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Coronavirus

Coronavirus - The Poll

  • Total voters
    97
If masks are returning, I won't be enforcing it. On top of the verbal abuse, I was actually assaulted over mask wearing last year and that was back when the GP were generally on board with it all. What hope have we got now? We got there with masks eventually then the government decided to bin them off for a few months for no apparent reason.

So sod them, if they want masks to return, I'll wear one, my staff will but if they want everyone else to as well then they can come and enforce it themselves.
 
Islander said:
Ah yes, as wearing masks will ensure that we have no issues whatsoever with Omicron. It's the 100% failsafe Coronavirus deterrent, and if only everyone had worn them at all times then we'd be over this by now...

Sheesh.
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I didn;t say that though did I? I said
JAperson said:
o we don't have to deal with this new variant until the scientists understand it.
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Which means lets give the scientists some time to learn more about it before it becomes the dominant version in the population (which it probably will like delta). Of course it won't protect us from it but I will slow the spread down allowing scientists to learn more about it and how things like the vaccines work on it.
 
Wearing a mask is literally the bare minimum they could ask us to do, so it's depressing that people can't even be bothered to do that.

I've just spent 6 weeks abroad where mask wearing in any public space (outside and inside) is mandatory. No disability exceptions either.
Putting a mask on for 15 minutes to do some shopping is hardly a hardship.
 
I went Christmas shopping a week ago, in and out of various shops. I wore my mask in all of them. It was no different to my pre-Covid Christmas shopping experience.

Mask wearing has dropped significantly in the past few months though, and I’m not sure it’s going to pick up all that much.
 
Rob said:
Mask wearing has dropped significantly in the past few months though, and I’m not sure it’s going to pick up all that much.
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Indeed I'm confident that previous levels of mask wearing will not be achieved. The government stupidly left too many restrictions on the economy for way too long then made the even more rediculous descion of binning everything off in one go. We went from fammine to feast in one fell swoop.

This will have created a sour taste in the mouths of the country. One minute you can't go to work and things are shut resulting in potential job losses, damage to industries and economic disaster. The next day, the gloves are off and we're all told to go nuts in a frenzied free for all, resulting in rampant virus transmission and a national vacancy crisis.

There's never a way of going back with that. There's little confidence in the government or their direction, whether you're someone sat in a chair at home in isolation rocking back and forth thinking a virus is going to waltz on in and kill you at any moment or if you're an anti vax nut job who thinks there are mind controlling chips in every syringe.

With Borris and co's latest scandals, bungling and the handling of Covid added to the earlier illegalities of proroguing parmliament and driving around in busses with lies plastered on the side - how is anyone to treat them seriously?
 
Too desperate to "save Christmas" again weren't they? Or saving their landlord mates who were losing income from people working from home.

Getting my booster next week at least. Which given I had the AstraZenenca one in the first place is a definite benefit. Hopefully means that if things don't turn south can actually go to Europa for new years. But always had a niggling doubt in my mind given the way things haven't gone away but people act like it has.

Wonder if my work will enforce masks again for us in the office. I mean we won't be shutting down again even if there's another lockdown anyway. Or working from home.
 
I went on a bus last month for the 1st time since March 2020 and I had my mask on but was shocked to see no 1 else even the driver wearing 1. I thought it was law even before last night’s announcement that you had to wear masks on public transport.
 
The world has gone mad, I can’t find one report of anyone who is vaccinated requiring hospital treatment with this new variant, in fact early indications are it could cause less serious disease than Delta from what I can read up on it.
Switzerland banning UK citizens because we have two positive cases but not banning Germans or Belgians, yep that makes sense.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I went on a bus last month for the 1st time since March 2020 and I had my mask on but was shocked to see no 1 else even the driver wearing 1. I thought it was law even before last night’s announcement that you had to wear masks on public transport.
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Nope, that was removed ages ago. Drivers also have never had to wear masks if they're protected my other means, namely perspex screens.
 
Matt.GC said:
There's never a way of going back with that. There's little confidence in the government or their direction, whether you're someone sat in a chair at home in isolation rocking back and forth thinking a virus is going to waltz on in and kill you at any moment or if you're an anti vax nut job who thinks there are mind controlling chips in every syringe
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and I think this is the main issue. Even if we don't like the government we should be able to trust that they follow the scientists advice and make sensible decisions, they've not done that a considerable number of times.
They've done it this time however the public has just lost all faith in everything the government does, nobody wants to follow the rules because they just don't want to listen to the government. I'll wear a mask as I always have done but there are lots of people who will not do it simply because they don't believe a word the government says.
 
