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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

elbows said:
The modelling done in that paper is also of great interest to anyone that wondered what would happen if all measures were scrapped and all behaviours went back to normal. The authors of the paper point out that these are extreme worst case scenarios that are thought to be incompatible with reality because when deaths rise peoples behaviours, and government decisions, inevitably change.

This for example is what they model as happening if all measures ended in April. Huge numbers well beyond anything we've seen so far.

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Quite a difficult paper to understand, but I guess the gist of it is 1) don't expect anything more than the most minor relaxations until summer at least and 2) if the government proposes any significant reopening before summer we are just going to see this horrorshow drag on even longer.

I wish the government would be clearer about these kinds of expectations. I'd rather know that nothing much is going to change till June, and allow myself to psychologically adjust to that and plan accordingly. This current situation is difficult and can feel unendurable but I think it's better faced up to rather than keep thinking in the back of your mind that the worst of the lockdown might be over in a few weeks.
 
bimble said:
The randomised testing in 8 postcodes to look for the South Africa variant, 8 postcodes dotted around various parts of the south east, does it make sense? I don’t follow it, I mean if it’s already in 8 postcodes what can this really achieve?
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I think that those postcodes have already had cases with the SA variant, what the "door-to-door tests" are meant to find out is whether there are more cases lurking in the community.
 
StoneRoad said:
I think that those postcodes have already had cases with the SA variant, what the "door-to-door tests" are meant to find out is whether there are more cases lurking in the community.
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Yes, and then what though? And what about the postcodes just next door etc.
 
bimble said:
The randomised testing in 8 postcodes to look for the South Africa variant, 8 postcodes dotted around various parts of the south east, does it make sense? I don’t follow it, I mean if it’s already in 8 postcodes what can this really achieve?
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Not sure I have much to add compared to my initial reactions earlier today. They want to be seen to be doing something, and Hancock wants to talk tough without actually acting tough.

The population testing they plan for these areas is probably just so they can get a better sense of how widespread this variant is in those locations. If there are plenty of cases they will try to deduce other things from this data. They might also want to use people with this strain in some studies for all I know.
 
When people all over the UK go for covid tests, are a random sampling of the swabs from those who test positive routinely checked for whether they are variants or does that not happen ?
 
lazythursday said:
I wish the government would be clearer about these kinds of expectations. I'd rather know that nothing much is going to change till June, and allow myself to psychologically adjust to that and plan accordingly. This current situation is difficult and can feel unendurable but I think it's better faced up to rather than keep thinking in the back of your mind that the worst of the lockdown might be over in a few weeks.
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This has been the government's approach all along, though, hasn't it - bollocks optimism from that lying oversexed haystack in No. 10, decisions either not taken or taken too late, inconsistent and confusing regulations issued at short notice, and a complete refusal to take responsibility for anything, least of all thousands dead who needn't have been. Oh, and billions of pounds worth of corruption. The whole bastard lot of them should be in prison.
 
Roadkill said:
This has been the government's approach all along, though, hasn't it - bollocks optimism from that lying oversexed haystack in No. 10, decisions either not taken or taken too late, inconsistent and confusing regulations issued at short notice, and a complete refusal to take responsibility for anything, least of all thousands dead who needn't have been. Oh, and billions of pounds worth of corruption. The whole bastard lot of them should be in prison.
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the haystack was quoted as being "hopeful for summer holidays" earlier on on the BBC news site
 
My dad used to be a volunteer for a taxi type service for people to get to medical appointments (rural area), not sure how he signed up for it or even what it was called. He needed full dbs for it. I was thinking that sort of scheme would be really good for this vaccination programme.

Boudicca said:
How has this been organised SpookyFrank ?

I'd be happy to mask up, fumingate my car and drive an elderly person to a vaccine centre, but the Red Cross won't allow me to carry someone in my car and I guess the risk is too high for charities to get involved. If I tried to organise this kind of thing, I'd get completely drowned in heath & safety stuff.

One lady I have been shopping for managed to struggle to the GP in a taxi with a sympathetic driver, another has cancelled her appointment as she is too ill at the moment. It's not just about transport, it needs someone to turn up with an umbrella, a fold up chair and a hot water bottle. The pictures of 80 year olds queuing in the rain are upsetting.
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nyxx said:
My dad used to be a volunteer for a taxi type service for people to get to medical appointments (rural area), not sure how he signed up for it or even what it was called. He needed full dbs for it. I was thinking that sort of scheme would be really good for this vaccination programme.
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Yes, I guess anything official/charity organised would involved full dbs checks by the organisation.
 
Old mate in Woking had a knock at the door yesterday and was told his family all needed to do tests for the SA strain.
 
maomao said:
Haringey was definitely one of the three London boroughs in the list yesterday but don't think it was that specific.
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OK, I would have thought I would have noticed that, what with living here, but perhaps I missed it.

I will be getting my regular test later in the week anyway...
 
andysays said:
OK, I would have thought I would have noticed that, what with living here, but perhaps I missed it.

I will be getting my regular test later in the week anyway...
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I also saw it on the list yesterday, but only saw the list quite late in the day.
 
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