Zero Covid

Well, given Scotland had an outbreak at a special school that opened last week, it was only a matter of time before they changed the rules. Of the 20+ teachers infected, one worked at another school too and another had kids in a third school, so already pupils at 3 schools are having to isolate.

Except for those older people that the young people live with. And nightclubbers (or any pub goers) aren't exactly known for keeping social distancing. Although the experiment at the weekend for the concert in Germany will be interested when its published.

The issue isn't the safety of kids or young people (although some kids are likely to die as a result of COVID), but when you have upwards of 10 million parents who are affected worse along with millions of grandparents, it could be another time bomb.

I've said it for a while, but we might have to sacrifice open pubs for open schools if infections jump up in the next few weeks. Although current trends are heading towards ~4000+ve tests/day by the end of September.

 

The real test will be if infections continue to rise will hospital admissions and then deaths. We have no way of knowing what the levels of infection were back in April when we had the peak of deaths.

 

Government by social media. Do this lot ever hold a policy on anything?

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.109158534.242559472.1598370655-1139339990.1580410970

Comfortably under 800 in hospital and under 70 on ventilators. Everything going the right way.

 

66.65 million people in U K ,800 in hospital with Covid, 70 on ventilators , All distancing and face mask wearing helping us,lets hope it is zero covid one day soon

 

Boris with another U turn this time on masks in school. If Whitty is right with his winter 2021-22 prediction for a vaccine then the masks are here to stay.

 

Winter next year would follow the normal arc for development and testing of a vaccine particularly if its one that needs to be done annually. People saying differently were selling a dream that was never likely to happen. It might be possible to improve that but that but probably not by a great deal.

 

It was utterly obvious that the initial mask mandate was the thin end of the wedge.

 

And it doesn't seem to bother the Tory party all the damage their restrictions have done to the economy. Retail takings well down because people have to wear a mask, queue, walk one way and can't try anything on. Nightclubs look like having to make people wear a mask on the dance floor to allow it. I was drinking in Barnsley on Sunday afternoon and it was terribly sad how dead it was and that was with many places shut.

 

Really ? old Auntie Nelly at 80 hugs her young relation who is infected? I am in favour of restrictions being slowly released, but I can't see your logic on this one.

 

Agreed, there's fewer than 500 in hospital at the moment. There is an increase in cases whether by more infection or better testing results. If you suggest the lead time before hospital treatment is around three weeks, then the hospital statistic will be interesting at the end of Sept.

 

Then if Auntie Nelly doesn't want a hug don't give her one and stay away from her. It's fair to say most nightclub goers are in the 18-30 age range. It's also fair to say most 18-30 year olds don't live with the 60+ most at risk age range. If they spread it amongst themselves away at university for example then those more at risk should have less chance of catching it. Anyway it's all stupid now. Tricking us in to a lockdown to flatten a curve which made sense but when the curve is dead and hospitals pretty empty of Covid patients they switch tact to infections that mean nothing so they can carry on dictating to us and controlling us.

 

I'm pleased about this as I'm in a school in a lockdown area. Two of my groups of friends who both live and work in Bradford have invited me out to go to a pub with them despite the fact that that is against the guidance. When I queried it, I got the response 'I'm keeping safe and just doing what I want and not advertising it'. It's starting to really annoy me as I'm going back to work with one of these groups of people very soon and when we were all in before they absolutely refused to keep their distance saying that there was no point and they 'know they're ok and they trust me'. It's not about if you 'trust' someone or not. They may or may not have it, I don't know but can't they just follow the rules? If it was just themselves they are risking, then fine, but there's 2000 people about to come together in just over a week and they are purposefully ignoring the advice which just makes the whole thing last longer for everyone.

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12501636/spain-army-coronavirus-two-weeks-pandemic-control-lives/

Spain have had over 80k cases in a fortnight with 7k yesterday so are in a panic even though if it wasn't for mass testing most wouldn't have known they had it. They wear masks in far more settings than us yet are in a much worse state. Clearly masks aren't working.

 

You can pass it in two weeks before any symptoms are even present, which is why these “sensible” people are keeping up the rate of spread.

 

Madrid (pop. 6m or so) has had 25,000 new cases in last two weeks.
Hong Kong (pop. 7.5m) has had less than 400. Everyone in HK wears a mask.
Stats can change - but masks look a decent bet.

 

The objective isn't Zero Covid. It is to be in the best shape possible when winter arrives, because it's anticipated there will be a second wave then. The politicians have had to overrule some of the scientists advice for the sake of the economy though, hence the apparent inconsistency of rules around gatherings. Instead of being thankful that things like pubs and restaurants are open, the stupid among us say things like "if so-and-so is open, then so-and-so should be open as well". Any sort of gathering clearly increases the spread. It's a balancing act.

 

looks like they have Flip flopped again and now it’s only where local lockdowns are in place. I think it’s very hard to keep up.

 

Yes, it's compulsory in local lockdown areas and 'they will no longer advise against it' in all other schools. I was really cross that they were specifically saying that they shouldn't be worn before as no-one should be banned from doing so if they so wish.

 

they are just deflecting blame onto heads though. The leadership from govt is beyond appalling.