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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

Calamity1971 said:
Latest rumours apparently leaked to the times that there will be a lockdown day after boxing day. After the horse has bolted again.
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Paywalled, but there's a clear sense they feel it's fine to ignore the scientific evidence. Remember when it was 'we are following the science' in the days when the science wasn't 100% clear and so allowed them the wriggle room to avoid acting?
www.thetimes.co.uk

No more Covid restrictions before Christmas, says Boris Johnson

Brexit minister explains resignation as cabinet revolt brews
www.thetimes.co.uk www.thetimes.co.uk
 
Wilf said:
Paywalled, but there's a clear sense they feel it's fine to ignore the scientific evidence. Remember when it was 'we are following the science' in the days when the science wasn't 100% clear and so allowed them the wriggle room to avoid acting?
www.thetimes.co.uk

No more Covid restrictions before Christmas, says Boris Johnson

Brexit minister explains resignation as cabinet revolt brews
www.thetimes.co.uk www.thetimes.co.uk
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Let's smash that paywall down, you can read the full article here - archive.ph

Rishi Sunak is one of at least ten cabinet ministers who are resisting calls by scientific advisers for new coronavirus restrictions to be introduced before Christmas by questioning the accuracy of official modelling.
...
However ten ministers — a third of the cabinet — are resisting and have cast doubt on the accuracy of the modelling, given the limited information available.
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Sunak is understood to want to delay introducing the restrictions until the information becomes clearer. He has also suggested that more models be considered before making a decision that could cost the economy billions.
Other ministers who have similar concerns include Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, and Grant Shapps, the transport secretaryy. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is also said to be “instinctively opposed” to further restrictions. Javid and Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, are said to be the strongest proponents of further restrictions.
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Johnson is also believed to be reluctant to implement further restrictions before Christmas. “He’s of the view that people are self-policing to an extent and getting boosted in big numbers,” one ally said.
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LynnDoyleCooper said:
It's interesting that it's midwives that get mentioned most.
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It is, but it's also interesting to me that there appears to have been little or no thought given to what would happen when/if significant numbers of NHS staff declined or flat out refused to be vaccinated

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) impact assessment of its policy found that as many as 126,000 unvaccinated staff could lose their job when the rule comes into force on 1 April.
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The House of Lords has raised concerns about the policy. Its secondary legislation scrutiny committee has warned that the DHSC’s definition of “face-to-face” is too vague, that it had no obvious contingency plans to “cope with expected staff losses” and that the potential loss of unvaccinated staff was “likely to be particularly acute” in London.
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It's obviously important that as many NHS staff as possible are vaccinated, but simply mandating it in this way doesn't guarantee that everyone will comply, and now the potential consequences are becoming unavoidable.
 
LynnDoyleCooper said:
Yeah, there is a little part of me that thinks fuck it, let's just let it go now and have it, it all feels so close to being out of control anyway. (Don't bother telling me about XYZ of why this is a bad idea, I know why.)
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I feel the same!
Also every day I'm working there is an inpatient (as opposed to day patient) that comes with a negative lft, has a pcr - because they are staying in- and it comes back positive. The day case patients only require a negative lft and do not do a pcr. Statistically there will be a few amongst the day case patients who will be positive for covid and won't know. Who are sitting in the waiting room and spend time without a mask....in recovery.
So I now double mask.
I'm back to meeting people outdoors only.

I think I've decided that social events can only safely happen in spring, summer and perhaps autumn. 🤔
 
Is anyone else a bit fed up with the constant photos of Downing Street staff within spitting distance of each other during lockdown? You know they're being leaked by even bigger cunts than Johnson so even bigger cunts than him can take control of the country. Worse, they're knowingly undermining the already really shit public health messaging that's already in place for the sole purpose of playing out their shitty libertarian game of thrones wank fantasies.

I'm sure it's less true here but why anyone is shocked that cunts like Johnson don't follow the rules they set for everyone else is beyond me. It's not like there's landfills of evidence throughout history that these pricks play by their own set of rules and don't give two shits about the people they rule over.
 
We are 'only' on 750 cases per 100k, but like last year I am seeing the deep purple colour on the map heading towards us, this time from London via Surrey & west Kent, rather than from north Kent & via East Sussex.

University Hospitals Sussex (Brighton, Chichester, Haywards Heath & Worthing) now have more covid patients in than during the first wave, but only 40% of the second wave peak in Jan. so far, however it's creeping up daily.
 
