Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Yes we have had problems in Australia, mostly in New South Wales. Today Victoria said they had no new infections, & most of the time our government bodies are scouting around to round up those people who need isolation. We heard tonight that the vaccines we are to have are to be sped up to mid February. 

Oh, glad to hear that about Victoria. Last I heard, there was an outbreak in a suburban Melbourne restaurant (someone from NSW had been in there) and one of those who tested positive was found to be staying in Leongatha, where my mum works, only 27 km from our town, Inverloch... a bit too close to home, literally. I'm so glad to hear it doesn't seem to have spread any further, especially as I'm hoping to get back to Australia soon. (Yes, with 14 days of quarantine on arrival, but I can handle that.)

It is horrible in the UK at the moment — reports that it's worse than when we had the first lockdown and the hospitals are getting overwhelmed. Vaccines are being rolled out and I've signed up for mine (we care home workers are on the top priority list), but don't know when it will be coming.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

But courage, we will get by somehow.

We will!  

This might help to navigate as various countries potentially implement this strategy. The speaker does an amazing job! (Heads up ... it's a laugh; don't take it seriously.)

We weren't able to have a Christmas program at my Church because of COVID but since they've been able to have it belatedly. Unfortunately, the audio for the DVD we recorded was wrecked so we weren't able to air on our local TV station. But we managed to restage and refilm all the parts with the bad audio and now they've finally been edited together. The members of our Church who weren't able to attend because of COVID will finally be able to experience the 2020 Christmas program. Phew!

I'm hoping this is the case for everybody else, but the numbers in my area are finally trending down. They're not dropping as fast as I would like, but we're getting approximately 150 new cases a day vs the 800 back in November.... quite an improvement. 

Our area removed some restrictions this past week, mostly limiting the size of gatherings and hours that restaurants/bars are open.  

So now it appears that the majority of people are just watching to see which happens first...vaccine distribution, or the UK, South Africa, and Brazil strains take over.  

Really good to hear your church's 2020 Christmas program is ready to go for those who could not see this special presentation at the time, @col-klink!

Our numbers are dropping too, @fantasia, but only because we are still in a Stay-at-Home order. If Ontarians started living even semi-regularly again, our numbers would sky-rocket, no doubt. Our Order ends this Thursday, so our Premier should be briefing us today or tomorrow as to what happens after Feb. 11. Many are thinking the Order will be extended, with possibly the not-hot-areas (many places outside of the Greater Toronto region) starting to open up in small ways, still with safety protocols in place, of course.

Yep, keeping a close eye on vaccination developments here. The majority of healthcare workers and long-term care home residents have been vaccinated, but the supply coming in to our country has dwindled for now. When this picks back up again, our province will vaccinate by age, so 90+ first, then on down from there. It could easily be that my husband and I won't be receiving the jab until early summer, and our kids (in their later 20s - mid 30s) could be the Autumn sometime.

We so miss being with our family, and are anticipating our Christmas celebration together, whenever that may be.

We continue to keep a 'weather eye' open for those who are struggling during this ongoing pandemic—the lonely, hurting, grieving—those who tend to be left on the fringes of society. And there are far too many. Not to be depressing ... instead, may this fact compel us to actively be involved in those precious lives, albeit from a distance at this time: there are many options for contact still—text, phone, email, video chats, good ol'-fashioned snail mail.   And then, when we are able to finally safely gather together, the reuniting will be all the more joyous!

At the moment here it is only districts or local council areas that are being fully locked down, though people still are expected to wear masks in churches, & numbers are limited. Youngest daughter says her local church expects people to book if they want to attend church in person. There are also online services for both churches, which is good in one way, but also encourages people to stay put in front of the computer instead of getting out & socialising. 

The most infuriating thing about this pandemic, is that after days even weeks, being COVID-19 free, suddenly there is a new outbreak of two or three people, often having been in quarantine for weeks, themselves in hotels. People worry about the air conditioning spreading the virus.  Although the Australian Open is in Melbourne now, there is still no denying that Sydney has always been the gateway to Australia, so we are just as likely to get more cases from overseas, as at home. Our vaccination program will start at the end of this month. 

With our alert level at 1 for several months, life in my country feels normal. 

But it isn't- we have no overseas tourists. We are encouraged to visit our own tourist spots. Imports take a long time, and shops may be missing stock.

Most people have an App for scanning QR codes which all businesses must display, to help find contacted people if there's an outbreak in the community. 

I'm one of the few who hasn't got a QR code app, but I don't know where I'd go to get one.  I don't use the mobile phone much, anyway, TBH.  But mostly there is a list, where someone takes names & phone numbers, so it hasn't been a problem. I know what you mean about no tourists. We have been urged to travel within Australia, but that usually works out as only within the state where we are living, & even then beware of which part of Sydney is a no-go area. 

Having six states & 2 territories, all with different ideas about border closures has been a real headache. Especially when they are reimposed to avoid new infections somewhere else. At least that is over, I've heard. So much for being a Commonwealth. People fret at being unable to travel to see relatives who live interstate, go to funerals or seeing new babies. My husband wants to visit his sister who is dying. But he,himself, is frail at the moment, having had a pacemaker replaced last Wednesday. So we will have to wait to see what we can manage. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

My husband wants to visit his sister who is dying. But he,himself, is frail at the moment, having had a pacemaker replaced last Wednesday. So we will have to wait to see what we can manage. 

Dear wagga, I can only imagine how hard and sad this is for your husband. To us, that is something that should have been handled differently all around the world. When a loved one is dying, close family should be allowed to visit. There are no second chances. And all the best to your husband as he navigates this new normal.  

