Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[pozbaird]

18 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I've asked this many times before but what is the end game here and when is it expected ?

We're in the summer, we're mostly all double jagged, the vulnerable are most certainly double jagged, the NHS is NOT under pressure, people AREN'T dying in any sort of huge numbers and the vaccine roll out across Europe has also caught up with the UK.

Yes, people ARE still dying but that's life, people are drowning at a high rate right now but do we ban swimming ?? what about fatalities on the road, do we ban cars and buses ??

So, what is likely to change next year or the year after from right now ??

Is this us stuck with community mask wearing and covid testing for travel as a new normal ??

Honestly, I'd like some answers to these questions but our media and opposition politicians don't appear either capable or interested, why ???

In regard to community mandatory mask wearing, I think it now is at the stage where we need to see more and more ordinary, law abiding citizens just stop wearing them. Yes, just ignore the guidelines…. Businesses can. Yes Sir. I know one business who can, and do, ignore the Scottish Government guidelines on facemasks that they don’t like, but insist on the Scottish Government guidelines on them that they do like. So, it isn’t unreasonable to think that individual citizens (should they wish to), now simply ignore the facemask guidelines. I hope it happens, in big numbers too. Each to their own though. Individual choice.

Incidentally, it’s Bannatyne’s Gym - in Scotland. They are refusing to respect the Scottish Government’s own face covering exemption rules. They are insisting that everyone who is exempt, must wear a face covering or be refused entry to their gyms. My SNP MSP told me they are perfectly within their rights to just ignore the exemption rules… so, the Scottish Government rules are indeed as soft as a baby’s first shite, are made up on the back of fag packets, and can simply be ignored.

Bannatynes are. Two big fcuking fingers right up to Holyrood, and any exempt gym members. The only company in the past eighteen months I know of, who are ignoring the Government exemption criteria. British Airways? No problem. Every other place I’ve been in? No problem.

If big businesses like Bannatynes can ignore Scot Gov guidelines, so can we. 

Edited August 6, 2021 by pozbaird

[Thereisalight..]

1 hour ago, Rugster said:

Falkirk are setting aside a "safe zone" in one of our stands for the CEV to go to, it states 2 metre distancing at all times. It also states face masks must be worn in this area which kind of suggests they won't need to be worn in other areas of the stand? Not sure if this has been actually confirmed or not but maybe it's a hint that masks at the football are being binned?

Masks have already been binned at football for the majority of folk. They need to move on from the charade that people at stadiums are diligently wearing masks at all times. Its bollocks and they know it 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

21 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I've asked this many times before but what is the end game here and when is it expected ?
We're in the summer, we're mostly all double jagged, the vulnerable are most certainly double jagged, the NHS is NOT under pressure, people AREN'T dying in any sort of huge numbers and the vaccine roll out across Europe has also caught up with the UK.
Yes, people ARE still dying but that's life, people are drowning at a high rate right now but do we ban swimming ?? what about fatalities on the road, do we ban cars and buses ??
So, what is likely to change next year or the year after from right now ??
Is this us stuck with community mask wearing and covid testing for travel as a new normal ??
Honestly, I'd like some answers to these questions but our media and opposition politicians don't appear either capable or interested, why ???

Shapps made comments yesterday along the lines of this will be the "new normal" for international travel with proof of Covid vaccination at least required world wide to allow you to travel from now on akin to Yellow fever etc. Confidence in travel is already fuked. Holidays to Green and Amber zones are being cancelled routinely by operators due to lack of demand which stems solely from a loss of customer confidence.

It's not only customer confidence, it's the actual cost involved which makes going for a short break completely out of the question.

Many have only mentioned the traditional "summer holiday", but what about all the city breaks and weekend breaks to Eastern and Central Europe which is often the bread and butter of the low cost carriers such as Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz.

There's surely got to be a major pushback on this sooner or later as they seriously can't justify the continued need for testing when every other nation is accepting a covid passport / proof of vaccination as opposed to these costly tests.

[effeffsee_the2nd]

13 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

In regard to community mandatory mask wearing, I think it now is at the stage where we need to see more and more ordinary, law abiding citizens just stop wearing them. Yes, just ignore the guidelines…. Businesses can. Yes Sir. I know one business who can, and do, ignore the Scottish Government guidelines on facemasks that they don’t like, but insist on the Scottish Government guidelines on them that they do like. So, it isn’t unreasonable to think that individual citizens (should they wish to), now simply ignore the facemask guidelines. I hope it happens, in big numbers too. Each to their own though. Individual choice.

