Coronavirus - General Chat - No statistics

[pje16]

Still spreading in some places

Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the Chinese metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing curbs.

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Count ourselves lucky the way our lockdown was enforced

[Mike4]

Still spreading in some places

Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the Chinese metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing curbs.

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Count ourselves lucky the way our lockdown was enforced

It wasn't enforced. Issuing occasional fines for breaking it is not 'enforcing' a lockdown, or it isn't from the point of view of the virus anyway.

Enforcing a lockdown is policing it and stopping people breaking it like the Chinese are doing. I was always surprised at how big the effect our half-hearted lockdowns had, given the huge list of exemptions e.g. work parties.

[Lootman]

Still spreading in some places

Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the Chinese metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing curbs.

https://www.ii.co.uk/secure/my-news-fee ... 8612473000
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Count ourselves lucky the way our lockdown was enforced

It wasn't enforced. Issuing occasional fines for breaking it is not 'enforcing' a lockdown, or it isn't from the point of view of the virus anyway.

Enforcing a lockdown is policing it and stopping people breaking it like the Chinese are doing. I was always surprised at how big the effect our half-hearted lockdowns had, given the huge list of exemptions e.g. work parties.

I suspect the UK's relative success with a partial lockdown is the 80/20 effect.

You can prevent 80% of human interactions fairly easily, mostly through voluntary compliance and closing pubs and restaurants.

But getting 100% compliance doesn't get you much extra benefit, and to achieve that you need to have a fascist (or in the case of China, communist) state.

The law of diminishing returns kicks in at some points.

[Hallucigenia]

Even a month or two ago there were Lemons here telling us that they still wear a face covering or avoiding travel. Where are they now?

This Lemon is still doing both, not least because SWMBO has had it in the last week, despite being pretty paranoid about it - masked pretty much whenever she's in public etc. She's convinced she got it travelling from Paddington to KX on Crossrail. She's had it pretty badly, certainly worse than when I had it. Rather screwed up our Jubilee weekend - we hovered masked on the fringes of our beacon lighting and didn't participate in the street party.

Stats suggest that it's bottomed out and is starting to rise again in UK, I suspect the Jubilee will have been a good weekend for it from what I saw.

I've said before that you should be more worried about long Covid than dying from Covid, try this article :
https://missoulian.com/news/local/misse ... 1741a.html
Aaron Teasdale used to climb 6,000-meter peaks....His family started debating a holiday get-together. They’d been separated two years...the news kept repeating that omicron was milder than previous variants, and the vaccination should provide adequate protection....We were vaxxed and boosted at the start of December. We should have been at peak boost. We tested before we traveled....Then on the way back, there was a glitch with a ticket...The conductor said he’d get it sorted out and asked Teasdale to wait in a room on the car with four other train employees. The men all wore masks, but had them slipped down below their noses. Teasdale was together with them in a small room for 20 minutes. “They were jovial and friendly and clearly meant well,” Teasdale said. “And they clearly gave me COVID.”...

The day-5 test came back positive. He was sick for two weeks, with a headache, fever, night sweats and a violently sore throat. Around the third week of January, his symptoms seemed to let up. He started taking half-mile walks. Then one day he pulled on his cross-country boots and went for a ski....“Then I got home and took my boots off and collapsed on a couch by the door. I was just crushed. That was the shortest ski I’ve done in decades, on Saturday the 21st. Everything since that day has been illness.”...My wife wondered every day if this was the day to bring me to the emergency room....

“But I’m not positive that I’m going to heal. Because most people with this illness don’t heal. And that’s the sad truth.”

[pje16]

Still spreading in some places

Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the Chinese metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing curbs.

https://www.ii.co.uk/secure/my-news-fee ... 8612473000
(login required)

Count ourselves lucky the way our lockdown was enforced

It wasn't enforced. Issuing occasional fines for breaking it is not 'enforcing' a lockdown, or it isn't from the point of view of the virus anyway.

Enforcing a lockdown is policing it and stopping people breaking it like the Chinese are doing. I was always surprised at how big the effect our half-hearted lockdowns had, given the huge list of exemptions e.g. work parties.

Ok not the right choice of word but you knew what I meant

[redsturgeon]

Even a month or two ago there were Lemons here telling us that they still wear a face covering or avoiding travel. Where are they now?

I am not quite sure what that comment means. Could you clarify please.

John

I see you have had some responses to this but I am still not quite sure what you mean. Still waiting for clarification and then I'll tell you where I am at with this.

John

[pje16]

Looks like it's on the way up
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61758570
61% in the UK this week
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir ... ekly_table

[88V8]

Even a month or two ago there were Lemons here telling us that they still wear a face covering or avoiding travel. Where are they now?

I am not quite sure what that comment means. Could you clarify please.

I see you have had some responses to this but I am still not quite sure what you mean. Still waiting for clarification and then I'll tell you where I am at with this.

Well I'm here.
Sometimes I do and sometimes not. Waitrose has high ceilings and well ventilated so I don't.
Any smaller space and I do.
Why not? No hardship.

Wife has a cold/cough, probably picked up last Saturday. It seems to be taking its normal course with her. I'm OK.

In August I shall have to cross London to/from Eastbourne, depending on the time of day I may tube or I may take a cab.
The mainline, I will wear a mask unless it's pretty empty.

Don't see the point of risking it. I prefer risks I can control, like cycling yesterday, no helmet, in flipflops.

V8

[redsturgeon]

Apparently ONS data says cases are on the rise again.

John

[scotia]

Apparently ONS data says cases are on the rise again.

