Coronavirus outbreak

[theMathematician]

+335k new cases in France

And in this climate, the president is adding fuel to the fire by defaming parts of the population...

[RayRay]

They just said 'piss off' twice on the BBC News covering the Macron story - bet there will be plenty of complaints about that

Who said this?

[theMathematician]

Who said this?

It's the English translation of the term Macron initially used.

[InfoFromAus]

The drama unfolding around the Australian Open is heightened and depending on the outcome could be... well, hilarious.

Djokovic has just had his visa into Australia cancelled after he's already travelled here.

Unvaxxed, he was granted a medical exemption to play at the Aus Open, but apparently did not provide sufficient evidence for his exemption on his visa application.

He's being held in Melbourne and will be "removed" from the country.

[RayRay]

Some people always think they can have special treatment...

[theMathematician]

Sounds like Australia is still sticking with their 'No Covid' approach, aren't they?

[InfoFromAus]

No, that's incorrect.

Most of our states have opened up completely with hardly any restrictions (some are way too lax). Case numbers unfortunately are going up as a result.

What we have is a rule that to enter the country you need to show proof of vaccination or a valid exemption (which I think is commonplace in many countries now).
He has neither (he's anti-vax so he is not vaccinated and does not seem to have a valid reason) so he cannot come in.

[theMathematician]

OK, thanks a lot for the background information, InfoFromAus .

Case numbers will initially go up as a result of contamination, yes, but since you've got a very high vaccination rate in Australia, the result is going to be very few heavy cases, while the infections leading to mild or even asymptomatic cases will, along with the vaccination, serve as additional immunization of the society.

[InfoFromAus]

I hope so!

Hospitalisation rates are still increasing. In my state the number of people in hospital went from fewer than 200 in mid December to over 1,600 now.

Rate of boosters is now increasing rapidly so hopefully there will be a stabilisation soon.

[theMathematician]

Rate of boosters is now increasing rapidly so hopefully there will be a stabilisation soon.

In that case, it depends on who the people are that are currently hospitalized: Are they mostly vaccinated or unvaccinated? If they are vaccinated, then the boosters will help. If it's the unvaccinated, then trying to convince them to get vaccinated in the first place would help (It's been a while since vaccines are available to the market, but I remember that Australia started with it later as they followed the 'No Covid' strategy during the first few months of 2021.).

[stevyy]

I have no idea what Novak was thinking. Really. Why? Why creating a diplomatic incident because of a sports event. IF the AO were important to him, he could have just get vaccinated in time. I don't get it. I fear that he will use this to present himself as some kind of political "victim"... (I hope not though).

Nadal is vaccinated, Zverev is... almost all top 10 players are and it did not change their physique or game. I don't get it. Novak, get it together.

[Debs_Wild]

Novak, get it together.

It's his body and his decision to make, not anyone's else.

[theMathematician]

stevyy : 47% of all Serbians are fully vaccinated, so his country is one of the more vaccination-sceptical ones - like many East European countries.

[MusicRecords]

I'm so over this, if you live in a "rich" country, are vaccinated and test positive with no symptoms, who cares...people have had the opportunity to get vaccinated for long, if they had the opportunity, were persuaded, and didn't...it's on them.
They have no right to complain if they get infected and end up in the hospital
Omicron is a good example that you can be boosted, infected, and have no or little symptoms...so little that many people, if they hadn't been tested, would have never known they had covid
Covid is here to stay at least for the "near" future, enough of lockdowns and restrictions

[stevyy]

It's his body and his decision to make, not anyone's else.

He knew 100% what the deal is if he wanted to play a tennis tournament in Australia... he had to bring all the papers... he didn't and is now sent back home. That incident has made global headlines... (for months). There has been speculation about his participation since the ATP finals in November and if he could enter Australia or not. So, they had 3 months to get it together... and now they have to fly back home... a shame.

Of course it is his body... but he knew the deal months in advance.

