Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

[RandoEFC+]

The fact that Johnson, Jenrick, Patel, Williamson and arguably Hancock's positions are still tenable is all the evidence you need of how far into the toilet the UK's standards have fallen. It started because the pursuit of Brexit became more important than any ministerial standards and now the whole country is paying the price.

It's Johnson who needs to go. A Prime Minister who declares schools safe literally the day before he orders their closure for 6 weeks has no authority to kick anyone else off the front bench for their incompetence.

Utterly embarrassing.

[N U F C]

11 hours ago, Stan said:

Johnson says he hopes top 4 priorities for vaccinations will be vaccinated by mid-Feb. That's the hope anyway. 

Promising but how many people is that? I'd love for it to happen but how realistic is it? 

No chance of that, another false promise that's going to do nothing other than fuck a lot of people off when the time comes and it's not done.

Should just keep his gob shut.

[Inverted]

 

[Stan]

Just the 10 months to incorporate this...

 

[Pyfish+]

It's all just getting ridiculous now. I understand that the virus is moving fast and as a result we need to adapt the restrictions to keep up but it feels like the government are continually contradicting themselves. I gave them the benefit of the doubt early on in this pandemic as it was a completely new thing to have to contend with but it's approaching a year since the first lockdown now and what has really changed?

[Burning Gold]

17 hours ago, Stan said:

Johnson says he hopes top 4 priorities for vaccinations will be vaccinated by mid-Feb. That's the hope anyway. 

Promising but how many people is that? I'd love for it to happen but how realistic is it? 

13.5m apparently. That needs about 2.3m a week which is a significant leap from where we are at the moment which I believe is less than 500,000 a week.

We have the Oxford/AZ vaccine now which is easier to handle and there's more of it, and vaccination capacity is ramping up every day, but still a massive increase needed.

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Burning Gold said:

13.5m apparently. That needs about 2.3m a week which is a significant leap from where we are at the moment which I believe is less than 500,000 a week.

We have the Oxford/AZ vaccine now which is easier to handle and there's more of it, and vaccination capacity is ramping up every day, but still a massive increase needed.

I love that they've promised to increase it extensively. But I'm still skeptical that they'll reach 2.3m/week. Would love if they do, but their track record of overpromising/underdelivering works against them... 

[RandoEFC+]

Interesting developments on my rock. They had a panic over New Year as one person had completed their two weeks isolation having arrived on the island from the UK, gone out and then developed symptoms, and tested positive for Covid-19. The government then released a statement at 11:40pm on New Year's Eve listing a selection of places and times where this person and their family member from within the household who also tested positive, had visited in the few days following their isolation. Over 300 people came forward to be tested in response for this and not a single one tested positive, so this morning I came into work thinking that we were still all good and that every active case of Covid-19 over here was self-isolating already having caught it across.

Fast forward to lunchtime and the government has announced that six positive tests were returned overnight, citing a 'variety of circumstances', none of which were linked to the aforementioned two cases and at least one of which was another person who completed their two week isolation period and then tested positive after returning to the community. Now we have a government briefing at 4pm with rumours of a three week lockdown on the way.

I think the concern is about whether it's the new strain. A colleague of mine reckons that as well as being more contagious it has a longer incubation period (can anyone verify?) which makes these two cases that have been found after a two-week isolation period might be the new strain.

Happy days. The last thing I want to do is return to remote learning because it's absolutely shite compared to being in a classroom but on the bright side, we have a local government who actually respond to stuff before it's too late and their track and trace system has already seen various shops closed for deep cleans and full floors of offices sent to work from home in response to the overnight cases. Didn't cost £12,000,000,000 either.

[Burning Gold]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

I love that they've promised to increase it extensively. But I'm still skeptical that they'll reach 2.3m/week. Would love if they do, but their track record of overpromising/underdelivering works against them... 

I am as well. They're looking at having "over 1,000" vaccination sites, which I think we can take to be very close to 1000 because if it was significantly more they'd say so. To do 2.3m a week in 1000 sites, you need each them to be doing an average of 330 a day (ish) or 27.5 an hour with the generous assumption of 12 hour days and 7 day weeks. Some sites will be at hospitals with lots of staff, but others will be attached to GP surgeries and almost certainly fall well below that average. It might be doable for a short while at a hell of a stretch, but can you sustain it for 42 days with no breaks? I'm also led to believe the biggest problem isn't actually logistics, it's supply of the vaccine, and we haven't even considered that.

Actually another reason to be optimistic about ramping up is that as you go further down the list of people to be vaccinated, they start to become a lot more mobile and easy to deal with. That could well be a big change from the early days of vaccination, but 2.3m/week still looks difficult and again that's just logistics.

Worth noting they've only said the first dose of the vaccine, and we don't know what level of immunity that gives but probably will by mid-Feb. More notable though is that they've already given themselves an out. The first four groups will be "offered" a first dose. What does that mean? It certainly doesn't mean given.

