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Coronavirus

Coronavirus - The Poll

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GaryH said:
I agree Matt. However I do understand people having to wear them all day in work and how this can be uncomfortable.
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Absolutely; I don’t envy people who have to wear PPE all day by any means, and I’m sure they’re probably gagging to see face mask requirements gone!
 
As I said on the previous page, wearing them all the time at work sucks, save for the occasions when I pop into the back office & check emails, removing my mask for a couple of minutes. It helps. I do feel for others who have to wear PPE all the time as well, like the staff in my local Specsavers (picked up my new pairs of glasses today). It really can't be fun for them when they're in a position where they can't take their PPE off at all.
 
Had my second vaccine this morning. Slightly longer wait than for the first one, but it was fine and the process was as efficient as it could be. Felt the needle go in more than I did the first time, but it still hardly hurt. Currently feeling fine, though I'm conscious I could feel a bit rubbish later tonight, and my left arm's a little bit sore. I'll be fine, though. I'm fine with a bit of mild discomfort for a few days if it means I'm less susceptible to getting COVID.
 
Please remember that the simple cloth or disposable "surgical" masks are there to protect others, not yourself! It's very similar to covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing.
As already mentioned its now common in Asian countries that if you think you have a bug to wear a mask to avoid passing it on, if only British people were so considerate to each other.
I was in the chip shop last night and someone came in, no mask, leaning over the counter coughing everywhere.
 
jon81uk said:
Please remember that the simple cloth or disposable "surgical" masks are there to protect others, not yourself! It's very similar to covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing.
As already mentioned its now common in Asian countries that if you think you have a bug to wear a mask to avoid passing it on, if only British people were so considerate to each other.
I was in the chip shop last night and someone came in, no mask, leaning over the counter coughing everywhere.
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I see a worrying number of customers who use the same disposable mask for ages. Had one last night who came in with a broken strap on their mask, and when I kindly mentioned we’ve got some by the door, they just didn’t seem interested. Cue me wanting to bash my head against the nearest wall.
 
I will wear one for the time being, but once it's no longer mandatory I will not be. I'm not going to wear a mask when I have no reason to believe I am ill. If I feel unwell I'll stay at home until I feel better.

Regarding coughing and sneezing (if I have to), I'll do what I've been doing for many years, into my elbow, and I'll sanitise my hands after blowing my nose. I think the British are just generally an unhygienic bunch. I've always carried sanitiser with me to use after the tube etc. and even now I still see people at work and in public not washing their hands after using the toilet. Walking down the high street the other day some bloke was walking along just coughing without any attempt to cover their mouth.
 
Sorry for double posting, but I’ll admit I’m getting really worried by COVID again. The Indian variant (B1617.2) has apparently tripled in a week, and we now have over 1,000 cases of it in Britain; it’s particularly concentrated in areas in the North, as well as bits of London. I’m beginning to get concerned that it might delay our route out of lockdown, and I’m potentially concerned about us even going back into full lockdown soon based on what India’s like at the moment. Boris and the scientists seem very doubtful about the Indian variant being susceptible to vaccines; I know they’ve said that it’s less likely to escape immunity than the South Africa and Brazil variants, and the vaccines should also still protect against severe disease and death, but they seem to be downplaying the vaccine programme hugely in terms of its ability to protect against new variants.

Am I right to be concerned? Or is this just like when the South Africa variant started being transmitted in communities a few months back, and surge testing eventually managed to stop the rise?
 
Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory again.

This is why travel should remain banned and anyone coming in should be confined to a hotel for 2 weeks, no exceptions.
It won’t be the same as India here as we have high levels of vaccinated people and it’s unlikely the Indian variant will escape the vaccine completely, I expect case numbers to go up but hospitalisations should stay at manageable levels, it is however a warning how allowing unrestricted international travel right is just stupid.
 
Perhaps if India had moved into the red list sooner rather than being delayed for political reasons, that might have helped.

