Poorly chicken

[Daphne]

What a sensible YS!  I hope he is OK and none of the rest of you succumb.

Good news on the booster too, Ursula123.

Am I right in thinking if I @Ursula123 you, you get an automatic alert?  How do I make this happen please, as I think its more than just typing?

 

[Cat tails]

On 11/25/2021 at 5:34 PM, Daphne said:

What a sensible YS!  I hope he is OK and none of the rest of you succumb.

Good news on the booster too, Ursula123.

Am I right in thinking if I @Ursula123 you, you get an automatic alert?  How do I make this happen please, as I think its more than just typing?

 

 

@DaphneYou type an @ and then the name. It should go “blue” and offer you all users starting with those letters.
You don’t get an email, but it does show a notification in the forum.

[Beantree]

This new South African variant has come as a bit of a shock, particularly to my brother who is on holiday in Namibia and is due to fly back tomorrow via Frankfurt. Tried to get a flight out today but they were all full, so on arrival in the UK they must quarantine for 10 days in a special hotel at Heathrow with an additional cost of...........£3800! Now it looks increasingly likely that the flight tomorrow will be cancelled. France has suspended flights for at least 48 hours with immediate effect and the EU make a decision on general flight suspension today. So he could be stuck there for a while?

Said the reason for the panic is that this variant spreads 10x faster than Delta and the mutation is such that the current vaccines will not be effective against it. Let's hope they can keep this one out.

[Alis girls]

Sorry to hear about son Soapy, hope you are all ok. My ES even thou girlfriend had covid managed not too test positive , they slept separately but only one bathroom. Last year when his flatmate came back from skiing in Italy with Covid he somehow managed not to get it. Hes double vaxxed. I think its luck but who knows. The vaccine does stop you getting it bad.  Worrying about new variant. Stay safe all xx

[Cat tails]

We’re going to get new measures tonight. Face masks back in school corridors, non essential shops and restaurants and such have to close at 17:00.

[mullethunter]

On 11/26/2021 at 11:26 AM, Beantree said:

Said the reason for the panic is that this variant spreads 10x faster than Delta and the mutation is such that the current vaccines will not be effective against it. Let's hope they can keep this one out.

What they’re reporting here is that it MIGHT spread faster and it vaccines (and treatments) MIGHT be less effective against it. But they’re saying that SA and surrounding countries have pretty low vaccination rates so we don’t actually know yet. 

I agree though - let’s hope we keep it out this time - we haven’t managed it yet though!

[Beantree]

South Africa can't understand why they have been singled out, because there are cases in Hong Kong and now one in Belgium?

In the meantime my brother has had his PCR test and has been allowed to complete a passenger location form, which means he can self-isolate at home and not pay for accommodation. Flight is tonight, so it remains to be seen if it happens.

[Cat tails]

They found 65 positive cases on one South Africa flight here in the Netherlands. I can sort of understand why they are singled out.

[soapdragon]

Apparently Boris is announcing tomorrow that masks are to be mandatory in all retail settings......about bl**dy time!!! IMHO should never have stopped being mandatory! I have now got to the stage where, although my glasses mist up if I've forgotten to use the anti fog spray and I find it quite claustrophobic after more than 20 mins, I wouldn't feel happy leaving the house without a mask or two tucked into a pocket and/or bag.

[Blackrocksrock]

Scotland never relaxed the masks in any retail or inside setting unless you are eating or drinking at your meal.

 

[Cat tails]

We had an actual minister sing an actual song about the fact that the face mask would be gone forever. It was one of the most awkward things I have ever seen… and here we are back wearing them.

[Beantree]

Seems there isn't much in the news now except 'Omicron'. Lots of speculation and no real facts yet. Pfizer has assured our Government they will have a full analysis of the effectivity of it against this new strain within 2 weeks. Moderna says they have prepared for this event and can produce a new vaccine specifically for Omicron and deliver doses within 6 weeks.

In the meantime no news from my brother, which will hopefully be because he is 'in transit' (or battery is low)?

No cases in France yet, but the official line is it is 'probably' already here. We've got one shopping trip to do for chicken feed and then we won't go out until 14th December for our 3rd jab. Masks have always remained necessary inside but have now been extended to Christmas markets.

[Daphne]

I hope your brother is OK, Beantree, although I know its very annoying and disruptive, I think he is fortunate to be able to self-isolate at home and avoid the hideousness/cost of Govt quarantine.  Lets keep our fingers crossed.

