SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Acole9 said:
Aside from the worst government and prime minister in history doing a terrible job, what you've posted above is also part of the reason why the infection rates here are so high and the worst in Europe.

We're in tier 4 where I am, my family made the decision earlier in the week to cancel our Christmas plans, it's just not worth it.

The people who live in the house at the back have been constantly flouting, they had people over yesterday even though we were in tier 3 at that time. If I see anymore people over there I'm tempted to call the police (Although I think the Mrs will probably try to stop me)
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Personally, I've not even been into a shop since March and I'm very careful.

But at what point will the mixed messages from our government be held at least partly accountable for peoples actions? People have lost trust in the government advice.

- "virus will be under control in 12 weeks"

-"virus will be under control by Xmas"

- They said "It is your duty to go back to the office" in August was it? Back out by September.

-Eat out to help out, government subsidised public mixing indoors without a mask.

-Ease lockdown from December 2nd and prepare for a 5 day Christmas. Last week ridiculing anyone who would "cancel Christmas", then days later doing just that.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Of course they care about children's education. If you accuse them of only caring about the economy then an educated population is essential to that.
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I'm talking specifically in the reason for keeping schools open at the minute, not in the wider realms of their policy on education. The only reason schools are open is that the parents can go to work, as soon as you close schools then parents have to make a decision. They're not keeping schools open because they think it's the right thing to do for children/young adults. Otherwise they wouldn't have closed in the first lockdown.
 
F-Red said:
Keeping schools open is as much about keeping jobs going than anything else, as soon as schools close it then forces a childcare option at home for parents, and not everyone can work from home. It's an illusion to believe that they have some consideration for children's education.
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We can debate the relative merits of keeping them open, but at the moment the only protection against the spread in classrooms are 'bubbles' (which are actually bubbles of 100s when you consider the kids and their households) and opening windows in classrooms. It's literally a fecking joke - no masks, no social distancing etc.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I’m not locking down again. We’ve done it twice already & we have had 9 months of restrictions. It’s clearly not working.

This governing is not robbing me of my late twenties. House piss ups it is.

feck Boris.
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The government's handling of this has been a clusterf*ck, but if people didn't have this attitude we wouldn't have a problem.
 
Roger said:
Just as I thought you couldn't be more of an idiot you exceed expectations, well almost. Not quite on par with the liquid microchip in the vaccine idea you put forward, in a previous post, but pretty damn close.
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New from McCain.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I’m not locking down again. We’ve done it twice already & we have had 9 months of restrictions. It’s clearly not working.

This governing is not robbing me of my late twenties. House piss ups it is.

feck Boris.
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The reason we (and every other country in the West) keep having lockdowns is precisely because it has proved to be the only thing that seems to work in controlling the spread of the virus.
 
berbatrick said:
Can't remember a formal definition, but informally both terms are used interchangeably in my microbio lab. Especially given that we're dealing with a virus here, I can't imagine a difference, an the article doesn't get into it. From that article, the way the professor is talking, a strain seems to be a variant with more changes than a normal variant?
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Wibble said:
From what I read there is no widely agreed definition as to what constitutes a new virus strain, so strain and varient seem to be used interchangeably. I could be wrong of course.

@Pogue Mahone @Tony Babangida @berbatrick - any info re. strain vs variant?

Edit: just seen that @berbatrick has already answered.
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Thanks!

What a waste of an article. Tomato, tomato.
 
SiRed said:
I take no offence in being called an idiot from someone who labels the whole UK population as idiots for a minority of people not following the guidelines. Thanks though Rog!
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Your'e wasting your time If you think I'm going to dignify your childish moments with a response. I've got better things to do and my turkey is arriving today. Enjoy your dog.
 
Player Red said:
The government's handling of this has been a clusterf*ck, but if people didn't have this attitude we wouldn't have a problem.
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I followed the first 2. How much of my life am I expected to give up? Am I to just sit at home & go to work for years without seeing my friends or family? What’s the answer here? Because there doesn’t seem to be one.
 
golden_blunder said:
Assuming you’re serious..

why do you think it hasn’t worked?
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If they worked why do we need another one?

If you’re happy to give up years of your life that’s fine, I’m not. The mental health repercussions of 3 lockdowns is going to be drastic on an awful lot of people. I’m quite lucky I live with my girlfriend, not everybody has that, are people who live alone just expected to spend the rest of their lives alone?
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I followed the first 2. How much of my life am I expected to give up? Am I to just sit at home & go to work for years without seeing my friends or family? What’s the answer here? Because there doesn’t seem to be one.
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At the moment, the hope is that the vaccines will allow us to slowly open up society again over the next 6-12 months, and reach a new equilibrium where the virus doesn't grow uncontrollably again.

