Coronavirus Discussion

[Astreya]

A few days ago, the federal and state governments decreed some measures to get the current wave under control, but with Omicron on the way, it is questionable whether this will suffice.

 

With a certain amount of gallows' humour, someone set up a German-language Twitter channel where Omicron aka B.1.1.529 reports their adventures on the way through Germany: 

Spoiler

 

 

 

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As of today, Wednesday, December 15, 09:30 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 834 (+32) active cases, while 14 484 (+101)  people are considered to have recovered. 396 (+-0) persons sadly died. 1039 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 15 714 (+134) 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 265.8 (+37.7) / Incidence for NRW: 255.4 (-12.5).

 

Currently 38 (+2) persons are treated in hospital, with 8 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 5 (-1) of them needing artificial respiration.

There have been 151 936 (1st jab, 72.0%) and 144 235  (2nd jab, 68.4%) and 56 269 (3rd jab, 26.7%) vaccinations so far. (Vaccination data from Dec 14, 2021).

Source: Stadt Oberhausen

Edited December 15, 2021 by Astreya

[Lagie]

58 minutes ago, Astreya said:

With a certain amount of gallows' humour, someone set up a German-language Twitter channel where Omicron aka B.1.1.529 reports their adventures on the way through Germany: 

27% in NRW?!? That seems very high. Are you still okay over there?

 

My arm's still a bit sore from the booster but at least I can lift it over my head today.

[Astreya]

@Lagie

Do you mean the 7-day-incidence per 100 000 people? If you look at the overview at ntv, it is 267.9 in NRW (they still have the data from Dec 14 in their list), and this is actually one of the "better" numbers when compared with the eastern Länder like Thuringa/Thüringen or Saxony/Sachsen.

 

Spoiler

Source: https://www.n-tv.de/infografik/Coronavirus-aktuelle-Zahlen-Daten-zur-Epidemie-in-Deutschland-Europa-und-der-Welt-article21604983.html

 

Other than that - we just try not to go out too much, just shopping for food and necessities and one or the other visit to a doctor or physio or so,

Edited December 15, 2021 by Astreya

[Lagie]

8 hours ago, Astreya said:

Other than that - we just try not to go out too much, just shopping for food and necessities and one or the other visit to a doctor or physio or so,

Stay safe!

Everyone here is treating life as 'business as usual plus a mask'

[Astreya]

@Lagie

I hope the booster side-effects are now over for you! I think it's fascinating that the booster which only contains half the dose of Moderna (at least here in Germany) actually was worse than the previous jabs for me.  But I decided to take this as a good omen that my immune system went into overdrive to produce antibodies and T-cells and whatever. ^^

 

As things go, it seems that in Spring 2022, we will likely have to go for a 4th jab, then with an upgraded version of BioNTech/Pfizer that will be designed to target Omicron properly.

 

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As of today, Thursday, December 16, 10:30 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 862 (+28) active cases, while 14 570 (+86)  people are considered to have recovered. 396 (+-0) persons sadly died. 1100 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 15 828 (+114) 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 263.4 (-2.4) / Incidence for NRW: 250.4 (-5.0).

 

Currently 37 (-1) persons are treated in hospital, with 9 (+1) of them in intensive care, 6 (+1) of them needing artificial respiration.

 

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As of today, Friday, December 17, 10:30 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 886 (+24) active cases, while 14 641 (+71)  people are considered to have recovered. 396 (+-0) persons sadly died. 1074 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 15 923 (+95) 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 271.0 (+7.6) / Incidence for NRW: 250.4 (+-0).

 

Currently 36 (-1) persons are treated in hospital, with 11 (+2) of them in intensive care, 8 (+2) of them needing artificial respiration.

There have been 151 936 (1st jab, 72.0%) and 144 235  (2nd jab, 68.4%) and 56 269 (3rd jab, 26.7%) vaccinations so far. (Vaccination data from Dec 14, 2021).

Source: Stadt Oberhausen

Edited December 18, 2021 by Astreya

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, Astreya said:

As things go, it seems that in Spring 2022, we will likely have to go for a 4th jab, then with an upgraded version of BioNTech/Pfizer that will be designed to target Omicron properly.

 oh goodness. It's never going away, is it?

 

We're now at 22,971 cases and 714 deaths . 21 people in hospital (a steady increase over the past three days), 3 of those in the ICU.

[Aniia]

In the US the science people are predicting it'll never "go away" as such, but that eventually enough people will have enough immunity that its severity will be reduced to something like a bad cold or flu. I feel like that message is not as reassuring as they mean it to be lol - I had H1N1 flu just before the pandemic hit, and that was brutal.

[PrincessLucy]

I am getting my Pfizer booster tomorrow. Not happy about the date, as I wanted to do it right before my day off, just in case I don't feel well the next day, especially since I am by myself at work as my overnight girl is on vacation. 

 

It was either tomorrow or January, so I will hope for the best.

 

I had no reaction to the first 2 shots.

[DaniBoo]

2 hours ago, PrincessLucy said:

I am getting my Pfizer booster tomorrow. Not happy about the date, as I wanted to do it right before my day off, just in case I don't feel well the next day, especially since I am by myself at work as my overnight girl is on vacation. 

