First dose of vaccination is due for the 27th of December in Oslo. We got 10 000 doses today. They will be distributed in nursery homes in Oslo and the minicipalities of Sarpsborg, Stange, Hamar, Ringsaker, Fredrikstad and Hvaler (where the R trend is worse than elsewhere). Those apart from in Oslo, will be vaccinated on the 28 of December.
The vaccine in question is Comernaty from Phizer/BioNTech.
So this is 5000 elderly people who will be vaccinated with 2 doses.
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The problem is face masks should have been mandatory outside as well. Surely this virus is airborne so you can catch it any where. Face masks save lives IMO.
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We have a pretty good understanding now of what masks do - and outdoors they do provide some benefit, but on a percentage basis it is very small outdoors if people are also observing distancing guidelines. So really not necessary unless there is some sort of gathering or circumstance that makes distancing difficult.
By contrast, masks indoors in normal ventilation circumstances are extremely effective, more so than the standard distancing rules.
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I still think glove use would be helpful. Can’t always wash our hands and we don’t always use the hand sanitisers provided.
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Helpful, but only in fairly limited circumstances. Most of the world got the transmission mechanism spectacularly wrong, fomites appear to account for a very small percentage of transmissions. A lot of the excessive sanitizing that businesses do is essentially public health theatre. If you walk into a room where the odour of a sanitizer is evident, the sanitizer is supposed to suggest that you are safe, but the reality is the opposite - you are detecting airborne particles recirculating in the space.
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So hand washing and hand sanitiser use is unnecessary and practically useless?
No, not useless, because fomite transmission is still a possibility. The vast majority of transmission would appear to originate from airborne particles (I guess technically, droplets rather than ‘airborne’ as used professionally) entering the airways. Those particles can get on your hands and be introduced to your system by facial contact, so sanitizing controls that risk. Gloves could help too, though most people struggle to take off gloves properly.
The broader point is that in many of the places where you observe diligent sanitization, there are much larger risks left completely uncovered because it is more difficult and expensive to do so. Masks and distancing are doing the heavy lifting, the sanitizing is working at the margins.
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Back into full lockdown here, albeit our version of lockdown is not quite as strict as it is in most places. With winter here, I am really noticing the loss of outdoor space. Met with my brother’s family on Boxing Day in my backyard, but at -8 C sitting around socializing has a time limit on it. Supposed to last at least until January 23, I think this is going to be a good deal tougher mentally than March, when it felt like Spring was coming to provide some relief
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There has been confusion over the term airborne as what scientists in this field mean by that term it is not what most people would intuitively understand it to mean.
For a virus to be “airborne” it has to be able to hang around in air long after the particle has been expelled, creating a tainted airspace. For instance, with measles you can catch it simply by walking into the same room that a measles patient was in hours before. Thankfully, this virus does not do that. Once it is expelled it falls to the floor fairly quickly, meaning to get exposed you really have to be in the “Splash Zone.”
So outside, as long as you are “socially distanced” you should be relatively safe to take your mask off. There are exceptions to that, and being inside is a fairly predictable exception. Inside, lack of ventilation can cause a concentration of particles making it harder to stay out of tainted air. But even adequate ventilation can cause patterns of air flow that keep the particles circulating. As a result, even when socially distancing, not wearing a mask inside can leave you exposed.
I think one of the biggest things we’ve learned is doorways are bastards. For a couple of reasons these are a big vector of transmission, so if you’re coming from outside, always put your mask on long before you get to the door, and vice versa on the way out.
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If Kane gets it, North London’s fucked.
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What’s going on with the US figures at the moment? They seem to have fallen off a cliff edge which could be interpreted as a good thing but it’s sad that I feel I need to question the numbers.
I was looking at the FT website.
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Testing levels have tailed off significantly due to the holidays. US had been running at well over 1M tests per day until 12/2, in fact up around 2M per day for much of December, and the number of tests has plummeted in the past 4 days.
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Cheers. That makes sense now.
When you look at the actual UK and US numbers they are scary. Far higher than in the first wave and it has been met with a far higher level of complacency.
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Scary in a whole lot of places, but US and UK are definitely seeing some of the worst. Southern California hit 0% ICU availability last night, and there will be a surge from Christmas gatherings in just a few days.
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Yeah. 99% efficiency on larger droplets, wasn’t it ? And viral load plays a significant role as to how sick you become.
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Me and my mother traveled to Oslo for Christmas. We used plane, train and tram to reach our destination and vise versa. We figured using gloves on the tram particularly, was wise with so many potential people touching stuff. We didn’t really leave the house we were staying at other than for walks and me meeting an old friend for coffee for 2 hours on the 26th.
Felt a bit like traveling to a dead city, very little traffic compared to usual. Even though infection in Oslo is low compared to many places in Europe, it is incredibly much higher than back here on the west coast.
So far, in this municipality, we have had one who tested positive in the end of march and then one now on the 23 of December( so 2 in total so far during the epidemic), but he was in quarantine and has infected no one. Obviously this is different from Oslo.
My uncle is up here now for New Years Eve. We only talk to each other outdoors and with 4-5 meters distance (he talks loud, so insists on extra distance due to potential droplets), even though they are down in my late grandmothers house. Shouted merry Christmas to my cousin down there today. But they are terrified to bring infection up here, his municipality, Skien, has rising infection rates and is one of the worst regarding that. The mutation from Britain has also been discovered there before he came up here, so playing it extra safe.
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Staggering - how could they even think of trying to conceal something of this scale?
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I wonder how many other countries have lied?
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Pretty sure that before today it was just the UK. Now it’s only the UK and Russia.
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