Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[superbigal]

I was shocked when I phoned up at the start of last month and got my check-up within a fortnight. Next yin not for 12 months instead of six, though, obv.
Tbf, if the pandemic in Scotland has taught us anything it's that dentists are truly awful people.

You really are a despicable character with no redeeming qualities.
The pandemic has taught us that.

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, superbigal said:

You really are a despicable character with no redeeming qualities.
The pandemic has taught us that.

The bitterness in this post. 

[Michael W]

7 hours ago, Donathan said:

This is how it worked in England on both occasions that mandatory face coverings were removed. The first week, a majority still wear them. By week two it’s 50-50. After a month you’re talking 15%-20% wearing them. 

I'm in France just now, where people seem to have taken a different approach to that in England. They're still mandatory on public transport and helathcare settings, but not anywhere else as of last week. I'd put wearing in shops etc. at about 5-10% - they are pretty much gone. I was surprised at that given how they usually reduce gradually. 

Heathrow, which has only just removed them, was about 70% masked at bag drop, but in the departure lounge was more 50-50, presumably as people realised they didn't need them. Still had to wear one on the plane,  unfortunately, but we're getting there. 

[gav-ffc]

6 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Two years ago today the first lockdown was announced.

Halcyon days.  Out once a day.  Crossing the street to avoid people.  Clapping outside every Thursday.  Buying 96 toilet rolls.

Only thing I miss was going for drives on empty roads and sticking my work badge in the car just incase the threat of being pulled over was true, which we know now was only guidance and not law!

oh and on the 99p petrol having a full tank for next to nothing.

[vikingTON]

Quote

 

Despite the sharp rise in patients in hospital with Covid, fewer of them are requiring intensive care treatment than in the past.

This is partly because Omicron is believed to be milder than previous strains such as Delta, while most people have been vaccinated and doctors have better treatments for the disease.

However, people with Covid still need to be kept separate from other patients to limit the spread of infection - something that puts pressure on ward capacity.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60846692

If only there was some sort of alternative way for hospitals to rationally handle a mild infection that the vast majority of people have been vaccinated for, as opposed to their ebola-level 2020 protocols. 

Best keep those mask mandates though just in case!

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by vikingTON

[Elixir]

Yeah, when are we actually going to start giving this now shan virus the same treatment we do any other, given you know:

This 'infection control' is clearly not what we do for influenza, RSV, gastrointestinal viruses, etc. So much of the population has had Covid, are going to get it multiple times, and are likely to be vaccinated/boosted anyway. What exactly is 'The Science' doing in this situation? How is continuing with this setup helping hospitals? Likewise if staff are still staying off if there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. It is an absurd, self-fulfilling prophecy. In any case, hospital pressure should naturally start to ease as we progress through spring and into summer, but this is something that urgently needs addressed going into next winter.

[anotherchance]

Another issue is that the NHS has been fetishised in the same way the military has in America - even more so in the last two years.

When it works and you get the service your taxes pay for, there’s almost an expectation that you have to act like your accumulator has come in or that you’ve had a stroke of good fortune.

NHS pressure shouldn’t be headline news or a particular consideration for the wider public, and if it is being talked about should be from the perspective of discussions around government funding rather than cranking up the COVID fear factor based on scenes from Bergamo two years ago.

[Dawson Park Boy]

Correct.

Any organisation that is perceived (wrongly) to be free is taken advantage of by users.

Surely its time for some kind of limited privatisation to be introduced with a mix of pay as you go, insurance and government paying.

Cant be beyond the wit of man to devise a system that works based on ‘best practice’ from throughout the world?

 

[Todd_is_God]

Been down in England all week and it's notable how much further down the road to normality they are.

Barely a mask in sight, very few remaining posters etc from during the time of restrictions, and not a mention of cases / hospital numbers on the news anywhere.

The SG absolutely could move on from the last two years fairly easily if they chose to. Which means, quite clearly, they are choosing to not let go.

[vikingTON]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/24/scientists-wrong-covid-virus-experts

And there it is. The Brass Neck of the fucking Millennium award goes to Devi Sridhar, for her why oh why can't other scientists just admit they were wrong?!! hot take.

 

[Honest_Man#1]

I didn’t realise that lateral flows are all but stopped in Scotland. I thought the SG had said they would continue to provide them regardless of what the UKG did. Pharmacies no longer stock them, and you can’t order online, so testing is back to having to go to a test centre if you have symptoms I assume.

Feel a bit shite today so was going to get some tests but as I’m literally not able to I’ll just have to treat it like any normal cold.

[Left Back]

13 minutes ago, virginton said:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/24/scientists-wrong-covid-virus-experts

And there it is. The Brass Neck of the fucking Millennium award goes to Devi Sridhar, for her why oh why can't other scientists just admit they were wrong?!! hot take.

