Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[cupid_stunt]

Fucking daft. Contact tracing has been abandoned in all but name anyway.

No it hasn't, now cases are back down to 'manageable levels', even the national contact tracing system is reaching much higher levels of contacts, the fact that local authorities are now more involved is an added bonus, certainly our local councils have been brilliant in tracing the occasional local outbreak, and nipping it in the bud.

 

[teuchter]

People are astonishingly passive when it comes to decisions about their own health. If the risk isn't staring them in the face, many people aren't interested in making the conceptual effort to acknowledge an invisible risk. So, in their minds, vaccine = safe, simple as.

It's hard to see Covid as an invisible risk when half the economy is shut down, everyone's wearing facemasks and it's constantly being discussed. I mean someone might have decided it's not a risk to them, because of their age or because they don't directly know anyone who's been seriously ill, but in that case there'd be no reason for them to change their behaviour much on account of having been vaccinated anyway. If someone changes their behaviour immediately after their jab, it suggests they did feel a risk prior to it.

 

[kabbes]

48% is everyone to the left of the intelligence bell curve, tbf.

There is no intelligence bell curve.

 

[elbows]

It's hard to see Covid as an invisible risk when half the economy is shut down, everyone's wearing facemasks and it's constantly being discussed. I mean someone might have decided it's not a risk to them, because of their age or because they don't directly know anyone who's been seriously ill, but in that case there'd be no reason for them to change their behaviour much on account of having been vaccinated anyway. If someone changes their behaviour immediately after their jab, it suggests they did feel a risk prior to it.

On a related note, I wasnt very happy to see the Queen without a mask on and the Sun being all happy about it on their front page. Because of the message it sends.

 

[Orang Utan]

No it hasn't, now cases are back down to 'manageable levels', even the national contact tracing system is reaching much higher levels of contacts, the fact that local authorities are now more involved is an added bonus, certainly our local councils have been brilliant in tracing the occasional local outbreak, and nipping it in the bud.

This is in addition to the national Track & Trace though? Cos the national initiative wasn’t fit for purpose, so councils had to take the matter into their own hands.
I work in a public place and we have a QR code for people to scan in when they visit. I only know of one customer who has used it.
Most people don’t even have the app

 

[elbows]

No it hasn't, now cases are back down to 'manageable levels', even the national contact tracing system is reaching much higher levels of contacts, the fact that local authorities are now more involved is an added bonus, certainly our local councils have been brilliant in tracing the occasional local outbreak, and nipping it in the bud.

To be fair to those with a negative view of this side of things, its easy to look at stats and analysis of that system and the marginal use it has been in controlling the pandemic, and become defeatist about it. I will still usually make a loud noise against such defeatism, its not a reason to do less, its a reason to do it more, do it better.

Especially in an era where they are trying to keep an eye on variants of concern. There will continue to be plenty of large holes in UK surveillance of such variants, due for example to people not engaging with the test system at all, and other stuff we have heard about recently. But we still have to try. And I dont imagine people being too chuffed if the day comes when they detect a case with a new variant who went down the pub at some point, but with no record of who else frequented that establishment at the same time. That could still happen with the new guidance, but at least there will be a chance of finding most of the contacts sometimes with this guidance in place.

 

[MrSki]

 

[Supine]

There is no intelligence bell curve.

why?

 

[two sheds]

why?

Yes I wondered that, but then I thought: how do you define intelligence?

 

[kabbes]

Yes I wondered that, but then I thought: how do you define intelligence?

This, plus there’s no reason in any case to think that any of what does get measured should follow a Normal distribution. Even the infamous IQ test is only a Normal distribution because the makers pre-determined that’s what it should be and created the scores accordingly. It’s not data-driven, it’s Normal by design.

In fact, since the variation gets removed from anything within a species that offers a genuine evolutionary advantage, if there were a genuine measurable underlying “intelligence”, the last thing we’d expect from it would be a bell curve. Variation following bell curves only exist for things that really don’t matter to survival. If you think about it, there’s no real variation in most things about us, like number of fingers or number of bones or teeth*. Only relatively irrelevant things like height (within a narrow range).

*barring accidents and outliers, of course

 

[Sunray]

Sorry, lol not sorry

Police charge crowd gathered in Brussels park for fake concert

Thousands break Covid rules to attend event announced on social media as April Fool’s Day prank

www.theguardian.com

 

[kalidarkone]

Yeah I've had my second dose now, and I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't change my behaviour at all. The rules are changing anyway, but if they weren't I think I could see myself bending them now, whereas I haven't before.

Same. I'm a lot more relaxed since having both my jabs and have been off work since February, so at much less risk then previously - for me this means I have been on a bus and a train and am going to a protest tomorrow.

 

[Cloo]

Cases in my borough risen by 35 (cases, not %) in last week - I imagine school testing probably accounts for that. Still low overall though.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

It's hard to see Covid as an invisible risk when half the economy is shut down, everyone's wearing facemasks and it's constantly being discussed. I mean someone might have decided it's not a risk to them, because of their age or because they don't directly know anyone who's been seriously ill, but in that case there'd be no reason for them to change their behaviour much on account of having been vaccinated anyway. If someone changes their behaviour immediately after their jab, it suggests they did feel a risk prior to it.

