Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Todd_is_God]

17 minutes ago, Lyle Lanley said:

I know this is the Sun reporting this but this idea of keeping 1m rule in all indoor public setting can get in the sea. 

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/7496048/nicola-sturgeon-briefing-schools/

 

I mean if the "certain circumstances" are areas where groups of clinically extremely vulnerable are (e.g. hospitals or care homes) then it may be acceptable whilst they assess any impact of lifting restrictions.

I can't see how it would work otherwise. You couldn't, for example, make a valid argument for keeping it in nightclubs or pubs, whist simultaneously allowing cinemas etc to fully open as normal, and going down a "cases per 100k" route would just repeat the mistakes of last year where your big cities were restricted for months with no real gain.

Be interesting to see how it plays out tomorrow but the SG really need to just let go of this wee bit of power they have instead of clinging to it for dear life.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[superbigal]

There is no danger of Scotgov reversing any planned easing on the 28th day in a row of falling cases.

Somehow the strategy of wanting rising cases to get us to herd immunity is failing miserably. Same even happening in England now where they actually wanted 100k cases per day to rip for a few weeks.

This is the what makes the stalling of opening up all the more laughable.

Means she will be desperate now for the JCVI to change their minds on the teenagers as not enough of them have had the Rona.

[MP_MFC]

Scenes when only nightclubs are exempt in hospitality from the 1m rule and every club that rebranded as a bar suddenly reverses back to a club along with every old mans pub and bowling club in the country.

[NotThePars]

Really? You think refusing to wear a mask or get vaccinated is on par with being a Battle of Britain spitfire pilot? 

There’s at least 100,000 Brits who fully believe this

I won’t be returning to nightclubs when they reopen.


Mainly because I’m 30 and the noise is getting too loud for me now.

As a 29 year old desperately clinging on to their youth please keep this negativity to yourself

Rumours online that Biden is away to announce a stay at home order in America due to the Delta variant being out of control.

People spent years calling The Purge franchise unrealistic and here we are America is potentially about force over a million of the poorest Americans out on the street while demanding everyone else stays in their home ostensibly safe and secure

[Mark Connolly]

[Aufc]

I’m 34, married with two kids. I cant fucking wait to go to a shitty nightclub with my mates. All the better because I invariably spend the whole day saying I won’t end up there and then find myself at 4am crawling up the stairs after doing exactly the opposite. It would feel like almost a return to normal

[Elixir]

9 hours ago, mizfit said:

Rumours online that Biden is away to announce a stay at home order in America due to the Delta variant being out of control.

Doubt it. It's not affecting Democrat states as badly as they have higher vaccine uptake, and Republican governors won't enforce anything. There is already a lot of immunity from natural infection in the US and as we have seen here, it will peak eventually.

[BigDoddyKane]

Im finding it diffuclt to work out what the rules are at times for travelling. Hopefully someone here has an idea how it might be in near future.

For Travelling from EU to Scotland when double vaccinated when both are countries green. Will it be no quarantine, no tests needed? and for kids 10 years old and younger will they require a test for going and after arriving or will it be same no quarantine no tests for them also?

[Michael W]

Just now, BigDoddyKane said:

Im finding it diffuclt to work out what the rules are at times for travelling. Hopefully someone here has an idea how it might be in near future.

For Travelling from EU to Scotland when double vaccinated when both are countries green. Will it be no quarantine, no tests needed? and for kids 10 years old and younger will they require a test for going and after arriving or will it be same no quarantine no tests for them also?

You'll need a day 2 PCR, as will any other adults travelling, although there is no requirement for anyone to quarantine. The kids won't need to do the day 2 test. 

[Big Fifer]

2 minutes ago, BigDoddyKane said:

Im finding it diffuclt to work out what the rules are at times for travelling. Hopefully someone here has an idea how it might be in near future.

For Travelling from EU to Scotland when double vaccinated when both are countries green. Will it be no quarantine, no tests needed? and for kids 10 years old and younger will they require a test for going and after arriving or will it be same no quarantine no tests for them also?

Yeah, I don't mean to sound like a Facebook ma' "it's all so complicated", but...it kinda is. I've got France booked in a few weeks to see family, France doesn't need a pre-departure test to let me in as I'll be double vaxxed but UK government website suggests I still need one. Nonsense. 

ETA - the UK is also by far the worst at this stuff, guessing to ensure the right Tory cronies get the profits. France the PCR tests are free, Croatia you just rock up on the day and it's like 10 euros, only here does this nonsense cost £90 a pop, home testing kits, hope the results arrive on time etc...

Edited August 3, 2021 by Big Fifer

[Abdul_Latif]

11 minutes ago, Big Fifer said:

the UK is also by far the worst at this stuff, guessing to ensure the right Tory cronies get the profits. France the PCR tests are free, Croatia you just rock up on the day and it's like 10 euros, only here does this nonsense cost £90 a pop, home testing kits, hope the results arrive on time etc...

Actually Scotland is the worst.

England has multiple options and prices for your return PCR, whereas Scotland only allows you to use a single company at one of the highest rates on the market.

[Big Fifer]

2 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

Actually Scotland is the worst.

England has multiple options and prices for your return PCR, whereas Scotland only allows you to use a single company at one of the highest rates on the market.

Aye, and this is another thing. Ryanair are punting these Randox testing kits, all done at home, and it's half the price of most of the others. My pals back from abroad and he used their pre-departure, but used the one the ScotGov website tells him when he came back as he was worried. One of our directors was in Spain a few weeks ago - used Randox for every test and he was fine. Naebdy actually knows what is allowed and what isn't, and more worryingly, I don't think any of these systems are integrated in any way. 