I went to get my booster today to find 2 big marquees outside for vaccination purposes, but the medical centre itself was shut except for a grumpy receptionist who said no jabs today, call tomorrow, but no explanation.   I may have to face a tough choice soon, return to the UK without my booster (my Mum is not well but at early stages of investigation) or wait and see and possibly not be allowed back at all!   Angola & Mozambique on the UK red list are former colonies of Portugal and there is a lot of traffic between here and there, plus we have a fair number of Portugeuse citizens who were born in South Africa.

We have 2 cases of omnicron here. 

[Beantree]

I don't know what your rules are on health passes @Daphne, but here you now have a 'window' of 5 -7 months after your second dose. After 7 months your pass is invalid. It's all very complicated now depending on the rules in each Country, but if you are going through France you will now need a PCR negative test less than 24 hours old, whether you have a health pass or not I think? Can't be sure as reading all these different reports, which seem to change daily, is getting rather confusing.

[Beantree]

Finally heard from my brother. Reason for the delay was being in transit for 32 hours due to totally disorganised bureaucracy, both in Germany and England. He has finally ended up in a quarantine room somewhere where he must stay for 10 days and might be allowed outside for 15 minutes a day after day 2. The UK staff openly admitted to not being vaccinated and there are no Omicron cases in Namibia anyway!

[Daphne]

Oh no, that sounds horrendous. 

[Beantree]

My brother has had two negative PCR tests whilst in quarantine and they still won't let him out. He's furious, especially with the number of cases in the UK now (250?) and has emailed his MP 3 times without a reply.

In the meantime I've just had an email from the health department politely reminding me (as I mentioned before) that from the 15th December if I haven't had my booster within 7 months of my second jab I lose my health pass. It's booked for the 14th, which is 6 months and one week. We are now staying home until the appointments; there are 13 cases here spread all over the Country so there are bound to be more. We're due another Government announcement on the subject.

[Daphne]

I'm not sure what the rules are on quarantine, my impression is that you stay there for 10 days and only then do you have a test, and presumably if it is negative, then you are let out, although I know it can take a few days to process the test, depending on the provider and what you pay.

I managed to get a booster jab at a walk in clinic and have booked a flight home to UK; just hoping nothing else happens to interfere with it.  

[mullethunter]

Fingers crossed for you Daphne.

[Beantree]

We had our boosters yesterday. Booked for Pfizer again but received Moderna, which didn't come as a surprise because there have been supply issues reported. We were assured they are effectively the same thing anyway. Both have sore arms and both feel tired, but nothing else apart from a sore throat which I always get from wearing a mask.

The new venue can't cope with the volume and social distancing went out of the window. We went from queue to queue and the whole process took an hour. Said on the news that 16 million French are computer illiterate, so some people haven't booked for vaccination. Well yesterday you didn't need to book they said, just turn up. The gentleman in front was there for his first jab as was the lady behind and both were well over 65. So perhaps that's the main reason why only 75% of French are vaccinated at the moment? Left with new health passes which are valid in a week: doesn't matter, because all disco's in France are cancelled for 4 weeks anyway.

[Ursula123]

Had mine last week @Beantreevery well organised and in and out in 20 mins - 15 or those were sitting after the jab. However friends have been struggling to book but I think appointments are becoming more readily available.

It is scary that the numbers are rising quickly everywhere.

 

[Beantree]

So we're going mad on Friday and having a meal with friends! Two years we've waited to do this and we've had enough. They are triple jabbed and so are we. So no social distancing and sod it!

[Ursula123]

On 12/15/2021 at 7:50 PM, Beantree said:

So we're going mad on Friday and having a meal with friends! Two years we've waited to do this and we've had enough. They are triple jabbed and so are we. So no social distancing and sod it!

We’ve had meals with friends but only friends that we trust completely. Enjoy your meal.

[mullethunter]

I was having a conversation sort of about this with a colleague today. 

I know we need to do all we can to make sure the NHS isn’t overwhelmed, but once we’ve all had our vaccinations and boosters, is it time to think about returning to some sort of normality? This virus will be around in some form for a very very long time…

Not sure what the answer is - just thinking ‘out loud’ really.

[Cat tails]

One mayor of a large city contemplated that we should consider moving certain activities to summer months. Having a shorter summer holiday and a longer winter one. And even moving large holidays to more open air ones. Very radical, but also quite sensible.

Primary schools will be closed as of Monday, which is a week earlier than the Christmas holidays here.