Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[Wilf]

Just on the 'variants game', I think it's important to know what's out there if for no other reason than being able to judge what our government is doing or not doing about it. Johnson's complete indifference to stopping flights and the rest was crucial in allowing the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.

 

[elbows]

Just on the 'variants game', I think it's important to know what's out there if for no other reason than being able to judge what our government is doing or not doing about it. Johnson's complete indifference to stopping flights and the rest was crucial in allowing the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.

Yes. Plus the 'experts' who attempted to downplay the risks from variants in the past tended to end up expose their own agendas and make fools of themselves.

 

[Raheem]

I did not know this, but they have specially designed face masks for singers.

View attachment 297905

That's not for singers. It's for allowing ducks to blend in as they carry out their plot to overthrow us.

 

[Wilf]

I did not know this, but they have specially designed face masks for singers.

View attachment 297905

That's actually quite disturbing.

 

[andysays]

Just on the 'variants game', I think it's important to know what's out there if for no other reason than being able to judge what our government is doing or not doing about it. Johnson's complete indifference to stopping flights and the rest was crucial in allowing the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.

Yeah, there appears to be a clear difference between the prompt response now and the absence of a proper response to the Delta variant.

 

[Chilli.s]

Grant Shapps told the BBC the UK "acted immediately" with a "safety first"

Unlike last year when they dithered about like the bunch of fuckwits they are

 

[Raheem]

Yeah, there appears to be a clear difference between the prompt response now and the absence of a proper response to the Delta variant.

Suspect there has been a degree of waiting for this to happen, because it represents an opportunity to get the idea of new restrictions back on the table "due to unforseen circumstances".

 

[editor]

No surprises here

Covid patients in ICU now almost all unvaccinated, says Oxford scientist

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard says most of those infected who are fully vaccinated will experience only mild symptoms

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Losing patience with unvaxxed people falling ill. When faced with a massive issue science has come through in astonishing style to get us out of this mess and yet some morons 'want to wait' etc. Fuck 'em.


In other news, BB1's college is mandating masks in all areas from Monday due to massive rising numbers here. Surely that should be for everywhere now, it's hardly a big ask.

 

[brogdale]

Yeah, there appears to be a clear difference between the prompt response now and the absence of a proper response to the Delta variant.

Here already, I'm sure.

 

[Ax^]

hmm work with a guy who is suppose to go home to SA over the weekend


guess he fooked :/

 

[ska invita]

Here already, I'm sure.

presume people tested to get on flights though?

 

[brogdale]

presume people tested to get on flights though?

Hmmm

 

[elbows]

No surprises here

Covid patients in ICU now almost all unvaccinated, says Oxford scientist

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard says most of those infected who are fully vaccinated will experience only mild symptoms

www.theguardian.com

Please see one of my rants about potentially misleading reporting on this, along with some actual numbers. I havent got ICU figures but the other figures suggest a quite different picture to the one painted there.

See this post and some of my subsequent ones for example, I'll make myself ill if I try to repeat all the detail again now: #5,572

 

[elbows]

Here already, I'm sure.

Well Belgium has certainly detected a case for a start. And I note Israels rhetoric.

Europe has identified its first case of the variant in Belgium. The Guardian reports that the case emerged in an unvaccinated young woman who had recently travelled from Egypt via Turkey and developed mild flu symptoms 11 days later.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Friday it is "on the verge of a state of emergency" regarding the new variant, and that he would "act fast, strong and now".

Covid: US joins EU in restricting travel from southern Africa

Flights from eight African nations to be blocked as new variant is classified as being "of concern".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[MBV]

I read a thread about the Nu variant and thought the author was trying to save characters

(rather than just new)

 

[weepiper]

My friend whose early twenties daughter lives in South Africa and hasn't seen her for two years is pretty gutted that SA being on the red list means she now can't come home for Christmas (booked ages ago). Feel pretty sorry for them while at the same time feeling quite 'pull up the drawbridge' about it.

 

[brogdale]

Well Belgium has certainly detected a case for a start. And I note Israels rhetoric.

Covid: US joins EU in restricting travel from southern Africa

Flights from eight African nations to be blocked as new variant is classified as being "of concern".

www.bbc.co.uk

The game's up already; we know that from past events

 

[Ax^]

My friend whose early twenties daughter lives in South Africa and hasn't seen her for two years is pretty gutted that SA being on the red list means she now can't come home for Christmas (booked ages ago). Feel pretty sorry for them while at the same time feeling quite 'pull up the drawbridge' about it.

aye kinda the situation the fella i work with but the other way around

aging father in SA he in his mid 40's and has not been home in 2 years


was due to get a PCR test on Thursday and leave on Saturday

must be a kick in the nuts to get this for anyone

 

[Cloo]

Just as well this variant didn't appear in a bigger economic partner, eh, or they probably wouldn't be bothering. Or do we think they might have learned something from Delta.

gsv was a bit to see headlines about bits of Africa closing down as his brother is currently on route to Malawi with a 24-stopover in Kenya, going to see a dying friend, and he was worried he'd be stuck somewhere - but obviously they are not affected. Yet. Hoping he makes it back without disruption

 

[elbows]

The game's up already; we know that from past events

Certainly if I try to imagine us dodging a bullet with this variant, it would come down to properties of the variant rather than how widely its spread by now.

eg if it fails to manage to outcompete Delta. Which is certainly not a claim I'm trying to make, just on the list of theoretical possibilities, on the list of stuff we will find out given time.