If the vaccines (or their take-up) do not prove effective enough to allow that to happen, then I think it would be the time to engage with your point and have a real debate on the risk/reward of long-term restrictions and what is tolerable.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
At the moment, the hope is that the vaccines will allow us to slowly open up society again over the next 6-12 months, and reach a new equilibrium where the virus doesn't grow uncontrollably again.

If the vaccines (or their take-up) do not prove effective enough to allow that to happen, then I think it would be the time to engage with your point and have a real debate on the risk/reward of long-term restrictions and what is tolerable.
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I haven’t seen my parents in over 6 months. The government is not going to stop seeing them over Christmas. If you’re pro-lockdown good for you, I’m done with it. I’ve followed the guidelines for nearly a year & we’re back at square one.
 
Wumminator said:
That is the worst logic I have ever seen.
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The first one was working & we opened up too early. Asking people to lockdown for the 3rd time in 6 months is not going to work. People are done with it now. Doing another lockdown will do nothing. The more times we go into lockdown the less people will follow it.

You may be happy to follow it. I’m not now. I’ve lost nearly a year of my life & we’re no closer to a resolution. Done with it.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I haven’t seen my parents in over 6 months. The government is not going to stop seeing them over Christmas. If you’re pro-lockdown good for you, I’m done with it. I’ve followed the guidelines for nearly a year & we’re back at square one.
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Mate, I get it. I haven't seen my family in even longer than you, and it is painful. I also accept that there will come a point where people will have just had enough and stop complying with restrictions, and for some people that point will arrive sooner than others.

For me, the vaccine is literally being rolled out as we speak. 500k people have been vaccinated in the UK now. Giving up now would be like quitting a marathon in the final couple of miles.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
The first one was working & we opened up too early. Asking people to lockdown for the 3rd time in 6 months is not going to work. People are done with it now. Doing another lockdown will do nothing. The more times we go into lockdown the less people will follow it.

You may be happy to follow it. I’m not now. I’ve lost nearly a year of my life & we’re no closer to a resolution. Done with it.
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We are incredibly close to a resolution.
Keep at it. We’ve got this very bleak winter to get through and then we are there.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
The first one was working & we opened up too early. Asking people to lockdown for the 3rd time in 6 months is not going to work. People are done with it now. Doing another lockdown will do nothing. The more times we go into lockdown the less people will follow it.

You may be happy to follow it. I’m not now. I’ve lost nearly a year of my life & we’re no closer to a resolution. Done with it.
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How are we not close? A vaccine is already out, another is almost getting approved
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
The first one was working & we opened up too early. Asking people to lockdown for the 3rd time in 6 months is not going to work. People are done with it now. Doing another lockdown will do nothing. The more times we go into lockdown the less people will follow it.

You may be happy to follow it. I’m not now. I’ve lost nearly a year of my life & we’re no closer to a resolution. Done with it.
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I doubt many people are happy about following it but they do because it's what needs to be done to save lives.
 
We know a proper lockdown works as shown in March. What has been shown to not work are these half arsed lockdowns and the tier approach. If we continue down the same path of not doing what was done the first time we’ll be back in this position again.
 
Roger said:
Your'e wasting your time If you think I'm going to dignify your childish moments with a response. I've got better things to do and my turkey is arriving today. Enjoy your dog.
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Ok....Thanks for the responses so far Rog :smirk:
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I followed the first 2. How much of my life am I expected to give up? Am I to just sit at home & go to work for years without seeing my friends or family? What’s the answer here? Because there doesn’t seem to be one.
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I mean it’s not like we have vaccines to be rolled out over the next 6 or so months or anything.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I’m not locking down again. We’ve done it twice already & we have had 9 months of restrictions. It’s clearly not working.

This governing is not robbing me of my late twenties. House piss ups it is.

feck Boris.
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You've only got to look and how the infection rates were dramatically driven down during the first lockdown and started to rise as restrictions were lifted. The regional tier system has not exactly been an overwhelming success but did have an effect on driving down infections. What do you seriously think would happen if the virus was given free reign?

We've all had to sacrifice stuff, some more than others and I could understand these comments from someone less mature but come on man your'e in your late twenties. Stick a middle finger up to Boris by all means and while you're at it you can add mine , but I hope that you are not suggesting by house piss ups you will be allowing other people into your home. If you do you will be sticking a middle finger up to everyone else.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I followed the first 2. How much of my life am I expected to give up? Am I to just sit at home & go to work for years without seeing my friends or family? What’s the answer here? Because there doesn’t seem to be one.
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Oh give it a rest. You're at home with an internet connection not locked up in a prison cell.
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
Communications are absolutely vital for public compliance, understating and controlling the virus. I would not describe it as a quibble! :)

point is the outcome has changed, and although you are guessing the outcome will be lockdown after Xmas, once again the communications are mixed, unclear and will not be strategic, but one again last minute changes.

Initially, it was announced that lockdown eased from 2nd December and we had 5 days mixing over Xmas. Now that has changed. It was clear that announcing both of those eases in restrictions would be a disaster, even without a new strain. Look at hospital admission stats in the run up to that announcement and beyond.

