Coronavirus Thread

[Legend_in_blue]

1 hour ago, z-layrex said:

 

Not that it will cheer you up, but here is the data shown alongside testing numbers per day in Portugal.  They were testing roughly twice as many people back at the end of April compared to now and found nothing.  I've included the UK at the top of the table there for comparison purposes on testing numbers as a whole.  In 6 months we've tested an eye watering 133 million times compared to just under 7 million in Portugal.  Incidentally, the UK is the third highest tester in the world, behind USA and India, although per 1k population, UK is by far the highest of the top three.  Data is for the last 6 months to current.

 

As we're consistently told "data, not dates" it does make you wonder what the ulterior motives are in all of this.

 

Edited 3 June 2021 by Legend_in_blue

[Guest kristianity77]

I wish the government would just fook off with this traffic light system its doing my head in.  Either have a green "can go" or red "you cant"

 

Travel agents are sitting on millions of customers money which they can't get back (myself, 2 grand included) because they have you over a barrel for a holiday you had booked ages ago that is now Amber.  They won't refund! They only allow you to change.  My travel agents has been sitting on my money now for 18 months and I can't get a holiday nor my money back.  Its scandalous 

[Guest Kopfkino]

Government should have just grown a backbone in the first place and not entertained foreign travel for now anyway. We’ve got the variant faff cos nobody would make the decision to be stricter with borders and doing things by half hasn’t worked at any point.

 

Now they’ve got themselves into a situation where they’re making decisions nobody can understand and ruining plans at short notice. One can only assume there’s something to suggest cases are being imported from Portugal

[Leicester_Loyal]

He pointed out that any new variants or mutations can impact the effectiveness of vaccines which are currently being rolled out around the world.

"We just don't know the potential for that to be a vaccine defeating mutation and simply don't want to take the risk, as we come up to June 21," he said.

 

https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1445110/travel-green-amber-red-list-portugal-quarantine-grant-shapes-variant

 

How is this going to change from June 21st? Are we going to do this everytime we discover a slightly different strain of the hundreds of variants already out there?

[dsr-burnley]

5 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

He pointed out that any new variants or mutations can impact the effectiveness of vaccines which are currently being rolled out around the world.

"We just don't know the potential for that to be a vaccine defeating mutation and simply don't want to take the risk, as we come up to June 21," he said.

 

https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1445110/travel-green-amber-red-list-portugal-quarantine-grant-shapes-variant

 

How is this going to change from June 21st? Are we going to do this everytime we discover a slightly different strain of the hundreds of variants already out there?

Well, you can't assume that just because the vaccine works on all 3,000 variants discovered to date that it won't work on number 3,001, can we?  Some people are so risk-averse that they will sell their car and stay indoors for the rest of their life rather than risk a crash.  Or in this case, virus.

 

Of course, the flaw in the "logic" is the idea that as long as we continue to maintain borders as we have done so far, a variant won't be able to get in.  If the government thinks out borders are now secure, then the government is the biggest fool in Christendom.  (As well as being the biggest fool in India, or Nepal, or Vietnam, or South Africa, or Brazil, or Kent.)

[Guest ttfn]

18 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

 

Now they’ve got themselves into a situation where they’re making decisions nobody can understand and ruining plans at short notice.

Christmas, schools returning, go back to the workplace in September, I’m sure there are dozens of other examples.

I get that this is a changing situation and hindsight is 20:20 but they are managing to routinely not act fast enough when something serious crops up and shit themselves when something irrelevant happens.
 

There is almost a total lack of wise judgement in government and appreciation for the impact of their (in)actions on the people in this country. I said it when Brexit was taking up an inordinate amount of government time but what an incredibly unfortunate time to have the worst set of politicians (on both sides) in living memory. 

 

 

 

[yorkie1999]

15 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

He pointed out that any new variants or mutations can impact the effectiveness of vaccines which are currently being rolled out around the world.

