Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[LongTimeLurker]

Space cadet was 80s slang for someone viewed as being "away with the fairies" in older Scots idiom terms. Don't think there always has to be drugs involved. More to do with being in your own little dream world and not fully in touch with reality.

[Granny Danger]

Just now, Scary Bear said:

Do you have a framed photo of her above the mantelpiece?

I don’t have a mantelpiece or a framed photo of her.  Or, for that matter, an unframed one.

[dirty dingus]

12 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

 

I fucking feel for you guys, I really do.

Against the tide of people who have understandably been saying 'what must be done, must be done', many others on here who were fully supportive of the first lockdown in spring, have been massively and justifiably concerned about the negative, serious and long-lasting effects of continually pulling the rug from under people's feet and removing their ability to live, function and move. A concern that people will become fatigued, disheartened, depressed is now very much a reality.

They CANNOT continue to impose these restrictions indefinitely. The cost to human life will be far greater and long term than Covid and won't be fixed by an injection. The long term issues on people's psyche caused by this are already out there and will be felt for many, many years to come.

All I can say just now to both of you guys is to please try and endure and know that whatever you're feeling, it's shared by millions of others. My messages are open if either of you, or anyone else who is feeling it just wants someone to talk to or vent to.

 

Think the governments need to really push to get the vaccine out to lift spirits, doesn't help with it being winter and can't really get out n about to clear the head. This whole 5 day christmas promise was stupid as f**k too, if the had said 1 or 2 days max, straight to relatives then straight home and into lockdown folk would be more accepting. I can handle one more 3 week stint isolated but it better not leak into 6 or 9 weeks.  Hopefully the new easier to administer vaccine will be announced in a couple o days that can get things really moving. This short notice announcements are also annoying as I was meant to go to Russia on the 16th January but that's that kiboshed now.

[Scary Bear]

6 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

I don’t have a mantelpiece or a framed photo of her.  Or, for that matter, an unframed one.

Me neither.

[Robin.Hood]

9 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Just been to Sainsbury’s in Dundee, absolutely no indication of that at all.  Place fairly quiet, didn’t see a single overloaded trolley.

I wish. Work is pretty bad / busy and its only morning 

[Scary Bear]

5 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

As with everything covid related, there's a big mismatch between how it's received here, and how it's received by the general public. The stinging criticism throughout this thread is at odds with a pretty consistent thumping majority of members of the public who endorse Sturgeon, Leitch etc.

Something might happen between now and May to dent this, but as long as vaccination goes vaguely OK it won't be due to covid.

Maybe Nicola could organise a quick referendum on COVID restrictions?

I see Andy Wightman has left the Greens too. They would have been my go-to alternative.

If the SNP retain power it will be down to a combination of the paucity of talent among the opposition parties and the voters who desire independence above everything else. 

This fits perfectly with the current strain of horrible b*****d Tories plans as they can keep up the narrative that the Scottish Parliament is shit.

[Scary Bear]

9 minutes ago, Robin.Hood said:

I wish. Work is pretty bad / busy and its only morning 

I’m not sure if it’s panic-buying or just the normal Christmas shopping rush, but the shops were pretty busy yesterday.

[Aufc]

Does anyone actually think this will only last three weeks? I can see restrictions being tightened until April when furlough ends and the vaccine will hopefully have had an impact

[101]

8 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Collectively we just need to hope that cases stay as they are or drop off even despite Christmas day, and this bullshit only lasts the 3 weeks. I reserve the right to have a cranial supernova event though if we stay in tier 4 come late January even though cases are dropping.

I think it's unlikely to be a decision based on case numbers I think it will be based in the prevalence and scientific knowledge of the new strain.

I don't really understand the criticism of a lockdown I think they are right to do it before we see similar scenes to what's going on in the South East but perhaps we could have all been chucked in 3 today rather than wait 6 days. I guess they have to trust people not to kick the arse out of mixing with folk prior to the lockdown. Trust never goes well.

[dirty dingus]

Just now, Aufc said:

Does anyone actually think this will only last three weeks? I can see restrictions being tightened until April when furlough ends and the vaccine will hopefully have had an impact

Yes, The numbers are dropping the now with lesser restrictions in place so a full lockdown with schools shut should drive it down a fair bit in a fortnight with the third week to mop up more cases. Think they will look at keeping border restrictions and test and isolate travellers.

[Scary Bear]

6 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

Yeah that's a huge part of why the SNP and Tories stay so popular, their caucuses 'respective red lines of independence and brexit.

On Wightman while it's a big loss to the party, it seems a bit daft to not vote for them on that basis alone. Do you care more about the environment or Andy Wightman's bank balance?

I’m in Fife so I couldn’t vote for Wightman if I wanted to. I just dislike party politics really. Politicians who say what I want them to say having to tow a party line. Not for me, but it’s not going to change anytime soon.

Unless some party or person can inspire me to vote for them between now and the elections, then it’s unlikely I’ll cast my votes. I don’t believe Nicola Sturgeon will ever manage to get a second referendum. She’s just a relatively competent figurehead.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Scary Bear

[Sergeant Wilson]

6 minutes ago, Aufc said:

Does anyone actually think this will only last three weeks? I can see restrictions being tightened until April when furlough ends and the vaccine will hopefully have had an impact

I certainly wouldn't  be booking any trips or buying tickets for anything before April.

[101]

Just now, Scary Bear said:

I’m in Fife so I couldn’t vote for Wightman if I wanted to. I just dislike party politics really. Politicians who say what I want them to say having to tow a party line. Not for me, but it’s not going to change anytime soon.

Unless some party or person can inspire me to vote for them between now and the elections, then it’s unlikely I’ll cast my votes.

