It seems that the general public, at least around here, have more sense than we have given them credit for. I've just been into town to buy my artisan sourdough, and mask wearing among shop staff seems to be 100% and about 95% among customers. Had a couple of conversations along the lines of 'what the **** is the government doing and isn't Boris an arsehole?'. Perhaps the human race isn't as doomed as I thought.
Freedom days not going great
My kids school closed due to covid
3 colleagues isolating, 1 colleague still quite ill 2 weeks after infection
My train is nto London 95% seems to be wearing masks
30% of my offspring's school are sent home this week to miss all the last-week-of-the-year fun. That 30% are the top two years, so for some of them it was last-week-of-the-school fun, too. Luckily our two get to see the year out.
What I'm struggling with is processing exactly what "must exercise caution" means, when we now have no regulations (but don't worry, because vaccines).
Oh, and I should mention that Serco want to charge £214 to the NHS Trust to put a grab rail up in an ultrasound room.
Playing devil's advocate here, exactly how much should Serco charge to put up a grab rail, which presumably has to be a certain sort of grab rail which has a certain sort of fixing and takes an hour for a couple of guys to sort out? Perhaps I miss something, but, £50 for a rail? couple of hours labour? call out tax? £200 easily racked up.
(but don’t worry, because vaccines)
(denied to your teenage children)
Our Dear Leader is having a News conference tonight at 5pm to warn of the dangers of easing up too quickly on restrictions. No doubt he's expecting his position of PM to provide some credences to tonights "advice".
Thats right, the one that tried to dodge isolation about 36hrs ago and in the eye of the world has clearly got this wrong. Listen up, Boris future depends on you!
FFS
Hopefully you won’t get another uptick up there after the UK gov’s confusing messaging of recent weeks
You have to marvel at the way the government has got use to accept the redefining of uptick to cover exponential explosion in cases.
I don't think it would be reasonable for Serco to charge a "call out" premium, there's always minor works going on in any big site like a hospital. Putting up a rail sounds just the sort of thing the on site facilities team have done in offices that I've worked in.
What I’m struggling with is processing exactly what “must exercise caution” means, when we now have no regulations (but don’t worry, because vaccines).
It means whatever you want it to mean. Thats the whole point.
It means do whatever you like, just don't blame us if you die, because from this point on it's nothing to do with us.
It should be accompanied by the sound of a running tap as the government washes its hands of any responsibility for anything
Absolutely ridiculous is freedom day, the amount of climbers out celebrating.
Can’t begin to think about the peak that’s going to hit the NHS from Wembley, possibly F1 and also enclosed nightclubs...
It’s a hard decision as some need it to get by, but the way that everything’s being relaxed is ridiculous!
Daughter has tested positive as have several of her school friends. Misses and I are double jabbed and so far are symptom free.
Assuming we don’t get ill will our exposure to presumably the delta variant strengthen our immunity and act as a booster, or do you have to actually get ill with covid to bolster your immunity?
Depends what you want the vaccine passport to do?
Sort of like ‘yes you can throw yourself off this bridge if you want, as long as you’ve agreed to wear a bungee’
Or because of the reduced likelihood of you transmitting
Like a bungee that may or may not be attached? With a crowd of people underneath? 😆
It seems to sanction people who may be asymptomatic to go around spreading it, many double jabbers I have talked to choose to believe they are not still a real risk to others.
So what it does is seem to encourage recklessness and complicate everyday life for bussiness etc. all the while increasing risk to vulnerable groups.
Moral conundrum:
A colleague in our small office got pinged last week by the app. Simultaneously with his wife, so the assumption is somewhere they went together.
He lives in a flat with no balcony and is really struggling with the heat and his ability to WFH.
They have both done many negative LF tests this past week.
Now he is asking if he can come back to the office tomorrow, having just found out that the app instruction is not mandatory.
We have all been asked individually (and allegedly confidentially) if we are OK with this.
I've said yes, I'm convinced at least 2 others will say no. Assuming it requies a unanimous yes.
Playing devil’s advocate here, exactly how much should Serco charge to put up a grab rail, which presumably has to be a certain sort of grab rail which has a certain sort of fixing and takes an hour for a couple of guys to sort out? Perhaps I miss something, but, £50 for a rail? couple of hours labour? call out tax? £200 easily racked up.
