If I can’t get the trek in this summer I am going to have the mother of all tantrums!* I have been planning and looking forward to it for a couple of years and has been the main thing keeping me going at times

* of course in reality I wont!

They have ignored the tier thresholds previously outlined as going by the numbers we should be edging level 2 now

They have ignored the tier thresholds previously outlined as going by the numbers we should be edging level 2 now

Really? It hadn’t occurred to me to check the current figures against last years tier guidance. Do you have a link to it?

I’ve just been going by this graph and thinking that case rates are still too high.

The way she was speaking today tho, because there’s more prevalence of the more transmissible varient, they’re going to be taking things more slowly.
Doesnt look like any restrictions will be changed until all the kids are back at school.
Next week’s announcement will just be the order in which things will happen, rather than the dates that they will happen

The way she was speaking today tho, because there’s more prevalence of the more transmissible varient, they’re going to be taking things more slowly.

I’ve just spent an entertaining hour reading the docs issued to schools regarding the return. It’s all about tightening things up as a result of the new variant(s). Physical distancing for pupils and masks in classes etc. I think they’ll be very cautious with any other relaxations until they see how that pans out.

I suppose whatever they do, or announce or implement, we’ve got to really wait a month to see it those plans set forth another rise of infections.

As it appears they have the past year. Every new idea has led to where we are now.

They have ignored the tier thresholds previously outlined as going by the numbers we should be edging level 2 now

There was never one criteria for moving between levels, it was about multiple factors, the trend on parameters and a general judgement call. The hospitality industry in Edinburgh were furious in December and IIRC went to court in a failed attempt to claim that they must use a simple criteria like new cases.

On R5 on Friday night I was listening to discussion that said Primary school pupils are 2x more likely to bring Covid into a household and 2x more likely to pass it on to a family member than an adult.

Do you know who was saying that? Because it is essentially at odds with the sort of thing being reported elsewhere eg. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/01/three-studies-highlight-low-covid-risk-person-school

What do people think my chance of the long planned long trek in Scotland in May being allowed? We would be walking and mainly wild camping.

I think it’s unlikely – not impossible yet but unlikely. If it was end of may it would be more likely than the start. They’ll certainly not want to encourage a mass of wild camping with the inevitable crap hygiene and waste issues that the public wil bring (I am aware you are responsible but the rules have to deal with the idiots too). If you are lucky you might get to B&bs and some unofficially forbidden but sufficiently hidden not to count wild camping – but my money would be on day trips only until late may at least.

Has there been any discussion regarding vaccinating the teachers for those returning classes?

Gut feel says they should.
Science says no evidence to support it.
If politics overrules the JCVI you open up a minefield and a queue of other professions screaming what about us.

Thanks Poly *gets ready to throw tantrum*

IMO if Hotels / campsites are open then wild camping is OK

scotroutes
Full Member
They have ignored the tier thresholds previously outlined as going by the numbers we should be edging level 2 now

Really? It hadn’t occurred to me to check the current figures against last years tier guidance. Do you have a link to it?

Hadn’t thought to look at this in a while, myself.

tjagain
Full Member
Thanks Poly *gets ready to throw tantrum*

IMO if Hotels / campsites are open then wild camping is OK

Yip, agreed.

So primary 1-3’s back from Monday 22nd, I bet there’ll be a few glad of that.

****. Yes.

What are they manky buggers in East Ayrshire up to?

IMO if Hotels / campsites are open then wild camping is OK

I’d say it’s the travel restrictions that would be the limiting factor. If we’re allowed to travel between regions by the date you’d planned then I’d say crack on and do your walk regardless of whether campsites etc are open.

What are they manky buggers in East Ayrshire up to?

Outbreak in a prison has swollen the east Ayrshire numbers.

Looks as though the self catering accommodation booked for Easter isn’t going to happen. Bugger.

Still, Christmas eh?

It will be all over by christmas

It will be all over by christmas

Yes, but what year?

Aye, I think we’ll all be staying in our LA areas until at least June if they can can get all the kids back to school. I also think teachers should be vaccinated now, we definitely need them to be at work 😉
Wife is getting her second jab in two weeks (HDU nurse) so it’s all moving in the right direction. I think the government is just rightly being cautious.

BTW, wtf does Reporting Scotland insist on calling them jags when everyone else calls it a jab, is it a central belt thing as nobody calls them that up here.

Nice to see P&K mirroring St Johnstone’s mid table mediocrity place.

BTW, wtf does Reporting Scotland insist on calling them jags when everyone else calls it a jab, is it a central belt thing as nobody calls them that up here.

Because that’s what they are called. WTF do you call nettles, jabbies?

Outbreak in a prison has swollen the east Ayrshire numbers.

Ah, that would explain it.

BTW, wtf does Reporting Scotland insist on calling them jags when everyone else calls it a jab, is it a central belt thing as nobody calls them that up here.

I was watching a feed from Holyrood where MSPs were using jag

Can any of the endemics explain where it comes from?

