How are you all dealing with coronavirus and the restrictions... #2

Yes it depends how much sequencing has been done before you can know which variants are rising. I hope it isn't Delta because it seems to be very contagious.

Glad you had your Pfizer shot and all is well.

I had my 2nd AZ yesterday, it was very busy at the centre this time as they seem to be pushing all the appointments together at weekends now. I thought I had no effects at all this time but when I came home from work I had lunch and then fell heavily asleep where I was sitting!

Yeah, never-ending is right. I don't even let myself get my hopes up any more as far as when things will improve here. Supposedly the numbers over the last few days are encouraging, but those short-term movements never seem to last. Now it's winter, so people will be congregating indoors more. We had Fathers' Day yesterday and today is a holiday. Events like that always spike up the cases in 10-14 days. People aren't supposed to be having get-togethers in lockdown, but they still do. Honestly, no one cares any more. Even my friend who has generally been careful this whole time went over to her parents' house yesterday with her husband.

It's a lot harder to go back to normal activities than I realized. I asked a friend to meet up outside and long story short we are now meeting up at an indoor only horrible restaurant that I wouldn't have wanted to go to even before the pandemic. It's popular with families with kids, who can't be vaccinated even if they want to be. I also think that it's the kind of restaurant anti-vaxxers would go to. I am just so grossed out at the thought of sitting there and do not want to eat anything or breathe that air.

I really want to cancel. This has happened just about every time I have made plans that involves meeting indoors at a restaurant or coffee shop.

ETA: I have always been on the high maintenance side when it comes to food and drink and this pandemic is making it even worse. I am not sure how to fix this when I feel 100% justified due to Covid.

Hvert, I understand. We are far from that point, but I wonder how comfortable I will feel when things open up.

More stupidity from our government. They are increasingly recognizing that lockdowns are not working but imposing them at the same time. 10 municipalities in my region were moved out of lockdown after 90+ days, with higher cases than when they started, because "people are tired, it's not having an effect, etc." But, they left the other 42 municipalities locked down and added new lockdowns in other parts of the country. We were not a candidate because we had a few weeks of freedom in May, where they also recognized that lockdown here wasn't improving the situation.

Oh gosh that sounds stressful. I'm lucky I guess in that my very small group of friends are so understanding and like minded about being sensitive about arrangements. If one person doesn't feel okay about being indoors then we all meet outside. We've had some great picnics, something I hadn't done for years. Can you maybe suggest a picnic?

I actually went inside for my first sit down restaurant meal since March 2020 last week. It was very spaced, light, airy and high ceilings, scrupulously clean - like you I am extra picky these days. No way would I have gone if I wasn't 100% happy.

My husband always reminds me that they only keep soldiers on high alert for short periods because the human brain cannot maintain that vigilance for long periods of time. It's not how we're wired. I actually think the majority have done amazingly well to last as long as they have.

I really do feel for you.

rechu, sounds like the govt. is lifting lockdowns in places where cases continue to run high because no one is following the restrictions anymore and they don't want to be embarrassed. I am pretty sure that happened here last year. Cases started to go up but they didn't tighten up the lockdowns because so many people were resistant. People can only follow these strict rules for so long.

I got through last night, hopefully Covid free. The worker shortage in my area also has me on edge when it comes to dining out. People who are stressed out and short handed are more likely to take safety shortcuts imo.


I used to volunteer fairly frequently at trade shows, festivals, fairs, etc. I'm getting calls now to go back to that but find myself reluctant, especially with these new variants. A lot of it was food related and it just doesn't seem worth the risk.

@Discombobulated When we were finally sitting down, indoors, we both talked about how we preferred to meet outdoors - but when we were picking a place, he seemed so against anything outdoors that I figured he wanted to be in AC. I like the sounds of where you went a lot better than where we wound up!

Well, yesterday they moved forward 10 municipalities in the Metropolitan Region out of lockdown. They had all been in lockdown for over 90 days and only one had seen a slight decrease in cases. The others had all experienced increased active case numbers. The Health Undersecretary admitted they were doing it for reasons of "lockdown fatigue", not due to health indicators. The other 42 municipalities including mine are still in lockdown, or what masquerades for a lockdown here. We didn't get a reprieve since we went through something similar in May. 3-4 weeks and I am sure they will be locked down again as happened to us. There are a few places that have been locked down since March that didn't benefit from the Ministry's supposed generosity.

