Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Left Back]

46 minutes ago, philpy said:

Did anyone watch the panorama special tonight?? Truly heartbreaking listening to what those families went through. Yet we still have the idiots saying it's all fake...

I watched the first part of the 54 days documentary that analysed China’s initial response.  Granted it is one side of the story but it pointed out multiple instances where the Chinese were offered a right to reply and either refused or came out with laughable responses our own governments would be proud of.

The WHO don’t come out of it looking particularly good either.  As toothless an international organisation as there can be.

[tamthebam]

My Skopje correspondant says 444 cases out of 2500 people tested in North Macedonia yesterday.

She's a doctor (plastic surgeon) and hasn't had any vaccine yet.

 

[tamthebam]

40 minutes ago, Left Back said:

I watched the first part of the 54 days documentary that analysed China’s initial response.  Granted it is one side of the story but it pointed out multiple instances where the Chinese were offered a right to reply and either refused or came out with laughable responses our own governments would be proud of.

The WHO don’t come out of it looking particularly good either.  As toothless an international organisation as there can be.

I'm sure I read last year that Trump withheld funding to the WHO so they had to go cap in hand to one of their other big funders...

....China....

[Elixir]

2 hours ago, The Marly said:

Tiresome for you.
Frustrating for me.
We could have closed the borders same as they did.

 

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

I presume its meant that there's almost nobody from outwith the UK/Australia/New Zealand who can get into those countries without being allowed in, due to being Islands.

The fact the UK didn't even quarantine those travelling in/out of the country, when they could control every single one of them, will be one of the great mysteries of this pandemic.

 

The UK is an international travel hub, with London being one of the most interconnected cities in the world. The virus was already seeded here long before the full gravity of the situation was apparent. Closing the borders in March wouldn't have made a bit of difference. If we done it in January, perhaps, but that would have been absurd at the time and unprecedented in peacetime. Indeed, it would have been viewed as such in the press - in the same way China sealing off a city was.

Still, let's revert back to the age old classic of blaming those foreigners crossing the border.

[Elixir]

44 minutes ago, Left Back said:

I watched the first part of the 54 days documentary that analysed China’s initial response.  Granted it is one side of the story but it pointed out multiple instances where the Chinese were offered a right to reply and either refused or came out with laughable responses our own governments would be proud of.

The WHO don’t come out of it looking particularly good either.  As toothless an international organisation as there can be.

The WHO are a complete disgrace who have undermined science and public trust. Their top boy is also a total charlatan. It needs an overhaul from top to bottom.

[101]

3 hours ago, Elixir said:

The comparison between Britain and Australia/New Zealand purely because we're an island is very tiresome for so many reasons.

Ireland is also an island which has been proportionately riddled...

Except Australia, New Zealand and Britain are islands with one country on them Ireland is course is not.

It was idiotic not to enforce quarantine at the border and something I would hope we see finally brought into force to ensure we can sort out ourselves before going back into the world. It still allows people in and out of Britain but in the safest possible way which should in turn mean life on the island is fairly normal.

[Left Back]

19 minutes ago, 101 said:

Except Australia, New Zealand and Britain are islands with one country on them Ireland is course is not.

It was idiotic not to enforce quarantine at the border and something I would hope we see finally brought into force to ensure we can sort out ourselves before going back into the world. It still allows people in and out of Britain but in the safest possible way which should in turn mean life on the island is fairly normal.

As has been pointed out a few posts ago and also stated by Patrick Vallance recently closing the borders in March was too late, the virus was already present and spreading out of control by then.  Are you proposing a border closure in March would have altered anything in the course of the pandemic in the UK.  I’d be interested to see your rationale.

closing the borders last January may have made a difference but no-one at the time deemed it necessary.  It was an un-precedented situation and closing borders would have been beyond extreme at the time.  Nobody thought of it but of course in hindsight this was a bad response.

closing the borders (via properly enforced quarantine) now to guard against new strains that may be vaccine busters I absolutely would agree with.

ETA.  If you can provide credible scientific evidence that closing the border in March would have made the slightest bit of difference then I would of course be interested to read it.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Left Back

[Theroadlesstravelled]

3 hours ago, philpy said:

Did anyone watch the panorama special tonight?? Truly heartbreaking listening to what those families went through. Yet we still have the idiots saying it's all fake...

Up there with people who want to lift restrictions way too early so they can get to the pub and those who don’t want to wear a mask cause “ma assma”

[SlipperyP]

That's Thailand health minister saying we won't hit our 70% herd immunity by vaccine until the end of 2022, That probably means by the end of 2023.

It was reported that we will not open up completely for tourism until we hit that target last month.  Long road ahead for us.

eta we wont start our vaccination program until 14th Feb, when we have 50,000 vaccines.......

Edited January 27, 2021 by SlipperyP

[philpy]

4 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

Up there with people who want to lift restrictions way too early so they can get to the pub and those who don’t want to wear a mask cause “ma assma”

Ah yes. "Canny wear a mask cos ma Assma, but gie me 40 regal king-size"

[WhiteRoseKillie]

11 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

One things for sure, Hearts will still be gash.

And Glen Minter will still be a-mintering.

That's two things, Mozza. Both indisputable, mind, so you get a pass.

Edited January 27, 2021 by WhiteRoseKillie

[WhiteRoseKillie]

9 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I presume its meant that there's almost nobody from outwith the UK/Australia/New Zealand who can get into those countries without being allowed in, due to being Islands.

