Coronavirus Thread

[Livid]

3 minutes ago, nnfox said:

I think the education thing is a really difficult balancing act.  In my opinion, closing schools has three serious knock on effects, universities less so but still these to a degree:

 

1. Short term - many parents who fall into the camp of needing to go to work (manufacturing, construction, key workers etc) find it difficult to manage childcare and continue working.

2. Medium/long term - The mental health implications of not being with their peers can be detrimental to a whole generation of children

3. Long term - The damage that the interruption to their education on top of what they have already missed could be very damaging for that generation and therefore the economy in the next 10-15 years.

I get what you are saying but you have to ask what the real priority is right now.

 

They are already talking about not coming out of this on December 2nd. If this carries on towards Christmas, the busiest time of the year for many businesses, it’s going to be game over for the economy. The High St has effectively had to close for a third of this year. 
 

They need to go hard and go now. 

[st albans fox]

44 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

I can see lockdown being extended beyond December 2nd

If people continue to socialise then absolutely it will .......

 

in life you generally get out what you put in - sure there are exceptions but that’s a pretty decent premis to work from ..... 

 

 

[whoareyaaa]

it the virus was that bad they wouldn't let no one go to work or school, its a farce.

[Legend_in_blue]

54 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

so..

 

Pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops will have to close for four weeks from Thursday, he said.

But unlike the restrictions in spring, schools, colleges and universities can stay open.

 

WHAT THE ACTUAL **** is the point in that, C'mon someone please enlighten me

 

They aren't following the science and/or the data.  They are following their own set of projections.  The narrative will not change until mass testing and vaccination is made available.

[MonmoreStef]

Mate just text and been told it is our last week for our 6 a side game. Apparently not allowed after Thursday. I never realised we were such a massive risk.  That’s my midweek highlight taken away once again. 

Edited 1 November 2020 by MonmoreStef

[Stivo]

34 minutes ago, Livid said:

I get what you are saying but you have to ask what the real priority is right now.

 

They are already talking about not coming out of this on December 2nd. If this carries on towards Christmas, the busiest time of the year for many businesses, it’s going to be game over for the economy. The High St has effectively had to close for a third of this year. 
 

They need to go hard and go now. 

I agree with you on secondary schools, they should switch back  to online lessons.

 

For universities I think it’s best to keep students where they are but it’s also a group that could be practically targeted for testing of the well with all these 15 minute tests we have purchased,

[Corky]

Saving Christmas is another thing they need to bin. In seven weeks the infection rate is not going to be low enough to legally allow people to travel around the country to meet up and stay over.

 

If locking down to save people is the main thing now, the notion should still be in place then.

[Izzy]

So off licenses are ‘essential’ but gyms aren’t?
 

Forget keeping physically and mentally healthy and stay home and get pissed instead.

 

That’ll help the NHS 

[reynard]

45 minutes ago, Livid said:

I get what you are saying but you have to ask what the real priority is right now.

 

They are already talking about not coming out of this on December 2nd. If this carries on towards Christmas, the busiest time of the year for many businesses, it’s going to be game over for the economy. The High St has effectively had to close for a third of this year. 
 

They need to go hard and go now. 

This, absolutely this. All the figures from SAGE suggest leaving schools open will slow down the decline in the virus. Personally I'd say the priority now has to be to get the high street functioning to some capacity in December or it will basically disappear. I believe something like 8 million jobs are either in retail or dependent upon it.

I know this is an unpopular thought but I'd close schools and Universities in their phusical emodiment until January but do at least offer decent online teaching. In January I would not allow universities to return to any courses which do not require lab work or practical medical experience. All arts courses could be taught remotely. Same I'm afraid with 6th forms. I'd also extend the school year into the summer vacation which next year would just need to be shorter than the usual 6/8 weeks.

[Sampson]

4 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Noticed on Wednesday that I had no sense of smell at all (after rigorous testing including pretty much shoving a rotten onion up my nose) so went off for a test

 

Only places I have been in the last 2 weeks are McDonalds and Tesco ffs

 

Hope you don't get any other symptoms and losing your sense of smell for a bit is all you get.

[Samilktray]

17 minutes ago, Izzy said:

So off licenses are ‘essential’ but gyms aren’t?
 

Forget keeping physically and mentally healthy and stay home and get pissed instead.

 

That’ll help the NHS 

People use off licenses for basics like bread & milk more than they do to get booze I’d imagine

[Ricey]

17 minutes ago, Corky said:

Saving Christmas is another thing they need to bin. In seven weeks the infection rate is not going to be low enough to legally allow people to travel around the country to meet up and stay over.

 

If locking down to save people is the main thing now, the notion should still be in place then.

Lockdowns will only be effective for so long. People’s enthusiasm and discipline for them wane over time. If we were still in lockdown at Christmas so many people would disobey the rules that the government might as well loosen the restrictions.

 

I think we’ll come out of lockdown and return to the tier system after the 2nd November, but it might be that a lot more areas return to higher tiers.

 

Either way, the whole thing is a complete and utter shit show.

[Wymsey]

This fiasco might well bite the Tories where it hurts in the run-up to the next general election..

Edited 1 November 2020 by Wymsey

[Corky]

1 minute ago, Ricey said:

 

 

I think we’ll come out of lockdown and return to the tier system after the 2nd November,

Thank **** for that  

[StanSP]

Great. 

 

Another appointee thanks to 'who you know'. Rubbish. 

