Nobeerinthefridge
Free Member
As per the expert on radio Scotia today (sorry, name escaped me), he’s not even looking at cases now, hospital admissions, how long they’re in for, and deaths.Makes sense, it’s hard not to pay attention to case numbers though!.
cases numbers will still have a relevance, it's just at the minute we don't know where the actual connection is until hospitalisations and deaths start rising. tbh, hopefully we never find out.
Three of my mates are positive, which tbh, is the first I've heard of in a while. But with things opened up, and schools back now. We'll probably see substantial risings.
2 double vacced up, and 1 single vacced, seem to be fine barring mild symptoms, but they are reasonably young, 1 late 20s, 2 late 30s.
More than likely, got it from the pub or fitba, or weans. probably the former 2, since schools are just back.
Schools going back has definiteluy had an affect on rising case numbers.
Friend/near neighbour works in a Primary school and she's just tested positive.
Our oldest had Covid 2 weeks back, thankfully we were on holiday so dodged that bullet.
Although it does seem only a matter of time before we catch it, which will most likely be passed to us by our youngest daughter who returned to secondary school on Tuesday.
aye cases are going to rocket soon I reckon, no doubt, but who knows what lies ahead in terms of restrictions, just hope we've broke the back of it, cause stuff another winter like last year.
Schools going back has definiteluy had an affect on rising case numbers
Generally takes a couple of weeks to start seeing effects of changes, vast majority of schools have only been back a few days.
cause stuff another winter like last year.
Too ****in right.
cases numbers will still have a relevance, it’s just at the minute we don’t know where the actual connection is until hospitalisations and deaths start rising. tbh, hopefully we never find out.
I'm in Israel at the moment and cases have been steadily rising for a few of weeks, and the daily new case rate is very, very close to what it was during the 1st and 2nd waves. A *very* rough estimation from the numbers is that deaths are ~25% of those recorded for the same case rate during earlier waves, so this is somewhat promising.
Interestingly it seems that the vaccine does absolutely nothing to prevent catching the virus. I know anecdote <> evidence but 4 out of 5 of our chemists have caught it, and 13 out of ~100 people in total, and only 1 or 2 of these were unvaccinated. Nobody seriously ill with it thankfully - I guess that's what the vaccine is good at - but enough to be taken away and put in a quarantine apartment for 10+ days.
More folk at school (and work?) means more Lateral Flow Testing and thence more OCR Testing. It could be that we're just seeing an increase in testing coming through and that the actual infection rate itsn't increasing.
OTOH I said a couple of weeks ago that relaxing restrictions just as the schools returned seemed brave/optimistic but also that maybe the Govt is simply reacting to the general publics weariness. So I'll repeat; short of a more deadly variant emerging, I think we're finding out now just how many deaths is "acceptable" from a social and economic viewpoint. I'll suggest that anything up to 25 per day will be dismissed as inevitable. 25-50 will be "concerning". Above that and public health measures will be reinforced. Of course, how the NHS copes is a further question.
Sadly I think you are right scotroutes.
It could be that we’re just seeing an increase in testing coming through and that the actual infection rate itsn’t increasing.
The ONS survey results are surely the best measure, although admittedly it lags behind a week or so. Latest update (w.e. 7th Aug) showed around 1 in 190 people in Scotland tested positive, a reduction from 1 in 120 the week before.
I've always been a bit puzzled why this data doesn't seem to be used more widely. A comparison against the 7 day 'normal' case rate would surely be quite revealing about the number of asymptomatic / unreported cases, but I don't think I've ever seen it used for that purpose ?
Is anyone heading back in to the office yet?
My company, to be fair to them, have been great up with it all up until now: working from from home as default, felt pretty safe any time I have had to come to the office etc
But they’re now bringing us all back in next week and I just can’t understand why. Even the Scottish government website suggests that while a gradual return to the office is fine, working from home should still be encouraged
I could understand them acting like this if we’d been wfh for only a couple weeks and we hadn’t yet settled in to it but we’ve managed just fine for 18 months now and case numbers have literally never been higher! What’s the point in rushing back in?
