Lockdown’s Last Lingerings - (Covid since L2 ended)

[boxbrownie]

Had some upsetting news this morning, far flung family on my daughter in laws side, just before Christmas who live in Sussex have an elderly mother who lives in Essex (I’ll not say exactly where) they decided to visit her a few days before Christmas because they didn’t like her being alone, the family are now all suffering the effects of Covid and the mother is in hospital on end of life treatment, anyone who thinks this is a hoax or money is worth more than life can go !@£€%^&*() themselves with our old Christmas tree!

[caradoc]

2 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

In the rush to vaccinate against Covid, the promised programme of Flu vaccinations appears to have evaporated and my wife is still waiting on hers.  In a more normal year she would have received it during October or November.

 

That's strange; Like you I live in Scotland, but as I don't really suffer from flu I have never had the vaccine, until this year; I received a letter inviting me to attend and got the jab in early December. 

 

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

This is a very tough decision. Vaccines are usually tested for years but for every day these are delayed, many people are dying.

 

People forget the building blocks of the Oxford vaccine have been around for 4+ years, just tweaked for this variant, if anything the other two types are a more modern type of vaccine. Interesting article where apparently it was the outbreak of bird flue which kickstarted this type of vaccine

[slow8dirty]

19 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Had some upsetting news this morning, far flung family on my daughter in laws side, just before Christmas who live in Sussex have an elderly mother who lives in Essex (I’ll not say exactly where) they decided to visit her a few days before Christmas because they didn’t like her being alone, the family are now all suffering the effects of Covid and the mother is in hospital on end of life treatment, anyone who thinks this is a hoax or money is worth more than life can go !@£€%^&*() themselves with our old Christmas tree!

My sympathies, after the Christmas from hell where my whole household suffered from it, culminating with my partner being hospitalised for a week and both her parents likely to be for some weeks after being very touch and and go. It was infuriating to see idiots posting on social media about empty hospitals and conspiracy theories when all three had to wait for access to treatment. The one thing this pandemic has taught me is the stupidity of the lowest common denominator and their loudness. 

[hayfield]

23 minutes ago, cessna152towser said:

That depends on where you live.   I got mine but my wife is still waiting for hers.   She has tried several times to book an appointment.   Can't even buy the flu jab privately as the local pharmacy who previously offered to do them for £10 were told to use all their supplies this winter for nominated key workers.

 

 

Rather than go to the health centre we booked into the local Boots chemist (closer to our house and appointments on time), no need to buy it as they do it on the NHS. Our local Boots are very proactive. I assume this is a service all Boots give ?

 

As far as the covid jabs, yes we are lucky our medical centre was chosen to be one of the first vaccinating. Unfortunately I am in tier 5 I think, so quite a long way down the list. 

[john new]

4 hours ago, vaughan45 said:

This figure has been reported for several days. As far as I remember the Mayor/GLA don't have direct operational or financial control of the London NHS, so I am uncertain how the additional funding released to the GLA as a result of declaring a 'major incident' will be used to relieve NHS hospital pressures. Although as Chair of the London Strategic Coordinating Group I assume he can redirect resources such as using fire service personnel to staff ambulances etc. Not sure where they will find the additional ambulance vehicles they need though, unless there is some form of strategic reserve or the ability to co-opt private ambulances.  

 

However another effect of this declaration may be to allow the GLA to request help from other local authorities / organisations outside of London as happened after the 2005 tube bombings (I was working for a local authority in Hertfordshire at the time and remember various services being put on standby in case assistance was requested), but as these authorities are overstretched themselves, so not sure what they would be in a position to provide.

 

I see from the local media here in East Anglia, that local hospitals are taking patients from both Essex and London, much to the dismay of some locals who worry that as the prevalence here increases (there are some areas of Norfolk heading towards 1000/100K) there will be no capacity to treat them.

As a retired Emergency Planning Officer the key factor when a state of emergency or the like has to be declared is that it formally brings in to play a whole raft of inter-service liaison arrangements from Gold Command level down the chain that normally are not used*. The interaction of response and resources therefore improves over and above that when each service operates independently. That was the case when I retired, albeit 12 years ago, but I doubt the ideology of it has changed.

 

The most common one that hits the news is COBRA, when the top brass at national/political level come together in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, hence the acronym. 

 

* (1) IIRC also the trigger for aspects of military input, and the costs of that for the civilian agencies (for us the expected use in our Emergency Plans was their helicopters for flood rescues)

(2) Such links do always exist informally, the declaration, formalises the processes.

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by john new
Omitted words and the addendum

[Bernard Lamb]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

Rather than go to the health centre we booked into the local Boots chemist (closer to our house and appointments on time), no need to buy it as they do it on the NHS. Our local Boots are very proactive. I assume this is a service all Boots give ?

