Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Billy Jean King]

It was just yesterday I posted an opinion which you challenged me to back up. That opinion was considerably less dubious than this one. IIRC, it was that Scotland and England will loosen restrictions differently, and that England are doing better at vaccinating. Now here you are dismissing herd immunity.....

Not dismissing it at all. Dismissing it can be achieved on a single dose was the claim I responded to given efficacy.

You can't dismiss Herd Immunity it does exist.

[Marshmallo]

This bozo is absolutely cacking it about "variants"

[Todd_is_God]

He's right, though. It likely will.

What he doesn't seem keem to point out (or even nod to), however, is that due to the vaccines already having been administered years before, we won't notice as it will likely have the effect of little more than a bad cold.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Mr Waldo]

Surely most of the Government speak is 'The science, at the moment, says we're doomed and maybe die by June' .

The same Government can then say 'Well, it's now June and you can watch the Scotland game in the pub simply because WE overcame the science, Please vote for me'

 

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

He's right, though. It likely will.

What he doesn't seem keem to point out (or even nod to), however, is that due to the vaccines already having been administered years before, we won't notice as it will likely have the effect of little more than a bad cold.

Virus will change because nature, scientists will monitor this, and set/adjust a future vaccination regime as needed, is surely the only actual message that needs to be put out there re "MUTANT STRAINS!!!!!!!!"

[Zapp Brannigan]

My opinion is that as soon as the health workers and most vulnerable / at risk groups are vaccinated then the rest of us should be able to make our own decisions.

If you're feart and want to stay indoors, fine. But let the rest of us get on with it

[NotThePars]

July 2032 - With the world now at 98.7% immunity, Covid reduced to only 200 deaths a year worldwide and a sustained annual vaccination programme for the vulnerable, Jason Leitch advises the Government to impose another 2 weeks of lockdowns to wait and see if Tanzania will commit to a vaccine programme, proclaiming that their failure to do so could result in another spike if we reopen despite no-one from Tanzania visiting Scotland since the ill-fated 4 day reopening of 2025. This has now been reviewed every 2 weeks for the last 11 years.
Janey Godley makes a 'fucking hilarious' voiceover video to commemorate the occasion.

I saw Janey Godley the other day again responding to someone claiming that she’s running interference for the government to which she replied “but I slag Boris off all the time” and I’m adamant she has to know what she’s doing. Nobody, not even Janey, is that dense.

[Rob1885]

This bozo is absolutely cacking it about "variants"

specky wee hotdog

[NorthernLights]

The Captain Tom Effect IMO...

[10menwent2mow]

And as I've said, the hope furlough won't be extended past the end of April, and the reopening of continental Europe, are the only things I'm hanging onto for the second half of this year. The end of furlough, and if indeed travel is reopened from England, it simply must force the Scottish Government's hand.

I don't think hoping for furlough to be ended in the hope it forces the governments hand is a particularly feasible stand point. There are sectors that will require furlough to be extended way beyond April.

[10menwent2mow]

I took notes of Sturgeon’s speech today, in the hope that she might have some positive news about a route out of all this, and that those of us in the beleaguered hospitality, nightclub, live music and events sectors might be able to see some light at the end of a very long dark tunnel. 
This is what she said:
”We will be living with restrictions until all of across the U.K. and further, across the world, have vaccinated a (mumble, mumble) significant number of people’, and ‘given what we don’t yet know about the impact of the vaccination on transmission, we may actually be living with some degree of restrictions after we have vaccinated a significant sector of the population.’
So, my take from this is that ongoing government restrictions will be the new normal, and that a return to normality (rather than Sturgeon’s carefully-worded,  expectation-limiting ‘greater normality’) is a very, very long way off.
Given that ongoing restrictions and a return to the tier system, which is all the hope we’re being offered ATM, effectively consigns the live music industry (which everyone knows can’t operate under social distancing restrictions no matter how much SG hopes we might be able to run ‘test events’ at some unspecified point in the future to demonstrate some entirely spurious form of ‘viability’) - and the events services companies that service the music industry - to the dustbin; nightclubs (which aren’t even allowed to open in Tier 0), and hospitality (which can only just about break even with 100% rates relief, rent reductions, flexible furlough and / or other ongoing government support under SG’s onerous social distancing / curfews / alcohol bans and other mitigations strategy built into the tier system) will be crippled for the foreseeable future, with the likelihood of these industries continuing to shrivel and die, with the few remaining businesses drastically reducing overheads to survive in a heavily-restricted ‘new normal’ world of minuscule returns. 
I’d initially thought we’d get back to (something like) normal when the vulnerable groups (over 60s and those with underlying conditions + health care workers) were vaccinated, coinciding with the seasonal downturn of the virus in the late spring / early summer. I was quickly disabused of this notion. Then I consoled myself with the thought that at least with every adult in the U.K. likely to be vaccinated (or offered the vaccine) by September, we’d be out of this by October. Now, after Sturgeon’s latest hope-extinguishing speech, I genuinely think we’ll be dealing with government restrictions, social distancing and draconian travel restrictions for the rest of the year, at least, just in case. 
Certainly, for me, with circa 100 employees in businesses across the live music, events services, nightclubs and hospitality sectors, I’m now getting the impression that SG is so in thrall to this Zero Covid fantasy, and so petrified of risk from the media-hyped new variants (Sky News and the BBC today were both breathlessly reporting that the Essex variant and the South African variant are teaming up Avengers Assemble-style to form a super-powered mutant strain), and negative messaging and evasion of all risk and responsibility (rather than just the so-called ‘caution’ that many have lauded them for) is now so endemic to SG’s worldview, that they’ve boxed themselves into a corner, crippled by caution. Small businesses and independent operators in these sectors are now facing the prospect of admitting defeat after struggling through the last 12 months of this soul-destroying pandemic. If there is no hope forthcoming from government, then there is little or no incentive for business operators to continue. Job losses and business failures will escalate, further crippling a moribund Scottish economy that has already shown a more significant Covid-led downturn than any of the other home nations.
We keep waiting for SG to offer a glimpse of optimism for these sectors, but my feeling is that if the (incredibly efficient) vaccines aren’t enough to get Sturgeon offering a scintilla of hope to the business community, nothing will. Sturgeon seems to thrive on negative messaging and the tightening of restrictions. I’m resigned to the fact that restrictions will continue long after the cost / benefit analysis suggest they should be lifted, and I’ve seen absolutely nothing to suggest that Sturgeon will inspire in leading us out of this shitshow towards a more hopeful future.

