I called an old friend a bit ago to wish her a slightly belated Happy New Year -- only to find out that she is in Slovenia right now, where her mother is in a coma and on a ventilator after contracting COVID. I guess she had to be moved to a larger hospital because there was a lack of available ICU beds in the city where she lives.

Needless to say, my friend is a complete mess right now, worrying about her mother. Her mom is only 59 years old, too, and was in very good shape, etc. prior to catching the virus. Her father had caught it as well but is slowly recovering and I guess his breathing is still not very good.

My husband's co-worker also just tested positive after visiting his mother in a hospital for something not related to COVID.

Please stay safe out there.

My feeling is that it would not stand in court here (I cannot give a legal reason other than maybe too much of a restriction of freedom). Also, I doubt it would be seriously considered by govt/parliament for the same reason.

Also, out of curiousity, would you then in combination with such order release all other restrictions?

Well ... one that has no authority over its own territory, no money, no creditworthiness. Let's not discuss here why that is.

What helps the Palestinians big time is that they are young.

It is possible to have both if the population trust the government. New Zealand appears to be such a country: strong leadership with the confidence of its population

No - it'd overload the hospitals. The age/risk profile für hospitalisation isn't as steep as that for deaths.

Id reopen "non-essential" shops but leave everything else as it is.

Which is only an issue in AG anyhow.

How does previous years ICU statistics help at all? There was no COVID and no lockdown then and ICUs hadn’t tripled or quadrupled their capacity.

And Sweden doesn’t count in my opinion , they introduced measure, not as stringent as everywhere else but measures nevertheless.

Take a look at the Swiss non-COVID icu numbers now compared to a year ago. They’re down by over a third so now ask yourself why.

There’s an awful lot of people with non-covid illnesses out there that are being left out. Particularly delayed operations (a cardiac bypass needs a couple of icu days for example), also other things.

Oh and it’s not flu. There wasn’t much around last December.

And did it help to save a lot of lives in Spain? Aren't they in the world's top 10 for deaths/Mio?

Unlikely. Unless there comes a new strain of virus, deadly for younger and healthier part of the population than the current one.

Spain's hardcore lockdown began toward the end of March (March 20, I believe). It took a few weeks for the numbers to come down dramatically after the lockdown was put in place, but the numbers did come down dramatically after the lockdown and then began to rise significantly again a few weeks after the restrictions were lifted completely on June 21st (see first chart below).

As for deaths, it can take someone six weeks or longer to pass away from COVID. But the # of daily deaths also dropped significantly about a month after the lockdown was put in place. That is when the curve finally flattened.

They are going to produce 300 Mio doses per year. Switzerland needs only 6% of it to vaccinate all the population twice (even less, if we only need to vaccinate adults).

Because kids were not able to leave home? Why did it drop in Switzerland then?

It doesnt matter how little/much we need.

Could we not cut them a tax deal to jump the queue? This is Switzerland after all.

Did I ever write if you wrote this in a work of fiction it would get laughed out
Anyway the problem in the US today is not the number of doses but delivering them fast enough to people's arms.

The issue is more with safety checks, logistics and supply chain from what I understand. No idea about Switzerland but the UK will not have a national vaccine manufacturing facility until mid 2021. For example Telegraph UK highlights the following supply chain to get 30m doses ready:

...A supply chain has also been set up across the UK, a mesh of organisations which sees AstraZeneca preparing small groups of cells to then be sent out to grow at manufacturing partners including Oxford Biomedica, and later sent on to warehouses to be finished by combining with other liquids. In the UK, this final stage is being done by an Indian company called Wockhardt at its North Wales plant for £50m.

Source & Paywall: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...supply-chains/

Anyone have experience or thoughts on this?

I was tested positive Dec 22nd. My quarantine ended 1st Jan, I feel fine now, just tired still so I called my Dr to ask about a 2nd test so I can fly to NL to have a belated Xmas with my GF.

He told me that if I get tested this week, or even next, it's 95% certain that the test will still come back positive. I have an appointment for a general health check this coming Thursday where he says, as long as he thinks I'm over it, he can give me a "Healthy and safe to travel" letter. He says I won't be contagious at all now but still, a PCR test will probably show positive.

I don't know, it seems like a cheat to me (and very un-Swiss) and I have no idea if the Dutch will allow me in (or even if I'll be allowed to board at ZH). He told me they have issued a few of these and no one has come back to say they were denied travel.

Any ideas?

__________________
Mike

Monger of fine British Cheeses

Take the train or drive? He said you're not contagious and your quarantine has officially ended. Will take longer but you'll be there before Thursday and can always get a return flight.

some doctors says that people stays contagious even with negative PCR test
I like the "science" behind these claims

Have you ever seen a corona virus with your own eyes?