Topic: Global Pandemic Lockdown

[cat]

I honestly don't get all the panic and lockdown. Why is it less dangerous to go to a supermarket than to a book store? Why is it okay to go skiing but not to a zoo? Why can you use crowded public transport to get to work in a small office with other people but not meet your best friend together together with your family?
I know a few people who got infected (all variants: from no symptoms over short fever to still not fully recovered after months) but none of them got it in a shop or at the zoo but either at work or when meeting other people inside.

If you are afraid of the virus, just buy a proper mask (FFP2). I have one and I use it in certain situations (e.g. when going to the doctor). There was a shortage in spring, but now they are easily available everywhere.

I've heard that half of the people who died of it in my country lived in retirement homes. They made lots of stupid regulations for shops and restaurants and who you can meet or not, but I know first hand that some staff in retirement homes doesn't even wear a simple mask.

[Khris]

PlayPretend:
That sounds like a total nightmare, I hope you get through this unharmed.

cat:
It's about reducing transmission wherever possible, so when something isn't essential (unlike supermarkets or public transport), it gets closed down. Also, if shops, libraries, zoos, etc. are closed, less people are outside traveling there. The main goal is still to get people to stay at home.
To be specific: you're allowed to go to work but not meet your friend because if you catch the virus in the office, you don't spread it to your friend. It's really that simple.

I'm glad that I don't have to worry about being questioned by the police when I'm outside during the day, but I still think it's kind of insane that we don't have an actual lockdown what with all the idiots and deniers keeping the numbers here at around 25,000 new infections per day currently.

[Cassiebsg]

Our lockdown (Denmark) has now been extended til the 17th Jan, since the numbers is infections hasn't gone down yet. Still they have decided to allow fireworks and such for new year (but no gatherings of more than 10 and many popular gathering places will be lockdown)... Sigh, if it was up to me they should have locked down back in early Nov when it was clear the numbers were going up, instead of adding shy "random" restrictions that don't work anyway (not in the big picture anyway IMHO).

[LimpingFish]

Annndd...Ireland is back to full lockdown.

Wasn't much of a surprise, as positive cases have more than quadrupled in the last couple of days (from 300 to almost 2000 per day). Vaccine rollout has started, but it's going to be a slow process.

I'll be staying in mask mode for the foreseeable future.

[BarbWire]

I agree with Khris, when he says that idiots and denyers are exacerbating the coronavirus problem. After the first lockdown there was a significant improvement,
but as soon as the harsher restrictions were lifted, the morons took this to mean that they could do as they pleased.  Governments are doing their best to keep
people safe and keep economies running. The public need to take responsibility and heed the warnings.

Also what is it with the need to take endless holidays. One a year used to suffice. All I hear is constant whingeing because travel plans have been disrupted.
Boo hoo! my heart bleeds for them. Sod holidays, let's just stay in our own countries until when, and if, the coronavirus has been brought under control.

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

[PlayPretend]

Update: Four more positive cases today in the department near mine.  It turns out they've been lying about the numbers to avoid paying $1500 per cleaning, because the cleaner is a lazy idiot who just walks through lightly spraying each office once and doesn't do any real cleaning.  Fortunately my boss put the pieces together and we're trying to get the upper management on board to put a stop to this nonsense.  And I finally got vocal to the people walking by maskless to chat with my boss.

cat: I'm just advocating dealing with the reality of the virus.  I'm not sure where you live, maybe it hasn't been as bad there.  Around here it's horrifying.

Anyone, of any age or health condition, can get it.  And it's not the flu - if you survive, you can still suffer for months, or be permanently damaged.  Lose teeth, lose hair, brain damage, vascular damage, breathe at 80% lung capacity for the rest of your life, etc.  You can have it, think you've recovered, then drop dead weeks or months later.  It's a crazy lottery of terrifying stuff.

The U.S. has a 3% death rate, which is a nice way of saying over 300,000 have died since March, 3-4K new deaths per day right now, 250K new infections per day.  Some countries are at 9-10% death rates.  And our 3% depends on our hospital infrastructure not getting overwhelmed - which it's currently heading for.

And masks are good and should always be used, but they're not magical shields.  They're a last defense.

The U.S. sooort of tried inconsistent lockdowns - which is why we're drowning in COVID now.  We should have locked down hard for a month or two and killed it, like other countries did.  But idiots in power politicized it, got the lazy, selfish and childish citizens on board, and here we are.

[cat]

PlayPretend: The situation is not as terrible where I live, people are mostly considerate regarding wearing a mask. But you are in a bad situation and worried, so I strongly suggest you get a PROPER mask - I am talking about a FFP2/KN95 mask, not those paper/cloth masks. They filter a huge amount of particles and with Corona virus, the number of virus that enters your body does matter. You will not be 100% safe when you wear it, but very unlikely to get severely sick or even infected at all.


