Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #96

[HongKongPhooey]

We've been using at home lateral flow tests for some time here in the UK. They are free and arrive next day. School kids and their families test I think three times per week and they recommend the rest of the working population do too. They can give a false positive, but if you test positive you get a PCR test anyway which confirms either way. I have some, and take one if I'm going into work (still work from home mostly) or if I see my parents for instance.

If you have symptoms, you're supposed to get a PCR test but that said, there have been a couple of times where I just felt a bit unwell and I took a lateral flow for peace of mind. Despite this we of course have this big outbreak, with self isolation also affecting day to day life - and as an example, in the school where my friend works 500 kids were self isolating last week.

We also have track and trace in place for venues. So when I was in work last week and had coffee in our cafe, I scanned in. This legal requirement lifts tomorrow but is optional if people want to scan. Just no obligation on the venue to take details manually if a customer does not have the app.

The mask mandate has been legal up until tomorrow and most people wear them where required. From tomorrow as I said before, some supermarkets are keeping the policy in place, asking customers in good faith to continue searing masks.

Despite all of this, our cases are still rocketing. The football, people travelling around the UK on hols, Unis finishing terms and schools I think must be aggravating factors.

Whilst fully vaccinated people here are getting covid, I think it's important to remember that our younger people are not yet fully vaccinated. People in their 20s have had the first, with the second still some weeks to go. They are out and about in pubs and restaurants, cinemas, gyms. Also school kids are not vaccinated. The younger people will account for IMO the majority of new cases - definitely reflected at my work, where all positives are early 20s so far.

I think what's good for us is firstly our vaccination programme, but also schools are closing for summer now. The weather here right now is very warm and that makes a difference, people will use pub gardens and eat outside more.

We do feel like we are taking part in some experiment which is v unnerving.

Bit of a ramble from me, but a layman's view of how it is here at the moment.

 

[CrimeAway]

Thank you for the information @HongKongPhooey

I hope people will continue to mask indoors and maintain distance where possible. Stay safe!

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Thank you for the information @HongKongPhooey

I hope people will continue to mask indoors and maintain distance where possible. Stay safe!

Thanks CrimeAway

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Getting closer to my town. Updated what I'd been writing to show that a Covid positive person visited my town last week.
And not briefly, four nights in a row.

First those three removalists who knew they were Covid positive but still continued on to Molong. They'd also been to Orange and South Bowenfels.
Now a pet food courier travelled to Blayney and Parkes and has since tested positive.

Also something was said about freight being sent to regional areas, so do they mean we could catch it from the goods delivered to supermarkets etc ? I had got out of the habit of wiping down my groceries.
Or do they mean from people coming from other areas and delivering goods here here like the ones who came to my area.


Bit by bit the travels of Covid positive people from Sydney to my region are trickling out.
Updated a couple of hours ago was that our BP truck stop at Raglan was visited four nights in a row by a Covid positive person last week.


Truck stop in Raglan NSW exposed to Covid on four nights | Daily Mail Online

 

[SouthAussie]

Getting closer to my town. Updated what I'd been writing to show that a Covid positive person visited here last week.
And not briefly, four nights in a row.

First those three removalists who knew they were Covid positive but still continued on to Molong. They'd also been to Orange and South Bowenfels.
Now a pet food courier travelled to Blayney and Parkes and has since tested positive.

Also something was said about freight being sent to regional areas, so do they mean we could catch it from the goods delivered to supermarkets etc ?
I had got out of the habit of wiping down my groceries.

Bit by bit the travels of Covid positive people from Sydney to my region are trickling out.
Updated a couple of hours ago was that our BP truck stop at Raglan was visited four nights in a row by a Covid positive person last week.


Truck stop in Raglan NSW exposed to Covid on four nights | Daily Mail Online

I don't know that it is the actual freight that you can get the virus from, but more from the transport workers. We are requiring covid tests from the interstate truckers that want to cross into my state.


Commercial Transport and Freight travellers who have been in Victoria, New South Wales or the ACT in the previous 14 days must have evidence of a COVID-19 test within the past 48 hours or must have a COVID-19 test within 24 hours after arrival and must QR code in at the testing station.
Travel restrictions

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Thanks South!
.
I've modified my post to make it clear that I meant the people delivering here and not from the actual goods or the truck.

 

[ilovewings]

We've been using at home lateral flow tests for some time here in the UK. They are free and arrive next day. School kids and their families test I think three times per week and they recommend the rest of the working population do too. They can give a false positive, but if you test positive you get a PCR test anyway which confirms either way. I have some, and take one if I'm going into work (still work from home mostly) or if I see my parents for instance.

If you have symptoms, you're supposed to get a PCR test but that said, there have been a couple of times where I just felt a bit unwell and I took a lateral flow for peace of mind. Despite this we of course have this big outbreak, with self isolation also affecting day to day life - and as an example, in the school where my friend works 500 kids were self isolating last week.

We also have track and trace in place for venues. So when I was in work last week and had coffee in our cafe, I scanned in. This legal requirement lifts tomorrow but is optional if people want to scan. Just no obligation on the venue to take details manually if a customer does not have the app.

The mask mandate has been legal up until tomorrow and most people wear them where required. From tomorrow as I said before, some supermarkets are keeping the policy in place, asking customers in good faith to continue searing masks.

Despite all of this, our cases are still rocketing. The football, people travelling around the UK on hols, Unis finishing terms and schools I think must be aggravating factors.

Whilst fully vaccinated people here are getting covid, I think it's important to remember that our younger people are not yet fully vaccinated. People in their 20s have had the first, with the second still some weeks to go. They are out and about in pubs and restaurants, cinemas, gyms. Also school kids are not vaccinated. The younger people will account for IMO the majority of new cases - definitely reflected at my work, where all positives are early 20s so far.

