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General Coronavirus (COVID-19) chat

The bloody Swiss, with their proud neutrality, they’re putting it to rederendum tomorrow whether to scrap all the restrictions or not just as their case numbers are rising like mad. My dad (76) just got his second jab there last week. It’s such an odd place, increasingly i think it’s more like Texas than it’s like here. i Am really tired of worrying about my silly parents over there.

www.bbc.co.uk

Covid: Swiss back government on Covid pass as cases surge

Sunday's referendum is held in a country with one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Yes I was tempted to comment on that yesterday but then I saw some of the polls for those issues and decided to wait and see which way people actually vote first. And it would be tiresome if my opinion on more direct forms of democracy always came down to people making choices I agree with.
 
SpookyFrank said:
I see they're going to make everyone do a PCR test on arrival to the UK.

Presumably to make sure this new variant doesn't get, err, back out again?
Click to expand...
Limiting the amount of seeding of the variant is still worthwhile even when there is no prospect of halting it. I was going on about this before the press conference.

Putting some peopl off from travelling is usually part of these sorts of equations too, though they dont go on about that aspect.

I did laugh at this bit from Hugh Pym of the BBCs analysis:

Cases of the new variant appearing in the UK were inevitable.

What was not inevitable was the government’s response, moving swiftly to tighten rules for those arriving in the country and for the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport in England.
Click to expand...

I suppose it would be fair to quote the rest of it.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland face coverings are already mandatory on public transport and in some indoor settings. So why not the full Plan B for England with requirements to work from home and the use of vaccine passports in some settings?

The prime minister’s answer was that more work was needed to determine how rapidly the variant spreads and how effective the vaccines might be – hence the focus on trying to stop cases coming into the UK but holding off on a wider range of domestic restrictions.

In effect the government is trying to buy time with a review in three weeks, relying on the booster programme to increase immunity while data on Omicron is analysed.

It will hope that the worst fears about the spread of the variants are not realised. There is always the risk, though, that the latest set of measures don’t go far enough.
Click to expand...

From the 18:07 entry on the BBC live updates page https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-59443504
 
Even though I of course wouldn’t wish to see anyone dying needlessly, no matter how much of an ‘I told you so’ karma moment it would be, I’m starting to fear this new variant might deliver an unprecedented degree of Darwin Award devastation among the unvaccinated :(
 
T & P said:
Even though I of course wouldn’t wish to see anyone dying needlessly, no matter how much of an ‘I told you so’ karma moment it would be, I’m starting to fear this new variant might deliver an unprecedented degree of Darwin Award devastation among the unvaccinated :(
Click to expand...

Well there are a number of angles when it comes to deadliness:

Direct stuff - does the new variant make you more likely to end up in hospital or die. Havent heard anything about that for the new strain yet.

Immunity stuff - vaccine-induced immunity is obviously not relevant to the group you mention, but there is also immunity via previous infection. When it comes to deadliness, a strains ability to bypass that immunity needs to be considered in conjunction with the extent to which having already caught it previously and not died offers clues about whether they will die from getting infected again.

Transmissibility - With past variants it was pointed out that notable changes to transmissibility could have larger implications for numbers of deaths than some changes to the direct deadliness of the new variant. Because increased transmissibility implied far more people catching it, faster spread and more people catching it in a short space of time, overwhelming healthcare. But this point is also messier at this stage because we have to note that we've now gone through many months where a rather large number of people were allowed to catch the virus without new restrictions being brought in to reduce the rates. So presumably rather a lot of unvaccinated people have already placed themselves in harms way this year.

The above does not offer a complete guide as to what lies in store, but just begins to touch on some of the factors.
 
Sugar Kane said:
Badgers can they be reused? I have a few...can I air them out and get more than one wear out of them.
Thinking mainly of my dad. He is the only one in the house who goes out at all. Not to socualise indoors mind.
Click to expand...
I do have (embarrassingly) a mask airing rail :D

Ideally these masks are single use but it depends on the usage. I spend 8-10 hours working (public facing) so often they are binned. If you are using them for shops or social stuffs then reuse them.

A 'responsibly reused' N95 mask is better than a standard surgical disposable mask.
 
