Coronavirus (2021) thread

[BlueHammer85]

My youngest's school, due back tomorrow are not opening. Just had the message, apparently insufficient staff to open. No idea how long for.

seems the goverment are forcing schools to make the decision, silly and unnecessary

 

[BlueAnorak]

We were converging on that level too till the new strain took off.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Golf clubs per se are have been shut since the Tier 3 lockdown. Courses are open but only for "bubble" same household players. In 30 years of playing golf I've never not played with friends so it's effectively closed for me and my golfing friends.

Nonsense.
Golf courses are open in tier 4 for twosomes. They do not need to be the same bubble or household.

You searched for can i play golf in tier 3 covid restrictions - National Club Golfer

www.nationalclubgolfer.com

I’ve played every week apart from the course closing due to snow.

 

[mexico1970]

My grandkids are not in school today, their school is open and their parents have made the decision themselves without waiting for the government and their officials to tell them what to do.

Tier 4 stay at home but allow schools to open so the virus has the possibility of spreading from school to home and beyond, how exactly do you manage to keep clear of a virus when every day your children have the chance (And a very good one) of dragging it over the doorstep.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I understand the pessimism but there's not a lot of basis to any of these claims.

For a start, no volunteers are needed for the 2m a week figure, that's going to be hit when 1000 centres across the country open and we're already at 730 today, with that expected to almost double in the next 2 weeks as more GP offices come online with non-medical volunteers (ie organising queues and registering arrivals on a PC).

Secondly supply, you're just flat out wrong here, the Telegraph have reported today we have 24 million combined doses at AZ and delivered from Pfizer already waiting ready to go right now, available to be delivered anywhere in the country within days.

As for the second dose, as I already replied, that's not important. If you give people the first dose they are pretty much out of the equation as far as the pandemic is concerned. Pfizer first dose gives 90% immunity in the short term, and 80% for Oxford/AZ according to MHRA, so once you've got that you are as good as immune until the second jab in 12 weeks time.


As for "forcing" people to take it, or vaccine avoiders...they just don't exist on the level you think they do. There is no shortage of people wanting the vaccine and there won't be among the demographics who actually risk death when they get infected.


Pessimism is expected but a lot of your claims are over the top and baseless. We have the infrastructure, we have the vaccine, what we need is to hear the government speaking clearly about how they're going to scale this up by the third week of January as promised so people can start believing it.

Where did you get the info re vaccine centres mate? I posted earlier, if the government could publish a detailed and realistic plan based on the kind of info you are quoting 1) it would give folk some hope 2) it might achieve greater compliance to restrictions if people could see a way out of this.

 

[hammocity]

No not yet. Last resort as ultimately it will need to be repaid. Would live to have a grant like so many others to help pay bills etc but looks like Rishi doesn't know the difference between self employed and directors of a limited company

Same as, just get the loan, the Government has said it will pull the plug soon so I wouldn't delay. My small haulage/Courier business mostly delivers small aircraft parts, we've survived so far at about 70% of normal turnover but it could easily go TU. I would then use the BBL to try and survive the pandemic with the hope of recovering in the next few years. If you applied now there would be nothing to pay back for 12 months and then it's a 10 years payback at around 2% APR. The loan is backed by the Government, attached to the business there's no risk to the lender, I applied for mine and got the payment within three days.

 

[blueparrot]

It is a real trashed. I’ve heard that families are dying in the latest wave but this really brings it home

Heard a story yesterday, of a 22 year old dying from cancer that has covid too, and can only be seen by doctors and nurses in full ppe. Incredibly hard not just for the patient and family obviously but the staff caring for her too.

 

[BlueAnorak]

uk cases by specimen date per 100k, seven day rolling sum (up to Dec 29th but now including the very uncertain data up to 2nd Jan).

there are obvious 'issues' around the festive period which will show as flashy peaks and troughs, even with this simple smoothing. Predict about 4 more days of data to get the trend sorted to NYE.

edit: i have decided to adjust the graph to show the very uncertain numbers from the last 5 days. These numbers will only go up, as they are added to over time, so they can be misleading as they nearly always show a downward trend. However this time, i think it's an important illustration that the latest data is still increasing on the 30th/31st, and is still incomplete. View attachment 7557

Its pretty clear that it was the week and a half BEFORE Christmas when everything took off.
Shutting schools for Christmas has plateaued the rise.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

That's a highly political statement using highly politicised terms about the supposed politics of the officials!

You are too generous.
I thought it was shite.

 

[domalino]

Where did you get the info re vaccine centres mate? I posted earlier, if the government could publish a detailed and realistic plan based on the kind of info you are quoting 1) it would give folk some hope 2) it might achieve greater compliance to restrictions if people could see a way out of this.

The Telegraph did an article, it's behind a paywall but if you stop the page from refreshing early enough you can read the whole thing.

The challenges facing the Oxford Covid vaccine roll-out

NHS sources have stressed logistical difficulties and called for a reality check on what is achievable in early days of vaccine drive

www.telegraph.co.uk

I massively agree with your second point. People need a light at the end of the tunnel. A big, well defined spotlight, not a vague promise that in a year we'll probably all be vaccinated.

Someone also posted a great article in a Belgian paper interviewing the CEO of an Oxford hospital which is worth reading through google translate.