I think what's good for us is firstly our vaccination programme, but also schools are closing for summer now. The weather here right now is very warm and that makes a difference, people will use pub gardens and eat outside more.

We do feel like we are taking part in some experiment which is v unnerving.

Bit of a ramble from me, but a layman's view of how it is here at the moment.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us- what is a lateral flow test? never heard of it- take care and be well

 

[CrimeAway]

Lateral flow tests:

What is a lateral flow test and how does the technology work?

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Lateral flow tests:

What is a lateral flow test and how does the technology work?

Yes thanks (again) C.A.

@ilovewings I've never had a PCR test but I believe the actual test itself is exactly the same. You take a swab and put it around your tonsils then up your nose (so gross). The swab goes into a little tube where you empty the vial of testing fluid, mix it up, then squueze a drop from the tube onto a testing stick. Which looks sort of like a pregnancy stick. In 30 minutes you have a reading of positive, negative, or inconclusive. If positive, you get a PCR test (we have lots of local drive in centres now, mine would be 10 mins away).

 

[GRT]

@dixiegirl1035 wow! That is crazy, because you and I had the same thing. I had issues with mucus, and couldn't breathe either. It was scary as heck.

We have an adjustable bed, and I jacked that thing almost straight up. I couldn't lay down, I felt like I was drowning. I was taking Mucinex, cough syrup, meds. Sicker than I have been in over 20 years. And my husband, sleeps right next to me, perfectly fine. So, it was around June 22nd, I got sick, and didn't really feel better until July 4th.

That sounds very similar to what my sister had back in January of last year, when they didn't even report the virus as being here. She's an international Hospice nurse, and she was flying in and out of the Atlanta hub. She really thought it was Covid, but no testing was available here back then. She used the same drowning in mucus description you used.

One of the people she flew with also got sick.

Given your details, I would really suspect you had the Delta variant. Especially, since your husband didn't catch what you had. If so, the vaccine might have saved you from a much worse illness.

On the flip side, if it was Delta, I wonder if the combination of the antibodies you develop in conjunction with the vaccine will make you super-resistant at this point?

 

[GRT]

This is why I say the messaging is so vital to being able to vaccinate a population. Since Canada is doing so well--I'd love to know how they're handling the messaging.

France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes | WGN-TV

 

[SouthAussie]

This is why I say the messaging is so vital to being able to vaccinate a population. Since Canada is doing so well--I'd love to know how they're handling the messaging.

France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes | WGN-TV

My own opinion is that the countries that are handling things so much better have managed to keep the focus on the global health crisis. And the threat to their own country's health.

They don't use the vaccines like the guy mentioned in the article is using them, for his future aspirations - and rallying the rebellious French thousands. IMO

 

[ilovewings]

Lateral flow tests:

What is a lateral flow test and how does the technology work?

Thank you

 

[Skigh]

Olympics is hit by Covid chaos as two athletes test positive in Olympic Village | Daily Mail Online


Olympics is hit by Covid chaos with another 10 positive tests including two South African football players and head of 'Refugee Team' of exiled athletes - while entire Australian team is locked down

• Two South African footballers staying in the Olympic Village tested positive
• Member of the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team also caught Covid, said organisers

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Olympics is hit by Covid chaos as two athletes test positive in Olympic Village | Daily Mail Online


Olympics is hit by Covid chaos with another 10 positive tests including two South African football players and head of 'Refugee Team' of exiled athletes - while entire Australian team is locked down

• Two South African footballers staying in the Olympic Village tested positive
• Member of the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team also caught Covid, said organisers

Just one person who is then deemed to have others isolate for designated time as "contacts" will kick out an entire country team from participating?

 

[WichitaFalls]

Local officials have the right to reimplement mitigation strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19 amid a surge in cases fueled by the delta variant, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Sunday.

"Unfortunately we're seeing rises, particularly among the unvaccinated in many parts of the country now," Murthy told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Delta variant surge among the unvaccinated is 'deeply concerning': Dr. Vivek Murthy

 

[ilovewings]

Well, here we go with the Olympics .....

Two athletes have become the first to test positive for Covid-19 inside the Tokyo Olympic Village, officials said on Sunday.

The bombshell news was confirmed by the Tokyo Organising Committee just minutes after it was first reported that the entire Australian athletics team had been forced into lockdown as a result of an inconclusive test within the camp.
(In the next article it says that the test result has come through, and the Aussie team has been approved for Olympic track meets - because they had their own plan of isolating each team member from each other).

Three athletes test positive in Tokyo Olympics disaster

*************************************

But there's more .....

Tokyo Olympics organisers on Saturday reported the first case of COVID-19 at the athletes’ village, along with 14 other new cases connected to the Games that begin next week.

The other cases included two members of the media, seven contractors and five Games personnel.

Australia’s Olympic Games athletics team forced into lockdown after COVID-19 scare

This is just the beginning- for the people who decided it is okay to go ahead with the olympics- they have their respective heads up their respective (you know whats)- it is unconscionable, stupid and above all very dangerous. More bombshells coming and more athletes and others test positive.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Lateral flow tests:

What is a lateral flow test and how does the technology work?

Hang on, are other countries not doing the rapid at-home / lateral flow tests? Even for school children?

 

[Skigh]

Six British Olympic athletes identified as contacts of Covid passenger on their plane to Japan | Daily Mail Online

 

[jjenny]

Hang on, are other countries not doing the rapid at-home / lateral flow tests? Even for school children?

US isn't.