2022

I hate NYE and always have done. 2020 started brilliantly and ended in Lockdown 2. 2021 was just horrible. A major personal family tragedy and more Lockdown.

I recall having a chat with an Auzzie fellow traveller, when we were in Nicaragua in March 2020. She could not believe that lockdowns could even HAPPEN in Australia. She knows better now! Hopefully the world is slowly moving to a better place. Surely 2022 has to be better than the last 2 years.

Best wishes for 2022 to you all... and may your God go with you. I'm heading out for a selection of tapas here in Spanish Fuerteventura in a few minutes. So ths is (probably) my last post here in 2021.

G'nite all!!

My wife sent me this last year. It would apply to 2021 even more I would think.

Oh yes. I almost forgot. Best wishes for 2022 & → → →

Originally Posted by Glenn Kennedy

I hate NYE and always have done...!

New York Exchange? lol

Yes 2021 has been horrendous, more for some than others, but we have all felt the pain caused by Covid, in some for or another.

After doing a bit of research in viruses (viri, Ali? lol) it appears that covid may be on a down hill slope. Omicron (lower case Greek letter o) seems resistant to most vaccines and is more contagious, but it is far less severe, so hopefully it is running its natural course to fading away? (on a side note, when I moved to the USA 19 years ago, I brought my dog with me. Among the many shots and vaccines she had to get, was a covid vaccine...19 years ago, for a dog!)

OK, having said all that, my wish for every1 on this forum to have a MUCH better year this year, than last year.

Happy New Year 0ne and all

Happy New Year, everyone - let's hope that COVID doesn't dominate 2022 as it domintated the first two years of the 20s.

No tapas... the d@mned restaurant was drinks only last night!!

The virus does "seem" to be losing its vigour. 3x vaccines are still highly protective against omicron, but 2x are not. In UK, >70% of the total population is 2x vaccinated, >50% 3x vaccinated and about 90% of those in hospital and those dying are unvaccinated. It's also becoming evident that infection/disease induced immunity is also less protective against reinfection with omicron.


There's some informed speculation (not FB!!!) that many of those currently entering hospital with Covid with omicron would probably have wound up there for other reasons. We'll see.

The biggest problem is the societal (as opposed to individual) problem caused by vast numbers of infections. Health resources are limited... everywhere. If the virus hits 5X more people, but causing a disease that is only half as severe... you still wind up with 5 x 0.5 = 2.5 times more folk winding up in hospital seriously ill/dying from omicron than was the case when delta was at its worst.

Whether viruses are living things or not is a matter of considerable debate, but... ultimately it's not in the virus's "interest" to kill anyone. It wants to propagate... the best way to do that is for it to become more infectious and less dangerous. Hopefully, that is what is beginning to happen.

From a non-scientific standpoint (I don't pretend to fully understand the ins and outs), it does seem as if Omicron is less severe: there are many reports around saying that thousands of people may have had it witout realising it, because its symptoms are more cold-like than Delta's. We'll see, but it would be nice to think that the run-up to Christmas next time need not be tentative as it has had to be the past twice. Let's keep our collective fingers (and toes) crossed!

Indeed!! I am heartily sick of endless restrictions.... albeit for the common good.

All for the right reasons, but soul-destroying, I agree.

it does seem as if Omicron is less severe: there are many reports around saying that thousands of people may have had it witout realising it, because its symptoms are more cold-like than Delta's

I can personally vouch for this statement. I came home last Saturday evening and developed a slight cough and a sore throat. No Fever. I went for a PCR test on Sunday morning and came back positive. I isolated for a four days until my wife tested positive. Neither of us had a fever. Mostly a sore throat and a cough. We are both doing well now, however, it did feel more like a flu than anything else. We are both vaccinated and Boosted.

Just for the record, we had been wearing masks just about everywhere we went indoors. I believe that I contracted at our local barber shop last week when I took my mask off while in the chair for 20 minutes.

Folks, be careful, be safe, be smart and Happy New Year.

Glad you are on the mend, Alan. It seems that here in the UK, the majority of those hospitalised with the Omicron variant are people who are either completely unvaccinated or not up-to-date with their boosters, but mostly the former.

Our next door neighbours all had it over Christmas - same symptoms as you.

Stay safe, everyone!

Alan, Im really glad you only got a mild dose. Not sure which variant I got, the CDC doesn't release that info on an individual basis, saying it's too costly (overall) to ID variants for each individual.

I will say that I am unvacinated (currently - soon to change when I can), and that this thing has...and IS...really kicking my a$$. Over a month now, and I still cant walk from 1 room to the next without getting out of breath. I cant even do a simple arm curl with no weights, raising both arms above my head is a mission and I can barely manage 5 1/2 squats. My coughing is getting worse, making my chest hurt again, and that makes it hard to determine if, when I get a sudden chest pain, it is muscle/lung pain from coughing, or if the blood clot in my leg might have broken up and moved to my lungs or heart.

@FD

Omicron (lower case Greek letter o)

omicron has a lowercase symbol o and an uppercase symbol O.
The Greek alphabet also contains a 'long' o: omega, also in lowercase ω and uppercase Ω

Originally Posted by Pepe Le Mokko

Glad you and the misses are OK now, Alan.
Just a reminder for everybody: if you don't wear an FFP2 mask, but a normal one, you protect others from disease you might be carrying, but it does not work the other way round AFAIK

This being said, Happy New Year to all wherever you are

Out of curiosity can anyone tell me what the range of hole size this mask (FFP2) has?

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what...fp2-face-masks

While standard medical masks only filter three micrometre droplets, FFP2 respirator masks filter down to 0.075 micrometre solid particles. The masks are then tested by seeing what percentage of these small particles make it through and, in the case of getting FFP2 certification, only six per cent or less can do so.

Thank you Trevor. I'll check it out.

@FR: You're welcome.

Good to see you're going to get the jab Ford. I've been fighting a losing battle with my Auzzie cousin for months. She has a degree in Biochemistry, but is an extreme anti-vaxxer. She regurgitates all the sh1te she reads off the anti-vaxx sites, pretending to understand them. She makes her living as an artist. I made mine as a research scientist and only understand about 10% of the statistics.

She drives me up the f-ing wall.

Just before Christmas, I was beginning to feel like a pin-cushion! Week on week, I had my flu jab, my Covid booster, a pneumococcal vaccine and a shingles vaccination. I'm thinking I’m either bullet-proof or doomed, depending on your view-point

Trevor, beats me. Booster, flu & rabies shots in the last month. Due a hepatitis A shot sometime soon, too.

Sounds like boot camp USA WWII.

Woo Hoo! Something I'm too young to remember!

Reminds me of my Dad... who died 10 years ago, at the tender age of 91. One of his favourite (and endlessly repeated) sayings was "Most people my age are dead".

Cheery old sod??!!

Sounds like boot camp USA WWII.

If I’m honest, I don't know what that means.

Trevor, I "think" the reference is to when the US army recruits, on entry, where given for just about everything.

My dad was one of the last to have to do National Service in the UK. He was in the RAF for that time and recalls the day they were jabbed - several times in each arm. You had to stand ready with both hands on your hips to present your upper arms for the jabs. As my dad was waiting in line, several quite burly blokes just passed out in front of him before they reached the jabbing station.

I recall my dad telling me the same thing - also in the RAF