One kid in his bubble tested positive on their twice weeks kits so they all go home waiting on his PCR test. If clear (being done today) they’re back in tomorrow. Otherwise it’s ANOTHER week at home off school 
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Secondary if you prefer but the school’s title is “X High School”. Call it an English thing.
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I think there are a couple of things to think about here wrt completely opening up:
- Is there evidence of a disconnect from the number of cases to hospitalisations
- Is testing, in its current form, the best way forward from here on in in terms of an indicator for a green light? If not what?
If (as was recently reported) there are antibodies in 80% of the population then we really should have far, far fewer hospitalisations and deaths - even though we (technically) go into a third wave of infections.
Right now it feels like a gamble to fully open up and I for one would err on the side of caution and if anything take a slight step back in certain areas to see if the previous correlations between infections, hospitalisations and deaths are diverging.
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In my day I went to the ex-grammar school that had become a comprehensive, even secondary was before and after my time (though was still a generalised term). Confusing for me. 
You think you’ve got trouble? I did a month in French Immersion in Canada as a kid. That was just bonkers.
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I still can’t get used to the use of the term ‘public school’ in America. Means something very different in the UK.
Which is an odd term anyway. Taxpayer funded and additionally paid for would be much easier.
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Public meaning also Private is definitely confusing to those outside of the UK (and UK-inherited school systems).
It originated, as I’ve mentioned before, because up to around the 14th, 15th century schools were dedicated to the children of specific professions or trades. Church schools, navy schools, iron mongers guilds, silversmiths, merchants etc.
Then schools started to allow anybody (public) although they did, of course, remain independent and fee paying because there was no state education provision.
When state education provision began these public schools were also called private schools, because they were fee paying and in control of their own admissions criteria.
Wow. This is on top of giving the world the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and on top of being the leading nation in establishing COVAX, as well as being its leading funder until we persuaded other G7 countries to do their bit as well.
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Phizer announced they will deliver 400 000 less doses in the next batch, which means that our program will be delayed with an expected 2 weeks. The government has calculated and kind of promised that every person above the age of 18 would get offered a vaccine before the end of the last week in July. Now this will be into August instead.
So a bit more to wait then for my vaccine. I am in the last batch I think. Looking forward to getting my Phizer vaccine though ! 
A couple of days old this, but I do think one or two may find this interesting, simply because many of you know very little about Svalbard (and I don’t blame you). Some of you may not even realise that there is a tiny piece of old Soviet there on Norwegian territory.
So therefore, because it is interesting maybe, I am reposing this article (not that instead of translating it myself, I am taking the liberty to use google translate, so keep in mind that the linguistical quality will be awful but comprehensible):
Russian settlement has received free vaccines from Norway
BARENTSBURG (VG) The isolated, Russian settlement in the Arctic has not been able to get vaccines from its home country. - It would be a disaster if the virus came to us.
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Just updated
“Our goal is communism” - it says on the sign that meets the few who visit Barentsburg this gray June day. One might think that it is a Soviet slum - with its mastodon architecture and dirty snow. But it is a small piece of Russia on Norwegian soil.
There has been a cautious spring to this Russian settlement in Norway at 78 degrees north. The water melts and settles like dark ponds in the steep climb up from the harbor.
Here live about 300 Russian and Ukrainian miners working in the nearby mine. Everything is run by the Arctic Gulf, which is owned by the Russian state.
No one weighs there
Supplies must be sent here by boat or helicopter. There are no roads here and the population can live in isolation from their families at home for a long time at a time.
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also read
Here, almost everyone is vaccinated
](Her er nesten alle vaksinert – VG)
LENIN: The city was built during the Soviet Union and still bears a strong mark of it. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
The settlement has a school, kindergarten, post office, grocery store, hotel - and a small hospital. Nevertheless, the catastrophe would be total if the corona virus came to Barentsburg.
The nearest hospital with intensive care capacity is in Longyearbyen, which can only be reached by boat or helicopter. And this is only an emergency hospital that transfers acutely ill patients to hospitals on the Norwegian mainland.
Consul General Sergey Gushchin receives VG in one of the buildings highest in the settlement. Here he can look out over the magnificent fjord below, but also the many dilapidated buildings that the weather has been hard at work with.
- Welcome to the northernmost diplomatic station in the world, says the diplomat with the long ponytail and a sly smile.
