# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2021 Breaking News **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 1, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428 "2021-01-01T08:03:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 66
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1332 "2021-05-09T21:40:05Z")
Here’s a link to [Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/09/nsw-covid-19-restrictions-extended-as-authorities-yet-to-find-missing-link-in-sydney-outbreak) that should work. In short, on Wednesday a man was identified as having covid and had puttered around Sydney visiting a bunch of barbecue shops among other things. His wife has also since tested positive. He had no obvious link to the genetically linked covid case who was a new arrival in hotel quarantine. Concerning, as we only have covid in new arrivals [~110 at the moment] and all are in hotel quarantine and we’d like to keep it that way. Because there is a missing link between the overseas arrival and the man, there is assumed to be at least one positive person unidentified in the chain. We’ve been in extended restrictions [masks indoors, 20 people at private gatherings etc] for three days and a testing blitz but no further cases. These eased back but not entirely lifted for another week. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1333 "2021-05-10T00:57:43Z")
Australia has announced that border controls will not be relaxed, on the basis that vaccination does not seem to prevent transmission. This is a policy/politics statement, so it could change at any time, but it shows what the thinking is now. Foreign Students were ? the third largest source of export income in Australia ?, so this is a significant economic policy. At present, it’s an open ended policy, we could remain cut off forever, but the actual meaning is that business shouldn’t be hoping for ‘when we re-open’. That’s not on horizon. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1334 "2021-05-10T01:06:11Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Australia has announced that border controls will not be relaxed, on the basis that vaccination does not seem to prevent transmission. Wow, that’s big. I wonder if this’ll have any effect on either vaccination rates within Australia or other world governments. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1335 "2021-05-10T01:19:45Z")
Additional question: what does this mean for Australian citizens in India and abroad generally? What about my cousin, whose husband is Australian and whose family business there is done? Any idea when they’ll be able to return, especially since they’ll almost certainly need outside help getting back, which means either someone going there or someone going with them and returning? ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1336 "2021-05-10T01:34:04Z")
Paywalled? Really? I have multiple Chrome profiles but only pay Wapo for one (I only read on one). I just checked a second time (because I checked before posting) and the article showed up just fine because it’s under the “free because it’s related to Covid”. But, if they do only give “free for so many views of the site per IP addy” and you already viewed your amount… you could sign up at: > **[Newsletters & Email Alerts | The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/)** > > Newsletters & Email Alerts from the Washington Post ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1337 "2021-05-10T02:00:14Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > What about my cousin, whose husband is Australian and whose family business there is done? Any idea when they’ll be able to return, especially since they’ll almost certainly need outside help getting back, which means either someone going there or someone going with them and returning? Shortish answer. Except for those in India, for the next little while, Australians (whether citizens or permanent residents) have been able to return to Australia, presuming they can find flights. They will be required to quarantine in a “quarantine hotel” on arrival, at their own expense, for two weeks. [Here’s a webpage with information from the State of Victoria.](https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/hotel-quarantine-returned-overseas-travellers) So far as a non-Australian travelling with them, to help them…I don’t know. I’d suggest they contact the consulate/embassy wherever they are, and find out what sort of arrangements can be made, if any. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1338 "2021-05-10T06:18:48Z")
158,977,756 total cases 3,306,954 dead 136,532,412 recovered In the US: 33,476,781 total cases 595,812 dead 26,439,712 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 158,329,068 total cases > 3,296,841 dead > 135,798,530 recovered > > In the US: > > 33,454,581 total cases > 595,588 dead > 26,405,871 recovered ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1339 "2021-05-10T08:43:54Z")