Khris: I think it's ridiculous to say it's okay to get infected at work but you are not allowed to meet someone in private to make sure you don't spread it. It should be the other way round. When you have a dangerous job, like working on roofs or something, you have to use equipment to protect you from falling (enforced by work safely laws). On the other hand, when you enjoy climbing as your hobby, you can skip all ropes if you want, because you make your own decisions. The same should apply for Corona - you should be safe at work (i.e. your employer lets you work from home or provide you with protective equipment), but if you choose to meet someone in private, it is your and your friends decision to do so.

As I said before, dangerous places are where lots of people are close to each other inside for a longer time, i.e. your workplace or when meeting with friends. If it was dangerous to be in a shop where all people wear masks anyway, all supermarket employees would have been infected by now, which is not the case.


Anyway, I'm not in a mood to argue anymore, so I'll leave the discussion.

[Khris]

I completely forgot about this: deaths and cases are spiking in Germany currently, three weeks after Christmas and two weeks after New Year's Eve.

[PlayPretend]

So good news bad news - our anti-masker building manager finally retired. I finally reported all the other anti-maskers and virus-hoaxers in our building.

And then nearly got fired.

We got an email reminding us all that it's law - you have to wear a mask in public spaces like lobbies, restrooms, etc. Not just recommended, actual law.

I responded, asking how to approach hardcore anti-maskers, thinking the person who sent the email was a low level employee like me.

Turned out they were about as high as you could go in our chain of command, AND hardcore pro-mask, so they opened up a can on the people running our building about getting their employees in line.

So the kneejerk reaction of those lower managers was to consider firing me for "jumping the chain of command" and getting them in trouble. They heard me out and I kept my job, although of course several people are still really pissed at me.

Still a couple folks for them to deal with, including a coworker from my front desk who heard what I'd done and decided to double down on being even more anti-mask? I had to politely ask him to remask, which made him blow up at me but eventually comply.

Oh well. The variants are starting to sweep our area, so we can't afford the lazy, angry and selfish children anymore.

[milkanannan]

Lol how can any office worker still beat the anti-mask drum. It’s truly baffling.

[PlayPretend]

Our former building manager was in the "masks make you sick" camp. My desk co-worker believes masks do nothing, so he takes his off, then points a big fan across himself directly at me, removing all social distance. And the other guy down the hall they need to talk to thinks it's a government plot to control everyone, masks are a means of mental subjugation.

[Stupot]

Haha. Sorry you have to go through that, PlayPretend. It’s amazing they have to make it law and people still refuse. In Japan mask-wearing is only a recommendation, yet pretty everyone is wearing them. Yesterday: 1570 new recorded infections, nationwide.

Japan still stubbornly think there’s going to be an Olympics this year. I can’t see it happening. We haven’t even started vaccinating yet. There’s talk of having it behind closed doors but what would be the point?

[WHAM]

Japan still stubbornly think there’s going to be an Olympics this year. I can’t see it happening. We haven’t even started vaccinating yet. There’s talk of having it behind closed doors but what would be the point?

TV rights and money, I'd guess.
The 2020 Hockey World Championships were insured, so the organizers got a hefty paycheck when the competition was cancelled. Maybe the Olympics, with special infrastructure projects and vastly greater investment, is in an opposite situation and a lot of people stand to lose a lot of money if the contest isn't held? Even if the contest is held behind closed doors, in a stump version of itself, at least the organizers can say they held it and fulfil a contractual obligation. Or maybe it's just a matter of pride for them.

As for my own pandemic experience, it's turned out quite well up here in Finland. Maybe a third of people wear masks in public places, though social distancing and inviolable personal space were core concepts of Finnish culture well before the pandemic (in Finnish culture it is generally considered rude to stand within stabbing distance of other people), so that might have helped restrict spread. My office of 100+ workers currently has maybe 3 to 5 people present at any given time, and I myself go there once or twice a week just to get out of my home for a bit. Almost everyone works from home if their job allows it. Grocery store food delivery service industry is booming as people avoid going to the shops.

Government has set a goal to vaccinate 70% of the country by July, which most people consider "a tad optimistic". Currently less than 4% vaccinated. Daily new infection rate in a country of about 5 million people is around 400.

[Danvzare]

Japan still stubbornly think there’s going to be an Olympics this year. I can’t see it happening. We haven’t even started vaccinating yet. There’s talk of having it behind closed doors but what would be the point?

Do you think we're going to get a "Mario and Sonic at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games" if it does happen this year? 

[Stupot]

Japan still stubbornly think there’s going to be an Olympics this year. I can’t see it happening. We haven’t even started vaccinating yet. There’s talk of having it behind closed doors but what would be the point?

Do you think we're going to get a "Mario and Sonic at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games" if it does happen this year? 

I’d love to see some sort of nod to those games. There have been some Mario 35th anniversary things going on but it’s been quite low-key, and they opened Super Nintendo Land recently, so that’s all good.

[KyriakosCH]

There are anti-lockdown demonstrations in various european countries. I think that it's not sustainable to have a lockdown for much longer, at least in the less hit countries - and when all this finally ends, you can expect tens or in some countries hundreds of thousands of people being without a job.