 

How could she have typed this with a straight face?

"The overall need is to be proven “right” for oneself and a small group of followers"

[scottsdad]

46 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Been down in England all week and it's notable how much further down the road to normality they are.

Barely a mask in sight, very few remaining posters etc from during the time of restrictions, and not a mention of cases / hospital numbers on the news anywhere.

The SG absolutely could move on from the last two years fairly easily if they chose to. Which means, quite clearly, they are choosing to not let go.

Yeah, but the English infection rate is far higher than Scotland's.

 

Oh.

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

Been down in England all week and it's notable how much further down the road to normality they are.

Barely a mask in sight, very few remaining posters etc from during the time of restrictions, and not a mention of cases / hospital numbers on the news anywhere.

The SG absolutely could move on from the last two years fairly easily if they chose to. Which means, quite clearly, they are choosing to not let go.

The Simps will be along momentarily to tell us that really, there's not much of a difference! We're not even at the point in Scotland yet that England were at last July ffs - that's how bad it is. Even when the tests and contact tracing wind down due to no more funding, and the masks are forced from law, you just know shite like social distancing stickers/signs and plastic screens will persist here.

 

58 minutes ago, virginton said:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/24/scientists-wrong-covid-virus-experts

And there it is. The Brass Neck of the fucking Millennium award goes to Devi Sridhar, for her why oh why can't other scientists just admit they were wrong?!! hot take.

Good timing for a wee update from Devi's favourite, South Korea. Oh dear.

Also this:

All that money she wanted printed to fund her pipe dream now coming home to roost. Who could have thought! She is a complete joke and a fraud who should be sacked from any government advisory role when her views can influence policy.

[Lyle Lanley]

2 hours ago, virginton said:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/24/scientists-wrong-covid-virus-experts

And there it is. The Brass Neck of the fucking Millennium award goes to Devi Sridhar, for her why oh why can't other scientists just admit they were wrong?!! hot take.

 

Haven't seen anyone defending that article on Twitter except for her cult followers. 

[Todd_is_God]

1 hour ago, Elixir said:

All that money she wanted printed to fund her pipe dream now coming home to roost. Who could have thought!

A great point this. Those who really triggered the cost of living crisis by strangling the global economy for way longer than needed over a shan virus are going to escape the criticism that they deserve by pointing at the war as being the reason.

Fucking charlatans the lot of them.

[BigDoddyKane]

Titanium neck

[Billy Jean King]

I didn’t realise that lateral flows are all but stopped in Scotland. I thought the SG had said they would continue to provide them regardless of what the UKG did. Pharmacies no longer stock them, and you can’t order online, so testing is back to having to go to a test centre if you have symptoms I assume.
Feel a bit shite today so was going to get some tests but as I’m literally not able to I’ll just have to treat it like any normal cold.

You could have picked up boxes of them in Birmingham New Street station on Monday, two outlets handing them out from umpteen pallets. Haven't seen that in Central for 2 or 3 weeks.

[Billy Jean King]

Been down in England all week and it's notable how much further down the road to normality they are.
Barely a mask in sight, very few remaining posters etc from during the time of restrictions, and not a mention of cases / hospital numbers on the news anywhere.
The SG absolutely could move on from the last two years fairly easily if they chose to. Which means, quite clearly, they are choosing to not let go.

Was down all week at Cheltenham and it depended where you were. Cheltenham itself was so rammed it was 100% normal. We stayed in Gloucester and some pubs there still had bar screens and no standing at the bar. Stopped off in Birmingham and Preston. Brum only notable point was LFT kits being handed out in New St station (plenty taking them too) and in Preston still a couple of pubs and cafes with screens. Similar to pubs up here never saw a mask (I haven't seen masks in pubs here for weeks either). There was plenty "covid protocols" in place at the actual racecourse. New one way systems and hand sanitizer everywhere but imo these were definite improvements.

ETA plenty people were choosing to mask up in the packed trains and buses in and around Cheltenham which is fair enough, totally their own choice and they were packed like sardines in a can ! Oh and no cash, the number of places refusing point blank to take anything but card was very surprising. Another legacy I suspect.

[NorthernLights]

The nonsense of "Covid above all else" continues as the local fire crew in Braemar were unable to fight a very serious fire the other week due to Covid cases.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen-aberdeenshire/4091045/braemar-fire-crew-was-grounded-with-covid-during-horror-hotel-inferno/

Luckily no one was injured or killed in the fire. Surely in these situations though tackling a potentially dangerous fire should take precedence over having to isolate due to what is a mild illness for the vast majority of people.

Edited March 24, 2022 by NorthernLights