Update from Austria: - The hard lockdown in the three eastern states (Vienna, Burgenland, and Lower Austria) was partially lifted on 3 May. Shops, services, and museums have opened again, in some cases subject to occupancy limits, mask mandates, and/or presentation of negative test results. (Testing remains free for everyone.) The 24-hour curfew has been relaxed to an overnight curfew (starting at 20:00). - A further, nationwide relaxation in the lockdown is planned for 19 May. Details are to be announced at a press conference this afternoon. It’s expected that bars, cafés, hotels, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, etc. will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity. - 820 new infections were reported today, which is the lowest daily number since 5 October 2020. The weekly rate of new infections per 100,000 people has dropped to 97, which is also the lowest in seven months. - The government has promised that everyone will be able to get at least their first vaccination by June. So far only one federal state, Lower Austria, has opened vaccinations to the general public; the other states are still giving priority to people in risk groups. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1340 "2021-05-10T13:44:55Z")
Thailand: > **[Indian virus variant found in Thai travelers from Pakistan](https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-india-coronavirus-pandemic-health-156aa8c79dff83905cd9c12d33b90cb3)** > > BANGKOK (AP) — Health authorities in Thailand said Monday they have confirmed the country’s first cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus, in a Thai woman and her 4-year-old son who have been in state quarantine since arriving from Pakistan... ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1341 "2021-05-10T14:21:37Z")
> **[Hundreds of bodies of covid-19 victims are still in New York’s refrigerated...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/09/coronavirus-bodies-trucks-new-york/)** > > Between 500 and 800 bodies have been stored in the trucks since April 2020. > As New York emerged as the center of the [coronavirus](https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) pandemic last spring, the overwhelmed city began storing the bodies of victims in refrigerated trucks along the Brooklyn waterfront. > > More than a year later, hundreds remain in the makeshift morgues on the 39th Street Pier in Sunset Park. > > In a report to a city council health committee last week, officials with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner acknowledged that the remains of about 750 covid-19 victims are still being stored inside the trucks, according to [the City, the nonprofit news website](https://www.thecity.nyc/missing-them/2021/5/6/22423844/new-york-covid-victims-still-in-trucks-on-brooklyn-pier). Officials said during a Wednesday committee meeting that they will try to lower the number soon. > > Dina Maniotis, executive deputy commissioner with the medical examiner’s office, said most of the bodies could end up on [Hart Island](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/27/hart-island-mass-grave-coronavirus-burials/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7), off the Bronx, where the has city [buried its poor and unclaimed for more than a century](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/27/hart-island-mass-grave-coronavirus-burials/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7). > > … > > With more than a million people buried there, the mile-long land mass in the Long Island Sound is home to the largest mass grave in the United States. > > Up to one-tenth of the city’s coronavirus victims may be interred on the island, according to an [analysis](https://www.thecity.nyc/missing-them/2021/3/24/22349311/nyc-covid-victims-destined-for-hart-island-potters-field)conducted through a collaboration between the City and the Stabile Center for Investigative Reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. > … The aftermath of the pandemic will be with us as a country for many years – not even counting the individual impacts caused by the loss of so many. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1342 "2021-05-11T10:14:49Z")
> **[Pfizer COVID-19 shot expanded to US children as young as 12](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-coronavirus-vaccine-business-health-05fbffc10fb86734b83be058c7b4da22)** > > U.S. regulators on Monday expanded the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to children as young as 12, offering a way to protect the nation's adolescents before they head back to school in the fall and paving the way for them to return to more normal... Good news for schools and summer camps, and any family that wants to travel. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1343 "2021-05-11T19:22:05Z")
I found this Vox podcast really enlightening about “long COVID.” > **[The enduring mystery of long Covid](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-enduring-mystery-of-long-Covid-Podcast/B093XYC2ZW)** > > Check out this great listen on Audible.com. An estimated 10 percent of people who test positive for Covid-19 experience long-haul symptoms. Vox’s Julia Belluz joins the Unexplainable podcast to sort out what’s known and what remains mysterious about... It talks about how all serious pathogens can, and pretty much do, give rise to similar long-term symptoms. So, one thing about long COVID is that because so many people are sick at the same time, there are many cases of this at the same time. So, it can be studied, and people are being believed rather than brushed off more. But Covid isn’t unique in causing these kinds of medically unexplained sequelae. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1344 "2021-05-12T05:01:25Z")
