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Sounds like all the ‘right’ choices have been made. That is, the best possible choices. Few good ones this winter, as TiRed keeps reminding us. Virtual hugs all round…
Familiar scenario I would guess but it’s doing my head in. Wife and I are retired and haven’t really seen our grandchildren all year, only met the new baby once. We’ve kept ourselves very much to ourselves with online shopping, walks in quiet places etc. We’re nearly going out of our minds not seeing our beloved children and their families. My sister lives next door and is carrying on life like nothing is happening. Grandchildren visiting and staying with her, going into a small office to work when she could work from home, out for meals in pubs/cafes etc. B.I.L. Owns a business and had a Christmas party in a little local restaurant for his company this week. I’m feeling like a freak, they’re treating us like we’re suffering from acrophobia and talking to us with pity in their voices. Is it me!!??
Everyone has their own take on this thing. Have the courage to stick with your convictions. You're ok. Not mad or weird. You've seen the evidence and drawn your own conclusions.
P.S. You're doing it right, they are idiots, but the world is full of idiots so what you gonna do?
Is it me!!??
No. You're doing fine. A few more months and enough people will be vaccinated that you will be able to hug your kids and grandkids again.
We've almost done a year now. Another year and it'll be done to the extent that it'll just be one of the many things in life that will eventually kill us.
Right now I'm feeling a lot of love for the human race. My God it's flawed but it does produce some dazzling moments and on the whole despite being populated by idiots (and I'm not saying I'm not one of them), the sheer number of caring gestures I've experienced this year trumps even the king of all the idiots; Trump.
Sitting here gathering my thoughts, it's almost 10 months since it all begin here in the UK. It's quite frightening to think what I thought about what was unfolding in front of us. I remember saying it would be something none of us will ever forget for a very long time.
My 78 year old asthmatic mum off for a test .... Fingers crossed everyone.
Virtual hug AA. It'll be ok.
the sheer number of caring gestures I’ve experienced this yea
Yes, it's easy to overlook, but what I've seen and heard and occassionally been able to do has been a real positive that is easily overlooked, and too easily forgotten if we are not careful
Myself and 2 colleagues were teaching the same subject to 3 different classes on Friday last thing. The class sizes were 4,3 and 6. Normally they would all be around 25-30.
We could have rolled all the kids into one class, with one teacher, and the other 2 got on with something else that hasn't been done this week.
We decided that the kids should stay in the de-determined classes, as mixing them widens the potential impact if one of them tests positive, and, so close to Christmas, we didn't want our actions to have any wider, unintended, but potentially foreseeable, consequences.
Why are so many folk abroad? 🤷♂️
In this article there is
- vulnerable folk now complaining they can't make a hospital appointment
- people who live and work abroad trying to get home for just one week
- holidaying folk due back at work on Monday.
Why, in the middle of a global pandemic, do folk need to be traveling still? I don't get it. And sorry to say, I don't have much sympathy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55286237
Aye, I read that earlier and echo your thoughts Matt.
God knows how they thought they'd come across in that.
I don’t entirely have a problem with people travelling abroad, but to be surprised when they have to quarantine when they get back is just naive.
Matt, I don't understand either - and have no sympathy.
It's nothing more than stupidity but still they bleat.
He's described as a retired chief exec; hope he exercised better judgement when he was working than he does now.
I don’t entirely have a problem with people travelling abroad, but to be surprised when they have to quarantine when they get back is just naive
I'd be surprised if any of them self quarantine when they return. IMHO we should take the Australian and NZ approach and shut them in a hotel for 14 days.
Yeah, the bloke’s a moron. Anyone in their right mind can see that quarantine is a possible scenario. They deserve all they get.
IMHO we should take the Australian and NZ approach and shut them in a hotel for 14 days.
+ 1 to that. But not a hotel, maybe a prison cell. Or worse still, a Travelodge room 😉
Back in May, my mum's brother passed away from Covid in a care home. On Thursday morning, my mum passed away in hospital from Covid after being on oxygen and CPAP for a week. My father is in hospital as I type having just lost his wife of 63 years and you've guessed it - he's fighting Covid.
It's all a bit shit right now TBH.
So sorry to hear that.
Thank you Kelvin.
PJM, that's awful, I'm sorry for you loss.
Sorry for your loss PJM, wishing your father all the best.
It’s quite easy, for those not suffering a loss to it, to become quite hard-faced and dismissive of Covid. It is of course an utter bastard and we should all be hyper aware of the impacts.
Sorry to hear that PJM. It's almost exactly a year since we lost my dad, hoping for the best for yours
It’s all a bit shit right now TBH.
Cant disagree with that, hang in there...
PJM, hang in there. We’re here for you.
Awful for you PJM, so sorry.
IMHO we should take the Australian and NZ approach and shut them in a hotel for 14 days.
If we'd adopted this approach at the beginning of March, there would be far fewer families in that situation, no cycle of never ending ineffective lockdowns, and far less damage to the economy. I don't think I'm just judging that through rise tinted hindsight, it seemed the sensible option at the time to many people and businesses.
PJM1874 - Really sorry to read your post.
What an awful situation to find yourself in.
We STWers are here for you and others who are struggling.
Bunnyhop x
Stuck in isolation again with my mum waiting for her covid test results....what a shit year!
