Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[PWL]

Having made it this far I had to do my first test this weekend. 

Colleague I'd been in office with on the Thursday started showing symptoms the next day. I got pinged by Track & Trace on Saturday morning and was able to book a test for 30 mins later. Results Sunday morning and all clear (for Covid anyway.....). 

Because I'm double Vax'd no further isolation needed. 

[Guest Flash]

4 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

With the UK due to start 3rd doses for the elderly and vulnerable from October, I’d be very surprised to see reimposition of any measures.

Worst case scenario we bring the date of 3rd doses forward for those groups.

 

1 minute ago, Todd_is_God said:

I'm not so sure. I fully expect Covid jags to be mixed with the flu jags offered this winter, however so long as the initial doses continue to be effective in reducing serious illness, I don't see a need for any restrictions.

The aim, remember, is to reduce the impact of Covid infections on the health service to a similar risk footprint as any other virus. The vaccines, regardless of the number of "cases" amongst vaccinated people, appear to be doing that.

Aye, hope you’re both right. As long as the hospitalisations don’t increase dramatically, it should be ok. 

[superbigal]

Suprised but pleased to report that St Andrew's University (Of which my business occupies one of their buildings) have removed all Covid restrictions.

Masks in communal areas, distancing restrictions like in kitchen and toilets (all signs removed), one way systems,  yellow tape.   All gone.

Only thing left in place is hand sanitiser dispensers which is clearly a good thing to have on hand anyway.

Thought they would possibly leave their own set of rules in place for a while, but thankfully not.

 

[Meldrew]

4 hours ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Don’t give them any ideas! 

The sad thing is, there’s many people out there who’d love that. You only need to read any Fb shite page like Ayrshire/Glasgow/Edinburgh live to see that moonhowlers will be in their element about cases going up 

i don't know if i'd call them ''moonhowlers'' just people who are curious how the pub can be a central focus in a lot of peoples lives.

 

edit* so many red dots, from the  ''choking for a pint'' crowd, or maybe P&B has a lot of Publicans with accounts

Edited August 18, 2021 by Meldrew

[Melanius Mullarkey]

6 minutes ago, superbigal said:

Suprised but pleased to report that St Andrew's University (Of which my business occupies one of their buildings) have removed all Covid restrictions.

Masks in communal areas, distancing restrictions like in kitchen and toilets (all signs removed), one way systems,  yellow tape.   All gone.

Only thing left in place is hand sanitiser dispensers which is clearly a good thing to have on hand anyway.

Thought they would possibly leave their own set of rules in place for a while, but thankfully not.

 

Lucky b*****d. 1m distancing and masks indoors (yeah right) across the Tay. 

[Elixir]

37 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I'm not so sure. I fully expect Covid jags to be mixed with the flu jags offered this winter, however so long as the initial doses continue to be effective in reducing serious illness, I don't see a need for any restrictions.

The aim, remember, is to reduce the impact of Covid infections on the health service to a similar risk footprint as any other virus. The vaccines, regardless of the number of "cases" amongst vaccinated people, appear to be doing that.

We also have a much higher vaccine coverage than Israel, and used a longer gap between vaccines that (allegedly) offered greater protection from serious disease following the second dose.

Correct. As more people are exposed to the virus post-vaccination, this will only improve long-term immunity too. I think people forget that eventually we're going to be continually re-infected with SARS-CoV-2 several times over the course of a lifetime.

[Billy Jean King]

35,999 tests [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

That figure is only going up and up as folk take PCR tests to prevent isolating for 10 days (despite there being no legal imperative to take the test to prevent isolating)

[Michael W]

Article here on Israel, with some stats - https://www.dw.com/en/covid-why-are-infections-rising-in-israel/a-58887131

In any case, as it stands, data suggests that even if there are breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated Israelis, their infections are less severe than among those who have had no jabs at all. 

Taking a sample from August 16, 2021:

• 154.7 severely ill patients in Israel were unvaccinated.
• 48.4 severely ill patients were partially vaccinated
• And 19.8 severely ill patients were fully vaccinated

Bearing in mind that Israel is 70% fully vaccinated (we'll assume that is 70% of the adult population) and that the vaccinated will include the groups most vulnerable to Covid, we can yet again see the worth of the vaccine. Less than 10% of seriously ill patients are fully-vaxxed, despite being 70% of the population (or at least the adult population). 

