I really hope they only allow travel to countries in a very similar position to us with vaccines etc.
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
I really hope they only allow travel to countries in a very similar position to us with vaccines etc.
I've zoned out of most things news-related, do we know if office workers will continue to work from home after June, or will it still be advised after that date?
At the moment, they're advising people to work from home until June 21st. After that date I expect it to go back to an employers decision as to where people work from.
Ah gotcha, thanks for the clarification
Yeah, I’m sure there’s a publication waiting to be written looking at a correlation between average daily number of visitors from foreign countries and deaths from covid.
I see waiting lists in hospitals in Ireland have doubled since Covid began.
Will we look back on this in a few years when we've more information and see that the affects of the lockdowns have been far more detrimental than Covid itself? I mean obviously lockdowns are needed so as to not overwhelm the health service but I do think what we're seeing now is nothing compared to the indirect deaths and heartache this will cause long term, which is why it's so frustrating to see our government piss about in level 5 endlessly.
Will we look back on this in a few years when we've more information and see that the affects of the lockdowns have been far more detrimental than Covid itself? I mean obviously lockdowns are needed so as to not overwhelm the health service but I do think what we're seeing now is nothing compared to the indirect deaths and heartache this will cause long term, which is why it's so frustrating to see our government piss about in level 5 endlessly.
I would say 100% for sure we will.
It's not either/or though is it?
I mean it's not like all the additional people on waiting lists would have been happily & efficiently dealt with if the lockdowns hadn't happened and COVID was spreading rampantly. The virus itself would disrupt those unrelated treatments.
It's the same when people argue about the economic damage of the lockdown not being worth it. It ignores the fact that a huge portion of that economic damage would have occurred just from having the virus, even without responding with lockdowns. Because when there are huge numbers of people being hospitalised and dying, behaviours adjust and systems falter.
Geography is not the most important reason that Nordic countries did less poorly than others. That is triviliasing the correct approaches taken here.
Sure, I'm not debating that it's black and white. I think all three lockdowns were essential, though this one would have been far less damaging if the government hadn't peddled that "meaningful Christmas" crap but I also think the exit from all three was shambolic, overly cautious and in the wrong areas every single time. Yet again we're going to send schools back first even though that worked out shite last time. Yet again the pubs, hairdressers etc. get f'ed over despite being proven to not be major spreading areas of the virus. It's crazy. At this rate the rest of Europe will be fully open before we can even get the mops on our head cut! I mean what's even the point of the 5km rule at this stage if the parks are all rammed with people cause they can't go anywhere else?
All I'm saying is we'll probably look back on this lockdown especially and the ridiculously over drawn exit from it and the damage will likely be horrific. This is not living with Covid, it's hiding from it.
Hmmm. Not sure I agree with that . We’ve even got Sweden as a control group. Didn’t take the same “correct” approach as other Nordic countries yet ended up considerably less severely affected than other Western European countries who locked down much more rigorously.
Well the sheer fact that Swe has 7 (seven!) times bigger numbers than Fin/Nor already pretty much disapproves geography as an important explainer. Also depends what you mean with geography, North, East, South means feck all (actually North is at disadvantage bcs of weather!), population density obviously matters.
Nordic countries are least corrupt in the world, have better social security systems, better trust in government and so on and so on. All of which are better explainers than geography. And Sweden benefits from these.
Actually, “geography” was probably the wrong word. There are loads of factors at play here but I’m willing to bet that the movement of people is the single biggest factor.
Countries that are in or around major transport hubs were hit the hardest, early on in the pandemic (once it spread beyond Italy anyway). With the second wave it looks like tourist destinations also got hammered pretty bad.
For European countries that don’t typically have significant business travel or summer tourist trade it was probably a lot easier to keep on top of the virus.
I am speculating though! Could be wrong.
I would go with this this time
Think I could convince you if I wasted 1h of my life, but we can leave it at this I agree with this. Even now, I've seen many people online trivialize the correct approaches taken that actually worked and helped lower fatalities, by wrongly comparing them against countries that supposedly did not lockdown. There are actually huge amounts of factors that helped contain the virus, and one of the key factors include lockdowns. Forcing schools to reopen for one day and then closing it the next day is not one of them. And these kinds of ridiculous policies have been a huge reason why lockdowns have not been as effective as some other countries. To claim afterwards that lockdowns don't work is disingenuous.
Having said that, lockdown is the weapon of last resort. It is the nuke option when all is lost. Ideally, all countries should have closed borders and implemented social distancing and contact tracing and mask wearing from the beginning. A clear protocol that is enforced properly would have helped countries stay semi open while numbers kept low. Almost all countries failed this with only few exceptions. Therefore, a lockdown was inevitable. To see the insane pro business narrative I've seen going around on social media to just blindly reopen and that lockdowns are useless is shocking.