I was prepared for that one!
Well, there's enough in it for them to subcontract it further and the sub contractor obviously thinks there is enough in it for them too.....
Even if both Serco and the subby are only making a 'fair' margin, then that is two snouts in the trough and what are Serco actually doing?
Also, with all the building/renovation work going on, what subcontractor is getting out of bed to do odd jobs in a hospital unless it is in their interest to do so?
It's not a million miles off of Mobutu's Mr Ten Percents.
We've also just had our first non-masked supermarket delivery.
The bloke was a fat, mardy, chavvy slob.
All the others have been great (or as good as you might expect doing such a job and dealing with potentially awkward members of the public).
The non-mask and mardy git correlation is based on too small a sample to draw many conclusions, but there you go...
Also the irony of this being the first non-masked delivery in >12 months and it being during our isolation period due to a confirmed case in our household is particularly piquant.
Still, luckily the pandemic ended at 23:59:59 last night. The PM said so. So I'm just a bedwetter getting my knickers in a twist, I guess....
🇬🇧🍆💦🇬🇧
Just got back from Tesco, pleasantly surprised that almost everyone was properly masked, non-compliance at about the same level as last week.
Our Dear Leader is having a News conference tonight at 5pm to warn of the dangers of easing up too quickly on restrictions. No doubt he’s expecting his position of PM to provide some credences to tonights “advice
Really? is this televised? I couldnt see anything on BBC
Our Dear Leader is having a News conference tonight at 5pm to warn of the dangers of easing up too quickly on restrictions.
The Butcher better quickly get in touch with those that make important decisions and lobby them to bring back masks and 2m social distancing.
What a conflicting, mixed messaging piece of **** he is!
BBC news channel.
He’s finished. Back to the sun lounger.
The real workers are now laying it all out…
No, he’s still compère. I was unfair to him.
Questions answered very clearly. Worth a listen. No idea why policy doesn’t seem to be based on those answers though.
Very good question from the priest re. Vaccination abroad. Surely the obvious answer is to accept the EU green card?? Or is that relinquishing too much control post brexit? I should add I have a personal interest as my sister lives in Italy, has a EU vaccination certificate.
I think Dannyh needs a hug, you seem rather angry in all your posts.
Like a mardy delivery driver with no mask on.
We’ve also just had our first non-masked supermarket delivery.
Do you let the buggers in the house? I unload it on the drive.
The tech has managed to skip years of clinical trials
Well it hasn't skipped the trials - the development plan was standard. The Execution speed and ongoing review meant that the number of subject-years of vaccine exposure is ongoing. But nothing has been skipped. If you throw enough bodies at this and there are enough willing subjects, speed happens. My project has been the same.
The difference is that these new vaccines and drugs have been approved under Emergency Use Applications (EUA) in US and Article 5(3) in the EU. The full submissions and review process thereafter will be unchanged (except for speed).
USA have moved UK to level 4, their highest risk level for travel.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-united-kingdom
Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom
Key Information for Travelers to the United KingdomAvoid travel to the United Kingdom.
If you must travel to the United Kingdom, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.
Because of the current situation in the United Kingdom, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.
Ok, that seems logical. Allow nightclubs to open during a period of exponential growth, but require double vaccination for entry from Autumn onwards. Oh, and club owners are to 'behave responsibly'. What, only play music quietly so people don't shout? Don't serve alcohol so people don't start hugging each other?
That isn't locking the stable door after the horse has bolted, it's waiting a couple of decades for the stables to be converted into a bijou holiday home.
Bravo Boris!
Visited a motorway services today, and the people not bothering with masks in crowded, indoor areas are precisely the people you'd expect. Gammons, mainly.
So we're not vaccinating under 18s despite the highly misleading headline on the BBC (hundreds of thousands of under 18s to be vaccinated). There goes next term. Why the hell are they not offering it to under 18s, every one else seems to be. Really feels like they've given up. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Cases dropping like a stone up here, here's hoping it continues. 🙏🏻
Cases dropping like a stone up here, here's hoping it continues. 🙏🏻
The brexiter/antivax/GBnews fans are not taking vaccine passports well
https://twitter.com/StewartButton/status/1417170554193383429?s=19
This feels like a huge error.