I struggle to think how the UK govenrment could have handled this any worse. Highest number of deaths in Europe and worst economic hit.
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The reason you struggle to think that is because you jump on the facts about the UK response you think are bad, and overlook the ones that other countries do that are bad. As time goes on those comparisons hold less and less value, because now supposedly Germany are doing the wrong thing. Or maybe some bad outcomes are inevitable given the situations these countries are dealing with.

For example, the UK does not have the highest number of deaths in Europe. Italy has more. You pay attention to the facts that suit the position you want to take.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I’m not locking down again. We’ve done it twice already & we have had 9 months of restrictions. It’s clearly not working.

This governing is not robbing me of my late twenties. House piss ups it is.

feck Boris.
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You do realise that despite the government not locking down hard enough or early enough, and not closing borders or enforcing proper quarantine, that what has been done has still made thing less shit than they otherwise would have been?

Your self centred attitude is exactly why young people are being blamed even though most, like my 22 year old son, are behaving responsibly.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I’m not locking down again. We’ve done it twice already & we have had 9 months of restrictions. It’s clearly not working.

This governing is not robbing me of my late twenties. House piss ups it is.

feck Boris.
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Well done for posting this here where you leave yourself open to huge criticism and personal insults for not sitting in the corner of a dark room on your own until Boris says you can move.

You sound like me, at the end of you tether. I went to me mums the other day then my brothers. Not seen them for 8 months. This does not make me a bad person, or a murderer or anything else. It makes me a human being. I have sacrificed myself for 9 months now when a lot of people dont seem to have sacrificed anything.
Going there is safer than going to Tesco, or anywhere else whoever will criticise me has been to lately.

I will also be going to another family members house on boxing day. Bite me. Not arsed.
 
Brwned said:
For example, the UK does not have the highest number of deaths in Europe. Italy has more. You pay attention to the facts that suit the position you want to take.
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Isn't the difference between Italy and the UK less than 2,000 deaths ?

It's a pretty close contest tbh.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
The first one was working & we opened up too early. Asking people to lockdown for the 3rd time in 6 months is not going to work. People are done with it now. Doing another lockdown will do nothing. The more times we go into lockdown the less people will follow it.

You may be happy to follow it. I’m not now. I’ve lost nearly a year of my life & we’re no closer to a resolution. Done with it.
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Tbh I get the sentiment I really do. I’ve lost a lot of money this year just on booked flights etc that I’ve been unable to get back. I haven’t seen my girlfriend since March as she’s American and also a student in DC at John Hopkins. I myself just returned to university this year and whilst I’m enjoying it the financial repercussions have been staggering personally with possible negative implications for the future.

Just this Friday we booked a trip to cancun, which after not seeing each other for almost a year, me personally having not left the house other than to go to my local Tesco and the barbers was a godsend. Literally in the hours after we’d booked the news about this strain starting emerging and literally everything that followed. Felt like a massive cruel joke. After waiting since March and having those trips ruined the next time we’ve tried here in December and this is what happens.

It’s been a shitshow, there’s been no clarity and the communications pull you one way and then the other. It’s been deeply frustrating watching people fly all over the place seemingly with no trouble and breaking protocols wily nily.

So yeah I completely understand the sentiment, and whilst the big picture is the vaccine is coming it’s just unfortunately been a huge sacrifice. It’s time and money that people won’t get back and for me personally the timing has made it so that any period of time I’ve got that’s feasible has never lined up. I know people in here are frustrated that appetite to follow rules has diminished and I get that but I think it’s worth bearing in mind each of us is different and none of us know what the other has had to personally endure.
 
I wonder if this new strain is causing more asymptomatic than sympomatic cases? In Essex we had texts from the council for everyone to get tested (no symptoms only), that was on the 10th and then two days later you see the spike in the data for positivity rate.

Isn't it odd for mass testing of the community to suddenly show a higher rate than testing people with just symptoms? Seems to run contrary to expectations.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
I haven’t seen my parents in over 6 months. The government is not going to stop seeing them over Christmas. If you’re pro-lockdown good for you, I’m done with it. I’ve followed the guidelines for nearly a year & we’re back at square one.
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I haven't seen my 21 year old son for a year and it is likely going to be nearly another year before I do. I hate it as does he. However, there is a pandemic going on so we accept that it is what it is.

So suck it up princess. Things will be largely back to normal in 12 months time, which is feck all time in the scheme of things.
 
We've got it so good in this country in truth, we've all had to put up with a lot, made so many sacrifices, dealt with loss and blows to our lives. No ones had the year they expected. I just find people acting a bit spoilt like they don't deserve to have to live like this anymore a bit ridiculous. It is shit, but this isn't going to be our lives forever, but the more people rebel, the longer it will drag on and on.
 
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