Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[John MacLean]

14 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

I think the reaction of the press even on the back of trickled down rumours pretty much shows the mood of the nation for millions. Governments are damned if they do, damned if they don't here. What the should be doing however is in no way sugar coating the risks and potential consequences. Highlight that if families choose to mix (and at the end of the day it will boil down to a personal choice) then undoubtedly it is going to lead to folk dying, explain fully the potential risk thus people can make their own choices.
Personally I am under pressure to have the mother in law for Christmas dinner. I have highlighted the risks to both her and my wife and also said I don't think it's a great idea but she is alone and especially lonely at that time of year. Very difficult balancing act for everyone.

We're just having turkey as normal but each to their own. 

[invergowrie arab]

28 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Shouldn’t that be “us Perth strawheids”?

I'm culturally Dundonian 

[Billy Jean King]

We're just having turkey as normal but each to their own. 

Witty, she would be tough as old boots I suspect.

[Aufc]

I think the reaction of the press even on the back of trickled down rumours pretty much shows the mood of the nation for millions. Governments are damned if they do, damned if they don't here. What the should be doing however is in no way sugar coating the risks and potential consequences. Highlight that if families choose to mix (and at the end of the day it will boil down to a personal choice) then undoubtedly it is going to lead to folk dying, explain fully the potential risk thus people can make their own choices.
Personally I am under pressure to have the mother in law for Christmas dinner. I have highlighted the risks to both her and my wife and also said I don't think it's a great idea but she is alone and especially lonely at that time of year. Very difficult balancing act for everyone.

Surely your mother in law is part of your extended household and thus this is not doing anything wrongv

[TheScarf]

The average human life lasts over 70 years.  Imagine the seethe at having to have 1 non-normal Christmas day out of 70.  Absolutely no-righter behaviour.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, Gordon EF said:

Aye. Politicians can't or won't come out and say it but a lot of the problems are coming from folk just being c***s.

They'll never stop that. This is about the best they can do.

This. So much this. The last few months have affected us all in different ways, most of them negative. I've been getting more and more pissed off with people starting to ignore restrictions and precautions because, well basically they're bored with this pandemic.

That we are seeing all the Governments basically throwing their hands in the air and saying, "we might as well open up for Xmas, as you lot are going to fúck the restrictions off anyway," shows that this country is absolutely devoid of any sense of common purpose.

Sadly, I've had a major difference of opinion with a few family members, including Mrs WRK over this. Her parents are both in their seventies, and her auntie is too. She is quite happy wit the idea of having them over,  as well as Rosettes No 1 and 2 plus spouses/kids despite:

1. My working in a Prison which is classed as an outbreak site,

2. Her (and her staff) going in and out of clients' houses cleaning,

3. Rosette No. 1 working (midwife)  in Hospitals and the community,

4. None of the in-laws being in brilliant health anyway.

She went apeshit, accusing me of being a miserable cúnt, when I suggested it might be better to ensure that we get to see Family in the future, rather than risk them for what is basically a Sunday Dinner. Rosettes No 2 (and Husband) and 3 agree with me, but No 2 doesn't want to upset her Mum by saying that Grandaughter 1 can't come and open her presents at ours. Said Granddaughter is more than onboard with the idea of being safe and sticking to the rules, and understands Christmas will be different this year.

I am not looking forward to the "festive" season. Or being locked down for the entirety of January.

 

[Gus Setsniffer]

1 minute ago, TheScarf said:

The average human life lasts over 70 years.  Imagine the seethe at having to have 1 non-normal Christmas day out of 70.  Absolutely no-righter behaviour.

but there is a smallish window from mid 20's to late 30's, maybe even seeping into the 40's where there could be potential jealously from friends at the huge ostentatious family christmas day Karen posts on insta or facebook..........to which which Abby & Emma post, looks great babe, while secretly bealing, to which Karen will reply ''thank hunni''   but really wants to post ''get it right round yih''

[Gordon EF]

8 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

This. So much this. The last few months have affected us all in different ways, most of them negative. I've been getting more and more pissed off with people starting to ignore restrictions and precautions because, well basically they're bored with this pandemic.

