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

[monkeysarefun]

20 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

 

Hmmm.  My partner's former GP would have been able to get PPE had she still been in this country.

As it is she had just emigrated to Oz and is now working as a GP down under.  She couldn't get proper face masks etc when this all kicked off, so she went to the local equivalent of B&Q and got a welder's mask.  I thought she was joking but I've seen the photos!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-doctors-issue-protective-equipment-warning-after-report-china-backed-firm-sourced-bulk-supplies-from-sydney

 

https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/coronavirus-the-chinese-companies-stockpiling-sydneys-medical-supplies/news-story/7e20157f7d378f7674531e86cf1158aa

 

Additionally N95 face mask supplies  were critically depleted at the start of the pandemic due to the huge demand for them during the bush fires that were happenning at the same time. Air quality in much if the East of Australia was at hazardous levels for much of November - late January and face masks had already disappeared off shelves by the time that the virus arrived.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/billions-of-face-masks-sent-to-china-during-australian-bushfire-crisis-20200402-p54gjh.html

 

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/its-not-rain-no-respite-from-bushfires-despite-promising-weather-radar/news-story/268103ed2b4ace385bd718fd28289689

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Michael Hodgson]

The government announced today that the beer garden should reopen from 12th April but subject to a limit of six.  I'm a bit confused because Boris didn't explains whether that meant I could only have 6 pints, or if it was most people allowed in the queue for bar or the bogs..  

[Steamport Southport]

5 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The government announced today that the beer garden should reopen from 12th April but subject to a limit of six.  I'm a bit confused because Boris didn't explains whether that meant I could only have 6 pints, or if it was most people allowed in the queue for bar or the bogs..  

 

Same as it was last time.

 

It's the amount of people that can sit at your table.

 

Only one can go to the bar and most places were doing waiter service anyway.

[Michael Hodgson]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/coronavirus-the-chinese-companies-stockpiling-sydneys-medical-supplies/news-story/7e20157f7d378f7674531e86cf1158aa

Interesting.  As it happens the GP in question and her husband (also a doctor) are both ethnic Chinese.  

 

It's a good job we have kept in touch - from the other side of the world she told me to go see my GP who made an urgent referral to hospital where I was told this afternoon that I need an operation to remove a growth which may or may not be cancerous.

[LBRJ]

18 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Same as it was last time.

 

It's the amount of people that can sit at your table.

 

Only one can go to the bar and most places were doing waiter service anyway.

 

Six at a table as a max. outside would work.... 

Most picnic type tables, of the type one finds outside pubs are designed for a max. of six patrons (for reasons*)

 

Where I do tend to get a lil bit lost is  the part that says "where are they going to go when it starts to rain"

 

*Those reasons could be similar to part of the reasons why BR eventually chose not to have compartment stock  

"defensible space" and all that....

Edited February 23, 2021 by LBRJ

[Dunsignalling]

3 hours ago, LBRJ said:

 

 

Where I do tend to get a lil bit lost is  the part that says "where are they going to go when it starts to rain"

 

Home? 

 

More seriously, if it looks like there's a good chance of rain, most will either not go in the first place, be OK with getting wet externally as well as internally, or will already have the above "Plan B" in mind.

 

John

[hayfield]

13 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I'm just glad we didnt have the UK government here.

 

However your country seems very happy to use the vaccine which was fast-tracked through the research and development stage as well as being funded by UK PLC

 

The fact is it is far easier to isolate yourself from the world when you have geographically no near neighbours, plus you have the space for people not to live in very congested areas

 

Its not the government that spreads the virus but people and  their close working and or living environments. In Europe we dodged the bullet with SARS and Ebola and became too complacent on our ability to react to pandemics. Certainly Europe was not prepared to deal with Covids different infection characteristics, infact we gave it perfect conditions to survive. Hopefully a lesson we will learn. 

[John M Upton]

Apparently the Government is now trying to play down the stages dates saying they may well be delayed.  I didn't expect the inevitable U Turn quite that quickly...

