Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[StoneRoad]

I had a member of staff who had vaccine denying attributes (now including an outright refusal to get stabbed). Wore a mask only when that was insisted upon.
Had being the operative term as he chucked in his part-time job this morning. Pity, as he was a good worker but his "other" job was, I think, at a care facility.

I got the blame ! as I told the workshop manager, that I wasn't happy with the idea of someone working unmasked - in very close proximity - to other staff, unless both parties were vaccinated - even then, I would prefer masks to continue to be worn until the protection against transmission is settled. (the project workspace has just changed from physically separate areas to a shared space).

We do get visitors and we have no idea of their covid/vaccination status, so we do the masking up etc.

Might be an over-reaction with the situation as it is now, but a couple of people have other contacts in their life that can't be vaccinated, or will probably have a lower protection level because their immune system has a reduced response to the vaccine.

 

[Badgers]

Fun story from the testing centre (PlagueShed) today..

Last week two Indian chaps came in and tried to blag their swab tests. Just pretending to swab by waving the swab near their mouth/nose. We put our foot down and they did it properly. They told the staff that they needed a negative for work

Tested positive

One of the cunts came back 5 days later (the staff have been bollocked) wanting another test and THEY DID IT which has tested positive again

 

[editor]

Fun story from the testing centre (PlagueShed) today..

Last week two Indian chaps came in and tried to blag their swab tests. Just pretending to swab by waving the swab near their mouth/nose. We put our foot down and they did it properly. They told the staff that they needed a negative for work

Tested positive

One of the cunts came back 5 days later (the staff have been bollocked) wanting another test and THEY DID IT which has tested positive again

Should be a criminal offence in my book. The selfish wankers.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Face coverings for kids in schools to be lifted from next Monday, despite many teachers having not had the jab.

 

[purenarcotic]

Mixed, but generally cautiously optimistic.

Cases are low enough, and combining that with the vaccination rates, and the reality that people are already relaxing anyway due to those things and general weariness of the whole thing, I think loosening restrictions is right to go ahead with now.

I am also slightly cautious that people think it's all over, don't quite understand the risks even if vaccinated, and also the possibilities of new variants fucking things up later this year.

(On the risks/vaccinated thing; I was in a shop yesterday and someone queued up right behind me talking loudly on his phone with no mask on. I politely asked them to move away and they started being arsey saying they'd had the vaccine and it's fine now. Anecdote, but I've increasingly come across that view.)

To be fair to people, that is what the messaging has been all the way through, that vaccines would be our route out, so I can understand why people feel they can be less cautious now and feel protected. Because the messaging has implied that. Even today, hug but don’t hug but hug but think about who you hug.. as usual it’s a bit messy and confusing.

 

[elbows]

To be fair to people, that is what the messaging has been all the way through, that vaccines would be our route out, so I can understand why people feel they can be less cautious now and feel protected. Because the messaging has implied that. Even today, hug but don’t hug but hug but think about who you hug.. as usual it’s a bit messy and confusing.

Todays press conference certainly hinted that the 'use your own common sense and reason' that they are applying to hugging now is quite likely the approach the government will go for with lots of the other restrictions and rules they would like to formally ditch in June.

They do tend to make sure they go on about the percentages of protection that vaccines appear to offer. Some of those figures have improved over time, and there is also the combination of effects to consider. eg if 85%-90% of people who catch it and would have previously died if not vaccinated are saved from death, we also have to add in how much less likely they are to catch it if transmission and prevalence of the virus remains vastly reduced as a result of the vaccination campaign.

I've gone on a lot about the risks of asking the vaccines to do all the heavy pandemic lifting, but I dont really expect this point to come alive at this stage. When it comes to people, the media and politicians coming up with more vivid, stark and blunt stories and explanations of what this means in practice, I just dont expect much now beyond the dull percentages. Rather I would expect this stuff to gain emphasis only if we actually end up in a situation where the situation is clearly deteriorating and heading back towards deadly tipping points.

 

[elbows]

If you like hearing journalists ask stupid questions about who Johnson will hug first, then this was the press conference for you. Imagine being a PM with Johnsons reputation leading you to be asked asked questions about who you'll shake hands with first, with the question featuring a dig that you were probably one of the last people to stop shaking hands earlier in the pandemic.

Aside from that shit, todays press conference did feature a fair bit of talk about the India variant B.1.617.2, with Whitty sarcastically calling it snappily named. It wasnt news to me that they think this variant is at least as transmissible as the Kent variant, and quite possibly more transmissible than that version of the virus, but I dont now quite how much attention everyone else has been paying to that sort of detail recently.

 

[Sunray]

I'd like the Cinema to open too, but they didn't close due to the 2nd wave, closed due to having no movies to show. I still think this will be the case for a while yet.

Face coverings for kids in schools to be lifted from next Monday, despite many teachers having not had the jab.

