Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[philpy]

1 minute ago, Detournement said:

The Garden Centre lobby are the real power behind the throne in the UK.

They are untouchable.

They will see people being stuck at home as an opportunity to make money. I'm in a timber merchants, and when we opened in may, decking and fencing materials were like gold dust by the end of the month and further on. And with all the sites still open (for now) the money will still roll in, so in the bosses eyes, we will remain open. If we go back on furlough we'll be fucked financially. I did have a bit of a weep earlier after finding out that the wife's furlough isn't getting extended, but after a few calls and a wee chat I'm a bit better. Keep the head up guys and girls, and hopefully there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. That's if they don't close that as well...

 

 

 

[Bairnardo]

I agree, the vaccine isn't some silver bullet.
Have said all along testing is very important as well.
Imagine being able to test 20-30million a week or everyone in and out the country.
China went bonkers with the testing. Did millions overnight because of a few hundred cases.
It works and can ease restrictions faster.

Not a silver bullet if you want a zero covid world maybe. Most definitely a silver bullet for returning peoples lives to how they were before and treating covid as barely different to the flu.

[Blootoon87]

I reckon it's time to shave my coupon again, we all know this lockdown isn't ending at the end of the month.

[vikingTON]

Just now, 101 said:

Least likely to die, bearing in mind you have already taken every with underlying health conditions the chances of someone healthy under 30 being hospitalised or dying from Covid must be extremely small

Government to under 30s - stay in the house indefinitely because of the Covid risk!

Government to under 30s - follow the rules because Long Covid!!!!!1111!!!!!! threatens you as well!

Summer of 2021

Government to under 30s - can't believe you bought that bullshit, there's no risk to you, go f**k yourselves for a vaccine

I can't really imagine the optics of that playing at all well. If anyone in society wants vaccination then they should get one ASAP.

[Scotty Tunbridge]

I take it TV production wont stop this time, cba if we run out of episodes of Eastenders again.

[101]

10 minutes ago, virginton said:

Government to under 30s - stay in the house indefinitely because of the Covid risk!

Government to under 30s - follow the rules because Long Covid!!!!!1111!!!!!! threatens you as well!

Summer of 2021

Government to under 30s - can't believe you bought that bullshit, there's no risk to you, go f**k yourselves for a vaccine

I can't really imagine the optics of that playing at all well. If anyone in society wants vaccination then they should get one ASAP.

I'm pretty sure the messaging to younger people like myself was the risk is low but there are still risks to your health but most importantly we can pass it on to the elderly/ infirm once that risk has gone, because they are vaccinated, then I assume, but will be surprised, they let us off the leash.

Edited January 4, 2021 by 101
too many ifs

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Garden centres are notoriously hoaching at this time of year of course.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

2 minutes ago, Scotty Tunbridge said:

I take it TV production wont stop this time, cba if we run out of episodes of Eastenders again.

 

I'm hoping for double Simpsons back on C4 every day if Hollyoaks has to stop again.

[Rob1885]

Least theres some semblance of a timeline

[Forest_Fifer]

Not sure whether to post this in here or the Guitarist thread. Apparently conspiracy theorists are posting a circuit diagram for the 5G chip that's going to be in the covid vaccine (obviously) but its actually for the Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal...

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/conspiracy-theorists-share-schematic-for-5g-chip-they-claim-is-implanted-in-covid-19-vaccines-only-its-actually-for-the-boss-metal-zone

[RiG]

Quote

Schools may act as 'vectors for transmission'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55527195

The prime minister says he "completely understands the inconvenience and distress" the disruption to education will cause parents and pupils.

But he says the government has been doing "everything in our power to keep schools open” because of the importance of education to children’s life chances.

"The problem is not that schools are unsafe for children," he says, adding that children are still very unlikely to be severely affected even by the new variant of Covid.

But he says schools may act as "vectors for transmission", causing the virus to spread between households.

Took you fucking long enough to work that out you floppy haired jobbie.

Edited January 4, 2021 by RiG

[Marshmallo]

15 minutes ago, virginton said:

This isn't actually a March-style lockdown, the list of acceptable reasons to leave the house is about a mile long in Scotland and that clown is even keeping garden centres open as noted above. The big change is that after five months their policy on schools has finally entered the realm of reality, though deferring instruction rather than remote learning is the better solution.

I don't think we are done with these announcements though and there'll be something extra coming down the chute before the month's out.

Can see them banning the sale of alcohol tbh

[101]

Just now, Marshmallo said:

Can see them banning the sale of alcohol tbh

Cancer Dry January racket clearly holding power over PM/FM 

[invergowrie arab]

6 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

Can see them banning the sale of alcohol tbh

I wish they would. I'm no longer in control 

[D.A.F.C]

Not a silver bullet if you want a zero covid world maybe. Most definitely a silver bullet for returning peoples lives to how they were before and treating covid as barely different to the flu.