We'll have Roger Mullin on the list, he was excellent as our MP, if you're in the KDY/ COWDB.

[Paco]

 

This is the infection pattern of the new strain in England up to December 9th. To be honest this creates a lot more questions than answers for me. You can clearly see fairly exponential growth in London, the East of England and the South East, to the point broadly 60% of all cases are the new strain. Certainly not good and you can see why Johnson led with this yesterday. It looks alarming.

 

However what is a bit surprising is that this new, 70% more contagious strain, has been present in all areas of England since September and hasn’t really taken off anywhere else - in fact in a few areas, particularly the North, it’s showing signs of slowing as a total percentage of cases. That’s got to go down as pretty damn weird, for this new super contagious strain?

 

My worry here is that London and the South started from a low base of virus, and thus by looking at the raw percentage of new cases which are the new strain, it seems alarming - but in most of the country, notably the North which has had high case numbers, the percentage is at worst steady and in some cases falling. Are we looking for something that isn’t there?

 

My other question would be what changed between Wednesday - ‘inhuman’ to cancel Christmas - and Saturday, when Christmas was cancelled and all travel banned in and out of London and the South. The data released only goes up to December 9th so the government might have more up-to-date data that looks worse. But on what we have, if anything the last few days before the 9th isn’t showing a deteriorating picture. London carries on its admittedly worrying ascent, the East slows, the South East falls. The rest of the country is showing nothing worrying, mostly falls aside from a small uptick in the North East. What has happened between Wednesday and Saturday to make the government completely shit themselves? I’d really like to know what Johnson knew, and when he knew it.

 

This is a lot longer than I intended, and I don’t necessarily like poking holes in the scientific advice. But that data doesn’t really present a unanimously bleak picture of a killer strain sweeping over England. In most areas it’s stable, relative to the other strains already out there. In some areas with low case loads it’s become the dominant strain.

 

Tl;dr - is this a wild over-reaction to get the government out of a Christmas relaxation it should never have agreed to?

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Paco

[heedthebaa]

There’s apparently a covid vaccine calculator, where you put your details in and it tells you when you’ll likely get the vaccine. I’m June, probably due to the fact I’m an athlete 

[Jambomo]

7 minutes ago, heedthebaa said:

There’s apparently a covid vaccine calculator, where you put your details in and it tells you when you’ll likely get the vaccine. I’m June, probably due to the fact I’m an athlete 

I just gave it a try and am between June and Sept as well. I’m not an athlete.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Jambomo

[Sergeant Wilson]

4 hours ago, Paco said:

Tl;dr - is this a wild over-reaction to get the government out of a Christmas relaxation it should never have agreed to?

 

As we all know..lies, damned lies and statistics etc.

I think the medical side have been against the 5 day holiday from the start, they were ignored, but went back and really stamped their feet and have given the Government a presentable solution for another U turn. In effect "we didn't get it wrong but the nasty virus has disguised itself and crept up on us again....yesterday. Same with the schools, we were right, but this is a different virus that kids do transmit".

Edited December 20, 2020 by Sergeant Wilson

[madwullie]

13 minutes ago, Paco said:

This is the infection pattern of the new strain in England up for December 9th. To be honest this creates a lot more questions than answers for me. You can clearly see fairly exponential growth in London, the East of England the South East, the point broadly 60% of all cases are the new strain. Certainly not good and you can see why Johnson led with this yesterday. It looks alarming.

However what is a bit surprising is that this new, 70% more contagious strain, has been present in all areas of England since September and hasn’t really taken off anywhere else - in fact in a few areas, particularly the North, it’s showing signs of slowing as a total percentage of cases. That’s got to go down as pretty damn weird, for this new super contagious strain?

My worry here is that London and the South started from a low base of virus, and thus by looking at the raw percentage of new cases which are the new strain, it seems alarming - but in most of the country, notably the North which has had high case numbers, the percentage is at worst steady and in some cases falling. Are we looking for something that isn’t there?

My other question would be what changed between Wednesday - ‘inhuman’ to cancel Christmas - and Saturday, when Christmas was cancelled and all travel banned in and out of London and the South. The data released only goes up to December 9th so the government might have more up-to-date data that looks worse. But on what we have, if anything the last few days before the 9th isn’t showing an ever worse picture. London carries on its admittedly worrying ascent, the East slows, the South East falls. The rest of the country is showing nothing worrying, mostly falls aside from a small uptick in the North East. What has happened between Wednesday and Saturday to make the government completely shit themselves? I’d really like to know what Johnson knew, and when he knew it.

This is a lot longer than I intended, and I don’t necessarily like poking holes in the scientific advice. But that data doesn’t really present a unanimously bleak picture of a killer strain sweeping over England. In most areas it’s stable, relative to the other strains already out there. In some areas with low case loads it’s become the dominant strain.

Tl;dr - is this a wild over-reaction to get the government out of a Christmas relaxation it should never have agreed to?

The thing for me though, is why would Sturgeon be complicit in helping Johnston out with his scheme of convenience to cover up his mistakes. Surely she's more likely to let him stew - I'm inclined to believe that she is genuinely concerned (rightly or wrongly) that this could take off here and destroy the good (relatively speaking) work that's been done up here in suppressing it. I might be incredibly naive though. 

[madwullie]

12 minutes ago, heedthebaa said:

There’s apparently a covid vaccine calculator, where you put your details in and it tells you when you’ll likely get the vaccine. I’m June, probably due to the fact I’m an athlete 

February for me. Will live tweet Easter cuntedness from the pub as a public service. You're welcome. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by madwullie

[Szamo's_Ammo]

2 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

I'm no political correspondent

Shut up then