PJM I’m so sorry for you and your family. Awful, awful consequences from a serious disease.
It’s going to be hard to get this topic back onto the bigger picture… as I’m sure we’re all thinking about what people have lost, and are losing, this year… both directly and indirectly from this virus… but we should try. The personal tragedies are what really matters to all of us… but discussion about what’s going on regionally, nationally, and internationally should continue. Let’s just keep the tone calm and considered.
Big step made in the USA…
https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1338183921092218881?s=21
PJM’s awful situation is a stark reminder to us of the serious nature of what we face.
I also agree with Kelvin ^^ that this thread has been an amazing source of knowledge on all things CV related.
Sorry for your news PJM, awful times.
Sorry to hear of your loss PJM, tops off a remarkably shitty weekend as you're the third person I know who's lost relatives to this shitty disease.
Sorry for bolding this! Has the capacity to change my and my partners lives a tiny bit.
How accurate are the NHS test kits being given to staff at the moment? Partner is a lab rat and been given "pregnancy test" style 30 min result ones to take home and use twice a week.
How accurate guys?
Huge, huge thanks on this, sorry for the bold type again. It's a small question but has large implications in our lives.
Edit: Just read your post PJM, I'm so sorry to hear that news. I can't possibly put into words how much I hope your father pulls through this. My families thoughts are with you and your family.
From what I’ve heard of those lateral flow tests they only find 50% of positive tests. One of the experts may know better.
Shit PMJ, I'm sorry mate.
I agree that this has been an extremely useful thread, but I think sometimes people get so engrossed in the numbers that they forget what they actually mean.
IMHO we should take the Australian and NZ approach and shut them in a hotel for 14 days.
If we’d adopted this approach at the beginning of March, there would be far fewer families in that situation, no cycle of never ending ineffective lockdowns, and far less damage to the economy. I don’t think I’m just judging that through rise tinted hindsight, it seemed the sensible option at the time to many people and businesses.
I am aware that I've sounded like a broken record going-on about this - but it's the single most effective thing that we have done in Australia.
Victoria (Melbourne) have now had 45 days straight without a single locally-acquired Covid case - but since flights started again last week, they've had 6 cases in Hotel quarantine - obviously that's going to climb over the next week. We've previously seen how quickly things escalate if even one of these cases gets out into the wild.
Meanwhile, even South Korea find themselves in trouble:
But still...... nothing like the cases numbers in the UK
I'm with @batfink
It's been utterly bemusing from this end of the world watching things unfold.
Virtually every conversation i've had with family in Europe has included this discussion, with me flabbergasted that there hasn't been better control of things.
I work in hospitals in Oz and remember in March we were predicting our ICUs would be full by the middle of April. I was filming staff training videos of intubation and extubation of simulated COVID patients and there was a palpable unease. ED staff were getting really scared.
But the systematic processes that were used to shut up shop, plus the fortunate geography (all our major cities are spread so far apart and we have enforceable state borders and for once state governments were useful) has really helped.
As an example, my Dad in his 70s volunteers in a hospital in England and he had to resign because he said the nurses weren't safe to be around as they'd keep touching him!!!! Here our volunteers were sent home immediately and even now those over 70 aren't allowed back.
@all - genuinely, thank you so much for your kind words. Nothing can prepare you for this.
It’s been utterly bemusing from this end of the world watching things unfold.
2 things,..Thing 1 you don't have a Boris, Thing 2 the population of Aus is a third of that of the UK, and the country is 31 times the size,
Thing 2 the population of Aus is a third of that of the UK, and the country is 31 times the size,
Concentrated in 5 principle cities. Melbourne and Sydney are about 5m each.... London is about 7 million. How’s London doing?
BMJ article on lateral flow test
TL:DR - useful for community surveillance i.e. to find some asymptomatic carriers, not useful for "test and release" i.e. confirm you don't have COVID, results far better when performed by lab scientists, pretty crap when self administered by the public (58% sensitivity i.e. catching all cases)
Concentrated in 5 principle cities. Melbourne and Sydney are about 5m each…. London is about 7 million. How’s London doing?
Greater London's 9.3 million at a population density of 14500/sq mile; Melbourne's the most populated city in Australia at 450/sq km (ca 1200/sq mile)
We're doing shit, not just because of lack of space but that living on top of each other particularly in multi-occupancy houses families has been a factor.
http://www.population.net.au/sydney-population/#:~:text=Sydne y's%20population%20density%20is%20400,Australia%20after%20Melbourne%20and%20Adelaide.
How’s London doing?
Awful, it's the middle of winter and everyone's indoors. Comparing two vastly different countries doesn't really make any sense really.
Comparing two vastly different countries doesn’t really make any sense really.
Comparing absolute numbers, no. Comparing responses, both what was done, how well and how quickly, for sure. Want to point me to something in the uk that hasn’t been completely bollocksed-up?
you don't need to Batfink, I'm living it every day.
But comparison of numbers is helpful to see why some centres are more prone to spread even when normalised for the same amount of care being taken. And in any case, you started it!
If Australia had a population density >10x that which you do, even with you excellent response to the pandemic you would have had a bigger infection rate., which in turn spreads it wider still and so it begins....that's how pandemics work.