Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[degsy]

Exactly - but it’s doing the hard work now that’s vital. If we have a third lockdown after all this, them continuing to be the government is surely unsustainable.

Next election is nearly 3yrs away I think...the most that might happen is a change of PM, but that was always a mooted option from the day he got the job...but as my former MP said - a week is a long time in politics.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Went to a concert last night, which was the first time in flipping ages. Takes a bit of practice being around people again. The central line tube to get there especially as it was surprisingly busy (I say that, it was at 5.30 so it shouldn't be, but the City has been a ghost town for the last year), and it was standing room only in the carriage with perhaps 50% not wearing a mask (despite the carriage being plastered with signs telling us to). You could certainly imagine how someone of an anxious disposition would be put off.

 

[Mrk]

All good points and all valid. To answer your question, probably at a time when the vaccine profile hasn’t detiorated to what it has now. It’s not just about deaths, we are finding long term chronic damage to people exposed to covid on a daily basis. People talk about vaccines, like that’s it, a reverse Logan’s run. The vaccines are dynamic they waine over time. I’m due a third in autumn as my immunity will be thread bare coming into winter - I got mine in Jan, like many of the most vulnerable. In that context letting this virus purposely rip through the population, 6 weeks before Autumn, well like I say it comes with a big public health risk.

Was reading a study on Delta and household earlier, Alpha on average infected 60% of a household if one person was infected, Delta 100% I pointed out the trend of exponential growth back at 200 cases weeks ago, today it’s close to 30k. Delta needs to be suppressed before the winter. Was talking to someone in the NHS yesterday, they are so dispirited by U.K. public health policy, they’ve worked so hard through waves of this and are knackered, then public policy is essentially going to let this rip through the population, from a healthcare point of view after a year of this it’s very dispiriting. The mask thing is just bananas.

All your points are valid, but equally so are mine, not sure both can be reconciled, so it’s back to my original point, you’d query the motivation behind the public health decisions made.

Agree, and ultimately I think this is my point - there has to be a balance. Every decision taken is a choice between saving lives or livelihoods, but now that the most vulnerable are protected (not completely, I grant you, but still to a substantial degree), I find it hard to continue to support prolonging the economic scarring. That's not to say there isn't a middle ground, for example, I'd have no issue with mandating masks should be worn indoors until everyone is fully vaccinated, but how much difference that will make I'm not sure.

I think the biggest worry in terms of the economy is timing - if we don't open up in the summer with all the benefits that brings, when will we? If we try and suppress it over the summer but then open up in the autumn/winter, we'll see a resurgence at a time when the NHS can least afford to deal with it and we know for a fact it spreads much more easily in winter. So what then? Hang on until winter is over and open up then? Before you know it, it's March 2022. That might be fine for huge corporations or businesses adept at WFH, but as somebody who employs people and works with a lot of SMEs, I can hand on heart say that there's no way they'll be able to survive much longer if economic restrictions continue - they've taken on huge levels of debt just to survive until this point.

 

[Mrk]

Went to a concert last night, which was the first time in flipping ages. Takes a bit of practice being around people again. The central line tube to get there especially as it was surprisingly busy (I say that, it was at 5.30 so it shouldn't be, but the City has been a ghost town for the last year), and it was standing room only in the carriage with perhaps 50% not wearing a mask (despite the carriage being plastered with signs telling us to). You could certainly imagine how someone of an anxious disposition would be put off.

Genuinely do just find it unbelievable that people don't wear a mask on the tube - you couldn't ask for a better breeding ground for the virus. That's just next-level idiocy.

 

[bluelife]

Genuinely do just find it unbelievable that people don't wear a mask on the tube - you couldn't ask for a better breeding ground for the virus. That's just next-level idiocy.

Don't undestimate the seflishness of this population. But also find comfort in it still being a minority!

 

[mill]

Went to a concert last night, which was the first time in flipping ages. Takes a bit of practice being around people again. The central line tube to get there especially as it was surprisingly busy (I say that, it was at 5.30 so it shouldn't be, but the City has been a ghost town for the last year), and it was standing room only in the carriage with perhaps 50% not wearing a mask (despite the carriage being plastered with signs telling us to). You could certainly imagine how someone of an anxious disposition would be put off.

That’s interesting because having got the tube a few times a various times nearly everyone had a mask on. Less so on the bus.

I honestly don’t understand why it’s such an inconvenience to people.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

Went to a concert last night, which was the first time in flipping ages. Takes a bit of practice being around people again. The central line tube to get there especially as it was surprisingly busy (I say that, it was at 5.30 so it shouldn't be, but the City has been a ghost town for the last year), and it was standing room only in the carriage with perhaps 50% not wearing a mask (despite the carriage being plastered with signs telling us to). You could certainly imagine how someone of an anxious disposition would be put off.