Not sure you can say that its safe for anyone. The flu is different from SARS isnt it?

[s_dog]

On the vaccines, yeah it's great we're third in the world behind Israel & Bahrain in how many we've vaccinated so far, but we were the first country in the world to start vaccinations. And obviously the important bit is getting all those vulnerable to serious ill-health and death vaccinated, but it's pretty sobering to hear vaccinating the full adult population of the UK will take two years to complete, if we are vaccinating 1 million a week. 6 years at the current rate. 

 

[D.A.F.C]

England bans alcohol takeaway and delivery.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/alcohol-takeaways-banned-deliveries-england-b1782270.html

[Bairnardo]

Not sure you can say that its safe for anyone. The flu is different from SARS isnt it?

Well given the no doubt millions of people who have had it in the UK alone, a huge number of whom have been asymptomatic which is the crux of the difficulty in tackling it, I think you can say it's safe for the majority of people to catch covid, just like it's safe for the majority of people to catch flu. Horrible, yeah. Worthy of telling people they are not allowed to socialise in person with other humans? Maybe not for me tbh.

[vikingTON]

On 21/12/2020 at 19:03, virginton said:

the overriding question should be 'How do we best resolve the public health problem of a disease outbreak'? rather than 'How do we ensure our measures are fair for our politically important interest groups?' It is this triangulating nonsense - being carried out by piss-poor political leaders - that explains why the UK has made roaring c**t of it time and time again this year, with no end in sight to its clown running across a minefield display. 

 

On 21/12/2020 at 19:06, Granny Danger said:

Millions of working parents with school age cannot just magic up child minding.  The fact that you do not understand this should inform how people treat your posts.

 

 

On 21/12/2020 at 21:20, Billy Jean King said:

It's your ascertain that employers simply allow mass annual leave that is staggering in it's naievity. You know these same employers who your championing to survive.

Go ask your boss tomorrow for annual leave up to 18 January and come back and tell us how it goes. More so when he gets that request times x number of employees with kids.

Climb down from your crumbling ivory tower and live life in the real world just for once.

 

On 21/12/2020 at 21:35, Rugster said:

With 21 days notice given to the employer, yes, you can request parental leave. It is not a guarantee that you will get it. 
 

Your employer does not have to agree to furlough you.

 

An employer can deny annual leave. 
 

You cannot take indefinite unpaid leave, you can ask for it, the employer must consider it, but does not have to grant it.
 

Swing and a miss, champ, thanks for playing, come back when you’re living in the real world. 

 

On 21/12/2020 at 22:08, Jambomo said:

You also have to be fair to those who don’t have kids, other people may need leave as well, not just the parents and annual leave only goes so far - this could go well beyond January.

As an example, I’m in a team of 6 and 3 of them have kids. Two are single parents and one is married to a key worker so the chances are high they’d all need time off. We’d have normally two off at a time so not only can all those who need holidays for childcare not get off but nor could anyone else. There would be no allowance for sickness absence which would be ridiculous management in the midst of a pandemic. 

 You haven’t thought this through at all, it’s a terrible idea.

 

On 21/12/2020 at 22:27, virginton said:

What's telling about this is that if the SG had gone ahead with its blended learning model then you'd already have been facing this dilemma since August all the way through until now. The problem then is not 'my idea' - which oh btw seems to be coming down the chute going by Johnson's non-committal answer this evening - it is the fact that your team is not fit for purpose when it comes to addressing childcare needs. Either temporary cover is needed to cover this eventuality or you will simply have to run a skeleton service or none at all. The schools were off for three months earlier this year and get a further ten weeks off every so quite why you (collectively) didn't see this problem arising is a mystery. 

Turns out that 'view from the ivory tower' - such is the benefit of an elevated viewpoint - in fact provided a fortnight's advance notice of the UK governments' inevitable concession today. You can in fact close schools in the middle of a pandemic and oblige parents/businesses to make it work.

Welcome to life in the real world guys! 

[101]

3 minutes ago, s_dog said:

On the vaccines, yeah it's great we're third in the world behind Israel & Bahrain in how many we've vaccinated so far, but we were the first country in the world to start vaccinations. And obviously the important bit is getting all those vulnerable to serious ill-health and death vaccinated, but it's pretty sobering to hear vaccinating the full adult population of the UK will take two years to complete, if we are vaccinating 1 million a week. 6 years at the current rate. 

 

Yes it is sobering and of course we should get carried away but the vaccine is more then 90% effective and there are single shot vaccines coming on stream shortly which immediately halves you time scales. these are worst case projections and of course important to know that it won't be don't by February but 900,000 vaccinations by the end of Jan for a country like Scotland would be an incredible achievement.