Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[budmiester1]

5 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

They have till the end of this month before I start letting folk visit my home and visiting the homes of like minded friends and family. It's a pretty arbitrary selection of date, but that's my cut off. IDGAF if folk find that unacceptable. That's what it's going to be for me personally. Wont be any parties or anything, but I will invite folk in for a cup of tea or round for their dinner from that point onwards.

I realise that actually, none of this matters to anyone except me, just a statement of how I see things tbh.

I totally understand your feelings here, it's the lack of clarity from both governments as to when the "roadmap" appears and the constant negativity from the press which is driving the "F**K"it approach from most rational thinking members of the public. Just give us a small light at the end of the tunnel, that's all we ask.

[10menwent2mow]

You might like to start the morning with a bit of fear and hyperbole, but I like to start my morning with a cup of coffee and then some mini weetabix chocolate chip, then I think about leaving the house.

PARKLIFE

[Dons_1988]

5 minutes ago, Left Back said:

They're called elections.  If you don't like government policy you don't vote for that party.

So in May we're going to be voting on lockdown restrictions. Good to know.

[madwullie]

14 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Are they not?

What's Rupert Beale talking about then? If he thinks the vaccine won't be enough to stop the NHS being overwhelmed, when will restrictions ever end?

Plenty of folk are talking like restrictions are now just part of life. If that doesn't worry you then fair enough, but I can't listen to that sort of chat for another month, I'm stressed up to my eye balls and I need something to aim for, preferably a date that I can go round and hug my fucking mum. 

 

He doesn't say that restrictions should be forever though. Of course it worries me. But the answer isn't to rubbish everyone suggests vaccines might not be the silver bullet at this point the were portrayed as. That's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting lalalala. It's distilling it down to its most simple form so you can rubbish it - the absolute opposite of an adult conversation. 

Why are other countries saying one jag is too risky? 

Why are other countries pulling the AZ vaccine when eveeything WE'VE been told is that it's fine and stop serious illness. 

Why are many govts not arguing for restrictions to be lifted ASAP the way we are here?

Are these not important questions we should be asking? 

In March we were all asking why everyone else was locking down and Johnson was talking about economic opportunities and shaking covid hands and we're bawdeep in 100k dead. 

[Bairnardo]

3 minutes ago, budmiester1 said:

I totally understand your feelings here, it's the lack of clarity from both governments as to when the "roadmap" appears and the constant negativity from the press which is driving the "F**K"it approach from most rational thinking members of the public. Just give us a small light at the end of the tunnel, that's all we ask.

At no point during any of this would I like to be responsible for giving someone a disease that could kill them when theres no cure and no preventative medicine. Thats where we were previously

Thats absolutely not where we are now. So for me, it's over. Extra special powers being used to restrict my movement and interactions can quite simply GTF

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Clownshoes apparently on radio scotland this morning telling us no crowds at football ‘for some time’. 
I can increasingly see the May election being in essence referendum, but not on the subject the SNP hope it will be. 

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

So in May we're going to be voting on lockdown restrictions. Good to know.

Any election is about any aspects of government policy that affect your life.  Restrictions may not be a specific manifesto pledge for any party but it would be naive to think it won't be a major topic during the campaign if we're still under restrictions.

[Dons_1988]

1 minute ago, Left Back said:

Any election is about any aspects of government policy that affect your life.  Restrictions may not be a specific manifesto pledge for any party but it would be naive to think it won't be a major topic during the campaign if we're still under restrictions.

So are England waiting 4 years then?

[madwullie]

1 minute ago, Left Back said:

Any election is about any aspects of government policy that affect your life.  Restrictions may not be a specific manifesto pledge for any party but it would be naive to think it won't be a major topic during the campaign if we're still under restrictions.

Guaranteed the Scottish tories will be campaigning on looser restrictions meanwhile Johnson and Co down south will be planning in secret (leaking differently of course) to keep them if the data shows we should. 

[Left Back]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

So are England waiting 4 years then?

For a general election yes but there are other elections the government use to gauge the feeling of the country.  They have local elections in May.  If the Tories get obliterated and the narrative is it's due to restrictions they'd be idiotic not to take notice.

[vikingTON]

18 minutes ago, Left Back said:

They're called elections.  If you don't like government policy you don't vote for that party.

There needs to be a meaningful choice at elections for that to work. The majority of mainstream parties are fully signed up to lockdown restrictions - including the opposition party at UK level whose take is 'we'd have more effective restrictions than the government!'

 

[The Moonster]

2 minutes ago, madwullie said:

He doesn't say that restrictions should be forever though. Of course it worries me. But the answer isn't to rubbish everyone suggests vaccines might not be the silver bullet at this point the were portrayed as. That's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting lalalala. It's distilling it down to its most simple form so you can rubbish it - the absolute opposite of an adult conversation. 

Why are other countries saying one jag is too risky? 

Why are other countries pulling the AZ vaccine when eveeything WE'VE been told is that it's fine and stop serious illness. 

Why are many govts not arguing for restrictions to be lifted ASAP the way we are here?

Are these not important questions we should be asking? 

In March we were all asking why everyone else was locking down and Johnson was talking about economic opportunities and shaking covid hands and we're bawdeep in 100k dead. 

