Coronavirus Thread

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, pmcla26 said:

Haha heading into another lockdown, what a joke. You can just see it coming already. What's the point in rolling out a vaccine that can't solve the problem? 

Errrr to stop lots of death and misery?

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

Hahahahaha

 

'the Pope owns all the businesses...joint enterprise'

 

How fvcking stupid 

 

 

I really hope they got dashed straight in the bin after this

 

“You do have to take it, it’s legally binding”

 

It’s a printout off the internet mate. ha ha ha ha ha ha 

 

“the pope is head of businesses” 

 

What! ha ha ha ha ha ha 

 

What a bunch of ****ing idiots, actually thinking they smart. 

Edited 21 October 2021 by Babylon

[Babylon]

I so wish I worked there, just take the piss out of the idiots and dump it in the bin in front of their faces. 

[Koke]

Unfortunately the video didn't show the part where the hospital staff chucked the "legal documents" straight into the shredder. 

[MustardTiger]

2 hours ago, StanSP said:

Hahahahaha

 

'the Pope owns all the businesses...joint enterprise'

 

How fvcking stupid 

 

 

I really hope they got dashed straight in the bin after this

 

Mind boggling. The khaki PUMA tracksuit is the icing on the cake for me. I wouldn't waste a single second on someone like that, absolute nut.

[CosbehFox]

2 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

What's the point in rolling out a vaccine that can't solve the problem? 

Well it has to a point - the vast majority in hospital are non vaccinated. We are at 79% of the population fully vaccinated over the age of 12. To give an idea, in the groups below 40, they are below 75% fully vaccinated. Apparently the vaccination has successfully saved 260k hospitalisations. 

 

The govt/NHS has removed the infrastructure what made the roll-out such a success when it comes to boosters. Currently left in limbo regards school children to which again the vast majority of cases stem from children - some predict we will take a dip when children are either vaccinated or antibodies gained very boosters. 

Edited 21 October 2021 by Cardiff_Fox

[Tommy G]

Until the NHS is fit for purpose this will just keep happening - get used to misery between about now til March every year. 

[rachhere]

3 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

Haha heading into another lockdown, what a joke. You can just see it coming already. What's the point in rolling out a vaccine that can't solve the problem? 

That’s like saying what was the point of dial up internet. You roll something out that is fairly effective and then scientists keeping working on improved solutions. It’s made a huge difference so far, but it was always predicted it would be a difficult winter. 

[Steven]

3 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

Haha heading into another lockdown, what a joke. You can just see it coming already. What's the point in rolling out a vaccine that can't solve the problem? 

It is the anti-vaxxers that are the problem and not those that have had both doses. I am 9 to 7 times less likely to need hospital treatment than someone who is not vaccinated. Finally not vaccinating is very selfish and those that chose that path should pay for their own choices and not expect others to suffer the consequences of those choices.

[Steven]

11 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

It’s only a very small percentage now though, some measures may be needed and that’s fair enough, but if we go into full blown lockdown again and a national crisis, I wouldn’t blame it on a minority of society. 

One third of the population, or thereabouts, is not a very small percentage.

 

Received 2nd dose

67.7%

[st albans fox]

currently involved in an interesting 'experiment' at home

 

as i mentioned a few days ago, now on our 4th household covid exposure.

 

at the moment, no one who has been double jabbed seems to have caught it (that's in aug on exposure 3 and now on exposure 4). the person who had it on exposure 3 was single jabbed at the time. the two youngest kids who are not vaccinated avoided it then but have both come down with it now. IF and its obviously a big IF (because avoiding contact with a ten y o is impossible), the double jabbed manage to avoid infection this time, it will appear to be a big plus for vaccines. (although the fact we have natural immunity + vaccination would probably be a big help) 

 

i expect i will be telling you that we're all infected by the weekend !

 

we do have to take pcr tests to avoid isolating - does anyone knows the answer to the question - if my immune system was successfully fighting off the virus (because i have definitely been exposed to it),  could i still test positive on a pcr, even though i'd be highly unlikely to be infectious ??  i suppose i'm asking if you always become infected, even though your immune system quickly wins out ?

