RationalWiki:What is going on with the coronavirus?/February 2021

February 2021
By hiring out her goats to appear on Zoom meetings during lockdown, [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-55887368 farmer Dot McCarthy earns ₤50,000. That money has kept the farm open and has meant none of the staff have had to be furloughed.] The Queen [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56203768 has had her vaccine and says, "It didn't hurt a bit." To all those hesitant about getting the jab, Her Majesty says they should, "think about other people rather than themselves."] [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-56170916 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unveils Scotland's "deliberately cautious" route out of lockdown. Non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants should reopen on 26 April. Unlike in England, no date has been given for when all restrictions are expected to be lifted.] North Dakota, the state with the highest number of per capita Covid cases, passes a law forbidding mandatory mask wearing. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris pay tribute to the more than 500,000 people in the United States who have died from the coronavirus. Sadly, the US death toll from Covid-19 is now greater than the number of Americans who died in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined. Boris Johnson unveils the government's "roadmap out of lockdown". Under these plans schools will re-open from 8 March, non-essential shops, hairdressers and gyms will re-open from 12 April, cinemas, hotels and restaurants will re-open from 17 May, and from 21 June places such as nightclubs could re-open. Johnson says each date is conditional, and will depend on certain factors, such as continued success with the vaccination rollout, Covid cases not surging and no new variants emerging. Children start to go back to school in Scotland and Wales for the first time since December. Australia begins its vaccination rollout, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison receiving the vaccine in front of television cameras. There has already been some issues though, with anti-vaccination protests taking place and some people in the crowd at the Australian Open tennis final could be heard loudly booing after the vaccine was mentioned. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-56111548 The first step in the easing of lockdown in Wales. Up to four people from two different households are now allowed to meet up to exercise.] Boris Johnson promises to give most of the UK's surplus vaccine supply to poorer countries and urges other G7 leaders to do the same. Decree from Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the Vatican City's top administrator, states that Vatican employees who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID will be fired. WTF! [https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/18/mobile_world_congress/ The world's largest mobile telephony trade show, Mobile World Congress, in the Catalan city of Barcelona is going ahead in June, despite the country being under lockdown due to COVID according to the event's CEO. All what attendees are required to have is a simple negative test 72 hours beforehand.] Just as Australian health consultant states that the country's hotel quarantine is "not fit for purpose" in combatting variants of Covid-19, the UK announces its "Australian-style hotel quarantine" to fight coronavirus variants. North Korea has adopted a unique way to obtain the vaccine for the disease it claims it does not have - hacking the computer systems of international pharmaceutical companies. The Netherlands gets its government mandated curfew overturned. The law under which the curfew was permitted to pass was exclusively for immediate urgent matters, which the judge deemed the curfew to not fall under. The case is expected to enter higher courts on Friday February 19th. Later the same day (February 16th) another judge decided that to keep public order, the curfew is to remain in effect until the higher courts make a decision. The UK meets its target to give the first vaccine dose to 15 million of the most vulnerable people by the middle of February. The WHO throws its support behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine amid an international row over its use. South Africa has suspended its rollout due to concerns over its effectiveness on the SA variant, whilst European countries such as France and Germany have advised against people over 65 taking the jab. A lack of specialised syringes in Japan, the US, and EU, could result in millions of doses of the Pfizer vaccine going to waste. The BMJ, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious medical periodicals dating back to 1840, characterizes the incompetent and sometimes intentional mismanagement of the pandemic by world governments as social murder Europe's oldest woman, Sister Andre, recovers from a Covid-19 infection just in time to celebrate her 117th birthday. Congressman Ron Wright (R-TX), long-time Covid denier, dies from... yeah, you guessed it. Tanzania, a country that is officially (although not really) Covid free, has no plans to introduce vaccination and the government has suggested that people only need to drink vegetable smoothies and take steam baths to avoid getting the disease.

A Chattanooga nurse with a medical condition faints after taking a vaccine jab. Now she, her friends, family and employers are being harassed for covering up her own murder by Bill Gates and replacement with an actress. Wisconsin Republicans repeal state's face mask mandate. (Alternate source for Europe) The Eurovision Song Contest [https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55916561 will definitely go ahead this year. Although the pandemic means there's no way there'll be a full live show without any social distancing, there are three other possible options. All contestants will have to submit "live-on-tape" performances of their songs, just in case.] [https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/55904746 More than 500 tennis players, officials and support staff in Melbourne for the Australian Open have to isolate after a worker at their hotel tests positive for the coronavirus. The first day of warm-up matches is cancelled.] [https://www.bbc.com/sport//olympics/55915343 The International Olympic Committee issues the first Playbook with hygiene rules to follow for those who choose to attend the delayed Tokyo games at their own risk. They still insist the games will go ahead, even though Tokyo is currently in a state of emergency.] Swiss medical regulators have refused to licence the AstraZeneca vaccination, citing a lack of large scale trials. This comes on the back that many European countries have introduced an age cut-off point, over concerns about the vaccine’s safety for elderly patients. The UK's Advertising Standards Agency reprimands Irish airline Ryanair for its commercials with the slogan "Jab & Go", which implied that young people would be vaccinated by the summer and were criticized for encouraging irresponsibility. Children should start returning to school in Scotland on 22 February. But lockdown will last until at least the end of the month. And all arrivals in Scotland, not just those from countries on a "red list", will face tougher quarantine rules. Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised almost £33 million for the NHS at the start of the pandemic, has died in hospital with coronavirus. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/01/taiwan-waives-covid-quarantine-fine-for-man-who-was-kidnapped A Taiwanese man doesn't have to pay a heavy fine for breaking quarantine after all. He only did it because he was abducted by debt collectors who mistook him for someone else.] It's partly due to lockdown that fewer rhinos were killed by poachers last year. The second lockdown on the Isle of Man comes to an end after 25 days and all Covid restrictions are scrapped, making it the only place in the British Isles with no social distancing measures in place. Pharmacist who destroyed 500 COVID vaccines agrees to plead guilty and is also a flat earther. [https://taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4115740 Taiwan has reported its first death from Covid-19 since May last year. That brings the number of people who have died from the disease on the island to a grand total of eight.]