Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[existentialist]

Aside from the virology aspect, they've put so many education professionals and parents through so much fucking stress, and for fucking nothing. It's obscene from so many angles.

And kids. Those worrying about the effect on the prospects of children through missing exams would do well to ponder on what effect they imagine this unnecessary uncertainty and rapid no-notice change is going to be having on their mental health - and (AGAIN ) we know that children's mental health has been on its uppers since LONG before the pandemic.

These people really do have blood on their hands, and there is plenty more to come, even 10, 20 years down the line at this rate.

 

[Wilf]

Yeah open schools for one fucking day, just to stir the pot a bit. Genius.

I'd be surprised if he doesn't come up with some convoluted way of making it look like he hasn't closed the schools after one day. It's a case of looking at the world through your fingers to see the next horror/absurdity emerge from this administration. At one level I can't see them closing schools till the end of the week, as the thinnest of arse coverage, but then what else can he be coming out with tonight? If you are right, opening schools and closing them within say 48 hours will be genuinely the most stupid thing they've done (to be clear, it was the opening them in the first place that was the stupid bit). Anyway, I'm babbling, this is just astonishing stuff.

 

[Lord Camomile]

there is plenty more to come, even 10, 20 years down the line at this rate.

Indeed. I keep thinking of a West Wing quote: "we don't know what the injury count is yet"

 

[elbows]

That would be September.

The implications of the new strain arent fully understood now and certainly werent then. Other pandemic indicators were bad in September and should have lead to stronger action than we got, but such decisions wouldnt initially have been new strain related.

In terms of the most recent surge, using hospital data from London, the South East and the East, the penny should have dropped by around 7th-12th December. Regardless of how far they were at that point towards making a link between increased rates and new strain, that was a time for strong action on the basis of levels of infection and hospitalisations.

 

[StoneRoad]

A paper I had missed from November about one of the subjects I often go on about, sewage/wastewater surveillance.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/940919/S0908_Wastewater_C19_monitoring_SAGE.pdf

There have been more trials and proper systems setup since I last looked. The paper contains interesting info about how Wales used a system to help them see what the tourism-related risks were for Wales, with such info feeding into policy.

Liverpool also yielded interesting data. This form of surveillance is, as expected, useful and valid.

View attachment 247055

That's interesting.

I'ld add a bit of a caveat.
Waste water testing is fine as a source for warnings about changes in the prevalaence of the virus ...
But, in the largely rural area I live in, a good proportion of the housing is not connected to mains drainage.
The septic tanks (etc) are the responsibility of the households connected to them (why we pay the waste water precept I have no idea, we get nothing for it !)

 

[Red Cat]

My 9 year old was crying this morning saying why doesn't Boris just close the schools? So hard for her to understand why the PM doesn't do the right thing. How does a 9 year old get her head around why the most powerful person in the country doesn't do the right thing? And so hard to have your parents disagreeing with people in charge.

 

[killer b]

How does a 9 year old get her head around why the most powerful person in the country doesn't do the right thing? And so hard to have your parents disagreeing with people in charge.

I dunno, I was 9 in 1986 in a household of Labour activists, I don't recall either of these things being particularly difficult to understand or get my head round.

 

[Red Cat]

I dunno, I was 9 in 1986 in a household of Labour activists, I don't recall either of these things being particularly difficult to understand or get my head round.

I'm talking specifically about something that is life threatening rather than more general politics and the school being open and us keeping her off. Obviously she knows we're not tories.

 

[chilango]

My 9 year old was crying this morning saying why doesn't Boris just close the schools? So hard for her to understand why the PM doesn't do the right thing. How does a 9 year old get her head around why the most powerful person in the country doesn't do the right thing? And so hard to have your parents disagreeing with people in charge.

My 8 year old was pretty screaming with rage when Johnson "cancelled Christmas" and - completely unprompted from me - through tears of frustration begged for a better Prime Minister.

 

[StoneRoad]

Must find out what my niece is doing with her sprogs, I suspect they'll be schooled at home again, as all the adults in their household will be WFH / shielding again.

 

[chilango]

At around the same age I was in a mini-lockdown due to the Moss Side riots, and around the same time saw the police beating the shit out of homeless man in Chorlton precinct. Those memories never left me, and I'm certain were formative in shaping how I viewed the world.

 

[maomao]

My five year old knows that Boris is a piece of shit. It's the only time she's allowed to swear. When I was moaning about Gavin Williamson the other day she asked me if he's a piece of shit too.