On 9th April, Pakistan and Bangladesh were added to the red list. India was not despite having significantly higher rates. Perhaps if Boris Johnson was "following the science", rather than seeking his precious post-Brexit trade deal, he would have required mandatory quarantine from India at that point. Instead it was not added until the 23rd April

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Matt N said:
Sorry for double posting, but I’ll admit I’m getting really worried by COVID again. The Indian variant (B1617.2) has apparently tripled in a week, and we now have over 1,000 cases of it in Britain; it’s particularly concentrated in areas in the North, as well as bits of London. I’m beginning to get concerned that it might delay our route out of lockdown, and I’m potentially concerned about us even going back into full lockdown soon based on what India’s like at the moment. Boris and the scientists seem very doubtful about the Indian variant being susceptible to vaccines; I know they’ve said that it’s less likely to escape immunity than the South Africa and Brazil variants, and the vaccines should also still protect against severe disease and death, but they seem to be downplaying the vaccine programme hugely in terms of its ability to protect against new variants.

Am I right to be concerned? Or is this just like when the South Africa variant started being transmitted in communities a few months back, and surge testing eventually managed to stop the rise?
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The vaccine should cover us nationally, hopefully, but globally, the poor are getting screwed.

Living in the town with the second highest rates in the country, I do wish local people would take the virus seriously.
Next door have had visitors, or gone to visit family down the road for several hours at a time, every day since I complained to the police about their refusal to follow the law about six months ago. There has been very little compliance within my own community.

And if a loudmouth idiot coaster freak could read the writing on the wall three months ago about crazy events in India, it is a shame that the government, "following the data", was only capable of shutting the door two months after the horses had bolted.

Boris needs trade with India, so a few thousand more deaths will be tolerated for economic reasons.

Edit...I live in the third highest area, my misreading...Blackburn is third after Erewash and Bolton.
 
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The Indian B.1.617.2 varient is definitely a concern and there are fears that it may be even more transmissable than the Kent variant. If that is the case then you would think there is a pretty decent chance that it will become the dominant strain in the UK. With restrictions lifting further on Monday we would then have to wait and see if the level of vaccination in the UK is enough to keep it under control.

Looking at figures on the Government dashboard, Bolton appears to be the only place where it has really taken off as we saw in previous new waves. Then there are other local authority areas where more steady increases are taking place, possibly as the variant has only just begun community tranmission in these areas. The interesting thing is though, when you look at Bolton where case numbers have soared the infection rate in the over 60s has only shown a small increase whereas there has been a much more profound increase in the under 60s. The over 60s rate did take a little longer to take off in the second September wave as well but this does suggest that the vaccine is having an impact in Bolton.

I also concur with the notion that we messed up by not putting India on the red list sooner. A pity when much of what we have done this year has been good. It would be a shame if a mistake such as this had a negative impact on our progress.
 
It's not going to be over for a long time. I personally think covid travel red lists will exist for at least 2 more years as variants will continue appearing around the globe.

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I’ve been reading about this new Indian variant and it seems that the vaccines will work against it

https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/13...na-covid-vaccines-work-against-indian-variant

Whereas another story indicates that people can catch the new variant but not get seriously ill after being vaccinated:

https://www.ft.com/content/5f742765-61ac-4da6-8c6f-49119cd7d46c


Personally I still can’t get my head around allowing flights from India into the U.K. in the previous weeks knowing there was this new variant and without even testing the people arriving. I mean, how stupid can you get!

The whole ban on travel and holidays was to stop new variants, yet we continued to allow thousands of people from India in to the country unchecked! We are an island! We should be able to prevent this, same way as NZ did!
 
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Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving.

regarding the variant it is currently almost exclusively spreading in the 25yr old and below category, this suggests that the vaccinated population isn’t being impacted by it which is promising.

I do think they should surge vaccinate areas like Bolton now to try and contain it.
 
Dave said:
Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving.

regarding the variant it is currently almost exclusively spreading in the 25yr old and below category, this suggests that the vaccinated population isn’t being impacted by it which is promising.

I do think they should surge vaccinate areas like Bolton now to try and contain it.
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I think they should build a wall around Bolton!
 
So it's looking increasingly likely that the June 21st easing will be pushed back. Just got to hope that they don't decide to push back the May 17th easing as well.
 
Skyscraper said:
So it's looking increasingly likely that the June 21st easing will be pushed back. Just got to hope that they don't decide to push back the May 17th easing as well.
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It's probably too late for them to push May 17th back now and they couldn't really justify national restrictions right now as the outbreak seems to be largely confined to three boroughs (Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Erewash) although that probably will change in the future. If I were Boris I would consider local restrictions for now and only consider national restrictions if the Indian variant becomes more common nationwide.
 
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