Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Bairnardo]

I heard about this, and whilst I don't disagree that the healthier, leaner you are the more likely you are to fight off Covid, it's a bit mental to be encouraging everyone to be dining out three nights of the week next month on the chancellor's tab.

If only there was previous form re the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing at UK government level.......

[GiGi]

33 minutes ago, virginton said:

Looks like Boris is finally planning to go after the unfit, Covid-susceptible fatties with such stunning decisive health measures like, err, curbs on advertising. Because that way of course they'll suddenly forget that their nearest McDonalds exists for the next six months.

I'd suggest that we instead set up (massively reinforced) human-sized hamster wheels in restaurants and takeaways to at least get a solid 20 minutes of exercise out of the porkers per visit. 

Is he planning on following his own advice and not being a massive, fat, gammon c**t then?

[Bairnardo]

Is he planning on following his own advice and not being a massive, fat, gammon c**t then?

Given that he thought shaking hands with COVID patients would come with no ill effects, we can remain hopeful that his lack of awareness extends to other aspects of his health and wellbeing.

[Billy Jean King]

The UK again producing a ridiculously unbelieveable new deaths figure
Scotland: 0
Wales: 0
N. Ireland: 0
NHS England: 16
Public Health England non-hospital deaths: 107
If 87% of genuine covid deaths in England are happening outside of hospitals I will eat my hat.

Why would any authority / govt overstate deaths intentionally. I'd be more concerned by all the other rising indicators in England. Infections up 7% since last Friday and R up too. The likes if England and Spain appear to be on the knife edge again.

[Bairnardo]

15 minutes ago, Monday 13th July said:

I think we'd all like to see the state funding golf memberships and equipment as a measure to combat obesity.    4 million memberships @  300 a pop, and the same again on vouchers for equipment rental would only cost the state about £1.4 billion per annum.    It would boost health and create jobs.  
 

The state have a cycle to work scheme that helps people afford bikes. If you are interested theres a cycling thread available here with lots of knowledgable posters. 

[Michael W]

21 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

3 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

The UK again producing a ridiculously unbelieveable new deaths figure
Scotland: 0
Wales: 0
N. Ireland: 0
NHS England: 16
Public Health England non-hospital deaths: 107
If 87% of genuine covid deaths in England are happening outside of hospitals I will eat my hat.

Why would any authority / govt overstate deaths intentionally. I'd be more concerned by all the other rising indicators in England. Infections up 7% since last Friday and R up too. The likes if England and Spain appear to be on the knife edge again.

The overall rate of infection is however continuing to fall, when measuring the positive tests against the amount of tests undertaken. Numbers of people  in hospital continues to decline also. 

There has been a big increase in testing the last couple of weeks which is reflecting in higher numbers of people being diagnosed. This is true of Scotland as well, hence no one is panicking about 20 cases when 6 or 7 seemed to be the norm before testing was ramped up. 

[Todd_is_God]

27 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

3 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

The UK again producing a ridiculously unbelieveable new deaths figure
Scotland: 0
Wales: 0
N. Ireland: 0
NHS England: 16
Public Health England non-hospital deaths: 107
If 87% of genuine covid deaths in England are happening outside of hospitals I will eat my hat.

Why would any authority / govt overstate deaths intentionally. I'd be more concerned by all the other rising indicators in England. Infections up 7% since last Friday and R up too. The likes if England and Spain appear to be on the knife edge again.

I don't think it is an intentional overstatement of deaths.

I think it's a measurement of elderly people who tested positive for covid-19 months ago, recovered, and have since died of natural causes.

There is currently no cut-off date between testing positve for covid and dying that would differentiate between the two.

[GiGi]

9 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I don't think it is an intentional overstatement of deaths.

I think it's a measurement of elderly people who tested positive for covid-19 months ago, recovered, and have since died of natural causes.

There is currently no cut-off date between testing positve for covid and dying that would differentiate between the two.

Covid can have long term, life limiting effects. Someone who 'recovers' in the sense that they no longer have the virus but their lungs are irreparably damaged and they die would still be a perfectly valid statistic IMO. But since neither of us know best just to take the figures at face value.

Edit to add this whole post looks cold as f**k too. Still a hell of a lot of lives.

Edited July 24, 2020 by GiGi

[Michael W]

Where is the line drawn between the death being a Covid death and simply one in which Covid was an underlying factor but not the cause? 

It's right that the reporting is being looked into as the preseny methodology in England is a farce but, ultimately, the effect remains the same: the person concerned died and the excess death rate is unaffected. 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Michael W

[Todd_is_God]

19 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Where is the line drawn between the death being a Covid death and simply one in which Covid was an underlying factor but not the cause? 

It's right that the reporting is being looked into as the preseny methodology in England is a farce but, ultimately, the effect remains the same: the person concerned died and the excess death rate is unaffected. 

That isn't the point.

Currently, an otherwise healthy 95 year old who tested positive in March, was released from hospital in April, and died in July from natural causes is recorded as a Covid death.

Excess deaths are currently in the minus category. These deaths were expected.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Todd_is_God

[Bairnardo]

49 minutes ago, Monday 13th July said:

Scotland invented Golf, we didn't invent cycling.    Let's fund traditional sustainable arts.   Cycling's just a fad like the space hopper or yoyo.  