"We just don't know the potential for that to be a vaccine defeating mutation and simply don't want to take the risk, as we come up to June 21," he said.

 

https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1445110/travel-green-amber-red-list-portugal-quarantine-grant-shapes-variant

 

How is this going to change from June 21st? Are we going to do this everytime we discover a slightly different strain of the hundreds of variants already out there?

Should have just banned foreign travel for a year and only allowed goods services into the country. Everyone would have known where they stood and in a year most countries will be fully vaccinated.

  I think the problem with the government is there is no accountability, they can do whatever they like and get away with it, there's not even an opposition that challenge them.

Edited 3 June 2021 by yorkie1999

[dsr-burnley]

8 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

Should have just banned foreign travel for a year and only allowed goods services into the country. Everyone would have known where they stood and in a year most countries will be fully vaccinated.

  I think the problem with the government is there is no accountability, they can do whatever they like and get away with it, there's not even an opposition that challenge them.

Foreign travel has been more or less banned for a year anyway.  It didn't stop the virus mutations.  (Especially not the Kent one.)

[Corky]

Is it actually likely we'll have a variant that completely beats the vaccine? Surely they are all made up of similar parts, if you like, and the vaccine should give an effective block to serious illness on any variant.

 

Like others, my view is that the Government are more concerned with people staying at home and holidaying around the country.

[bovril]

20 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Foreign travel has been more or less banned for a year anyway.  It didn't stop the virus mutations.  (Especially not the Kent one.)

How has foreign travel been banned for a year? Millions of people have come and gone without quarantining. 

 

And yes it can help stop more cases coming into the country. 

[bovril]

33 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

 

 

Edited 3 June 2021 by bovril

[z-layrex]

I want to just go, not quarantine and pay the FNP if we get one, but my wife doesn't agree.

Edited 3 June 2021 by z-layrex

[FoxesDeb]

45 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Foreign travel has been more or less banned for a year anyway.  It didn't stop the virus mutations.  (Especially not the Kent one.)

Foreign travel definitely hasn't been banned for a year, we visited Spain in both August and October last year, within the rules, and we moved here in December. My youngest two children are both here in Spain now visiting me from the UK, again within the rules. 

[FoxesDeb]

20 minutes ago, z-layrex said:

I want to just go, not quarantine and pay the FNP if we get one, but my wife doesn't agree.

It sounds like it might be worth it to you both, if you can afford it then I would go for it. From what I know from other people travelling from amber countries they are carrying out the home visits though.

[z-layrex]

7 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

It sounds like it might be worth it to you both, if you can afford it then I would go for it. From what I know from other people travelling from amber countries they are carrying out the home visits though.

I agree, I don't know where she gets her strength. She was an icu nurse for the whole thing like me. She didn't go home during the windows of oppurtunity last summer because both her parents are heavy smokers, Mum has COPD, Dad has RA and some heart issues. She just couldn't risk it.

 

They are the most amazing in laws you could ever ask for and I miss them so much as well. And my Dad had a stroke yesterday, he got thrombolysis immediatly thank god and has gone from being unable to speak last night or move his arm to back to normal today. Not out of the woods yet though and my poor Mum. Hoping home tomorrow or the next day.

 

I hate to moan because there are people so much worse off than our family but these 2 years... ugh.

Edited 3 June 2021 by z-layrex

[FoxesDeb]

5 minutes ago, z-layrex said:

I agree, I don't know where she gets her strength. She was an icu nurse for the whole thing like me. She didn't go home during the windows of oppurtunity last summer because both her parents are heavy smokers, Mum has COPD, Dad has RA and some heart issues. She just couldn't risk it.

 

They are the most amazing in laws you could ever ask for and I miss them so much as well. And my Dad had a stroke yesterday, he got thrombolysis immediatly thank god and has gone from being unable to speak last night or move his arm to back to normal today. Not out of the woods yet though and my poor Mum. Hoping home tomorrow or the next day.