 

So if they stick to the current plan (unlikely) I presume June 21st is when we can ditch the masks at last?

[hayfield]

12 hours ago, beast66606 said:

 

Because the alternative is so much better ? - or at least with Captain Hindsight in charge it claims it would be ?

 

Clearly when the pandemic broke loose from China clearly most of the rest of the world were caught completely unawares, and in the UK due to the way both our society and healthcare systems are organised we were seemingly more adversely affected. Early attempts to restrict the virus and treat patients proved not very effective, which is much the same in most other countries.

 

With hindsight every country would have done better, however clearly our government laid the foundations to get us out of this problem early on last year, we can now see along with very few other countries we put a very robust plan to get us out of this mess and infact being a world leader in both treatments and technology to protect our population as well as others, if only a few more countries were as active and industrious as the UK the world would be in a better place with many more types of vaccines and the number of shots available to be used

[Hobby]

14 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I'm just glad we didnt have the UK government here.

 

Oh dear not that old chestnut again... Can't you give it a rest? As we've explained to you many times it's not just a question of who is in power, there are lots of other things that affect how well a country deals with a pandemic, you can have the best government in the world but if the people don't want to play ball it all goes out of the window, not to mention lots of other variables.

 

Please, please, please leave it at that, you've had your say, we've replied, I thought we'd agreed to differ...

Edited February 23, 2021 by Hobby

[hayfield]

9 hours ago, LBRJ said:

 

Six at a table as a max. outside would work.... 

Most picnic type tables, of the type one finds outside pubs are designed for a max. of six patrons (for reasons*)

 

Where I do tend to get a lil bit lost is  the part that says "where are they going to go when it starts to rain"

 

*Those reasons could be similar to part of the reasons why BR eventually chose not to have compartment stock  

"defensible space" and all that....

 

We are British, so will sit in the rain enjoying a pint with our mates

Edited February 23, 2021 by hayfield

[Hobby]

6 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Apparently the Government is now trying to play down the stages dates saying they may well be delayed.  I didn't expect the inevitable U Turn quite that quickly...

 

That a bit harsh, this is what Hancock said...

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/its-on-all-of-us-hancock-warns-easing-lockdown-could-be-slower-than-pms-timeline/ar-BB1dVFcZ

[Michael Hodgson]

28 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

We are British, so will sit in the rail enjoying a pint with our mates

That's why I like warm beer.

[hayfield]

34 minutes ago, Hobby said:

 

That a bit harsh, this is what Hancock said...

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/its-on-all-of-us-hancock-warns-easing-lockdown-could-be-slower-than-pms-timeline/ar-BB1dVFcZ

 

I bet he would have moaned whatever Hancock had said, no pleasing some people or we are not accustomed with MP's telling the truth/being realistic !!

Edited February 23, 2021 by hayfield

[Bernard Lamb]

36 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Apparently the Government is now trying to play down the stages dates saying they may well be delayed.  I didn't expect the inevitable U Turn quite that quickly...

 

So if they stick to the current plan (unlikely) I presume June 21st is when we can ditch the masks at last?

That would be a shame.

I first came across the use of face masks in public places in 1992 in Japan.

I have spent some time in Thailand where masks are in regular use.

I hope we can continue with their use in crowded places and on public transport.

It would be a shame if an all round health measure were to be abandoned.

Bernard

[Dunsignalling]

1 minute ago, hayfield said:

 

I bet he would have moaned whatever Hancock had said, no pleasing some people or we are not accustomed with MP's telling the truth/being realistic !!

Yes. Taking a bit of getting used to but a very welcome development.

 

John

[Nearholmer]

43 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Apparently the Government is now trying to play down the stages dates saying they may well be delayed.

It was made crystal clear in the announcements yesterday that the dates are conditional, and it would be bl@@dy stupid for it to be otherwise.

 

I only hope that HMG withstand the inevitable pressure to soft-pedal the conditionality.

 

Did anyone else notice the tone of Prof Whitty’s voice in the first part of his slide presentation yesterday? Uncharacteristically querulous - that man is very nervous about this, and it would be daft not to listen to the nerves a guy with the knowledge he has.

