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  2. I’m Norwegian :-)

    Grandparents on mother and fathers side were all born in Norway, Oslo and Bergen. Never been before but it’s definitely on my bucket list.
  6. Meanwhile in Korea... a young man who enjoyed the holidays at nightclubs in central Seoul tested positive for COVID-19 on May 7.
    It is reported that he had diarrhea at first and went to see a doctor. The doctor suspected him of having the coronavirus, so he had the testing and.... boom.
    This is indeed bad. But also shows us that the process of reporting suspected case is working well. (Btw, if your doctor thinks you've caught the virus, testing is free of charge.)

    In one case, a woman in her 80s has caught the virus from her grandson who's been to the club(s), after the family dined together on Parents' Day. The case fatality rate for age over 80 is 25%.
    Another young man who's been to the club(s) had a family gathering for Parents' Day. His father and one-year-old nephew tested positive. Since the boy is so young, he's hospitalized with his mother.

    A college student, who works as a instructor at a cram school and a personal tutor for middle and high school students, has been to the club(s) and tested positive on early Saturday morning. He lied to his epidemic investigation officer, saying he has no job. They took 3 days to find out what's really happened. 1 of his co-workers, 1 of his acquaintance, 8 of his students (some of who are high school seniors), 2 of their parents, 1 of their friends, and 1 of their other tutor tested positive as of now. And two of them unknowingly attended church services on weekends, respectively. Several hundreds are having tests, most of who are either very young or very old.

    A mother whose son has recently hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, reported that she thought her son's been to Itaewon a day before hospitalized. The hospital took him tested. He was asymptomatic positive. The hospital has more than 200 patients and workers.

    The basis of our quarantine is to encourage every citizen to participate, to protect themselves, their family and the community.

    Those clubs (and other mass gathering facilities) are instructed to keep lists of visitors' names and contact numbers, make sure everyone wear a mask, keep 2m distance between people, ventilate often and disinfect the place regularly, and some other quarantine guidelines. Turns out a quarter of the lists were fake. The physical distance between people there was zero and most of them didn't wear masks. Then all the dancing and drinking and talking come in... The government is considering plans to implement some IT tech to make them keep a correct list. (Not having a lockdown isn't cheap, either!)
    It is reported that people who should be more responsible has been to those clubs, too. Some military officers, a nurse, a doctor, some hospital staffs, teachers and school staffs. Ewwww but they had the tests anyway...

    15,000 tests conducted yesterday. Total 35,000 tests that are linked to the Itaewon cluster have been conducted as of yesterday. 131 confirmed case all over the country and probably much more in the way!
    About 30% of these are asymptomatic. Mostly in their 20-30 and mostly male. Young and very active. And as we know COVID-19 is most transmissible at the very early phase of infection.

    Anyone who's been to nightclubs or bars or the likes in Itaewon (the outbreak district) during 4/24-5/6, whether they have symptoms or not, is instructed not to go out and to get tested. Just say you've been there and it's free. And undocumented people won't get deported for getting tested. Anonymous testing is also possible for this cluster outbreak. They are trying really hard to make sure every visitor get the test, repeatedly asking for the general public and journalists not to blame or stigmatize those who've been to nightclubs. (2,000 visitors haven't got the tests so far.)
    If you are a close contact of a confirmed patient, you have to self-quarantine/isolate at home for two weeks. If you can't do it at home (i.e. because your house is too small and therefore you can't stay alone in an isolated room), local government will organize a place for you.
    There are enough hospital beds for now, and for mild case patients, we have a contingency called residential treatment center.

    Anyway, no matter how officials, ministers, whoever responsible choose language carefully and warn us so many times, I guess some people listen to the good and promising part only. Few or zero new local cases these days. Many patient released each day. We're doing fine all thanks to your participation and devotion, thank you. Yet, the pandemic is still going on. Beware of silent spreads. Remember personal hygiene and distancing is the best prevention we have. There are still local cases of which the transmission routes are untraceable and the vaccine needs much longer time to be ready. Stay alert for you and for everybody.
    Maybe merely starting a discussion on relaxing social distancing can send a wrong signal. I could see people off guard everywhere since late April. Not so many but for this virus a few outliers can hurt so many. Although they are back on now, as only a week passed since the first case report, we haven't seen the whole consequence yet.

    School re-opening (physically, to be precise) is postponed one more week. Not all students/parents/families can bear the delayed opening. But can they stay safe from the virus at schools? The authorities are working on specific plans how to let students go to school again while making as little physical contacts as possible but nothing's so clear.

    I've read on the news that a lot of countries are considering re-opening. I wonder whether they are really ready. (And also wonder why i'm writing this long...)
  7. That was rather long lol
  8. I hope everyone here and their loved ones are bearing up well, staying safe and staying sane, and keeping occupied if you're stuck at home.

    I've been catching up on working on my media library and tagging/cataloguing stuff, and a bit of mindless gaming (which I'm sure Edge would thoroughly disapprove of lol - but anything to not dwell too much). So every cloud has at least a bit of a silver lining.

    Been shielding indoors now for 11 weeks, dying to go outside and stretch my legs get some fresh air - but just too risky for now, but hopefully soon. Part of me is also dreading it too, its obviously a different world now.

    It all feels very surreal still to me. Every morning I wake up and ask is it really happening? It's pretty bleak and depressing for sure.

    But We have to stay positive that the tide will turn one day. Meanwhile look at all those lovely lovely boots out there to listen to! Thank you all that have taped and shared U2 down the years. I love each and every last one of you mofo's!

    Keep safe and positive everyone. Get some quality U2 time in.
  9. The numbers are expected to grow in Uruguay
  10. Since Covid couldn’t stop the economy in the US in an election year, we have now gone to looting and rioting. Black communities are looted of their pharmacies and groceries. The white antifa protestors are stirring up young black kids to participate and attack the police. They are paid for by Soros and are trying to start a race war. The blacks will be without stores to shop in. I feel horrible for them. MLK
  11. Sleep. Sleep tonight
    And may your dreams
    Be realized
    If the thunder cloud
    Passes rain
    So let it rain
    Rain down on him
    So let it be
    So let it be
  12. Originally posted by raynman009:Since Covid couldn’t stop the economy in the US in an election year, we have now gone to looting and rioting. Black communities are looted of their pharmacies and groceries. The white antifa protestors are stirring up young black kids to participate and attack the police. They are paid for by Soros and are trying to start a race war. The blacks will be without stores to shop in. I feel horrible for them. MLK
    Welcome to 2020. I’m afraid to see what will happen if Trump gets re-elected. This is going to be a very very long year. WWG1WGA