COVID-19 thread

[Travis B.]

I hope you're getting your shots as soon as possible!

First day I was offered an appointment. I get my second a week from Tuesday. Pretty much everyone I know is jumping at every chance. Since we know have a situation where people who are already immunised have spent a lot of time learning how to jump through the various hoops, I've been trying to connect them with others who are still struggling to navigate the system. It seems like, in every possible way, the pandemic just reinforces existing networks of privilege. If you're well-connected and technically savvy--congratulations! You'll be immunised before someone who may be far more vulnerable but lacks those advantages.

Or in my dad's case, plenty of time to simply keep on plugging away at websites till he finds something, now that he's retired but at the same time young enough that he's amongst those who are more likely to be at least somewhat technically capable. (He's got both shots, and my mom and I have both gotten our first shots.)

[Ares Land]

It seems like, in every possible way, the pandemic just reinforces existing networks of privilege.

Yep, I think the pandemic reinforces privilege in every possible way. I see that with the schools closing.

An interesting example: I took my kids on a long walk the other day, and at some point I realized people were staring at me. I assumed my fly was open, or (one can hope) that it was my good looks. At some point, the truth hit home: while I was far from the only person with young kids in tow, I was the only man with kids in tow.

Schoolwork's pretty much impossible for many kids around here. We work remotely at office jobs with understanding bosses; we can find the time to explain the housework. Other parents, well, can't. Anyway a good number of parents around here don't speak French well enough (or at all).

[Vijay]

I haven't gotten my shot yet, but to be honest, I have a habit of staying indoors anyway (at least here - in Taiwan, by contrast, I had to go out every day to get something to eat since I didn't have kitchen facilities of any kind), so I'm not too bothered. I definitely want a shot, but I'm willing to wait for it.

[Nortaneous]

I thought I was a recluse before the lockdown made it clear that I am not. After I get the second shot I think I'll get into live shows at packed bars and/or casual sex.

[Ares Land]

I approve that last message. When this is over I think I'm never eating or drinking at home ever again.

[Travis B.]

I personally can't wait to get my second shot, now that I have my first. Getting my second shot won't change my habits though; even when this is over I am unlikely to spend much time at coffee shops, rather than doing grab and go, because I spend a good amount of my spare time now working on zeptoforth, and it is a pain dragging my boards with me back and forth when I go places (as zeptoforth runs on embedded hardware).

[Ares Land]

Yeah, that would be inconvenient!

I never really got the point of working out of coffee shops either.

[Travis B.]

Yeah, that would be inconvenient!

I never really got the point of working out of coffee shops either.

Before the virus came along, I spent far more time in coffee shops, for whatever reason, but this was before I was heavily working on embedded systems.

[Nortaneous]

I don't work out of coffee shops - Panera has free refills.

[Ares Land]

On the COVID front, when I checked the news this week-end I was surpised to see that things are tentatively looking up. Vaccination is slightly accelerating; while ICUs are still overwhelmed and things will get worse, it looks like infections are going down. I'm actually (very cautiously) optimistic.
One reason I'm very cautious is that we are not restricting travel to and from Brazil. I'm sure there's a very good reason the likes of me couldn't possibly understand, but it does look like we're making the same mistake for the third time in a row and at this point we all know where this is ending.

In other news, several high profile people have apparently been dining illegally in a clandestine restaurant. The real outrage, of course, is that the food looked positively disgusting. I think this is possibly the most French scandal ever.

[Moose-tache]

Emphasis on "if." (yeah, I'm part of the problem)

Back on topic, our family just learned that we will not be receiving the second AstraZeneca dose after all. So we'll have to try and get access to some other vaccine, which will probably take at least six months and involve international travel. In the meantime, we were bedridden for a day for nothing. It's frustrating that some people can literally just make an appointment and get the vaccine, and don't take advantage of it.

[Linguoboy]

Bad news from the USA: As mentioned before, we're currently in the midst of a surge in new infections in the Upper Midwest, apparently due to the same UK variant which is ravaging Canada. Michigan is one of the worst-hit states. It's also a hotbed of rightwing loonyism. (They were storming legislatures there before it was cool.) A friend of mine is from Flint and he was worried enough that doses would be discarded for want of takes that back in January we were making plans to drive there to help prevent that if necessary. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. But that was then and now that everyone 16 and over in the state is eligible to be vaccinated rates are dropping precipitously outside of metro areas. This is especially alarming because these are the areas served by fewer smaller hospitals which are least prepared to deal with an influx of serious patients. And if that weren't enough, vaccinations for childhood diseases are also plunging. In some places, they're now below 50%.

