Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[jaycee]

That Brazil variant looks bad

 

[Nymzee]

Construction needs to stop.
Highway repairs like pot hole work needs to stop.
Religious attendance should stop (put it all online).
Garden centres need closing.
Takeaways need to stop.
Coffee shops closed.
A curfew should be considered and public transport shutdown to help keep it.

If you ban takeaways that's more people in supermarkets which you hate so not sure how you win there.

 

[BlueToff]

Construction needs to stop.
Highway repairs like pot hole work needs to stop.
Religious attendance should stop (put it all online).
Garden centres need closing.
Takeaways need to stop.
Coffee shops closed.
A curfew should be considered and public transport shutdown to help keep it.

What about key workers who need to get to work or home from work after curfew? And use public transport to do it?

Construction shouldn't have to stop. It has hardly stopped anywhere across Europe in all of this. However, I agree that you shouldn't be working in an office unless you 100% have to, because it can mostly be done remotely, and any sites should be adhering to the strictest health and safety rules. I work in construction, I see the systems an SME has in place because we work with some massive clients. It should be the same across the board.

My mate works for Yorkshire Water. He's been out in his van every day same as ever since this whole thing started. He classes as a key worker. Would you stop that? What about emergency gas repairs etc? It all comes under infrastructure and construction.

Takeaways weren't shut the first time. They were however only online. I think that would help but again, people queue up outside, in masks. What's the difference between them and a supermarket?

Shops are shut.

 

[PhilM]

Takes 7-10 days for someone to be hospitalised, though, Phil.

So we should - in theory - start to see the impact on hospitalisations drop soon.

Cases are starting a steady decline it seems.

Everything has to be taken like you're looking through a telescope. Deaths and hospitalisations happening now (the ones not recorded from 28 days ago obviously) are results of infections 10-14 days ago.

Mid-Feb was the target for the vulnerable to get vaccinated so I fully don't expect us out of this form of lockdown until early March at the very earliest (and I think that would be hopeful).

End of March, by the time even more are vaccinated, we could start see restrictions lifted. And I guess they'll go into tiers again. And like I've said before, as long as they don't do anything daft, like put London into a more relaxed tier, then that should work while the vaccinations continue at pace.

They are, which is only a positive. However, as @grandjoeblue mentioned we're still currently seeing between 40,000 to 50,000 infections per day albeit a decline.

When you take into consideration the lag of infections to hospitalisation / deaths, the projections for the start of February aren't as rosy as we'd perhaps like.

Hopefully, we are in a state come mid-February where we can consider schools being opened, but my hunch is that it may be a few weeks after that.

I can already interpret the news stories where daily deaths are around the 600-700 mark and Johnson is saying schools won't cause a surge in transmission.

 

[davek]

If you ban takeaways that's more people in supermarkets which you hate so not sure how you win there.

Pick up takeways.

Takeaways can be home delivered.

 

[strummer]

This makes grim reading. It means the deaths will keep on coming. So when someone winds up in hospital and on a ventilator and they get asked “have you been vaccinated”, and they say “I didn’t want it”, how do the nurses react to that? Unbelievable Jeff.

The same thing applies in this country. We've got anti lockdown and anti vaccine idiots in this thread.although they've gone a bit quiet lately

 

[grandjoeblue]

Depends what you define as normal mate, but I'm confident you wont be waiting until 2023 to be able to have something that resembles a normal day again.

I think this summer will be similar to last summer. Far from normal and then next winter we will be back in lockdown due to new variants.

I've pretty much gave up on hoping for normality to resume. At this stage I'm just hoping they don't bring in further restrictions.

 

[BlueToff]

They are, which is only a positive. However, as @grandjoeblue mentioned we're still currently seeing between 40,000 to 50,000 infections per day albeit a decline.

When you take into consideration the lag of infections to hospitalisation / deaths, the projections for the start of February aren't as rosy as we'd perhaps like.

Hopefully, we are in a state come mid-February where we can consider schools being opened, but my hunch is that it may be a few weeks after that.

I can already interpret the news stories where daily deaths are around the 600-700 mark and Johnson is saying schools won't cause a surge in transmission.

Massive numbers of tests though mate. We've done 4,178,802 this past week - up 775,088 from the previous week.

