Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[realmadrid]

4 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

How does one go about procuring a full families worth of PCR tests in a window of 72 hours prior to a holiday? Cant see that happening unless travel agents/airlines are afforded resting allocation. Are folk supposed to lie to get a test?

As someone who works in travel id say if you want to go on holiday with your family to France just now thats something you need to sort out yourself.

This however is the first change France has made and we would expect by the summer things will be different . Uptake of vaccination in France is still very low but thats their way. 

[Binos]

5 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Absolutely, they dont live in the real world.

Whitty just gets on with the job and doesnt seem to try to make himself the absolutely voice of authority or preach the way others do. He seems to have a grasp on reality.

Or maybe he has no personality to project

[101]

1 minute ago, Mark Connolly said:

TBF it probably won't be long before TUI are offering them as part of your holiday package.

Exactly they are just another holiday expense for the next few months wil be interesting to see if airlines diverge on their requirements and obviously some countries will require them for a while yet

[Jambomo]

2 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Whitty, particularly, is a personality vacuum and he knows it. He deals with facts and numbers and can't wait to be out of the limelight. You can see others are simply doing their jobs, some with a bit of panache.

Sridhar and Leitch are trying to project their personalities and agendas with a view to promoting themselves and their philosophies.

To be fair this is why I like the likes of Whitty and Van Tam. They are factual and to the point, even if I don’t especially like the news they have, they say enough for me to understand why they are recommending a certain action or why things are the way they are at present. 

Though I think it’s unfair to say Whitty is a personality vacuum, he’s just really professional. 

[realmadrid]

3 minutes ago, 101 said:

Exactly they are just another holiday expense for the next few months wil be interesting to see if airlines diverge on their requirements and obviously some countries will require them for a while yet

Not everyone books a bucket and spade package holiday, there are far more place to visit that Spain every year 

Edited March 13, 2021 by realmadrid

[Elixir]

16 minutes ago, realmadrid said:

Other countries will take into account our vaccination levels 

That's France removed the "compelling" reason to enter the country for people from the UK

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210311-covid-19-france-eases-restrictions-on-some-international-travellers

You still have to have a negative test 72 hours before travel and I can see that being the case for a lot of nations this summer, which is perfectly fair

I wonder how they will handle folk who have had one vaccine dose but are still awaiting their second.

2 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

It now seems conceivable that the UK could end up being nowhere near the worst "performing" country in Europe and might eventually come out in the middle of the pack when all is said and done, which didn't seem at all likely six or even three months ago.

Indeed. It's also worth remembering that much of central and eastern Europe escaped having bad epidemics last spring so will have had much lower immunity in the population than places like the UK, so a longer, more painful wave this winter dragging into spring is not unexpected, especicially with the much slower vaccine rollout. The Spanish flu pandemic also typically had a smaller third wave in the spring of 1919.

I was just reading on Twitter that Jan Konvalinka, a biochemist at Charles University in Prague advising the Czech Government, expects the pandemic to be over there by June as ~70% of the population will be immunised and/or previously infected. This will be true for most of Europe.

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

To be fair this is why I like the likes of Whitty and Van Tam. They are factual and to the point, even if I don’t especially like the news they have, they say enough for me to understand why they are recommending a certain action or why things are the way they are at present. 

Though I think it’s unfair to say Whitty is a personality vacuum, he’s just really professional. 

He probably doesnt see his role as one that requires any injection of his personality. Absolutely correct IMO, and something Leitch and Devi could/should have learned earlier

[Steven W]

Leitch on the radio. Asked by a listener how many people in the UK under the age of 60 with no underlying health issues have died. Answer was "I don't know".

Then qualified his not knowing with shite about Long Covid.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Steven W

[realmadrid]

2 minutes ago, Elixir said:

I wonder how they will handle folk who have had one vaccine dose but are still awaiting their second.

To be fair there is no mention of vaccination at all in that report, no vaccine passports etc

[Binos]

6 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

To be fair this is why I like the likes of Whitty and Van Tam. They are factual and to the point, even if I don’t especially like the news they have, they say enough for me to understand why they are recommending a certain action or why things are the way they are at present. 

Though I think it’s unfair to say Whitty is a personality vacuum, he’s just really professional. 

Sounds like a dose of good old Scottish cringe there

[101]

9 minutes ago, realmadrid said:

Not everyone books a bucket and spade package holiday, there are far more place to visit that Spain every year 

Quite agree but for a huge swathe of working families that's what they can afford and what they enjoy, without package holidays at rock bottom prices "normality" is a long way off.