Incidentally, it’s Bannatyne’s Gym - in Scotland. They are refusing to respect the Scottish Government’s own face covering exemption rules. They are insisting that everyone who is exempt, must wear a face covering or be refused entry to their gyms. My SNP MSP told me they are perfectly within their rights to just ignore the exemption rules… so, the Scottish Government rules are indeed as soft as a baby’s first shite, are made up on the back of fag packets, and can simply be ignored.

Bannatynes are. Two big fcuking fingers right up to Holyrood, and any exempt gym members. The only company in the past eighteen months I know of, who are ignoring the Government exemption criteria. British Airways? No problem. Every other place I’ve been in? No problem.

If big businesses like Bannatynes can ignore Scot Gov guidelines, so can we. 

This is most unusual in my experience  i haven't been to a bannatynnes tho , no c**t has said a dickie bird to me at any time ( i have generaly been masking but i've stopped now and on the odd times i forgot through the year) like 90 % of covid rules their has been next to no enforcement whatsoever

[pozbaird]

Just now, effeffsee_the2nd said:

This is most unusual in my experience  i haven't been to a bannatynnes tho , no c**t has said a dickie bird to me at any time ( i have generaly been masking but i've stopped now and on the odd times i forgot through the year) like 90 % of covid rules their has been next to no enforcement whatsoever

Unique, in my experience. As I said, Bannatynes are the only company I have encountered who are doing this - forcing those exempt from wearing a face covering to wear one. I’ve been round in ever decreasing circles with them, but the bottom line is that I cannot take it any further, because my MSP told me businesses do not need to respect the exemption rules. It’s their premises, their rules.

ScotGov though, expect individual citizens to abide by their rules? You couldn’t make it up… but you could, couldn’t you.

[TheScarf]

To be fair, Duncan Bannatyne is pretty staunchly Unionist and hates the SNP.  He won't be following SG/SNP advice.

[pozbaird]

8 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

To be fair, Duncan Bannatyne is pretty staunchly Unionist and hates the SNP.  He won't be following SG/SNP advice.

Proves my point then. If Duncan Bannatyne can ignore any ScotGov guidelines he chooses to, so can we. Just depends on the individual, if they want to now say ‘fcuk this for a game of soldiers’. Many won’t. Fair enough. On Bannatynes though, how many members at each Scottish gym will they have who are holding exemption cards anyway? A handful. Would it hurt them to actually respect their right to be exempt? From the front entrance to the changing room? Not needed when exercising or swimming, obviously. It really, really wouldn’t have hurt for Bannatynes to respect the exemption criteria for a handful of members, but no, they won’t.

Edited August 6, 2021 by pozbaird

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

12 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I've asked this many times before but what is the end game here and when is it expected ?

We're in the summer, we're mostly all double jagged, the vulnerable are most certainly double jagged, the NHS is NOT under pressure, people AREN'T dying in any sort of huge numbers and the vaccine roll out across Europe has also caught up with the UK.

Yes, people ARE still dying but that's life, people are drowning at a high rate right now but do we ban swimming ?? what about fatalities on the road, do we ban cars and buses ??

So, what is likely to change next year or the year after from right now ??

Is this us stuck with community mask wearing and covid testing for travel as a new normal ??

Honestly, I'd like some answers to these questions but our media and opposition politicians don't appear either capable or interested, why ???

I mean youre asking questions we’d all like answers from. In particular I quite like asking the proper lovejoys on twitter these questions, they dont seem to understand that its now endemic and will never ever ever go away.