If we are worried about the vaccines being less effective against the Delta variant in terms of stopping infections, then I'd suggest that the vaccines are tweaked, which is apparently not that big a deal based on what we're told, and administered rather than simply diverting a booster. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Michael W

[Todd_is_God]

5 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Correct. As more people are exposed to the virus post-vaccination, this will only improve long-term immunity too. I think people forget that eventually we're going to be continually re-infected with SARS-CoV-2 several times over the course of a lifetime.

I get that many people are still in the mindset of "covid = very bad news" but for most now who get covid it doesn't appear to be more than a very bad cold at worst.

If the current symptom severity and hospitalisation / death rate was what it arrived with last March we would have done absolutely nothing at all, therefore it stands to reason that we should not panic now.

[Todd_is_God]

2 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

2 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

35,999 tests

That figure is only going up and up as folk take PCR tests to prevent isolating for 10 days (despite there being no legal imperative to take the test to prevent isolating)

A fair point.

[Steve_Wilkos]

1 minute ago, Michael W said:

Article here on Israel, with some stats - https://www.dw.com/en/covid-why-are-infections-rising-in-israel/a-58887131

In any case, as it stands, data suggests that even if there are breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated Israelis, their infections are less severe than among those who have had no jabs at all. 

Taking a sample from August 16, 2021:

• 154.7 severely ill patients in Israel were unvaccinated.
• 48.4 severely ill patients were partially vaccinated
• And 19.8 severely ill patients were fully vaccinated

Bearing in mind that Israel is 70% fully vaccinated (we'll assume that is 70% of the adult population) and that the vaccinated will. Include the groups most vulnerable to Covid, we can yet again see the worth of the vaccine. Less than 10% of seriously ill patients are fully-vaxxed, despite being 70% of the population (or at least the adult population). 

If we are worried about the vaccines being less effective against the Delta variant in terms of stopping infections, then I'd suggest that the vaccines are tweaked, which is apparently not that big a deal based on what we're told, and administered rather than simply diverting a booster. 

Post it in bigger text next time, please.

[Michael W]

Just now, Steve_Wilkos said:

Post it in bigger text next time, please.

Posted it on my phone, apologies if the formatting has gone off. 

[Billy Jean King]

A fair point.

The daily test numbers are likely to go Banzai if the "pingdemic" figures for isolation being banded about are anywhere near accurate. As we know test more = find more so this policy is bound to have a big effect on daily data. I didn't think the majority realise it's merely advisory to take the PCR to avoid isolating but there again the powers that be are hardly going to shout that from the rooftops.
That said a huge number of these additional tests should be negative so it should help the test positivity figure. Perhaps an indication of that in today's numbers.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

7 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Posted it on my phone, apologies if the formatting has gone off. 

Dryhorce would have certainly appreciated the font size.

[Todd_is_God]

5 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

I didn't think the majority realise it's merely advisory to take the PCR to avoid isolating

I don't think it is up here, is it?

Fairly certain it is required, and you must isolate until you get a negative PCR result in.

It is, however, advisory in England, and there is no requirement at all to isolate.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Honest_Man#1]

11 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

I don't think it is up here, is it?

Fairly certain it is required, and you must isolate until you get a negative PCR result in.

It is, however, advisory in England, and there is no requirement at all to isolate.

Yeah I was fairly sure it’s a requirement for us.

[scottsdad]

1 hour ago, superbigal said:

Suprised but pleased to report that St Andrew's University (Of which my business occupies one of their buildings) have removed all Covid restrictions.

Masks in communal areas, distancing restrictions like in kitchen and toilets (all signs removed), one way systems,  yellow tape.   All gone.

Only thing left in place is hand sanitiser dispensers which is clearly a good thing to have on hand anyway.

Thought they would possibly leave their own set of rules in place for a while, but thankfully not.

 

This is very interesting. The meeting I was at today, they were reading out from the new guidelines from the SG. Masks mandatory everywhere for students.  Mandatory for staff except at our desks. 1 metre distancing in place. One way systems are gone. 

[welshbairn]

10 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

Yeah I was fairly sure it’s a requirement for us.

Not sure how they can enforce it when there's no legal requirement to download the app or keep bluetooth running. It's always phrased as a "request" to self isolate too. 

[Michael W]

24 minutes ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

Dryhorce would have certainly appreciated the font size.

The article has a serious eye condition

[Billy Jean King]

I don't think it is up here, is it?
Fairly certain it is required, and you must isolate until you get a negative PCR result in.
It is, however, advisory in England, and there is no requirement at all to isolate.

SG website is very specific "should" not "must". They use the word must if you have symptoms and should if your a close contact so pretty sure we are in step with England ie no legal requirement to take a PCR to avoid isolation. As I said though they won't be saying this publicly as messaging is everything to them.