Posted December 22, 2020 54 minutes ago, purpledragonclaw said: As for the vaccine, I'm of the mentality that it won't be available for me until at least April and I'm okay with that. There are a lot of other groups I'd like to see get it first, like hospital workers, frontline workers, and teachers. I can wait. This is the same boat I'm in. Of course I'd like to be able to get the vaccine sooner rather than later, but there's soooo many more people who need it far more urgently than I do. I can wait until spring! Share this post Link to post
Posted December 22, 2020 I'm just glad that my parents belong to the number one group that gets the vaccine as they are well over 80 with the usual age-related ailments. I hope they will soon get the invitation to the vaccination centre! Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 4 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said: As for the vaccine, I'm of the mentality that it won't be available for me until at least April and I'm okay with that. There are a lot of other groups I'd like to see get it first, like hospital workers, frontline workers, and teachers. I can wait. i figure i'm in the April group as well.... if there's anything that bumps me to earlier (march?) it's because i have high blood pressure and i work at a craft store that has a sign on it that says we're an essential business (because we sell masks and mask-making supplies (even thought not really on the supplies)) Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 Bah. Covid has managed to push my wedding back twice, and now we're wondering it will happen next year, too. 😔 It's an outdoor venue, but we have like 120 people on our guest list... Fingers crossed I guess. One of my moms got her first covid vaccine on Saturday since she's an ICU nurse, and my other mom (also a nurse) I think gets it soon. Technically my job is considered "essential business" and our safety officer said she's trying to get us on the list to get vaccinated, but my particular role is just an office worker. Even though we haven't worked from home since May (and a few of my colleagues have gotten the virus already), I'm torn on whether I should get the vaccine now or wait. I'd love to get it asap, but I also don't want to take away doses from others who have contact with more people than I do, and also medical personnel. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 22 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said: Don't get me started on flat-earthers. As for the vaccine, I'm of the mentality that it won't be available for me until at least April and I'm okay with that. There are a lot of other groups I'd like to see get it first, like hospital workers, frontline workers, and teachers. I can wait. I have no idea when I might be eligible for the vaccine, but like you, I don't mind waiting while hospital workers, teachers, and people with medical issues putting them at higher risk get theirs first. As to the flat earthers, I saw a great one the other day, suggesting that proof the earth is not, in fact, flat, lies in the face of capitalism - if the earth WAS flat, SOMEBODY would be making money off of it. "The Ends of the Earth" would be a major tourist destination, complete with theme parks, restaurants and hotels, and probably massive swings right on the edge so you could swing out over the drop-off. Since none of that exists, the earth obviously isn't flat. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 Today was the deadliest day in Oberhausen so far with 15 persons having died from Covid-19 - one of them a young woman aged 22. ------------- As of today, Wednesday, December 23, 11:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 1057 (+23) active cases, while 3725 (+51) people are considered to have recovered. 2411 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 4880 (+89) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 328.8 (-12.8). Currently 191 (+1) persons are treated in hospitals, with 18 (-4) of them in intensive care, 7 (-3) of these needing artificial respiration. 98 (+15) persons sadly died. All in all there have been 60 899 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 3 hours ago, Astreya said: Today was the deadliest day in Oberhausen so far with 15 persons having died from Covid-19 - one of them a young woman aged 22. Sorry to hear that. We've had five more deaths added to our total though I think they may have been from the 'under investigation' deaths rather than actual new deaths. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 23, 2020 4 hours ago, catstaff said: As to the flat earthers, I saw a great one the other day, suggesting that proof the earth is not, in fact, flat, lies in the face of capitalism - if the earth WAS flat, SOMEBODY would be making money off of it. "The Ends of the Earth" would be a major tourist destination, complete with theme parks, restaurants and hotels, and probably massive swings right on the edge so you could swing out over the drop-off. Since none of that exists, the earth obviously isn't flat. this is brilliant! Share this post Link to post
