Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[cupid_stunt]

I am surprised, but there's a Downing Street briefing at 5 pm.

 

[elbows]

I'm not that surprised, they usually do one when a big change has just happened.

Johnson via video link. Vallance as usual. No Whitty, JVT is being used instead apparently.

 

[existentialist]

I am surprised, but there's a Downing Street briefing at 5 pm.

Sudden reversal?

Or just another batch of meaningless twaddle and bluster as Johnson attempts to shift responsibility onto anyone-but-him for the coming catastrophe?

 

[elbows]

Plus they have vaccines for under 18s to talk about.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Sudden reversal?

I'll LMFAO if that happens.

 

[Wilf]

Well, if that’s replicated over the country then all the government’s modelling goes out of the window. I think they’re relying on a ‘gradual’ return. We’ll see I guess.

There was always a cowardly dishonesty about the shift to 'personal choice' and johnson's slightly panicked request to people to 'show restraint'. In so many areas of life it isn't a choice. As well as workers in the gig economy having no incentive to isolate, so many areas of urban living force you into close contact - retail settings, pubs and restaurants, public transport and the rest. They are systems literally designed to have a maximum throughput of people.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Plus they have vaccines for under 18s to talk about.

Indeed, was on the BBC front page for a while yesterday - papers seem to be suggesting they're going to open up to the "almost 18"s and kids living with vulnerable adults only?

 

[elbows]

Indeed, was on the BBC front page for a while yesterday - papers seem to be suggesting they're going to open up to the "almost 18"s and kids living with vulnerable adults only?

Children with certain conditions that leave them especially vulnerable are also on the list.

Covid: Hundreds of thousands of under-18s to get vaccine

The vaccines minister says children at high risk from Covid will be offered the jab.

www.bbc.co.uk

Experts have recommended that a limited group of children should be offered Covid jabs to protect them against the pandemic ahead of winter, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.

He told BBC Breakfast it included children who were almost 18, vulnerable to Covid or who lived with people who were clinically vulnerable.

But whether to jab healthy children aged 12-17 will be "kept under review".

 

[Thora]

At work today I'd say 95% of customers were wearing masks and 85% of the staff.

I've just got back from Morrisons and estimate it's gone from 90% mask wearing to maybe 75-80%. People of all ages wearing masks.
Same at school drop off - majority of parents wearing masks outside the gates.

 

[platinumsage]

They simply don’t have enough to supply to start vaccinating healthy children now.

 

[bimble]

They simply don’t have enough to supply to start vaccinating healthy children now.

i just saw that, globally, only 1 in 8 frontline health care workers has been fully vaxed. I know this is a thread about the Uk but that is just so incredibly stupid and wrong. The estimated death toll from covid for medical staff around the world already is just huge.

 

[Steel Icarus]

More #anecdata - Mrs SI just went to home bargains and was surprised how many people were masked. Maybe 3 or 4 in there without in a pretty busy shop. Course this is Day One

 

[Dystopiary]

I feel terribly depressed by this, now the day has arrived. I'm in disbelief actually. I'm struggling to believe that we're governed by this level of lying incompetence and that whole swathes of the population just lap this shit up.

As I write this I know of two clubs in the city I live in that are open right now til 6 with a full roster of DJs and lots of tickets sold. That's being repeated across the country. I just can't believe it's happening. I've never felt as flabbergasted about any government policy before, angry yes but never like this. I feel numb. I know I'm not alone in feeling this but I feel very alone at the moment.

Good luck out there.

Solidarity.

 

[20Bees]

The screens arent of much use at all.

I’m a supermarket cashier and the screens are very reassuring. Sitting at the checkout I’m at a lower level than the customers are, if they cough or sneeze, or raise their voices, I certainly feel better protected than I did before the screens were installed. We have been told they’ll stay in place until at least the end of the year.
I’m working this evening, Monday is usually quiet but I wonder how many staff and customers will be maskless and not distancing. The teenage staff haven’t been good at remembering distancing all through the restrictions. And the girls most inclined to wear a full face of makeup are also most likely to be ‘exempt’ from masks!
I think I will be wearing one in any store or indoor setting, for years to come.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Unbelievable...

Coronavirus lateral flow tests given out by the Government for free have run out as millions order kits on Freedom Day.

The government's website tells people to "come back tomorrow".

Brits unable to order Covid lateral flow tests on Freedom Day in tech blunder

Lateral flow tests, which tell people if they have coronavirus in less than half an hour, have run out. The government's booking website is telling people to try again tomorrow

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[elbows]

Except they didnt run out.

But a government spokeswoman told the Mirror: “We can confirm that lateral flow devices (LFDs) are still available to order via gov.uk website.

"There was a temporary technical glitch with the website earlier today and this has now been rectified.”

