I think everyone here would agree that having to take extra precautions for just about everything is not fun, and having to give up things like travelling or concerts is even less so. However, no one is being asked to hunker down until the end of their days. As unpleasant and stressful as the current situation is, it's not going to last forever. Behaving irresponsibly, on the other hand, will make things even worse. Is it so hard to understand?

We now have 1 in 60 people having to isolate as a result of ONE party! So if it were the UK it would be one million people - that shows the scale. I really hope that someone is prosecuted over this. I suspect not though, our Deputy Chief Minister is a director of the offending hotel.

A cousin of mine has always been something of a free-thinker, iconoclast kind of guy. Normally very much on the side of the evidence. He's also deeply into and supportive of live music - he lives in a large city and for decades has been out listening to live music probably five or six nights a week. So the total destruction of that industry, as venue after venue goes out of business, has sent him a little around the bend.

He reminds me very much of climate change deniers - he keeps digging up the odd scientist here and there who is going against the prevailing stance of all the other experts, and going "See, see, we're doing it all wrong!" And, of course, since the science is always growing, and since even in the best cases mistakes have been made in the covid fight, there's often a grain of truth in what he says. Just a grain, though.

I know if I tell,him he sounds like a climate change denier, he'll be very offended. Usually he's able to see through nonsense. But watching everything loves disappear, while having to live in a way he's never lived in his seventy years, just sitting at home in his apartment, had driven the sense out of his head.

I will no doubt explode later today when the latest figures are released but as they do not release figures at the weekend it is going to be a big increase I fear. This morning roads were gridlocked around the test centre, perhaps due to the four schools with new cases.

Exploding! Eighty-four new cases over the weekend. With 2023 in isolation as contacts. Masks compulsory as from 10am tomorrow - about time too.

That's a truly appalling number for your area, Sue.

That's half your island in isolation, it seems! My husband tested negative, so we just need to wait 12 hours more and we are done with quarantine and my son can go back to school Wednesday. And next time my husband has to go somewhere for work, he is getting no nonsense rules of what he needs to do because it's affecting all of us. At least when I'm at work, I don't go near anyone and don't touch anything but my own computer.

Were all those cases a result of that party?

Prior to 1 July
320

Since 1 July
746

CURRENT cases - 278

Right, so currently we have almost as many active cases as we had in total during the first wave. We also now have a surge in the number of cases in hospital, OK we only have 7 but that is after months of no cases in hospital.

I had a test on Monday afternoon, the results were sent via text at 07:00 the next morning. I was impressed though a bit irritated at being woken up! Then I read the content: "Your results are negative... you may return to work." What? Do I really have to? Will they want my pension back?

Current cases - 331

Total cases in first wave - 320

So we now have more active cases than we had in total during the first wave.

Press conference at 7pm to announce shutdown of hospitality - rumoured.

Already one fisherman is offering to make deliveries tomorrow of fresh scallops as the hotels and restaurants have cancelled all orders. I guess there will be more bargains to be had from the other fishermen, pity the lobster season is slowing down, there won't be many of those on offer.

A friend's grandson, who isn't yet one year old, had the same result recently. I'm not quite sure what useful work he's capable of yet!

But I'm very glad to hear that your result was negative, although I sympathise with the annoyance of being woken up with it.

We are being told that it is possible that vaccinations will start early next week, fantastic news. Obviously we do not know yet how many doses will be received in the island. A mobile team will be visiting care homes and vaccination patients and staff then after that vaccinations will start in a sports hall, a pretty large one.

Last week we were told the order of who will get it first, then next etc.

care home residents and staff
over 80 year olds and front line health and social workers
other health and social workers
75 to 79 year olds
70 to 74 year olds
high risk people
65 to 69 year olds
50 to 64 year olds
balance of population (all ages TBC)

So I am in the fifth group.

At least my telephone/internet provider is stepping up to the mark once more now that we are basically at home more...

Coming out of our second lockdown the numbers more than tripled almost overnight, and we are now hitting around 1,500 confirmed cases a day. Why? Because too many people take no notice of the restrictions and just carry on as if there is no such thing as a virus. People are still saying that it is a hoax. A worldwide plot to subdue the population. A conspiracy.

I had something delivered this morning and the driver was not wearing a face mask, even though they have been mandatory since the start of the first lockdown. I would have asked him to leave it outside but it was a large carton and I would not have been able to bring it in myself, so he had to bring it in and leave it just inside the door. It was supposed to have been delivered two weeks ago, the driver having telephoned to say he was on his way and would be here in half an hour. But the company I had ordered from, which is actually in a town fairly near to me, mis-spelled the name of this Moshav, which is in the southern area, so the delivery service they use tried to deliver it to the wrong place in the north of the country.

I keep face masks next to the door, so as soon as I see someone coming down my path I can put one on, just in case. It actually seems ridiculous that I should need to have to wear a face mask inside my own home when I live alone, but at my age and state of health I am just not prepared to risk it. It would mean a death sentence.

Sorry for the moan but this is really beginning to get on top of me now.