That we are seeing all the Governments basically throwing their hands in the air and saying, "we might as well open up for Xmas, as you lot are going to fúck the restrictions off anyway," shows that this country is absolutely devoid of any sense of common purpose.

Sadly, I've had a major difference of opinion with a few family members, including Mrs WRK over this. Her parents are both in their seventies, and her auntie is too. She is quite happy wit the idea of having them over,  as well as Rosettes No 1 and 2 plus spouses/kids despite:

1. My working in a Prison which is classed as an outbreak site,

2. Her (and her staff) going in and out of clients' houses cleaning,

3. Rosette No. 1 working (midwife)  in Hospitals and the community,

4. None of the in-laws being in brilliant health anyway.

She went apeshit, accusing me of being a miserable cúnt, when I suggested it might be better to ensure that we get to see Family in the future, rather than risk them for what is basically a Sunday Dinner. Rosettes No 2 (and Husband) and 3 agree with me, but No 2 doesn't want to upset her Mum by saying that Grandaughter 1 can't come and open her presents at ours. Said Granddaughter is more than onboard with the idea of being safe and sticking to the rules, and understands Christmas will be different this year.

I am not looking forward to the "festive" season. Or being locked down for the entirety of January.

 

Yep. I was probably a bit harsh calling folk c***s. It's not the c***s that are the problem. It's generally decent people who don't see the problem in breaking the rules here and there because they really want to and think they deserve it because they've been good most of the time.

That's just not the way these things work. Maybe my family can meet up over Christmas without any transmission but if 80-odd percent  of families meet up over Christmas, we're going to get hit like a fucking sledgehammer in January in terms of new cases. Folk in my family have generally been following the rules but Christmas is still seen as some kind of special one-off and missing it this year is just a step too far. I am a bit uncomfortable with it but it's happening and it looks like just about everyone will be doing it. Thankfully there aren't any high risk folk in my family.

[Distant Doonhamer]

 Surely your mother in law is part of your extended household and thus this is not doing anything wrongs

 

Not everyone is assessing this as doing something that will or won’t break the rules but trying to make a judgement around what they see as the risk involved. We haven’t seen my in laws since March. I personally don’t see any point in suddenly changing that just for a few days at Christmas especially given they will hopefully get vaccinated early in 2021. The individual risks are likely very small but I think a lot of people will feel like this. My mother in law wants us all to meet at Christmas, my father in law thinks we should delay until it’s “safer” to do so. We won’t be seeing them.

 

[Granny Danger]

3 minutes ago, ThatBoyRonaldo said:

An argument I've heard re Christmas is that if people are going to socialise anyway then it's better that the rules are relaxed so that people are willing to cooperate with track and trace (insofar as track and trace is working at all) without the fear they'll be reprimanded or prosecuted or whatever. I can see the logic but it's extremely hard to believe that it outweighs the impact of the extra socialising and *inevitable* extra cases that will follow as a direct result of relaxing the rules. 

ICTChris has made the point several times that many people are more concerned with "the rules" and mapping pre-existing moral codes onto the pandemic than any notion of actual risk. If you tell people the rules are relaxed and it's ok to have a "normal" Christmas that will be more than enough for many people to engage in activities where going by risk alone they probably shouldn't, because people are not good at estimating the risk involved. It's a situation where you actually need strong leadership. Whatever you think of them you'd think Sturgeon and Johnson are skilful enough as politicians to sell restrictions for Christmas without trashing their own policies. Whole thing's a shitshow. 

You may be right, I actually think offering a structure and hoping that most folk work to it is less risky than providing no structure at all.

Nothing can be done to mitigate the, hopefully small number of, people who will do what the hell they want regardless.