[st albans fox]

3 minutes ago, Steven said:

One third of the population, or thereabouts, is not a very small percentage.

 

Received 2nd dose

67.7%

that includes kids and those who cannot take it.  i would have thought the anti vaxers need to be separated from the uncertain and the uncertain are likely to be the larger percentage.  

[Legend_in_blue]

1 hour ago, Steven said:

One third of the population, or thereabouts, is not a very small percentage.

 

Received 2nd dose

67.7%

It was around 85% for weeks until the BBCs figures included children.

[Buce]

 

 

‘Covid is still around’: why Leicester shoppers are still wearing masks

The people of Leicester know better than most of the consequences of high Covid case rates, having endured the longest lockdown in England, due to higher than average cases in 2020.

As such, it is perhaps no surprise that plenty of shoppers continued wearing face masks as they passed through the main high street on Thursday, months after the compulsory order to wear them in public spaces was ditched in England.

“Covid is still around and as someone with asthma, I don’t want to put myself at risk, even though I’m double-jabbed. Cases are rising and even though it’s not talked about as much, it’s still a problem,” said Sabiha Zaman, an 18-year-old digital forensics student at De Montfort University.

Like many, she thought the government’s decision to avoid implementing “plan B” – mask-wearing in enclosed spaces, social distancing and advice to work from home – was reckless while Covid cases are rising.

“It feels like they’re happy to just let everyone do what they want. It’s more hassle for them if they need to constantly regulate what people are doing, I suppose,” she said. “But small things like wearing masks would help everyone in the long run.”

eion Dillon, a said 43-year-old secretary, said: “Well, the government first said that we should be [wearing them]. “We’re not out of the pandemic yet, so I definitely think we should still be wearing them in shops and things. Since ‘freedom day’ has come and gone everyone thinks we’re free, but it’s still here and the numbers are going up.”

Although the city has fared better with cases in recent months, the importance of acting sooner rather than later seems to have stuck with many.

“I don’t think we get the balance right until it’s too late, unfortunately,” said Dillon. “Look at all the other countries, they’re wearing masks and everything else and their rates are better than ours. You can’t ignore statistics.”

Even those who said they rarely wore a face mask said they would be happy to do so if it was enforced. “I’m not wearing a face mask much any more but I have one in my pocket all the time in case I go anywhere where they prefer me to wear one,” said 70-year-old Peter O’Nion. “And if they said we had to start wearing masks in shops and on trains, I would do it.”

He added: “I just hope we don’t end up with any major restraints, lockdown or anything like that, because we’ve had enough.”

But not everyone agreed that enforcing mask wearing was the right thing to do. Kelly Waldron, 50, said she thought people could make their own decisions about face masks and social distancing now that most have been vaccinated. “I really think it should be down to personal choice now as everyone has got different views on the whole thing,” she said, adding that there could perhaps be separate shopping lanes for people who weren’t comfortable around unmasked people.

“I don’t really wear one any more as it makes me feel claustrophobic. But if I have to I will, I won’t argue it,” she said. “And if they do make it compulsory, we just have to go with it and do what is safest for everyone.”

Even if the government does decide to implement tighter restrictions, there are still doubts over how many people would follow the rules, and most shoppers admitted there are many people who seem to have ditched masks completely.

“People want their freedom. It’s better to wear your mask and social distance, and still be able to go where you want. What would you prefer? To stay in, or go out with your mask?”

 

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

UK’s neighbours criticise Covid policies as cases begin to surge across EU

the past several weeks, many western European countries have been eyeing Covid case numbers across the Channel with mounting trepidation.

“Why does Britain have more than 40,000 Covid cases a day, and why is it the European country with the most infections?” asked Spain’s ABC, while France’s L’Express criticised “disastrous myopia” in London.