John

Hardly surprising - possibly due to reducing protection from vaccinations, and (more likely) due to the population behaving as if it was all over. Also we should add in the platinum jubilee celebrations - but the fall out from that may not yet have worked its way through.

On the optimistic side, with summer weather there will be more out-of-door contacts, which should reduce infection rates.

Since this is the No statistics board, I will simply mention, without going into detail, that the 7-day average Covid hospital admissions in England have been on a gentle rise - gaining around 20% in the past 10 days to the latest data issued on the 8th June.

[XFool]

Don’t be complacent, another Covid wave is coming. Here’s how we can manage it
Devi Sridhar

The Guardian

A spike in infections every three months seems to be the pattern, but the UK has the power to beat this if we act wisely

"Forgive me if you’d heard this one before, but masks and ventilation are still important measures we can take. Wearing a medical-grade mask is an effective way of protecting yourself from respiratory infections, especially in crowded settings."

[Lootman]

Even a month or two ago there were Lemons here telling us that they still wear a face covering or avoiding travel. Where are they now?

I am not quite sure what that comment means. Could you clarify please.

I see you have had some responses to this but I am still not quite sure what you mean. Still waiting for clarification and then I'll tell you where I am at with this.

It was a reference to the replies to what I think was your poll about face coverings. Since then Covid has mostly dropped out of the news.

And also much less posting about Covid here on TLF, although a handful here still see it as a risk.

[zico]

Does anyone know if it's possible to pay for a booster vaccination, either here (unlikely) or in other countries? I'm not in the age range for free UK boosters in the autumn, but would happily pay for one.

[XFool]

And also much less posting about Covid here on TLF, although a handful here still see it as a risk.

It is "still a risk" - and will continue to be.

Just like: flying is "still a risk", driving is "still a risk", food poisoning is "still a risk", falling downstairs is "still a risk", fire is "still a risk"... life is "still a risk".

[redsturgeon]

Even a month or two ago there were Lemons here telling us that they still wear a face covering or avoiding travel. Where are they now?

I am not quite sure what that comment means. Could you clarify please.

I see you have had some responses to this but I am still not quite sure what you mean. Still waiting for clarification and then I'll tell you where I am at with this.

It was a reference to the replies to what I think was your poll about face coverings. Since then Covid has mostly dropped out of the news.

And also much less posting about Covid here on TLF, although a handful here still see it as a risk.

The cases of Covid are down considerably from when those original comments were made. Many millions have probably had the infection in the UK in the last two months some will have gone on to have long covid. I still have not been infected, I still take the level of precautions I feel are appropriate to me and my family.

Mrs RS is due to have surgery next week. If she catches covid between now and then and tests positive on the proposed day of surgery then it will not take place. Our risk profile has therefore changed considerably.

It is likely that cases will rise again at some time and then people would be wise to review their individual circumstances once again.

John

[redsturgeon]

Does anyone know if it's possible to pay for a booster vaccination, either here (unlikely) or in other countries? I'm not in the age range for free UK boosters in the autumn, but would happily pay for one.

No private vaccines available here yet, as soon as they are available we will be offering them, along with most private GPs I'd imagine. I don't know the situation abroad.

John

[dealtn]

No private vaccines available here yet

Any reason (genuine question)? You are keen to supply, and clearly there is demand, so what's the issue? Do you think the public/media will see it as profit making or privatising of a (national) health service, and therefore either "bad" or politically "unacceptable".

Many are happy to pay for vaccinations and other preventative medicines, especially to facilitate holidays for instance. I have paid for vaccinations for my family.

[redsturgeon]

No private vaccines available here yet

Any reason (genuine question)? You are keen to supply, and clearly there is demand, so what's the issue? Do you think the public/media will see it as profit making or privatising of a (national) health service, and therefore either "bad" or politically "unacceptable".

Many are happy to pay for vaccinations and other preventative medicines, especially to facilitate holidays for instance. I have paid for vaccinations for my family.

No private supply is being made available yet from the manufacturers, I do not know the reason.

John

[Lootman]

No private vaccines available here yet

Any reason (genuine question)? You are keen to supply, and clearly there is demand, so what's the issue? Do you think the public/media will see it as profit making or privatising of a (national) health service, and therefore either "bad" or politically "unacceptable".

Many are happy to pay for vaccinations and other preventative medicines, especially to facilitate holidays for instance. I have paid for vaccinations for my family.

No private supply is being made available yet from the manufacturers, I do not know the reason.

Back in late 2020 I asked (via my wife who is in the healthcare business) about getting the vaccine privately and she said pretty much what you said i.e. that there was no availability in the private sector.

I can only assume that this was deliberate government policy. They thought it might look bad if people could "buy" protection. Even in the US, where I was able to secure my jabs before I could have done on the UK, it was still administered only by the government.

Of course I feel sure that government officials got their jabs very promptly.

[XFool]

No private supply is being made available yet from the manufacturers, I do not know the reason.

Back in late 2020 I asked (via my wife who is in the healthcare business) about getting the vaccine privately and she said pretty much what you said i.e. that there was no availability in the private sector.

I can only assume that this was deliberate government policy. They thought it might look bad if people could "buy" protection. Even in the US, where I was able to secure my jabs before I could have done on the UK, it was still administered only by the government.

Could there be another explanation?

Due to the pandemic emergency, the arrangement was for the vaccines to be put into use rapidly. To this end the vaccine manufacturers were not expected to be held responsible for any consequent risks, these risks instead being assumed by the government. I imagine this still applies.