On the national front, 40% of US Marines have turned down vaccinations.

[Travis B.]

On the national front, 40% of US Marines have turned down vaccinations.

Somehow I am shocked that Marines of all people even have the option of turning down the vaccine. They're Marines after all.

[Linguoboy]

On the national front, 40% of US Marines have turned down vaccinations.

Somehow I am shocked that Marines of all people even have the option of turning down the vaccine. They're Marines after all.

I'm not shocked, but I do find it bizarre. After all, they're required to receive certain vaccinations before they can enlist or be deployed to certain regions. Why can't COVID 19 simply be added to the list? Who calculated that the political cost of doing this simply isn't worth paying?

[Ares Land]

Over here, vaccine refusal has been helpful politically, particularly on the logistics front. As far as I can judge: the basic reasoning seems to be that a) hey, it frees up doses! b) anytime someone complains the campaign is too slow, just shout 'hey, look! an anti-vaxxer!'

Could similar political calculations be at play here?

[Travis B.]

On the national front, 40% of US Marines have turned down vaccinations.

Somehow I am shocked that Marines of all people even have the option of turning down the vaccine. They're Marines after all.

I'm not shocked, but I do find it bizarre. After all, they're required to receive certain vaccinations before they can enlist or be deployed to certain regions. Why can't COVID 19 simply be added to the list? Who calculated that the political cost of doing this simply isn't worth paying?

And just think, what'd happen if COVID-19 spread amongst the Marines deployed - what would that do to their readiness and fighting capability?

[Moose-tache]

Why can't COVID 19 simply be added to the list? Who calculated that the political cost of doing this simply isn't worth paying?

My guess: someone who sees it not as a political cost, but as a political boon. Nothing makes anti-vaccination look cooler than being supported by our brave lads and lasses in uniform.

[doctor shark]

There's the part of me that's thinking it might be worth it to fly back to the US to see family in NC for a month or so, get vaccinated while I'm there, and fly back, given how sluggish the rollout of the vaccine is going here in the Netherlands (my brother goes for his second dose of Pfizer tomorrow, and here I am likely to not even have a first dose until June at the earliest!). It also doesn't hurt that flights are super-cheap. On the other hand, even though I have a Dutch verblijfstitel, I really don't trust the Dutch government to not impose restrictions on my ability to return to the Netherlands, there's a lot of testing requirements for travel on both ends...

Currently, they've extended the lockdown regulations by one week, to 28 April. Next week at the usual press conference (on the 20th) will be the announcement of if the lockdown can be ended: if so, then stores will re-open and the curfew will end, with each of the "re-opening steps" to occur with each passing month. My guess is maybe by August things will be "normal-ish", since they're still gunning for everyone to be offered a first vaccine dose by the beginning of July... but since people born in 1961 or later will not get the AstraZeneca vaccine, the big question is the Janssen vaccine being administered, and the current block on vaccination isn't promising for that target to be met.

What I'm looking forward to is a lot of things: playing MTG and board games with friends; actually getting to know people here in the Nether Regions (and getting to travel to interesting places even within the Netherlands! I've been here a year and have barely seen anything...); visiting friends in Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Germany (and possibly Switzerland), with a nice road trip probably in the cards... but perhaps most of all is seeing the lab I'm working in get back to being a "proper" lab, with the associated culture, getting together, and doing experiments with fewer issues of planning around capacity limits and early building closures. And at the end of the year, I'm definitely hoping for Christmas markets, Glühwein acquisition, and being able to finally meet Sam, the cat who's been with my mother for well over a year and who I've yet to meet in person...

[alice]

I had my first jab this morning. Unsurprisingly my ME-addled body reacted to it and I've only just woken up after conking out after luncheon.

[Ares Land]

The good: Encouraging signs on the infections front, plus travel to Brazil has been restricted.
The bad: ICUs are overwhelmed and expected to be even more so in the coming weeks.
The ugly: A relative of mine works in the medical sector. Counting only this week, there hasn't been a single day when she hasn't come back with some wacky, depressing rumor (there are two variants: 1. vaccines don't work! 2. vaccines will kill you!) which she got from, guess who, doctors. (Nurses are even worse.)
How are we even supposed to deal with the wave of conspiracy theory when the people feeding it are nurses and doctors?