Islander said:
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I went on a bus last month for the 1st time since March 2020 and I had my mask on but was shocked to see no 1 else even the driver wearing 1. I thought it was law even before last night’s announcement that you had to wear masks on public transport.
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Nope, that was removed ages ago.
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Depends where you are. It's remained a requirement for passengers on TfL services to continue wearing face coverings ever since the rules were relaxed elsewhere in England.

There was still a sizable minority not bothering on the Tube based on my experience yesterday.
 
Tim said:
Wearing a mask is literally the bare minimum they could ask us to do, so it's depressing that people can't even be bothered to do that.

I've just spent 6 weeks abroad where mask wearing in any public space (outside and inside) is mandatory. No disability exceptions either.
Putting a mask on for 15 minutes to do some shopping is hardly a hardship.
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I went on holiday recently and at the hotel buffet every single person put their mask on when standing up from the table to get food, I did not see anyone without a mask in the restaurant. What are the chances of that in the UK even when masks were compulsory?
Not sure why Europeans can manage to wear them and Brits cannot...
 
So covid booster jabs are to be offered to all over 18s but we don't have any evidence to say if they're effective or not against the Omicron variant? Call me stupid if you like but surely it's best to wait until we know it's effective or we change the vaccine to be effective?
 
MattyH said:
So covid booster jabs are to be offered to all over 18s but we don't have any evidence to say if they're effective or not against the Omicron variant? Call me stupid if you like but surely it's best to wait until we know it's effective or we change the vaccine to be effective?
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But the Booster is very very effective against Delta.
So try to keep people who get infected with Delta out of hospital, therefore if Omicron does take off then hospitals can concentrate on treating that.

Boosters give over 90% protection against symptomatic COVID-19 in adults over 50 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
 
MattyH said:
So covid booster jabs are to be offered to all over 18s but we don't have any evidence to say if they're effective or not against the Omicron variant? Call me stupid if you like but surely it's best to wait until we know it's effective or we change the vaccine to be effective?
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We can't just change the vaccine like that, it takes time (at least 3 months by the sounds of it, but further testing may be required on top of that).

It is extremely likely that the current vaccines will provide at least some protection against this new variant. And it is very effective against Delta which is by far the most common strain circulating in the UK right now (of course that might change).

I'm pretty sure that the booster rollout would have been extended regardless of a new variant, this has just accelerated the decision.
 
Promisingly, hospitals and GPs across South Africa are reporting that the symptoms of Omicron are “unusual, but very mild”: https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-...mutation-kills-off-more-lethal-delta-variant/

Even though cases are going up and 90% of cases in South Africa are now caused by Omicron, death rates and even hospital admissions are not increasing significantly, suggesting a lower severity than previous strains.

Patients are also getting milder symptoms, with most Omicron-infected patients merely getting a severe headache, nausea or dizziness. No loss of taste and smell like past strains; the symptoms are seemingly milder with this variant, and it’s seemingly less lethal.

The WHO says that preliminary evidence is showing Omicron to be more transmissible and carry a greater risk of reinfection than other strains.

However, it appears to be less lethal, and due to its combination of high transmissibility and low rate of severe disease, some scientists are cautiously optimistic that this displacing the much more lethal Delta variant as the dominant strain will actually be quite good for the world, and that the disease may be showing early signs of doing what a lot of scientists thought would happen (it gradually mutating to become mild and endemic like the other circulating coronaviruses).

Of course we should still keep an eye on Omicron, but isn’t this a potentially hopeful development?
 
Matt N said:
Promisingly, hospitals and GPs across South Africa are reporting that the symptoms of Omicron are “unusual, but very mild”: https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-...mutation-kills-off-more-lethal-delta-variant/

Even though cases are going up and 90% of cases in South Africa are now caused by Omicron, death rates and even hospital admissions are not increasing significantly, suggesting a lower severity than previous strains.

Patients are also getting milder symptoms, with most Omicron-infected patients merely getting a severe headache, nausea or dizziness. No loss of taste and smell like past strains; the symptoms are seemingly milder with this variant, and it’s seemingly less lethal.

The WHO says that preliminary evidence is showing Omicron to be more transmissible and carry a greater risk of reinfection than other strains.

However, it appears to be less lethal, and due to its combination of high transmissibility and low rate of severe disease, some scientists are cautiously optimistic that this displacing the much more lethal Delta variant as the dominant strain will actually be quite good for the world, and that the disease may be showing early signs of doing what a lot of scientists thought would happen (it gradually mutating to become mild and endemic like the other circulating coronaviruses).

Of course we should still keep an eye on Omicron, but isn’t this a potentially hopeful development?
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Yes its all good news and is heading in the right direction. Hopefully these new restricts give time for even more information to come out before it becomes widespread which will allow us to take appropriate action. If the vaccines hold up relatively well and symptoms aren't that bad then we should be fine to continue with our transition back to normal life if not than other options may have to be looked at.
 
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