Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[effeffsee_the2nd]

I said a month or so ago that even tho most people accept the need for schools to have some priority over adult leisure activities ( no no not that kind [emoji6]) but when it is becoming clear that everything else is being sacrificed in order to keep them open ( or another way is that, in order to mitigate the sky rocketing cases they have halted pretty much all other non essential settings for spreading, to keep the numbers under control)
More and more people are going to now adopt the VT mindset and it’s understandable now that the government is clearly insulting our intelligence. What they’re being told in england now is that it’s no longer safe to leave your home. But it is safe to “ chuck 30 wains in a classroom all day” it’s going to piss people off kids or not

[Lurkst]

50 minutes ago, Szamo's_Ammo said:

#CloseTheSchools was trending in the UK yesterday and #CloseSchoolsNOW today.

What idiots are making that trend on a Sunday?

 

[Szamo's_Ammo]

Tier 1 plus going well in Bristol.

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

 

That's not what Starmer is commenting on.

 

I know, but the comment I initially objected to was Bairnardo's and it read:

"Why does Keir Starmer think Scotland is any of his business, is the real question."

 

His post did not concern the minutiae of it all.  It was just silly, childish, anti-Labour/England rhetoric.

[superbigal]

Dundee's finest youths

 

Fireworks were set off at police during a major disturbance in Dundee involving about 100 young people.

Officers responded to the incident in Beauly Square, in the Kirkton area, at about 19:00 on Saturday.

They were met by a crowd, in their teens to early 20s, who tried to intimidate them.

[Bairnardo]

I know, but the comment I initially objected to was Bairnardo's and it read:
"Why does Keir Starmer think Scotland is any of his business, is the real question."
 
His post did not concern the minutiae of it all.  It was just silly, childish, anti-Labour/England rhetoric.

Sorry dad

[Monkey Tennis]

40 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

You don't like what I ironically did with the trite sloganeering that inspires the separatist wishes of the type of nationalists I'm criticising?

Fair enough.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Whats clear about the English lockdown is they dont seem to be strategising an exit plan from this time. They’ve absolutely botched track and trace etc but seem so opposed to criticising the delivery (largely because it is being led by tory insiders etc) or publicising their plans. Is this because they believe they’ll get a vaccine out by year end? Or are they just generally clueless (suspect this is the answer)? 

[Rob1885]

It is serious from my side.  Given your many and continued criticisms of the SG I was interested in which political party you thought would have handled it better had they been in power.  You are obviously reluctant to answer.

just because you can judge that no other party would have done a better job doesnt for a second exonerate the failings of the SG. If anything, it just shines a light on how incompetent all politicians are in this country.

[Monkey Tennis]

5 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

10 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I know, but the comment I initially objected to was Bairnardo's and it read:
"Why does Keir Starmer think Scotland is any of his business, is the real question."
 
His post did not concern the minutiae of it all.  It was just silly, childish, anti-Labour/England rhetoric.

Sorry dad

That's ok.

So long as you learn a lesson from it.

[Todd_is_God]

25 minutes ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

I said a month or so ago that even tho most people accept the need for schools to have some priority over adult leisure activities ( no no not that kind ) but when it is becoming clear that everything else is being sacrificed in order to keep them open ( or another way is that, in order to mitigate the sky rocketing cases they have halted pretty much all other non essential settings for spreading, to keep the numbers under control)
More and more people are going to now adopt the VT mindset and it’s understandable now that the government is clearly insulting our intelligence. What they’re being told in england now is that it’s no longer safe to leave your home. But it is safe to “ chuck 30 wains in a classroom all day” it’s going to piss people off kids or not

Here's the thing, though. As it becomes clearer that schools are one of, if not the, biggest drivers, the whole "sacrifice everything else to keep schools open" approach becomes counter productive, if not futile.

If we need to take some action in schools, then we should do that, but that alone should not mean restaurants etc should have to close / be limited in their hours if they can operate in a safe manner.

