New variant found in UK

Fonzie may to be on to something!

Bit of honesty for a second:
I don't agree with Fonzie's opinion. He thinks we should wear masks. I don't. But I've never seen an opinion better expressed:
Fonzie: I think we should wear masks. This is my opinion.
Not: I think we should wear masks and everyone who disagrees with me is a selfish piece of ****. Not, 'I am right'. Just, this is my opinion.

A way of expressing oneself that I am going to try emulate. We can always learn.

 

Amen to that.

 

Agreed, I know when things were dark for me I was guilty of blaiming people who supported lockdowns for my struggles and that was just misplaced anger on my part.

 

Jesus Christ don't learn from me. I thought Schopp should have been given more time.

It's a difficult one though this whole "thing". It's caused a complete divide throughout the nation. We've all got our options and we've all said things that we probably regret.

But at the end of the day we want what's best for us all - maybe it doesn't come across that way all the time but I genuinely feel that people aren't so bad.

Apart from Kevin Muscat.

 

The person who said 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing', wasn't wrong..

 

WEAR A BLOODY MASK Narrated by Brian Blessed Wise Protec - YouTube

 

Long post

I am not demonising anyone on this thread for personal opinions either way on mask wearing, lockdowns or vaccination.
The following are just my own personal view backed up with (unscientific observations based, in part) on statistical evidence. This whole mask wearing lockdown vaccination thing is not as black and white as some believe.

It is becoming increasingly clear that irrespective of variants, the vaccine does NOT impact levels of transmission albeit they may impact the potency of any transmitted virus.
It does however, drastically reduce the impact of the virus in the vaccinated individual and the likelihood of serious life threatening symptoms, hospitalisations, ICU admission rates, rates or death.
So that is one positive for vaccination. I am definitely on the fence regarding mandatory vaccination either through law or coercion via mandatory measure like banning public transport, social venues etc for unvaccinated/unrecovered people. On the one hand you can paraphrase Mr. Spock Star Trek .. i.e. the needs (rights?) of the many outweigh the needs of the few or one, or conversely everyone has the right to decide if they want to have something injected into their body. Even that right though must have its limits e.g. if the virus in question caused 90% fatalities if unchecked. I am not sure if Covid IMO reaches that criteria. Probably not. If medical science did not exists we would not have the debate anyway and it would be like the Eyam/Black death dilemma all over the place.
Regarding masks: In the early days, distancing and mask wearing reduced the transmission rates and so that measure and lockdowns in an unvaccinated population made sense to reduce the levels of hospital admissions, overloaded ICUs and death rates. In that environment, publishing daily positive test figures made sense.
In the current climate, in countries where large proportions of the populations have been vaccinated I am unclear as to the obsession with the obsession with reporting levels of positive tests, for two reasons.
1 Most positive tests, particularly amongst those vaccinated/recovered are asymptomatic or at worst people suffer flu like symptoms and self medicate therefore not impacting the hospitals.
2 Given the increasing evidence that transmission of the virus is still possible even when vaccinated the test become less relevant and the cost benefit of mass testing is less clear. Testing does not prevent the spread although the argument that it can lead to an early identification of new strains and mutations may have some validity. Nevertheless the cost of mass testing has to be weighed against how the money might well be better spent.
IF it transpires that transmission rates ARE high even if the target for vaccinated people is reached then it DOES give credibility to wearing masks and certainly social distancing. I do not believe the 'nuclear option' of lockdown already implemented in some EU countries is realistic, because it is no longer likely to be tolerated by most people who have made huge sacrifices to personal freedoms over the last 2 years.

Finally, for those claiming masks/social distancing don't make a difference. Hmmmm....
Here in Italy, which started out as THE Covid hotspot in Europe, whilst there have been pockets of resistance to vaccination, the overwhelming proportion of the population, particularly the 'at risk' demographic, have been very compliant with the distancing rules (not surprising given that, in our experience, many veer toward hypochondria and the very strict enforcement backed up by the Carabinieri and steep fines!). The current rates of positive tests but mainly hospitalisations UCU occupancy and deaths, whilst on the increase are relatively low compared to most of the EU.
Compare that to nations with a reputation for being, how can I put this, anti-authoritarian like Netherlands, UK, Austria and Germany where the infection rates and deaths are now soaring and where the vaccine take up is relatively low and mask wearing even lower.
So, in conclusion... IMHO
Vaccination as an effective measure, and the benefits for individuals and the population overall vastly outweigh the risks for all but a very small minority and may even benefit those unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons .
Mask wearing, is much less clear but, again IMO, the simple acts of wearing a mask when in close proximity to others may help reduce transmission rates as does regular hand washing using sanitising sprays before entering and after leaving places like supermarkets, trollye handles etc.
Lockdowns, for the reasons started, as a strategy, is too 'leaky' in part due to too many necessary exemptions and ''Covid pandemic fatigued' people disregarding the rules and the disruption in economies, impact on mental health etc. so, IMHO the disadvantages of that far outweighs the benefits.

 

https://archive.md/1cG3O

Boris will decide the week before Christmas if it can go ahead. Who's going to listen? No matter what he says we cannot do most of us will do what we anyway.

 

To be fair I don't think most people will let Doris decide what they can do for Christmas this year. Especially as it turned out and Carrie and him had company last year when we "weren't allowed".

 

This guy is clearly giving the police attitude he doesn't need to. But he's right he has no legal requirement to prove he is exempt.

 

Not even wearing his own mask properly and trying to force someone to give details about their disability? Naughty naughty

 

I do actually think it's silly to have a mask "mandate" that you can essentially opt out of without proof. But that's the law and it would help if the police were familiar with it. Dread to think a mentally vulnerable person would drop on these two fools.

 

Reminds me of the policewoman who was harassing and threatening someone for playing with their kid in their own front garden last year. Bully boy tactics

 

Saw that Andrew Neil was trending. Looks like it's because he's going senile.

 

Tbf I don't think he really was giving attitude, he was calm and polite. The funny thing was that after saying he didn't have to say why he was exempt, he then let it slip! Heavy handedness is not going to work imo, when they govt introducing the rules break them time and time again.

 

It's not helped when it's spread by people with huge followings.

 

Completely unrelated, but I hate it when people put a space between the number and the percent symbol.



It shouldn't, but it really bothers me.

I hope this goes someway to show everyone what a disturbed and unhinged person I am. Thanks.

 

The 90% unvaccinated in hospital is not only old/innaccurate data, but also a fairly useless metric. As vaccination rates go up, and hospitalisation numbers (hopefully) drop then you would expect the proportion of people in hospital being vaccinated to climb.

 

I'd expect, if it was a good vaccine, that there just wouldn't be any hospitalisations, other than those who remain unvaccinated. We've got a vaccine that doesn't prevent you from getting the disease, doesn't prevent you spreading it, doesn't prevent you getting ill from it, doesn't prevent you from being hospitalised when you contract it and doesn't prevent you from dying from it. I'm not all that sold on how great it is. But at least some people are benefitting I suppose:

https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/o...rna-shareholders-campaigners-say-1223700.html