Not sure i want to stick my neck out and cause a fuss but if I had the choice I’d be going nowhere near the office right now
Ask to have a copy of the mitigation measures they have in place? distancing, masks, air movement ETC?
My company has also been very good. They have been saying that we're welcome to come back in to make the most of the facilities, but not to move back permanently. In fact, over the last week they've even toned this down quite significantly to try and help with the spread of cases
I'm back on the office, though with my job I'm out on site at times too. WFH wasn't working out with my circumstances so I requested to go back.
There are a few others back in our floor 2-3 days a week, but most ( was 32 staff) are still WFH and happy to stay there, which suits me as it makes it easier for me being back in.
I have windows open,mask on when moving about the building and obviously washing hands/sanitising etc. A guy goes around the building wiping down handles through the day too.
I far happier than at home being out the house and easier to do my work. As far as I'm concerned I'm at far greater risk going shopping at the super market.
@tjagain yeh they do have all of that kind of stuff in place. Again, up until now they've been brilliant clearly laying out that stuff and following all the rules. But an office holding almost 100 people, even if well ventilated and with a one way system, is still more risky than my desk in the spare room
That definitely seems the sensible approach @mashr , just can't understand their reasoning behind this
As far as I’m concerned I’m at far greater risk going shopping at the super market.
One of our managers said this as well which I can definitely understand and agree with. But I'm not in the habit of spending 40 hours a week in a supermarket so kinda a moot point...
We're all back, came a bit out the blue. It's better than I feared, feel like it's given me a bit of boost work wise and seem happier at home now that I'm not there all the time.
Overall mood seems to be negative about it, and I suspect long term almost everyone will want some degree of flexibility.
I think if you have a long commute or trying to juggle school / childcare dropoffs then w@h can be a huge benefit. or if you bought a dog in lockdown. Certainly some people are very unhappy.
Well no, but in my situation the most that have been in an office previously holding 32 staff is 4 of us, all spread out, all fully vaccinated and not people who are at festival, footy or out in pubs. I'm contracted to 37 hours, but I can usually guarantee a third of that I'll be out the office.
Guidance is still work from home if you can, but more are thinking of 2-3 days a week in the office and it seems there will be less push back from management for those who want it.
This all very different to being told you have to go back to the office, which is definitely not the way of thinking at my place.
It's up to me to make our office suitable for a return. Not easy and not something I'm exactly rushing into. Approx 80 desks, open plan. It's the IT aspects that are proving the biggest hurdle: pre-March 2020 we used Citrix on Win7 desktops but early in lockdown we moved onto 365, rendering the desktops utterly useless...
Mixed comments from staff I've spoken to. Some desperate to return, others desperate to stay hidden. Personally I'm happy enough WFH but realise some things it'd be easier being in the office for. Hopefully a mixed approach long-term going forward.
My team has got quite happy working from home now and want to carry on doing so, with the odd day in the office. So that's what we'll do. Looking more to reducing office space than putting people back in it. We'll meet up from time to time, but that's likely to be the long term solution.
Is anyone heading back in to the office yet?
Hybrid of home and office. It works well - we have 4 maximum in office for 11, windows open, masks in public (shared) corridors, lots of own mug/handwashing ect.
I have just been looking at my update of figures across UK, for work as we are in schools and early years.
Scotland is now showing an uptick this last week in serious (hospital and death) cases, a week or two behind the surge in infection rate. Still less than last winter and spring, but a real concern still.
saynotoslomo
Its a tricky one. If they have good mitigation measures in place ( and I don't mean stuff that is there to look good I mean proper measures) then its hard to argue going back into the office really is more dangerous. thats why I suggested actually looking at the mitigation in place and comparing it to the guidence
Is it possible for you to speak to HR / occupational health / your union first?