 

“Fear returns to London,” said Italy’s Corriere della Sera after the British health secretary, Sajid Javid, suggested cases could hit 100,000 a day over the winter. “How many deaths are [the British] willing to tolerate not to renounce their liberty?”

But while infection rates in Britain continue the rapid surge they began in mid-September, western European countries with comparably vaccinated populations are now also seeing case numbers start to pick up, sparking fears of a fresh wave there.

According to OurWorldinData, the UK recorded a rolling seven-day average of 666.5 new cases per million people on Wednesday, compared with 40 in Spain, 44.5 in Italy, 80.2 in France, 146.7 in Germany, 223.3 in the Netherlands and 328.8 in Belgium.

The incidence rates were up in all six continental countries, and dramatically so in some: Belgium’s government on Thursday recommended face masks and working from home again after the number of new cases in the country rose by more than 40% in three days.

“We are clearly in a fourth wave,” said the Belgian health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke. “We will see a major increase in infections and, unfortunately, hospital admissions.” Testing will be free for people using a government website to check their symptoms.

In the Netherlands, new daily cases have more than doubled over the past two weeks. In Germany, which had maintained a rate of about 100 new cases per million since mid-September, daily infections have leapt by about 40% in a week.

France – where MPs voted on Wednesday night to allow use of the country’s vaccine passport until next summer if necessary – and Spain have both recorded 17% increases in new daily cases over the past seven days, and Italy a rise of nearly 6%.

For many in western Europe, the UK’s decisions to relax almost all physical distancing restrictions this summer, abandon the face masks still mandatory in indoor public spaces on the continent, and refuse to implement a Covid pass were to blame for its fourth wave.

Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister, said last week that the UK’s example “teaches us we won’t get out of this in an instant. Having abandoned all caution, it is faced with 50,000 daily infections and 200 deaths daily. The exit needs to be gradual.”

Some experts, however, have suggested that the UK may also be feeling the effects of its fast early vaccine rollout, since a larger proportion of adults than in western Europe have now reached the point, five or six months on, where vaccine effectiveness starts to fade.

If only for that reason, while western European infection rates may remain lower than in the UK thanks to more widespread use of face masks and tighter restrictions, a fresh wave of some description is all but inevitable on the continent, they suggest.

The French government’s health advisory council said last week that the virus would be “circulating more widely” over the coming weeks, stressing that vaccine protection wanes over time and it would “probably” be recommending booster shots for all soon. They will need to be administered fast, doctors have said.

If third doses are the answer, however, there is little faith that Britain can deliver them to its people. In Germany, Stern magazine said that 100 days after “freedom day” there was “not much to celebrate in Britain”. Faced with a lagging campaign for young people and a slow rollout of booster shots, it said, “doctors are asking: what’s plan B?”

El Mundo agreed. Britain’s “main tool for trying to contain another possible wave during the last four months of the year is the booster shot”, the paper noted. “But having once led the world, the UK has significantly relaxed its vaccination rhythm.

“It has fallen behind Spain, France and Italy when it comes to the percentage of the population that has been fully vaccinated – and is now also having problems when it comes to the third dose.”

Edited 21 October 2021 by Buce

[Dunge]

I’m very much pro-vaccine, would encourage everyone to grab a booster when it comes around, in no way a Covid denier or anti-vaxxer. However, I am wondering whether there’s really any sense to restrictions being brought back in (let’s say Lockdown-lite).

 

Pretty much everyone who wants a vaccine has been reached now. There are some teenagers who could still be weighing it up, or a few others straggling for various reasons, but mostly people either have or they haven’t. And the take-up rates for adults has exceeded what I thought. I think it’s been brilliant actually how little objection there has been. So the question becomes: What happens next? The idea of Covid zero I have thought was fanciful from very early on, and I think the WHO have been naive to back it. So, assuming it will be around and remain a threat, that can at least be imported, how do we deal with it?

