How are you all dealing with coronavirus and the restrictions many of us have to live

Ah okay, I guess it depends upon your country's testing strategy. In the UK it is more proactive and because one third of cases are asymptomatic (so you wouldn't know you had the virus but may spread it to others) regular testing is available for key workers to check asymptomatic spread. But in the UK we had very high infections and deaths until recently so we have had to do a lot of testing as part of the strategy to depress the virus.

99% oxygen sounds pretty good to me and glad you're feeling better.

Yes, I hear the UK was bad. I'm glad to hear it's better now. I still didn't check how it will continue in my country. I'd just get my hopes up..

Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say - The New York Times

"Just over 5.8 million Brazilians — roughly 2.6 percent of the population — had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of Tuesday, according to the health ministry. Only about 1.5 million had received both doses. The country is currently using the Chinese-made CoronaVac — which laboratory tests suggest is less effective against P.1 than against other variants — and the one made by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca."

Oh, great, so Coronavac (by Sinovac) is what we are getting here. P.1 is the Brazilian variant and you can bet we have plenty of that spreading around, seeing that we are in the neighborhood and there are direct flights between here and there. There hasn't been much information available lately about how the variants are spreading here. There was a bit of fuss when the first case of the UK variant arrived, but the authorities have been quiet about the South African and Brazilian variants. I wonder if they are even bothering to test samples for the variants.

We are back over 4,500 new cases today. 73% of the Metropolitan Region will be back in phase 2, weekend quarantine by Saturday. Our neighbor municipalities to the north and south could not escape this time. They had been in phase 3. I forsee a new lockdown for the Metropolitan Region and I wonder how much the vacation permits they were giving out over the summer had to do with it. We were responsible and decided it was not the right time for a vacation. But, we will be locked down with the rest of them.

You’re very right. We still have a lot to learn from the results of each vaccine and the presence of new variations.
I understand your frustration. Europe is having lots of problems to get the deals with some Chemistry’s companies accomplished. They are unfulfilling their deals and sending their vaccines to countries that pay more.
Well, this is how everything works, isn’t it?
In any crisis, there are people who get through it with difficulties but there are others who have to get through it with a ton of more difficulties.

I want to add that our king’s sisters got the vaccines in the country where their corrupt father had to go away. Why? Because they deserve it, lol! Why do they deserve it? I don’t know but this is what we have. Not everybody is equal.

hahaha! I still remember last year it was announced a casserole against the Monarchy and I was the only one who went by my window and made noise. lol!

I’m a warrior lol!

@AzulOscuro. I read the news about the "Infantas". I had meant to mention it to you.

I wish I could do some vaccine tourism. Unfortunately, my US passport is about to expire and I don't really have plans to renew it. I don't want to travel to the US any time soon and I'd have to go to the Embassy. My Chilean ID is good for travel within the region, but that has expired too and most of the region has fewer vaccines than us. The government extended its validity for internal use but it doesn't serve for travel. I was going to get my Chilean passport to go to Portugal, but of course that didn't happen. They are only good for 5 years, so I only wanted to get it when I needed it. I've mainly used my Chilean ID to travel around the region before COVID. Of course then I could pick COVID on the trip! Must be nice to be rich and be able to take private flights and be first in line for your vaccine.

Hahahahaha! Yes, we could do tourism to get the shot. Don’t come to Spain because I already told you that we are being slow as snails. lol!
Today, Italy had to block a flight with AstraZeneca’s vaccines to Australia. This company is really pissing off the EU.
We can go to Abu Dabi as my dear King, better known as the Elephants’ killer.

Well, here, the safety measures for Easter holidays are gonna be hard. Thanks god, since they don’t have the capability to do tests and have other more imaginative mesures. At least, it seems we are not gonna see a four wave. Now, it will all depend on the citizens.

There is already concern about the Holy Week/Easter holiday here too! Not surprising given the mess that is resulting from the vacation season.

Hope people behave well. We have to beat the virus as soon as we can.
Did they adopt more severe measures there in Chile on Easter?

my home country says they'll have everyone vaccinated by the end of July. If that were true I wish I could pop over and get it - but I highly doubt they will manage that!

Lockdown has been extended until March 28 over here but with some restrictions being loosened. And of course people are already saying the numbers will rise again. Won't change anything for me, though. Still working from home, still not getting to see my family, still not going to any gigs (which is where I also see my friends who are from different parts of the country). I feel numb.

