Good to see our previous PM wearing a mask in the commons. Along with most on the opposition benches.
I didn’t really get that tbh, it almost as if they’d been told not to wear masks as it’s all over.
We’re in a different place but it’s still in wide circulation.
I didn’t really get that tbh, it almost as if they’d been told not to wear masks as it’s all over.
We've been advised to keep wearing them indoors in busy places, but obviously doesn't apply to ministers and MPs.
If that's the scientific advice, then lead by ****ing example, you utter incompetent, spineless morons.
The actual advice is (taken from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own)
When you should wear a face covering
From 19 July 2021, there is no longer a legal requirement to wear face coverings in indoor settings or on public transport.
Lifting restrictions does not mean the risks from COVID-19 have disappeared, but at this new phase of the pandemic response we are moving to an approach that enables personal risk-based judgments.
While no situation is risk free, there are actions we can take to protect ourselves and others around us.
We expect and recommend that members of the public continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet. For example, on public transport.
You should use your judgement in deciding where you should wear one
my bolding - Its tricky isnt it, not sure the house of commons would be classed as a place you come into contact with people you dont normally meet.
I've been at work in meeting rooms and not worn a mask (and neither has anyone else in the same room), but if someone felt uncomfortable and asked me to wear one I would. Similarly If I found I was in a minority in not wearing a mask in a situation I would put one on.
I'd wear one on a train or plane, unless it was very quiet. I wear one in shops.
I’d wear one on a train or plane, unless it was very quiet. I wear one in shops.
I'm wearing one on the train now. About 25% of passengers are. About 25% of my family are. Me.
I’ve been at work in meeting rooms and not worn a mask
How many people in that room? Take a look at that Afghanistan debate again from yesterday. How many people in that room? There’s a good reason that Universities aren’t going back to in person lectures with high attendance this Autumn. (Most) of the Tories weren’t just making a practical workplace decision yesterday, they were signalling something to the public. Mask wearing won’t last long now.
About 25% of my family are.
I was just pondering this. Was in Trago (dream holiday) and there were lots of couples and families shopping together, where one person was masked and the other(s) not. Seemed odd.
And cases are at 36000 today, on the rise again just before schools return.
And cases are at 36000 today, on the rise again just before schools return.
And we've just arrived in Edinburgh for a long weekend of Fringe shows......
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/grim-warning-israel-vaccination-blunts-does-not-defeat-delta
We need to get on with the booster shots ASAP. Israel isn't providing concrete evidence of waning immunity, but it's certainly a strong hint and a warning to us. Unfortunately we haven't got a good track record of responding to warnings in a timely way.
The fact is that our fully open society has enough virus circulating, coupled with relative complacency among the double vaccinated, to give plenty of opportunity for breakthrough infections going into the autumn.
Scotland Coronavirus Tracker (travellingtabby.com)
Compare 'all time' graph for Scotland with whole of UK and some regions (e.g. Cornwall). A scary rise in cases, less so hospitalisations and deaths.
Scotland was out of school earlier, is now back. It seems related to travel and socialising over the summer.
Some good news. AZ have reported positive trial results for their PROVENT trial.
At six months the monoclonal antibody injection was 77% protective against symptomatic infections (I previously predicted 75% based on their STORM-CHASER trial data). This is a great result for those who do not respond to vaccinations. The UK Government had plans to order a million doses. We will see where the goes. But there will be options for protection of the immunocompromised going forward, particularly those with some blood cancers (e.g., CLL) who respond very poorly to vaccination, and that is great news.
And more good news - Ronapreve has been approved by the MHRA - monoclonal antibody treatment.
Excellent news.
Good news for you personally too TiRed. How were you feeling in the free days after your ride?
Was in Trago
Living the high life! 🤣
Well I went out Tuesday with the club for 75km at modest pace (sorry ladies group). I can recall how to ride in a group after all - and I'm allowed to ride fixed not geared on our club rides. If I am honest, was fine, but chest feels sore (like an ache all the time). But riding is better than not riding. Heart rate is up about 15bpm for power. Three hours on an arione-arse-hatchet after 18mo off was errr interesting. Legs felt sore, but both legs and arse will improve with time.