Posted December 24, 2020 (edited) @catstaff I love the theme park objection! Actually all the conspiracy leaders, e.g. the Querdenker "bosses" (a German group that is against everything the government says, objects against Anti-Covid rules and vaccinations), etc usually do profit greatly from the gullible sheep that follow them (Mr.Trump does, too, by the way - he is supposed to have collected some hundred million USD by now from them to get support for his outlandish ideas). They usually print a lot of merchandise, often hold seminars or just ask for donations without even offering anything in return and make quite some money of their followers! Meanwhile my Corona hotspot hometown issued a curfew - we are not supposed to go outside from 21:00 to 05:00 unless for essential stuff: Spoiler Of course they decided to make it somewhat less strict for Christmas and New Year - I wonder if it ever occurred to them that people can nicely infect each other just before midnight on Christmas or before 02:00 in the morning of New Year, too? The crisis management team just updated the website with today's numbers, and as expected it is still not looking really better, even though the 7-day-incidence went down a bit and we are not NRW's top hotspot anymore. ------------- As of today, Thursday, December 24, 13:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 1069 (+12) active cases, while 3811 (+86) people are considered to have recovered. 2581 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 4985 (+105) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 288.5 (-40.3). Currently 183 (-8) persons are treated in hospitals, with 19 (+1) of them in intensive care, 7 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration. 105 (+7) persons sadly died. All in all there have been 61 320 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Edited December 24, 2020 by Astreya Share this post Link to post
Posted December 24, 2020 Well, just had to get my third Covid test this year 🥴 Yay. At least they FINALLY shut down the office again for a little while. We'll see how long that lasts. 😪 Share this post Link to post
Posted December 24, 2020 so here's a fun one: my manager at my retail job has tested positive for the virus.... but we're not supposed to know that. wtf?? anyway. i plan on calling out sunday (which is my next scheduled day) no matter what. and i'm waiting for my other boss to find out if the Big Boss wants me to get a test or self-monitor for symptoms (that i don't have). i did call a testing place, and they said since we (me and the manager) were masked and distanced, i shouldn't need a test, which is what i told my boss. so we shall see. argh! Share this post Link to post
Posted December 24, 2020 (edited) @trystan Oh dear, I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you stay healthy! Just try to keep safe! @hazeh The same goes for you of course. I spent Christmas home alone watching several Doctor Who Christmas Specials while my parents insisted dropping by at my brother's to celebrate Christmas with him and his wife. I cooked my really cool ginger syrup as present for my sister-in-law and her mother as they both love it (and it's good if you have a sore throat or a cough - just pour a little syrup into a glass and add hot water) and right now I'm trying to turn the remaining ginger pieces into candied ginger with additional copious amounts of sugar. ------------- As of today, Friday, December 25, 13:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 1035 (-34) active cases, while 3883 (+72) people are considered to have recovered. 2581 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 5025 (+40) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 249.6 288.5 (-38.9). Currently 163 (-20) persons are treated in hospitals, with 20 (+1) of them in intensive care, 10 (+3) of these needing artificial respiration. 107 (+2) persons sadly died. All in all there have been 61 366 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Edited December 25, 2020 by Astreya Share this post Link to post
Posted December 25, 2020 2 hours ago, Astreya said: @trystan Oh dear, I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you stay healthy! Just try to keep safe! thanks! and yeah, i do plan to keep safe and healthy! it's even to the point where after my 14 days of isolating as best as i can (still need to hear from my boss, but it IS xmas after all), where i'm thinking about applying at my retail job's competitor. and when they ask why i left my other job, i can tell them "someone tested positive... and we weren't supposed to know that. and they didn't tell us if we'd worked a shift with someone who tested positive. and i didn't feel safe there." as for my xmas eve, it's just me and hubby tonight (younger daughter is at her boyfriend's), and we'll be watching Nightmare before Xmas later on. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 30, 2020 (edited) The last days w had quite a Covid scare here myself. On Monday, my Mom called me that my father had fallen ill with severe flu-like symptoms and high fever. I called the doctor right thereafter and described my father's symptoms to him (of course my mother waited until afternoon to tell me and my father - irresponsible as he is - neither wanted to visit the doc himself nor ask for a doctor's visit) and I got a receipt for a med against the fever, body aches plus an antibiotic (there are more flu-like diseases than covid or flu around, of course, and the doc wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be some super infection in any case). I brought the meds over (with FFP2 mask and very carefully) and told him that the doc wanted to see him on early Tuesday morning for a covid swab. My Dad told me that he was "only allowed to go into the backyard of the Doctor's office and the Doc was dressed up like an astronaut" to test him. Gladly we got a call only 7 or 8 hours later and they told him that he was negative for SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, the meds seem to work and the fever is down by now. At the moment he mainly suffers the side-effects of the antibiotic (the usual stomach/bowel problems as antibiotics of course kill the good bacteria in the intestines, too). Frankly, I hope that both my parents can get vaccinated ASAP, but at the moment the care homes take precedence. The data for Oberhausen is currently still a bit imprecise as the Local Health Office didn't work fully over the Christmas holidays (just as about the rest of Germany). I didn't give the difference today as it might be a bit skewed due to the delays. ------------- As of today, Tuesday, December 29, 12:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 960 active cases, while 4104 people are considered to have recovered. 116 persons sadly died. 1809 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 5180 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 155.6. Currently 156 persons are treated in hospitals, with 20 of them in intensive care, 14 of these needing artificial respiration. All in all there have been 61 653 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Edited December 30, 2020 by Astreya Share this post Link to post
