Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Billy Jean King]

Restaurants will open before pubs and I assume they will be classed as such. They will have a better model for reopening with no table service and large floor spaces, might be in a better position than most (worse luck !)

Wetherspoons beginning to plan for pubs reopening in or around June.

Can't see it myself.

[welshbairn]

9 minutes ago, 8MileBU said:

I’d rather hear auld Shug’s thoughts than probably anybody else being entrusted to keep us informed. Far more relevant than the lot of them combined.

It’s not meaningless though. Far more strings to his bow than you could nutshell under the general definition of a ‘microbiologist’. 

He's got some great tales about putting that newbie Alexander Fleming in his place.

[Brother Blades]

Not certain why there is mention of 5 days for results? Is this anecdotal or an actual figure? Everyone I know who has been tested has had results the following day.

[Turkmenbashi]

2 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

Restaurants will open before pubs and I assume they will be classed as such. They will have a better model for reopening with no table service and large floor spaces, might be in a better position than most (worse luck !)

Maybe start seeing European style table serving at pubs being the rules. Which I would like to see happen

[Steven W]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

If you can't look out the window and find reasons to be content then frankly I'm not going to be able to help you. Nobody else will be able to either.

If negativity and moaning is your default setting then that's your nature. Nothing anyone can do to help there bud.

In fairness to myself I'm merely reacting to what I'm reading in the news. Just in the last 24 hours;

Germany already looking to go back on their relaxation of their lockdown.

The UN predicting 1.5bn people will lose their livelihoods.

Professor Kennington (sic) saying he wouldn't bet on their ever being a vaccine

UK deaths now over 26k

[parsforlife]

So my boomer dad has decided that traveling to my house to do gardening is necessary,  my attempts to convince him otherwise have failed.

[Barney Rubble]

On 18/03/2020 at 17:20, Barney Rubble said:

Was informed only an hour ago that the British Embassy has arranged an evacuation flight out of Podgorica to Gatwick tomorrow - which is a huge relief as I'd rather be back home for the reasons stated in my post above. So grateful to the universe for that one. 

Every good wish to all P&B posters that all our families get through this and come out at the other end sane and safe.

 

An update - God sent his angels to accompany my mother home on 18th April. Her abbreviated cremation service took place this afternoon limited to ten mourners.

Glad that I made it back to say my goodbyes to her in person. Being locked down overseas while her funeral took place doesn't even bear contemplation.

Hope God gives her the heaven she deserves.

Sincerely wish that as many fellow posters as possible are spared the trauma of losing a loved one under the current restrictions.

[Forest_Fifer]

NB: I've now looked up the criteria for 'priority' testing in England: it's absolutely fucking ridiculous.
Spoiler

 

List of essential workers and those prioritised for testing (England only)

• all NHS and social care staff, including:
  • doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers
  • the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector
  • those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines, and medical and personal protective equipment
  • NHS Blood and Transplant frontline staff (blood donation staff, specialist nurses for organ donation, staff running therapeutic apheresis services in NHS hospitals)
  • those providing ancillary support to NHS workers (such as hotel accommodation for NHS staff)
• essential public services staff, including:
  • prisons, probation, courts and tribunals staff, judiciary
  • religious staff
  • charities and workers delivering critical frontline services
  • those responsible for the management of the deceased
  • journalists and broadcasters covering coronavirus or providing public service broadcasting
  • public health and environmental staff, such as specialist community public health nursing
• public safety and national security staff, including:
  • police and support staff
  • Ministry of Defence civilians, contractors and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of critical defence and national security outputs and critical to the response to the coronavirus pandemic), including defence medical staff
  • fire and rescue service employees (including support staff),
  • National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas
  • British Transport Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• transport workers, including:
  • those who keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus response
  • those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass
• education and childcare workers, including:
  • support and teaching staff
  • social workers
  • specialist education professionals
• critical personnel in the production and distribution of food, drink and essential goods, including:
  • those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery
  • those critical to the provision of other essential goods, such as medical supply chain and distribution workers, including community pharmacy and testing (such as PHE labs), and veterinary medicine
  • workers critical to the continuity of essential movement of goods
• local and national government staff critical to the effective delivery of the coronavirus response, or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits
• public and environmental health staff, including in government agencies and arm’s length bodies
• funeral industry workers
• frontline local authority staff and volunteers, including
  • those working with vulnerable children and adults, victims of domestic abuse, and the homeless and rough sleepers (and hotel staff supporting these groups)
  • voluntary sector organisations providing substance misuse treatment
• utilities, communication and financial services staff, including:
  • staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)
  • the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)
  • information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus response
  • essential staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 essential services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors

 

• •  

I suspect that well over half of the people on this forum could make a bullshit claim to a test under one or more of the above categories. Its also unclear whether there's a limit to the number of tests that you can request: is it really the best use of resources to let some hypochondriac local journalist request a new test every 48 hours?
Unless we get to a situation in which we can hand tests out like Skittles anyway then we shouldn't be following this daft, media-oriented token gesture.

