Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Gaz]

2 hours ago, Burnieman said:

Does anyone know why the South African variant is not causing many issues in South Africa?

It's got Diplomatic (Herd) Immunity

[D.V.T.]

She did say last week that they would become less frequent in the run up to the election and given that it would be almost entirely a non covid Political question field day I guess this is the start of the wind down.

Waiting till 2pm for cigars is irritating.

[sparky88]

2 hours ago, Turkmenbashi said:

Seems the Germans have found the cause of the blood clots by AZ but also the cure, not seen this reported anywhere in the U.K. 

https://m.dw.com/en/astrazeneca-german-team-discovers-thrombosis-trigger/a-56925550

Given that nearly everyone in the UK thinks there wasn't a problem with the AZ vaccine, the solution to the problem is hardly going to be widely shared. 

It's all about making sure people have confidence in the vaccine.

[Dunning1874]

3 hours ago, virginton said:

No country should be so dependent on one chain of vaccine production when there are about a dozen that have gone through all the required testing. It's time for Moderna to move their hole, and for Europeans to stop blubbering about it and order the Sputnik jab from the Russians (which sensible governments are already doing).

You'd think that, but predictably:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-eu-vaccines/eu-has-absolutely-no-need-of-sputnik-v-vaccine-commissioner-says-idUSKBN2BD0QI

The bad Russians made it! We don't like them! It must be bad!

[Steven W]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-boris-johnson-warns-europes-third-wave-will-hit-uk-but-is-reassured-eu-doesnt-want-jabs-blockade-12253582

BJ saying Europe's third wave will hit here too

[anotherchance]

We can add Simon Clarke (some sort of microbiologist) to the shit list based on his horrific chat on the radio earlier.

Emphasising the small % numbers of those who the vaccine may not work for, constantly referencing worst case scenarios and giving it the “yeah, but....” any time a positive point around the vaccine was given.

Anti vaxxers w**k material.

[MP_MFC]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-boris-johnson-warns-europes-third-wave-will-hit-uk-but-is-reassured-eu-doesnt-want-jabs-blockade-12253582
BJ saying Europe's third wave will hit here too

I thought Europe's current wave was the one we're just coming down from.

His overall comments don't suggest anything major to change how we're going anyway as the vaccines puff away.

[Todd_is_God]

I'm not convinced this is a parody account either

[Steven W]

Just now, MP_MFC said:

I thought Europe's current wave was the one we're just coming down from.

His overall comments don't suggest anything major to change how we're going anyway as the vaccines puff away.

I thought the same. And yes seemingly he'll still 'bash on' with easing restrictions.

But for him to be saying this, makes me wonder how uber-cautious NS + JL will be thinking.... 

[Honest_Man#1]

3 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I'm not convinced this is a parody account either

That cannot be real. No chance.

Yeah it’s fairly blatantly a parody account.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Honest_Man#1

[G51]

 

 

[anotherchance]

1 minute ago, Steven W said:

I thought the same. And yes seemingly he'll still 'bash on' with easing restrictions.

But for him to be saying this, makes me wonder how uber-cautious NS + JL will be thinking.... 

The dentist said on OTB at the weekend that this was just Europe catching up with the Kent variant, which have accounted for something like 90% of our cases for weeks and weeks.

Throw in the vaccination programme and there's no reason for them to shit their pants over this.

[Stellaboz]

1 minute ago, anotherchance said:

The dentist said on OTB at the weekend that this was just Europe catching up with the Kent variant, which have accounted for something like 90% of our cases for weeks and weeks.

 

I don't believe that in the slightest. Most of the cases locally in Cologne have been reported as the Kent variant for ages now.

The rise in numbers here has been due to:

1. More testing becoming available for example free tests now for everyone. I think we get 1 per week we can take. 
2. Schools being back open. 
3. Less people giving a shit about social distancing than before and gathering in larger groups e.g. outdoor fruit markets like it's the fucking bazaar in Istanbul or something. Claustrophobic at the best of times. 

[Paco]

We’re clearly going to have a third wave of some kind in the next month or so. The UK has been an outlier in Europe for some time with the harshness of measures, primarily because of the catastrophic way Johnson handled things in December/early Jan - three months of lockdown to make up for his dithering.

When we begin opening things up with most of the population still unvaccinated, we’ll see more cases. We know this. Where the vaccines will come into their own though is stopping people going to hospital, and breaking chains of transmissions. Cases shouldn’t explode the way they would’ve done ordinarily.

It’ll all be fine, but there’ll be worrying days when hospitalisations are going up. We just need to trust the vaccines, they work.

[GordonS]

I literally cannot believe there is still any debate on what's the best approach. It's the triumph of feelings over fact.

Taiwan has 5 times the population of Scotland and ten times the population density. It has the 11th busiest airport in the world and is a major trading nation with huge numbers of people coming and going. It's a democracy so the government can't just do anything it likes.

They've had so few deaths you can't see them on the chart. The number is 10. Whatever they did is what we should have done and I don't understand why it's any more complicated than that. We think we're so clever in the west but compared to the countries that have done well we're just a bunch of spoiled children.

[djchapsticks]

9 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

I don't believe that in the slightest. Most of the cases locally in Cologne have been reported as the Kent variant for ages now.

The rise in numbers here has been due to:

1. More testing becoming available for example free tests now for everyone. I think we get 1 per week we can take. 
2. Schools being back open. 
3. Less people giving a shit about social distancing than before and gathering in larger groups e.g. outdoor fruit markets like it's the fucking bazaar in Istanbul or something. Claustrophobic at the best of times. 

4. Shite vaccine rollout.

Resolving 4 will nullify a huge part of the rises attributed to 1,2 and 3.

[Stellaboz]

1 minute ago, djchapsticks said:

4. Shite vaccine rollout.

Resolving 4 will nullify a huge part of the rises attributed to 1,2 and 3.

Absolutely this. It's estimated that I won't get one until possibly next year. 

[Alert Mongoose]

1 minute ago, GordonS said:

I literally cannot believe there is still any debate on what's the best approach. It's the triumph of feelings over fact.

Taiwan has 5 times the population of Scotland and ten times the population density. It has the 11th busiest airport in the world and is a major trading nation with huge numbers of people coming and going. It's a democracy so the government can't just do anything it likes.

They've had so few deaths you can't see them on the chart. The number is 10. Whatever they did is what we should have done and I don't understand why it's any more complicated than that. We think we're so clever in the west but compared to the countries that have done well we're just a bunch of spoiled children.

Certainly startling but I thought it had been known for a while that the population in these countries had already had exposure to similar viruses which helped in planning and potentially additional immunity? You still need to factor that in.

[Scosha]

Surely a third wave won't affect us if the vaccines are working? High case numbers won't matter if no one is dying and hardly anyone is in hospital.

[superbigal]

Portugal going from 900 cases per 100k to 31.8 in a matter of weeks should be looked at closely. They were bound to have been affected by the Brazilian variant.