Lets face it the mask theatre stuff is simply pandering to the people who if not worried about this would be outraged about some other thing. Im very anti-brexit but it seems that many of the fbpe people fit this mould. Summer with the better weather was absolutely the only reasonable time to relax restrictions and essentially imo anyway holding on to some to pander to the ever worried (you know the types who tag themselves into A&E on facebook and think the harshest lockdown rules should be implemented but at the same time dont think these should apply to themselves because they are just too special) and perma outraged. 
I dont know where this ends, will it go on to next spring at least? Id think so and then maybe peter out a bit, f**k knows, im beyond guessing the bat shit reactions. 
I find it incredibly incredibly mental the shite that Sturgeon has implemented through this, the reason being before hand she seemed like she genuinely had her head screwed on and now the guidance contradictions and mess of things like exams etc its just like the absolute epitome of losing the plot. I think thats why im angrier at the Scottish Government than the UK, you expect reactionary stupid shite with overarching profiteering and corruption from the tories, youd expect similar levels of madness from Labour too. But Sturgeon? f**k me. 
Your point about people dying is a good one, but for a long time in the future the seeds of issues both long and short term due to the damage to the NHS is going to cause far more harm than fucking covid did any way. We’ve now created a massive rod for our own backs. GP’s expected to manage complex case loads and far more serious issues than covid in the community because they demanded hospitals shut down etc. Cancer patients being missed, people too scared to go to doctors meaning preventable deaths rise etc and then the backlog of cases, missed operations etc, its going to take a massive effort that im not even sure we have the capacity for to get over it and catch up. There simply isnt the investment in the NHS. Imo we need to continue with whatever funding structure we have for furlough and channel all that money and more into the NHS now, if not we will have an even bigger crisis than covid and thats before we even address the mental health services etc falling apart. 
Put simply we dont invest massively in health, both infrastructure, training and recruitment then its all fucked. 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

There's really no such thing as the "Green list".
First off, for all double jagged there is no difference whatsoever now that the LFT for departure has been changed to a PCR.
Secondly, the majority of countries on the "Green list" are either not allowing tourists to come in or putting them on a 10 day quarantine and for the couple who ARE letting people in quarantine free, they're not tourist destinations at all and have no direct flights available in any case !!!
The Governments of the UK have all been very fortunate that this has been a very good Summer but that aside people are increasingly losing patience with this nonsense and the Economic plight of those in aviation and tourism will soon become very clear also.

As I said - a limited green list.

There is a difference though - if the country is in the amber list it can move to the amber plus or red list at very short notice. At jest with those green list countries you can get to that is less likely to happen.

I think most folk now are booking at the last minute (a few weeks before) because you just cannot plan any further ahead.

[FFCinthearea]

1 hour ago, Abdul_Latif said:

“Hospitality

Local licensing laws will apply to all hospitality though the mandatory collection of contact details remains in place.  There is no requirement to wear a mask while seated at a table or while eating or drinking (whether seated or standing).  However, to help reduce transmission risks and protect staff and customers, we would strongly encourage the use of table service where possible, alternatively a takeaway service may also be provided.”

So officially you have to wear a mask till you’ve ordered your pint, then can take it off standing in the exact same spot to drink it and speak to your pals, but you’ve then got to put it on again to walk to the pisher?

Get in the fucking bin SG!!!

It's all pointless.   I've ordered my fake exemption lanyard from Amazon.    I'm not putting up with this shite any longer.

[Billy Jean King]

Masks have already been binned at football for the majority of folk. They need to move on from the charade that people at stadiums are diligently wearing masks at all times. Its bollocks and they know it 

If clubs feel the can maximize income while responding to customer demands by creating a section specifically aimed at those who would prefer a bit more caution then that's absolutely fine. Going by your logic we should be sacking disabled viewing platforms and telling those who use them to f**k off or banning the commentary companions for the blind ?
You have totally lost the plot and are coming over as a crass moron.

There are a multitude of reasons why some more vulnerable people would still feel apprehensive in a packed crowd. To simply cast those people aside is simply not needed. Whether you agree or not Covid is still a serious threat to certain categories but you seem oblivious (or prejudiced) to that.

[Billy Jean King]

It's not only customer confidence, it's the actual cost involved which makes going for a short break completely out of the question.
Many have only mentioned the traditional "summer holiday", but what about all the city breaks and weekend breaks to Eastern and Central Europe which is often the bread and butter of the low cost carriers such as Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz.
There's surely got to be a major pushback on this sooner or later as they seriously can't justify the continued need for testing when every other nation is accepting a covid passport / proof of vaccination as opposed to these costly tests.

I know re short breaks I was posting on that this week but the big tour operators are still cancelling holidays to Spain, Portugal etc almost daily which can only be due to lack of demand driven by the collapse in customer confidence due to the threat of quarantine plus the additional costs (and ballache) of testing plus the massive looming threat of testing positive abroad.