Because that’s what they are called. WTF do you call nettles, jabbies?

Nettles of course 🙄 Or stinging nettles 😉

They’re jabs, everybody I know calls them jabs, wife who is a nurse calls them jabs, she asked at work and they’re jabs. I’m convinced it’s a central belt thing, bloods jags… that’s a footy team 😆

Always Jags to me – same as Partick Thistle – the Jags not the Jabs

Thats the point Bob!

I have just been called to get my second JAG! I only had my first 3 weeks or so ago. I need to make an appointment which could be a week or so away

Cant see why it has to be national lock down now, why not ease the restrictions locally where rates are low.

When Aberdeen had a spike it was locked down it wasn’t a national thing, so why not ease it in low transmission areas?

What’s the thought process behind keeping it at a national level?

They’re jabs, everybody I know calls them jabs, wife who is a nurse calls them jabs, she asked at work and they’re jabs. I’m convinced it’s a central belt thing, bloods jags… that’s a footy team

Remember the scone map? That.

Bruneep – I think (or is that hope?) we will get back to local restrictions fairly soon. However, I think there may be some caution because, clearly it didn’t work quite as well as hoped for in Nov/Dec:

But one of the issues is where people are working (or making other permitted journeys across county boundaries) there is not the segregation that appears on paper – so a large employer in Livingston will probably have people from Lanarkshire, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Fife etc. Someone in Lanarkshire might be going home to a family member who works in Glasgow with other people from Dumbartonshire, Renfrewshire and inverclyde. Etc, etc.

But I’ve heard some ridiculous stories (albeit third hand) this week of 1. Someone travelling from Renfrewshire to Moray and staying overnight to buy a car – because they’ve been vaccinated (1st dose) so “will be fine”; 2. Someone who tested positive going to a family member’s house to take their dog for a walk because “it’s ok so long as you wear a mask”…; 3. Panic in a (large) employer when one of their staff tested positive and nobody seemed to have a plan and had not have thought through all the completely predictable interactions the various teams were having with each other. “If T&T tell us all to isolate we shut down the whole of our business in Scotland for two weeks”…

Until we either find a way to enforce or incentivise (preferably both) compliance we are stuck in this stupid loop.

scotroutes
Full Member

Remember the scone map? That.

Gottcha 😉

I see contacts of those infected are now going to be required to get a test, just the 8 months too late with that. It should have been the central policy from june onwards. (ie if you feel sick, isolate regardless, and test everyone around an infected person, to at a minimum 1 level, ie actively attempt to restrict transmission)

Probably a tacit admission that the testing has been a shambles.

The whole thing has been a bloody shambles. We’re a bloody island, we should have been at this point a year ago.

Oh yeah, something something civil liberties. How’s that working out for you all?

The whole thing has been a bloody shambles. We’re a bloody island, we should have been at this point a year ago.

yip, whole island should have been shut down like NZ did. Stupid **** in power down in Westminster

@Poly and anyone else interested:

On R5 on Friday night I was listening to discussion that said Primary school pupils are 2x more likely to bring Covid into a household and 2x more likely to pass it on to a family member than an adult.

Do you know who was saying that?

Friday 12 Feb Radio 5 Stephen Nolan Listen at about 20 mins in.

Thanks TroutWrestler that reminds me why I don’t listen to 5live! I’ve had a quick skim of the ONS “long covid” data she spent most of the time talking about. I’m not sure it says what she thinks it does. It definitely doesn’t support her claim there are millions of primary school children with covid and 1:7 have long covid – at that point I started to question her credibility, I can’t find the data she has which she claimed shows twice as many infections. I heard some interesting suggestions today that a big issue with returning to schools is the school gate transmission amongst parents…

Yes, the school drop off pre Xmas was concerning. Although masks were worn by parents many chose to stand closely chatting and the playground was pretty busy – hard to keep 2m away. Only parents of P1s and 2s were permitted to be on the grounds but it’s a big school and my P1 child has been pretty anxious about school since starting – def not ready to be dropped at the gate.

We have received information about our kids returning to school. It is made very clear that parents should wear masks at all times near the gates and should not congregate or chat. I could put money on the gang that will “head off for a quick coffee” once they have dropped their kids off.

Deepti Gurdasani’s Twitter makes for interesting reading. I am not sure I doubt her credibility.

I wrote a long reply but for the umpteenth time STW on iOS/safari crashed!

In brief she’s conflating causation and correlation, assuming extension of a biased sample is valid to the wider population, mislabelling one lingering symptom as long covid and presuming the solution she is widely advocating for solves the problem. I agree with her that schools/DFE should be looking at risk mitigation – but they also need to be careful that they don’t get so obsessed with the in classroom safety they ignore all the other things which opening schools is linked to (parents returning to work, parental mixing, public perception of risk etc).

100%. The reopening of schools cannot be seen in isolation, and that is what I took as one of her main points.