[Distant Doonhamer]

WRK makes a good point as well btw - if nothing else the passing of the buck on this to responsible members of families is a pain in the arse. How many people across the country are having to have the same argument with their spouses/extended families just because our leaders are refusing to show some leadership on this issue. 

In all honesty I think the governments are between a rock and a hard place in this. An element of the population will do whatever they please no matter what. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect grown up people to be having these discussions based on some sort of guidance though. It’s a tough one.

[effeffsee_the2nd]

Do you think they’re worried that ,without household mixing on Christmas day , people will decide not to buy such expensive gifts if they’re not going to be personally giving them

[Paco]

WRK makes a good point as well btw - if nothing else the passing of the buck on this to responsible members of families is a pain in the arse. How many people across the country are having to have the same argument with their spouses/extended families just because our leaders are refusing to show some leadership on this issue. 

They’re going to give pretty much a full month’s notice here of the ‘allowed’ plans. In a fast-moving pandemic, there’s not much else that can be done, surely?

Whether you agree with a relaxation or not, this must be the first example of planning and foresight yet. My previous favourites were Gavin Williamson watching the Scottish exam fiasco unfold and doing exactly the same thing four weeks later, and Dido Harding claiming ‘nobody could have foreseen’ schools returning driving a demand for more testing in England, despite Scottish demand going up 300% a month beforehand.

So a rare occasion for me, and they’re certainly coming from a low bar, but I’ll defend the leaders at least on the aspect of coming up with a timely plan.

[Hedgecutter]

Watching the news, I feel that I must be a monster as the only person to not see my own family at Christmas when I spend it at the (unofficial) in-laws where I give my mum a phone call mid-afternoon.  

As someone who might see a member of my family on Christmas Day once every four or five years (and my dad maybe a few days every three or so years in general as he lives Down Under), this whole stooshie about a one-off Covid Christmas simply has me thinking "take a step back and wise the f*** up".   Although I appreciate that people want some form of normality, this selfish sense of entitlement about a marketing-driven (so-called sky-fairy-related) event, just as the light at the end of the tunnel (ie multiple vaccines) has appeared, is slowly bringing out the homocidal maniac in me.

eta: furthermore, this will be my other half's first Christmas since her dad passed away and hearing people whinge about not being able to see alive people for a single day of the year is understandably even more annoying.   Must be even worse for those who have actually lost family to Covid.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[coprolite]

4 hours ago, Michael W said:

It was very widely reported that the vaccine was being sold at cost, so hardly going impact the bottom line. 

 

3 hours ago, Alert Mongoose said:

Some creative accountancy will be in order to work out the cost.

Absolutely. There will no doubt be management fees, interest and royalties rolled into the cost base and paid to a brass plate in BVI or Cayman Islands. 

2 hours ago, The Stig said:

What will be worse  is the stories following the 90 year old getting the vaccine and then passing away naturally days or weeks later with no signs of covid.  All the moon howlers will be proclaiming that the vaccine kills people and it to take it 

There will be children diagnosed with Autism after getting vaccinated. Some people will develop cancer after getting vaccinated. Some people will decide they are gay after getting vaccinated. 

Stupid people will still have a shaky grasp of causality and coincidence. 

 

[Dons_1988]

I was due to visit the in-laws this year but they have taken the sensible decision that relaxing rules at Christmas is dumb, and we're better waiting until the vaccine is rolled out for us to come and visit.

However, this opens the door for my own parents to have an absolute meltdown if we don't now visit them. 

 

[101]

No mention of making your own sunshine or going outside. Actually seems like a sensible tweet.

 

[Scary Bear]

Edinburgh could be used as a setting for the remake of 28 days later.

[Dons_1988]

2 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

Edinburgh could be used as a setting for the remake of 28 days later.

I went running through Edinburgh city centre a few times during the original lockdown.

It was ace to be honest, not a soul to be found.

[Gaz]

This decision to open up for Christmas is up there with the most insane things that's happened this year. It's going to lead to thousands more deaths and an extended lockdown in January for nothing more than a glorified Sunday dinner.