If I can't sing out loud without a barrier on my face what's the point? You already are putting yourself at risk with being among such a crowd indoor, (you know it) so I also wouldn't wear a mask, kills all the gig mood and makes you feel alert....

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That’s interesting because having got the tube a few times a various times nearly everyone had a mask on. Less so on the bus.

I honestly don’t understand why it’s such an inconvenience to people.

The Northern Line to Bank was both quiet and also very good in terms of mask usage (I think all on the carriage I was in had one), it was changing at Bank onto the Central line where things got a lot busier and a lot less observant of the mask rule. I certainly wouldn't want to draw any wider conclusions on that one experience, but just saying I could very much imagine if that was more common how people would feel pretty uneasy.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If I can't sing out loud without a barrier on my face what's the point? You already are putting yourself at risk with being among such a crowd indoor, (you know it) so I also wouldn't wear a mask, kills all the gig mood and makes you feel alert....

The gig itself was pretty well arranged. Waiters took orders rather than a bar, seats were well spaced out, and you weren't allowed to stand. You also had to wear a mask if you weren't drinking. It was perhaps slightly more middle class than many gigs

 

[Deleted member 48881]

Yesterday;
Germany cases: +712 deaths: +35
UK cases: +28,773 deaths: +37

Is this down to super super vaccination rate or over testing?

 

[TN Toffee]

The Northern Line to Bank was both quiet and also very good in terms of mask usage (I think all on the carriage I was in had one), it was changing at Bank onto the Central line where things got a lot busier and a lot less observant of the mask rule. I certainly wouldn't want to draw any wider conclusions on that one experience, but just saying I could very much imagine if that was more common how people would feel pretty uneasy.

I think the wider conclusion here is that the Central Line is THE WORST. I’ve hated every time I’ve been on it. Hot as hell (even in winter), crowded AF, and the trains themselves are deafening at times.

 

[roydo]

Yesterday;
Germany cases: +712 deaths: +35
UK cases: +28,773 deaths: +37

Is this down to super super vaccination rate or over testing?

Bit of both I would guess. And it just a guess.

 

[mill]

The Northern Line to Bank was both quiet and also very good in terms of mask usage (I think all on the carriage I was in had one), it was changing at Bank onto the Central line where things got a lot busier and a lot less observant of the mask rule. I certainly wouldn't want to draw any wider conclusions on that one experience, but just saying I could very much imagine if that was more common how people would feel pretty uneasy.

Funnily enough the northern line to bank is the line I use the most!

 

[Neiler]

Agree, and ultimately I think this is my point - there has to be a balance. Every decision taken is a choice between saving lives or livelihoods, but now that the most vulnerable are protected (not completely, I grant you, but still to a substantial degree), I find it hard to continue to support prolonging the economic scarring. That's not to say there isn't a middle ground, for example, I'd have no issue with mandating masks should be worn indoors until everyone is fully vaccinated, but how much difference that will make I'm not sure.

I think the biggest worry in terms of the economy is timing - if we don't open up in the summer with all the benefits that brings, when will we? If we try and suppress it over the summer but then open up in the autumn/winter, we'll see a resurgence at a time when the NHS can least afford to deal with it and we know for a fact it spreads much more easily in winter. So what then? Hang on until winter is over and open up then? Before you know it, it's March 2022. That might be fine for huge corporations or businesses adept at WFH, but as somebody who employs people and works with a lot of SMEs, I can hand on heart say that there's no way they'll be able to survive much longer if economic restrictions continue - they've taken on huge levels of debt just to survive until this point.

Its an interesting debate and i should suggest ours different viewpoints are guided by personal needs and experiences, we are probably on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of stakeholders in this.. As a SME business owner i can understand the stresses and impact. But then im in health care and gone through waves of this in the most challenging year in health care, im sure equally when you are still seeing incidences of this, a deteriorating virus picture, chronic long term effects, while being jacked after a year of madness, the news that public policy is going to let this run rampant and abolish all suppression efforts is concerning and dispiriting. I agree in the main though there needs to be a balance, im not quite sure that has been struck at the moment. The public health policy piece i think is a bit Hunger gamesish - may the odds be ever in your favor.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Funnily enough the northern line to bank is the line I use the most!

It was quite a transition. I didn't really get the tube very often before the pandemic, but whenever I did the northern line was always utterly packed by E&C already, but there were perhaps a handful on our carriage yesterday at around 5.15. Switching onto the central line though it wasn't quite sardines but certainly more what you would associate with normal volumes.