[Kopic]

My workplace has a thermometer camera in reception you have to stand in front of before you are allowed in. It seems to work perfectly fine for everyone except me. Every single day it reads between 31 and 33c for me, which would indicate i am dead. For everyone else it seems to read normally and I'm obviously not dead, what could cause that? Coupled with the fact social distancing has been completely out the window since July, it makes me worry. Although we haven't had any cases, yet.

[Scotch]

4 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

This fiasco might well bite the Tories where it hurts in the run-up to the next general election..

I dont think ANY government would have survived this. It was a lose/lose from day one. 

[Legend_in_blue]

2 minutes ago, Kopic said:

My workplace has a thermometer camera in reception you have to stand in front of before you are allowed in. It seems to work perfectly fine for everyone except me. Every single day it reads between 31 and 33c for me, which would indicate i am dead. For everyone else it seems to read normally and I'm obviously not dead, what could cause that? Coupled with the fact social distancing has been completely out the window since July, it makes me worry. Although we haven't had any cases, yet.

 

You go into work looking like this guy...?

 

[Nalis]

16 minutes ago, Izzy said:

So off licenses are ‘essential’ but gyms aren’t?
 

Forget keeping physically and mentally healthy and stay home and get pissed instead.

 

That’ll help the NHS 

This isnt aimed directly at you as you are one of the best posters on this forum but I absolutely hate it when make things a competition between booze/pubs vs gyms since March. Also, gyms being closed doesnt stop people going for a run or doing HIITs at home.

 

Obviously there are negative effects of booze. However having a beer or glass of wine can help people destress after a tough day at work just as much as gyms after a workout. Same goes for pubs - when people complained about gyms not being open for the mental benefits that dismissed pubs for that reason but it can be mentally important for some for social reasons.

 

In my opinion pubs and gyms should have opened at the same time as they are equally as important for different reasons. In the same sense,  people should be able to have a drink in their own home and exercise in the home / exercise outside.

[moore_94]

17 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Hope you don't get any other symptoms and losing your sense of smell for a bit is all you get.

Thankfully we think I have had it for at least a week already as we had someone off work from the 19th as they were positive so we also think that it is quite likely that I have picked it up at work

 

No other symptoms at all and feel perfectly fine other than just not being able to smell anything!

[Strokes]

I don’t really see what difference the current restrictions make to me, apart from a weekly trip to the pub being canned.

I can work, I can travel with work, I can stop away, the kids can still go to school. I wasn’t really doing anything else as it’s mostly shit whilst wearing a mask/socially distanced anyway.

[MonmoreStef]

Regarding gyms closing, I’ve also just read golf courses are closing. This is surely another bizarre decision. Surely now the staff at the golf courses and owners etc will receive tax payer funded money that didn’t need to be paid out of an already stretched budget. What dangers exist on a golf course is beyond me. Obviously the bars would be shut but to prevent some absolute golf nuts, anyone playing this time of the year are just that, playing a round of golf stinks of overkill. 

[UniFox21]

40 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Great. 

 

Another appointee thanks to 'who you know'. Rubbish. 

Do we see a theme yet?

 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

11 hours ago, dsr-burnley said:

This sort of hyperbole is part of what get's people's backs up.  The implication that if we don't go to these sort of lengths, there will be no grannies left.

 

If coronavirus did not exist, we would expect 300,000 people over 80 (aka "grannies") to die within a year.  Since coronavirus does exist, and let's say a worst case scenario 120,000 total deaths, perhaps 70,000 of them over 80.  Which means 360,000 or so (allowing for those who would have been among the 300,000) over 80's dying instead of the 300,000 we had before.

 

Which means that without coronavirus, an over 80 had a 10% chance of dying within the year.  With coronavirus, pessimistic scenario, it's 12%.

 

2% of old people, therefore, will die before their time.  That is undoubtedly sad.  Tragic, in fact.

10% of old people will die on schedule when their time is up.  But they will have spent their last year in misery with no relatives or friends visiting and they will have probably died alone.

88% of old people will still be alive.  They will have spent a miserable year staring at the walls, those with dementia will have deteriorated, those without dementia may well have developed it, and some of those who couldn't visit the doctor or who were frightened off from visiting the doctor will have developed something else fatal anyway. 

 

I don't think the government realises that if an old person dies alone after a miserable year, but it isn't coronavirus that kills him, that is not a success for government policy.

 

If the latest reports are right, it's not just the older generation that are at significant risk from Covid, given I've read that there has been a significant rise of women between the ages of 20-40 being admitted to hospital. 

 

There's also a lot that is still unknown about this virus, including its longer term effects on health. 

 

But in terms of your figures - 60,000 additional deaths would represent a 20% increase, a situation that no government - whose primary responsibility is to protect its people - could ignore.

 

Additionally, focusing on death figures is only part of the picture. The number of additional hospital admissions the virus is causing is also a significant factor that has prompted governments all over the World into action. 

 

And its important to note - we are not alone in having to make hard choices over this virus.

 

France, Germany and Belgium have implemented second lockdowns as well, with no doubt other European countries to follow suit.

 

I can't think of any political leader in Europe that would relish making such a decision for a second time. 

 

So we can only assume that the data and advice they're receiving paints an even grimmer picture than you've painted - to the point that these extraordinary package of measures are once again deemed the lesser of two evils. 

 

[Costock_Fox]

1 hour ago, Foxy_Bear said:

I dont think ANY government would have survived this. It was a lose/lose from day one. 

Agreed. It’s been a shower of shit but impossible not to make mistakes when it’s all unknown.