The government is set on merely waffling until Christmas. So far we've had 'we have no plans to do anything stronger', now we're on 'We can't guarantee we won't have to do anything', next comes 'Wellll, we'll probably have to do something', without actually doing anything. Followed by a too little too late something after 26th but hey, they Saved Christmas through prevarication.
 
Cloo said:
The government is set on merely waffling until Christmas. So far we've had 'we have no plans to do anything stronger', now we're on 'We can't guarantee we won't have to do anything', next comes 'Wellll, we'll probably have to do something', without actually doing anything. Followed by a too little too late something after 26th but hey, they Saved Christmas through prevarication.
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It's like a script from 'Yes, Prime Minister'.

Actually it is...

 
wtfftw said:
How's hospital capacity and ventilation etc? That's what they work with isn't it, not disruption?
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My local area (in south London) is at about 1600 per 100,000.

If I look at my local NHS trust, there is no dramatic rise in admissions. However the data only goes up to about a week ago. There is a bit of a rise visible in the London region NHS data, and that goes up to the 15th at this point.

I was supposed to have a hospital consultant appointment last week but they cancelled it at the last moment due to "the crisis we are currently dealing with". Not sure if that means a rise in admissions that's not yet visible in the published numbers, a projection for what's about to happen, or numbers of staff off sick. Possibly a mix of all of those.
 
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Reactions: Sue
Staffing issues in both the NHS & schools are already becoming a big problem.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Saturday that Covid cases in London hospitals are around 1,500 - up 30 per cent in a week, compared to a national average of four per cent.

But he added: “It’s not just the increase in Covid caseload that's a problem, it's also the fact that we've got staff absences going up.

"So if you look at London, NHS staff absences, they're up 140 per cent, from 1,900 on Sunday to 4,700 on Thursday, so it's gone up very dramatically, very quickly.”
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www.telegraph.co.uk

Increasing concern as number of London NHS staff off sick doubles in a week

Pressure on health service only set to get worse, as figures show a third of workers yet to have Covid booster vaccine
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Nadhim Zahawi begs former teachers to come forward to help.

Those who are recently retired, or trained as a teacher and moved career, are asked to consider whether they can find even a day a week for the spring term to help protect face-to-face education.

Targeted communications will begin to go out from today across a range of government, stakeholder and direct channels to encourage those eligible to apply.

The Government is providing social media and communications support to schools and colleges, trusts, local authorities, teaching unions, supply teacher agencies, and sector organisations such as Teach First to help them engage with their networks and contact databases to reach those who are most likely to be able to answer the Education Secretary’s call.
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Education secretary asks ex-teachers to help fill supply gaps as Omicron cases rise - Politics.co.uk

The Government is asking former teachers who have the skills and time to sign up to return to teaching form today. The Omicron variant is expected to continue to cause increased staff absence levels in the spring term, and some local areas may struggle to find sufficient numbers of supply...
www.politics.co.uk www.politics.co.uk
 
For all the pieces criticising this government let's be clear what the opposition is demanding

'Inaction no longer an option' - Labour calls for further measures for England after Christmas​

In her interview on the Today programme this morning Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, implied that Labour does not favour the introduction of further Covid measures before Christmas.
Asked if Labour favoured restrictions for England for Christmas day, she replied:
I want everything to be done to protect the family Christmas. And that is what I think mums and dads and grandparents around the country are desperate to hear from the government now, what can be done to protect that.
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Reeves also said that the latest Covid numbers were “alarming” and she said: “Anybody who has looked at them with any seriousness knows that inaction is no longer an option.” She went on:
And I would like to do what is necessary to protect the family Christmas and that means listening to the scientists about what can be done to ensure that people can meet up for that limited period of time.
But in Wales, for example, they’ve got a roadmap for straight after Christmas of closing down some of those biggest venues.
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In backing further measures taking effect in England just after Christmas, Labour is in line with what Sage is demanding. See 10.33am.
Reeves also said the government should improve sick pay, to make it easier for people to isolate, and focus on improving ventilation.
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So no actual policy difference from the government.
(And the bolded line is Guardian bollocks, Sage made it quite clear that measures need to be introduced as early as possible to be most effective)
 
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SpookyFrank said:
I guess midwives aren't treating people who are dying of covid.
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Yeah, they also often tend to work slightly more autonomously and have more power as workers - excepting the hospital based ones, although even then there's obvious differences between maternity departments and rest of the hospital. There's also a different and arguably more radical (ancient and more recent) history to the profession. Probably something in there about it attracting more 'alternative' types than other areas of health care as well; anecdata wise all the midwives I know (4 of them) are all vague hippie types into alternative health.
 
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