I am scheduled to get my first shot tomorrow (Pfizer). I would be willing to travel two weeks after I get both my shots so I am thinking about scheduling a trip to see my dad this year. Though I know it can take a long time to get it via mail (this is how I renew my US passport)--can you renew a passport via the mail? I think everyone should have a passport. With what is going on in my country lately, I feel like some parts of Mexico (and I assume Canada) are safer than many areas in the US. Perhaps this is just my anxiety, but the world seems strangely unstable and like things could change quickly for the better or the worse. All the barbed wire around our capital makes me feel like I am in a third world country!

Here we can't renew a US passport by mail any more, unfortunately. That is how I did it the last time in 2011. You have to go to the Embassy twice, once to apply and once to pick it up. I live outside the capital and it's about a 2 hour trip each way on public transit to the Embassy. Mine is still valid until September, I think. As a dual national, I only need a US passport to go to the US, though. A Chilean ID works for South America and a Chilean passport works anywhere else. I only need to show a US passport if I enter the US. My first priority is the ID and then a Chilean passport. That can be done at the Civil Registry in town, although it's apparently always crowded so I am going to wait a bit and see how the virus progresses. Soon we should start seeing if the vaccine being used here is having an effect or not.

Mental breakdown number..... I don't know, I've lost count. Or maybe I'm still in the first one. Maybe every time I think I'm doing ok, I'm actually just numb or kidding myself.

I hate that during the week, because I don't exactly love my job, I'm looking forward to not having to deal with entitled customers on the weekend. But then on the weekend the isolation REALLY hits hard.

Over 5,000 new cases today, the highest since last June. My municipality has 158 active cases. I imagine that full lockdown will either be implemented in my municipality or possibly the entire Metropolitan Region soon if things do not improve.

l want to go home for Easter. ]I can't handle this much longer. The loneliness. Being cooped up in a tiny 4th floor apartment with paper thin walls. The constant noise from my neighbours. Either the TV playing or hearing them talk - especially in the bedroom it is super annoying! This morning they were already stomping around, opening and closing drawers, banging doors, throwing stuff around???? at 8 AM. (These are my DOWNstairs neighbours. Imagine they must be stomping around like elephants for me to hear it!) I need some peace & quiet and also some human interaction. And some space around me. This city is too full.

Probably won't be possible, though Can't really plan anything when we don't know what the rules will be around Easter. And to be honest, I wouldn't feel very comfortable on a train for 5 hours. Or getting on a plane.The only option would be driving, but since I don't really drive anymore since I moved to the city, it would be too far for me to drive on my own.

It’s not fair you are having so many problems to go to see your parents after a whole year while, here, I don’t know why and how, keep coming to Madrid young people from France to have parties in the capital.

This is a real madness and I’m beginning to fed up with all these covidiots. There was even a girl who said she has had deceased people in her family and still she wants to celebrate in crowds and breaks the rules.
I’m becoming so annoyed as a bear with head sore.

Thank you. Of course if I really wanted to go and didn't care about anything I could - traveling abroad is only advised against, the borders are still open. If I were a covidiot, I could just hop on a train or plane. But I don't want to take the risk with my parents' health. I would only go if I could travel safely.

@AzulOscuro - Belated happy birthday!


Well, our Health Minister finally had to admit what we already knew - that the vaccine being used here is mainly useful for limiting severe cases/hospitalizations, but doesn't give you immunity from infection. I guess they kind of had to say something since a lot of people will be receiving their second doses in the coming weeks and need to understand that they will still have to be cautious. This, after weeks of saying it's not possible to discuss the efficacy of different vaccines and criticizing anyone that complained about the bait and switch.

My husband drove into the capital for a few errands on Friday. He went to a supermarket attached to a mall in the area where we used to live before moving here. They are in phase 3, but really during the week phase 3 and 2 are about the same. Strangely, though, he said it felt like the pandemic didn't exist. He had to walk through the mall to get to the supermarket and it was packed with people. Quite a few people weren't wearing masks. They weren't limiting capacity in either the supermarket or mall. It's so different from where we live. The supermarket has signs at the entrance saying masks are required and I've never seen someone inside maskless.They also control the number of people inside. The guard has a counter and once it hits the allowed maximum, you have to wait in a spaced out line to go in. If two people exit, then they let two more people inside. Now, of course, I am wondering how they supposedly have fewer cases than here when people are acting like that. It's a big supermarket and he had planned to buy some housewares that we need. However with the crowding, he just bought the bare minimum and got the hell out of there!

