@the-mad-poet hope your recovery is going well. 

@coracle Thank you! It definitely has been.

@waggawerewolf27 You're welcome! Yeah, vaccination is really important. Our common flu season is winter. 

  At the moment, over 90% of the COVID cases in Brazil are due to Omicron. It's fastly spreading, and a significant rise in number of cases is expected to happen in February. People who got vaccinated last year are gradually receiving a booster shot. I'm going to get it in February. 

I've had my booster shot, and my arm is only a bit tender!  Our government has announced how things will be done in the next few weeks, as case numbers increase (we know that Omicron is going to be a lot more widespread, which is a big contrast to the few cases up till now - 15,000 out of 5 million people, and a lot of them were arrivals from overseas tested on arrival and quarantined).

Covid has caught up to my family. My sister tested positive yesterday. She and I are both vaccinated and have our boosters. She has Pfizer and I have Moderna. She is a music teacher so there are cases around her but she and her students both wear masks and they are usually social distant. It would make lot more sense for me to have gotten it and then given it to her. My students are 2 1/2 to 4 and unmasked. We have had at least 5 cases in the last 2 weeks. I tested on Wednesday (spit test sent to lab) and Monday (at home test) and was negative both times. I was exposed last Friday for sure and possibly Wednesday. The state changed the rules so that daycare centers don't have to shut down classes for positive cases. My center chose to keep the rooms open unless there were 3 or more cases in 10 days. The room was able to stay open one day after the notification of the first case before it had to shut down. Many parents chose to keep their kids home, even though it wasn't required. I believe a negative test is required for them to come back.

Luckily I was able to get my hands on some at home tests so I can test each day before work.

Our country now has the bigger numbers of Omicron that we have been expecting. 810 new cases today, almost double yesterday's. It's the biggest number of new daily cases in the entire outbreak. (Over 90% are fully vaccinated, many people have had the booster, and we expect most cases to be mild. Hospital numbers are only in the 20s).

Right now I will say that I have absolutely no idea when mask mandates will be lifted in Ontario, but it will be extremely weird when they are.  That said, I won't miss wearing one at work for 10 hours straight.

I don't know how everybody else is doing around the world, but where I live cases are the lowest they have been since July 2021.  

This week the dreaded QR codes have been stopped finally. At the end of February we may not have to wear masks any more.  That should be nice. 

We've been told that all those things will soon be less needed here. We expect any day now to go into the 3rd phase of handling the Omicron variant - when case numbers will be in the tens of thousands, and people can get a RAT test instead of going to their doctor for the PCR (nose) one. We are being encouraged to buy what we will need for a self-isolation kit (food etc to last a week), as the medical system focuses on those who are vulnerable, or in essential work (health or border workers). It's estimated that the number spike will be over by the end of March.  HOPING to see many restrictions eased after that!

My cousin is flying home from Australia today- she went for winter (May- Sept) but couldn't get a place in a quarantine hotel to come back here when rules tightened again in spring, so she had the hot Queensland summer as well.  Starting today people can fly here from Australia and do a week's self-isolation. I'll see her next week!

Meanwhile our reported case numbers are in the tens of thousands, which is huge for our country. There are probably many more unreported as Omicron is milder, and we're over 90% vaccinated. We also have RAT self-testing available at last.

I understand that the numbers to watch are hospital admissions. These are reaching hundreds. We're in the big part of the curve, and hoping it's over by the end of March. 

Most restrictions have been eased here in the UK and so far — so far — things haven't got out of hand with rising numbers, which is hopeful... We now have to do a rapid result LFD (lateral flow device) test before every shift at the care home where I work, and so far everyone's been in the clear. (We had a couple of colleagues who tested positive just after Christmas, but they were on leave then anyway, so they hadn't come into contact with anyone at work and they just continued isolating until they were clear to come back.) And I went to an orchestral concert in Manchester last Saturday with friends, for the first time in ages. I really hope things are turning a corner now, in a good direction, that is...

@Courtenay: I really hope things are turning a corner now, in a good direction, that is...

Now that is good to hear. For us in New South Wales, it is so good to be able to visit all the stores in our local shopping centres, without having to use those dratted QR codes, especially now that we don't have to wear masks any more. Even better, Western Australia opened its border with the rest of Australia, like a second Federation. People can now visit their families there & vice versa. 

Good to hear that in many areas of the world restrictions continue to lift. Here too! I have not been able to keep up with all the details in Ontario (other personal responsibilities eclipsed everything else for a time), but our QR vaccination codes are no longer required to be shown in restaurants, gyms, theatres, sports venues, etc. However, individual establishments may still request this proof.

Our provincial Medical Officer of Health is making an announcement later this morning, and people suspect this will pertain to masks. I will edit this post to confirm (or deny ) this after the press conference.

How is New Zealand doing these days, coracle?  

@jo slight delay...

Our Omicron situation is at the peak of the surge, with Auckland (our biggest city) slowly reducing numbers. The rest of the country, however, is just in the surge, with my city expecting very high numbers of positive cases daily. In a couple of weeks we should be easing down again. Among the effects are schools with high absentees from family isolation where one person has covid, rest homes in lockdown, and the easy availability at last of self-testing kits. A family member is living in a care home while rehabilitating from a serious illness last year (not covid) and we are restricted to family-only visits, no more than twice a week. I'm going to test myself for the first time before my visit on Sunday afternoon. (ew!)

The positive news yesterday is that from 5th April we will have some easing of restrictions, which means unvaccinated people will have access to libraries, pools, gyms, etc, and gatherings indoors can be as many as 200. That's good news for our theatre show for children, due to start in mid April.

@waggawerewolf27 our QR scanning codes don't need to be used any more - the PM says don't take it off your phone just yet, it may be needed in a later surge or variant!

Masks and distancing will continue to be important for months yet!

Stats: Totals are currently half a million cases, 184 deaths, from a population of just over 5 million. [Ireland has a similar sized population and social/economic factors; its case numbers total 1.4 million, deaths 6680.]