Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Deleted member 48881]

No. From now on.

I still dont think a lot of people have accepted long term reality here.

There's no way back to our former lives. The environment has changed for us and we have to adapt.

No way, you can't force youngesters to wear mask at a Rammstein concert in 2022 or 2023, you yourself, personally may wear it forever though.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Yeah, when everybody got the shot twice, no way it will be a forced choice, rather people will be free to wear or not. I reckon around half of the population will still be wearing out of habit till like end of 2021.

I'm not even bothered about wearing one but once deaths are down to almost zero and the mandates are stopped I definitely wouldn't wear one.

 

[Number_25]

Texas are leading the way Dave (although slightly too early in my opinion).

Normality is approaching. Two doses of vaccine and over 90% of deaths are prevented. Normality resumes and all the covid hotspots which you hate will be back open.

Again, please apply some nuance. If we let rip, the chances are that the virus will mutate in a manner that makes current vaccines redundant. The best course of action is a slow re-opening, things like schools should be prioritised over recreational activities.

We can defeat the virus, we just need to be ambitious. We do it because it's hard, not easy.

 

[peteblue]

Northern Ireland has given more vaccines to its people than the ROI...NI has given a jab to 1/3 of its population and ROI has done 1/11, and they are one of the best in the EU. The UK should give ROI some vaccine to get the whole island up to a similar level.......

 

[grandjoeblue]

Again, please apply some nuance. If we let rip, the chances are that the virus will mutate in a manner that makes current vaccines redundant. The best course of action is a slow re-opening, things like schools should be prioritised over recreational activities.

We can defeat the virus, we just need to be ambitious. We do it because it's hard, not easy.

Which is exactly whats happening?..

Schools are opening next week? Barely anything else is opening properly until May.

 

[davek]

I think they will be on transport, in shops etc

They won't be at events like concerts, because that's just daft because it takes away the whole point of going. Even the match.

Not that you'd go, or see any value in people being able to have fun.

There's a trade off that we all accept as the acceptable level. We aren't there yet with COVID. Hopefully, when the vaccine roll out has fully got to every clinically vulnerable person, and by that point every other adult in the UK will have had their first jab too, then we'll be much closer to that position.

Maybe. And that's why I said it'll take hundreds of thousands more deaths for this to become a long term reality in our lives. We have policy makers who just dont get it and dont want to get it because their primary objective is not savinmg lives but creating the conditions to make money.

Unfortunately, this is the reality that you cant or wont face up to.

 

[BlueToff]

I'm not even bothered about wearing one but once deaths are down to almost zero and the mandates are stopped I definitely wouldn't wear one.

If the trade off of getting to go to a gig or a match - which for most people happens tops 10-15 times a year (most people aren't season ticket holders etc) - is to wear a mask on transport, or in a shop, I think most people would go along with it.

You go to a supermarket or shop more times than you do a gig.

 

[Number_25]

Which is exactly whats happening?..

Schools are opening next week? Barely anything else is opening properly until May.

Again, I think the timeline is too short. Whilst cases have dropped substantially, it doesn't take much for the R-rate to spike again - and for hospitalisations to occur - and for the virus to mutate (again).

 

[davek]

Again, I think the timeline is too short. Whilst cases have dropped substantially, it doesn't take much for the R-rate to spike again - and for hospitalisations to occur - and for the virus to mutate (again).

It will surge again in the weeks after a full school reopening. It's typical of this lot that they will not bide time to allow the virus to be sufficiently suppressed. It's why this country has the worst per capita fatality rate in the world.

 

[BlueToff]

Maybe. And that's why I said it'll take hundreds of thousands more deaths for this to become a long term reality in our lives. We have policy makers who just dont get it and dont want to get it because their primary objective is not savinmg lives but creating the conditions to make money.

You keep banging on about money - and fine, it's obviously a large part.

But it's completely missing and negating the social aspect of it all.

Nobody wants to go to a gig and wear a mask, or even the match. It's just daft. It takes away the point - especially at something communal like a gig, or even a bloody conference/exhibition if that's your thing.

Human interaction. We're social creatures.

From a more economic viewpoint, having to wear a mask every time you stand up in a pub or a cafe or whatever, that then puts people off going, which in turn then makes those businesses lose money, which costs jobs, livelihoods etc

For an illness that - if the vaccines keep working as they are, which yes will be a long road but also there's no evidence to suggest they won't - will be completely manageable, the thought of it is just ludicrous.

In confined spaces where lots of people frequent public transport, or supermarkets, even retail, I get it and agree it should stay here for a while as one of the extra tools to try and keep levels under control alongside the vaccine.

 

[BlueToff]

Again, I think the timeline is too short. Whilst cases have dropped substantially, it doesn't take much for the R-rate to spike again - and for hospitalisations to occur - and for the virus to mutate (again).

They expect cases to rise with every phase of the opening.

It's gonna happen. But, stuff needs to open.

The timescales aren't too short at all. There's 3 weeks until the Easter holidays. That will give a natural end to the school section, and also give enough data to see if anything needs to be pushed back.

It'll be a minor miracle if we get the dates that have been suggested, but we know that.

There comes a point where you have to try things. Somehow the has to be that first step.

The CMOs explained very clearly why they are giving the 5 week breaks in between each one. It's 4 weeks to assess, a week to then make any changes if needed.

 

[davek]

You keep banging on about money - and fine, it's obviously a large part.

But it's completely missing and negating the social aspect of it all.

Nobody wants to go to a gig and wear a mask, or even the match. It's just daft. It takes away the point - especially at something communal like a gig, or even a bloody conference/exhibition if that's your thing.

Human interaction. We're social creatures.

From a more economic viewpoint, having to wear a mask every time you stand up in a pub or a cafe or whatever, that then puts people off going, which in turn then makes those businesses lose money, which costs jobs, livelihoods etc

For an illness that - if the vaccines keep working as they are, which yes will be a long road but also there's no evidence to suggest they won't - will be completely manageable, the thought of it is just ludicrous.

In confined spaces where lots of people frequent public transport, or supermarkets, even retail, I get it and agree it should stay here for a while as one of the extra tools to try and keep levels under control alongside the vaccine.

It doesn't matter what people want. If their activity cant be done safely for themselves and others and it constanlty leads to a destabilisation of the society you say is uppermost in your mind to keep stable, it needs sorting.

It's you, not me who will throw all our lives that into constant instability for the sake of doing simple things like face masking and social distancing.

 

[Number_25]

There comes a point where you have to try things. Somehow the has to be that first step.

We've tried things before, things that completely neglected the science, and we now have one of the highest deaths per capita in the world.

I don't want people having to feel the same way I did when I told that an otherwise healthy family member passed due to this virus, a virus that could have been contained if we had followed the science from day zero.

 

[davek]

No way, you can't force youngesters to wear mask at a Rammstein concert in 2022 or 2023, you yourself, personally may wear it forever though.

Then "Rammstein" concerts wont take place.

 

[BlueToff]

It doesn't matter what people want. If their activity cant be done safely for themselves and others and it constanlty leads to a destabilisation of the society you say is uppermost in your mind to keep stable.

It's you, not me who throw all that into constant instability for the sake of doing simple things like face masking and social distancing.

We live in a free world, so yes, it does.

That's why there's a trade off. We get to a point where, if there is no significant damage or risk of harm to others, then we do things that we want to do, that are enjoyable.

We are, as I clearly said, not there with COVID. Not yet. The crucial aspect is the vaccine because it keeps the illness manageable. But, we have to be careful of new variants etc.