 

I hate to moan because there are people so much worse off than our family but these 2 years... ugh.

I realise it's of absolutely no use to you, but honestly, of all the people who have contributed to this thread in the last 18 months or so I admire you the most for what you, and your wife, have been through. 

 

I really, really hope you get to see them soon, and I hope your parents are doing well too x

[Izzy]

I sometimes wonder if this thread will ever get locked, deleted or eventually just drop down the list and disappear into FT obscurity.

 

Wouldn't it be great if Coronavirus was no longer part of our vocabulary or conversations.

 

Feels like a million years away tbh...

 

 

 

Edited 3 June 2021 by Izzy

[KFS]

Furious about this ‘green list’ nonsense and US government’s lack of plan to reopen. December 2019 since I saw my Mum. ****ing outrageous and no science being followed at all.

[Guest Col city fan]

2 hours ago, Corky said:

Is it actually likely we'll have a variant that completely beats the vaccine? Surely they are all made up of similar parts, if you like, and the vaccine should give an effective block to serious illness on any variant.

 

Like others, my view is that the Government are more concerned with people staying at home and holidaying around the country.

I again liken it to the flu virus which mutates into different strains 

Therefore the flu vaccine has to slightly change year on year 

I’m guessing the scientists will already be working on different vaccines to cope with different strains and that the vaccination programme will be at least annually to take this into account. 
Corona viruses are crafty little bastards that are mutating at a faster rate than any that have been known before (I believe) and the vaccination programmes will have to cope with this. 
This may be paranoia on my part but it’s always made me wonder whether CV19 is a man made virus. The rate of mutation is phenomenal. We’ve already had what? 4/5 different strains of the fookin thing

[Guest Col city fan]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I sometimes wonder if this thread will ever get locked, deleted or eventually just drop down the list and disappear into FT obscurity.

 

Wouldn't it be great if Coronavirus was no longer part of our vocabulary or conversations.

 

Feels like a million years away tbh...

 

 

 

I doubt it mate. It’s here to stay in some form 

[martyn]

Initial data on the Indian Variant suggests the risk of hospitalisation is 2.6 times greater than the Kent Variant.

 

Having said that, the relative lack of cases amongst 60+ age groups in current hotspots suggests the vaccines still do a very good job.

 

I can see the 21st getting postponed for a few weeks, as we try and get as many people double dosed as possible, and possibly even follow the French lead and approving Pfizer for teenagers.

Edited 3 June 2021 by martyn

[fox_up_north]

I have no intention of having a UK holiday. I did Cornwall in a fuching caravan as a kid and it's bloody awful, when you can do a Spanish hotel/ bnb for 5 nights at roughly similar cost. 

 

Same reason I'm not going back to pubs. I've gotten too used to cooking different things - learned about 3-4 new recipes this last year and realised just having a mate over for a drink in my garden is far more enjoyable than some chain pub. And a fraction of the cost. 

[Samilktray]

8 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

I have no intention of having a UK holiday. I did Cornwall in a fuching caravan as a kid and it's bloody awful, when you can do a Spanish hotel/ bnb for 5 nights at roughly similar cost. 

 

Same reason I'm not going back to pubs. I've gotten too used to cooking different things - learned about 3-4 new recipes this last year and realised just having a mate over for a drink in my garden is far more enjoyable than some chain pub. And a fraction of the cost. 

3-4 recipes in a year isn’t that impressive imo 

[fox_up_north]

43 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

3-4 recipes in a year isn’t that impressive imo 

It might not be, but the 75,000 word first draft of a novel is.

[foxile5]

1 hour ago, KFS said:

Furious about this ‘green list’ nonsense and US government’s lack of plan to reopen. December 2019 since I saw my Mum. ****ing outrageous and no science being followed at all.

All things considered - go and see your mum. We're at the point now where gathering inside is okay. Take all the precautions and go and see her, pal.