Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Spadge Vernacular]

Thanks mate, being told to “stay U.K. and stay safe” and throw my holidays abroad away isn’t helping, I’d rather save my money for a 5 star hotel in Oslo, rather than eat candy floss and drink warm cider in Blackpool. That is not living, it’s depressing yourself, yet all of a sudden it’s the new “cool” thing to do is this holidaying at home rubbish, or a “staycation”.

Social Media is the devil, not only did it get me in trouble at work, when it was just a joke which everyone found funny, apart from the Narc who reported me, it also spreads nasty misinformation and that isn’t good for mental health.

I so hope things will get better again and back to how they used to be, it will be one huge celebration if and when it happens .

If you wanted a put a UK place up against a trip to Oslo I wouldn't be dropping Blackpool at the head of the queue lol - no offence to Sandgrownuns!

There are places in the Lake District, Scotland, the South East and Wales to rival just about anywhere, IMO. Maybe someone should start a staycation thread in the Alehouse if it doesn't exist.

 

[TaffyToffee85]

Next year August, travel should be allowed to Norway. Iceland looks the only decent bet this year as far as abroad is concerned. Still, this is pure shít, but thanks so much for the mental health forum link, a lot of useful stuff in there and people having a laugh in the thread, rather than worrying the rubbish the Tories and conflicting opinions of scientists say .

 

[spectateur]

Seal the borders to the EU, while put Norway, Finland, Faroes and Iceland on the green list. Those are all very low.

But nobody want to go there.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Because we've had 125k deaths because they were so slow last year and last winter.

They're trying to do the legwork now so that there doesn't have to be lockdowns next winter or ever again.

Yep I've read/heard it all before. Lets face it we're locked down again next winter. The subtle messaging is already there from SAGE, Johnson etc.

 

[TaffyToffee85]

Yep I've read/heard it all before. Lets face it we're locked down again next winter. The subtle messaging is already there from SAGE, Johnson etc.

I hope not, Sage just love this pandemic as all the exclusive newspaper interviews with their scientists are making them very wealthy indeed, they and Johnson don’t want it to end.

I so hope we don’t get locked down in Winter, that would be me finished.

 

[BlueToff]

Yep I've read/heard it all before. Lets face it we're locked down again next winter. The subtle messaging is already there from SAGE, Johnson etc.

They've said there's likely to be some restrictions because cases are going to spike - but Whitty has stressed a fair few times that that will happen every year (in terms of a respiratory illness spiking in winter).

But once the country is vaccinated they'd have no leg to stand on with full-scale restrictions. There would be genuine riots.

 

[grandjoeblue]

They've said there's likely to be some restrictions because cases are going to spike - but Whitty has stressed a fair few times that that will happen every year (in terms of a respiratory illness spiking in winter).

But once the country is vaccinated they'd have no leg to stand on with full-scale restrictions. There would be genuine riots.

Indeed there would be riots. The government are one step ahead of this with the new crime bill. Make all protests illegal and then long sentences for the first 1 or 2 major riots. The population will soon comply.

 

[Charro]

May 17th for foreign travel and gatherings of one thousand people indoors.

I doubt either will be happening. That’ll be the first setback of the roadmap imo.

 

[BlueToff]

Indeed there would be riots. The government are one step ahead of this with the new crime bill. Make all protests illegal and then long sentences for the first 1 or 2 major riots. The population will soon comply.

You won't get many judges upholding those if the entire country is rioting.

Johnson is a populist at the end of the day. He's obsessed by having a legacy.

The entire basis of how much they cocked up is they wanted to not go into lockdown. Think how many lives might have been saved had we gone into lockdown not a year ago today, but a year ago on the 16th, for example.

 

[BlueToff]

May 17th for foreign travel and gatherings of one thousand people indoors.

I doubt either will be happening. That’ll be the first setback of the roadmap imo.

Well it looks like the travel ban until June but not sure where the gathering thing being pushed back has come from.

That decision will be made much closer to the time and depends on the success of the trial events.

 

[Spadge Vernacular]

Yep I've read/heard it all before. Lets face it we're locked down again next winter. The subtle messaging is already there from SAGE, Johnson etc.

It is possible but not definite though might require moving from a mitigation strategy to elimination.

That said once the production capacity is in place for booster jabs we should be OK regardless, outside of any implementation considerations.

 

[BlueToff]

It is all very big brother though, and I just hope those who were insisting lockdown has to be the answer realise why it was always a concern for people.

It's a free world - or should be.

 

[grandjoeblue]

You won't get many judges upholding those if the entire country is rioting.

Johnson is a populist at the end of the day. He's obsessed by having a legacy.

The entire basis of how much they cocked up is they wanted to not go into lockdown. Think how many lives might have been saved had we gone into lockdown not a year ago today, but a year ago on the 16th, for example.

Saving lives will be the justification for further lockdowns. Johnson would win an election today despite 125,000 deaths. You see it in this thread, people are generally scared and will comply with lockdowns. Personally I've just realised its time to adjust to the 'new normal' and just admit that lockdown is life now.

It is possible but not definite though might require moving from a mitigation strategy to elimination.

That said once the production capacity is in place for booster jabs we should be OK regardless, outside of any implementation considerations.

Elimination strategies are impossible. Never going to happen.

 

[BlueToff]

It is possible but not definite though might require moving from a mitigation strategy to elimination.

That said once the production capacity is in place for booster jabs we should be OK regardless, outside of any implementation considerations.

Once people are vaccinated there really is no excuse.

Shutting down the globe for something which has a mortality rate below or around 1% is bad enough as it is, but it's been done to ensure that the mortality rate did stay that low, I know.

Shutting stuff down when people have been vaccinated against said illness, rendering it about as dangerous as the common cold (which some people do end up in hospital with) isn't on.

 

[brieverton]

They've said there's likely to be some restrictions because cases are going to spike - but Whitty has stressed a fair few times that that will happen every year (in terms of a respiratory illness spiking in winter).

But once the country is vaccinated they'd have no leg to stand on with full-scale restrictions. There would be genuine riots.

Agreed. I think there is a high possibility of some element of the less stringent and precautionary restrictions returning over the winter, and/or a pre-emptive circuit breaker. Working from home, mask wearing, social distancing. I don't think there is an appetite anywhere for furlough and business closures.

The unknowns are how long vaccines provide immunity for, and further variants. By the winter, it is open to question that the vaccine efficacy of the large cohort of people inoculated first, may be compromised due to the passage of time, and emergence of additional variants. If so, we are effectively into a repeat mass roll-out operation for boosters.

The test is to see how a vaccinated adult population, with effective herd immunity, copes with the first full winter and Christmas under those conditions. Therefore I think there can be a justifiable combination of reasonable precautionary activity over the winter, coupled with equally reasonable continuation of social life and business activity.

By February / March next year, I think in epidemiological terms, we should have a definitive understanding of whether we are effectively over this or not. Between now and then its a data and numbers exercise, whilst beefing up public health infrastructure and allowing society to return to a high degree of normality whilst remaining vigilant.