Once the stay at home message is ditched at the end of this month you can go on holiday but I would hope the experience in April of going on holiday is something short lived as it's likely to still be a bit of nightmare 

[Andy Dufresne]

I got the Astra Zeneca vaccine 

[DMCs]

7 minutes ago, Binos said:

Sounds like a dose of good old Scottish cringe there

Praising one English guy means you think you're inferior as Scots to Englishmen in general?

[Elixir]

Take a wild guess about who will be absolutely beeling at this development. 

Could probably take South Africa off it too, tbf, given how much case numbers there have utterly collapsed despite the mewling over their IMMUNITY EVADING variant, which the vaccines and human immune system clearly still pish all over. 

[ICTChris]

Chris Whitty’s father was a diplomat and was assassinated in Athens while working there as head of the British Council. It’s likely that the Abu Nidal Organisation, a shadowy group linked to the PLO and various Iddle Eastern governments carried out the hit. It’s believed that Whitty wasn’t the target but had bought a car from an MI6 agent based in Greece who was likely the intended victim.

Jonathan Van Tams uncle (I think) was a General in two armies, the French and then the South Vietnamese. If I’m remembering correct,y he was on the wrong side of a coup and fled to France, then Britain.

[realmadrid]

1 minute ago, 101 said:

Quite agree but for a huge swathe of working families that's what they can afford and what they enjoy, without package holidays at rock bottom prices "normality" is a long way off.

Once the stay at home message is ditched at the end of this month you can go on holiday but I would hope the experience in April of going on holiday is something short lived as it's likely to still be a bit of nightmare 

But by booking with TUI you often pay well over the odds as against booking direct. The downside which obviously will worry people just now is that if you book a package then they will look after everything if something goes wrong. We did our best for our customers when the French government shut the slopes a year ago tomorrow but while we got them to the airport but they were reliant on the airlines putting on extra flights. Thus for families I get them taking the easy option.

I have put this on the holiday topic, at our hotel we automatically set the prices for for all outside partners 15% higher, the French in particular know this and always book direct.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Elixir said:

I wonder how they will handle folk who have had one vaccine dose but are still awaiting their second.

Indeed. It's also worth remembering that much of central and eastern Europe escaped having bad epidemics last spring so will have had much lower immunity in the population than places like the UK, so a longer, more painful wave this winter dragging into spring is not unexpected, especicially with the much slower vaccine rollout. The Spanish flu pandemic also typically had a smaller third wave in the spring of 1919.

I was just reading on Twitter that Jan Konvalinka, a biochemist at Charles University in Prague advising the Czech Government, expects the pandemic to be over there by June as ~70% of the population will be immunised and/or previously infected. This will be true for most of Europe.

I've got Wroclaw booked for June but can't say I'm overly hopeful at the moment.

I was so looking forward to my steak and wine feast in Whiskey in a Jar as well !!!

[realmadrid]

7 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I've got Wroclaw booked for June but can't say I'm overly hopeful at the moment.

I was so looking forward to my steak and wine feast in Whiskey in a Jar as well !!!

The restrictions look a little bit stronger than here just now, especially on face coverings 

https://www.gov.pl/web/coronavirus/temporary-limitations

[Billy Jean King]

Take a wild guess about who will be absolutely beeling at this development. 
Could probably take South Africa off it too, tbf, given how much case numbers there have utterly collapsed despite the mewling over their IMMUNITY EVADING variant, which the vaccines and human immune system clearly still pish all over. 

That makes a mockery of the reason given for them being added in the first place (their intrinsic links with Brazil) given the situation in Brazil is worse than ever.

The whole policy of a "naughty / red list" being updated on a weekly basis is a recipe for disaster. That has to be scrapped before anyone can have any real confidence when booking holidays. That's simply a repeat of last summer.

[Elixir]

12 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I've got Wroclaw booked for June but can't say I'm overly hopeful at the moment.

I was so looking forward to my steak and wine feast in Whiskey in a Jar as well !!!

My partner is hoping to get home to see her family towards the end of June as well. Hopefully it happens, but if not then I think July, and certainly August and September will be goers. I'm also hoping to go to Wrocław for a couple of days.

2 minutes ago, realmadrid said:

The restrictions look a little bit stronger than here just now, especially on face coverings 

https://www.gov.pl/web/coronavirus/temporary-limitations

It was the same before last summer, tbf, then they relaxed things. The time I spent in Poland last August/September is the most normal life has felt since February 2020. It was strange seeing places like Kraków so much quieter than usual, though.