Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[superbigal]

No individual council infection updates as I said till Tuesday in Scotland due to Public Health Scotland needing everyone to go on holiday the same days.

However national figures are in.  So last 4 days cases per 100K.  These are a day behind how I report but do have the Scottish figures to yesterday I believe. This I believe means 2 days of Scottish updates.

Cases per 100K last reported 7 days UK Average  55.4 to 47.6 down 14.08%, England  54.9 to 47.3 down 13.84% ,  Wales 37.8 to 31.0 down 17.99%, Northern Ireland 56.7 to 51.6 down 8.99%

Scotland 63.0 to 58.8 down 6.67%

Individual councils Clackmannanshire shows at 225.1 per 100K on these figures (Rising).  The next worst in the UK now is Rotherham at 132.2  So Clacks is over 70% worse than the 2nd place council in the UK !!  North Lanarkshire is 6th, West Lothian 7th & Renfrewshire 15th all still over the 100 marker.

On the flip side only 6 councils in the UK have rates under 10 and all are in Scotland.  Orkney 0.0 , Western Isles 0.0 , Dumfries & Galloway 5.4, Argyll & Bute 7.0,  Highlands 7.2 & Shetlands 8.7 have a grand total of 33 active cases !!   The Borders 12.1, Inverclyde 20.6  & South Ayrshire 21.3 also find themselves in the bottom 25.

Edited April 4, 2021 by superbigal

[Elixir]

Is there a more pointless exercise out there than these test/pilot events? We are going to have 90% of the country vaxxed, and hospitalisations/deaths back to normal levels. I think when it's looked back on in years to come, we'll be able to see that the pandemic phase is pretty much done and dusted now in Britain, i.e. post March 2021.

As has been suggested on here, I hope it's mainly to satisfy the moon howlers, who can be told that 'things are safe', while everyone else is already getting back to normal, rather than trying to make things like one-way systems a thing when they are utterly irrelevant.

[Jambomo]

27 minutes ago, 101 said:

Wow.

It's an incentive to be vaccinated that is all. 

  Reveal hidden contents

And not one I would be very happy with for a number of reasons.

 

Is it? Most people are still waiting patiently to be vaccinated, it’s not like we can jump the queue or hurry it up.

I don’t think there is much evidence that there is actually a lot of people refusing the vaccine anyway, at least not from what I’ve heard from the medical officers in the briefings. 

I see why you’d have it for travel abroad, I don’t get the point of having it in the UK for going into pubs etc. It would mean them having to turn people away who are too young to be vaccinated yet - whilst last year contact tracing was enough and there’s no reason to suggest that it’s necessary to only have vaccinated people if we still have some level of distancing and tracing.

By the time it’s set up and rolled out, there’s also a good chance most of the UK will have been vaccinated anyway. It seems at the very least pointless data-gathering. 

[Michael W]

I've also yet to see this evidence of young people that are going to refuse the vaccine. It's true that refusal will probably be higher than it is in older age groups that don't get their news from lunatics on YouTube and of course the risks of the virus are much lower, but if there's mass hesitancy I have yet to see it. 

Government panicking over something that doesn't exist yet, much like Matt Hancock's undiscovered variant. 

It's just as well they seem to have decided against vaccine passports for restaurants. Some laugh that would've been: under 40s can all piss off as they're not vaccinated, yet about 90% of the staff are of that demographic and won't have been vaccinated either. For once the illogical position seems to have been avoided. 

[superbigal]

Absolutely thorough risk assessment report produced in Belgium for all type of  events and organisations.  Is a mouthful but some real interesting reading if you are patient. An excellent "risk calculator"

https://www.restartmice.be/pdf/20210302-V2-EN-Covid-19 Report.pdf

https://www.restartmice.be/yes.html

Edited April 4, 2021 by superbigal

[Left Back]

4 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

Is it? Most people are still waiting patiently to be vaccinated, it’s not like we can jump the queue or hurry it up.

I don’t think there is much evidence that there is actually a lot of people refusing the vaccine anyway, at least not from what I’ve heard from the medical officers in the briefings. 

