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Coronavirus

Coronavirus - The Poll


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Boris Johnson has today indicated in the Commons that a plan for exiting lockdown will be outlined in the week beginning 22nd February following the first review on 15th February. If all is getting better by then with regards to the vaccine rollout and the disease’s trajectory in terms of cases, deaths and hospitalisations, Boris has indicated that schools could reopen (the first thing that will be eased, according to the government) from 8th March.

This is of course entirely conditional, and depends on what course the pandemic has taken by mid-February, but it’s nice to know that Boris does have ideas in place for if things are going well, in my opinion.

Saying you have a plan, and actually having a plan are two very different situations.....
 
One thing that has struck me about the whole pandemic is how fragmented society is now. I suppose Brexit started it, but the attitudes of some people about the virus, about other people, about the vaccines is just mind boggling, and kinda scary. Only yesterday I saw a video of someone going in to an ICU and hassling a Dr who was trying to save an old mans life, until eventually security dragged them out. Seeing the riots in Netherlands and Denmark, unrest in France, it does make you wonder if the Western world is going to collapse in to chaos in the not too distant future, much to the delight of Russia, China and North Korea.
 
Primary teacher here. Tested positive today.

Funny to hear Boris "it isn't that schools are unsafe" then in the same breath "the problem is they bring lots of households together".

Right. Clear as mud, darling.
 
Primary teacher here. Tested positive today.

Funny to hear Boris "it isn't that schools are unsafe" then in the same breath "the problem is they bring lots of households together".

Right. Clear as mud, darling.
It's a Schrödinger-esque statement, really, implying that schools are both safe from COVID and unsafe from it. I often question whether he applies the whole 'engage brain before opening mouth' thing, and this is an example of that.

Do look after yourself, Dan.
 
One thing that has struck me about the whole pandemic is how fragmented society is now. I suppose Brexit started it, but the attitudes of some people about the virus, about other people, about the vaccines is just mind boggling, and kinda scary. Only yesterday I saw a video of someone going in to an ICU and hassling a Dr who was trying to save an old mans life, until eventually security dragged them out. Seeing the riots in Netherlands and Denmark, unrest in France, it does make you wonder if the Western world is going to collapse in to chaos in the not too distant future, much to the delight of Russia, China and North Korea.

Russia and China have enough internal strife at the moment, they just control the news a lot easier.

I’m not surprised by the unrest and certain peoples odd behaviour. I am by no means comparing lockdown to prison but there is a reason losing your liberty and self determination is seen as a punishment in society, humans don’t work well with it (hence why authoritarians fear their population and often gain control by creating an illusion of freedom). Some people are experiencing the stresses associated with this.

Western democracy has outlived 2 world wars and a whole lot of upheaval over the centuries, look at America, the moment a crisis hit the population returned to voting for a traditional democrat rather than the exciting but dangerous individual. We are programmed from birth to follow certain beliefs and capitalist based democracy is a hard habit to break.

That’s not to say things might not go bad in the short term, but a major upheaval would be resisted by the existing western powers and put simply if tension got too high they will relax the lockdown, say the mental health impact justifies the death rate and pretend everything is normal again.
 
The problem more lies in the way people can descend into a bubble of misinformation completely easily.

So, so many accounts or groups on Facebook and YouTube are able to spread complete lies and false information about various subjects then due to their algorithm people who watch one thing start watching more of the same nonsense. Thus allowing sensible opinions to fly out of the window.

As a result of the rise of anti-vaxxers becoming far more mainstream we've seen diseases that were essentially beaten rise back up in numbers. And unfortunately these opinions are allowed to come into the conversation due to a sense of providing "balance", when these people should be put in the docks and prosecuted for potentially endangering (some people have died as a result of drinking certain people's cure all's after all) lives.

Life was better when these people were only allowed in their own little chambers of nonsense. But now (much like with any rabid fanbase of a "influencer") are able to poison the minds of so many people with no consequence because "their opinion matters", even when it's baseless and far more dangerous.
 