Outstanding yet utterly depressing post and 100% spot on.

[Elixir]

21 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

This bozo is absolutely cacking it about "variants"

He's one of the weirdos on 'Independent SAGE'. Do I even need to go on? But yes, they may bypass the  vaccines 'in future'... i.e. two or three years from now, by which point boosters will have been formulated.

Do these fucking clowns not realise the efficacy of the entire arsenal of different vaccines now available and the giant leap in scientific ingenuity that they are? I genuinely hope c**ts like him end up in the dock.

6 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

3 hours ago, Elixir said:

And as I've said, the hope furlough won't be extended past the end of April, and the reopening of continental Europe, are the only things I'm hanging onto for the second half of this year. The end of furlough, and if indeed travel is reopened from England, it simply must force the Scottish Government's hand.

I don't think hoping for furlough to be ended in the hope it forces the governments hand is a particularly feasible stand point. There are sectors that will require furlough to be extended way beyond April.

To the extent it doesn't burn Scottish travel, tourism, and aviation to the ground if the UK Government is planning on opening the English border come summer? I'm not so sure.

[Bairnardo]

7 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

3 hours ago, Elixir said:

And as I've said, the hope furlough won't be extended past the end of April, and the reopening of continental Europe, are the only things I'm hanging onto for the second half of this year. The end of furlough, and if indeed travel is reopened from England, it simply must force the Scottish Government's hand.

I don't think hoping for furlough to be ended in the hope it forces the governments hand is a particularly feasible stand point. There are sectors that will require furlough to be extended way beyond April.

Unless, and I remain ever hopeful of this, that these vaccines continue to show themselves to be such amazing feats of science that the pessimism from the govt either changes to save face, or they get absolutely fucking rinsed by the media (I know) and every industry that's been sidelined.

April MIGHT be ambitious for likes of nightclubs and music venues, but a responsible govt would remain open to the possibility that the vaccines exceed what we hoped for and be prepared to act accordingly.

That said, any extension to furlough needs to be very targeted IMO, with full and constantly reviewed justification for its requirement*

 

*BUT THE MOST DANGEROUS VARIANT IS THE ONE YOU HAVEN'T FOUND YET!!!! Need not apply

[dirty dingus]

 

Like a firework in the sky his flame was extinguished too soon.

[Bairnardo]

Out of interest......In the foreseeable scenario that England open up reciprocal quarantine free travel with a few countries for summer, and Scotland do not, how many of you would be prepared to take a holiday by flying from/to England?

Lets assume for the exercise that its July, and everyone over 50 is vaccinated. Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots they should not be doing this.

 

I would.

[Glen Sannox]

48 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

Godley is already 60 and from Shettleston, so there's a fair chance she'll be well gone by July 2032.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully.

60 in Shettleston!! She’ll have got a telegram from the Queen for that.

[Todd_is_God]

100%

Newcastle / Manchester are not that far away.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Out of interest......In the foreseeable scenario that England open up reciprocal quarantine free travel with a few countries for summer, and Scotland do not, how many of you would be prepared to take a holiday by flying from/to England?
Lets assume for the exercise that its July, and everyone over 50 is vaccinated. Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots they should not be doing this.
 
I would.

I'll be giving foreign holidays a miss this year but I've got Center Parcs booked for July and if it's open will be going regardless of whomever is First Minister then.

[No_Problemo]

1 minute ago, Bairnardo said:

Out of interest......In the foreseeable scenario that England open up reciprocal quarantine free travel with a few countries for summer, and Scotland do not, how many of you would be prepared to take a holiday by flying from/to England?

Lets assume for the exercise that its July, and everyone over 50 is vaccinated. Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots they should not be doing this.

 

I would.

Without a doubt. 
 

I didn’t go away last year, as felt it was the right thing to do - however I’m not sitting in the house while England does whatever it likes and we are all vaccinated. 
 

[budmiester1]

8 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Out of interest......In the foreseeable scenario that England open up reciprocal quarantine free travel with a few countries for summer, and Scotland do not, how many of you would be prepared to take a holiday by flying from/to England?

Lets assume for the exercise that its July, and everyone over 50 is vaccinated. Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots they should not be doing this.

 

I would.

I'm not planning on a holiday abroad this year but if people are vaccinated and safe, then I wouldn't blame anybody flying from England for a holiday. We have to start thinking ahead, if there's no flights then there will be no airlines left to fly us abroad when we're allowed.

Edited February 2, 2021 by budmiester1