160,334,125 total cases 3,331,400 dead 138,098,126 recovered In the US: 33,550,115 total cases 596,946 dead 26,558,138 recovered ~~Yesterday’s~~ _Sunday’s_ numbers for ~~comparison~~ reference: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 158,977,756 total cases > 3,306,954 dead > 136,532,412 recovered > > In the US: > > 33,476,781 total cases > 595,812 dead > 26,439,712 recovered ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1345 "2021-05-12T14:34:14Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It could be directly caused by COVID or possibly an indirect cause, such as lifestyle changes due to the shutdown. What’s not clear to me is whether these people were tested for diabetes while they were in the hospital too, or only at 20 weeks post discharge. Many people have it for a while before it’s discovered so I wonder if some already had undiagnosed diabetes before their covid infections. > Al-Aly’s data was published last month in [Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03553-9#Abs1), three weeks after [a study](https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n693) of almost 50,000 hospitalized Covid patients in England found that they were 50% more likely to have diabetes some 20 weeks after discharge than matched controls ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1346 "2021-05-12T16:55:19Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Australia has announced that border controls will not be relaxed, on the basis that vaccination does not seem to prevent transmission. Cite? I have seen nothing from the Australian authorities saying that the reason for this move is specifically because they believe vaccines are ineffective at reducing transmission. There are concerns that some vaccines are less effective _at all_ against certain mutant strains. And the virus is obviously still rampant in many parts of the world, so the Australian move is perfectly understandable. But there is a growing body of evidence that, in accord with expectation, vaccines that are effective against preventing disease are also effective at preventing transmission. Discussed in the other thread here and subsequent posts. > [@Continuing to keep masking for your own reasons](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-to-keep-masking-for-your-own-reasons/941850/20): > > This has consistently been very poorly reported in the press. It is (obviously, when you think about it) much more difficult to study relative rates of transmission from people who have been vaccinated, than to study whether vaccinated people are getting sick themselves. So we don’t know to what extent vaccination reduces transmission, especially with new strains circulating. But it is certainly likely that a vaccine that is so successful at preventing disease will also reduce transmission … ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1347 "2021-05-12T17:02:53Z")
I don’t think this has been mentioned yet: current studies indicate that contracting COVID gives lasting immunity. > **[Lasting immunity found after recovery from COVID-19](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lasting-immunity-found-after-recovery-covid-19)** > > The immune systems of more than 95% of people who recovered from COVID-19 had durable memories of the virus up to eight months after infection. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1348 "2021-05-12T17:22:19Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > I don’t think this has been mentioned yet: current studies indicate that contracting COVID gives lasting immunity.- Dang. Good news, but that’s doing it the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1349 "2021-05-12T20:48:38Z")
Here’s a headline I was happy to see today: > **[Taming the virus: US deaths hit lowest level in 10 months](https://apnews.com/article/kansas-ap-top-news-us-news-coronavirus-pandemic-health-8c08a951537eb522ffb69236bef96766)** > > COVID-19 deaths in the United States have tumbled to an average of around 600 per day — the lowest level in 10 months — with the number of lives lost dropping to single digits in well over half the states and, on some days, hitting zero... ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1350 "2021-05-12T21:36:14Z")
Totally agree. Here’s hoping it helps lead to herd immunity despite the hesitant people. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428/1351 "2021-05-12T21:58:52Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > I don’t think this has been mentioned yet: current studies indicate that contracting COVID gives lasting immunity. I don’t understand why this doesn’t get more press. I’m not aware of any study showing diminishing protection over time. It’s great news. If you want to travel to Iceland you can present proof of vaccination _or_ proof of previous infection and recovery from COVID-19 and be exempt from having to provide a negative PCR test and/or quarantine at the border. [https://www.landlaeknir.is/um-embaettid/greinar/grein/item43709/Certificates-regarding-previous-COVID-19-infection-that-are-accepted-at-the-border-in-Iceland-from-10-December-2020](https://www.landlaeknir.is/um-embaettid/greinar/grein/item43709/Certificates-regarding-previous-COVID-19-infection-that-are-accepted-at-the-border-in-Iceland-from-10-December-2020) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428.md?page=65) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2021-breaking-news/929428.md?page=67)