How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

I am jealous. I told the powers-that-be that I was prepared to take the risk and would sign to that effect so would they please let me have the vaccinations so that I can go out of my home. They said no.

Oh Juli. That sounds so unfair. I do hope all your fellow countrymen get the vaccines so that at least you can feel a little safer.

I'm so sorry. I too hope the rest of your community gets vaccinated so you can get out there again.

I listen to people whine and complain about our "lockdown" and how the government has taken away their "freedoms" and being forced to get vaccinated. Then I read your posts and I want to slap them all for being so selfish and immature.

I am not really over bothered - well, most of the time I am not - it is just when I stop to think about it that it starts to frustrate and distress me. The general situation in Israel is good at the moment, but what is going to happen with the airport open again to tourists and visitors? People get blasé - look what happened last time. People came home from visiting somewhere - the man was infected with the Delta virus - sent his daughter to school and she infected other students, who infected their families, and bang - the whole country was badly hit again.

What is happening in Europe now can so easily spread to the UK, especially with all the illegal immigrants crossing the channel - and all it would take is one person bringing it here like last time - and the same thing will happen here.

Even if they did let me have the vaccinations and everything was OK and I had no reaction, I would not be able to go out until I was fully vaccinated as it would be too risky - Hai most definitely would not let me go into the macolet. And who knows what the situation is going to be like after I was fully vaccinated?

No, even if they change their minds and say yes, take the risk - I do not think I would. I never was one for going out in any case, just to the macolet, and now the thought of going out - going into shops - mixing with people - I do not need the worry.

We take a heck of a lot of care when we go out. Our routine is to pop into town, sit outside a cafe (all weathers, but it does have blinds that stop us getting wet), go for a walk in the park, outside McDonalds for a coffee then home.

I disinfect the table and chairs we sit on. We wear a mask if going indoors or crowded areas and sanitise, sanitise, sanitise.

I'm so used to doing it now that it feels normal. I get some funny looks because we don't see others doing it, but it makes me feel just that little bit safer

Well, it looks like 'here we go again'.

I have the same feeling of foreboding, yet there seems to have been only a handful of (reported) cases across Europe. I hear that Italy has closed her borders, and think that Israel may have done so too. Others - ourselves included - only seem to be restricting travel from 'Red Zones', and Covid19 testing all arrivals; along with instructing us to wear facemasks in shops from tomorrow - which half of the population still do anyway. Unless we want our economy to fall even further own the pan, should we not be doing a bit more than this?
Selfish I know, but we waited so long for the return of dog shows, meals out, and a little relaxation in the routine of medical and veterinary practice. It will be so sad if our recently regained freedoms have to be snatched away again.

My thoughts exactly, Chris.

Our borders are now closed to all non-citizens for two weeks and other restrictions have also been imposed - numbers of people permitted to congregate etc. From what the news has been saying, someone arrived from Malawi, I think they said, and took a long bus ride down to Eilat, before the test came through as positive. I have not read the latest news, just the headlines with their brief précis as they come into my inbox, as it is just too depressing for me now, but initially they were saying that there were seven or eight confirmed cases, and one of them had not even been out of the country.

These people had produced negative test results before leaving so there is talk as to whether the tests were incorrect or whether there were false certificates issued. As I say, I am not reading all the articles now, because I can not see any end to this mess.

I suspect we will be facing this yoyo for a good while to come.

I think in the past, a pandemic virus killed off so many hosts that it didn't have time to mutate before it ran out of succeptible hosts.

Now, we have improved survival rates to the point that viruses don't kill of all "desirable" hosts quickly. This gives the virus more time to mutate and reinfect.

I am glad I retired when I did. I am able to self-isolate easily and it's completely my decision. I talk with friends still working and they are constantly facing the whims of their employers on whether to work from home or go into the office.

I'm hoping that this mutation is a step down, in other words a mild mutation that will become the norm and not the killer mutations we have already seen.

I can dream

It's so frustrating to see light at the end of the tunnel and then that tunnel get longer

My view is that this will be around for quite awhile. Years. It will continue to mutate, largely in unvaccinated people and places with very low vaccination rates. And it will spread. It will be largely spread by people who haven’t had access to vaccination and by those who refuse to be vaccinated, for a myriad of reasons.

I just looked up numbers in the US, as of November 24.
At least one dose 231367,686. 70.2% of population
Fully vaccinated 194,668,359. 59.1% of population
Booster given 37,431,278. 11.4% of population

There are by far more people getting boosters every day then people getting their first shot. Maybe another 5% will get them... now that it’s got emergency authorization for children 5 and up. That’s still only 75%, and it’s free and those who haven’t gotten it yet probably won’t anytime soon.

I have an ex girlfriend who I’m still friends with, and she said Covid has run through her house 3 times now. Her, her husband and the two kids... all unvaccinated and no plan on getting one. Awhile back she said once it had full approval she’d get it. It’s got full approval for 18 years and older. Her job made it a requirement once there was full approval, so she quit her job. 3 times it’s run through her house...

We don’t know the potential long term effects of these vaccinations, particularly the MRNA vaccines. But we do know Covid can kill people, it can cause permanent lung damage, all sorts of other potential long term problems. I’m happy to roll the dice. I got the Moderna shot. I was hoping by doing so that life might be able to return to something more normal. But we just had our mask mandate reinstated.

The whole planet needs to get vaccinated. Countries that aren’t under water financially need to be donating vaccines as well as refrigeration equipment to countries that just can’t afford it. Help set up infrastructure to get people shots. But even that will only do so much good when people in supposed educated countries refuse to get vaccinated. We aren’t going to get to heard immunity. It’s run through my old GF’s house 3 times, already, so they aren’t getting immunity from being infected.

