October-November Coronavirus News

[lovesbabysquirmy]

our new cases from yesterday were the highest ever.  1584 new infections they have detected! 

augh!  >.< 

[Bright_Glow]

How are you guys with mask-wearing?
I'm pretty OK with it well actually I even enjoy it a bit. In weekdays I wear masks about 12 hours with small breaks including workplace and public transport to the workplace and home.
I prefer to wear colourful 3 layers of the textile masks and I try to change it regularly so I use about 4-6 masks a day and wash hand and disinfect regularly and it pays off for me so far.

I have a contact tracer app on my phone but not much people use it so it isn't effective.

[Ponybookworm]

Not the most comfy but then I never spend that long inside a shop if I can help it, mask or no, so wearing for that amount of time is a worthy minor inconvenience. I have a cloth mask & when I get home from whatever shop (electric & top-up) I handwash it with hot water & soap immediately.

[Barnacle_lady]

I have a few cloth masks that are washed weekly. Every trip to a shop/grocery store I switch them. And ofcourse public transport.
The 1st of December everyone has to wear them in public spaces.

[Taffeta]

I am managing masks more than I thought I might, but I did some practice at home before heading into town. We haven't been to town for a bit though. I went last 2 weeks ago to get medicine for the parents but hopefully they will get the next lot delivered.

I can tolerate them outside without much trouble. Inside for short periods. On a bus was fine. I don't know about a longish train journey. But none of those are options for us at the moment so it's not a big deal.

Cases here are levelling, the worst area is here in the Midlands but that is also slowing. Our numbers in this locality have stopped going nuts and the number of cases per 100k has dropped considerably in the last few days. It's not clear if this is the peak of our 2nd wave or what is going on, but the fear that we would have 100k cases a day and rising (what they think was happening in the spring) hasn't materialised.

We now have a nice little govt dashboard which between that and local govt emails makes it easier to see how the virus is in our community. Relieved to see the arrows starting to trend green and down, not red and up :/ But a long way to go.

Govt outlined new tier plan for after Dec 2nd. Not sure how it is harsher than previous, seems more lenient but we'll see.

[Bright_Glow]

I more step back to the lockdown. The old people's shopping hours coming back tomorrow. Retired people can still shop all day but on weekdays from 9-11 and weekend 8-10 only they can shop.

Ps: since last Friday the government launched weekly quick testing for the social homes, teachers and healthcare workers.

[banditpony]

It took me awhile to find a mask that worked for me. I have one with a filter and it fits around my nose, but it also doesn't feel like it's in my nose/mouth when I breath. An odd silver lining, they feel nice on a cold day. Like a scarf would. lol.

Anyway. Things are pretty rough right now. We are at the point where the influx of covid cases will displace non-covid cases in the hospitals..

For the past week, Ohio hasn't had the ability to count all the cases. Statewide, we almost at 12,000 for cases today, and they still aren't reporting all the cases. woo hoo...

[Ponyfan]

When masks started being required I thought that I would have difficulty breathing in them due to respiratory issues.  I had problems at first but finally found masks that don't feel like I am trying to breathe through a plastic bag glued to my face.

Our hospitalization rate higher than the hospitals can handle and we have new cases of the virus in the hundreds everyday.  300 people have died.  One newspaper stated my city is one of the top spots in the state right now for new cases.   

Restaurants and businesses are still at 50% capacity.  Outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people or less.  Masks have been mandatory for months unless you qualify for an exemption but it is now being enforced more strictly.  I saw a person stopped as they entered a store and asked why they didn't have a mask on. Stores will usually give you mask to wear in store if you don't have one.


Ponyfan




 

[Bright_Glow]

It seems the daily infection rate is slowing a bit around only 6500 while the daily death rate has been almost 200 this week.

[Taffeta]

Cases in my region are half what they were before our lockdown. Most of them seem to be centred around a university town in the borough. But I haven't seen stories of massive rule breaking here.

Nottingham decided to hold their Christmas fair despite being in Tier 3. It didn't go well...it lasted 1 day before it had to be closed because of too many people and not enough masks/distancing.

Not sure what is wrong with Notts council. Something clearly is.

On the other side, we're beginning vaccinations in the UK in some areas from Tuesday, in the over 80s/care home/health worker groups. One hospital in our county has been selected as one of the vanguard. It's not our hospital. There are apparently reasons for this but there will doubtless be a backlash because of the fierce rift within our health trust and the frequent attacks from the other hospital to undermine services here. We don't know why they do this, but this does seem more of the same. I mean, they want to shut our A&E, even though the county can't handle the current rate of A&E cases in normal time with BOTH open. :/

But word is that GPs will start getting vaccine from 14th december for local areas. One of Dad's friends/our neighbours is over 80, so we're waiting to see if he gets a summons xD. If he does we'll hear all about it - he and Dad stand at the end of the path yelling to each other since lockdown xD. (Friend is a bit deaf, which makes it all the more hilarious).

I don't expect parents to be summoned until January, though, at the very soonest.

[dragonfly]

We are back to closed restaurants and bars. Still a statewide mask ordinance.

[Shaymin568]

Indoor dining in New York City is suspended again starting next Monday. Hospitalizations keep slowly climbing and it sucks. Even with the small amounts of vaccine that are supposed to be coming in, it will only go to 1st line workers and the most vulnerable members of society, it's still spreading. :/

[Beth3346]

Over 1000 new cases this week in my county. no new restrictions though. We still don't go out much but it seems like people are wearing masks in stores.

i'm really worried about the cases here. i'm hopeful about the vaccine though. i know it will be a while until we have enough rollout but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel

[Taffeta]

As I said in the decomp thread, my local ward and the neighbouring one have had a total of 4 cases between them in the last week, so that seems promising.

Our borough numbers are lower than they were but seem to have stabilised.

Seen some international media talking about a new 'UK spike'. This is Londoncentric reporting - the South East is currently the area rising the quickest, but in areas like the North West and the Midlands the numbers are dropping/stabilised.  But international media don't seem to realise that the UK is very regional in things like this :/

In the first lockdown, we opened up when cases were still going up in the north and so the cases there spiked more over the summer. This time it's the South East, so the same applies. Also because people are being silly though...

UK is not out of the woods but better than we were at the end of October.

Our local health trust are currently in some considerable hot water for reasons I won't go into here as it's not COVID related, but they are apparently doing a good job getting the vaccine rolled out. Kind of surprising that this health trust was chosen from the 2000 to be one of the first 50, especially given the scale of the other problems it is facing :/

Local MPs lobbying for us to come down to Tier one on the 16th. Hopefully that doesn't happen. Numbers are also rising in Wales since their lockdown ended and we don't need that right before the Christmas break on restrictions (Such a bad idea).

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The vaccinatines are exciting, but I think only my Mom will get it with the first phase of distribution... hopefully others are approved for distribution before summer.
Indoor dining just got restricted. Gyms, business at 50%, etc.