Coronavirus (Non-Politics)

[OldBlueLady]

Popped into Tesco, Pitsea earlier to get gift cards, they were still not stopping people going in without masks. While stores like that continue not to enforce it, and people continue to be so bloody minded about it, things will never improve.

Personally, I don't agree with imposing more restrictions across the board. Protect the vulnerable - absolutely, but we're never going to recover this lost time for our children and the cost to mental health is going to be huge. So, let's get on with our lives with the necessary precautions. I'd even go so far as to say bring in national ID cards for track and trace.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Popped into Tesco, Pitsea earlier to get gift cards, they were still not stopping people going in without masks. While stores like that continue not to enforce it, and people continue to be so bloody minded about it, things will never improve.

Personally, I don't agree with imposing more restrictions across the board. Protect the vulnerable - absolutely, but we're never going to recover this lost time for our children and the cost to mental health is going to be huge. So, let's get on with our lives with the necessary precautions. I'd even go so far as to say bring in national ID cards for track and trace.

Shop workers and workers indoors of other public facing outlets need to be wearing masks for rules to be common and sense. I am pleased this has finally happened.
However until the property owner is made responsible for the actions, on their site, it is a too loose ruling; and as when the tobacco ban came in. the premises will need to be empowered to refuse service and require persons not complying to leave with the "big stick" approach of a fine for the premises for non compliance high.
It would be an unwelcome and hard course to follow but if the police gave a high priority to businesses in support of the mask wearing then change would happen.
Without that the covid flat earthers will be continuing to flaunt any and all laws for this pandemic.

 

[OldBlueLady]

And I've just discovered this, which is making me very unhappy!

BREAKING: Estate agents must soon wear masks in their branches or break law

Ministers confirm retail rules announced by Boris Johnson today will apply to estate agency offices too, once the legislation is passed.

thenegotiator.co.uk

 

[dloman]

I don't have any inside knowledge about vaccines really, although my company is running the Moderna trial which is a phase 3 study expected to be one of the first to read out.

A lot of my work is on the therapeutics side and unfortunately I can't speak about specifics, but it's very exciting how quickly things are progressing and what we call 'standard of care' for patients hospitalised with COVID is significantly better now than it was 6 months ago. This has lead to a drop in the mortality rates, which is great. On the flip side though we're learning a lot more about long COVID and it's important to understand how effective acute treatments can benefit or avoid long term complications, but also the importance of post-ICU rehab and better management of chronic complications post-COVID like heart failure, mental health, renal impairment etc.

We've never been able to develop a vaccine before for a coronavirus. That's important to remember. I'm not an immunologist but my lay understand is that it's quite difficult to achieve a sustained immune response, and also because the coronavirus tends to affect the upper respiratory tract, which our immune system struggles to protect. I'm hopeful that we will develop a vaccine that will cause an immune response and will therefore provide some benefit. My concerns however are:
- If that immune response will persist long enough to enable an effective vaccination policy to be implemented. A response of 3 or 4 months may not be sufficient, especially if the vaccine is say 70-80% effective, you might not really achieve herd immunity and requiring regular boosters may not be feasible for implementation. You'd have to argue if it was worth it.
- It could well be that we develop 3-4 vaccines (from the >100 being studied currently) but they all have slightly different benefits and safety profiles. We see this with the flu jab, with some being used for older people, some for children etc. I think we might see similar happen and then it's a case of trying to work with what we have.
- determining if a trial is 'successful' and therefore if a vaccine is to be approved is challenging. Is 60% immunity/response a 'good enough' result? Once a vaccine/trial is declared a success then it becomes very difficult to recruit for other trials that are ongoing, and therefore we may never see the 'best' vaccine come through, because we're in such a rush to get something approved.

On the treatment side I am interested in how it is being treated in certain other countries, such as Qatar - 123,000 cases and 313 deaths or Singapore 57,000 cases and just 27 deaths. I wonder if any research has been done or if there are other reasons for their low fatality rate?

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

On the treatment side I am interested in how it is being treated in certain other countries, such as Qatar - 123,000 cases and 313 deaths or Singapore 57,000 cases and just 27 deaths. I wonder if any research has been done or if there are other reasons for their low fatality rate?

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of research being done into it

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

It's reported that Spain have seen a massive surge in new positive Covid cases, yet on 20th May they made it compulsory to wear a mask when going out, which is still in force now?.
So either wearing a mask is a waste of time, or many have ignored this mandate?.
Anyone shed any info on this?.

 

[Holy Joe]

No they won’t. They’ll target social interactions (pubs/restaurants/events) and who’s allowed in your home. I don’t think many would argue the first lockdown was necessary but all a second one would do is push the second wave further down the line, right into winter. We can’t shut down the economy every time there’s a spike, until there’s a vaccine. If we do we’ll have the same issue every time we relax restrictions as allegedly only 8% of the population have had Covid. We know a bit more about the virus now, we‘re more prepared and we aren’t (yet) running out of control. So targeted restrictions and local shutdowns will be how they play it I think, as and when the need arises. Of course masks being worn, social distancing etc help, as long as everyone plays ball.
I don’t think we’ll see schools closed again like before.