[Reorte]

7 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

That would be a shame.

I first came across the use of face masks in public places in 1992 in Japan.

I have spent some time in Thailand where masks are in regular use.

I hope we can continue with their use in crowded places and on public transport.

It would be a shame if an all round health measure were to be abandoned.

 

Without a specific problem to deal with (e.g. what we have right now) I find the idea of masks forevermore a rather depressing idea, the sort of thing that would've once belonged to a dystopian vision of the future; under more normal circumstances the risk of spreading or catching something serious enough to justify such measures doesn't justify them. We shouldn't get used to the idea of routinely viewing our fellow human beings as things to be avoided and a threat to be contained; ever-decreasing ordinary human contact was something that was bothering me even pre-Covid. Justifiable during Covid but not something to be sought a moment longer than necessary IMO.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Reorte

[Dunsignalling]

8 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

Without a specific problem to deal with (e.g. what we have right now) I find the idea of masks forevermore a rather depressing idea, the sort of thing that would've once belonged to a dystopian vision of the future; under more normal circumstances the risk of spreading or catching something serious enough to justify such measures doesn't justify them.

That dystopian future is arguably rather more imminent than we'd like to think.

 

I'd personally be OK with continuing to mask up in shops and

on public transport just to avoid minor but annoying ailments such as the common cold.

 

John

Edited February 23, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[Oldddudders]

Hancock's managing of expectations, and the caveats identified, are right and proper. They may seem unfamiliar, but this government is still in the early stages of its term, has a large - I nearly said healthy! - majority and thus electioneering is unnecessary. False promises have no place in the present situation.

[hayfield]

It has been said that we have been at war with covid and that we owe so much to so many, first thoughts are to the NHS. I doubt if we could ever thank so many people individually or well enough financially to make a difference, but as a nation we should be able to show something of our gratitude

 

With the armed forces at the end of a campaign they are issued with a medal, would it be a good idea to strike a medal for those who looked after ourselves

 

No doubt there will be some individual measures of thanks with the honours list, but there are many other deserving cases and perhaps a memorial to all those in the health service /care workers who sadly died 

[Reorte]

7 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

That dystopian future is arguably rather more imminent than we'd like to think.

 

I'd personally be OK with continuing to mask up in shops and

on public transport just to avoid minor but annoying ailments such as the common cold.

I'd rather have the occasional cold TBH.

 

I'd also worry about what effect the lack of exposure to such routine non-serious illnesses might have on the immune system, whether it needs to have something to deal with every now and then.

 

I agree about the dystopian future being imminent - as far as I'm concerned we're already on our way in to it, but for unrelated reasons everyone else usually disagrees with me about

[monkeysarefun]

10 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

Without a specific problem to deal with (e.g. what we have right now) I find the idea of masks forevermore a rather depressing idea, the sort of thing that would've once belonged to a dystopian vision of the future; under more normal circumstances the risk of spreading or catching something serious enough to justify such measures doesn't justify them. We shouldn't get used to the idea of routinely viewing our fellow human beings as things to be avoided and a threat to be contained; ever-decreasing ordinary human contact was something that was bothering me even pre-Covid. Justifiable during Covid but not something to be sought a moment longer than necessary IMO.

And every government is too interested in rolling out  facial recognition cctv.

[Reorte]

8 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Hancock's managing of expectations, and the caveats identified, are right and proper. They may seem unfamiliar, but this government is still in the early stages of its term, has a large - I nearly said healthy! - majority and thus electioneering is unnecessary. False promises have no place in the present situation.

 

Whilst they have to respond to the data, so nothing can be fixed in stone, they also need to have some sort of plan, even if it's likely to change (there's the saying "no plan survives contact with the enemy"). People don't like uncertainty though and are prone to treating everything others say, especially those in power, as being 100% definitive statements of fact or intention, and then attack them when they're not.

[Reorte]

3 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

And every government is too interested in rolling out  facial recognition cctv.

Good point - I've changed my mind, more masks!