Exactly - the cautious people will carry on being cautious (also probably going to read the small print) even when everything opens up again.

The (varying degrees of less cautious) will carry on being less cautious, increasingly so as more things open.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

This is in addition to the national Track & Trace though? Cos the national initiative wasn’t fit for purpose, so councils had to take the matter into their own hands.
I work in a public place and we have a QR code for people to scan in when they visit. I only know of one customer who has used it.
Most people don’t even have the app

I went to quite a few places last summer where entry was conditional on scanning the QR code as you came in - a couple were semi-outdoor gigs, but one was 'just' a coffee bar.

But there were loads more places not requiring it, true.

People at work who come in by train, say they are standing room only again at peak times (partly because number of carriages has been reduced).
Would be interesting if people had to scan in before getting on the train...?

Don't know how I would feel about that - unexpectedly crowded trains were the only thing that made me nervous last summer, because of (unlike tube or bus) being unable to get off if you wanted.

(And some of that nervousness wasn't actual fear of covid-risk as such, but to do with being trapped in a carriage with people anti-social and/or drunk enough not to be wearing masks, which isn't quite the same thing)

 

[kabbes]

Such a joy to have lockdown over.

I’ll give up on the idea of buying my loaf of bread then

 

[belboid]

Oh no, there are people in your village! Queuing politely, what absolute scum.

 

[kabbes]

Oh no, there are people in your village! Queuing politely, what absolute scum.

Did I insult any of the people there? God, you can be a prat.

 

[belboid]

Stop fucking complaining then, unless you want to sound like massive nimby again.

 

[kabbes]

this is the only shop without driving 15 minutes. I now can’t get my bread without queuing for 30 minutes because of lots of people wanting to buy coffees. I can complain about that if I want, you bellend. It doesn’t have to be a complaint about any of the individuals there getting their previous coffee. Yes, it’s not the harshest reality in the world, but it’s still an irritation that didn’t exist during lockdown.

 

[belboid]

You can complain about anything you like. And I can complain and about you complaining. This is how life works.

 

[kabbes]

You can complain about anything you like. And I can complain and about you complaining. This is how life works.

Fine, crack on with your meandering around the board being antagonistic towards absolutely everyone, then. Heaven forbid anybody have anything non life threatening to complain about, the mighty belboid will be there to insult them for it.

 

[SpineyNorman]

Id like to register a complaint about you complaining about him complaining about you complaining about him complaining. I am told this is also within the rules.

 

[belboid]

Fine, crack on with your meandering around the board being antagonistic towards absolutely everyone, then. Heaven forbid anybody have anything non life threatening to complain about, the mighty belboid will be there to insult them for it.

Glad you're not making too big a deal of this, or someone might think you were overcompensating

 

[kabbes]

Glad you're not making too big a deal of this, or someone might think you were overcompensating

You have no idea what is going on in my life. You have no idea what shit I was dealing with this morning that made this irritation the final straw, but at least it was a safe thing I could blow off a bit of steam about. The fact is, you just see me as a cartoon character that you can be a prick to when you see the opportunity. Well enjoy it, along with your cod-psy reading of the situation too. Nice one, you win. I’ll keep it all internal in the future. Go back to some tried and true methods instead. Congratulations on your victory, you hero.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

this is the only shop without driving 15 minutes. I now can’t get my bread without queuing for 30 minutes because of lots of people wanting to buy coffees. I can complain about that if I want, you bellend. It doesn’t have to be a complaint about any of the individuals there getting their previous coffee. Yes, it’s not the harshest reality in the world, but it’s still an irritation that didn’t exist during lockdown.

Tbf if this was my dad, in his little village, he would be absolutely fucking delighted at the excuse to stand in a queue & natter to strangers for half an hour.

(I am more of an impatient type, & there are plenty of people I'd hate to be trapped in a queue with, so it would irritate me a bit too)

 

[editor]

this is the only shop without driving 15 minutes. I now can’t get my bread without queuing for 30 minutes because of lots of people wanting to buy coffees. I can complain about that if I want, you bellend. It doesn’t have to be a complaint about any of the individuals there getting their previous coffee. Yes, it’s not the harshest reality in the world, but it’s still an irritation that didn’t exist during lockdown.

Those shops you use probably wouldn't be there if it wasn't for those people using them.

 

[kabbes]

Those shops you use probably wouldn't be there if it wasn't for those people using them.

That’s a moot point, actually. Would you like me to run through the economics of it and the nature of the flow of trade over the last 12 months?

Either way, though, I’d have hoped that the subsequent posts would rather revealed this this is not exactly the point.

 

[two sheds]

Local shop now delivers veg and goodies, shopkeeper said about 2/3 of his trade is now in deliveries. A bit more time consuming for him but they've been scrupulous about safety over the last year and it's balanced out the drop off in shop trade.

 

[teuchter]

I kindly and specially already provided a thread for people to have this argument on

Rural areas and plague tourists

There are many rural areas of the UK which have not really suffered high levels of Covid, compared to the national average. Of course, it's understandable that if you lived in one of those areas, you would want to keep it that way. And when there are surges of infection its quite right that...

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