Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Ned Nederlander]

Despite new hubs opening on Monday, the numbers this week being circa 40k and Scotland looking like it will meet the mid-Feb target for priority groups the Scottish Tories are clearly going to claim that (the not even introduced yet) 81 'British' troops will have been the reason for the upswing.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Ned Nederlander

[Billy Jean King]

I find myself agreeing with a Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer...

 
In all seriousness, it's not so much about saying he's 100% right but it's about now listening to a wider-pool of experts.  Lockdowns have a positive effect on virus rates, but a negative effect on just about everything else.  We need to be listening to all the experts to plot a sustainable way forward.  No one, not even Sunak, is suggesting we lift all the restrictions tomorrow but there has to be a rational discussion that will involve compromises and the "grown up discussion" that we, in Scotland, were promised.  
 
 

We are ahead of England in that as it stands now though. We have the knowledge that as long as the drops continue we will get indicative dates come next review on 16 Feb.

[doulikefish]

26 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

We should DEFINITELY listen to Rishi fucking Sunak, an investment banker who had the great idea of eat out to help out which has been a confirmed link to the late summer spike in cases due to them opening up everything too early and let them do it another time as opposed to the scientists who are continuing to say take it slow while the vaccine roll outs ramps up and then we may avoid having to go backwards again.

That's DEFINITELY what we should do.

Man who didnt want lockdown still doesnt want lockdown....usual suspects agree 

[Burnieman]

7 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

46 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

I think we can also take from that, that come come 1st May it will be  "you'll have had your furlough"

In general although targeted support for entertainment and the holiday / flight sector will need to remain

Some of it will, nighclubs, concert venues, etc.  However come May, there is no reason why pubs and restaurants cannot be open at least as we had it last summer - assuming at the end of April all adults have had their first jab, which looks very achievable.

For the travel sector, some industry "experts" predict May as the time we'll see short haul Euro breaks re-appear. Probably a bit optimistic, but by then travel companies should have a stronger idea of where we're headed and as such, taking bookings.  I think airlines have had their support.

[doulikefish]

2 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Some of it will, nighclubs, concert venues, etc.  However come May, there is no reason why pubs and restaurants cannot be open at least as we had it last summer - assuming at the end of April all adults have had their first jab, which looks very achievable.

For the travel sector, some industry "experts" predict May as the time we'll see short haul Euro breaks re-appear. Probably a bit optimistic, but by then travel companies should have a stronger idea of where we're headed and as such, taking bookings.  I think airlines have had their support.

Exactly...vaccinate and ease vaccinate and ease go to fast then its 1 step forward 2 steps back 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

26 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

My boss chose it, as at the time we got a nightly allowance, less spent on accommodation, left more for drink. Happier, simpler times. Now they put us in proper hotels and drink can't be included in expenses claims.

Try explaining to a foreign hotel or bar worker that you want a pint, but put it through as soup, very frustrating.

I just have visions of union flegs everywhere, people walking about in uniforms, saluting the queen before dinner and the odd re-enactment. Everyone trying to out story the next one with their tales of what they did in Nam and them all being so walter mitty that even though they all know each other is lying they just go along with it anyway??

[philpy]

Now there is talk of a "sir tom" statue in London. If it happens, how Iong till the concrete codger gets launched in the Trafalgar fountain due to links with the slave trade??

[The Moonster]

42 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

We should DEFINITELY listen to Rishi fucking Sunak, an investment banker who had the great idea of eat out to help out which has been a confirmed link to the late summer spike in cases due to them opening up everything too early and let them do it another time as opposed to the scientists who are continuing to say take it slow while the vaccine roll outs ramps up and then we may avoid having to go backwards again.

That's DEFINITELY what we should do.

 

32 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

Problem is with still c30k folk in hospitals in mid winter they really can't ease up until they are confident the vaccine is stopping significant illness - and preliminary data from Israel suggests it does but they're obviously not doing it exactly our way- so if he gets his way and they open right up there is a real danger they go backwards again. Twice they've done it and ended up hammered, I honestly don't think they'll do it a third time.

Once the vulnerable have been vaccinated you won't have 30k in hospital, you'll have even less in ICU and barely any c**t will be dying. Restrictions should therefore disappear.

[Jacksgranda]

37 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

My boss chose it, as at the time we got a nightly allowance, less spent on accommodation, left more for drink. Happier, simpler times. Now they put us in proper hotels and drink can't be included in expenses claims.

Try explaining to a foreign hotel or bar worker that you want a pint, but put it through as soup, very frustrating.

Aye, you could end up with soup in a pint glass. Or lager in a bowl.

[Hillonearth]

3 minutes ago, philpy said:

Now there is talk of a "sir tom" statue in London. If it happens, how Iong till the concrete codger gets launched in the Trafalgar fountain due to links with the slave trade??

Worse still, groups of middle-aged women could gather to throw their pants at it.

[Kneal Down Caster]

We are in discussions with a collector in Ireland

Prince Harry relocated to the green isle IMO.

