More likely is that they didn’t bother programming it. Finding the fastest route is a pretty hard mathematical problem, while finding the distance as the crow flies is easy as beans.
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Around here is the anniversary of two week self-isolation.
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Same here in Canada. Popular opinion of the government is the lowest I’ve ever seen it.
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Meanwhile in Greece: ÎαÏναβάλι ÎÎ¬Î½Î¸Î·Ï 2021 - YouTube
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A few weeks ago, I read an article about Tanzania’s government denying the spread of Covid19. Now, the Tanzanian president died, maybe from Covid.
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Btw, in this context I’m wondering what has been going on in Turkmenistan since Stone Defender’s post from one year ago.
I couldn’t find new information on big news sites, but I found this:
To date turkmen.news has confirmed the deaths from coronavirus of more than 50 citizens of Turkmenistan. There are probably more: it’s very difficult to obtain and verify information from a closed country. The authorities continue to insist that there are no cases of COVID-19 in Turkmenistan. Despite this, they are taking quite tough hygiene measures which they describe as preventive. On January 18, Turkmenistan was the first Central Asian country to register the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.
In summer 2020 when mask-wearing became compulsory in public spaces in Turkmenistan, the authorities put this down to the spread of dust from the Aral Sea.
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I’d love to make fun about the overwhelming idiocy in such countries. But then again I live in a country where society and politicians join forces to basically declare the pandemic (as good as) over, while we are heading into wave number 3 which is bound to become the largest. Well, maybe not on the death side, since significant parts of the most vulnerable are vaccinated. So with a bit of luck wave 3 deaths may be lower than in wave 2, albeit probably with a significantly younger average age.
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The AstraZeneca business is interesting if not worrying in some extent.
The watchdog approved the vaccine for adults of all ages, despite several countries previously warning that it should not be used on older people.
I’d be curious on the source for that statement.
Actually the update could be at like 4pm UTC/GMT, so 5-ish mins?
AstraZeneca vaccine is ‘safe and effective’
Emer Cooke, executive director of European Medicines Agency (EMA), says the vaccine is “safe and effective”.
It is not linked to an increase risk in blood clots, she adds.
Although, they cannot “definitively” rule out a link between a rare form of blood clots and the jab. More “targeted” studies on this will be carried out.
As a result, they upping guidance for signs to look out for but stress cases are “rare”.
Ms Cooke says that given that thousands of people die from COVID everyday it was “crucial” the EMA review the evidence quickly.
She said this situation is “not unexpected” and that rare illnesses will occur when you vaccinate millions of people.
EU nations should now be in a position to make an ‘informed’ decision on AstraZeneca jab rollout
Ms Cooke says the EU should be in a position to make an “informed” decision on continuing to roll out the jab.
Dr Sabine Straus says a “comprehensive review” of the jab has taken place and its “benefits continue to be far greater than its risks”.
No batch issue have been found, she adds.
They have found the number of “thrombotic events” are actually lower in the population after vaccination. As the jab is effective in preventing COVID, which itself causes blood clots, it likely the jab is reducing these instances.
The EMA’s focus and primary concern has been on cases of blood clots in the head, a rare condition that’s difficult to treat called cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) or a subform known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).
Ms Straus says in the rare instances of brain blood clots developing in vaccinated people, there is not enough evidence to show if the vaccine is related. More studies will be carried out.
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While scientifically accurate, those are not words that inspire confidence - especially in older people - to prefer that vaccine instead of waiting or asking to be treated with some other vaccine.
A great amount of importance in a medication is how much the patient trust that the medication will work or will improve their health. Once that trust is gone, you just cannot “do some tests for a week” and say “okie dokie, things seem within acceptable limits of risk” and expect that people will happily line up for it 
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4 weeks later again:
So the prediction seems to be unfolding, albeit delayed and reduced by the aggravated restrictions.
Although some population groups are growing more resistant against those restrictions, the election results last Wednesday seem to indicate wide support for the way that our government has been handling the corona crisis. They made mistakes, but I think most people feel that other parties would not have handled it much better.
Our government seems torn between wanting to ease restrictions to give people a bit more freedom and avoiding to overflow our health care system with covid patients again. Schools were reopened recently and they had hoped to allow visiting bars and restaurants outdoors at the end of March.
But the vaccination programme is not keeping up (yet) with the current increase in number of infections, so there is really very little room for easing restrictions. If the recent upward trend keeps going for another 2 weeks, it seems likely that our health care system will reach its limit again. If we could just keep it under control for a little while longer until the elevated risk groups are vaccinated…
So it’s really tough and I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the people who need to decide what to do now.
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Pretty much the same situation here in Germany. 
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In “things that make sense” and also “priorities”
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Slightly shocked to see that Charles and Camilla are there while travel is banned. But a bit of research reveals that as it’s official government business they have diplomatic immunity so don’t need to follow the covid rules - there’s a joke in there somewhere but I can’t quite work it out right now…
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I have the nagging suspicion we are the joke. As in, we all who aren’t VIP guests in Michelin-chef dinners internationally.
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The article lists a number of problems – but mostly, I guess, it comes down to a lack of flexibility.
European governments are often seen in the United States as free-spending, liberal bastions, but this time it was Washington that threw billions at drugmakers and cosseted their business.
Brussels, by comparison, took a conservative, budget-conscious approach that left the open market largely untouched. And it has paid for it.
Many European countries are also stockpiling doses to guarantee that everyone who receives a first injection will receive the second dose on time. The United States and Britain have been more flexible, erring on the side of giving more first injections.
For all the problems, Dr. Slaoui said Europeans are in an admirable position. By the numbers, the Continent is about five weeks behind the United States, with vaccine supply expected to increase steadily. “It’s too late to have taken the first bite,” he said. “But they’re in a good place.”
Dr. Van Gucht, of Belgium, agreed. But he said European leaders will likely take nationalistic lessons from the past months. “I think we relied a little bit too much on the free markets,” he said. “What you really need to do from the beginning is really make sure you produce the vaccines on your territory and that they’re destined for your own population.”
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A few days ago, Nena made her support of the “Querdenker”-movement public. 
The “Querdenker” are esoterics and far right extremists who protest the German anti-Covid regulations.
So someone wrote alternative lyrics for Nena’s biggest hit:
Do you have some time for me
then I’ll fold a hat for you
out of 99 tinfoil rolls
because we don’t want to get it
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This makes me sad. 99 red balloons was the highlight of my student week back in the day.
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