 

Essentially, we have a choice of how we want to live with this virus. An option is to try to suppress it with measures such as face masks, working from home directives, Covid certificates, etc. There are options, all of which reduce the level of virus circulating but all of which come at some cost of civil liberty. The alternative then is to “live with it”, to accept it circulating and that, yes, it will cause some hospitalisations and deaths but that vaccination and previous exposure will keep a lid on it. Effectively, to treat it similarly to the way we treat flu.

 

What I’m therefore wondering is: If we genuinely desire the latter, what makes the position we’re in now different to the position we’ll be in in 12 months’ time? The difference to this time last year is stark - there’s been a massive vaccination campaign. But now to next year? The virus will still be around; our weapons against it will be similar (maybe some better drugs for treating active cases). If we impose restrictions now, what will be different next year that we won’t have the same arguments for imposing them again?

 

It may be that people are happy with the imposition of such (relatively) mild restrictions on the darker side of the equinoxes anyway. Perhaps there’s an argument for being on the safe side this winter in case there’s something we’re missing. I’m certainly open to hearing arguments, and I appreciate there’s an irony to me posting this given that I’m one of the few still wearing a mask around supermarkets.

[Leicester_Loyal]

5 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Until the NHS is fit for purpose this will just keep happening - get used to misery between about now til March every year. 

Sadly this is spot on, and that's why I won't support nor take any notice of any further restrictions, I've got a life to live and fully intend on making the most of it.

[Free Falling Foxes]

43 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Sadly this is spot on, and that's why I won't support nor take any notice of any further restrictions, I've got a life to live and fully intend on making the most of it.

And sod everyone else, eh?

 

Sadly you're not alone. My wife told me a women, who she guessed was in her 70s/80s, was at the checkout in Morrisons and not only was she not wearing a mask but made no attempt to cover her face when she started coughing.

A young mother who had a child, was in the direct line of her spluttering and asked her to stop it. The selfish sod was totally dismissive of her concerns.

Unfortunately, there are too many with this attitude.

Edited 21 October 2021 by Free Falling Foxes

[Leicester_Loyal]

18 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

And sod everyone else, eh?

 

Sadly you're not alone. My wife told me a women, who she guessed was in her 70s/80s, was at the checkout in Morrisons and not only was she not wearing a mask but made no attempt to cover her face when she started coughing.

A young mother who had a child, was in the direct line of her spluttering and asked her to stop it. The selfish sod was totally dismissive of her concerns.

Unfortunately, there are too many with this attitude.

You've got the vaccine, the Government has had almost 18 months now to invest into the NHS, it won't be done. I'm not sitting in for 4 months of the year every year watching tv instead of living my life, you get one chance on this earth and I'm going to make the most of it.

[Free Falling Foxes]

5 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

You've got the vaccine, the Government has had almost 18 months now to invest into the NHS, it won't be done. I'm not sitting in for 4 months of the year every year watching tv instead of living my life, you get one chance on this earth and I'm going to make the most of it.

If you sit watching TV when you have nothing else to do, I would suggest you are not 'living your life'.

The situation is what it is, surely the right and proper thing to do is consider others and not just yourself.

Edited 21 October 2021 by Free Falling Foxes

[Ian Nacho]

Of course any death prevented is worthwhile, but I do often get confused with the whole overwhelming the NHS argument; if it's not fit for purpose, then make it fit for purpose. If there was a shortage of dentists and dentist practices were getting overwhelmed, I'm not so sure the sale of sugary treats would be banned.

[reynard]

4 minutes ago, Ian Nacho said:

Of course any death prevented is worthwhile, but I do often get confused with the whole overwhelming the NHS argument; if it's not fit for purpose, then make it fit for purpose. If there was a shortage of dentists and dentist practices were getting overwhelmed, I'm not so sure the sale of sugary treats would be banned.

Trouble is it isn't that straightforward.

Training doctors and surgeons takes on average between 5 and 8 years

Training nurses takes on average 3-4 years (longer for ITU nurses I believe).

We need many more of each.

It is time for the general public to simply be more responsible in their actions and mitigate their own level of risk as much as possible. There's really no excuse, for the vast majority, not to wear a mask on public transport or in inside venues.