It amazes me the frothing mess some get into over masks when there are huge issues like this playing out.

[Thereisalight..]

6 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

If clubs feel the can maximize income while responding to customer demands by creating a section specifically aimed at those who would prefer a bit more caution then that's absolutely fine. Going by your logic we should be sacking disabled viewing platforms and telling those who use them to f**k off or banning the commentary companions for the blind ?
You have totally lost the plot and are coming over as a crass moron.

There are a multitude of reasons why some more vulnerable people would still feel apprehensive in a packed crowd. To simply cast those people aside is simply not needed. Whether you agree or not Covid is still a serious threat to certain categories but you seem oblivious (or prejudiced) to that.

Aye because a shitty bit of cloth is really comparable to someone being disabled or blind. What a wild take that is and I'm that one that's "lost the plot". The irony 

[Dawson Park Boy]

26 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

Unique, in my experience. As I said, Bannatynes are the only company I have encountered who are doing this - forcing those exempt from wearing a face covering to wear one. I’ve been round in ever decreasing circles with them, but the bottom line is that I cannot take it any further, because my MSP told me businesses do not need to respect the exemption rules. It’s their premises, their rules.

ScotGov though, expect individual citizens to abide by their rules? You couldn’t make it up… but you could, couldn’t you.

Will be back at Bannatynes on Monday so will try it. I have the digital exemption so we’ll see.

[Billy Jean King]

Aye because a shitty bit of cloth is really comparable to someone being disabled or blind. What a wild take that is and I'm that one that's "lost the plot". The irony 

It's not about "the shitty piece of cloth" as you put it but if you can't see that then there is no discussing it. We have standing sections in seated stadiums - why ? Because people want to stand. Falkirk wouldn't be doing this without demand so what's the issue ? If it isn't stopping you or anyone else fro sitting in a crowd then what exactly is your problem with it ???

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I know re short breaks I was posting on that this week but the big tour operators are still cancelling holidays to Spain, Portugal etc almost daily which can only be due to lack of demand driven by the collapse in customer confidence due to the threat of quarantine plus the additional costs (and ballache) of testing plus the massive looming threat of testing positive abroad.

It amazes me the frothing mess some get into over masks when there are huge issues like this playing out.

Absolutely.

I wouldn't even consider an amber list country at the moment.

Looking at the very limited choice of green list countries the prices have just rocketed as well - some of the prices quoted are ridiculous - Malta has just gone through the roof. Add in the costs of unnecessary tests and it's no wonder that people are just not booking.

Some travel business are in real trouble and may not survive if they don't shift soon.

[craigkillie]

2 hours ago, Cairn Terrier said:

Calling cards of morons, for anybody booking a holiday to Mexico just now.

Most people don't book a holiday one day and travel the next. It's entirely possible that folk have booked these holidays months ago or even last year - they could even be holidays which they were supposed to be going on last year and which they have rescheduled.

[Thereisalight..]

Just now, Billy Jean King said:

6 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Aye because a shitty bit of cloth is really comparable to someone being disabled or blind. What a wild take that is and I'm that one that's "lost the plot". The irony 

It's not about "the shitty piece of cloth" as you put it but if you can't see that then there is no discussing it. We have standing sections in seated stadiums - why ? Because people want to stand. Falkirk wouldn't be doing this without demand so what's the issue ? If it isn't stopping you or anyone else fro sitting in a crowd then what exactly is your problem with it ???

Its appeasing people who really should be taking a shake to themself. I'm guessing they've been double dosed so why are they so scared? If they had faith in the vaccine why would they be worried about being in a crowd? Did it bother them every other year when cold or flu was rife? Where was the "demand" for separate seating areas then? 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Most people don't book a holiday one day and travel the next. It's entirely possible that folk have booked these holidays months ago or even last year - they could even be holidays which they were supposed to be going on last year and which they have rescheduled.

It's almost impossible to book as late as the day (or even week) before now - not unless you want to lay out a 4 figure sum per traveller.

[Rugster]

48 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Masks have already been binned at football for the majority of folk. They need to move on from the charade that people at stadiums are diligently wearing masks at all times. Its bollocks and they know it 

It's a small section of the ground and if it makes some vulnerable people feel more comfortable and gets them to the game then it can't be bad thing. It in no way affects you anyway, and your post completely missed the point that I said it looked like masks WERE being binned across the board.