 

As far as the covid jabs, yes we are lucky our medical centre was chosen to be one of the first vaccinating. Unfortunately I am in tier 5 I think, so quite a long way down the list. 

I was offered it by Boots but as I use a branch of LLoyds which is attached to the surgery who handle my prescriptions I went there. Both chains seem to be offering it these days.

 

The local covid centre started this morning and from a report by somebody I know is running very efficiently. Report to parking area, wait to be called and then fill in a  form and go in, into the recovery area and all done in about 25 minutes. 

Bernard

[EddieB]

I’m surprised at the lack of comment here, but LBC bulletins this morning were reporting that airport arrivals should be able to provide evidence of testing negative within the previous 72 hours, or face a fine of £500.  (Picked up by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55582116).

 

Make a sentence using the following words: door, horse, closing, stable, bolted.

 

Leading figures in the airline and travel industries, such as the head of Heathrow, are applying pressure that this may be just a short-term measure.  Could it be that their lobbying prevented its introduction much earlier?

[Bernard Lamb]

4 minutes ago, EddieB said:

I’m surprised at the lack of comment here, but LBC bulletins this morning were reporting that airport arrivals should be able to provide evidence of testing negative within the previous 72 hours, or face a fine of £500.  (Picked up by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55582116).

 

Make a sentence using the following words: door, horse, closing, stable, bolted.

 

Leading figures in the airline and travel industries, such as the head of Heathrow, are applying pressure that this may be just a short-term measure.  Could it be that their lobbying prevented its introduction much earlier?

Not just arrivals by air. Ferry and train passengers are also required to take a test.

The joke with that is that hauliers are exempt.

But hauliers going the other way have to take a test to enter France.

You could not make it up.

Bernard

[Jonboy]

The real joke about is the overseas lorry drivers never normally come into “close contact” with anyone. At best it’s normally a 1 minute contact whilst they hand the paperwork over and you find somewhere flat to sign it. If they are making a large drop they may ask to use the toilet at a typical warehouse, but otherwise prefer to sit in their cabs in my experience (sometimes you get a keen one moving pallets in the trailer whilst you are unloading with a forklift but even that is mostly reasonably distanced).

[EddieB]

25 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

...If they are making a large drop they may ask to use the toilet at a typical warehouse...

Sorry, couldn’t help myself!

[Dagworth]

48 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

The real joke about is the overseas lorry drivers never normally come into “close contact” with anyone. At best it’s normally a 1 minute contact whilst they hand the paperwork over and you find somewhere flat to sign it. If they are making a large drop they may ask to use the toilet at a typical warehouse, but otherwise prefer to sit in their cabs in my experience (sometimes you get a keen one moving pallets in the trailer whilst you are unloading with a forklift but even that is mostly reasonably distanced).

Do they not use motorway service stations? Where do they eat?  
 

Andi

[Jonboy]

Mostly they just use them to nip into the toilet and showers. They often have a lot of their own food and gas cookers or microwaves bought in from their home Countries in their cabs or the side lockers. 
Most of the time they are into the uk and back out within two to three days depending on where the goods are destined and any back load.

 

This one is obsessively organised compared to most but similar https://uk.news.yahoo.com/m20-lorry-driver-picnic-mass-testing-ease-congestions-084123475.html

[Nearholmer]

3 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

Most of the time they are into the uk and back out within two to three days

Right now, they must be decidedly uncomfortable coming here, given that almost any home country that they travel from is safer, in a Covid sense, than is England. I can’t imagine them mingling with the locals for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, EddieB said:

I’m surprised at the lack of comment here, but LBC bulletins this morning were reporting that airport arrivals should be able to provide evidence of testing negative within the previous 72 hours, or face a fine of £500.  (Picked up by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55582116).

 

Make a sentence using the following words: door, horse, closing, stable, bolted.

 

Leading figures in the airline and travel industries, such as the head of Heathrow, are applying pressure that this may be just a short-term measure.  Could it be that their lobbying prevented its introduction much earlier?

Only 10 months after Australia and New \Zealand shut the borders and implemented compulsory quarantine of remaining returnees. (March 20 last year)

I guess our airline industry lobbyists really are crap compared to those there.

[LBRJ]

1 hour ago, Jonboy said:

Mostly they just use them to nip into the toilet and showers. They often have a lot of their own food and gas cookers or microwaves bought in from their home Countries in their cabs or the side lockers. 
Most of the time they are into the uk and back out within two to three days depending on where the goods are destined and any back load.

 

This one is obsessively organised compared to most but similar https://uk.news.yahoo.com/m20-lorry-driver-picnic-mass-testing-ease-congestions-084123475.html

 

I used to get the impression that most of the Central European truck drivers saw the drive from Dover- ECLP - Dover as a two day round trip.

Drive down one day

Be loaded overnight, whilst eating and resting in cab

Drive back the next day.