The fact the UK didn't even quarantine those travelling in/out of the country, when they could control every single one of them, will be one of the great mysteries of this pandemic.

Look who's in charge. Mystery solved.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

7 hours ago, Elixir said:

 

 

The UK is an international travel hub, with London being one of the most interconnected cities in the world. The virus was already seeded here long before the full gravity of the situation was apparent. Closing the borders in March wouldn't have made a bit of difference (1). If we done it in January, perhaps, but that would have been absurd at the time and unprecedented in peacetime. Indeed, it would have been viewed as such in the press - in the same way China sealing off a city was.

Still, let's revert back to the age old classic of blaming those foreigners crossing the border (2).

1. Seriously? 

2. I'll stick to blaming "essential", "elite sports" and "high-value" travllers swanning out and in as they please for nigh on a year. Oh, and all those that took a chance on gdetting away for that holiday they "deserved". No need to blame foreigners, we've got plenty of home-grown cúnts.

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, Elixir said:

Closing the borders in March wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

Well forcing people coming in, and out, of the country to self isolate for 2 weeks would likely have helped control the virus. Instead we've spent the last year allowing people to come and go as they please.

6 hours ago, Left Back said:

As has been pointed out a few posts ago and also stated by Patrick Vallance recently closing the borders in March was too late, the virus was already present and spreading out of control by then.  

That's like saying someone's drilled a hole in my boat, so allowing others to drill holes in it every day is fine because it's already leaking.

I'm not on about preventing the virus appearing in the first place, I'm.on about the fact people have been coming and going, from all over the world, without any form of check to ensure they dont then spread the virus into the general population.

People coming into the country shouldve been told to self isolate in a hotel after arriving, for two weeks, then allowed to go about their business. This is a global pandemic that's killed, at least, 100k people in the country, yet the chances of controlling the virus had zero chance of being successful if they didn't control new arrivals to the country.

[D.A.F.C]

Absurd as in worked.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Sink us and we’ll erm...help sink ourselves.

[ICTChris]

Below is a graph of the sources of the infection outbreaks during the first wave.

Up until the 13th of March travellers arriving from Hubei province, Iran and Italy were advised to self isolate. This was changed to general advice for those with symptoms to self isolate.

The peak day for imported infections was March 15th.  After this travel fell steeply and with it imported cases in the first wave.

I don’t have the figures to hand but I believe that during the summer when cases reduced significantly the majority of cases in Scotland and the UK could be traced back to variants from Spain.

Edited January 27, 2021 by ICTChris

[btb]

7 hours ago, Left Back said:

As has been pointed out a few posts ago and also stated by Patrick Vallance recently closing the borders in March was too late, the virus was already present and spreading out of control by then.  Are you proposing a border closure in March would have altered anything in the course of the pandemic in the UK.  I’d be interested to see your rationale.

closing the borders last January may have made a difference but no-one at the time deemed it necessary.  It was an un-precedented situation and closing borders would have been beyond extreme at the time.  Nobody thought of it but of course in hindsight this was a bad response.

closing the borders (via properly enforced quarantine) now to guard against new strains that may be vaccine busters I absolutely would agree with.

ETA.  If you can provide credible scientific evidence that closing the border in March would have made the slightest bit of difference then I would of course be interested to read it.

By that logic we might as well have stuck with the "non policy" of herd immunity. We're not a remote set of islands like NZ and would've faced far greater difficulties in attempting to impose a quarantine but even so the inaction struck me as being complacent at the time, not just in hindsight.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

37 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Well forcing people coming in, and out, of the country to self isolate for 2 weeks would likely have helped control the virus. Instead we've spent the last year allowing people to come and go as they please.

That's like saying someone's drilled a hole in my boat, so allowing others to drill holes in it every day is fine because it's already leaking.

I'm not on about preventing the virus appearing in the first place, I'm.on about the fact people have been coming and going, from all over the world, without any form of check to ensure they dont then spread the virus into the general population.

People coming into the country shouldve been told to self isolate in a hotel after arriving, for two weeks, then allowed to go about their business. This is a global pandemic that's killed, at least, 100k people in the country, yet the chances of controlling the virus had zero chance of being successful if they didn't control new arrivals to the country.

Absolutely. "Oh, the forest is on fire. there's no point trying to implement a fire-break".

It was interesting that Adam Hills (Last Leg host) had to quarantine in a hotel before being allowed into Australia proper - and he is, of course, Australian. Coming into the UK until now has been "Good flight, Sir? No drugs or firearms, I hope. Oh, and try not to mix too much for a few days - there's a bit of a flap on over some virus."

Loads of front pages today showing the Chief Cúnt saying "I'm sorry". I want to hear "I resign, and I'm taking this shower of incompetents with me."

[Billy Jean King]

I see the AZ chairman said in an interview regarding the EU delays that they have started work on a new vaccine specifically targeting the South African variant. That plus the recent rush to start hotel quarantine for arrivals suggests to me this is a bigger issue than has been publicly acknowledged.

As I pointed out yesterday if they are imposing compulsory hotel detention for Portugal then Spain has to be on the list two given the ease of crossing to a Spanish airport from Portugal but then that leads to issues for the Benidorm Brenda's if they look towards another summer of whack-a mole air corridors.