Its a tricky one. If they have good mitigation measures in place ( and I don’t mean stuff that is there to look good I mean proper measures) then its hard to argue going back into the office really is more dangerous. thats why I suggested actually looking at the mitigation in place and comparing it to the guidence
No doubt it's tricky. I'm still WFH with the odd very limited day in the office and i don't think we will be back FT anytime soon. I work in O&G industry and even with everyone tested pre-mob and proper mitigation measures in place, we are still seeing cases getting out there in numbers.
If you apply the same to an office which doesn't have pre-testing, i'd argue against going to an office unless necessary.
I sympathise with all the concerns above, but you should come into a school. If schools are "safe", everywhere else is too.
I predict some sort of lockdown announced for Wednesday. Tomorrows figures will be so bad in terms of infections and hospitalisations that there will be no choice. The fact that Nicola said "no circuit breaker" even gives strenght to it in my eyes....
I know so many people who have it/had it now its scary, all of them careful types who wont have been fast and lose (myself included)
Canny announce any form of serious lockdown without tory funding(which just isn't going to happen). Best you'll get is stern warnings and recommendations.
Plus I doubt it's warranted yet anyhow, we'll be running with it as is and any form of lockdown will only come from a public reaction, which will take some going I reckon, it'll take some going for public opinion to want to repeat last winter. Collective opinion is a big F that at the minute.
Fairly obvious the rise is mostly in the unvaccinated population largely too.
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So I'd expect the vaccine message to get pushed as the main theme.
I am hoping that this current rise falls away just as quickly. I have been kicking the arse out of the bikes this summer and travelling a fair bit to do so. Not ready to stop yet ,especially while the good weather lasts. PS That travelling has been with no overnight stays, no bevvy, and meals sitting outside cafes/pubs.
Its a tricky one. If they have good mitigation measures in place ( and I don’t mean stuff that is there to look good I mean proper measures) then its hard to argue going back into the office really is more dangerous.
the killer for us is public transport to get to the office - we can make our space as safe as possible but everyone will be crammed on a tin tube/box to get there. >90% of our staff get bus or train.
If they have good mitigation measures in place ( and I don’t mean stuff that is there to look good I mean proper measures) then its hard to argue going back into the office really is more dangerous.
I agree that with proper mitigations in place the office is significantly safer than it would be if we were left to run riot. But I would still argue that sitting at home by myself is infinitely safer than going in to the office - and I don’t even have to wear a mask or leave a window open!
I definitely appreciate that working from home’s not for everyone and I also appreciate that there’s more risky work environments than the office (schools etc) but, for me, it’s all about lowering the exposure to risk surely? Why expose a full work force to a (relatively low) risk when you could instead just keep doing what we’ve done for the last 17 months without issue.
so going on seosamh77's post above presumably the main spreading driver is high schools with a secondary route of pubs? there will undoubtably be a decent sized overlap between pupils and pubs.
Certainly there is a very high number of positive cases in my wife's school as of yesterday. It feels like it is being allowed to rip through those populations.
As yet is seems little uptick in deaths so this could be the best way forward..?
As I've already said, there is a certain logic in allowing a higher infection rate during the summer when the NHS is better placed to deal with the consequences. Whatever level of immunity this confers will carry many folk over the winter months, booster or no.
I'd still not rule out some re-imposed restrictions in the months ahead though, particularly if another strain arises.
I’d still not rule out some re-imposed restrictions in the months ahead though, particularly if another strain arises
I think this is sensible - in my mind I am assuming and mentally preparing myself we will be locked down over winter yet again. If for no other reason that assuming we'll be free to go about and have fun only to suddenly find myself locked down for anther 6 months will be crushing for my wellbeing.
plan for the worst an all that...
Personal circumstances mean I'll be self-imposing my own set of restrictions for the next 6 months so I'm relaxed about the concept 😉
so going on seosamh77’s post above presumably the main spreading driver is high schools with a secondary route of pubs? there will undoubtably be a decent sized overlap between pupils and pubs.