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Burning Gold said:

I am as well. They're looking at having "over 1,000" vaccination sites, which I think we can take to be very close to 1000 because if it was significantly more they'd say so. To do 2.3m a week in 1000 sites, you need each them to be doing an average of 330 a day (ish) or 27.5 an hour with the generous assumption of 12 hour days and 7 day weeks. Some sites will be at hospitals with lots of staff, but others will be attached to GP surgeries and almost certainly fall well below that average. It might be doable for a short while at a hell of a stretch, but can you sustain it for 42 days with no breaks? I'm also led to believe the biggest problem isn't actually logistics, it's supply of the vaccine, and we haven't even considered that.

Actually another reason to be optimistic about ramping up is that as you go further down the list of people to be vaccinated, they start to become a lot more mobile and easy to deal with. That could well be a big change from the early days of vaccination, but 2.3m/week still looks difficult and again that's just logistics.

Worth noting they've only said the first dose of the vaccine, and we don't know what level of immunity that gives but probably will by mid-Feb. More notable though is that they've already given themselves an out. The first four groups will be "offered" a first dose. What does that mean? It certainly doesn't mean given.

I guess that last be caters for those that don't want to have it/refuse to. So everyone in top 4 categories is offered it cos they meet that criteria, but it's up to them to actually take up the offer.

And maybe that'll adversely affect the numbers too. 

Supply of the Oxford vaccine is easier than the Pfizer one I'd like to think. Especially given that it doesn't need the specific storage requirements to be effective. 

 

I'm worried that the 2nd doses might not be given in time to a lot of people. My missus is due to have her first dose tomorrow. She has been advised that 2nd dose may be given within 12 weeks - I don't know if this is the NHS/government covering themselves if they miss the 21 day, 2nd dose schedule, but it came around the same time that government may be changing the guidance to having the 2nd dose in the longer time period as opposed to what the scientists behind the vaccine suggest. 

[Stan]

 

 

[Danny]

There are actually people walking around hospitals trying to film them as being empty? The stupidity is unreal. Not only are they providing an added threat to the hospital by walking around when they shouldn’t be there, they don’t understand how wards work, and that different parts of the hospital do different things, and that if large parts of a hospital are empty it’s probably because every fucker is in the Covid Ward. A ward you can’t simply stroll through to film. Fucking idiots man.

A new strain/variant/whatever that is 70% more spreadable and these dipshits are buying into conspiracy theories like they’re on sale.

[RandoEFC+]

Back in the lockdown gang from midnight tonight for the first time in 6 months. Hooray!

[nudge]

 

[The Artful Dodger]

20 hours ago, Stan said:

 

 

A nice touch perhaps but ultimately our children are going to suffer greatly because of this. Perhaps not right now but each day out of education does damage. I understand at the moment they have to be lockdown but they should be the absolute priority when it comes to reopening things. Has there ever been an equivalent generation where children are sacrificing their futures for the adult generation? With this and Brexit happening, I wouldn't blame any young person for feeling that the generations above them have been completely failed in their duty, which is always to hand over a country in the best possible condition for young people to thrive. Not one thought has been given to them, instead they have been tacitly blamed for the disease. 

Edited January 6, 2021 by The Artful Dodger

[RandoEFC+]

I don't think you can argue that there was a better path that would have kept schools open because of the new strain of the virus.

What you can criticise is the government's pig headed refusal to ever conceive of another situation where schools would have to close to most again, which has resulted in them now having to rush out millions of devices haphazardly to homes where they're needed to enable students to access remote learning. "Schools will not close again, because we're big strong patriotic Tories and we say so" doesn't stop the virus I'm afraid.

Williamson had the cheek to stand up today in the Commons and ask parents to report schools to Ofsted if their children don't receive 3-5 hours of teaching a day. That's his solution to bridging the gap between disadvantaged kids and the rest. Not planning ahead to make sure they can all access work from home where possible, not supporting families with several children and not enough space for them all to do school work separately, nothing practical, just asking parents to tell tales to Ofsted who can then put schools under more negative pressure while he borrows the Downing Street photographer off Donald Johnson and poses next to his whip again.

Who do schools go to to complain about Gavin Williamson when he doesn't provide us with 3-5 hours of competent leadership in education a day? 3-5 hours in a fucking year would be a step in the right direction.

[Stan]

Can't string a sentence together so not sure you'd even get 3-5hrs in a year out of him mate

 

 

[Rucksackfranzose]

2 hours ago, The Artful Dodger said:

A nice touch perhaps but ultimately our children are going to suffer greatly because of this. Perhaps not right now but each day out of education does damage. I understand at the moment they have to be lockdown but they should be the absolute priority when it comes to reopening things. Has there ever been an equivalent generation where children are sacrificing their futures for the adult generation? With this and Brexit happening, I wouldn't blame any young person for feeling that the generations above them have been completely failed in their duty, which is always to hand over a country in the best possible condition for young people to thrive. Not one thought has been given to them, instead they have been tacitly blamed for the disease. 

Yes, there has. In 1944 pupils in Germany left school earlier, to join the army, so they didn't not only sacrifice their future but also potentially their lifes. Also a lot of children in developing countries have to sacrifice their childhood to help their families to survive, the world doesn't consist of Britain only.