I see why you’d have it for travel abroad, I don’t get the point of having it in the UK for going into pubs etc. It would mean them having to turn people away who are too young to be vaccinated yet - whilst last year contact tracing was enough and there’s no reason to suggest that it’s necessary to only have vaccinated people if we still have some level of distancing and tracing.

By the time it’s set up and rolled out, there’s also a good chance most of the UK will have been vaccinated anyway. It seems at the very least pointless data-gathering. 

Nothing pointless about it.

Someone in the establishment will pick up a very nice contract for fucking up the rollout of the system (Serco style).  Someone else will pick up a very nice wage to manage world beating NHS Vaccine Passports (Dildo Harding style).

Plenty of opportunity to divert taxpayers money to private individuals under the banner of NHS/public health.  It’s something we truly lead the way at.

[Elixir]

Tremendous article from Robert Dingwall:

 

[Jambomo]

11 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Nothing pointless about it.

Someone in the establishment will pick up a very nice contract for fucking up the rollout of the system (Serco style).  Someone else will pick up a very nice wage to manage world beating NHS Vaccine Passports (Dildo Harding style).

Plenty of opportunity to divert taxpayers money to private individuals under the banner of NHS/public health.  It’s something we truly lead the way at.

Ok, I did mean pointless for us or in the context of it being useful against the virus but I do agree with you!

[NotThePars]

19 minutes ago, Michael W said:

I've also yet to see this evidence of young people that are going to refuse the vaccine. It's true that refusal will probably be higher than it is in older age groups that don't get their news from lunatics on YouTube and of course the risks of the virus are much lower, but if there's mass hesitancy I have yet to see it. 

Government panicking over something that doesn't exist yet, much like Matt Hancock's undiscovered variant. 

It's just as well they seem to have decided against vaccine passports for restaurants. Some laugh that would've been: under 40s can all piss off as they're not vaccinated, yet about 90% of the staff are of that demographic and won't have been vaccinated either. For once the illogical position seems to have been avoided. 

This is why I think it's understandable for people to be sceptical. Doesn't the polling suggest that Brits are strongly supportive of taking up the vaccine when it's available? The govt. doesn't need to bring in passports to force take up and yet they're apparently pushing on regardless. People are right to be concerned about why that is.

[Aidan]

Much that I think we get an awful lot wrong in this country, I’m just back from getting my jag at the Gyle vaccination centre, what a fantastic, well run set up. Thanks very much to all concerned.
That said, as I light up my cigar, it’s tinged with a bit of frustration/rage. The lovely nurse that gave me the jag, informed me that there is a 20% “no show” rate!!!
What is wrong with these people? 

Dundee has been almost bang on 20% no show every day. Last week was even worse, one of the days around 400 of the 1500 or so people booked in didn't show up which leads to a massive waste of time and resources. We're back to the oldies getting their second dose now so hopefully the number of no shows will drop and the head nurses won't be running about trying to call people in at the last minute to avoid wasting vaccines.

If anyone is booked in for an appointment at one of the centres and either can't or don't want to go then just call up and cancel it, it makes everyone else's life that little bit easier.

[Forest_Fifer]

I'll say it again. The Vaccine Passport has f**k all to do with the virus. It's about surveillance, behaviour modification/social credit and economic control via cashless society. 
This has been on the agenda for years as a project called ID2020 and Covid is the excuse to push it through in every American aligned country. 

[Glen Sannox]

7 minutes ago, Aidan said:

Dundee has been almost bang on 20% no show every day. Last week was even worse, one of the days around 400 of the 1500 or so people booked in didn't show up which leads to a massive waste of time and resources. We're back to the oldies getting their second dose now so hopefully the number of no shows will drop and the head nurses won't be running about trying to call people in at the last minute to avoid wasting vaccines.

If anyone is booked in for an appointment at one of the centres and either can't or don't want to go then just call up and cancel it, it makes everyone else's life that little bit easier.

It’s so disappointing, yet not surprising. The 20% no shows, don’t even have the courtesy to let them know that they don’t want it, or can’t be arsed turning up for it. Vermin.

[the snudge]

Anyone had their 2nd dose and feeling like they've been hit by a bus?

First was absolutely nae bother but the 2nd one has floored me completely

[WhiteRoseKillie]

How did you gauge whether they were key workers?