 

I googled "space hopper" and have subsequently cancelled my order with Evan's Cycles. Thank you. 

[Michael W]

7 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

That isn't the point.

Currently, an otherwise healthy 95 year old who tested positive in March, was released from hospital in April, and died in July from natural causes is recorded as a Covid death.

Excess deaths are currently in the minus category. These deaths were expected.

I agree that the methodology is wrong. 

However we have had in excess of 50,000 excess deaths so far, some of whom are probably in the covid stats by error as well. Removing them from the covid death figures doesn't delete them as an excess death. 

[PauloPerth]

52 minutes ago, Monday 13th July said:

Scotland invented Golf, we didn't invent cycling.    Let's fund traditional sustainable arts.   Cycling's just a fad like the space hopper or yoyo.  

 

But then again golf is more a game than a proper sport. Golf is dying out for a good reason.

Its fine for older people or those that struggle with proper sport and exercise, but we really shouldn’t be encouraging such a wanky activity amongst the younger members of our population.

[peasy23]

The Scottish government had originally given fairgrounds the go ahead to open, but 3 weeks later have done a u-turn and ordered them to close. As anybody who has been to Millport knows, on the front their is a small crazy golf with trampolines and swing boats alongside, they had been open, but are now having to close. As usual the inconsistency is the problem, swing parks and playgrounds are still allowed to open, kids will be touching more stuff there than they would at a fair.

"Millport Crazy Golf

Further to the Scottish government U-turn on travelling fairs and covid legislation, we have some bad news tonight. North Ayrshire Council have now closed the static fairs here in Millport. The Garrison funfair has been closed completely and our rides, except the Crazy Golf itself, has been closed. It means as of tomorrow, and until further notice, only the Crazy Golf itself will be open. Unfortunately the Swingboats, Trampolines and Orbiter Cars must stay closed. I'm sorry about this but its a situation completely outwith our control.

We have been open for 20 days now without incident, the season had already been significantly shortened and we had hoped to salvage something from the half a season left, but even that has been curtailed now.

We hope that visitors to the island, and locals/2nd home owners can continue to support us with the Crazy Golf itself whilst it remains open."

[peasy23]

Things like that are bewildering.   It makes no sense at all and confuses people.
Also the whole holiday in Scotland campaign, well if everything that occupies kids etc is shut what's the point.
Infection rates are minimal, so what is rationale behind the decision after being open for weeks?

It's mental. We are consistently told how important the tourist industry is, but we will be lucky if anything is left after this.

[AyrshireTon]

3 hours ago, super_carson said:

I'd be interested in the comparisons, as I'm a primary teacher, but I had quite a few of my class doing no work at all, or if they did do anything it was very quick tasks and sporadic.  I probably only had a third who submitted work daily and who responded when I would get in contact.  One thing that was very frustrating was some parents complained about there being too much work, and others complained there wasn't enough.  Trying to encourage parents/kids to submit set work for marking was also frustrating and it definitely tailed off towards the end of the term (granted, the volume of school work tends to trail off towards the end of the year).  The good thing is I will be staying with my class for next session, so once we're back we can just get straight back into it.  

 

 

With there being no exams (and as a result, an extra month to teach) we took the "let's get the courses underway" approach. I'm a quarter of the way through the Higher - some who have done f**k-all during lockdown might have a job explaining how they expect to stay in my class next month. 

[Thereisalight..]

10 hours ago, Billy Jean King said:

11 hours ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Ayr Advertiser actually
i haven’t actually watched the news in days. Social Media is bombarded with it. It’s  hard to avoid it. Just felt it was crazy that people (Ayrshire folk but so be it) would be so open to another lockdown knowing the implications the first one had

Implications wise BBC now reporting that retail sales gave returned to pre lockdown levels already. I find that mighty hard to believe up here.

Same. I was in the town centre at Ayr today for the first time sincerely May. Ayr was already grim before lockdown but so many shops/restaurants haven’t opened and are gone for good. Even Burger King, fs that was always crowded with neds! 

8 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Aye, people didn't die. How could people be so heartless as to support another lockdown after that.

Lockdown was never to prevent deaths, it was to “prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed”. There is plenty of PPE, Ventilators and a pop up hospital now. People get run over and die, people die in car crashes that weren’t their fault, nobody wants roads closed. 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Thereisalight..

[AUFC90]

What's the chances of being able to get to Amsterdam October time ?

[Clockwork]

What's the chances of being able to get to Amsterdam October time ?

Flights to Amsterdam currently advertised from Glasgow & Edinburgh. Netherlands also on quarantine *exempt list on return to Scotland. (*issued by SGov)

[Jacksgranda]

8 hours ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Same. I was in the town centre at Ayr today for the first time sincerely May. Ayr was already grim before lockdown but so many shops/restaurants haven’t opened and are gone for good. Even Burger King, fs that was always crowded with neds! 

Lockdown was never to prevent deaths, it was to “prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed”. There is plenty of PPE, Ventilators and a pop up hospital now. People get run over and die, people die in car crashes that weren’t their fault, nobody wants roads closed. 

If the NHS was overwhelmed, people would die, it's pretty simple to work that out.

Road accidents aren't highly - or even slightly - contagious.