Pubs Opening April?

There are two issues here. Whether closing pubs is good (or bad) for the health of the nation facing an infectious disease - and the majority of respected experts seem to think that hospitality venues are a cause of concern irrespective of the measures taken by the venues (which help when the prevalence is low). The second issue is the support from the government to those affected - both the business owners and the staff - and I think we can all agree that varies from insufficient to insulting.

There is probably another issue that we need to address (separately) - and that is the "dependency" of a large part of the population on alcohol, and the large part it plays in our lifestyles. It appears that a large percentage of the adult population would qualify as having some level of alcohol dependency or drink alcohol to excessive levels.

 

Anecdotal at best.

Hard evidence please.

 

It could be argued that the Police could have stepped in dispersing crowds during the larger orgies at Universities and City centres such as Liverpool and Newcastle.

 

Yes, because the lockdown sceptics have dictated government policy, that’s why we haven’t had any lockdown for the last ten months.

 

Regardless of that point, would you not agree that in the middle of the pandemic pubs should be one of the last things to return back to normal? It is not essential is it? And i refer to the other poster's comments about supporting it through these times til we get back to normal as being a separate issue. Just because the govt is screwing the industry over doesnt mean it should be open.

 

TBF though, apart from he likes of Wellington etc, the demographics in NZ allow for natural distancing afr easier than in the UK.

 

Looks like they're visiting a gay bar.

 

Would be interesting if the age demographics around those now being hospitalised could be made available. Keep hearing from news stories that the people in hospital now are younger than in the first wave, yet not seen any data around this.

A couple of my friends both spent a week or 2 in ICU both between 40-45 yrs old.

No expert but it seems to me that it is just a genetic trigger inside some people that allows the virus to run rampant in their bodies which has more of a bearing on level of illness than say Age alone. Defo a strange one.

 

take the point but we could also look at Vietnam / South Korea or Japan.

 

It's selective who it infects too. We've all heard reports of couples where they haven't isolated, slept in the same bed, yet only one partner gets ill.

 

Does the vaccine do that to you?

 

Yeah. on a different level but me and the missus never seem to get a common cold at the same time. If my daughter gets one though, I always end up coughing and spluttering whereas the missus doesn't.

 

Vaccinations in Israel are going well and we can expect similar here. The green line will continue to go down as people get their second jab. But more importantly even if you do still catch covid you would have to be really unlucky to end up in hospital or worse dead. This is people at the highest risk with the weakest immune systems. When it gets to younger people then I suspect the amount infected will drop even quicker and further from one dose.

 

I presume the first three people were all amputees or maimed in a bomb blast.

 

You’ve spent the last 10 months accusing the government of trying to inflict martial law on us, now you’re saying you think they’ll pack pubs out by June. Make your mind up.

 

ONS? From 2017
57% of adults drank within the last week
15.5% drank more than 6-8 units (binge drinkers)
9.6% of adults drink on 5 or more days per week.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...esurveyadultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain/2017

Those figures have around one in 6 with the definition of an alcohol problem and 1 in 10 being effectively dependent.

Can you find this graph with the dates please? Or better still with the labels on the axes - Israel entered a national lockdown for their third wave on 27th December, which would start to decrease cases about 1 week later after symptoms develop.

The first man on the Isle of Wight to be vaccinated died from Covid 2-3 weeks later.

 

And what happens to those unable to generate any form of immune response?

 

It's reality that they will just have to be treated using the various new methods available. Hull hospital are using Steroid inhalers now instead of cpap machines.

 

The thing that strikes me is there is so much mass volume data but so little segmented specific information. It's understandable, but I've heard stories that those unable to generate significant immune response are least at risk of severe cases, to the opposite end of the spectrum. But because some groups are so small and rare, it's unlikely we'll see any hard factual evidence for a long long time.