Pestilence or: How I Learned to Worry Constantly and Live with COVID

[Sacul]

Immediately after sitting down to get a Pfizer booster today, the governor walks by me with his entourage.

Tried to think of something to say, but ended up simply nodding to him.

Well done Citizen.

[dzajic]

I got something. Quick test said it's not covid but they are not really reliable, especially against omicron from what I have heard.

Started with runny nose and slightly elevated temperature for two days. Then the nose and sinuses sealed up and it went to crazy fever town for two days. Back to normal body temperature now, nose still clogged.

I'm boosted so I delayed going to covid infirmary hoping I would get better (and fortunately it looks I did get better, 2nd day now without fever).

There is a omicron flood here and waiting times are in the hours. Outisde. At minus 5 to minus 10 C.

[depili]

I got something. Quick test said it's not covid but they are not really reliable, especially against omicron from what I have heard.

Started with runny nose and slightly elevated temperature for two days. Then the nose and sinuses sealed up and it went to crazy fever town for two days. Back to normal body temperature now, nose still clogged.

I'm boosted so I delayed going to covid infirmary hoping I would get better (and fortunately it looks I did get better, 2nd day now without fever).

There is a omicron flood here and waiting times are in the hours. Outisde. At minus 5 to minus 10 C.

And after going there you would certainly had covid.

[Spartan Dax]

Frankly I don't understand why people are massing to test themselves. If you're sick you're sick. Doesn't matter if it's Covid or not, giving your coworkers a cold won't be appreciated any more than giving them Covid.

Now if you suspect you've been exposed then by all means test away.

In other news, 4 of my vaxxed coworkers have started coming back to work. 1-2 days of mild fevers and not much else. Barely a runny nose. OTOH one of my bosses is still out for the count since last week so there are no guarantees.

[Keckers]

I have to test twice a week to attend university. There are people who are classed as vulnerable on the course so we're mostly doing it to help them not catch it.

[depili]

Here the government has decided that each school student should get tested at least twice per week. The only hitch on that is that for such things the government would have to also provide the tests and there are no such supplies.

[dzajic]

Frankly I don't understand why people are massing to test themselves. If you're sick you're sick. Doesn't matter if it's Covid or not, giving your coworkers a cold won't be appreciated any more than giving them Covid.

Now if you suspect you've been exposed then by all means test away.

In other news, 4 of my vaxxed coworkers have started coming back to work. 1-2 days of mild fevers and not much else. Barely a runny nose. OTOH one of my bosses is still out for the count since last week so there are no guarantees.

I really don't know how it is regulated in the rest of the world, but here since this shit started, if you have fever and/or any respiratory symptoms you must first go to state run covid infirmary for testing and check-up. Only after that say "it's not COVID" you are allowed to go anywhere else.

So if you have high fever for any reason and cannot work, you need to open your sick leave, and for that you need to go to the COVID infirmary.

And it really exploded. We were stable-ish until New Year's day at some 1000 new infected per day. Then we had 50,000 to 100,000 tourists in Belgrade and in the ski centers for the New Year with both open air and in club parties everywhere (yeah yeah supposedly they were checking COVID certificates, but having been vaccinated 4 or 5 months ago doesn't do much about Omicron). So now we are at 12k cases a day and 30% positive rate.

[Rodj Blake]

Frankly I don't understand why people are massing to test themselves. If you're sick you're sick. Doesn't matter if it's Covid or not, giving your coworkers a cold won't be appreciated any more than giving them Covid.

Now if you suspect you've been exposed then by all means test away.

In other news, 4 of my vaxxed coworkers have started coming back to work. 1-2 days of mild fevers and not much else. Barely a runny nose. OTOH one of my bosses is still out for the count since last week so there are no guarantees.

People test themselves because a lot of people who have Covid are contagious before any symptoms appear, and some don't even get any symptoms at all.

[August]

I got something. Quick test said it's not covid but they are not really reliable, especially against omicron from what I have heard.

Started with runny nose and slightly elevated temperature for two days. Then the nose and sinuses sealed up and it went to crazy fever town for two days. Back to normal body temperature now, nose still clogged.

I'm boosted so I delayed going to covid infirmary hoping I would get better (and fortunately it looks I did get better, 2nd day now without fever).

