IndustriousAngel

you're not alone ... such things happen everywhere.

yep, Austria has only 9mil inhabitants, but is divided in 9 "Bundesländer" - the biggest is Vienna, with about 2mil pop, while the smallest one, Burgenland, has <300k pop. Each of those nine has a parliament and government of its own, with complete administration, and while they're not as independent as in the US, there's still lots of themes that get organised on this federal level - among them health. About one year through the pandemic, it's obvious that this federal structure is very good when it comes to diluting responsability. If something goes wrong (missing PPE, rising infections, vaccination chaos ...), it's very easy to blame it on some other level of administration, just not one's own.

hehe, atm much of the science has already happened, now we're in the "logistic the hell out of it" phase. In Austria, this is developing into a bureaucratic nightmare since distribution of the vaccines was outsorced to the states ...

The fact that this winter there would be no Carnival anywhere was obvious even in October, lockdown or not.

In Austria, some discussion has arisen about people (mostly local politicians) getting their shots early. We're still in vaccination phase one, meaning nursing homes (staff+patients) and other people >85yr old, but often there's a few doses not getting used (usually 6 shots from one vial, and some simply did order too much) so they're vaccinating other personnel, too, and it seems local politicians and their families are always first in line when it comes to those "extra" shots. personally, I think it's not much of an issue, in fact, I can see a positive longterm effect since people now get envious about the inoculations which should counteract the anti-vaxxer's propaganda a bit. Envy is always a strong incentive.

yep, about 3-4 weeks to go for 500k (4 only if numbers begin dropping which I think they do)

that's not really new ... was tried in Austria, too, in spring, but didn't help much.

by refusing to participate, you might be in violation of article 25 of the human rights. I've mentioned this a few weeks ago (I think) - human rights always imply human duties, too, else they're pointless. As an example, if I have the human right to live in safety and peace, other humans have the duty to not harm or kill me (or even threaten). Human rights do NOT mean that you're entitled to acting however you like. btw, article 25 reads: The USA are in constant violation of this article (there are very few countries around the world that do NOT violate some of those articles at least sometimes ...)

Covid19 patients in ICU are as of today <50% of the cases we had at the end of Nevember ... it takes tiiiime but there's progress. A few counties in Austria (my hometowm among them) have new cases so low since a few weeks that lockdown could be eased but it was decided to keep measures as there's the very immenent danger of the british strain already circulating in Austria, so we stay prudent.

well, completely closing a bank account seems like overreaching - the usual way would be: you simply don't let someone enter the shop without a mask; if he doesn't comply you call the police and remove him. edit: I haven't read anything about the actual case, but having witnessed some of those anti-maskers, I see the possibility that said person maybe uttered wild threats against the bank or the clerks. In which case ending your business connection with such a customer does seem like sensible behaviour - but, as mentioned, I don't know the actual case.

that's what I'm thinking, also. You can't open malls I think, but smaller stores like bookstores should be comparatively safe - and make lockdown seem easier to bear!

Wifey got her first jab today ... vaccination discipline somewhat lacking at her ward, while doctors and graduate nurses all got vaccinated, other personnel are "sceptical" ... at least most of the patients are vaccinated by now (also, 1st jab).

British variant seems to have reached Tyrol, via skiing ... https://www.tt.com/artikel/30772737/17-faelle-in-jochberg-verdacht-auf-britische-virus-variante-in-tirol while officially there's no tourism, business travels are still allowed, and so it happened that a batch of British skiing instructors spent a few nice weeks near Kitzbühel, for advanced training. Or "advanced training"? Didn't hold any courses, though, so maybe it's still contained.

that, I think, was clear in March or April last year. But we don't have to get "rid" of it - with vaccinations and natural immunity, humanity will just live with the virus, as it does with the seasonal flu.

yep, exactly the same here ... we were in "soft" lockdown during December and are now in "hard" lockdown but really, compared to the situation in late March/April, you wouldn't think we had any crisis going by the streets. Only, nearly everyone is wearing a mask (below the chin, outdoors) - but during our first lockdown, people were staying mostly at home and went for shopping only once or twice a week. We had a kind of ghosttown. Maybe it's enough, though - even though this lockdown is comparatively relaxed, my hometown has now seen a 7-day incidency of less than 100cases/100k pop for more than three weeks, that's good news - safest town in Austria from the Covid POV atm.