Some folk I'd known through work/union who had shifted to cushy back office jobs which the Mod, DEFRA, NYPS and the like probably could muddle along without for a wee while. I mean, HMPPS managed to do without the H&S function before they realised we could actually be useful, and at least I have spent around seventy percent of my time in the nick during the pandemic. Looking at the whole thing as dispassionately as I can, I'd say the lower down the pecking order/salary scale, the more likely you are an actual key worker.

[Aidan]

I mind a no show wastes a vaccine dose, they have to throw it out.

Nah they don't have to throw that many out tbf. Once again I can only speak for Dundee but rather than having them all prepared at each station like they were before, when it gets passed a certain point they're just getting them out of storage more or less as they need them. The downside to that is it takes longer to do and people are having to work even longer shifts than they already are but it saves vaccines going to waste. Before that they were phoning people and basically having to beg them to come in to save them getting wasted.

[madwullie]

I mean, the govt actively forcing people to get an injection if they want to partake in certain activities, all verified by a barcode / qr code or some such, containing your personal health data that can be read by anyone with access to the database, or indeed the method to scan the code. That's at the very least impinging on your liberties, and considering most c***s are seemingly quite happy to be jagged, seems particularly unnecessary. 

Pointing that out is hardly tinfoil hat territory - it's what is actually being proposed. 

I'm not at all into the idea of national IDs or any old c**t with a scanner having access to my confidential information - couple that with the blatant corruption, perpetual f**k ups and general headlong careering into authoritarianism we're seeing from WM and I think it's miles beyond fair enough to be concerned about it. 

[Markka]

Dundee has been almost bang on 20% no show every day. Last week was even worse, one of the days around 400 of the 1500 or so people booked in didn't show up which leads to a massive waste of time and resources. We're back to the oldies getting their second dose now so hopefully the number of no shows will drop and the head nurses won't be running about trying to call people in at the last minute to avoid wasting vaccines.

If anyone is booked in for an appointment at one of the centres and either can't or don't want to go then just call up and cancel it, it makes everyone else's life that little bit easier.

Is there any sort of system set up where people in lower priority groups can be on standby if, as in your experience, 20% or thereabouts of folk don't show up in a day?

[Michael W]

53 minutes ago, NotThePars said:

This is why I think it's understandable for people to be sceptical. Doesn't the polling suggest that Brits are strongly supportive of taking up the vaccine when it's available? The govt. doesn't need to bring in passports to force take up and yet they're apparently pushing on regardless. People are right to be concerned about why that is.

I agree. I also think that if implemented there is no chance that they will ever vanish. There were murmurings of 1 year to try and placate the Tories likely to vote against, but we all know a timely variant would be announced and they would be kept. 

I am happy the position seems to have moved a little, but it's still not good enough. I'll accept them for holidays as there are already countries asking for certain vaccines, but that's it. There's no need at all for them domestically and if vaccine take up is high I really don't see what the problem is. The vaccines work and even if you do get it they are effective against serious illness. 

[Aidan]

Is there any sort of system set up where people in lower priority groups can be on standby if, as in your experience, 20% or thereabouts of folk don't show up in a day?

Nah that was something I had suggested but according to the NHS staff they weren't allowed to do it. They'd also tried to get permission to contact the police station and/or some of the larger businesses in the area to see if they would be able to send folk round at the end of the day to use up some of the spares but weren't allowed.

They're going back to the 2nd doses now so hopefully it won't be so bad, I would imagine most people that have bothered to come for their 1st will come back for number 2 unless they've had particularly awful side effects or something.

[Markka]

Nah that was something I had suggested but according to the NHS staff they weren't allowed to do it. They'd also tried to get permission to contact the police station and/or some of the larger businesses in the area to see if they would be able to send folk round at the end of the day to use up some of the spares but weren't allowed.

They're going back to the 2nd doses now so hopefully it won't be so bad, I would imagine most people that have bothered to come for their 1st will come back for number 2 unless they've had particularly awful side effects or something.

Shame that. I'm sure plenty of folk, myself included, would be happy to attend a vaccination appointment at 2-3 hours notice.