They say they are going to focus on testing and tracing in those areas and getting vaccination rates up. Some of those areas have really low vaccination rates. I don't know if I believe the vaccination rates they publish. For a while for my municipality it was shown that we had 100% of the target population vaccinated in all 50+ age ranges. Now, only 50-59 is showing 100%. The older age groups suddenly are lower, 70-80%


I think we all feel like we are constantly being jerked around with these twice weekly announcements, especially small businesses. Imagine you are a small restaurant and they say you are going into phase 2, which allows patio dining. So, you call your staff back, buy food and drink. In a week or two, they can send you back to lockdown and you lose any perishable food. You owe salaries even though in the first week or two of being open again, sales were probably slow. Once my municipality moved all the way to phase 3 in January. It lasted one week and we went back to phase 2. They didn't even give the changes a chance before they punished us and moved us back a phase. This is no way to run a country.


I wonder if the back and forth is leading to less compliance. If people knew the lockdown would be only three weeks or something, they might be more willing to comply. It was announced at one point that they would not have lockdowns longer than four weeks. That policy didn't last even four weeks!

Supposedly, next month there will be an announcement about what they are going to do about revaccinting the first people that got Sinovac in February since immunity seems to be waning, especially for the elderly. I am not sure what they will use. More Sinovac? I hope not. They seem to be reserving Pfizer for kids. We have a bunch of AstraZeneca sitting around because they raised the age for men to 45 after one clotting incident. The minimum age for women is 55. I guess if it's shown that a Sinovac-AZ mix can work, maybe they will use it on those that were vaccinated early. Most are over those age limits. My husband is 47, so he could potentially qualify for revaccination with AZ. He got his first vaccine in early February.

I heard even Brazil, which has an agreement to manufacture Sinovac is considering stopping purchases and moving to more Pfizer, etc.

Although, now it looks like cases have started to rise again in Israel, which is using Pfizer, due to the Delta variant. I am not sure what the breakout is as far as fully vaccinated/1 dose/0 doses there. They have vaccinated quickly, but haven't gotten to everyone yet.

Ugh, the Delta variant has arrived:


Google Translate

Sorry for the google translate, but you will get the idea:

After completing her isolation and testing negative after her arrival in Chile, the woman moved to Talca, and in an access control to the city she was given an antibody test in which she was positive , for which a PCR. When the origin was detected from where it came, it was decided to sequence, and there the Delta variant was finally detected.

At this time, she and her family are reportedly in isolation and all have had sequencing.
Faced with this case, the Minister of Health , Enrique Paris, affirmed in the Chamber of Deputies, while participating in a Chamber session to extend the validity of the State of Exception of Catastrophe, that the Institute of Public Health reported last night that the sequencing effectively tested positive , and recalled that they will strengthen the detection of variants. “We are going to try to increase this sequencing from 350 to 1,000 per week. We are signing an agreement to do so ” , he indicated.

So, she made it all the way to Talca from Santiago, about 250 km away. I wonder how she traveled and how many people she came in contact with. What is it with that region of the country (Maule region)? The first guy that brought the virus here in March 2020 was from San Javier, another town in Maule.

Well, crap. There was a lot of talk about Congress not renewing the state of constitutional exception. They did it anyways. We will continue to have no rights for the next three months.

People are a bit suspicious that they announced the arrival of the Delta variant right when the extension was under debate. It turns out the woman that has it arrived on June 4th.


They freed up lockdown for 24 other municipalities in my region but not here. Again, many did not have improvements in cases. It was due to "pandemic fatigue".

Here, we are putting all the weight on the vaccination.
Other than that we know for sure Delta variant is here and spreading. No tracking of the carriers. No keeping the safety measures among many people. There have been crowds for a political demonstrations (on the part of one side of politicians) nothing said in the press about this meeting in the middle of a pandemia, lots of meetings from youngers and other not so young celebrating. There last ones have been criticised by the press. The former haven’t. As always everything very coherent. (ironical)

I feel embarrassment when someone from the press asks one of these people who are celebrating in a crowd and without keeping security measures is asked. You don’t want to know what they say.
They say things such as that they are there because as they don’t have anyone at home to pass the virus on, they don’t care.
This is the future of the world. This is what we are leaving here lol!
I mention this because it’s not only an isolated case. It’s not an anecdote. You can’t guess how many times I heard the same and even worst cases, such as, they don’t care. They are young and they have to enjoy and drink.