And yet, Van Tam, Vallance and Whitty, people I have the utmost respect for and confidence in, are backing it. NB; not saying it's an easy choice, or backing unreservedly, but there is an argument being made for do it now otherwise when. And also arguments to keep some controls....
Only time will tell, and even then will we really know, as has been said before there's no control population where we can do the opposite and then compare notes in a year's time.
Fingers crossed they are right; I'll happily admit my scepticism was unfounded if the result is lives and livelihoods saved.
USA have moved UK to level 4, their highest risk level for travel.
Bugger. Dec 2019 we last saw our daughter.
Fingers crossed they are right; I’ll happily admit my scepticism was unfounded if the result is lives and livelihoods saved.
Maybe this will turnout like the 12 weeks between doses decision? We'll see.
Looking at the proposal for requiring proof of vaccination for large events, it’s nice of the virus is taking a couple of months off and only returning at the end of September.
All the people going to nights club etc will be at no risk of infection until then. Which is nice
They can just call them 'test events' until then. Let's face it, all of England is currently participating in one big test event right now, so what's the problem?
This feels like a huge error.
And yet, Van Tam, Vallance and Whitty, people I have the utmost respect for and confidence in, are backing it.
Their choice is a qualified backing to what is a political decision and retain some influence over Johnson or to resign and have no influence
Their choice is a qualified backing to what is a political decision and retain some influence over Johnson or to resign and have no influence
Was that used as a defence at the Nuremburg Trials?
You haven't included being right in the list of options? Are you so convinced they aren't?
Daughter has tested positive as have several of her school friends. Misses and I are double jabbed and so far are symptom free.
Assuming we don’t get ill will our exposure to presumably the delta variant strengthen our immunity and act as a booster, or do you have to actually get ill with covid to bolster your immunity?
This was our household last week. Both double jabbed. I still ended up getting it and was pretty ill for a couple of days and crap for a week. Delta variant going off the symptoms although I still also lost taste and smell.
One of my teammates and his wife (both in their early 40s and double Pfizer jabbed) fell ill after their daughter caught it, similar effects to wonkey_donkey.
Currently isolating after our 16yo daughter tested positive last Monday.
I've had AZ x2, Mrs Pfizer x2, other daughter (18yo) Pfizer x1 and we've all managed not to catch it, but we've been very careful.
This feels like a huge error.
And yet, Van Tam, Vallance and Whitty, people I have the utmost respect for and confidence in, are backing it. NB; not saying it’s an easy choice, or backing unreservedly, but there is an argument being made for do it now otherwise when
I fear this is the least worst time to risk relaxation, though we have relaxed too much too soon.
Given that JVT hasn't always appeared to be a totally on message poodle, I'm hoping he's right.
Also need to bear in mind that the government have effectively admitted that 100-200 deaths a day is acceptable too them.
The “if not now when” argument only holds water if you are giving up on the vaccination programme. Otherwise, delaying to vaccinate more people saves lives and the health of a great many people. Not just the health and lives of many of those additionally vaccinated, but also of many who can not be vaccinated or are at high risk even though vaccinated (although at lower risk than previous waves) through reduced transmission.
And then there is the opportunity this summer for more problematic variants to either develop or be imported, and then to spread geographically while test/trace/isolate is being overwhelmed or ignored. Very high levels of cases ahead of finishing the vaccine rollout is still very risky, do not be gaslit into believing otherwise.
We need policy to take us though the next few months, and pretending that saying “be careful” and “reduce the measures you take steadily” is a substitute for that policy is likely to look ridiculous later this year (that is how it already looks to outside observers).
My train home was rammed, Only me & a handful of others wearing masks
Local schools have ground to a halt in the last week with isolations, more tha n half my work.is isolating.
Freedom day is a joke
was helpfully informed by some halfwit in service station that I dont need to wear a mask, and apparently its all been a big fraud apart from the obvious he seemed like a decent guy. wer're doomed I tell thee.
