Coronavirus (2021) thread

[Churchlawtonblue]

We have had this same argument about New Zealand v the UK over and over in this thread and keep repeating the exact same points. That is because they are in effect true.

New Zealand is a place you only go to if you are visiting New Zealand. If you want to stop that you can.

The UK is an interdependent part of a continent and a major travel hub where travel is what has created this pandemic.

The ONLY way we could have been like New Zealand is lock ourselves off, give everyone ration books, create a land army to try to survive on our own and hope the rest of the world got out of it before we starved to death.

There are things we did right and things we did wrong - the vaccine gamble was a great success, our testing set up took too long but is now one of the best in the world but our political interference in policy by not recognising how bad this was and creating a unified war cabinet to fight it together and the disaster over delaying what to do about India is why we are where we are - fingers crossed and hoping we win a race we could have already more or less won.

We could have done better but we could never have done a New Zealand as they had the best opportunity to get out of this. Look at the Isle of Man who did isolate. The closest independent example to compare. They have done well relatively but could not sustain that indefinitely and have probably killed their economy,

In the fulness of time all of that will have political consequences in the UK. Big ones I suspect. But now is not that time. We have to achieve equilibrium first.

There is no perfect way for most major nations to get out of a pandemic and what we all learn from the successes and failures of others will inform us all about how to handle the next one.

Sums it up perfectly Healdplace :-)

 

[feedthegoat27]

I'm not saying it hasn't worked well for them in the short term but it does feel like there isn't a long term plan there, other than a continuation of the current situation.

Edit: I should add I have some interest in this in that my brother and his family live in Australia. We haven't seen them for a couple of years and they have just been told that their borders are unlikely to reopen before 2023. As a result my brother was unable to come over here when our mother was dying of cancer earlier this year.

I read an interesting article recently (can't remember what/where to link it) about countries that have, in the main, dealt with Covid pretty well, certainly compared to a lot of Western countries.

The problems those countries are now facing is their exit plan strategy. Obviously Australia and New Zealand featured quite a bit, along with some south east Asian destinations. They have generally managed to supress the virus out of their communities, but with vaccination rates quite slow and the Delta variant seemingly easy to spread, they face some tough decisions on the best route out of the pandemic, and at what cost from a health and wealth standpoint.

I see Sydney have had to extend their localised lockdown for another week.
If you don't have many people fully vaccinated, and not many of the population have had it (Covid), and you're facing a variant like Delta that can sweep through communities and cities, it's a bit of a recipe for disaster.

I'm not sure how true this is but I've also read some pieces and comments about criticism for the Australian government, with people accusing them of playing down the importance of getting vaccinated, which might explain the relatively low rates and uptake at the moment (no doubt supply issues too).

PS; sorry to hear about your mum.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Ah, the old 'it's full of microchips so we can be controlled by Bill Gates' extolled by people who clearly have even less grasp of electronics than they do of biology. I've seen the actual microchips that you put in dogs to track them and you should see the size of the needle. Bet that f*cking hurts!

The physics of putting something undetectable by the human eye into our body that is capable of either holding or transmitting electronic information outside of the body is just not possible. This conspiracy theory is only perpetuated by the fact that the people who believe it to be true are not capable of free thought.

 

[hammocity]

I'll be wearing a mask in supermarkets and on trains and planes (think the latter will be a compulsory rule from the airlines) but I'll not wear one to go in my local. At the moment we go through the charade of walking into a pub with a mask on not getting anywhere near someone else, then sit right next to friends and take the mask off. I'll only sit with my friends and family who I know are double jabbed. There's a cock who comes in my local who is a Covid conspiracy theorist, no jabs, I stay well clear of him. I wouldn't really expect the really vulnerable people to go into pubs though, I wouldn't if I had an illness that prevented me producing anti bodies. Those people will have difficult choices on how to regain some normality.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Ah, the old 'it's full of microchips so we can be controlled by Bill Gates' extolled by people who clearly have even less grasp of electronics than they do of biology. I've seen the actual microchips that you put in dogs to track them and you should see the size of the needle. Bet that f*cking hurts!

Why the fuck are you commenting to my post with this bullshit?

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

Genuine question - what did they used to do before Covid when other diseases were circulating? As I say, genuine question, I don't know anyone in that situation so I have nobody to ask.

you can ask me.

I am currently on cycle 4 of 6 chemo cycles .

I have been double jabbed and I see the onus being on me to mitigate my risks .
I am pretty knackered from the chemo anyway so won’t be dancing in pubs Until the chemo is over

however and unfortunately this is not my first chemo.

I had chemo for a year before Covid and again when you are on it the onus is on me to mitigate risks as you don’t want to catch a cold , flu etc as it could be tricky.

thousands of people are on chemo or have other immune compromising illnesses pre Covid. The idea that we would contemplate everyone else in society having restrictions placed on them for their benefit is nonsense.

the onus is on the person with it to protect themselves and watch what they do whilst having treatment . it’s always been personal responsibility with cancer patients , it’s not been about the wider public protecting them and I don’t think it should be .

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

The physics of putting something undetectable by the human eye into our body that is capable of either holding or transmitting electronic information outside of the body is just not possible. This conspiracy theory is only perpetuated by the fact that the people who believe it to be true are not capable of free thought.

You don't need to microchip people anyway, everyone carries a mobile. You can monitor people through that if you want to.

 

[5 Hit Gibbon]

you can ask me.

I am currently on cycle 4 of 6 chemo cycles .

I have been double jabbed and I see the onus being on me to mitigate my risks .
I am pretty knackered from the chemo anyway so won’t be dancing in pubs Until the chemo is over

however and unfortunately this is not my first chemo.

I had chemo for a year before Covid and again when you are on it the onus is on me to mitigate risks as you don’t want to catch a cold , flu etc as it could be tricky.

thousands of people are on chemo or have other immune compromising illnesses pre Covid. The idea that we would contemplate everyone else in society having restrictions placed on them for their benefit is nonsense.

the onus is on the person with it to protect themselves and watch what they do whilst having treatment . it’s always been personal responsibility with cancer patients , it’s not been about the wider public protecting them and I don’t think it should be .

Good luck with the chemo mate. I hope it all goes well.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

You don't need to microchip people anyway, everyone carries a mobile. You can monitor people through that if you want to.

The downfall of many of the idiots who've been arrested following the events in Washington DC on the 6th Jan.

 

[Gremlin]

Why the fuck are you commenting to my post with this bullshit?

Sorry - wasn't meant to refer to you, but the people who you were talking about who didn't want to get vaccinated. Often difficult to get the true meaning of posts across on social media.