[RandoEFC+]

5 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Yes, there has. In 1944 pupils in Germany left school earlier, to join the army, so they didn't not only sacrifice their future but also potentially their lifes. Also a lot of children in developing countries have to sacrifice their childhood to help their families to survive, the world doesn't consist of Britain only.

I think to be fair he was talking in the context of Britain and that should have been clear by the mention of Brexit. None of us on here think the world revolves around us and in fact are totally embarrassed by the state of the country, our governance and the "Rule Britannia" image that the loudest, stupidest, but not majority section of our population has cultivated for the rest of us on the global stage.

[The Artful Dodger]

13 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Yes, there has. In 1944 pupils in Germany left school earlier, to join the army, so they didn't not only sacrifice their future but also potentially their lifes. Also a lot of children in developing countries have to sacrifice their childhood to help their families to survive, the world doesn't consist of Britain only.

I'm not sure that's a great point, considering the cause they were fighting for but yes, as Rando says, I'm talking about Britain. 
 

Edited January 6, 2021 by The Artful Dodger

[Rucksackfranzose]

2 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I think to be fair he was talking in the context of Britain and that should have been clear by the mention of Brexit. None of us on here think the world revolves around us and in fact are totally embarrassed by the state of the country, our governance and the "Rule Britannia" image that the loudest, stupidest, but not majority section of our population has cultivated for the rest of us on the global stage.

So you want a British example? How about the children working under catastrophic conditions in factories during Manchester capitalism? Worded my response poorly, what I meant is: We as humans, of all nationalities by the way, tend to overrate the difficulties we face ourselves and to underrate difiiculties those before our time lived through. As unconvinient as the current situation for children ever might be it's a joke compared with the problems former generations had, so stay realistic and do not exaggerate that enormously.

[The Artful Dodger]

2 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

So you want a British example? How about the children working under catastrophic conditions in factories during Manchester capitalism? Worded my response poorly, what I meant is: We as humans, of all nationalities by the way, tend to overrate the difficulties we face ourselves and to underrate difiiculties those before our time lived through. As unconvinient as the current situation for children ever might be it's a joke compared with the problems former generations had, so stay realistic and do not exaggerate that enormously.

Ok, point taken. Perhaps there were other generations who sacrificed. However, I'd argue this is the only generation that has been required as a whole, to forego their future specifically for the adults. Usually it's either the other way around or a mixture. Now, obviously the latest lockdown is essential but the way children and young people have been talked about throughout the whole saga is as almost a pestilence,  responsible for spreading disease etc. These people will be old one day, and if they've got no education, no prospects and no money then we will have serious problems.

[Stan]

Missus received the first dose of vaccine today, which I'm delighted for. 

The 2nd dose? 

 

Mid-March 

[DeadLinesman]

8 minutes ago, Stan said:

Missus received the first dose of vaccine today, which I'm delighted for. 

The 2nd dose? 

 

Mid-March 

I knew you loved Cougars.

[RandoEFC+]

56 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

So you want a British example? How about the children working under catastrophic conditions in factories during Manchester capitalism? Worded my response poorly, what I meant is: We as humans, of all nationalities by the way, tend to overrate the difficulties we face ourselves and to underrate difiiculties those before our time lived through. As unconvinient as the current situation for children ever might be it's a joke compared with the problems former generations had, so stay realistic and do not exaggerate that enormously.

I'm not going to pretend that this generation of British kids are the first ones ever to be hard done by but at least the ones who were sent off to war or sent up chimneys did so for some actual reason and/or due to a lack of information about how it would affect them. The current generation of British kids have had Brexit inflicted upon them when all the evidence was there that it would only damage their lives, not enhance them in anyway. They're saddled with the responsibility on a worldwide level of sorting out the climate because the generation that came before them, again with all of the relevant science and information available to them, chose to act irresponsibly and pass on the ever-increasing consequences instead to the younger generation having taken completely inadequate action themselves. Then you've got Coronavirus which has impacted all generations horribly, but the damage it has done to their education has been made a lot worse by the decimation of education funding by the Conservative government over the past 10 years which has left schools with no wriggle room to deal with a shock to the system like this one, and even worse still by the catastrophic monstrosity of governance we've seen over the past year from Boris Johnson and Gavin Williamson, who are only in a position to have any influence over the situation because of, and here we come full circle, Brexit.

Of course they aren't the first generation to be affected by it but I'm not exaggerating. I'm just fed up of the kids I've dedicated my career to educating being disadvantaged and burdened by the factors I describe above with one common denominator - a cocktail of selfishness, rich twats who have never known anything else but comfort abusing their position and irresponsible, science-denying, fact-denying right-wing ideology. It's just all so pointless. It should be a basic human instinct to want your children's and grandchildren's lives to be better than your own, and yet in this country, we can't cobble together a government of a handful of people from a pool of 60 million who have even heard of such a concept and actively encourage the labelling of those who have as communists and Marxists.

I'm ranting and rambling, I know I am, but I'm bothered on behalf of the current generation of British youth because it's my job to try and give them something to work with when they leave school and others here are concerned for them for the right reasons, they're the ones we can actually help now so they're the ones we're going to harp on about.