Rona-preve approved is impressive in the timeframe and the combination is an effective cocktail. And of course, a competitor. But in Infectious Disease Land, there is always "room for one more" thanks to strains and resistance. Their data from RECOVERY was nothing short of astounding, and coupled with AZ data for PROVENT, says YOU NEED SOME ANTIBODIES. Vaccines can provide them for the masses, but if you can't get them that way, or are still infected, you can still be protected from morbidity.
BTW I think I am right in saying that this is the MHRA's first approval for a new drug (not vaccine) post-Brexit.
And modesty forbids, but for our Australian colleagues...
My 4AM video presentation did not go to waste it would appear - had to switch the camera off as I had pyjamas and bed hair 😉
Brilliant. More cake for TiRed please.
Numbers in Scotland shooting up over past couple of days isn’t so encouraging
Ons stats seem to suggest trend is going other way however with 1 in 200 currently infected.
🤔
Numbers in Scotland shooting up over past couple of days
Schools not out for Summer.
Numbers in Scotland shooting up over past couple of days
Assume scotland also has mandatory testing for secondary school kids?
For every responsible "still testing throughout the summer" parent, there are probably a hundred not sticking stuff up their kids noses unless forced to.
Numbers in Scotland shooting up over past couple of days isn’t so encouraging
Ons stats seem to suggest trend is going other way however with 1 in 200 currently infected.
Lates ONS data is for W/e 7th August I think? So won’t have yet picked up any increase after that.
I've gone down with symptoms this evening so have booked a drive through test for tomorrow morning. Feeling very hot, continuous cough and my taste is all very strange. Coughing up a lot of phlegm too which is worrying. If I have got it I'm lucky symptoms showed up now as if it had happened a day later I would have spent the whole day with both of my parents who are very vulnerable!
Did you consider doing lft before visiting if they are vulnerable? Still loads of infection around that is either asymptomatic or has yet to show, and you can be contagious in either case. As per my answer to Murray on the last page, we nearly got caught out taking asymptomatic infection to my parents but lft'ing prevented it.
Everyone, don't let your guard down. This might be receding, but it ain't over and even as a relatively fit double vaxxed 52 year old, I caught it and feel pretty shit.
but it ain’t over
It's never going to be over.
LFTs for life?
It contains Ivermectin, and some folks in the US are taking it. So many in fact that some farmers are now saying there's a shortage, while at the same time, it's making people really ill.
Did you consider doing lft before visiting if they are vulnerable? Still loads of infection around that is either asymptomatic or has yet to show, and you can be contagious in either case.
Yes, been doing them before every visit. Annoyingly I ran out of them last week and was going to pick up some more this morning before going down. I've been absolutely paranoid that I'll be asymptomatic and pass it on to them so have been very cautious throughout the whole thing, the slightest bit of feeling ill and I've postponed visits.
LFTs for life?
Maybe necessary before visiting clinically vulnerable people for example?
Imagine if we had LFTs for flu.
Imagine if we had LFTs for flu.
Might save some lives
we screen for things like MRSA before going to hospitals for ops for example, I don't think it unreasonable that we might want eg: staff in Care Homes to continue LFT testing if not for life, then for a longer period. Another relatively unintrusive ask with demonstrable benefits.
Might save some lives
I was thinking about how many we might have already saved.
The government supporting and incouraging testing for flu as well as Covid would be a wise approach to this winter. And no, that doesn’t mean “forever”.
the technology is there if we wanted to pursue it, either in the same kind of drip test as we use (need to modify the extraction / indicator) or some of my colleagues are working on an electrical sensing method based on binding to a functionalised graphene sensor. They were working on it for Hepatitis but change the receptors on the biosensor (which is the expertise of partners rather than us) and you could target many different viruses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-40051968
Just back from my test and it was a bit of a shambles.
Arrived at the site (Tredegar House in Newport, no test centres in Cardiff according to the booking site) to find no signage but people directing cars towards the caravan site entrance. Turned a corner to find myself in the middle of the Parkrun start point together with a few others turning up for tests, a few who were getting out and talking to the Marshall's. Started to drive back out only for my phone to receive a message so pulled over and read it:
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Great, so I start to put the postcode into maps only for someone to tap on my window and ask if I was here for a test then direct me into one of the car parks. Showed the guy in the entrance the text and he said as I was there I could do the test now. The rest went fine but as I was doing it I could hear the Marshall's stood next to my car talking about how everyone due was getting texts like mine, that the site supervisor was useless (no signs, no shelters set up) and that they were hoping to finish early. Then the Parkrun started going through the same car park, right past the cars doing the tests. A few dog walkers were around too. I was done by now so left.