A work colleague of my wife took her 92 year old father to hospital for an operation about 3 weeks ago , got a phone call the next day saying he had been potentially exposed to covid so the op was put off for 10 days to make sure he wasn`t positive and he had to isolate . After the ten days he was thankfully negative , had the op then she had another phone call saying he may have been exposed again , it turns out there has been an outbreak and the old man is quite poorly as he has now tested positive.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56160872
Fingers crossed for him , my wifes friend can`t even visit her dad.
Meanwhile , my next door neighbours family come and stay every other weekend from Preston .
It seems like some people are affected and others are just carrying on as if nothing is going on.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56160872
Fingers crossed for him , my wifes friend can`t even visit her dad.
Meanwhile , my next door neighbours family come and stay every other weekend from Preston .
It seems like some people are affected and others are just carrying on as if nothing is going on.
Ive just been given an appointment for my Vaccine, and whilst Im delighted, and cant wait for saturday I dont know why I am getting it yet? Im 39, no underlying health risks apart from very very mild asthma, (I havent used an inhaler in five years) Im not going to say no but feel slightly cheeky for getting it?
That's very frustrating to hear. I hope your wife's friend's dad turns out alright. And justice is met on your neighbours.
Yeh mate , the old guy has got a raging temperature and nasty cough but the worst part is his daughter can`t go to see him and is just going off what she is being told . Horrible situation.
The neighbour is just a bell end , totally ignored restrictions from day one .
Where are you based?
On your age, it would class you as Group 6 in the JCVI's ranking:
I know there was a reporter in Liverpool recently who got invited for the vaccine, was a result of them having the wrong height for him on his records. It resulted in them giving him a crazy high BMI, and they put him as a priority based on that. Not saying that your in the similar boat.
If you've had an invitation, I wouldn't worry and just take your opportunity.
Is having a high BMI on its own enough to be top of the queue right now?
Hereford England
America passes the 500,000 dead mark.
Trump has really done a number.
Trump has really done a number.
Not that I'm aware of, but it triggered an invite to this reporter to get one in Liverpool so it made me think that they might be factoring it into their selection criteria.
On a personal note, my Mum finally got her appointment through today which is a big weight lifted.
This poor chap would be at the top of the queue if it was
Edit - well he was at the top of the queue.
For what it's worth I didn't blame the November restrictions - they were a response to a steady increase in cases since October. I blamed lifting of those restrictions for Christmas, which was exactly what caused loss of control @Pogue Mahone . We weren't in lockdown during the most critical period, when families got together by the dozens, students travel from cities back to their hometowns, etc. A mild lockdown after the chaos and situation is getting under control again. This is so predictable and obvious that makes it the more appalling that restrictions were eased below baseline for the most critical period.
The "preparing for Christmas" comment was a criticism of political discourse. In November they were trying to goad people into behaving well so that restrictions could be lifted. And they were.
By the way, we didn't have a proper lockdown since the first wave. What I mean by "lockdown" is restriction of social events, such as reastaurants and bars, private gatherings etc. Schools were kept open during the first trimester. At most, in critical times, curfew has been imposed after 8pm and a bit earlier on weekends. Early in the pandemic they enforced restrictions on traveling between areas too, to better control the "private" gatherings part. None of this was applied for Christmas, it was basically a free-for-all with masks on. Which people don't use in prolivate gatherings anyway..
I saw that yesterday and was a bit confused about why just being obese was enough to get a vaccine already.
Congrats on your mum’s appointment. Must be a huge relief. Will be another few weeks before my folks get done. The wait is painful.
Why do vaccines appear to be slowing now?
Massively, more for her benefit than anything else. She's a level below shielding status so didn't any support benefits from it, but has remained in a very quiet existence in the past year. Her first grand child was born just before lockdown so hopefully she now gets time to get to know her properly.
Last week it was reported that there is going to a slight dip in Pfizer supply due to a rephrasing of their delivery schedule. It looks like it'll pick up in March.
I have a cunning plan. Eat loads, get obese and get jabbed early
Morbid obesity is
Well, that's ridiculous. What about alcoholics and smokers?
Its being used as a catch net for people that might have a undiagnosed disease
You're not alone. Saw a few very mild asthmatics today (including many who haven't been on a preventer or used any relievers for yonks). I think the invitations for the clinically vulnerable are based on algorithms that pick up major, active clinical conditions coded on primary care software system at GP practices. For a few conditions I think their algorithm isn't great at differentiating asthmatics well.
Don't feel cheeky though, not your fault. I was happy to give out the vaccines today to everyone including some very young, slightly bemused patients who came in.
Good news is that in March we are due to have a huge influx of Pfizer as well which is encouraging
Full list is aged sixteen and over with the conditions listed below. Alcoholics and smokers would depend if they have organ dysfunction/clinical disease
America passes the 500,000 dead mark.
Trump has really done a number.
UK is the same per capita.
I have been wondering this, big drop in daily rates.