Covid 19 - Updates from your zones

[wavewright62]

Huzzah for negative swabs!  Melbourne is not doing well, from what I hear - fortunately you both (and Keep Looking & Purple Wyrm et al) are not in that vicinity.  Suddenly the calls for a Transtasman bubble NZ-Australia have gotten far more muted.  Although I understand NZ is now on a 'safe list' of countries permitted to land within the EU.

[Lenny]

Yeah, EU now has a short list of 14 countries (and maybe China if they reciprocate) that are allowed in - but each country can choose for itself if it wants to let them in or not, so it's highly recommended to double-check the rules where you want to go (and please don't go unless you have to). I believe Sweden has already decided not to let anyone in until 7 July.

The Netherlands, as usual, is following what the EU decides and letting all of them in - Australia's on the list, too, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Algeria, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The metric is 16 infections per 100 000 people or lower, and the list changes every two weeks or as needed.

It's great that they're opening up again to safe areas, I'm certain there are more people in the same situation as me - lots of those countries have passports that are seen as long-stay visas (90 days), and would not have been able to apply for one in order to round off the application for a long-term visa like ours. In fact, the only countries/city-states that now still have that problem are Vatican City, Monaco, and the US.

...I'm hoping that it won't negatively affect the priority of the immigration department to find a solution for those countries that still can't apply for a long-stay visa. Because uh, it's going to be a long time before the US reaches that metric >.> It's currently sitting at a GLORIOUS 787.5 infections per 100 000 people, and growing. *sighs* My SO's state has less than a third of the population of the Netherlands and a few days ago passed the highest number of daily infections NL had back in April.

[Yastreb]

Melbourne is not doing well, from what I hear - fortunately you both (and Keep Looking & Purple Wyrm et al) are not in that vicinity.

Actually, I am in Melbourne. Do'kha. (Róisín knows what that last word means.)

[Róisín]

I am not in Melbourne, though I used to live there as well as in Outback Victoria, mostly East Gippsland and the Snowies, Melbourne and suburbs being where I know Yastreb from. At various times we used to attend the same events, mostly SF conventions and reenactment events, and he has shared a flat with some of my young relatives. I moved here 30+ years ago for the purpose of committing matrimony, first to the Adelaide suburbs and then out to the SA bush, but I still have a mob of friends and relations in Victoria, and we sometimes have a chance to visit back and forth. I worry about all of them, since Victoria seems to be doing a lot worse than SA in terms of infections. It’s scary. Yastreb is in one of the Melbourne suburbs which has new clusters, which is a worry.

Purple Wyrm, Keep Looking, YeethawGang and a few others are in Western Australia, which is safer, and Dai is some way South of where I am, well out from the city. Good luck all, and I hope that Lenny and her SO stay safe and can eventually be permanently together!

[Jitter]

Finland and the other Nordics except for Sweden are doing very well. We in Finland have about 20 people in hospital and none in intensive care, two deaths in the last 7 days. There have been a couple of infection clusters at construction sites and a shipyard, but currently there is no community transmission to speak of. The region bordering Sweden in the north has several cases originating from Sweden. Sweden is officially upset with the rest of us for restricting travel to necessary basis only, but what can we do?

Currently things are good, but of course there is quite high probability of a second wave. Sweden certainly is trying to give us one... Finnish health experts seem to be hopeful about that if or when it comes, we can contain it with little damage again, but of course only time will tell.

My family is a ok, we have both been able to work remotely quite and both our companies are doing well. So currently no financial trouble, although obviously later this year may prove different with the expected deep depression.

[Keep Looking]

Here in Western Australia we've honestly been extremely fortunate. We never really got community transmission in the first place - there were hints of it starting in March/April, but then all the restrictions kicked in and that seems to have basically killed it. Our premier's done a really good job at keeping the state borders shut, meaning that if you come into Western Australia from anywhere, even another state, you have to do two weeks of quarantine. Turns out having a grand total of two sealed roads that lead into your state can be quite advantageous. We did have a few dramas with various cruise ships/live export ships having coronavirus outbreaks and then docking in Fremantle, but that never really spread into the community, and so far the only cases we've been having for the last while has been among people waiting in quarantine after they've travelled here from elsewhere. At this point most of our restrictions have been lifted - it's a bit like living in a bubble of normalcy here, at least for me.

Of course, the virus has had significant impacts on many of our industries that rely on people coming to keep them running (tourism, cafes/resteraunts, hospitality and all that), but I think that's a fairly universal experience at this point.

[JoB]

Researchers in Finland are now testing a method of detecting it from exhaled air - I very much hope it will work!

Cool, maybe we can have a combo SARS-CoV-2+H.pylori test/screening for the price of one (pandemic) then ...

[wavewright62]

Actually, I am in Melbourne. Do'kha. (Róisín knows what that last word means.)

Crap on a stick, my apologies & condolences.  I don't understand the word, but if I pronounce it as though it was Klingon, I think I have the gist.   

[Róisín]

Yeah, it’s used as a swear in this context.

[phocena]

Hello from the United States :'D!

Well, cases were starting to level off a little, but now they're spiking again. Luckily my state isn't the one experiencing the main outbreaks, but if it gets really bad it will jeopardize my college's plans to have class on campus next year. I do hope everyone in those hotspots is doing ok. My friend chose to go back to India for the summer, and just managed to get through the whole 14 day quarantine process, so I'm glad I have people to talk to, even if they're in separate time zones.

[Yastreb]

Yeah, it’s used as a swear in this context.

I invented the word Do'kha for my fantasy saga. The main character, who comes from a land much like old Russia, uses it a lot. In his own words... "Do’kha is something you would hear often in Tunguska. It doesn’t translate easily. - So be it - is close, but it doesn’t convey the sense of acceptance of fate, good or bad, though rarely is it heard in times of joy."

I see it as something as multi-use, much as "oy" has so many meanings in Yiddish (from the expression of mild annoyance all the way through to existential despair).

[thorny]

I invented the word Do'kha for my fantasy saga.

Ah. That explains why all the references Google found were to tobacco.

(They also didn't have the apostrophe; I kept trying to make Google include that, with no luck.)

[wavewright62]

Ah, the quintessential OY - well that makes so much sense now.

[Yastreb]

Twelve Melbourne suburbs are under a compulsory stay-at-home directive. People can only leave their home for four reasons (six if you include emergencies or "if required by law").

To shop for food and essential goods and services
For care or compassionate reasons
Exercise outdoors
For work or study that can’t be done from home.

Police can issue on the spot fines of $1,652 for individuals and $9,913 for businesses for non-compliance.

SUPPLEMENTAL: as of 0001 AEST of 9 July, all of Melbourne is covered by Stage III lockdowns, that is, the restrictions listed above.

[Vulpes]

Stay safe, Yastreb. Being re-locked down must be even worse than the initial lockdown.

Here in Newfoundland, things are opening up and folks can travel among the 4 Atlantic provinces without quarantine. Of course just as this took effect, PEI and NS had outbreaks, so I expect a surge in cases here in a couple of weeks. Almost nobody wears a mask, so it should spread like wildfire when it gets here.