Badgers said:
I do have (embarrassingly) a mask airing rail :D

Ideally these masks are single use but it depends on the usage. I spend 8-10 hours working (public facing) so often they are binned. If you are using them for shops or social stuffs then reuse them.

A 'responsibly reused' N95 mask is better than a standard surgical disposable mask.
Click to expand...


That's reassuring..
I've been hanging them off the kitchen window to air them.
 
Question re: delayed/missing test result:
I came down with cold symptoms last Wednesday. LFT negative, but as I was starting to develop a cough, I went for a PCR test. Have been off work since, while a) waiting for result, b) feeling too poorly to go in anyway, and c) wanting to limit spread of whatever it is I have.
Am starting to feel better, and would probably go back to work tomorrow or Tuesday, but no sign of the test result.
Website seems to say to contact them if result not received by Day 6 - but if they then tell me the result is lost and I need to retest then, I will have been off for pretty much the full 10 days (for what is likely not covid).
Should I just try and book another test for today, and tick the box "have been told to retest" or whatever seems applicable, and hope that this will come through more quickly? Or should I try and call the 119 number? (I imagine they'd only tell me to either wait till Day 6, or to retest, if I can even get through).
 
Re: re-use of N95 masks and other stuff I bought a proper UVC light mnths ago and use that for sterilizing the mask for re-use. It doesnt re-charge the static charge that helps with filtration but at least I know they are pretty sterile.
You need to use the light in a small space so that the ozone level get high enough to get to the areas out of direct light.
 
I only use my FFP2s for 20 minutes in shops once or twice a week, so I have been rotating 2 or 3 and hanging them in the south-facing hedge - which has the added benefit that I don't need to unlock the front door if I get half way up the street without one - though I always have several lower-grade masks in my cargo pockets ...
Now there's almost no natural UV available, perhaps I'll increase my rotation ...
 
zora said:
Question re: delayed/missing test result:
I came down with cold symptoms last Wednesday. LFT negative, but as I was starting to develop a cough, I went for a PCR test. Have been off work since, while a) waiting for result, b) feeling too poorly to go in anyway, and c) wanting to limit spread of whatever it is I have.
Am starting to feel better, and would probably go back to work tomorrow or Tuesday, but no sign of the test result.
Website seems to say to contact them if result not received by Day 6 - but if they then tell me the result is lost and I need to retest then, I will have been off for pretty much the full 10 days (for what is likely not covid).
Should I just try and book another test for today, and tick the box "have been told to retest" or whatever seems applicable, and hope that this will come through more quickly? Or should I try and call the 119 number? (I imagine they'd only tell me to either wait till Day 6, or to retest, if I can even get through).
Click to expand...
Just answered my own question: I did call 119, and got through to someone straightaway (after going through the lengthy press-option-x-for-this-press-option-y-for-that process, which is totally fair enough).
They seemed to think that they could help me.👍Apparently something had gone wrong with the registration of the test/the link to my contact details, but with any luck I should now receive the test result within the next couple of hours.🤞
 
If it was my decision what happened in any other country I wouldn't let any of us brits in without an IQ test (set target at >50 and we'd be fucked)
 
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I really should have more faith in people, but really skeptical that mask wearing etc is going to come back to the needed previous levels. Only robust messaging and enforcement would do it, and we're not going to get either of those are we?
 
LynnDoyleCooper said:
I really should have more faith in people, but really skeptical that mask wearing etc is going to come back to the needed previous levels. Only robust messaging and enforcement would do it, and we're not going to get either of those are we?
Click to expand...
Nope; not when the regime has already told everyone it's over...we're out of it now.
 
Diary of a Covid Tester part #1

Here we have a free 'Vaxi Taxi' service. Basically the council pays for a cab to take someone for a vaccine, waits while they get it and takes them home afterwards.

Sounds a bit ex/cessive but compared to the cost of NHS treatment it is nothing.

When we had a meeting I suggested 'Jab Cab' would be a good name but someone said 'Vaxi Taxi' would be more fun or something. Usual nonsense.

Just had a 'cease and desist' letter from a lawyer representing a doctor in Surrey who claims the term 'Vaxi Taxi' is her intellectual property and we will be sued.

FFS
 
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