But yeah I agree in general. Has to be cautious. Have said myself I don't see why they'd send schools back until at least Easter and after that, just do limited numbers.

I don't think anyone is saying there'll be rosy projections. I imagine we'll be seeing over 1,000 deaths for the 28 day cut off probably until early Feb at least. But you'll also factor that against 300,000+ (hopefully) people per day receiving a dose of vaccine.

First goal is for them to hit that 14m target asap. Then from there, that's at least the people who desperately need the vaccine having received it/their first dose. From there you can build. I wouldn't rush anything - I've been in lockdown over 2 1/2 months now, so I can handle a bit more - but it all has to be factored in and just see where we're at in a months' time I'd say.

 

[maccavennie]

I think this summer will be similar to last summer. Far from normal and then next winter we will be back in lockdown due to new variants.

I've pretty much gave up on hoping for normality to resume. At this stage I'm just hoping they don't bring in further restrictions.

Well mate all I can say from personal experience is try and stay positive, I know it's a hard slog mate and some days are certainly harder than others. But try and remain positive, have people around you who keep you positive and whether it be this summer, next summer, the summer after....make sure you are there to enjoy all the good things we'll all still be able to look forward to.

 

[davek]

What about key workers who need to get to work or home from work after curfew? And use public transport to do it?

Construction shouldn't have to stop. It has hardly stopped anywhere across Europe in all of this. However, I agree that you shouldn't be working in an office unless you 100% have to, because it can mostly be done remotely, and any sites should be adhering to the strictest health and safety rules. I work in construction, I see the systems an SME has in place because we work with some massive clients. It should be the same across the board.

My mate works for Yorkshire Water. He's been out in his van every day same as ever since this whole thing started. He classes as a key worker. Would you stop that? What about emergency gas repairs etc? It all comes under infrastructure and construction.

Takeaways weren't shut the first time. They were however only online. I think that would help but again, people queue up outside, in masks. What's the difference between them and a supermarket?

Shops are shut.

Scotland and Ireland are operating a tough line on construction.

Anything that's non-essential to a ticking over of utilities should be avoided.

Public transport under a curfew should be solely for essential staff at hospitals and care homes etc like nurses, cleaners and auxiliaries.

Apart from supermarkets retail should be closed.

 

[Nymzee]

Pick up takeways.

Takeaways can be home delivered.

I'd say 90% of takeaways are delivered not collected even before COVID.

 

[roydo]

Scotland and Ireland are operating a tough line on construction.

Anything that's non-essential to a ticking over of utilities should be avoided.

Public transport under a curfew should be solely for essential staff at hospitals and care homes etc like nurses, cleaners and auxiliaries.

Apart from supermarkets retail should be closed.

Apart from other food shops, retail is closed.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Well mate all I can say from personal experience is try and stay positive, I know it's a hard slog mate and some days are certainly harder than others. But try and remain positive, have people around you who keep you positive and whether it be this summer, next summer, the summer after....make sure you are there to enjoy all the good things we'll all still be able to look forward to.

Nice one, I'm not really struggling in all honesty. I have just gave up trying to be positive and I'm just ticking over with this situation. I think 2021 will be the same as 2020, its out of my control so it is what it is.

 

[BlueToff]

Scotland and Ireland are operating a tough line on construction.

Anything that's non-essential to a ticking over of utilities should be avoided.

Public transport under a curfew should be solely for essential staff at hospitals and care homes etc like nurses, cleaners and auxiliaries.

Apart from supermarkets retail should be closed.

Okay, I can agree there.

The company I work for - we're currently building schools in the Civils department (is that essential, I imagine so?) and then the one other job we have on is drilling out to a windfarm.

There's skeleton staff on site and they're all having to follow strict guidance. Masks at all times. They all already wear overalls and full PPE anyway.

Halfords and the like - that was open in March. There were no issues. People should be allowed to exercise and places like Halfords do repairs on bikes etc. It can all be done click and collect too, so again, no issues with social distancing.

 

[maccavennie]

Nice one, I'm not really struggling in all honesty. I have just gave up trying to be positive and I'm just ticking over with this situation. I think 2021 will be the same as 2020, its out of my control so it is what it is.

Never give up on positivity mate, it's amazing how infectious it to those around us and can really help people in tough times.

Apart from that mate you seem like a good soul and in a good place all things considered