[Paco]

If we’re going to white-knight the Chancellor for saying something we want to hear, at least white-knight him for something he has the guts to say publicly rather than leak to friendly journalists at the Telegraph and then completely deny when they’re made public.

This is all part of brand Rishi[emoji769] positioning himself for PM when they get fed up of Johnson. Get the shitmunchers on the backbenches on side and it’s a done deal.

[Dunfermline Don]

Why does Boris stand socially distanced from his wife?

I think it’s more a case of her standing socially distanced away from him.
With his track record of shaking hands, ignoring his own guidance on travel and having affairs I don’t blame her.

[Burnieman]

14 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Exactly...vaccinate and ease vaccinate and ease go to fast then its 1 step forward 2 steps back 

Once we hit the end of April with all (or almost all) adults having received the first vaccination, and heading into summer, I don't forsee any steps back.

By the time we hit October and the start of the "winter surge" all adults will have been vaccinated twice.  By then, we need to be back to normal because that is as good as it is going to get.

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

We are in discussions with a collector in Ireland

I never did trust that Gerry Adams...

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, Billy Jean King said:

It won't matter a f**k if we decide to still measure the pandemic in new cases which for some bizarre reason seems to be the direction of travel. BBC this morning floating the notion that running nose and sneezing might get added to the symptoms prompting a test ffs. We will be testing (and hence finding) tens of thousands more 'cases' if that happens.

Once we get well into this vaccination program surely new cases become irrelevant and it all becomes about illness serious enough to require hospitals ie strain on the NHS. Even Sunak is commenting on the clear shift of emphasis.

I had a routine appointment at Gartnavel last month and the list of Covid symptoms posted on the wall in the ward ran to about ten, including sneezing and a runny nose.

It really shouldn't matter much any more, so long as no government is stupid enough to follow Clownshoes Leitch's '50 cases per 100k before we can possibly open up!' drivel. 

56 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

We should DEFINITELY listen to Rishi fucking Sunak, an investment banker who had the great idea of eat out to help out which has been a confirmed link to the late summer spike in cases due to them opening up everything too early and let them do it another time as opposed to the scientists who are continuing to say take it slow while the vaccine roll outs ramps up and then we may avoid having to go backwards again.

That's DEFINITELY what we should do.

'The Scientists' are not some hive mind that hold a consensus view on this or indeed  anything else beyond some basic facts. 

It's also laughable to see anyone try to blame discounted hospitality for the second wave of cases, as opposed to chucking dozens of folk inside classrooms for 30 hours per week with no credible infection control measures. Which had the near unanimous support of every political party in the UK despite baking in a surge in infections and another lockdown.

There has to be an adult in the room somewhere who recognises that endless lockdowns, furlough schemes and huddling at home because of big scary virus is on the cusp of doing more net harm to society than good in the foreseeable future, and so putting a stop to it. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by vikingTON

[doulikefish]

2 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Once we hit the end of April with all (or almost all) adults having received the first vaccination, and heading into summer, I don't forsee any steps back.

By the time we hit October and the start of the "winter surge" all adults will have been vaccinated twice.  By then, we need to be back to normal because that is as good as it is going to get.

I dont disagree with any of that but easing too quick isnt the way forward.The much vaunted Israel is likely to go back into lockdown again the press over there is reporting 

[vikingTON]

48 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

Problem is with still c30k folk in hospitals in mid winter they really can't ease up until they are confident the vaccine is stopping significant illness - and preliminary data from Israel suggests it does but they're obviously not doing it exactly our way- so if he gets his way and they open right up there is a real danger they go backwards again. Twice they've done it and ended up hammered, I honestly don't think they'll do it a third time.

Please explain how exactly mass vaccination would not stop significant illness. Israel's data is firmly in 'do bears shit in the woods territory', yet for some reason a large section of the UK population has been literally scared stupid enough to claim that we just don't know if it can work here.

[Elixir]

36 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

48 minutes ago, super_carson said:

I find myself agreeing with a Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer...

 
In all seriousness, it's not so much about saying he's 100% right but it's about now listening to a wider-pool of experts.  Lockdowns have a positive effect on virus rates, but a negative effect on just about everything else.  We need to be listening to all the experts to plot a sustainable way forward.  No one, not even Sunak, is suggesting we lift all the restrictions tomorrow but there has to be a rational discussion that will involve compromises and the "grown up discussion" that we, in Scotland, were promised.

We are ahead of England in that as it stands now though. We have the knowledge that as long as the drops continue we will get indicative dates come next review on 16 Feb.

I'm fully expecting Bozo to publish a route map out of effectively all restrictions in a couple of weeks, while what I'm anticipating from Sturgeon is a long, drawn out return to sanitised pish.

[Rugster]

13 minutes ago, Dunfermline Don said:

I think it’s more a case of her standing socially distanced away from him.
With his track record of shaking hands, ignoring his own guidance on travel and having affairs I don’t blame her.

They're no married yet. She still has time to see sense.