Most areas of Ontario have gone up one level; some restrictions have been lifted, although ours are still very rigorous. The case numbers have been coming down, but only because most of us are staying home; as well, there has been more rigid testing (and quarantine) implemented for incoming flights at the main Toronto airport (Pearson International). Areas still in the grey zone (strictest level) are the hot spots, mainly around Toronto, and this is still in effect in those more populated areas until at least March 8. Our March Break holiday has been postponed until April this year.

My elderly father heard this morning that there seniors' residence should be receiving their first vaccination dose in the latter half of March. They were originally scheduled to get the jab near the beginning of January ... until Canada heard that the supplies coming in were waaaay down.

Something I have picked up even more during the pandemic is playing/practicing the piano. I try to do this daily, but that doesn't always pan out. My aim is to play for 20-30 minutes, but I usually end up going long over. I am learning some new pieces, as well as playing the oldie goldies:

*older: the great hymns of the Christian faith, often centuries old; Psalms (even older ) from the Psalter, some of which is new music (to me)
*modern: Getty music team, John Rutter (more choral), Sovereign Grace Music, and hopefully soon some City Alight from Australia
*as well as playing over music from the few movies I treasure—those that have superb soundtracks
*I have not dived back into classical pieces yet, but will at some point

We are eager to have groups in our home to sing together again, but this will be awhile yet. Each weekend we have a video chat with my dad (yes, at age 94 he has learned how to video chat ) and we always sing with him a few treasured hymns. ♥

Pardon the ramble, but this has become a precious time to me in the midst of our precarious world situation.

I would like to answer the question, "What is your preferred platform for connecting with others?"  It's not particularly corona-related I think you already know the answer - you're here! 😀

I don't do Facebook, I don't mess with the Tweeters, but I absolutely LOVE online message boards like NarniaWeb!  I love how they bring people together around common interests (i.e. Narnia!!! 🙂 ).  I'm on several programming and retro gaming forums, a hockey forum or two, and seriously thinking about finding one for writers.  I also like that they don't require you to put any serious personal info out there.  Even our names can be whatever we like - here I'm Geekicheep, and most other places on the interwebs I'm the Geek on Skates.  And that's all anyone really has to know to connect with me about any of the stuff I think is awesome.  And even though everyone else around here has an equally awesome Narnian nickname, I feel as though I know you.  I've read enough posts by Col. Klink, the Rose Tree Dryad, Cleander and so on that I don't need any more personal info than that to call you friends.  Apart from forums, I call/text/e-mail with family and close friends, and that's about it.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved today by health Canada for our country! Aaand our county (Oxford) is to move up one level from red to orange beginning at 12:01 March 1: fewer restrictions, but nowhere near zero yet. Still, we are heading in the right direction. Grateful for the leadership of our country and our province, who have governed well, overall, during this most uncertain and unstable year. If all goes as planned (yet we have to be prepared for delays), my husband should be receiving his first dose in June, and I should be getting mine in July. Our kids, who are younger (of course ) a few months later, even into Autumn.

Vaccines have finally 'been rolled out' here in NZ, and border staff have said it's a relief, 

While I wait for it to come round to the ordinary citizen, I read the experiences of friends in UK and other countries, as they get their jabs. I feel fairly brave - but confident in the system.

Update: Part of our country is going back into lockdown for a week; Auckland is at Level 3, and the rest of the country at Level 2. At short notice this means our church can't meet tomorrow morning (maximum 100 people together at Level 2).

I feel sort of awkward posting about this since it's so much less dramatic than what other people have been sharing. But as I wrote earlier about the library I use being closed, I thought I should say it's opened up now. I was able to go there last week. If only they didn't still require masks, it'd be just about perfect.

The local numbers have gone down, down, down, down..... Sometime in the next few days the state of Kansas will open things up to anyone over 16 who wants one. All of the adults in my family that want one have had at least their first shot and here in a couple weeks everyone will have their second. 

Looking forward to (at the very least) family gatherings again, with no masks!  

How nice that your library opened up again a couple of weeks ago, Col. Klink!  

That is very good to hear, fantasia! What a relief.

However, here we are the opposite. Cases numbers started rising again just over a week ago, and we are now in the third wave of Covid. About half of those daily cases are variants (mainly B117—the UK variety), which are of a great concern.

The good news is that the death rate in long-term care homes now is pretty much non-existent, as the residents have all been vaccinated. A far cry from a few months ago.

As of last Monday, 75+ can register for their vaccination. Our provincial government is hoping that by the first day of summer, June 20, every adult who wants a vaccine will have been able to receive one. This, of course, all depends on the supply coming in to our country.

Toronto and surrounding area are still in the Grey lockdown, but the projected date to move to the next level up (Red) is April 12, I believe. It all depends on where case numbers go in the next couple of weeks. Here, we are in Orange—a level up (towards normal! 'though still a ways to go yet) from Red.

We were hoping to have a couple of family members here for our daughter's birthday on March 20, but the case numbers had started rising then, so we deferred that. We then thought "okay, Easter", because we always get together for that special holiday. There is no way, though, that we should be having people here for next weekend already. We will instead be taking a ham and scalloped potato dinner down to my elderly father's place and having an outdoor visit there, weather permitting. The forecast now is cool and sunny.

The next family events are my birthday and Mother's Day in early May, but we shall see how the daily cases are doing then. We hope we can finally get together at that point, and maybe even outside, although May can still be quite chilly at times.

And after having said all that, we still have not been able to celebrate our Christmas together yet.