[Michael W]

19 minutes ago, Big Fifer said:

 

ETA - the UK is also by far the worst at this stuff, guessing to ensure the right Tory cronies get the profits. France the PCR tests are free, Croatia you just rock up on the day and it's like 10 euros, only here does this nonsense cost £90 a pop, home testing kits, hope the results arrive on time etc...

Fully agree. 

Quite why we are so out of step and demanding that fully-vaxed passengers present a negative test is starting to look like an obscene joke. If other countries aren't asking for it, why are we insisting? 

It's presented under the guise of "keeping out variants". At the moment the only variant of note is comprising in excess of 99% of all UK cases. And moreover, our insistence on these tests did not keep the Indian variant as it was known then when we knew fine well about its existence. Great success! Oh, and there are no variants that the vaccines are ineffective against. 

I can accept that non-vaxxed passengers may need to submit tests and all the rest of it whilst we're at this stage, but that should be the end of it. 

It is just starting to look like an exercise in printing money and also another sneaky government deterrent to prevent people going on holiday by driving up costs and introducing hassle. 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Michael W

[Abdul_Latif]

2 minutes ago, Big Fifer said:

One of our directors was in Spain a few weeks ago - used Randox for every test and he was fine. Naebdy actually knows what is allowed and what isn't, and more worryingly, I don't think any of these systems are integrated in any way. 

That’s really interesting to know. Not sure I’ve got the bottle to try it to save a few quid tho.

[welshbairn]

15 minutes ago, Abdul_Latif said:

That’s really interesting to know. Not sure I’ve got the bottle to try it to save a few quid tho.

Someone on here mentioned that a friend got stopped at Glasgow Airport with proof of a cheap test and was forced to buy the Scot Gov one on top. That's the only time I've heard of it and I suspect they messed up the landing form that includes the code for your day 2 test. Usually you just flash the QR thing and they let you through, there's no separate algorithm if you land in Scotland.

P.S. Unfortunately I didn't know this when I forked out for the Scot Gov one. The website is as bad as that guy in Albufeira who does lower league scores and has insane pyramid ideas, and the helpline is the worst I've known, along with zero response to emails. The actual testing is fine though and they're very quick with the results. It's some corporate travel agency running it and it looks like they got an intern to cobble it together, but subcontracted the actual testing bit to people who know what they're doing. 

Edited August 3, 2021 by welshbairn

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Fully agree. 
Quite why we are so out of step and demanding that fully-vaxed passengers present a negative test is starting to look like an obscene joke. If other countries aren't asking for it, why are we insisting? 
It's presented under the guise of "keeping out variants". At the moment the only variant of note is comprising in excess of 99% of all UK cases. And moreover, our insistence on these tests did not keep the Indian variant as it was known then when we knew fine well about its existence. Great success! Oh, and there are no variants that the vaccines are ineffective against. 
I can accept that non-vaxxed passengers may need to submit tests and all the rest of it whilst we're at this stage, but that should be the end of it. 
It is just starting to look like an exercise in printing money and also another sneaky government deterrent to prevent people going on holiday by driving up costs and introducing hassle. 

It's an utterly pointless exercise.

The variants are already here - definitely a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.

It feels more like a bureaucratic exercise intended to push the cost of international travel up and to deter people from travelling.

[Michael W]

8 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

It's an utterly pointless exercise.

The variants are already here - definitely a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted.

It feels more like a bureaucratic exercise intended to push the cost of international travel up and to deter people from travelling.
 

The thing is, more variants absolutely will happen. If the vaccines remain effective against them, this should be no barrier to travel. 

We've laughed a bit on this thread about Australia and New Zealand slamming the borders shut, both in jest and also with a serious point behind it that they are essentially hiding from the virus. A sound enough if painful strategy when combined with a good vaccine rollout, but the former has made an utter mess of it. Meanwhile their measures did not keep the Delta variant out even if cases are low and it has provoked another series of very harsh lockdown measures that will continue for weeks or more likely months. 

This will continue to happen and we need to accept this moving away from this strange idea that we'll keep all variants out, especially against a backdrop of that not happening. Short of entirely sealing the borders shut, we will not keep future variants out of the UK entirely. And this from a country depressingly reliant on imports - it's an impossible ask we're trying to set. 

Build a strategy to manage it. New variant in outer Mongolia that has shown resistance? Ban travel and target measures there. New variant in Senegal that the vaccines work against? Accept this does not pose a substantial risk. 

[Distant Doonhamer]

Just checked the UK_Centrist twitter feed to see what's going on in the land of fear. 
Long Covid is the story of the day. Lewis Hamilton and Piers Moron have said they have it, so we should all lockdown hard now to prevent people catching Covid and getting Long Covid. 

Hamilton and Morgan have clearly confused symptoms of long Covid with the much more common ones of being tedious c***s.

[scottsdad]

Jeremy Clarkson criticises Covid scientists, saying ‘if you die, you die’

Quote

“When it started, I read up on pandemics and they tend to be four years long,” he said.

“I think the politicians should sometimes tell those communists at Sage to get back in their box. Let’s just all go through life with our fingers crossed and a smile on our face. I can see Boris doesn’t want to open it up and shut us back down again. But if it’s going to be four years … and who knows, it could be 40 years.”

Or it could be for ever. “Well, if it’s going to be for ever, let’s open it up and if you die, you die.”

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by scottsdad

[Elixir]

17 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Jeremy Clarkson criticises Covid scientists, saying ‘if you die, you die’

He's not wrong.