 

[elbows]

New Covid variant: Javid says UK must act quickly over public health risk

The health secretary says southern African travel restrictions were imposed due to a "substantial risk" to health.

www.bbc.co.uk

Bastard fucking virus.

I think humans, power structures, priorities and decisions from on high made me more angry this year than the virus did.

We knew the virus had the potential to do this. Especially when:

Too much of a rush to return to relative normality, travel etc.
Too much binary thinking about vaccines.
Not enough pressure to do something about global vaccine inequalities.
Not enough focus on keeping case numbers down.
Not enough focus on potential zoonosis and reverse zoonosis cycles.
Not enough focus on the potential role of immunocompromised people catching the virus and it then having the opportunity to mutate many times while remaining in their bodies for a rather long period of time.

Alpha(Kent) variant should have offered stark lessons about the latter.

 

[elbows]

Best outcome I can possibly hope for at this stage is that the new variant fails to dominate but that all the news about it, and dramatic action by some authorities on some limited fronts, helps suppress all versions of the virus this winter.

As mood music shifts go, this one is quite dramatic.

 

[elbows]

I read a thread about the Nu variant and thought the author was trying to save characters

(rather than just new)

I think that was just a guess about what it would be called, and Omicron is what they've actually gone for:

#406

 

[Fruitloop]

Please sign if you agree: Petition: Fast-track rollout of Covid vaccine in 5-11s post MHRA approval

 

[elbows]

Prof Whitty told a panel discussion hosted by the Local Government Association: "My greatest worry at the moment is that people... if we need to do something more muscular at some point, whether it's for the current new variant or at some later stage, can we still take people with us?"

But he added that, despite previous restrictions being "very destructive" to society and the economy, the public had shown an "extraordinary" ability to "just accept that there are things we collectively have to do to protect one another and do collectively".

Such concerns are understandable but I'm bound to moan a bit about this bit:

Prof Whitty added, however, that it had become harder to ensure compliance over time, saying: "It's easier to be confident of people's response right at the beginning than it is after people put up with two years of their lives being interfered with."

Because at the start Whitty was one of those who went on about fatigue etc as part of the UK governments justification for acting in a slow and crap way, part of their failed plan A sales pitch! So I'm bound to laugh in a atrange way when I hear him mention confidence in peoples response at the beginning.

Chris Whitty: Public would need to back more Covid curbs

England's chief medical officer wonders if "we could take people with us" if new restrictions are imposed.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[elbows]

Reinfection is one of the concerns about Omicron ( #409 ). So we should probably bring up again the fact the UK positive case figures only include individuals once, thus do not count reinfections, and that a long overdue change to the official definition so that such cases do count should probably happen. Whether it will, or how long it will take, I would not like to guess.

 

[Mation]

Best outcome I can possibly hope for at this stage is that the new variant fails to dominate but that all the news about it, and dramatic action by some authorities on some limited fronts, helps suppress all versions of the virus this winter.

As mood music shifts go, this one is quite dramatic.

Not that the Omikron variant isn't one of concern, but I can't help feeling that the government's response is based less on acting sensibly to prevent future spread and dominance if it turns out to be more deadly (directly or indirectly), and more on creating a relatively receptive public environment for reintroducing some local restrictions, based on the extant UK situation.

 

[elbows]

I wouldnt like to try too hard to separate the two, especially given the time of year. But I think the current UK situation does require us to at least dig down to level of data where we can see which age groups have been causing the case numbers to rise recently. Which so far tends to reveal a picture where they still have a bit of wiggle room/time to drag their feels, especially as booster jabs seem to have had an impact in the older groups that have received them so far. I suppose there are some circumstanes where local restrictions are possible but I tend to think national ones are more likely to be appropriate.

And Johnsons government probably did learn some lessons about the political consequences of not responding at all appropriately to Delta, at least as far as travel restriction timing went.

Plus frankly Omicron has potential to really fuck things up badly. I think a huge chunk of the dramatic response seen today is just down to that, how this variant looks on paper and in terms of its growth in South Africa. In those ways it looks very bad indeed and I'll be somewhat surprised and grateful if we even partially dodge any of those bullets with this variant.

 

[Mation]

I wouldnt like to try too hard to separate the two, especially given the time of year. But I think the current UK situation does require us to at least dig down to level of data where we can see which age groups have been causing the case numbers to rise recently. Which so far tends to reveal a picture where they still have a bit of wiggle room/time to drag their feels, especially as booster jabs seem to have had an impact in the older groups that have received them so far. I suppose there are some circumstanes where local restrictions are possible but I tend to think national ones are more likely to be appropriate.

And Johnsons government probably did learn some lessons about the political consequences of not responding at all appropriately to Delta, at least as far as travel restriction timing went.

Plus frankly Omicron has potential to really fuck things up badly. I think a huge chunk of the dramatic response seen today is just down to that, how this variant looks on paper and in terms of its growth in South Africa. In those ways it looks very bad indeed and I'll be somewhat surprised and grateful if we even partially dodge any of those bullets with this variant.

Sorry - by local restrictions, I meant national ones, because of the new global threat, iyswim.

And I've just noticed that I used the Nomad Soul spelling of Omicron