Having a meal out in a safe, socially distanced manner after 6pm shouldn't be banned purely because it is required to enforce the same distancing / masking measures in schools as in every other environment.

[Derry Alli]

3 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

He was obviously half born in Yorkshire and finished off in Scotland. Or vice versa.

I'm 3% Maltese until I land then I go up to 9%. Sadly though, I lose 1% of my Baleaeric heritage when this happens. 

[ICTChris]

English adults very much in favour of the new lockdown, although it’s a sharp drop since March' which had near universal support.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Dundee's finest youths

 

Fireworks were set off at police during a major disturbance in Dundee involving about 100 young people.

Officers responded to the incident in Beauly Square, in the Kirkton area, at about 19:00 on Saturday.

They were met by a crowd, in their teens to early 20s, who tried to intimidate them.

Beauly makes the Bronx look upmarket.

[mizfit]

Whats clear about the English lockdown is they dont seem to be strategising an exit plan from this time. They’ve absolutely botched track and trace etc but seem so opposed to criticising the delivery (largely because it is being led by tory insiders etc) or publicising their plans. Is this because they believe they’ll get a vaccine out by year end? Or are they just generally clueless (suspect this is the answer)? 

Heard Michael Gove on the radio earlier saying they hope to exit lockdown on 2nd December, that suggests to me they’ve already conceded it’ll have to be extended past that date.

I did not support the circuit break at the time up here. But with hindsight it looks like the most intelligent decision.

The white elephant that is schools is going to be heavily questioned over the coming days and I’ll be interested to see what comes from that.

[NotThePars]

43 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

You don't like what I ironically did with the trite sloganeering that inspires the separatist wishes of the type of nationalists I'm criticising?

Fair enough.

It's honestly avant-garde how boring this is.

[Monkey Tennis]

2 minutes ago, NotThePars said:

It's honestly avant-garde how boring this is.

Hey, you're going with 'boring'.

Nothing boring about that. No Siree.

[buchan30]

It wont effect them, they dont exist. 

Maybe not amongst those that you knew, but i know a few people with that attitude on them. Posts like that pander to them because it suits their argument that everyone is over-reacting. And that means they don’t follow guidelines and end up being in part a reason for cases increasing.

As someone who is more in the pretty sure they had it with mild symptoms camp I think people do need to bear in mind that this isn't an airbourne version of the ebola virus in terms of IFR for most people, and should ponder the fact that when we go overboard on COVID-19 due to mass hysteria there will be people who will die needlessly through lack of hospital access on other medical issues such as cancer as a direct consequence.

I absolutely agree with this, but this seems to be enough for people (not saying yourself) to take an attitude that increases the likelihood of this hanging around longer than we would all like. I just want back to the football and 5s, but it feels like because of the folk who don’t seem to care, each week we seem to move further away from that.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

4 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Here's the thing, though. As it becomes clearer that schools are one of, if not the, biggest drivers, the whole "sacrifice everything else to keep schools open" approach becomes counter productive, if not futile.

If we need to take some action in schools, then we should do that, but that alone should not mean restaurants etc should have to close / be limited in their hours if they can operate in a safe manner.

Having a meal out in a safe, socially distanced manner after 6pm shouldn't be banned purely because it is required to enforce the same distancing / masking measures in schools as in every other environment.

Look, Nando’s is a guilty pleasure of mine, im not saying it’s right, but i’ve felt safer eating in a Nandos than going anywhere else in public since restaurants re-opened. They have proper track and trace, minimal movement around the floor, everything properly socially distanced, app based ordering, plastic screens between tables etc. They and many other places like them are doing absolutely everything right. Letting restaurants open up and even beyond 6pm is entirely reasonable if they operate as above, theres no harm in letting restaurants allow people to have 1 alcoholic drink with a meal either, 1 drink with a meal will not impact considerably. 
Odeon cinema’s too have impressed me, similar well thought out strategies and risk management its a shame all the cinemas are closing up here. 
 