I’m depressing myself now... I haven’t worked in a year. Despite my concussion symptoms still lingering, I have no choice but to get a job soon because I need to bring in some money.

I’m flabbergasted that anyone is allowed on an airplane without proof of vaccination, and a recent Covid test. The should have the fast ones right at the airport. Just a cost of flying.

I get a booster on Thursday

One last thought. All vaccines are not equal, that’s another problem.

End rant

I agree with you completely.

I am copying and pasting part of an article I have just read in the Jerusalem Post, dated today, 29 November, because this is why there will never be an end to this pandemic. The headline reads:

COVID mishaps: Health Ministry puts wrong travelers into quarantine.​

The journey from Tel Aviv to Eilat by bus takes more than four hours. Apart from a very brief rest stop at Be'er Sheva, the only other stops are when passengers get on or off the bus. I have only made that journey once. On the way to Eilat the bus stopped in the Arava, half way between Be'er Sheva and Eilat as there is a Moshav near that stop - the Arava is mostly desert with just a few Moshavim. There were no other stops for people to get on or off that I remember. On the return journey the bus did not even stop there. Just at Be'er Sheva.

That means that the infected woman was not only with people on the plane - at Ben Gurion Airport - then at the central bus station at Tel Aviv - on the bus, which stopped at Be'er Sheva so people there could possibly have been exposed to the virus - and then Eilat. And the people who were on the bus with her have yet to be traced.

I had to have a day in bed the day after my Pfizer booster. I was really fluey - then absolutely fine the following day! I'm taking this as a plus sign, hopefully caught up with a strain that the AZ must have missed.
On the white record sheet recording which arm, that I was given to hand to the doctor, this jab was listed as Third Vaccination, and was followed by a blank space headed Booster. I really should have asked, as this has left me wondering, do we have another one to come? Whatever, here's my arm - stick it in!
I think Marc is right, unless the whole world gets vaccinated we are likely to be locked into a spiral of ferrying mutated versions of the virus around the globe. I'm not sure whether full vaccination would be possible, even if there were unlimited supplies of vaccine - there is far too much suspicion about the product. In the meantime, I'm thinking that we need to be far more careful about the rules that apply to international travel.

I got my Moderna booster at 4pm Thursday. I went to bed at my normal time but I slept until 11am, and stayed in bed until almost 1pm. I had a headache, sore back, stiff neck. Was dragging all day, and did nothing, had no energy, felt crappy. l laid down to watch tv around 5:30pm and fell asleep pretty quickly, for over an hour. Then I just got in bed and slept until 11pm, still feeling all the symptoms. Got up and ate, back to bed at 1am and slept until 8:15. I would have slept longer but I had an appointment for a massage, however I felt much, much better.

I suspect we will need regular boosters.

My first two injections I got an official looking sticker on my vaccine card, that said Moderna, the batch # and date of the jab. This time it was hand written. I asked her why I didn’t get a cool looking sticker like last time, and she responded that she had unicorn stickers. 30 seconds after I walked away I was kicking myself for not getting a unicorn sticker... so a friend texted me one

Cute.

I went for my booster today at 2:30. I had gotten the pfizer shots originally, but they only had the Moderna and J&J boosters, so I got the Moderna. So far no issues except a slightly sore arm. No stickers for any of mine - all hand written.

Of course, when she first looked at my record sheet, she said "you are too soon for a booster", then looked again and said " oh, you're good". She had read the vaccination expiration date of August 2021 and not the injection date of April 2021.

When I went to leave for the booster, saw a young male shepherd/akita mix running loose. So I convinced him into my side yard and posted on nextdoor. I was going to take Tornado-dog and Cat-dog to the pet store so Tornado-dog could get a stuffed toy and they could both get a treat - it's Tornado-dog's first birthday today. But I forgot my wallet at home and the stray dog was unhappy in the yard. So we went back home and I made arrangements to take him to the city shelter.

He is about a year old, a bit too skinny, very very powerful, sweet but lacking manners, and has never been in a car before. No collar on him. It was a bit difficult driving with him because he was trying to smell every inch of the front seat and had enough time to get to the driver side. Hopefully he will get a good home. I suspect the current owners got him as a puppy, played with him a lot (he fetches) and have started ignoring him as he gets older, leaving him alone in the yard bored. No one has responded to the post.

I’m glad you got him before he possibly got hit by a car or something. Hopefully the shelter will work with him before they find him a home.

I hope all you get is a sore arm.

Happy birthday Tornado-dog!!! Perhaps tomorrow he can get his birthday present. Maybe we could get a birthday picture with the new toy?

So am I. I'm hoping he gets into a foster home.

Probably won't get out tomorrow, but will shoot for Monday to go to the pet store. Meanwhile he got about 8 new toys this past week for an early Christmas present - Cat-dog got her camping cot, which HE loves, so I don't feel too bad for him...

He gives you a kiss for the birthday wishes.

Poor boy, I hope he is claimed or rehomed - do they check for a chip?
Happy Birthday Tornado Dog. xx

Yes, they do check for chips. Unfortunately in this area, few dogs are chipped. And few owners even bother to look for their dog when it goes missing. Due to his age (about 1 yr), his friendliness and knowledge of fetch, and his lack of basic manners and never having been in a car, I really think he was a "ooh cute puppy! Oh big overbearing dog" who got relegated to a yard.