There is a omicron flood here and waiting times are in the hours. Outisde. At minus 5 to minus 10 C.

I get COVID tests weekly for work. I've gotten a cold twice this winter, and both times weren't COVID. No fever, though.

Unrelated, but I went on a week-long ski trip to Utah the first week of January and commuted in a packed bus (shoulder-to-shoulder type of packed) each day to and from the resort, with some passengers refusing to wear masks. Didn't get COVID. Booster+N95 masks must be some next-level elite protection.

[Nordstern]

Woke up a little sore this morning, but the aches and pains are in full swing now. Ugh. At least it's not as bad as the second Moderna shot.

[Joe Appleby]

Here the government has decided that each school student should get tested at least twice per week. The only hitch on that is that for such things the government would have to also provide the tests and there are no such supplies.

We test three times a week. Technically vaccinated students don't need to - boosters aren't yet available for them, we just started with vaccinating school kids. But in my class all of my students test themselves, as do I when we do them. We got enough tests to do that, so we might as well all get tested.

They changed quarantine rules: boosted people who were in close contact with a positive case no longer need to quarantine.

[Nordstern]

Woke up a little sore this morning, but the aches and pains are in full swing now. Ugh. At least it's not as bad as the second Moderna shot.

Oh god, the fever dream last night was absolute torture. 8 hours after getting out of bed because I couldn't take it anymore, my temp was 101.2F. Who knows how high it was at its worst point.

Anyways, have some Joe Rogan:

[dzajic]

Novax, no play!

Or: "corrupt Corona Reich Australian courts show they are lackeys of the government and decide to deport hero of the free world, Djokovic. Serbian government reprisals against evil Australia will be most horrifying!".

But really they should not make him the sole scape goat. Its obvious Nadal and others also did "I just had COVID 3 weeks ago, here are the papers to prove it, papers I as a hectamillionaire could never trivially easily obtain".

[El Capitano]

The problem is that there are publicly known irregularities about his Visa form, his actions and the tests he took. It all looks so fishy that it's increasingly hard to mount any form of defence without admitting breaking the law in some way or another, which is a big no-no when it comes to Visas.

[Lallante]

Woke up a little sore this morning, but the aches and pains are in full swing now. Ugh. At least it's not as bad as the second Moderna shot.

Oh god, the fever dream last night was absolute torture. 8 hours after getting out of bed because I couldn't take it anymore, my temp was 101.2F. Who knows how high it was at its worst point.

Anyways, have some Joe Rogan:

Careful, Sacul will cut you if you mock his boyfriend

[Sacul]

Woke up a little sore this morning, but the aches and pains are in full swing now. Ugh. At least it's not as bad as the second Moderna shot.

Oh god, the fever dream last night was absolute torture. 8 hours after getting out of bed because I couldn't take it anymore, my temp was 101.2F. Who knows how high it was at its worst point.

Anyways, have some Joe Rogan:

Careful, Sacul will cut you if you mock his boyfriend

Your obsession with me and Rogan leads me to believe you are actually a Rogan fanboi and having watched more episodes than i did. Kinda like how the most vocal anti-gay people turn out to be closet gays themselfs.

[Jack Coutu]

Woke up a little sore this morning, but the aches and pains are in full swing now. Ugh. At least it's not as bad as the second Moderna shot.

Oh god, the fever dream last night was absolute torture. 8 hours after getting out of bed because I couldn't take it anymore, my temp was 101.2F. Who knows how high it was at its worst point.

Anyways, have some Joe Rogan:

Careful, Sacul will cut you if you mock his boyfriend

Your obsession with me and Rogan leads me to believe you are actually a Rogan fanboi and having watched more episodes than i did. Kinda like how the most vocal anti-gay people turn out to be closet gays themselfs.

So you are saying lall is gay for rogan?

[erichkknaar]

The problem is that there are publicly known irregularities about his Visa form, his actions and the tests he took. It all looks so fishy that it's increasingly hard to mount any form of defence without admitting breaking the law in some way or another, which is a big no-no when it comes to Visas.

Just ask anyone who has landed in Australia with a banana in their luggage.

[Maximillian]

The whole Novax Djocovid debacle is a classic case of buck passing and Government incompetence sprinkled with naked self-interest.