[stevyy]

Covid is here to stay at least for the "near" future, enough of lockdowns and restrictions

While that is true... it's still not possible to ignore it or let it spread like wildfire... because the more people who get infected, the more people will have to seek treatment in hospitals... Here in Germany... some regions had to fly patients out to other states already... before Omicron even hit... of course a country can sustain 100k daily new cases etc IF the hospitalisation rate is low...

So, we need some type of restrictions for the foreseeable future in order to protect hospitals and their staff.

BTW, I would so support every person in active health care duty to get paid double of what they are currently making. My country has been especially cheap to the health care workers. It's frustrating and infuriating.

[MusicRecords]

While that is true... it's still not possible to ignore it or let it spread like wildfire... because the more people who get infected, the more people will have to seek treatment in hospitals... Here in Germany... some regions had to fly patients out to other states already... before Omicron even hit... of course a country can sustain 100k daily new cases etc IF the hospitalisation rate is low...

So, we need some type of restrictions for the foreseeable future in order to protect hospitals and their staff.

BTW, I would so support every person in active health care duty to get paid double of what they are currently making. My country has been especially cheap to the health care workers. It's frustrating and infuriating.

lol bye

Let me travel the world in peace while im still in my 20s please

dont have time for dumb unvaccinated people, much less germans

[stevyy]

lol bye

Let me travel the world in peace while im still in my 20s please

dont have time for dumb unvaccinated people, much less germans

safe travels.
Reisende soll man nicht aufhalten.

[theMathematician]

@stevyy: I guess we've reached the point where we have to say that every person has access to self-protective tools, and if ones refuse to use them, then it's their right to do so. As strange as it sounds, but in democratic nations, there's one person you can always do harm to without legal consequences - and that's yourself. Drug abuse, eating disorders, suicidal attempts, risky driving behavior - the list is long.
We all know that that stuff isn't good, but you can't force someone to stay healthy, so if someone accepts the risk, which in the case of people of risk groups means the risk of a heavy to fatal case, then that's simply that person's decision. It was the same with those French twins you might have heard of.

On the other hand: You are open about the fact that you got vaccinated, and apparently, you benefitted by having a very mild case and a quick recovery.
There are basically two strategies to deal with Covid: contamination or NoCovid. NoCovid would mean to isolate a country from the rest of the world - with migration, import/export and vacation either forbidden or heavily regulated. Most countries decided against that and to go for contamination instead.

Accepting that everyone will get infected sooner or later anyway, the vaccines were created to reduce the effects of an infection significantly and, thus far, prove to be successful at that.
Every citizen 5 years and older can get vaccinated now. Even younger children are statistically proven to handle an infection without much noise, so the main question is: Are people willing to
1. decide independently which protective tools they want to use without the state having to tell them
2. accept that others may decide differently, including the unwritten law of legal self-harm?

[Thriller]

It's his body and his decision to make, not anyone's else.

And it's their country and their decision to make.

[muzik_biz_wiz]

It's his body and his decision to make, not anyone's else.

It is indeed. But what a huge slap in the face it would have been to the families who have been separated for months or years by closed borders to make an exemption because 'sports'.

[theMathematician]

Well, those borders got closed for political reasons because Australia had followed the 'NoCovid' strategy. If I understood InfoFromAus correctly, that's no longer the country's main strategy, so I don't see how the case of Djocovic changes anything about those families' situation.

[DnBLover]

And it's their country and their decision to make.

LOL the obvious answer. The law is the law. He thought he would get a pass..

[theMathematician]

Half a year ago, every major German politician was against mandatory vaccination. About a month ago, as the new government was about to form, everyone suddenly was pro mandatory vaccination. Almost a month later, it seems like it won't happen because... the government seems not to know what they want in the first place. We're currently in a phase 'Let's wait and see!' without really knowing what to wait for.

[stevyy]

@stevyy: I guess we've reached the point where we have to say that every person has access to self-protective tools, and if ones refuse to use them, then it's their right to do so.

but it's not just 1 person... it's MILLIONS... and those MILLIONS have the power to make things worse for everyone. If someone can't get an operation bc some unvaxxed peeps are occupying all hospital beds and staff... then that's not OK... but that is (to some degree) what is currently happening.