 

[elbows]

 

[ska invita]

It boggles the mind this... If they are infected surely the worst possible place they could go to is a hospital.

 

[elbows]

It boggles the mind this... If they are infected surely the worst possible place they could go to is a hospital.

Its a sign of failure, but I understand why they've resorted to it. Poor levels of staffing kill too. I'd have tackled the whole thing differently by not letting cases rise to anything like this level.

The fudge relies on risk assessments to wave things through.

The decision to allow NHS and social care staff to attend work after being told to self-isolate should be made on a case-by-case basis, and only after a risk assessment by the organisation’s management.

This must be authorised by the organisation’s local Director of Infection Prevention and Control, the lead professional for health protection, or the Director of Public Health relevant to the organisation.

Frontline health and care staff can work rather than self-isolate

Frontline NHS and social care staff can attend work rather than self-isolate with testing mitigations in exceptional circumstances under updated guidance.

www.gov.uk

That page also contains the obnoxious bullshit from Javid that we are already used to:

As we learn to live with this virus, it’s important that we ensure frontline staff can keep providing the best possible care and support to people up and down the country.

The government has backed healthcare services at every turn through this global pandemic and these new rules will fortify our collective defences against this awful virus, by allowing fully vaccinated frontline NHS and social care staff to continue to work when needed.

Fortify my arse.

 

[Cat Fan]

They don't even need a confirmatory negative PCR?

 

[BillRiver]

I shouted at the radio last night, when they (the BBC) described NHS workers as being "allowed" to continue to work in these circumstances.

FFS!

Like the workers are so desperate, begging to continue to work and put themselves, their colleagues, their patients, their families, at risk! Like they should be happy and grateful. Like it's a good thing for them, for any of us. Grrrrrrr!

 

[elbows]

They don't even need a confirmatory negative PCR?

One.

This measure is being introduced to alleviate pressure on NHS and social care services and will be contingent on staff members only working after having a negative PCR test and also taking daily negative lateral flow tests for a minimum of seven days, and up to 10 days or completion of the identified self-isolation period.

That quote is from the same page I already linked to.

 

[elbows]

I shouted at the radio last night, when they (the BBC) described NHS workers as being "allowed" to continue to work in these circumstances.

FFS!

Like the workers are so desperate, begging to continue to work and put themselves, their colleagues, their patients, their families, at risk! Like they should be happy and grateful. Like it's a good thing for them, for any of us. Grrrrrrr!

To be honest quite a lot of NHS workers do feel bad when they have to self-isolate, usually because they know the staffing pressures on their department at the time. So I'd expect a range of opinions from them about this, some will support it.

 

[BillRiver]

To be honest quite a lot of NHS workers do feel bad when they have to self-isolate, usually because they know the staffing pressures on their department at the time. So I'd expect a range of opinions from them about this, some will support it.

Possibly. None of those that I know do though.

Yes they feel bad for their colleagues when they have to isolate, but no they don't think this is in any way an answer.

 

[LDC]

My opinion is that it's like lots of what's happening now in that when you make a series of terrible decisions the place you end up in is one where another terrible decision does sometimes make some kind of fucked-up sense.

 

[elbows]

Yeah, pragmatism of the damned.

I have too much focus on the role of hospital infections to be happy about it. But staffing pressures this summer are immense so something had to give.

Meanwhile:

 

[Orang Utan]

Bit confused by this superspreader event:


surely they must have been breaking the law by having all of those people in before midnight?

 

[maomao]

Mask wearing at my kid's school pick up time has gone from over 90% to maybe 25% at most. Though it is outside so maybe not representative. What I didnt understand was why, in the circumstances, two silly cunts had gone to the bother of putting their masks on but not covered their noses. Just take the fucking thing off.

 

[ska invita]

To be honest quite a lot of NHS workers do feel bad when they have to self-isolate, usually because they know the staffing pressures on their department at the time. So I'd expect a range of opinions from them about this, some will support it.

from what ive read of NHS urbanites the work pressure culture is a really unhealthy one

 

[xenon]

Having drinks later outside, at a pub on the harbourside. one person has been pinged off, as it were. I genuinnely forget to turn the app on when I'm out. Yeah, I know you're supposed to check in but this is not 100% observed in places I've been.

Unbelievable...

Brits unable to order Covid lateral flow tests on Freedom Day in tech blunder

Lateral flow tests, which tell people if they have coronavirus in less than half an hour, have run out. The government's booking website is telling people to try again tomorrow

www.mirror.co.uk

I've never ordered any before. Just did so on Saturday and they arrived today.

I just got them as a precaution and intend to use them if I get pinged or come down with any symptoms. I know people recommend doing 2 a week but I'm not mixing with that many people and not visiting anyone vunrible any time soon. (Plus I need someone to help read the indicator over video call, which adds a bit more hassle to it.)