THE MANAGER: Consul General Sergey Gushchin has jobs at the embassies in Reykjavik and Oslo. He now heads the northernmost diplomatic station in the world. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
Neighbours
This is the story of the close ties between Russia and Norway. And about when the planes from the mother country were stopped - so that the long-awaited Sputnik vaccine could not be transported in, then the Norwegian vaccination program became the solution.
- Our Norwegian neighbors were very kind and said that we could get vaccines via their program - for free, says the Consul General.
And so it was. This spring, health personnel from the hospital in Longyearbyen, in collaboration with the governor’s personnel with an interpreter, have several times taken the trip to put long-awaited doses of the Moderna vaccine in those who live there.
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Here they have only one intensive bed: - The vaccine is a blessing
](Her har de kun én intensivseng: – Vaksinen er en velsignelse – VG)
THE CHURCH: The weather is in danger with the Russian building stock. The whole city is run by the Arctic Gulf. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
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Everyone was offered a corona machine, but some said no. Now we can soon get a corona certificate and then I think more people will say yes, he says.
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Fortunately, it was not the AstraZeneca vaccine, but Moderna, Gushchin exclaims.
So far, the vaccination rate is 60 percent, but vaccination will continue throughout the summer. Inside the consulate, which is covered with marble and has its own fountain, the Consul General continues:
- It is a good number, he continues.
PORT: All supplies arrive via boat or helicopter. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
He himself received his first dose of the vaccine on April 29 and the next dose a month later.
Disaster
At the hospital in Barentsburg, they have three doctors and two nurses.
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It would be a disaster if the virus came to us. The sick must have been transported to Longyearbyen, and we only have one helicopter, says the Consul General, who has also worked at the Russian embassies in Oslo and Reykjavik.
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We do not have the capacity to handle an outbreak, he says.
So when it was decided that Svalbard should be given priority in the vaccination program , a hand was also extended to the Russians in Barentsburg.
- I am grateful that we got to be part of the Norwegian vaccination program, says Gushchin.
He has had regular meetings with the Governor to discuss the corona situation.
COAL: The mining town feeds on coal, both for export and to generate electricity for the energy plant in Barentsburg. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
- Our local cooperation has been very good, he says.
- The world’s best
The settlement is named after the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz. Annually, there are up to six transport ships with 120,000 tonnes of coal from Barentsburg. Gushchin believes that they will continue to dig out coal in Barentsburg for a long time.
- The coal mine will continue. We feel sorry for our neighbors in Longyearbyen who have to close down their coal mine. Here we will continue to extract coal. The deposits will last until 2050, he says.
For the construction worker Alexander Chernysh (56), the Norwegian vaccine program has meant two doses of the Moderna vaccine.
- It’s a good vaccine. The best in the world, he says.
- Why was it so important to vaccinate everyone on Svalbard, including Russians and Ukrainians in Barentsburg?
- Because the government made a decision early on to vaccinate the population on Svalbard as part of our preparedness where we are more vulnerable if there is an outbreak of infection. So it was simply a priority that was made a good while ago, so that they have received vaccines to vaccinate the entire population, says Minister of Health Bent Høie.
FULLY VACCINATED: The construction worker Alexander Chernysh (56) has been vaccinated with vaccines that have come from Norway. He’s happy with that. Photo: Helge Mikalsen
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Published: 08.06.21 at 19:57
Updated: 10.06.21 at 09:19
Missing photos from the article (I don’t know how to embed this properly, so sorry for the mess):
Explanation: Ponytail guy is the general consul in the article. Worker depicted is the guy happy with the Moderna vaccine, besides him is a sign with “our goal is communism”. Container picture explains that everything must come in with a helicopter, there are no roads to Barentsburg.
Another picture of their stinking coal mine. Lenin.
Maybe someone will find it interesting !
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Concerning news coming from Chile:
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It’s unfortunately WAY more complicated than that. In simple terms, waving the patent just gives the legal right to make it, but it still doesn’t give other manufacturers to tools to make the vaccine. It’s equivalent of showing someone a picture of a plate of food and expecting them to recreate it without also giving them the recipe. As a result, many would try and fail, and we wouldn’t know very much about how effective the generics are that actually made it to market. Given we have a stressed global supply chain for many components of the vaccine product, you dont want to create a situation where supply is being wasted by allowing it to go to somewhere who cannot guarantee delivery.
I still think the patent waver is the right move, but it is only part of the process and arguably the easiest part.
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Yeah; being widely reported that there’s going to be another four weeks’ delay. Such disparate sources as the Guardian, Telegraph and FT are saying the same thing, so it’s clearly been leaked from Downing Street.
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It’s the right thing to do.
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