Surely every single teacher has had COVID-19 by now.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Surely every single teacher has had COVID-19 by now.

I doubt it, plenty are under 40, the current cut-off age for jabs.

 

[Sunray]

I doubt it, plenty are under 40, the current cut-off age for jabs.

No, not the vaccine, COVID-19, cough cough cough
I can't see how they could have escaped. Indoors with 30+ children daily.

 

[cupid_stunt]

No, not the vaccine, COVID-19, cough cough cough
I can't see how they could have escaped. Indoors with 30+ children daily.

Sorry, I misread your post.

 

[nagapie]

Should be a criminal offence in my book. The selfish wankers.

Or maybe the gov that doesn't support people to isolate should be held to account.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'd like the Cinema to open too, but they didn't close due to the 2nd wave, closed due to having no movies to show. I still think this will be the case for a while yet.


Surely every single teacher has had COVID-19 by now.

The cinemas are opening next week and they’re showing plenty, though not all are new releases

 

[Sunray]

The cinemas are opening next week and they’re showing plenty, though not all are nee releases

I look forward to getting something from my membership of the Picturehouse.

 

[Orang Utan]

I look forward to getting something from my membership of the Picturehouse.

They’re selling tickets already

 

[editor]

Or maybe the gov that doesn't support people to isolate should be held to account.

I'd like both the government to offer more support generally and for dangerous liars like these to be criminally charged. They could have infected their fellow workers, and also all their friends and families and so on.,

 

[elbows]

You have to watch out for unintended consequences with that sort of thing, like people avoiding the testing system altogether (which has likely already been something of an issue during this pandemic so far).

 

[elbows]

Surely every single teacher has had COVID-19 by now.

I wouldnt have thought so. All the horror we've seen so far has been caused by a fraction of the population being infected, and although I'd tend to assume higher percentages for people in certain jobs, 'every single person' in a particular role having been infected already doesnt usually come into my thinking.

 

[BillRiver]

I'd like both the government to offer more support generally and for dangerous liars like these to be criminally charged. They could have infected their fellow workers, and also all their friends and families and so on.,

If they're not paid sick leave they and their families could be in a bad situation.

 

[miss direct]

People won't wear masks in the cinema once the lights are down, will they? How well ventilated is a cinema?
(I'd quite like to go, but seems unwise with an air borne virus around..)

 

[BillRiver]

People won't wear masks in the cinema once the lights are down, will they? How well ventilated is a cinema?
(I'd quite like to go, but seems unwise with an air borne virus around..)

I went to the Castle Cinema in Homerton three times last autumn.

You had to take your seat as soon as you arrived, after a temp check and some hand sanitising, no hanging about the bar/lobby.

Households were seated 2m apart.

Everybody wore masks throughout.

It was ventilated as normal (as per pre covid).

 

[maomao]

No, not the vaccine, COVID-19, cough cough cough
I can't see how they could have escaped. Indoors with 30+ children daily.

I work in a school with very strict covid hygiene in an area which was very badly hit at the beginning of the year and there have only been two cases since March.

 

[Orang Utan]

People won't wear masks in the cinema once the lights are down, will they? How well ventilated is a cinema?
(I'd quite like to go, but seems unwise with an air borne virus around..)

They did when I went between lockdowns last year

 

[miss direct]

I think it must vary a lot depending on area. Here it seems a massive struggle for most people to wear a mask at all, never mind covering both nose and mouth with it. I just can't imagine the general population of this area keeping their masks on throughout a film. I'll not bother just yet unless I can somehow get to an outdoor cinema event.

 

[nagapie]

I work in a school with very strict covid hygiene in an area which was very badly hit at the beginning of the year and there have only been two cases since March.

I bet there's been way more.

 

[maomao]

I bet there's been way more.

Possibly more but I don't reckon way more. They've been pushing testing of kids and staff. Strict on bubbles, ventilation, masks and distancing. No bugs going round the school; I haven't coughed in weeks.

 

[nagapie]

Possibly more but I don't reckon way more. They've been pushing testing of kids and staff. Strict on bubbles, ventilation, masks and distancing. No bugs going round the school; I haven't coughed in weeks.

I was thinking more of last March and Dec, London was rampant. And it was also hard to get tests for some of that.

 

[maomao]

I was thinking more of last March and Dec, London was rampant. And it was also hard to get tests for some of that.

I can only comment since this March really. A lot better than where I was last year which paid restrictions lip service and got hammered in December.

 

[nagapie]

I can only comment since this March really. A lot better than where I was last year which paid restrictions lip service and got hammered in December.

It's not the same situation. I doubt even strict rules could have prevented what went down before. This March still had the benefit of a strict lockdown and the start of the vaccine program.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I'm nervous about removing masks from kids thus soon. Why not leave it til the end of the school year then there are six weeks off?