Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Arthur Orton]

3 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Another one in the eye for the border zealots.

Yeah always preferred independent retailers over Borders and Waterstones.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Elixir said:

I think most 'experts' have stated that the vaccination program isn't going to have much of an impact on this wave, though the evidence is accumulating. It will become apparent moving forward into spring, summer, and next autumn.

The "summer" wave wasn't a big issue last year, so I suppose we'd really need to wait until October / November to see if the vaccines are really making a significant impact, I also think the much heralded success of Australia and New Zealand could be a bit of false hope given that they're in their summer so the real acid test will be how they perform over their Autumn and Winter.

Watch this space....

[doulikefish]

All restrictions need lifted now...worlds gone totally mental

 

[Burnieman]

22 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Sensible expert time again,

Borders "cannot stop infectious diseases", leading epidemiologist Professor David Heymann has said.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that "no matter how rigid your controls are, there will always be some that comes through".

He says most nations believe the best strategy is to deal with infections in-country, and to ensure there is a flow of travel and trade.

Asked if he believed closing borders would have an immediate impact, Prof Heymann says: "We've seen that countries that have closed their borders, such as New Zealand, have kept the virus out, but now their problem is what do they when they begin to open their borders?

"So I think the best way forward is to live understanding that viruses and bacteria, any infection, can cross borders and we have to have the defences in our own countries to deal with them."

Tell that to Sridhar, Leitch & Co who appear obsessed with "re-seeding" the virus from "abroad".

As an aside, was any evidence produced (I genuinely don't know) to back-up the SG's claim that last summer, the virus was "re-seeded" from "abroad" due to holidays and to what extent?

[The Moonster]

2 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

The "summer" wave wasn't a big issue last year, so I suppose we'd really need to wait until October / November to see if the vaccines are really making a significant impact, I also think the much heralded success of Australia and New Zealand could be a bit of false hope given that they're in their summer so the real acid test will be how they perform over their Autumn and Winter.

Watch this space....

I love how Brits point to countries who have a total of about 30 deaths, are living pretty much restriction free and still have their economy in tact as if they've taken the wrong route out of this. 

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

All very encouraging but let's keep an eye on how that plays out once they start to release restrictions, hopefully the downward trend continues on cases and hospitalisations. And let's hope we see the number of deaths start to decline as they are still rising there.

Why would removing restrictions change the average age of Covid patient, as shown on the graph you're referring to?

The only thing impacting that is the vaccine rollout, opening a restaurant is not going to make 80 year olds suddenly more vulnerable again. 

[Dons_1988]

Another throw away comment on BBC Breakfast this morning from an expert that Brits just need to accept living with 'prevention of virus transmission' for the long term. No elaboration on that point or questioning on it.

That's a really unhelpfully vague statement to make at a time where anxiety about getting out of this is probably as high as it's ever been.

[The Moonster]

Just now, Dons_1988 said:

Another throw away comment on BBC Breakfast this morning from an expert that Brits just need to accept living with 'prevention of virus transmission' for the long term. No elaboration on that point or questioning on it.

That's a really unhelpfully vague statement to make at a time where anxiety about getting out of this is probably as high as it's ever been.

But the BBC are just reporting stats!11!! How can it be biased!"!"££!!

[vikingTON]

3 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I love how Brits point to countries who have a total of about 30 deaths, are living pretty much restriction free and still have their economy in tact as if they've taken the wrong route out of this. 

New Zealand isn't on a route out of this until they actually vaccinate their population. Rolling lockdowns whenever a single person gets a glorified cold for the next couple of years is not the golden ticket policy that some people make it out to be. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I love how Brits point to countries who have a total of about 30 deaths, are living pretty much restriction free and still have their economy in tact as if they've taken the wrong route out of this. 

New Zealand and Australia are self sufficient, completely isolated and have a combined population of only 30 million, attempting to replicate those sort of restrictions on any European country would be completely impossible and utterly pointless given that we rely so much on each other for trade.

[The Moonster]

2 minutes ago, virginton said:

New Zealand isn't on a route out of this until they actually vaccinate their population. Rolling lockdowns whenever a single person gets a glorified cold for the next couple of years is not the golden ticket policy that some people make it out to be. 

Approved vaccine last week, haven't seen their schedule for vaccinations but given their population can basically do whatever the f**k they want in the meantime I'm going to suggest they've got this right.

Just now, WATTOO said:

New Zealand and Australia are self sufficient, completely isolated and have a combined population of only 30 million, attempting to replicate those sort of restrictions on any European country would be completely impossible and utterly pointless given that we rely so much on each other for trade.