He's alluding to that though, and he seemingly works in the industry. If the NHS will continue to be "compromised" then what's the alternative to restrictions?

I'm not sure what you mean about one jag, are people not receiving two jags?

There could be any number of reasons that other countries don't want to use the AZ vaccine, political or otherwise. I have faith in our scientific methods though, so unless AZ have fraudulently claimed their results then I'm not too worried about efficiency there - having the AZ vaccine is still better than having no vaccine at all. And we have other vaccines and treatments to use alongside this.

We're the third most vaccinated country in the world so far (or were the last time I looked), we should absolutely be one of the first out of these restrictions, so looking at other countries who are less vaccinated than us and saying "see they don't want restrictions lifted yet either" doesn't wash for me. You'll note that Israel, the most vaccinated country in the world, started easing restrictions yesterday.

Of course we should keep asking important questions but this point blank refusal from the SG or WM to give people an idea of what sort of levels they find acceptable to return to normal life is squeezing every last bit of patience out of the population. When you wake up every day and hear "Oh we don't know we're worried about VARIANTS" it pushes me to the fucking edge. 

[Bairnardo]

Iv gone full TFH, purely to provide a vent path for my head, and emailed my MSP asking him about the adult conversation. 

[djchapsticks]

1 minute ago, The Moonster said:

He's alluding to that though, and he seemingly works in the industry. If the NHS will continue to be "compromised" then what's the alternative to restrictions?

I'm not sure what you mean about one jag, are people not receiving two jags?

There could be any number of reasons that other countries don't want to use the AZ vaccine, political or otherwise. I have faith in our scientific methods though, so unless AZ have fraudulently claimed their results then I'm not too worried about efficiency there - having the AZ vaccine is still better than having no vaccine at all. And we have other vaccines and treatments to use alongside this.

We're the third most vaccinated country in the world so far (or were the last time I looked), we should absolutely be one of the first out of these restrictions, so looking at other countries who are less vaccinated than us and saying "see they don't want restrictions lifted yet either" doesn't wash for me. You'll note that Israel, the most vaccinated country in the world, started easing restrictions yesterday.

Of course we should keep asking important questions but this point blank refusal from the SG or WM to give people an idea of what sort of levels they find acceptable to return to normal life is squeezing every last bit of patience out of the population. When you wake up every day and hear "Oh we don't know we're worried about VARIANTS" it pushes me to the fucking edge. 

And the galling thing is, you're made to feel by some that you're being wholly unreasonable to for holding these concerns.

[Dons_1988]

1 minute ago, The Moonster said:

He's alluding to that though, and he seemingly works in the industry. If the NHS will continue to be "compromised" then what's the alternative to restrictions?

I'm not sure what you mean about one jag, are people not receiving two jags?

There could be any number of reasons that other countries don't want to use the AZ vaccine, political or otherwise. I have faith in our scientific methods though, so unless AZ have fraudulently claimed their results then I'm not too worried about efficiency there - having the AZ vaccine is still better than having no vaccine at all. And we have other vaccines and treatments to use alongside this.

We're the third most vaccinated country in the world so far (or were the last time I looked), we should absolutely be one of the first out of these restrictions, so looking at other countries who are less vaccinated than us and saying "see they don't want restrictions lifted yet either" doesn't wash for me. You'll note that Israel, the most vaccinated country in the world, started easing restrictions yesterday.

Of course we should keep asking important questions but this point blank refusal from the SG or WM to give people an idea of what sort of levels they find acceptable to return to normal life is squeezing every last bit of patience out of the population. When you wake up every day and hear "Oh we don't know we're worried about VARIANTS" it pushes me to the fucking edge. 

The worst ones on the news are the really vague "well we don't know x or y yet so just keep washing your hands and wearing your facemasks and we'll let you know when you can start living your life again, there's a good boy".

[super_carson]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

Iv gone full TFH, purely to provide a vent path for my head, and emailed my MSP asking him about the adult conversation. 

I was thinking about doing something similar myself; it might be the only way, if sufficient people were to do it, that we start to think about we live with this virus rather than all of the scare stories and permanent restrictions.  

[Left Back]

4 minutes ago, virginton said:

There needs to be a meaningful choice at elections for that to work. The majority of mainstream parties are fully signed up to lockdown restrictions - including the opposition party at UK level whose take is 'we'd have more effective restrictions than the government!'

 

More fool them if they aren't trying to gauge the mood and attempt to provide a method to give them what they want.  I'm not saying any party is going to start saying they'll end all restrictions the day after the election (and I don't think anything I've read on here is people calling for that) but the adult conversation, routemap etc should be something all parties are looking at.

[Paco]

The route map will come in time. Feb 22nd is the promised UK route map is it not? I can’t see Scotland being far behind on that. There are likely parts of the UK plan, particularly on furlough and border control, that kind of dictate what devolved governments can or can’t do in the longer-term so it makes sense they would wait for clarity on these before launching in with their own.

There is a collective head loss on this thread over very little (I admit I found the Swinney comments troubling yet vague and Sturgeon should be pressed on these today). Calm down. We’ll get there.

[Elixir]

 

[coprolite]

35 minutes ago, Left Back said:

They're called elections.  If you don't like government policy you don't vote for that party.

Was pandemic response an issue in many manifestos?