Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[weepiper]

Surely the shops in the big retail parks are closed?

Quite a few places (Argos etc) are open for click and collect and the food/coffee places are allowed to do takeaway.

 

[brogdale]

Professor Neil Ferguson on the BBC making worrying noises that the SA variant is possibly resistant to the vaccines.

These noises are coming thick & fast; we are being softened up.

 

[LDC]

These noises are coming thick & fast; we are being softened up.

Yeah, I really have worries about that as well, that and the infectiousness and severity....

 

[brogdale]

That said, for those that may have missed this morning, prunus posted an excellent explainer on this:

Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I thought it was interesting that BBC Breakfast today was going hard on scare stories - family of doctors that took every precaution but still lost their Dad, and interviews with several virologists and epidemic experts talking about how terrible the numbers are.

 

[hegley]

Surely the shops in the big retail parks are closed?

Non-essential shops can still offer click-and-collect afaik. Which makes a fucking mockery of the whole point of closing them really.

 

[andysays]

Well, yeah. I did kind of just mean in my own brain, i'm using 'end of march' (which is what hunt tweeted yesterday as the timeframe for vaccine rollout to have protected the most vulnerable) as a time to look forward to, as if i might be able to invite people round, or go and see my parents etc. Not going to start booking restaurants for 7 or anything but need a date in mind as something to hold onto tbh, and that seems a less stupid focal point than Johnson's middle of feb.

In case it wasn't clear, I wasn't criticising you for feeling that way, or even for posing the question. It's understandable that we are all wanting to know when it will all be over and/or when will we be able to do something specific that's important to us.

But it does annoy me when, for instance, the head of PHE was asked by the BBC when we'd all be able to go on foreign holidays again and they attempt to provide an answer rather than explain that's an unrealistic and unhelpful question to be asking at the moment.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I went to Tesco earlier, very dead, still had security at the entrance monitoring the situation, but the 'traffic lights' were green, so no queue to get in. Everyone. staff & customers, were wearing masks, but that's always been the case around here.

Went on for a birthday lunch at my brother & SiL's place, support bubble, then home, roads are fairly dead, very few cars about, much more like the first lockdown rather than the second one, which is encouraging.

 

[andysays]

App has pinged change in alert level to national lockdown on my phone.

Yeah, mine did that earlier this afternoon.

 

[editor]

The shit show begins

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55542393

 

[Lord Camomile]

Booooooooooooooo.

(Johnson is on)

 

[elbows]

I thought it was interesting that BBC Breakfast today was going hard on scare stories - family of doctors that took every precaution but still lost their Dad, and interviews with several virologists and epidemic experts talking about how terrible the numbers are.

There has been no subtlety about the way this sort of messaging has been switched on and off in the media in this pandemic, especially by the state broadcaster. I wish it had been switched on much earlier in this wave, its been a long time coming this time around.

BBC Midlands Today even found some idiot councillor yesterday who even the tories had to disown for taking a stupid pandemic stance and talking shit, and they interviewed him in a suitably hostile manner.

This switch is also why when I was going on the other day about too few hospital media stories, staff interviews etc, and too many business owner interviews, I said that the pendulum was now swinging back in the other direction. In reality the swing was pretty instantaneous once it finally happened.

 

[brogdale]

Is he pissed or something?

 

[zora]

Wow, as some predicted, he is seriously leading with bigging up of the vaccine success, not the hideous case numbers and deaths.!

 

[Supine]

Daily jab numbers from next Monday. Good.

 

[frogwoman]

Surely the South African variant couldn't be immune so quickly? I thought that it wasn't such a big deal to alter the vaccines to make them cover different mutations? Or is this just to cover up the fact there's not enough vaccines?

 

[spitfire]

If i heard him right, "the NHS has commited" , not "we have commited".

The weasely shitbag.

 

[bimble]

In case it wasn't clear, I wasn't criticising you for feeling that way, or even for posing the question. It's understandable that we are all wanting to know when it will all be over and/or when will we be able to do something specific that's important to us.

But it does annoy me when, for instance, the head of PHE was asked by the BBC when we'd all be able to go on foreign holidays again and they attempt to provide an answer rather than explain that's an unrealistic and unhelpful question to be asking at the moment.

I totally agree, and i know you weren’t being cross with me but with the over-promising of the men who got us here in the first place. I’m sure back in march Johnson said it’d be 12 weeks till we had this thing ‘licked’.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

1 in 50. Fucking hell.

 

[frogwoman]

1 in 50 have it right now?

 

[andysays]

I totally agree, and i know you weren’t being cross with me but with the over-promising of the men who got us here in the first place. I’m sure back in march Johnson said it’d be 12 weeks till we had this thing ‘licked’.

No wonder he caught it if he went round licking things

 

[redsquirrel]

1 in 50 have it right now?

Based on ONS sampling, yes

 

[20Bees]

I don’t think of early January as “the worst part of winter” or even “the middle of winter”.

 

[maomao]

Is he pissed or something?

Sobriety would surely be out of character.

 

[editor]

Chris Whitty should just do the whole presentation and cut out the flannelling oaf.

 

[brogdale]

BBC will have to sack that woman...they're not meant to ask actual questions.

 

[Ax^]

one thing they have no mentioned in this reports is that and i have check

the offie has been told to close by 20:00

 

[killer b]

Non-essential shops can still offer click-and-collect afaik. Which makes a fucking mockery of the whole point of closing them really.

Isn't the point of closing them to stop people mixing indoors? Seems to me click and collect tackles this reasonably well.

 

[maomao]

Became aware of the new variant on the 18th? Lying piece of shit.

 

[2hats]

Professor Neil Ferguson on the BBC making worrying noises that the SA variant is possibly resistant to the vaccines.

It certainly has a key mutation that reduces neutralising activity in convalescent sera but the vaccine sera studies aren't out yet (see mutations thread).