 

Ship's Masters and Engineers however seemed to add a drink Fowey dry criteria to their trips

Edited January 8, 2021 by LBRJ

[John M Upton]

8 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Surrey and Sussex did the same (declared a "Major Incident") on Thursday!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-55565632

 

I am in Sussex and it is the first I have heard of it!!! 

 

Meanwhile, thanks to the Government extending school availability to those who cannot access online learning for whatever reason, the number of children physically attending school is spiraling back up again!!

 

With most manufacturing and construction business, basically anything except the county's seemingly endless supply of tanning salons, nail bars and hairdressers still open (click and collect, takeaway, etc) and the traffic on the roads being as busy as ever, there really isn't much of a lockdown happening in real terms.

[john new]

On 04/01/2021 at 19:44, Reorte said:

People closer than 2 m is the big one where it does (although very briefly less than that is unlikely to be significant). Better to avoid being close to people in the first place where possible though. Masks are better than nothing if you can't avoid close proximity but they're not a great substitute for it.

 

Would you rather have someone snuffling and spluttering into a mask near you, or prefer that they just kept their distance?

Agree regarding traffic levels, out today for a walk and to pick up a prescription from the village pharmacy. Traffic levels around 3 to 4pm when we were out seemed, if anything, busier than a normal afternoon.

 

At least we picked a quieter circular walk today up the hill and then along part of the old Merchants Railway line, bleak but good views down onto the village and out to sea. Yesterday in the sun the seafront was quite busy although not too busy to socially distance. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by john new

[Nearholmer]

9 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

I am in Sussex and it is the first I have heard of it!!! 

 

And to me, thereby hangs a tale.

 

Has anyone here present actually received, by leaflet, poster, e-mail, LED sign at the side of the road, or any other medium, any communication from "the authorities" at a local level about the current lockdown, or the case-rate in their area, or the pressures (or not) on their local hospital?

 

I really wonder whether most people actually cotton-on to the fact that our situation locally is as bad as in London, which tends to get prominent news coverage. Unless everyone is as obsessed with the Government Dashboard as I am, how would they know? We don't even have a local free news (house adverts really) rag. I think facebook is the local news mechanism, with all that implies.

[John M Upton]

Not a sausage...   The local Facebook community groups have in the last couple of weeks been obsessing about dog poo, noise from housing development building sites, fly tipping and lost cats. 

 

The local papers are not worth the paper they are printed on so no one bothers with them anymore and the local television regional news seems to obsessed about Hampshire and Oxfordshire, Sussex doesn't seem to exist to them, West Sussex in particular falling into a gap between the broadcasting regions.

 

The virus it seems has been relegated to yesterdays chip paper wrapper status around here...

Edited January 9, 2021 by John M Upton

[woodenhead]

16 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

The local Facebook community groups have in the last couple of weeks been obsessing about dog poo, noise from housing development building sites, fly tipping and lost cats. 

 

The local papers are not worth the paper they are printed on so no one bothers with them anymore and the local television regional news seems to obsessed about Hampshire and Oxfordshire, Sussex doesn't seem to exist to them, West Sussex in particular falling into a gap between the broadcasting regions.

All local Facebook groups obsess over dog poo, noise and where best Chinese/Indian/other takeaway is, our local extra is a peculiar fascination with a need for a shoe shop.  Covid of course figures high, having now replaced Brexit.

 

We've never received a local paper, in both houses we've lived in over the past 25 years we've never managed to be on the delivery route.  Mind you, they stopped having any news in them a long time ago, and our local news online is mainly harvested social media content, advertorials and other associated cr*p.

[Nearholmer]

This is well worth a read

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55586994

[Oldddudders]

43 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

This is well worth a read

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55586994

France reported a day or two ago that 80% of Covid patients in Intensive Care ("reanimation") are over 60. Deaths ratios have for most of the pandemic here remained at 59% male, 41% female. Inasmuchas I believe there are fewer men than women in the highest age bands, the ratio could actually be worse than that, if expressed in other terms. 

[boxbrownie]

LED at the side of the road would be pointless to us, not been out......but they have been warning us on TV almost constantly, I haven’t missed those.

[Bernard Lamb]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

 

 

Has anyone here present actually received, by leaflet, poster, e-mail, LED sign at the side of the road, or any other medium, any communication from "the authorities" at a local level about the current lockdown, or the case-rate in their area, or the pressures (or not) on their local hospital?

 

 

Dacorum send out a regular news digest. I get it by email . The latest one gave details of the new vaccination centre and provided links to the latest figures and regulations. 

 

Latest from the school where my daughter teaches. 20 kids on line yesterday with 15 at home and 5 in school. She was not in the room with the 5 but looked in to check on them. She was surprised how well it went with all the children being on time for the register and even more surprised that they all came back from lunch on time.

Bernard