 

[zora]

It is utterly mindboggling; the confusion and uncertainty, worry and fear sown way beyond what is inevitable with a problem of this magnitude.
I have suffered mentally and emotionally quite a lot through all this, today I thought for the first time "I feel actively terrorised" by this government.

 

[Red Cat]

It is utterly mindboggling; the confusion and uncertainty, worry and fear sown way beyond what is inevitable with a problem of this magnitude.
I have suffered mentally and emotionally quite a lot through all this, today I thought for the first time "I feel actively terrorised" by this government.

That's how it felt this morning, and watching my youngest cry. I thought you're fucking with her head.

 

[Pickman's model]

It is utterly mindboggling; the confusion and uncertainty, worry and fear sown way beyond what is inevitable with a problem of this magnitude.
I have suffered mentally and emotionally quite a lot through all this, today I thought for the first time "I feel actively terrorised" by this government.

(((zora)))

 

[Pickman's model]

My 8 year old was pretty screaming with rage when Johnson "cancelled Christmas" and - completely unprompted from me - through tears of frustration begged for a better Prime Minister.

the only good prime minister is...

 

[Cid]

Tier 6 Prime.

Then we get 7 and 8. After that it’s tier X. Then they start naming them after scenic bits of the uk. On which basis the first one will be ‘Tier Great Cockup’.

 

[Pickman's model]

I’ve noticed adverts for travel companies starting to pop up on fb, YouTube etc (Ryanair, because of course it would be, also jet2). These are already feeding off ‘vaccine means everything back to normal’.

My thinking on the situation in general is all over the place at the moment tbh. It seems half the world is aiming for vaccine to mitigate effects, and half the world is aiming for very low rates, with a possibility of elimination with a sterilising vaccine at some later date. I mean how does that match up? Is there just an expectation that the entire Asia/pacific region accept the


Then we get 7 and 8. After that it’s tier X. Then they start naming them after scenic bits of the uk. On which basis the first one will be ‘Tier Great Cockup’.

the great covid swindle

 

[cupid_stunt]

Keir Starmer has finally woken up, calling for all schools to be closed as part of national restrictions.

 

[Red Cat]

My five year old knows that Boris is a piece of shit. It's the only time she's allowed to swear. When I was moaning about Gavin Williamson the other day she asked me if he's a piece of shit too.

I don't mean to suggest that my children don't have views on Boris Johnson, but when there's something that could kill her father (who is clinically vulnerable) and he doesn't do what he needs to do, it takes on an extra edge.

 

[ska invita]

In my experience of working for public school boys it's more likely he just doesn't give a shit what normal people think.

what normal people think

 

[Cid]

the great covid swindle

How do you reply so fucking quickly? I hadn’t finished that bit of post and just meant to reply to Cam. But obviously board saving thing being what it is... no matter.

 

[platinumsage]

Do the LibDems have a leader now, since that Nayla Lauren quit?

 

[maomao]

what normal people think

Doesn't have 'don't knows' and 'fuck offs' though. It's not like it's actually 46% of the population. I'd move country if it was.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Do the LibDems have a leader now since that Nayla Lauren quit?

Who are these 'LibDems', you speak of?

 

[Pickman's model]

My 9 year old was crying this morning saying why doesn't Boris just close the schools? So hard for her to understand why the PM doesn't do the right thing. How does a 9 year old get her head around why the most powerful person in the country doesn't do the right thing? And so hard to have your parents disagreeing with people in charge.

when i was young i thought that the people in charge must be really clever and know things not revealed to us mere mortals. then as i have grown aulder and i hope wiser i have realised that they are stupider than anyone would believe and while they may have information which isn't revealed to everyone that doesn't enable them to actually make better decisions. a case in point: every time boris johnson (or for that matter theresa may or david cameron) has had to make an important decision he's got it wrong. such shitty decision making wouldn't be the case if the prime minister or his cabinet simply flipped coins for the decisions or consulted the tarot or i ching - in those situations some of the decisions would be good decisions. they're thick as pigshit, every one.

 

[Cid]

what normal people think

Britain is fucking weird.

 

[Orang Utan]

Then we get 7 and 8. After that it’s tier X. Then they start naming them after scenic bits of the uk. On which basis the first one will be ‘Tier Great Cockup’.

 

[Pickman's model]

Who are these 'LibDems', you speak of?

the notorious 'golden shower'

 

[Orang Utan]

the notorious 'golden shower'

Brown thunder more like, lest we forget Mark Oaten