Steven W

Think Michael Stewart reads this thread going by his latest tweet

I get their point too. But by the time all over 40s are vaccinated a large chunk of police / teachers will be done anyway. They've harped on about this from day one - strikes me as a little selfish. Folk stacking the shelves in Asda are just as exposed, yet we hear little from them. As you say, a perfectly valid reason has been given for going down this route. The reaction (within minutes) from Police and Teachers is a bit "Me, me, me!!"

I stand to gain from the announcement that 40-49s are next up once Groups 1-9 are complete. But I think I'd prefer to let the police and teachers go next. Not sure I can face the continued bleating much longer

She said the day before the two plans would be broadly similar. Then BJ done his, which quite possibly factored in the vaccine news that emerged in the morning as it was 'all signing, all all dancing' to the point of ending restrictions in June (I said at the time I'd be amazed if the two plans prove to be broadly similar) Sturgeon then does hers the next day, in what I thought was a very flippant manner, and raced through it all in about 5 or 10 minutes flat. Then yesterday seemed to be much more upbeat and positive, probably on the back of some negative feedback to her performance / plan on Tuesday. Reading between the lines, and pure speculation on my part, but I think BJ's roadmap was redrawn àt a very late stage and NS maybe saw it for the first time as we all did.

Leitch on STV tonight hinting that you might be able travel across Scotland, maybe even across the border, come the tier system.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-alert-level-downgraded-as-threat-of-nhs-being-overwhelmed-recedes-12228748 I could have sworn they weren't expecting the threat of the NHS to drop for a while yet (middle of March maybe?)

:-)

Of course. Lockdown will muddy the data a bit re vaccinations

You're some boy!

Would be intrigued to know the age groups of these 769 (or more to the point have any of them been vaccinated - suspect not). Although case numbers are remaining at the same kind of level (maybe even dipping a bit, albeit very slowly), it would seem that cases aren't translating into hospitalisations. I can picture the move to the tier system being advanced at this rate (although I'm happy to stick with it through to end of Apr)

My sons' class all sent home to go and isolate for 10 days. FFS that lasted long! Falkirk area seems riddled with it just now

Can't see it myself. I can see why they went for it back in August, but there's so much pent up demand, together with the vaccinactions, I tend to think, far from being nervous about going out (although there will be some of course), folk cannot wait to go meals and pints.

Aye but Boris is a Tory, so therefore he MUST be lying :-) I'm being sarcastic, but the pish I encountered when I flagged up Hancock saying we could be living with Covid in the same way we do with flu by the end of December (over 10 months away) did make me laugh. I think this time, having been burned so badly with their predictions in the past, this plan is thought out and with the vaccines on the go, surely (hopefully) deliverable. And for the avoidance of doubt, all Tories are cnts.

I bought a ticket for a Highland League match back in December (postponed, I've gone over a year without seeing a game now) and there were no checks about whether I was local or not. I can't say I'm surprised. I think it was supposed to be the case you had to live within 'X' miles of the stadium. Quite if it was actually enforced I'm pretty doubtful. I'd imagine that Scottish League clubs, if / when the time comes would be told to enforce it and do checks.

They didn't have to SD last July through to end of Dec '20. The point I'm making is that talking up the easing of restrictions in yesterday's roadmap is a little disingenous as its outdoor non-contact only. Under 12s have been able to do non-contact outdoor sport even throughout this lockdown. In a few weeks in Scotland that will be extended to u18s. But the sports involved in that paramter are pretty few - particularly in Scotland where football and rugby are king. But as I said in my post, I'm buying into the plan and I look forward to the end of April

Bit disingenous of NS there to talk up yesterday's plan by highlighting "young people returning to sport". The specifics of it are "outdoor non-contact" sport which is very limited indeed. That said she seemed (finally) to be a bit more upbeat today. I personally I'm going to buy into her plan and watch the numbers decline (hopefully) over the next two months. Its shite but its the same for everyone - and come the end of April hopefully we'll be in a far better place. We surely will too?

I think there is every probability that when the time comes, certainly initially, it'll be local fans only. I'm pretty sure thats what the Highland League teams were doing when they had fans for a wee while.

Yep. Thats the point I'm making. In England they'll be able to play actual football come 29th March. It will be many weeks later before the same in Scotland

Yeah its a league club. The rules are that under 12s can play non contact sports. Football is allowed but has to be non-contact (so just passing drills and no more really) Football is ultimately a contact sport, and furthermore kids at that age are going to have contact with one another no matter what. So the right thing (although you've had hand forced really) to do is to stop playing football. I know some clubs have continued on a non-contact basis, but I can't help but think that the 'non-contact' element goes out the window after five minutes Likewise around here, there's a local facilty which seems to be very busy every day. Presumably with 'non contact football' (Neil Lennon air apostrophes there)

To be honest, I'm thinking of myself and family here (!!), but was hoping that my son (6 yo) would maybe be able to get back to his football training with his local club (organised football). To me it seems that would be permissable in England come late March. In Scotland it would seem late April at the very earliest. There's been a fair amount of stuff about how transmission outside is significantly lower, so I'm a bit surprised that 20 folk can meet up indoors in a church ahead of 10-12 kids playing outdoor football for an hour once a week. (IAdults should be able to play football ahead of churchgoers too I'd add)

Non-contact

Am I right in thinking the following; England 29th March - outdoor sports such as football can return for adulta and childen Scotland Not even a mention, and therefore won't return until late April at the very earliest.

Correct

They might be tweaked - who knows? But They need re-visited (and possibly re-named). I and many, many others across the country haven't seen parents / grandparents who live in different local authorties for months as it stands at the minute, never mind edging it out to the end of April. To then follow it up with Tier 3 (which doesn't allow cross local authority travel) for an indefinte amount of time is pretty harsh. I'd hope the tier system be tweaked to allow people to cross into other LAs in order to meet parents / grandparents in a park for example.

Do you think they won't be?