 

Hopefully all goes well and you don't have a reaction! Boosters are being made available next week for my age group so I'll be scheduling mine ASAP, the second shot really hit me hard side-effect wise so I'm a bit nervous to get the third but I know it's for the best!

[Astreya]

@Lagie

Well, one can't negotiate with a virus, so we can just react to what it throws at us.

 

@Aniia

Indeed. Those people who say "it's just like a flu" simply don't know how serious an influenza can be.

 

@PrincessLucy  @DaniBoo

From what I heard and read, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine causes less side-effects than the Moderna booster. My parents who got boostered with BioNTech only had a slightly sore arm each, while the Moderna booster pretty much knocked out my brother, his wife and me. So you have a good chance that you will not affected too badly.

 

[DaniBoo]

@Astreya good to know! I'm not sure which booster I'll be getting but my first shot was Pfizer and my second shot was Moderna, and man oh man did that Moderna do a number on me!

I guess it boils down to the individual though since my boyfriend didn't have any reaction from Pfizer or Moderna (he got the same mix I did) and my closest friend was out of commission about 4 days with two shots of Pfizer.

[Astreya]

@DaniBoo

In the end everything in medicine depends on the individual constitution. I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything works out best for you!

 

My Dad was admitted to hospital yesterday (non-Covid related stuff), and at the moment the high Covid numbers here mean that visiting him is a real hassle. Visiting is only possible for one person per day for 30 minutes, and one has not only to be either recently recovered or vaccinated, but one also needs to provide a negative Covid test that is no older than 24 hours.

 

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As of today, Saturday, December 18, 10:30 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 908 (+22) active cases, while 14 687 (+46)  people are considered to have recovered. 399 (+3) persons sadly died. 1210 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 15 994 (+71) 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 262.4 (-8.6) / Incidence for NRW: 238.3 (-12.1).

 

Currently 33 (-3) persons are treated in hospital, with 12 (+1) of them in intensive care, 7 (-1) of them needing artificial respiration.

There have been 151 936 (1st jab, 72.0%) and 144 235  (2nd jab, 68.4%) and 56 269 (3rd jab, 26.7%) vaccinations so far. (Vaccination data from Dec 14, 2021).

Source: Stadt Oberhausen

[Lagie]

4 hours ago, Astreya said:

My Dad was admitted to hospital yesterday (non-Covid related stuff), and at the moment the high Covid numbers here mean that visiting him is a real hassle.

Hope he's okay, and that you are able to see him! *hugs*

[Astreya]

@Lagie

Thanks! Well, the problem with him is that his heart is not as strong as it used to be and thus he has some water in places where it doesn't belong. But this shows how important it is that the hospitals aren't overflowing with Covid patients as there are often other people who do everything right (getting vaccinated, boostered, only run around with masks etc) who also need hospital care.

 

I was able to see him today, and tomorrow my Mom will visit him.  On the plus side, he is already talking that the food in this hospital is very good (other than in the other one where he was in summer), and as long as he is talking about eating all the time, things can't be too bad. ^^

[Kestra15]

I hope things go well for your Dad!

[Astreya]

@Kestra15

Thanks! He's definitely looking better now that he's in the hospital than he did when he was at home the last days. We hope that he can be discharged just before Christmas.

 

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As of today, Sunday, December 19, 08:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 968 (+60) active cases, while 14 707 (+20)  people are considered to have recovered. 399 (+-0) persons sadly died. 1248 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 16 074 (+80) 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 282.0 (+19.6) / Incidence for NRW: 237.0 (-1.3).

 

Currently 31 (-2) persons are treated in hospital, with 11 (-1) of them in intensive care, 8 (+1) of them needing artificial respiration.

 

 

Yesterday (Dec 19), Oberhausen offered a special vaccination event in an event arena near a large shopping mall - and on that day, 3864 people got vaccinated. Good job!

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As of today, Monday, December 20, 08:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 907 (-61) active cases, while 14 819 (+112)  people are considered to have recovered. 399 (+-0) persons sadly died. 1292 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 16 125 (+51) 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 299.7 (+17.7) / Incidence for NRW: 238.3 (+1.3).

 

Currently 31 (+-0) persons are treated in hospital, with 11 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 8 (+-0) of them needing artificial respiration.

There have been 151 936 (1st jab, 72.0%) and 144 235  (2nd jab, 68.4%) and 56 269 (3rd jab, 26.7%) vaccinations so far. (Vaccination data from Dec 14, 2021).

Source: Stadt Oberhausen

Edited December 20, 2021 by Astreya

[blah]

My first jab was AstraZeneca (knocked me down flat for three days, I was vaccinated early because of my job - at that time AstraZeneca was only given to young people), the second one was BioNTech (my arm hurt) and the booster was Moderna in combination with a flu shot (no reaction whatsoever). 
 

I don’t think we’re ever truly getting rid of this again but I hope that the vaccines can play catch-up. 

