bad batch of tests or what. This is specific to an area of the UK, but it made me think of some posters here who have recently expected to be positive but tested negative. Hopefully it’s just a very localized testing problem.
Lateral flow tests: Health chiefs probe ‘high number’ of positive rapid Covid tests followed by negative PCRs

eta: up with insomnia, and it looks like this has escalated in the last few hours: 

Covid PCR tests: at least 43,000 in UK may have had false negatives

Yikes. 

That's interesting. Around here it is the opposite. I know quite a few people who had negative rapid/in-home tests but positive PCR tests. 

[lewelma]

Today is NZ's vaxathon. 🙂 The government is trying to get the numbers up from 82% to 90%, so the entire country is focused today on just this one thing. All major political parties are out campaigning for it, plus athletes, actors, general famous people, Māori, etc.  And  then all the businesses are giving away free stuff - so KFC is vaccinating and giving away free chicken. And AirNZ is vaccinating in their airplanes, etc. They are even running an old-fashioned telethon on TV, and one on Māori TV too. So far the numbers are awesome.

1.7% of the ENTIRE population of NZ has shown up to get vaccinated by 2pm, and we have 5 hours to go!  

2:45pm we are at 1.9%! 

Apparently all the digital signs on all the highways all over the country are advertising to go get vaccinated. And there are people on the side of the road with signs offering free food and party hats.  LOL.

3:10pm we just hit 2%!

A gardening store is giving vaccines with a tomato plant to take home. 🙂

Edited October 16, 2021 by lewelma

[Rosie_0801]

That, Ruth, is just about unimaginable.

I'm sort of staring at your post and drooling.

[lewelma]

58 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

That, Ruth, is just about unimaginable.

I'm sort of staring at your post and drooling.

I've been watching the vaxathon TV live on and off today, and they are highlighting the baker bringing down the donuts to give away, and the Pacifica community teaching people how to dance, and Taika Waititi offering anyone vaccinated today a chance as an extra in his next movie. All the mayors, MPs, CEOs of all parties are out promoting events. The vaxi taxis and jabin wagons have driven out to the rural areas. It is just a party all over the country. 

And so far there is only one antivax protest nationwide that they are reporting but only in the small print. All the News channels and websites are just running pro-vaccine articles all day.

4:15 we are at 2.2% of the entire population of NZ showing up to get vaccinated.

5pm we are at 2.4%!!

Edited October 16, 2021 by lewelma