He might have just fogotten his mask, as most people don't wear one when alone in a vehicle. It's very common, in a parking lot, to see someone leave their car, walk ten feet, suddenly turn around and go back to the car! Every time, it's because they need to grab a mask.

If you asked him to put one on before he brought the package in and he refused, you'd have grounds for a VERY strong complaint to the company.

The little store my son works at is standing firm in requiring masks to come in, and for the most part, even those who come in without one have it in their pocket or their car. They have a box of disposable masks and will sell one to anyone who needs one for a dollar. Masks have been required here by city bylaw since August, and by provincial edict since two weeks ago (!)


Still, months into this, he regularly will someone who is outraged at being asked to do something that every other business he enters also asks of him. Mike's policy is that if a customer swears at him, he's thrown out, and since he's 6'2" 300 muscled pounds, with a huge beard and sunglasses, they usually go, if not gracefully. Little do they know that the sunglasses are for sensitive eyes due to vision loss, and Mike's really a pussycat. He does LOOK menacing.

My parents stopped for gas a state away and they said no one was wearing masks inside, so they just used the bathrooms and left (luckily they'd already brought food for the drive).

It's so easy to do - just wear a stupid mask in a building.

Here where I live they take things seriously - at least the stores and other business I regularly patronize. A few weeks ago, on a Saturday, I realized I'd forgotten to take my mask with me just before I entered a grocery store - and I was promptly given a disposable one by an employee. Unfortunately, from what I have heard, it's not like that in other parts of the country.

440

They gave 29 hours notice of all pubs/bars and restaurants closing so what happened last night, yes, lots of last minute parties shoulder to shoulder, no masks.

Wearing masks in public have been mandatory in New York State since early March. Stores that were open during the first, worldwide lockdown (places that sold food & pharmacies & medical offices) at first had the option of making it mandatory people wear masks when entering. When it became obvious people were being rude, obnoxious, and violent at times when being told they had to wear a mask to enter some where, Gov. Cuomo stepped in and made it a law that merchants & medical offices could toss out people that refused to wear masks. This happened in May, midway through the lockdown. We still have to wear masks.

Back a few messages ....


Please, please, please do not rely on the warmer summer weather in Australia or the UV rays to cut down on the spread of coronavirus. Summer didn't stop Covid from spreading in the United States. UV rays will not protect humans from the coronavirus. Coronavirus lives on surfaces. UV rays will help disinfect hard surfaces slightly faster. Slightly, but not enough. You still need to clean off commonly touched surfaces.

Delivery companies provide masks to all their couriers so it should be automatic for a driver who is making deliveries all day to put one on every time they leave their vehicle. If he forgot this morning, how many other times has he forgotten and how many people has he been in contact with - he is a delivery driver so must be in contact with different people all day. And the virus is spreading here again.

It was probably over-reaction on my part to let it upset me - I mean I have masks by the door even though I should not really have to need them. They only cost the equivalent of $3.95 for a pack of 50 so it is not the cost - it is the fact that it is his job and as a courier he should not have just forgotten to wear a mask.

Those masks are selling for $1.00 for one here. So yes, it is $50.00 for a pack of 50.

You are correct. It should be automatic for him to put his mask on. You have every right to be upset. I needed someone to check my furnace in September. When I made the appointment I was told that I would have to wear a mask and be six feet away from the workers when they were in my house. If I failed to do that, my contract would be canceled and I would need to find another company for oil deliveries. When they came in, they made me watch while they put on disposable gloves before they touched any door knob or light switch. No matter, I gave them a can of Lysol to spray on everything they touched.

Because of the expense of the trifold surgical masks here, people are buying cheap rewashable masks. Most of the ones I've seen are one layer of cloth that use string or thin rope to hold it behind the ears. The gaiters, the neck up to the nose things, are also popular. None of those are effective. A masks needs to fit close to face, be at least three layers, and cover the nose and face. I'm tired of seeing people having masks hang below their nose. I wanted to throw something at the TV while I watched a mother and her daughters being interviewed the day before our Thanksgiving saying they were "being safe" while traveling with their masks hanging below their noses.

The triple layer or FFP2 masks mostly make a difference for self-protection. That's however not the primary reason for mandatory masks - it's protection of others. Even a weak single-layer cotton cloth mask will vastly reduce the distance and amount covered by droplets when the wearer coughs, sneezes or talks. Combined with the 6 foot rule (or 5 foot if you happen to live in a place that uses the lower value), even the simplest masks can vastly reduce the risk from brief casual contacts such as a parcel delivery.

They absolutely do need to be worn correctly - cover nose and mouth and provide at least a semblance of fitting.

I've bought a few FFP2 masks for myself because of too many people not keeping distance and wearing their masks right in shops and they can be disinfected by 70°C dry heat for half an hour. I have a sauna at home which I use regularly, so I just put the masks on the bench whenever I heat it up.

I can't beat a sauna but I do have some masks made with nanotechnology. They're machine washable and are effective through 100 washes - I have six of them so they should last for a while.

I have to admit to being amused a week or so ago when the one delivery person who broke all the rules was the woman who delivered my medication - not only was her mask slung round her neck but she tried to hand me the package instead of leaving it on the ground. And she works for a pharmacy!