Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[NilSatisOptimum]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, we will have this under some control by mid 2020... ±1

Covid-19: No contracts awarded yet for hotel quarantine plan

Moves to isolate all those arriving from Covid variant hotspots must be "got right", No 10 says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[tsubaki]

Seems like the same crap that’s been peddled here - yes, it sounds better to help 100 people a bit rather than help 50 properly, but again we do not know if that vaccine can do that.

I mean, we could easily end up using 300 or even 400 doses on that 100 people in that scenario. It would be a criminal waste of vaccine.

 

[tsubaki]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, we will have this under some control by mid 2020... ±1

Covid-19: No contracts awarded yet for hotel quarantine plan

Moves to isolate all those arriving from Covid variant hotspots must be "got right", No 10 says.

www.bbc.co.uk

£800 for eleven nights in an airport hotel.

Even Priti Patels idea (putting them on tag) was better than that.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

Australia is really a shining example. Watching the ATP Cup in Melbourne, other tournaments in Europe had ball boys wearing masks all the time while running and chasing balls, it was so hard to watch, they were all in sweat, barely being able to breathe with the covering, now Aussies let them do their job without masks. Kudos

 

[tsubaki]

shocking this:

Up to 100 UK children a week hospitalised with rare post-Covid disease

Exclusive: 75% of children worst affected by paediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome are BAME

www.theguardian.com

 

[BlueToff]

Seems like the same crap that’s been peddled here - yes, it sounds better to help 100 people a bit rather than help 50 properly, but again we do not know if that vaccine can do that.

I mean, we could easily end up using 300 or even 400 doses on that 100 people in that scenario. It would be a criminal waste of vaccine.

But importantly, there's also no evidence so far that it can't and there are now studies which suggest the Pfizer one doesn't actually kick in until 21 days. Those studies are currently being peer-reviewed.

 

[BlueToff]

Australia is really a shining example. Watching the ATP Cup in Melbourne, other tournaments in Europe had ball boys wearing masks all the time while running and chasing balls, it was so hard to watch, they were all in sweat, barely being able to breathe with the covering, now Aussies let them do their job without masks. Kudos

Yeah it is, but then again 500-600 players and staff just had to isolate because one cleaner in one hotel tested positive.

It's the way to do it, for now, but there is going to come a time when their winter comes when they have a spike. It's also no form of 'normality' that one case leads to an entire region (1000s of square miles) going into immediate lockdown, even though I agree that that is the absolute right way to do it for now.

 

[BlueToff]

£800 for eleven nights in an airport hotel.

Even Priti Patels idea (putting them on tag) was better than that.

I believe in Australia you have to pay for the quarantine room yourself. @Moomin mentioned something along those lines I believe?

 

[BlueToff]

Probably the safest things to allow first really. Anything outdoors is much lower risk.

Schools and stuff like this will be first. If they can get them back in March (schools that is) it'll be staggered, but it'll all depend on rates on / around Feb 22nd when the announcement will be made.

My guess is mid-April (after Easter, which is April 4th, so the school holidays will end on the 11th) is probably more likely to see a full return to schools and, by then, the majority of the people given their first dose in the last month will have received their second.

I'd guess if that happens between that March 8th staggered return (if indeed that happens) and full return after Easter, then the Tier system will return somewhere around then.

Would expect everywhere apart from very remote areas to be in Tier 3, with a gradual easing to Tier 2 across the board as vaccinations continue and the summer approaches, and perhaps around May time most areas will be Tier 2.

I'm not holding my breath, and the best approach for me would be a very flexible one where if there is any hint of a rise it's an immediate halt on the process. Just saying that's what I think will be the ballpark plan.

 

[tsubaki]

But importantly, there's also no evidence so far that it can't and there are now studies which suggest the Pfizer one doesn't actually kick in until 21 days. Those studies are currently being peer-reviewed.

traditionally you are required to get evidence that a policy works before doing it; I appreciate that isn’t how our current Petri dish rulers do it

 

[Sy-]

I believe in Australia you have to pay for the quarantine room yourself. @Moomin mentioned something along those lines I believe?

I hope that is our policy too:

"Documents suggest ministers expect more than 1,000 UK residents a day to return from places where new variants are prevalent"

Why are these people outside of the country? if they are not UK nationals, why are they trying to come here? entirely likely I am missing something obvious, but outside of initial repatriation I can't think of a single reason for people (travelers) to be crossing boarders since March 2020.

...so yeah, damn right they should pay themselves.

 

[COYBL25]

Looks like Greece is preparing to open up to vaccinated pastie guzzlers and lager swillers in time for the Easter holidays.

 

[tsubaki]

A bit concerning this, at least without any mention they are switching to a better system:


Large numbers of contact tracers have been fired without warning by Test and Trace, after a manager claimed they were told to “reduce the number of staff as the number of cases reduces”.

Sky News reports:

The contact tracers were dismissed on Wednesday with one week’s notice by Sitel, the Dutch outsourcing giant which runs a large part of Test and Trace’s call centre operation.
It is not known how many contact tracers were dismissed, but staff working for Sitel reported that whole teams of around 20 have been dismissed, while other teams have been cut in half.
There has been no official announcement of cuts at Test and Trace, which is still regarded as one of England’s key defences against the virus, despite heavy criticism of its performance.
Internal messages from one manager, seen by Sky News, said that “the client” - that is, Test and Trace - had instructed Sitel to “reduce the number of staff as the number of cases reduces”.
The message added: “At this point in time as a business we need to reduce the number of agents because we have done our jobs.”

A government website shows the Department for Health and Social Care is still recruiting for various managerial positions for Test and Trace, including for a chief of staff at the National COVID Response Centre, a deputy chief of staff, a head of operations at “COVID19 Regional and Local Test Sites”, an “Integration Manager”, a “Business Analyst”, a “head of Data Engineering”, an “Enterprise Architect” and a “Head of Enterprise Architecture”, among others.

from here:

UK Covid live: all over-50s to get a vaccine dose by May, government says

Latest updates: Cabinet Office says all nine priority cohorts to be reached by May, meaning local elections can go ahead

www.theguardian.com

 

[peteblue]

traditionally you are required to get evidence that a policy works before doing it; I appreciate that isn’t how our current Petri dish rulers do it

I could just see you in a hospital bed, at the age of 66, having been told you are about to immediately die from whatever virus, when a Doctor runs in shouting he has a drug, fully proven, that will save your life. Obviously you then ask for proof that enough testing has been done on the over 65’s and that the appropriate paperwork has been submitted and peer reviewed by not only the MHRA and EMA, but each of the EU countries just in case.......there is no such thing as a risk free life...sometimes you just have to go with what the medical people tell you......

 

[COYBL25]

I hope that is our policy too:

"Documents suggest ministers expect more than 1,000 UK residents a day to return from places where new variants are prevalent"

Why are these people outside of the country? if they are not UK nationals, why are they trying to come here? clearly I am missing something obvious, but outside of initial repatriation I can't think of a single reason for people to be crossing boarders since March 2020.

...so yeah, damn right they should pay themselves.

They are people who work outside of the country.

I’ve got two mates who work in “ high risk “ countries areas as specialist crane operators.

I also know another lad who works offshore on a gas platform in a “ high risk “ country.

The reason they are there, is because they get paid quadruple what they get paid here. Not because they want to be there.

Not everyone is on a jolly in Dubai. People are there because their jobs demand them to be there.