In addition everyone should get their booster and everyone should do what they can to encourage the estimated 5 million eligible people who have not been vaccinated at all to get a jab.

Wearing masks also helps protect you from other respiratory illnesses so wearing one really is a no brainer and not much of an effort.

[Legend_in_blue]

Not convinced about masks protecting you from other respiratory illnesses.  Didn't stop me getting a heavy cold last year with restrictions or this with no restrictions.

 

Javid made me 😆 yesterday at his presser.  He attempted to explain away the disappearance of flu last year as a consequence of the restrictions.  

 

Let's abolish the flu with never ending restrictions.  Why?  Because Javid said so.

 

The longer this goes on, the more politicians wade in, it doesn't matter who, the majority spout the same nonsense, the further they dig the rabbit hole they find themselves in.

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Sadly this is spot on, and that's why I won't support nor take any notice of any further restrictions, I've got a life to live and fully intend on making the most of it.

 

56 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

And sod everyone else, eh?

 

Sadly you're not alone. My wife told me a women, who she guessed was in her 70s/80s, was at the checkout in Morrisons and not only was she not wearing a mask but made no attempt to cover her face when she started coughing.

A young mother who had a child, was in the direct line of her spluttering and asked her to stop it. The selfish sod was totally dismissive of her concerns.

Unfortunately, there are too many with this attitude.

 

36 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

You've got the vaccine, the Government has had almost 18 months now to invest into the NHS, it won't be done. I'm not sitting in for 4 months of the year every year watching tv instead of living my life, you get one chance on this earth and I'm going to make the most of it.

So, by your logic, as Free Falling Foxes said, your "Sod everyone else" attitude I want to live my life, is the way to go to help our population? You're IMO selfish. So, yes we've had the vaccine, that's not a cure. The Gov can't invest in the NHS for the sole purpose of dealing with a mass outbreak of any virus. Budgets have to be managed. I imagine, and I may be very wrong, but the "younger generation" such as you (maybe) have a "live now, pay later" mentality and if it impacts on others, so what? I want it all and I want it now, to quote the Queen song.

Sometimes one has to bite the bullet and behave responsibly for the greater good of others.

FWIW there has been no suggestion of mass isolation or going back to lockdown as seen before. Just wearing masks, sanitising hands, working from home, keeping your distance etc. If that's too much for you then maybe you'll be better off staying home watching TV, playing your PS or XBox and not risking infection or being a carrier, while the rest of us go about our business whilst being responsible.

Remember, the vaccine does NOT prevent you catching or carrying the virus or passing it on.

[st albans fox]

4 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

It was around 85% for weeks until the BBCs figures included children.

Given that we are now vaccinating the over 12’s and nearly all western countries have done this already, I guess we now need to use the same comparison metric which is taking the whole population rather than just the adults 

[Leicester_Loyal]

47 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

 

So, by your logic, as Free Falling Foxes said, your "Sod everyone else" attitude I want to live my life, is the way to go to help our population? You're IMO selfish. So, yes we've had the vaccine, that's not a cure. The Gov can't invest in the NHS for the sole purpose of dealing with a mass outbreak of any virus. Budgets have to be managed. I imagine, and I may be very wrong, but the "younger generation" such as you (maybe) have a "live now, pay later" mentality and if it impacts on others, so what? I want it all and I want it now, to quote the Queen song.

Sometimes one has to bite the bullet and behave responsibly for the greater good of others.

FWIW there has been no suggestion of mass isolation or going back to lockdown as seen before. Just wearing masks, sanitising hands, working from home, keeping your distance etc. If that's too much for you then maybe you'll be better off staying home watching TV, playing your PS or XBox and not risking infection or being a carrier, while the rest of us go about our business whilst being responsible.

Remember, the vaccine does NOT prevent you catching or carrying the virus or passing it on.

I'll be honest, quite frankly I don't care, I've never enjoyed my life more than I have atm, long may it continue, just need holidays to become a bit easier with less testing and it'll be even better.

 

Have a good evening!