3 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

As my brother is still isolating at home due to covid, we got word this morning that his wife now has it too (the kids have tested negative). She's at home, too, so at least things don't seem to be that bad. Let's hope and pray that it stays that way.

Wow. Good energy sent your way. 

 

May it stay hopeful. 

Thank you. 😊

Germany's lockdown has been extended to January 31st ... with even stricter contact rules.
In some federal states, schools and nurseries stay closed until the end of January.
In areas with a 7-day incidence higher than 200, people are only allowed to travel as far as 15 km (~ 9 miles) away from their place of residence. However, the police has already stated that they cannot control this rule – and if they won't control it, nobody will.

 

The eastern part of the country has been hit the hardest ... many counties and cities in the states of Saxony, Thuringia and parts of Bavaria have the highest 7-day incidence as can be seen in the map below ... and this is mainly due to the fact that a) the average age of the population in the eastern states (former GDR minus Bavaria) is older than in the rest of the country and b) that a lot of people in these rural areas still deny the existence of coronavirus. Back in the day of the former GDR, Saxony was called "Das Tal der Ahnungslosen" (The Valley of the Clueless), and apparently, this still applies today.

 

As mentioned before, I live in the fourth-largest city of the country, but so far we've only had 350 deaths from coronavirus in 10 months – with a population of 1.1 million. These high incidence counties have like a quarter of our population each and have had way more deaths.

 

So far, only 0.4% of our population has received the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine.
At least, the EU has now given green light for using the Moderna vaccine so maybe things will speed up a bit in the next weeks ... meanwhile, our dear neighbors in the Netherlands haven't even started vaccinating at all.

 

 

  

 

 

Of course, the insurrection at the Capitol Building may end up being the biggest superspreader of all:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/capitol-insurrection-was-recipe-for-covid-superspreader-event/%3famp=1

 

So we're over 4000 now. I wonder if all those "it's over" people have anything to say...or that pig Ted Cruz, who insisted no one would care about COVID after Biden won.

 

@Huntressthank you for sharing details of the response there. At least it seems to be in much better shape than the US, not that that has anything to do with your point.

We've had a tightening of the rules here in Sweden as well. Our parliament today voted to give the government more power to implement stricter measures more easily. The authorities now have the power to shut down malls, gyms, shops etc if they don't follow the rules. A limit on social gatherings has also been implemented, for both public and private gatherings.

Starting yesterday we're also being urged to wear masks on public transportation during rush hours (7-9 in the morning and 16-18 in the afternoon)

I thought I would pass on to the readers here that we got our vaccines on Wednesday morning and both of us had no adverse reactions.  In fact, our arms were far better off than when we had our flu shots.  We go back on Feb. 4 for our 2nd doses.

 

  

This is unbearably sad: Sunny Hostin lost *both* of her parents-in-law to COVID over the holidays. She spoke about it earlier today on The View.

 

 

6 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

We've had a tightening of the rules here in Sweden as well. Our parliament today voted to give the government more power to implement stricter measures more easily. The authorities now have the power to shut down malls, gyms, shops etc if they don't follow the rules. A limit on social gatherings has also been implemented, for both public and private gatherings.

Starting yesterday we're also being urged to wear masks on public transportation during rush hours (7-9 in the morning and 16-18 in the afternoon)

Interesting news to hear. And thank you as well @Huntress for your information. I just messaged one of my German friends to be sure he was okay. Sounds right and that is appreciated. 

 

@Ponds good to hear.

 

 

Antonio Sabato Sr. passed away.

 

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/antonio-sabato-sr-dead-1234881971/