If you would be able to go to see your parents after so much time, well for you. You deserve a little of freedom. You are not a covidiot. You are being very responsible. Olé, you!

P.S.: Break, did your parents received the vaccine yet, at least?

Thank you but indeed you didn’t delay, You got the head in wishing me a Happy Birthday, it will be on the 20th of March. The last day of Winter. (I didn’t decide to show my mug until the Spring, with the warm weather, lol)

Going to the topic, It’s clear that not all the vaccines have the same effectivity. But, at least, they lower the risk of having deep effects of corono virus decease.
Here, we are still far from vaccinating all the elderly people who has a lot of risk. And to be honest, I’m very worried about them because it’s known they are paying the worse part of this pandemic.

@AzulOscuro - Ahh, okay. I thought it was last weekend.

What bothered me was that the government was refusing to even discuss that the vaccines have different efficacy levels. It was misleading to do so on their part. Now they kind of had to come clean, since people with the 2 vaccines are probably going to think they are more protected than they are.

The government just announced a new wave of lockdowns, many in major cities around the country. Over a month into the mass vaccination program and cases are as high as last June. The protests are cranking up again too. 61 people detained and buses and a monument burned in downtown Santiago last Friday. Today there's a big women's march. So, now, we wonder. If the vaccines help keep more people out of the hospital, will they keep the lockdowns or just use the case numbers to keep many areas in quarantine and limit protesting? That remains to be seen, I guess.

They just announced that people flying in from Brazil are subject to hotel quarantine due to the Brazilian variant. The Health Subsecretary says it's because it's more contagious. Of course, no mention that preliminary studies in Brazil are showing that Sinovac has an even lower efficacy against the Brazilian variant than it usually does.

I don’t want to seem a grumpy person but I can’t believe how some people can have some charges being so incompetent.
The main authority in Health Emergencies in my country gave an interview in a very well-known program. He was asked why when seeing what was happening in Italy, they didn’t take the decision to lock Spain. He replied it was because people wouldn’t understand it. I say, please, tell this same to the people who are deceased now. Stupid asshole!

I’m so fed up with politicians and a group of other peoples treat us as kids.

Let’s see, if you have a job and you donMt accomplish your labour because of a political decision. Resign your charge. Don’t give chance to politicians to do what they only know to do “politicing”.

So we've got another vaccine approved over here..... but even before it was approved they already announced they will deliver less than expected. So still don't see things moving any more quickly.

Honestly if this goes on much longer, I am going to become one of those idiots who doesn't care. Give me an opportunity and I'll take it. Because I will soon no longer be able to care about anything at all.

I wish I could've gone to the test festival back home. Don't even care for any of the musicians playing but I am longing for live music and being around people.

The thing is being very hard in Germany, isn’t it? News are telling this here about Germany.

@AzulOscuro, you will just love this one (sarcasm). As you may know, our president is a multi-billionaire businessman. Supposedly his money is in a blind trust to avoid Trump-style conflicts of interest. However, a little while back, they changed the rules for phase 2 (second strictest tier) to allow casinos to open during the week. I guess the trust is not too blind after all. It has been revealed that one of the banks that manages part of his trust holds 50% of the US$ debt of Enjoy, the company that owns many of the casinos here. Another bank that manages his money has secured some of that debt and is one of the main owners of Enjoy stock. The second bank also manages his the money of a family holding company too. Hmm, not suspicious at all.

Unfortunately for the rest, I can only find an article in Spanish.


Alejandra Matus revelo el nexo entre Pinera y casinos Enjoy, con una investigacion que pone en <<Jaque>> al Jefe de Estado | The Times en Espanol

Meanwhile, we were close to hitting 6,000 new cases today nationwide. The whole Metropolitan Region will be back in phase 2 as of tomorrow and many cities are going to be phase 1 (strict lockdown). They just announced yesterday that casinos can no longer operate in areas in phase 2. the Medical College, which had given their support to the vacation permit plan is now blaming the vacations for the case numbers.

Thank you @rechu for telling us about what is happening in Chile. It is very wrong and corrupt. It needs to be talked about!