Im not even advocating shutting schools (but if youre old enough to go to mainstream high school then you should be wearing a mask and maintain social distancing), this whole thing could come to pass much easier if people and the government did a few different things 

1) mouth-breathers need to start wearing masks, the ‘exceptions’ for wearing masks need to be really looked at and tell the wooly touchy feely types who think everyone with asthma or ‘anxiety’ should be excluded need to be told to f**k off, met people who ‘cant wear a mask’ but arent anxious when they are breaking into houses or stabbing people and running away doesnt seem to cause massive asthma attacks either. Masks should be worn outside and in public places. 
-there absolutely should be medical professional signed off exemptions for masks (which should include people who have real medical or psychological reasons for not wearing masks) but there should be more challenging of people who are at it, ive said before I know surgeons with bad asthma who can wear masks in boiling operating suites for hours then some dickhead in Asda who hasnt needed an inhaler in 5 years should be wearing one too. Btw im not belittling anxiety as a psychological illness ive met plenty of people who live with it and understand why they would have difficulty with a mask, but instead challenging the people who have no clear diagnosis of it who simply use that as an excuse not to wear a mask. 
 

2) we need to massively ramp up testing. The instant test kits should be widely used, workplaces should be the primary testing areas, makes sense in the interest of keeping work places open that they should test employees, occupational health in medium- large industry should be supported by armed forces in terms of logistics in getting tests out and link directly into NHS track and trace. Re-testing of a more sensitive test should occur 48hrs after an instant test kit positive to mitigate false positives and time away. For people working from home the option to test regularly should also apply, tests sent by mail or increased capacity at the airport testing centres etc again aided by the armed forces would allow for this. Education staff from nursery to university should also be tested. 
 

3) We’ve now passed the point where the ‘engage/explain/educate’ approach is useful, people now know that they shouldnt be having house parties etc,  enforcement is now needed, im not advocating VT’s truncheon to the face but practical measures like stopping teenagers book party ‘gaffs’ on air bnb should be looked at. Shifting challenge 25 policy to challenge 40. Increase fines to people breaking regulations on house parties etc to £100 from the off and the householder (where present) gets arrested. Repeat offenders dealt with on petition with a presumption against liberation on grounds of public safety. Its people from all walks of life and demographics who are ripping the pish out of the rules just now. 
 

4) Schools should 4 days out of 5 have kids in one class room instead of having them move around between classes (i know this has been cut down but lets do it more), english/maths/history/languages/scientific theory can all be taught from one class room surely? Meaning arts and practical science or PE can fit into one of the days of the week, even have PE for a double period and arts for a double period and then punt the kids out before lunch cutting down even more on mixing. 

5) allow international travel on a pre-departure and post arrival confirmation test regime (this would have to be UK wide to work). This would be for all arrivals, including the corridor countries. Airlines supply instant tests pre departure and swab tests following arrival to confirm. Cut down the quarantine periods for non corridor countries to 72 hours and a further negative test with gprs/mandatory track/trace download for compliance. 

6) Call centre staff who are furloughed to make regular contact with vulnerable people of all age groups and backgrounds to assist in making sure they are well cared for, with access to helping them get food deliveries, medical assistance and generally spend 10/15 minutes where wanted just making sure people are actually coping, have a chat to these people. This should hopefully be done twice a week, would allow for welfare checks on people flagged as perhaps needing more help. 

I get that not everyone will agree but im at a stage where I have no time for people flouting the rules that so many people are suffering to follow when widespread compliance over a shorter term would make a return to normality far quicker for all of us. I genuinely think the above would help cut the impact of this. Lockdowns without a clear reason or exit plan are not any good. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

53 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

You don't like what I ironically did with the trite sloganeering that inspires the separatist wishes of the type of nationalists I'm criticising?

Fair enough.

Yeah. Bit on the nose for me.