They will when they run out of teachers - my sons school has already emailed contingency plans to us - first stage kids move to a 4 day week, and stage 2 is a 2 week in school, 2 week out of school rota, and third stage is close apart from key workers kids.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

No they won’t. They’ll target social interactions (pubs/restaurants/events) and who’s allowed in your home. I don’t think many would argue the first lockdown was necessary but all a second one would do is push the second wave further down the line, right into winter. We can’t shut down the economy every time there’s a spike, until there’s a vaccine. If we do we’ll have the same issue every time we relax restrictions as allegedly only 8% of the population have had Covid. We know a bit more about the virus now, we‘re more prepared and we aren’t (yet) running out of control. So targeted restrictions and local shutdowns will be how they play it I think, as and when the need arises. Of course masks being worn, social distancing etc help, as long as everyone plays ball.
I don’t think we’ll see schools closed again like before.

First,most certainly.If that doesn't work (ie if the R rate doesn't fall below I in a couple of weeks) then I think you can expect some selected schools to close,for a much shorter period than last timeie not a blanket lockdown.

FWIW,the LFB (where I'm due to resume PT teaching next week (and our older daughter teaches FT, have what is perhaps the most intelligent solution to the contagion problem that I've heard so far (and they've already had 1 teacher test positive fo the virus).Apparently a kid is only sent home if they were sat next to someone who'd tested positive during the lunchtime break.(a note is mad of where each kid sits +their contact details etc.This seems to have worked quite well for the last fortnight or so.Let's hope it continues to do so.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

It's reported that Spain have seen a massive surge in new positive Covid cases, yet on 20th May they made it compulsory to wear a mask when going out, which is still in force now?.
So either wearing a mask is a waste of time, or many have ignored this mandate?.
Anyone shed any info on this?.

Your're right to say that the wearing of a facemask is still compulsory here.IIt's not "a waste of time" however, since the purpose of wearing a facemask is to protect other people from you.





TBH, I haven't seen many people ignoring this on our daily walks. (Though my wife is a great offender in the open air when not in long term contact with anyone (apart from me I suppose).

 

[GNH]

Your're right to say that the wearing of a facemask is still compulsory here.IIt's not "a waste of time" however, since the purpose of wearing a facemask is to protect other people from you.

View attachment 12903



TBH, I haven't seen many people ignoring this on our daily walks. (Though my wife is a great offender in the open air when not in long term contact with anyone (apart from me I suppose).

So masks don't work then as the huge spike in Spain has still happened?

Or are you saying that without them it would have been even worse?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

1.So masks don't work then as the huge spike in Spain has still happened?



2.Or are you saying that without them it would have been even worse?

1.I think the jury's still out on that.Though it's certainly not what the graphic (from research done by John Hopkins University in the US) would appear to suggest.You are however ignoring other factors,such as eg lack of social distancing on public transport etc

2.See above.FYI,the spike you mention, is currently much higher in Madrid than in the rest of Spain.

FWIW,I downloaded ,printed (more fool me) and read about 30 pages of bumf. from the British Council this summer about keeping staff safe under Covid -19 conditions.Nothing I read convinced me until I saw this graphic. (There's also about 50 pages of Covid .crap up on the LFB 's website (in French, Spanish/Catalan) if you want to check.

Accueil - Lycée Français de Barcelone

www.lfb.es

 

[rigsby]

Your're right to say that the wearing of a facemask is still compulsory here.IIt's not "a waste of time" however, since the purpose of wearing a facemask is to protect other people from you.

View attachment 12903



TBH, I haven't seen many people ignoring this on our daily walks. (Though my wife is a great offender in the open air when not in long term contact with anyone (apart from me I suppose).

This sort of nonsense reminds me of those 70's information films and leaflets. The ones that showed mum, dad and the two kids building an Atomic bomb proof shelter under their stairs. Then advising you to place a hankie over your eyes to shield you from the blast.

Still it gives the sheep plenty to graze on.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

Wow, sorry to hear that Cyril. Hope none of you has it too badly. Any idea where your source was?

 

[Mad Cyril]

Wow, sorry to hear that Cyril. Hope none of you has it too badly. Any idea where your source was?

Looks like one of the schools.

 

[londonblue]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

Sorry to hear that MC. Hope you get better soon.

 

[Ricky Otto]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

Hope you are well soon
How long have you had symptoms for? Are you over the hump or do you feel like you are getting worse? Did you have a temperature?
I do wonder if our household has had it or whether it was just a cold/flu thing

 

[Member]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

All the best mate. Hope it’s mild and resolves quickly and fully

 

[Mad Cyril]

Hope you are well soon
How long have you had symptoms for? Are you over the hump or do you feel like you are getting worse? Did you have a temperature?
I do wonder if our household has had it or whether it was just a cold/flu thing

I started feeling slightly rough Sunday. I feel a bit worse today - bit of a temperature and headache.

My son tested positive and feels absolutely fine.

 

[Napster]

I have tested positive so that is five cases in my household now.

Hope it clears up.