You're an idiot.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Tell that to Sridhar, Leitch & Co who appear obsessed with "re-seeding" the virus from "abroad".

As an aside, was any evidence produced (I genuinely don't know) to back-up the SG's claim that last summer, the virus was "re-seeded" from "abroad" due to holidays and to what extent?

Whether it's True or not, the major stumbling block is that it's a pointless exercise us closing our borders while England's remain open.

[Gordon EF]

2 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

New Zealand and Australia are self sufficient, completely isolated and have a combined population of only 30 million, attempting to replicate those sort of restrictions on any European country would be completely impossible and utterly pointless given that we rely so much on each other for trade.

I doubt trade is the main problem. It's the absolute ease of scooting about Europe. Once the virus took hold in Italy, travellers took it all over Europe. Much easier to avoid that when you're literally on the other side of the world.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, The Moonster said:

Approved vaccine last week, haven't seen their schedule for vaccinations but given their population can basically do whatever the f**k they want in the meantime I'm going to suggest they've got this right.

You're an idiot.

You're a half witted p***k but no need to get annoyed about it.

[101]

26 minutes ago, virginton said:

Why would removing restrictions change the average age of Covid patient, as shown on the graph you're referring to?

The only thing impacting that is the vaccine rollout, opening a restaurant is not going to make 80 year olds suddenly more vulnerable again. 

There were 3 tweets and dozens of graphs which graph did you think I was referring to? Have you quoted the wrong person, I'm confused?

I said I hoped the downward trends in hospitalisations and cases continued to fall, if restrictions were eased or removed entirely I would hope they continue to fall.

Deaths from Covid-19 in Israel are still climbing, hopefully that trend is reversed. All of which is shown in the graphs in the original tweet from our world in data.

[Aufc]

My mrs was watching bbc news this morning and there was apparently some scientist on saying that life will never be back to normal or some shite. My head almost exploded with rage. Why do they give people like that air time

[madwullie]

47 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Tell that to Sridhar, Leitch & Co who appear obsessed with "re-seeding" the virus from "abroad".

As an aside, was any evidence produced (I genuinely don't know) to back-up the SG's claim that last summer, the virus was "re-seeded" from "abroad" due to holidays and to what extent?

Yeah I'm 99.9% sure some kind of data was shown that backed this up. Can't be fucked digging about for it now though. 

Last year isn't this summer though, too many new variables to think the exact same apprisch is worthwhile (or even sensible) 

[Dons_1988]

4 minutes ago, Aufc said:

My mrs was watching bbc news this morning and there was apparently some scientist on saying that life will never be back to normal or some shite. My head almost exploded with rage. Why do they give people like that air time

This is probably the same one I referred to a few posts back. He just very casually dropped it into the middle of a wider point without really appreciating what he said.

It's just irresponsible pish if you're not going to support it with a) any detail or b) justification.

[Elixir]

52 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

Tell that to Sridhar, Leitch & Co who appear obsessed with "re-seeding" the virus from "abroad".

As an aside, was any evidence produced (I genuinely don't know) to back-up the SG's claim that last summer, the virus was "re-seeded" from "abroad" due to holidays and to what extent?

They published a nonsense paper looking at foreign travel, and either conveniently forgot travel across the border with England, or highlighted just how much was 'seeded' from there, I honestly can't remember which. Either way it's irrelevant considering at no point were cases 'zero' in Scotland, so err... the virus was still endemic in our communities, and would have led to the wave we saw this winter.

A total nonsense.

45 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Another throw away comment on BBC Breakfast this morning from an expert that Brits just need to accept living with 'prevention of virus transmission' for the long term. No elaboration on that point or questioning on it.

That's a really unhelpfully vague statement to make at a time where anxiety about getting out of this is probably as high as it's ever been.

Again, the sociopaths who come out with these absurdities, thankfully, are fringe nutters. They won't be deciding what happens in future.

Granted, they should be challenged, not just in the media, but by others in their field. People like Whitty etc who actually matter, are clear that 'life as before the pandemic' is possible once the virus is de-risked through immunity, vaccinations, and treatments.

[Todd_is_God]

The SG banned people going abroad to stop people catching it, so people holidayed in the UK, and brought it back from Blackpool instead...

Migration of people, no matter where to and from, is what leads to increased transmission of an endemic virus.

Border closures following the vaccine rollout would be a nonsense measure, fuelled by nothing more than "but the variants" fear porn. Particularly in the absurd, but possible, scenario where anyone entering Scotland from outside the UK needs to quarantine, whilst the actual UK border is open and there are no restrictions on travel within the UK.

Edited February 9, 2021 by Todd_is_God