[peristeronicAvian]

I can't believe it's been nearly two years since the pandemic started... it's even harder because my entire immediate family hopped on the anti-vaxx train. It's unbelievable, especially because they used to make fun of anti-vaxxers and brag about how me and my brother had all our vaccines as kids.

I'm from the USA, and my family refuses to get vaccinated. My baby brother was going to visit, but now I'll probably never see him again because it's just not safe for me or my partner who has asthma to be around him.

[Lagie]

2 hours ago, peristeronicAvian said:

My baby brother was going to visit, but now I'll probably never see him again because it's just not safe for me or my partner who has asthma to be around him.

Sorry to hear that. and about your family. Stay safe. *virtual hugs*

 

2 hours ago, blah said:

don’t think we’re ever truly getting rid of this again but I hope that the vaccines can play catch-up.

Hopefully!

[trystan]

so... my (anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theory) boss is reading "The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health" by Robert F Kennedy Jr.  my fault, i asked her what book she was reading after she told me that a bug got smushed between the dust jacket and the book it was a stink bug!

 

ahem.

the one-star reviews are quite amusing.  but it's books like these that get 2,986 5-star reviews out of 3,173 total reviews (4.9 stars out of 5) and have all kinds of endorsements from those "entertainers" on Faux News that keep spreading misinformation.

 

this is one of the one-star reviews - says it perfectly:

Quote

I wonder how many deaths have been caused by this man?

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2021

Lies are becoming common due to Trump and people like Kennedy who uses his family name to promote non-science. Millions are alive today because of vaccines. It is only because of vaccines and their ability to prevent harm that gives people the false thought that they do nothing. After all, who really suffers from polio or diphtheria anyway? No one we know. Why, vaccines did their job.

 

[Astreya]

3 hours ago, blah said:

I don’t think we’re ever truly getting rid of this again but I hope that the vaccines can play catch-up. 

I certainly hope  that the virus will mutate to become less dangerous over time while it adapts to humans as the most successful viruses don't kill their hosts, but just spread fast and far. But until this happens (if it does, that is), we certainly have to play catch-up with newly adapted vaccines and otherwise stay cautious.

 

3 hours ago, peristeronicAvian said:

I'm from the USA, and my family refuses to get vaccinated. My baby brother was going to visit, but now I'll probably never see him again because it's just not safe for me or my partner who has asthma to be around him.

That's sad to hear. Let's hope your family will see the light after all!

 

45 minutes ago, trystan said:

Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Two days ago I stumbled over this here:

Quote

Guests urged to be vaccinated at anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr’s party

Kennedy said his wife, Cheryl Hines, was behind it and that he is ‘not always the boss at my own house’

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/18/robert-f-kennedy-jr-cheryl-hines-party-vaccinated-guests

Yeah, yeah...

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Astreya

[AsymDoll13]

My dad is against the vaccine becuase... I dunno. He thinks that he's a scientist. My mother could probably be convinced, but since I'm not staying with them at the moment... Yeah. 

 

I'm fully vaxxed and so is my bestie (as well as her dad who's 71) so on Christmas we're going to go sit with my parents for a bit. 

[trystan]

1 hour ago, Astreya said:

Two days ago I stumbled over this here:

Quote

Guests urged to be vaccinated at anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr’s party

Kennedy said his wife, Cheryl Hines, was behind it and that he is ‘not always the boss at my own house’

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/18/robert-f-kennedy-jr-cheryl-hines-party-vaccinated-guests

Yeah, yeah...

the irony is strong with this pandemic.... *sigh*

[Astreya]

Today the German government decided about new restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. Unfortunately they only want to enact the new restrictions after Christmas, starting on Dec 28. Until then, Omicron will have a lot of fun joining the Christmas parties in Germany...

 

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As of today, Tuesday, December 21, 08:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 864 (-43) active cases, while 14 896 (+77)  people are considered to have recovered. 400 (+1) persons sadly died. 1292 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 16 160 (+35) 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 275.3 (-24.4) / Incidence for NRW: 232.1 (-6.2).

 

Currently 36 (+5) persons are treated in hospital, with 11 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 7 (-1) of them needing artificial respiration.

There have been 151 936 (1st jab, 72.0%) and 144 235  (2nd jab, 68.4%) and 56 269 (3rd jab, 26.7%) vaccinations so far. (Vaccination data from Dec 14, 2021).

Source: Stadt Oberhausen

[peristeronicAvian]

On 12/20/2021 at 3:03 PM, Astreya said:

I certainly hope  that the virus will mutate to become less dangerous over time while it adapts to humans as the most successful viruses don't kill their hosts, but just spread fast and far. But until this happens (if it does, that is), we certainly have to play catch-up with newly adapted vaccines and otherwise stay cautious.

 

That's sad to hear. Let's hope your family will see the light after all!

 

Two days ago I stumbled over this here:

Yeah, yeah...

 

Thank you, I appreciate that!! ^^

 

On 12/20/2021 at 1:55 PM, Lagie said:

Sorry to hear that. and about your family. Stay safe. *virtual hugs*

 

Hopefully!

Thank you, I appreciate that!! You stay safe, as well! *virtual hugs*