You have three parties in Oz - The Federal Government responsible for international borders, the Victorian State Government responsible for state borders, and Tenis Australia. Initially - and mostly due to the huge number of days Victorians spent locked down - the Victorian Government stated that no one not double vaccinated would be allowed entry into Victoria. Tenis Australia wanted the maximum number of top players for financial reasons so in the background exemptions were put in place. The Federal Government sent a letter to Tenis Australia stating that Federal border rules stand - although they also allow for exemptions - but no one informed (?) the Victorian State Government.

So Tenis Australia and the Victorian State Government set up a process to hand out exemptions to tenis players. This exploited a loophole where having Covid meant that you had to delay getting vaccinated (not that it excused you for refusing to be vaccinated) so they issued an exemption to a number of players including Novax Djocovid.

Along comes Omnicron and suddenly we are having cases everywhere. The public were already angry that the Covid rules that had kept citizens out of Australia or locked out of States seemed to be waved for celebrities and business leaders, so politically it became an issue that a obvious anti-vaxer was being allowed to game the system and come in.

The whole VISA application offshore is basically filling out forms on a website. So it's an honesty system that only gets checked at the point of entry at the border. That's the first time Novax got stopped and had his VISA cancelled.

However like most Government departments with massive power Border Force didn't follow proper procedures and that allow Novax to have the cancellation overturned in court.

That threw it over to the Federal Minister who has the power to cancel VISAs. While they considered what to do, more and more information casting doubt on when Novax tested positive, when he was notified, whether he entered Spain without declaring he had covid, and his dickheadish behaviour in not isolating according to Servian rules meant that the minister was always going to cancel the VISA.

However the whole "his presence will encourage antivaxers" seemed pretty weak given he was here and won in 2021, but the court decided that the minister had the power so bye-bye Novax Djocovid. Other players were also ejected by Novax got all the press.

So what should have been a simple "no vaccine no entry" stance got completely fucked up by backdoor exemptions and people gaming the system.

[dzajic]

The whole Novax Djocovid debacle is a classic case of buck passing and Government incompetence sprinkled with naked self-interest.

You have three parties in Oz - The Federal Government responsible for international borders, the Victorian State Government responsible for state borders, and Tenis Australia. Initially - and mostly due to the huge number of days Victorians spent locked down - the Victorian Government stated that no one not double vaccinated would be allowed entry into Victoria. Tenis Australia wanted the maximum number of top players for financial reasons so in the background exemptions were put in place. The Federal Government sent a letter to Tenis Australia stating that Federal border rules stand - although they also allow for exemptions - but no one informed (?) the Victorian State Government.

So Tenis Australia and the Victorian State Government set up a process to hand out exemptions to tenis players. This exploited a loophole where having Covid meant that you had to delay getting vaccinated (not that it excused you for refusing to be vaccinated) so they issued an exemption to a number of players including Novax Djocovid.

Along comes Omnicron and suddenly we are having cases everywhere. The public were already angry that the Covid rules that had kept citizens out of Australia or locked out of States seemed to be waved for celebrities and business leaders, so politically it became an issue that a obvious anti-vaxer was being allowed to game the system and come in.

The whole VISA application offshore is basically filling out forms on a website. So it's an honesty system that only gets checked at the point of entry at the border. That's the first time Novax got stopped and had his VISA cancelled.

However like most Government departments with massive power Border Force didn't follow proper procedures and that allow Novax to have the cancellation overturned in court.

That threw it over to the Federal Minister who has the power to cancel VISAs. While they considered what to do, more and more information casting doubt on when Novax tested positive, when he was notified, whether he entered Spain without declaring he had covid, and his dickheadish behaviour in not isolating according to Servian rules meant that the minister was always going to cancel the VISA.

However the whole "his presence will encourage antivaxers" seemed pretty weak given he was here and won in 2021, but the court decided that the minister had the power so bye-bye Novax Djocovid. Other players were also ejected by Novax got all the press.

So what should have been a simple "no vaccine no entry" stance got completely fucked up by backdoor exemptions and people gaming the system.

Antivax and antimask crowd is screaming that the entire case shows that supposedly "Democratic" judiciary in Australia actually has less independence than Serbian openly corrupts and subserviently to dictator judiciary, since the judges accepted such bullshit statements just to please the minister in charge.