A man who is a covid denier, is wanted by the police by entering a covid hospital ward wanting to take elderly patients home and giving NHS staff abuse. This was filmed and uploaded to the internet (the video can be viewed in the link below). Despicable behaviour towards our NHS staff who are working around the clock to save lives as well as this man is putting others at risk from the virus

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-launch-manhunt-covid-denier-23392379
 
A man who is a covid denier, is wanted by the police by entering a covid hospital ward wanting to take elderly patients home and giving NHS staff abuse. This was filmed and uploaded to the internet (the video can be viewed in the link below). Despicable behaviour towards our NHS staff who are working around the clock to save lives as well as this man is putting others at risk from the virus

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-launch-manhunt-covid-denier-23392379

Probably not worth saying what I'd do with dead losses in society like that. Slightly bemusing that the patient wants to leave despite being told he'll likely die without oxygen.
 
Good news about the Pfizer jab - it does protect from the S African strain

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-DOES-work-against-South-African-variant.html
Excellent, excellent news; looks like we don’t have any escaped mutants at least for the time being!

Of course the disease will probably mutate eventually, but I think that will take longer than some are anticipating. Coronaviruses tend to mutate quite slowly compared to things like influenza viruses, apparently, so I think our primary concern at the moment should be vaccinating against the currently circulating strains, while still of course keeping an eye on the situation with new variants, because it’s better to be proactive than reactive, in my opinion.

On another really positive note, the government is already nearly halfway towards their target of 15 million first doses by 15th February, because as of yesterday, approximately 7,447,150 (I think I’ve got the number right...) first doses have been given!
 
That can only be good news! Is it known if these doses will be ready for deployment as soon as they’re approved for use, or are they like Moderna’s where they won’t be available until later in 2021?

Only asking because 60 million is a pretty substantial number (the second most of any vaccine Britain has ordered behind AstraZeneca, I believe), and with a combination of 89% efficacy and a high number of doses, this could really make a difference to the pandemic in Britain!
 
No idea on when it'll be available, but it's still good news either way.

I did have a look at the vaccine calculator last night to see when I'm due to get mine. First dose should be some point between mid-May and mid-July. Second dose is between mid-August and 12th October. I'm due to be flying out to Germany on the 13th. :p I know that the calculator isn't exactly accurate, but I just thought the end of the predicted window for my second dose was quite funny. :p
 
Getting a bit concerned about the EU threatening to block exports of the Pfizer vaccine. I wonder if people due their second shots in the next couple of months will indeed get them and if not what happens then....
 
That can only be good news! Is it known if these doses will be ready for deployment as soon as they’re approved for use, or are they like Moderna’s where they won’t be available until later in 2021?

Only asking because 60 million is a pretty substantial number (the second most of any vaccine Britain has ordered behind AstraZeneca, I believe), and with a combination of 89% efficacy and a high number of doses, this could really make a difference to the pandemic in Britain!

If approved it is due to be delivered in the second half of 2021.

Getting a bit concerned about the EU threatening to block exports of the Pfizer vaccine. I wonder if people due their second shots in the next couple of months will indeed get them and if not what happens then....

I think the EU realise that on the whole they've been pretty slow off the mark when it comes to vaccines and they seem to be paying for that now with their relatively slow roll out. It would be a pity to see any country or group of countries block exports of vaccines. At the end of the day, contacts need to be fulfilled whether that be the UK getting Pfizer vaccines produced in Belgium or the EU getting AstraZeneca vaccines produced in the UK.
 
One thing that strikes me most about many conspiracy theorists during this pandemic is that nobody who follows them acknowledges their true intentions. Main steam conspiracy theorists have made so much money from this pandemic it’s profiting made so obvious. As someone pointed out to me those main steam widely viewed ones can say what they say as they know people will hear it and in turn every click is more money every video view more money every book sale more money etc etc. I’ll be glad when this pandemic is over so those main stream conspiracies can just crawl back under their rock and return to obscurity.
 
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