If I hadn't retired already, I'd probably count under that as my company did loads of IT support for NHS Scotland, NHS England, DHSC, PHE, CQC, etc.
Not that I would have considered myself essential.

[NotThePars]

13 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Well explained, I can respect dedication to the craft.

Forum posting is either about being a contrarian (vT) or responding in minute detail to every argument made against you (Ad Lib). Twitter posting is about who can have the most nuclear take.

[Distant Doonhamer]

So my boomer dad has decided that traveling to my house to do gardening is necessary,  my attempts to convince him otherwise have failed.

Grass him up.
It’s the public spirited thing to do [emoji6]

[Forest_Fifer]

Wetherspoons beginning to plan for pubs reopening in or around June.

Can't see it myself.

I guess they'll have to start hiring soon then, as they told all their existing workforce to f**k off and work for Tesco.

[Forest_Fifer]

Trouble is though that they won't, the only people who will be swayed are folk that were directly affected by losing a loved one.

Plenty of those around though.

[Sergeant Wilson]

7 hours ago, Steven W said:

This is fucked innit. The job's fucked.

Posted a few weeks ago you'll be either jobless and homeless or just simply dead.

Nothing changed to make me think otherwise. I'm seeing talk of another Great Depression now gaining traction. 

You're a great depression.

[Sergeant Wilson]

17 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

So my boomer dad has decided that traveling to my house to do gardening is necessary,  my attempts to convince him otherwise have failed.

Send the old boy down to mine then.

[Thereisalight..]

1 hour ago, H Wragg said:

Wetherspoons beginning to plan for pubs reopening in or around June.

Can't see it myself.

I think if they allow hairdressers/barbers open in the next 2 weeks, then pubs could fight their corner. Pubs/restaurants are “safer” for employees to work at now compared to a stylist/barber who is literally inches away from someone for potentially hours 

[Todd_is_God]

11 minutes ago, Forest_Fifer said:

1 hour ago, H Wragg said:

Wetherspoons beginning to plan for pubs reopening in or around June.

Can't see it myself.

I guess they'll have to start hiring soon then, as they told all their existing workforce to f**k off and work for Tesco.

They didn't say anything remotely like that though, did they...

[Thereisalight..]

I had to go out of town today to get my car fixed. Decided to pop into Morrison’s when I was out anyway. I didn’t need to queue and inside it was basically a free for all.  No arrows or one way system. The aisles were heaving and no way was I 2 metres apart from folk. Some ignorant bitch coughed and didn’t make any attempt to “catch it”. Are other Morrison’s doing the one way system? 

[Turkmenbashi]

2 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:

I think if they allow hairdressers/barbers open in the next 2 weeks, then pubs could fight their corner. Pubs/restaurants are “safer” for employees to work at now compared to a stylist/barber who is literally inches away from someone for potentially hours 

On the other hand in pubs and restaurants you come into contact with lots people and drunk people. Being with one person for hours is probably safer than being with multiple people for hours

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

If you are actually interested in effecting change and are angry enough about the current situation, what a person could most obviously do is stand for parliament and work for the change you want to see but that would be difficult and would require them to engage with, persuade and lead people from a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints. With respect, I can't envisage the likes of @Granny Danger or @WhiteRoseKillie ever being capable of that.

 

Whatever our problems are, I'm pretty sure that people like @Granny Danger and @WhiteRoseKillie are never going to be part of the solution.

 

 

1 hour ago, MixuFixit said:

If memory serves Granny Danger has served in office as a councillor and WRK is an active trade unionist.

That might explain why (a) Labour are out of favour and out of office and (b) trade unions no longer have the clout they once had...

For some reason I have escaped oaksoft's opprobrium - don't know whether to feel flattered or disappointed. Probably the latter, I'm obviously not important enough to have come to his notice.

[H Wragg]

I think if they allow hairdressers/barbers open in the next 2 weeks, then pubs could fight their corner. Pubs/restaurants are “safer” for employees to work at now compared to a stylist/barber who is literally inches away from someone for potentially hours 

Where are you getting the suggestion that barbers are opening in 2 weeks?

Genuinely interested as I've seen 6 months given as a possible reopening timescale.