So, the state of things? It looks like we're all stuck in a new lockdown at the moment, end: unclear. At least that's the case for Germany, where we're all pretty sure that the lockdown-like thing we currently have will not be ending with January, but continue on. Politicians have not mentioned anything resembling a hint towards a possible end date yet; I think there's enough insecurity about what to do by now, and insecurity about whether the current measures taken are enough or not.

We're still getting very high numbers, and they are still deemed "not reliable" due to the holidays and weekends. Though we're two weeks into the new year, there were the Christmas holidays, then there was a sunday, then New Year (which is a bank holiday here), then right after it the weekend, then two theoretically normal workdays followed by a bank holiday at Epiphany, then two workdays, then the weekend. All this means we're actually in the first full, normal work week since Christmas right now, and according to some of the communications coming from the RKI (Germany's centre for the Numbers of Doom), there's still some catching up being done. Plus there was less testing over the past few weeks, with a very high positive rate in the tests done.

All of this means we have no clue how things stand. Apart from, obviously, not being very good. There's more than a thousand deaths daily these days, and some regions have 7-day incidence counts of more than 500. There's less home officing than in the spring lockdown, though, which may play a part in numbers not falling, along with (of course) anything pandemic-spready done during Xmas and New Year.

At least vaccination has started, and of course there's a lot of bitching about this or that not working right, or it all not going fast enough, or whatever. We're in Germany, after all, where complaining is an art form and must always be done if there is any possibility at all. Me and the Most Patient Husband of Them All are in the last of the six priority tiers that Germany has; my gran, on the other hand, with her scant 99 years of age, has gotten her first shot last Saturday, while my dad (who technically is also in tier 1) with his 80 years was still "too young" and has to wait a bit longer. It would have been more efficient (and, if you ask me, more sensible) to give both of them and my Mum their shots at the same time, since it's one household and my mum takes care of my gran (theoretically lifting her into tier 1 even though age-wise she's tier 2), but they seem to do things strictly by age in their district. Which may not be the smartest or most efficient thing, but at least it's making the decisions on who gets the shots at what time easier, and hard to argue with if you're younger and thus have to wait a bit.

And now I've complained enough to prove that yes, I'm a German! Because at least things are rolling, and people are getting shots, and the politicians are thinking about what to do if the current restrictions do not cut the cheese. Case in point: Bavaria's head-of-substate Söder, who has decreed that FFP2-masks are compulsory when in shops and public transport in Bavaria, starting on Monday. That came out yesterday (or was it day before yesterday?) - so it's fairly short notice, and these masks are not really cheap (somewhere between 1,50 and 5 €, or so). There's been a lot of talk about this, and lots of complaints. Nobody knows whether it will make a dint in the numbers yet - but that's the thing: We're running out of "soft" options, and out of some of the harder ones too. Schools are already closed. Businesses (apart from retail of non-essential stuff) are still open; closing all those down is one of the really hard options left. More home office would be a thing, and it's in the talks. Some hotspots get restricted to a 15 km radius of movement, measured from the settlement's limits (which is still a very, very large area). But otherwise? There's not too much left, so exploring whether better personal protection helps is, I think, not the most stupid of actions.

Here's hoping it will help, and that numbers will get lower soon.