@AzulOscuro. We have those people too. Stupidity exists everywhere. There are people that when being stopped by police for not respecting the curfew that say they didn't know there was a curfew. The curfew has existed for over a year by now.


Well, it came out that this woman with the Delta variant has been in the country since July 4th. There is conflicting information about whether there were other positive tests on the plane. They are trying to do a lot of tests in her city to see if other people are infected. The requirement to only have to spend 5 days in an isolation hotel upon arrival here is coming under a lot of criticism from doctors who say it should be a minimum of 11 days.

It's interesting that they only announced the Delta variant arrival yesterday, right when the Congress was discussing renewing the state of constitutional exception. Not suspicious at all!

After all the bad news yesterday, I am hitting another brick wall mentally. My work is suffering. I am sitting here at my desk crying and I can't concentrate. I worry I could lose my job for not turning in work on time. And, I don't really care if I do.

@rechu gentle hugs to you. It is such a long time to have to live with this situation, it is very wearing. I hope you can take some time for yourself, to nurture yourself and take care, sometimes we need to just stop and regroup.

fffff to the state of constitutional exception


These PCR tests at the airport feel like taking your shoes off, security theater. Vietnam increased their international traveler quarantine to 21 days after a handful of cases escaped despite a two week quarantine. Three weeks in a hostel is a good deterrent for frivolous travel.

Well, and this is the latest on the woman that brought the Delta variant here. Looks like she slipped through the protocols. This account does not match the initial story the Health Ministry gave us:

Google Translate

A complex complaint was made by the Municipality of San Javier about the woman detected as the first case of covid-19 with delta variant in Chile, ensuring that she did not quarantine after arriving in Chile and that she went directly from the Santiago airport to San Javier, without complying with the protocol established by the Ministry of Health.


During a press point, the mayor of San Javier, Jorge Silva, and the health director of the commune, Carlos Estrada, indicated that the woman did not quarantine, was not tested at the airport, participated in her father's funeral and only A PCR test was carried out after having been in the country for 7 days.


According to an investigation carried out by the Municipality, the woman arrived in Chile on June 4 and that day went directly from the airport to San Javier in a private car with a relative, which refutes the information given by the Ministry of Health.
"We have a record that the person entered the airport at 06:00 and was transferred by a relative in a private car on the same day 4 (...) in the Epivigila system there is no quarantine in the Santiago commune," said Estrada.

In the same vein, they argued that the woman only registers a PCR test in Chile, which was done on June 12, which was positive and later became the first case with the delta variant.

There are some very entertaining anti-government trending Twitter topics circulating right now!

I mean..... the Netherlands are allowing it all again. No more masks. Everything open. They say they're keeping the 1,5 m distance but that was probably the least followed rule to begin with. Even bars and night clubs get to open again without any restrictions apart from needing a negative test result.

And honestly I think it it absolutely insane and so incredibly stupid and yet if I were over there and I had a friend to go out with I would totally go. It's just been too freaking long we've been cooped up inside and I've been feeling so isolated. And I don't even like clubs. Just want to forget about everything and LIVE.

Here, the same in relation to relaxing measures. As if they were kept ever along the pandemia by everyone. lol!


Break, if you can go to the Netherlands to visit your parents and friends go. You do and take the measures you see. I know you have common sense. The rest does what ever f@cking they please.
We can’t fight against stupidity and people that don’t consider others.
But, at least, there are people who have common sense.

You take your mask with you while you can’t avoid crowds and try to be far from
crowds as much as possible.

I have examples near me who never gave a f@ack about security measures. And I can’t tell you how much it revolved my stomach. My mother, huh! my best friend...but, you, your head up. We are better in this.

No much more that when you had to show all your bottles and sprays and intimate things when terrorists attacks period.

It's so weird seeing huge crowds of people at the European Cup. So close together and no masks. Even if it is outside.... so was the match in Italy that turned to a super spreader event way back at the beginning of the pandemic.

But oh well. I won't be watching anymore after tonight anyway