I suppose it's one way to make a test centre a superspreader event.
While typing this I've actually just received a new text from them:
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Useless.
Sorry about your experience, the test centre in Wycombe were exact opposite, professional, organised, quick.
Genuinely the first bad report of a test site I've read from anyone from friends around the country.
It’s probably hardly news because it felt as if it was always coming… but Right (Wing) Said Fred singer, Richard Fairbass, spent four days in hospital with covid, but is still banging on about covid conspiracies and not taking an “experimental” vaccine. Nice one Richard. Thanks.
I had a positive LTF on Tuesday so tried to book a drive through test. It sent me to Forres, which requires me to drive through Elgin. I was a bit miffed upon reaching the now closed test center in the town hall and had to jump back in the car to Elgin to the walk in center. I absolutely hate the A96. Grrr
Got my positive PCR result Wed pm, joy.
Symptoms like a bad head cold but have completely lost the sense of smell and taste. Thankfully the headaches have eased off.
If you have a positive LFT there is absolutely no point going for a PCR to confirm the result. If the LFT is positive you've got Covid. On the other hand a negative LFT result doesn't tell you a fat lot with, depending on the source I've seen, 18-50% false negatives.
I think I've already mentioned my twenty something nephew who caught Covid a month and a half after his second Pfizer jab. With Delta the protection is very much againt serious illness, you can still catch it and have something like flu, or even be asymptomatic but still shedding high levels of virus.
Just chatting to a friend (she was walking her dog, we're on the tandem). Its her first day out after a fortnight. She'd been to a party with 26 others. No ventilation, no distancing and they all caught covid.
Luckily her and the husband both double jabbed, meaning they didn't end up in hospital.
People are just thinking this pandemic is over.
People are just thinking this pandemic is over.
I've noticed that over the last fortnight where I've been working in the Bristol, Bath and Swindon areas. Mask use seemed to have dropped to around 50% and social distancing was pretty much gone, at least in the service stations and shops. The customers were mostly still taking precautions though so it does seem to be that people are dropping their guard when on 'leisure time' but ok when at work.
Yep I'm double jabbed and still got it at Bloodstock, I knew the risks and am just happy that the vaccines prevent serious illness.
Interestingly absolutely no one else in my group has caught it, although all of them have been double jabbed but quite a few have already had Covid before the vaccine roll out. I wonder if that makes a difference?
Richard Fairbass, spent four days in hospital with covid, but is still banging on about covid conspiracies and not taking an “experimental” vaccine.
I'm too vaxxy for his bullshit.
This
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58270098
is an interesting article. We're all going to catch this thing at some point. If you're double-vaccinated, when's the best time? I still think we need boosters this year, particularly for those who received their first dose in January/February, and who are the most vulnerable, but after that? My own feeling is that we know double vaccination offers decent protection against serious illness from Delta, and some kind of hybrid immunity, a combination of natural and vaccine-generated, if acquired now, is likely to offer more protection against the next variant, which could be more vaccine-evading, so more dangerous to the double-jabbed.
Just seen Henning Wehn's show at the Fringe. It's all about Covid. Some of it was funny. Some of it wouldn't go down well in the STW echo chamber.
"Distasteful" was how my 18 year old described it, and the audience seemed mainly to agree with him on those bits, to be fair.
I was pleased and a little surprised to hear that France has caught up with the UK in terms of first doses for mainland France and just a little behind with the DOM TOM included. We've gone through 70% with the DOM TOM which is better than expected, and that's with only people over 12 being illegible for vaccination. The pessimism expressed by some earlier in the thread was unfounded.
Good points, Martin.
Ed, I have no idea if this source is reputable or not, but it suggests France has some way to go yet to catch up with the UK?
According to the UK gov site we're not where we were but I see they're now including 16s and over: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations
I'm not sure if there's a sensible direct comparison... 😬
Edit: great to see the uptake has risen massively though! 👍
I just watched the news. This backs it up:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html
71% UK, 70% France including DOM TOM.
I'm not treating it as a race, some kind of competition or rubbishing the UK's efforts. It was a little irritating the dissing of the French attitudes to vaccination earlier in the thread which facts now show to have been unfair. Who would have predicted France being ahead of Israel or Germany in vaccine uptake?