Well, certainly the 12-18 age group, its not necessarily always the school that is the location of transmission. Those people meet up outside of schools. Schools will be part of the equation though.
I don't think there's a big overlap on the pub / school population. Much less so than when I was of school age. Plenty of drinking going on still (although a bigger proportion who don't drink than when I was a teenager - and much more socially acceptable) but not in pubs. There will be exceptions.
Personal circumstances mean I’ll be self-imposing my own set of restrictions for the next 6 months so I’m relaxed about the concept
Don't we all do that anyway? Just take the risks that we feel are appropriate to our own situation?
As long as I can still get out on the bike/board I'm happy. A pint at the end is nice but not always necessary 😉
Don’t we all do that anyway? Just take the risks that we feel are appropriate to our own situation?
I think some do. I think that's what the governments would like us to do, however for some, being told you can now do something means that they will do something, without thinking about whether they should. the old Jurassic Park theory.
How many people took up walking when we were told we should go out for exercise only? I partly think that was down to people wanting to get out of the house, but there was a dramatic increase (in my area) in people taking up fast walking/jogging/running/cycling. I firmly believe that when an idea is planted by an authority figure, it changes behaviour.
In light of both growing number of serious cases, and feedback from Scottish Government, I've taken the decision to cancel our September international conference today.
Postponed from 2020 already, planning began in 2018.
I'm a reasonable proportion of my work for the last 3 years down, a piece of work that started in 2015 with me applying to the international organisation who we partner with to host it.
I know in the overall pain that this pandemic has caused that this is pretty irrelevant. But it still pisses me off and has cost my employer too much.
Ah well, at least I can go to the football still...ffs
You'll need a vaccine passport to go the football soon.
I've been trying to hold the Red Bull Pump Track World Champs at the Skelf bike park for 2 years now. Still no sign of it happening.
Vaccine passports are a ridiculous concept eh...
@yourguitarhero wish you'd bloody get it done we're pushing for it too but they want to fulfill their promise to you.
It's going to be another chilly winter in my classroom. Fan heater so not allowed and windows open meant we spent a good few days in a classroom at 8C hard to move a science class to a non science room.
Indeed, it seems we've a challenging few weeks ahead from the feedback I sought from Scot.Gov. and local authorities we work with.
We are really starting to see the effects of mass positve tests.
So many people off work, new starters unable to start and this is putting pressure on other staff, which will likely mean more off with burnout/stress.
This is on the back of a labour shortage due to Brexit, some tough times ahead for sure.
So many people off work, new starters unable to start and this is putting pressure on other staff, which will likely mean more off with burnout/stress.
daughters BF's work, a chain pub, 4 positive PCR tests, management calling staff in who are waiting for PCR results and one staff member currently working whilst sounding like she's losing her voice. They do have form though. one of the staff members parents, whom he lives with got a PCR test, was tod to come in to work, test was positive and he was told to stay on shift.
They are currently refusing to close due to lack of staff and are expecting those left to work double shifts.
It's not sustainable, and the customers are unaware of what's going on.
It's inevitable that her BF will pick it up. she's just had the results of a PCR come back negative, and is nervous about seeing him until it's clear that he's not.
East Dunbartonshire, where one school reported nearly half the pupils off.
but again, nothing scotgov can do without financial backing from westminster.
hard to move a science class to a non science room.
Get the burners going full chat.
That's my work (surprisingly keen on folk being in office for a pubic sector place) telling us to work from home. Management weren't that keen on it when the FM said but now the PM has the email has been sent out.
We had the same last week: all office-based staff to work from home unless there's a service need for them to be in a facility. We're an ALEO of a local council and the council's policy (which doesn't apply to us) has been very restricted return to the office, but we've been a bit more office-happy than them. My 50/50 WFH/office split is back to 100% home.
All work sponsored nights out canned here.