Posted December 30, 2020 2 minutes ago, Astreya said: Gladly we got a call only 7 or 8 hours later and they told him that he was negative for SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, the meds seem to work and the fever is down by now. that's a big sigh of relief! out of a bit of caution, my boss asked me to stay home yesterday and today and i'm back in tomorrow, and then thursday when we're both in i'll wear a mask. i never did have any symptoms* and it's been 10 days since i saw the person that i later found out had tested positive. i also reported the store on my state's health department site, but who knows if they'll do anything. also, since i'm not supposed to know that someone (a) at my store and (b) i shared a shift with tested positive, i'm not sure HOW to say anything - because i'm pretty sure there was a break-down in the chain of reporting and protocols - when i'm back in the store on saturday. *sigh* *save my usual allergy symptoms that i have every day all the time. *sigh* Share this post Link to post
Posted December 30, 2020 @trystan I think it is outrageous that you are supposed to be kept in the dark about a positive result. HOw do they justify this? I'm not 100% sure about the legal stuff, but I think in Germany everybody who is tested positive has to quarantine by law or could get fined. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 30, 2020 @Astreya - my first step is to make sure there are protocols that exist. i don't plan on going back to the store until saturday (i've requested off on friday, so i'd feel weird going in on a day i specifically requested off). IF the protocols exist that we're supposed to know that someone tested positive, i need to figure out how to tell them that i found out (i can always say i don't remember who it was that told me). the other option is that i can call HR. another coworker did this last week, and was told to talk to our district manager. (coworker is friend of my daughter... who also works there. yes, i work with my daughter. ) Share this post Link to post
Posted December 31, 2020 @trystan That sounds like a sensible way to go about it. Just stay safe as well as you can! I just hope people will decide not to party big this end of the year. The officials prohibited the sale of fireworks in all of Germany and firing it at public places, but of course there are numerous people who bought (often illegal) Polish fireworks. And one 19-year old guy already blew himself up when he tried to mix some chemicals to create self-made fireworks at home (he was badly injured and had to be put in critical care, just what the hospitals don't need at the moment). In Oberhausen the number of deaths increases, too, among them a 39-year old man. People really need to realise that Covid-19 kills younger people, too. The 7-day-incidence is certainly way too low due to the under-reported Christmas numbers that currently keep the average down. Looking at the last 3 days, there were 157, 120 and 109 newly infected persons, which would give an average of 61 new infections per 100 000 citizens per day in the last 3 days, and if you'd project this for a week, we could have an incidence of over 400 o_O. On the other hand, it appears as is the new infections went down from Tuesday to Thursday, and considering the fact that normally the numbers were rising from Monday to Saturday, we might see a little light at the tunnel anyway - at least if the people don't throw away all common sense tonight. I will certainly stay at home and watch some stuff on TV or so, as I'm not a party person anyway. (I haven't celebrated New Year for years, why should I start today celebrating some arbitrary calender date. (Yeah, I'm a "Silvestermuffel", too :P) ------------- As of today, Thursday, December 31, 11:30 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 1042 active cases, while 4250 people are considered to have recovered. 124 persons sadly died. 1859 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 5409 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 169.4. Currently 156 persons are treated in hospitals, with 18 of them in intensive care, 13 of these needing artificial respiration. All in all there have been 61 879 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Share this post Link to post
Posted December 31, 2020 @Astreya - so i actually emailed the district manager (DM) last night. i said that i learned that someone i worked with last week (gave the exact date) tested positive, and that i was concerned because i never got any notification from management that i might have been exposed to the virus. i said it was concerning also because of how contagious the virus was, because that could put other people i come in contact with also at risk (i made it a little cleaner, and added a few bits of info (name, store number, cashier). i actually got a reply back from the DM, and she said that contact tracing is based off the schedule, and any one who might have been at risk was contacted directly. the unspoken part of this email is that i was not at risk (AND that i wasn't on the schedule the day she tested positive, neither was my daughter or her friend then.) but in my email, i said that i worked with the person on sunday. i learned on wednesday this person tested positive. which leaves me with the question, because my google-fu seems to be wonky - if someone tests positive on tuesday or wednesday, were they contagious on sunday, 2-3 days before? (i figured this was a good place to ask ) this is frustrating, because i never would have even known that someone in the store tested positive, and that's just really awkward. another one of my daughter's friends works at a different company in a store, where if someone in the store tests positive, everyone gets notified. and then others would get a second notification if they worked with that person and should get tested. i like this approach much better. as for new year's eve, younger daughter will be with her boyfriend (no surprise there), and older daughter will be joining us for dinner and we'll find something on netflix to watch. she has work on the 1st, so she won't be staying until midnight though. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 31, 2020 23 minutes ago, trystan said: if someone tests positive on tuesday or wednesday, were they contagious on sunday, 2-3 days before? (i figured this was a good place to ask ) Unfortunately it is possible, depending on the time when the person got infected. According to the RKI, the average incubation period is 5-6 days. They give the time when a person is infectious as 1-2 days before they develop symptoms. So if a person first gets infected and you use the average incubation period, a person is possibly contagious from day 3 of their infection if they develop symptoms on day 5. So the question is when did the person you met first develop symptoms, not when she was tested positive. The approach of the store of your daughter's friend is how contact tracing should be done. Your store really doesn't do it right. Share this post Link to post
Posted December 31, 2020 25 minutes ago, Astreya said: So if a person first gets infected and you use the average incubation period, a person is possibly contagious from day 3 of their infection if they develop symptoms on day 5. So the question is when did the person you met first develop symptoms, not when she was tested positive. and we don't know this answer. it could have been tuesday, since we knew of the positive result on wednesday. neither i nor my daughter worked with her tuesday, but we both worked with her sunday, and my daughter worked with her on monday - when she she could have been contagious. 28 minutes ago, Astreya said: The approach of the store of your daughter's friend is how contact tracing should be done. Your store really doesn't do it right. agreed! there seems to be a few things my store doesn't do right Share this post Link to post
Posted January 1, 2021 @trystan I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for you that you stayed clean of the bug! In Oberhausen, the New Year was celebrated very quietly for once. The town officials thanked the citizens that no one (!) broke the ban on going to certain public places, drinking alcohol in public etc. Due to the fireworks ban, there was actually not a single emergency due to injuries because of fireworks accidents for once, which was a relief for the hospitals which have to treat enough severe Covid-19 cases. From yesterday to today, the new infections have dropped to 28, which looks good, although it could also be the Local Health Office having another break over New Year. There will be no new numbers tomorrow (Jan 2), they already announced. ------------ As of today, Friday, January 1, 12:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 952 (-90) active cases, while 4368 (+118) people are considered to have recovered. 127 (+3) persons sadly died. 1765 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 5437 (+28) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 166.1 (-3.3). Currently 163 (+7) persons are treated in hospitals, with 21 (+3) of them in intensive care, 13 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration. All in all there have been 62 034 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen. There have been 557 vaccinations in care homes so far with 243 more planned today and tomorrow. [Source: Stadt Oberhausen] Share this post Link to post
Posted January 1, 2021 4 hours ago, Astreya said: The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 166.1 (-3.3). That's pretty much the same number we got now, which means it's gone down quite a bit in the past few weeks! Good news, but it's still too much - there were almost 100 new infections yesterday. 😔 Currently, 1,347 people are infected. In one part of my city, church services are currently forbidden (unless they take place online), as that area got a record number of infections due to large congregation at one of the free churches. Even at Christmas, there were no services. Christmas services at night / in the late evening were forbidden in our entire area anyway because we have a curfew. A colleague of mine was dumbfounded when he realized that would mean he'd be able to celebrate Christmas with his family for the first time in years - he plays the organ at his local church and is usually in high demand during the holidays. Share this post Link to post
Posted January 1, 2021 5 hours ago, Astreya said: @trystan I will definitely keep my fingers crossed for you that you stayed clean of the bug! today is day 13 since i saw the person who tested positive, and i've had nothing new beyond my usual sneezies and stuffies (thanks, sinuses! ) i go back to the store tomorrow.... with simmering frustrations that i'm still working on how to resolve. *sigh* also, happy new year! Share this post Link to post
Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) There was a long article in the New York Times this morning about the Trump administration's failures on controlling the pandemic. I will provide a link, but not try to quote as it is hard to narrow down to anything of a reasonable length. Things could have been so much different if only President Trump had listened to voices of reason. NYT article Edited January 1, 2021 by purplehaze typo Share this post Link to post
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