Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Lex]

Restrictions will be back next month. Football/other big gatherings will be the first target, no doubt.

[williemillersmoustache]

Fair enough that's a bad use of language on my part. Covid denying was wrong and I apologise. 

2 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Is this your new shtick on here? Anyone who criticises the scottish governments clowns running through a minefield approach is now a covid denier?

Im pretty sure I was one of the first to use the term Lovejoy in relation to the pandemic, im not a covid denier in any way, ive dealt with deaths of people from covid, know people who have died from it, my mrs working through it every day. Just because people don’t agree with your view that everything NS does is absolute infallible does not make them a covid denier. Id vaccinate everyone and have roving bands of vaccinators in every town. How you somehow bashed the keys together and arrived at the assumption that somehow makes me and others who are critical of the SG covid deniers is baffling. 

But there's plenty who are just bored and want it over with. Which is understandable but wrong.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Snafu said:

Let's hope this is not a train wreck.

12:24

Covid public inquiry confirmed

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirms the establishment of a statutory public inquiry into the pandemic.

She says process has now started and the inquiry will be established by the end of the year.

It will take a "person-centred, human rights approach", she says.

It will be a judge-led inquiry looking at all the areas that were within the "competence" of the Scottish government, including what happened in care homes.

Ms Sturgeon says the Scottish government will liaise with the UK government about their inquiry.

The "care homes" debacle has happened in every country in the world that uses "care homes", it was also pretty obvious that had we kept many of them in hospital (which was logistically impossible) that they would also have died just the same.

We can all play the blame game but it's all pretty pointless as at the time we were out of options.

[scottsdad]

2 minutes ago, anotherchance said:

You know fine well that there’s a huge difference between the general narrative on here and outright Covid denying.

Should always challenge things if you disagree, great, but simply making things up and accusing people of being something which they evidently aren’t is pretty pish chat.

Absolutely. If anyone came on here as an out and out Covid denier, they wouldn't last too long.

Covid denying as suggested by @williemillersmoustache is a world away from, say, @oaksoft stating that masks are ineffective (a study out a couple of days ago suggested they were just 10% effective), or @Todd_is_God highlighting that the vaccines are working (often with graphs) and suggesting that lockdowns in the face of this data would make little sense. 

There is a general consensus on here as far as I can see that the mandated restrictions are somewhat ineffective and contradictory. If these were changed to advisory, and the people treated like adults allowed to exercise their own common sense, then that would satisfy many here. In my own case this is a big deal. And such a change would not lead to a huge wave of cases/illness/deaths. No more than we have.

[Granny Danger]

The biggest Lovejoys on here are the people who continually use the term Lovejoy.

They’re the biggest pearl clutching, knicker wetting posters on the whole of P&B.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

The biggest Lovejoys on here are the people who continually use the term Lovejoy.

They’re the biggest pearl clutching, knicker wetting posters on the whole of P&B.

Being "old school" it just makes me think of a sleazy antique dealer.

[D.V.T.]

Restrictions will be back next month. Football/other big gatherings will be the first target, no doubt.

I think if there is restrictions it will be vaccine passports/negative tests to get into nightclubs/big events being introduced

[Guest]

I was out in Glasgow last night on the randan for the first time in about 16 months and was totally shocked at how quiet / deserted the town was (Yes, granted it was a Monday).

Lauders was closed completely due to "staffing shortages" and some of the larger well known pubs completely deserted or just closed.

Crazy times indeed.

[scottsdad]

1 minute ago, WATTOO said:

I was out in Glasgow last night on the randan for the first time in about 16 months and was totally shocked at how quiet / deserted the town was (Yes, granted it was a Monday).

Lauders was closed completely due to "staffing shortages" and some of the larger well known pubs completely deserted or just closed.

Crazy times indeed.

Glasgow without the Glaswegians, eh?

[Steven W]

17 minutes ago, Lex said:

Restrictions will be back next month. Football/other big gatherings will be the first target, no doubt.

correct.

Get yourself to as many games now whilst you still can

[The Moonster]

1 hour ago, Lyle Lanley said:

"If the surge continues, and if it accelerates...we cannot completely rule out having to reimpose restrictions"

f**k off 

 

1 hour ago, mizfit said:

 

Felt to me like a line added on to please the perma lockdown brigade.

 

Aye, "not completely ruled out" suggests that it is all but completely ruled out at the moment. They know that saying "restrictions are gone forever" would probably lead to more vaccine hesitancy. 

12 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I was out in Glasgow last night on the randan for the first time in about 16 months and was totally shocked at how quiet / deserted the town was (Yes, granted it was a Monday).

Lauders was closed completely due to "staffing shortages" and some of the larger well known pubs completely deserted or just closed.

Crazy times indeed.

I was out on Saturday in Glasgow and it was absolutely rammed in the restaurant we went to and we couldn't get a seat in King Tuts afterwards.  

[PWL]

13 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I was out in Glasgow last night on the randan for the first time in about 16 months and was totally shocked at how quiet / deserted the town was (Yes, granted it was a Monday).

Lauders was closed completely due to "staffing shortages" and some of the larger well known pubs completely deserted or just closed.

Crazy times indeed.

I think the key point in Glasgow (and probably other cities) is the fact that the offices haven't  yet returned in any meaningful way. They would make up a good percentage of Monday crowd. Weekends seem busy enough but pretty much just tourists kicking about city centre during the week. 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, williemillersmoustache said:

Fair enough that's a bad use of language on my part. Covid denying was wrong and I apologise. 

But there's plenty who are just bored and want it over with. Which is understandable but wrong.

There needs to be an endgame though as we can't go on like this indefinitely, can we ?

People die in road accidents but we don't ban cars, people die climbing mountains or swimming in Lochs and Burns but we don't make it illegal as it's all about risk management.

It's tough to say that ANY death is acceptable but we are where we are and the sad truth is that for every person directly affected by Covid there's another 1000 (at least) who will be indirectly affected through mental health issues, cessation / backlog of critical NHS services such as cancer treatments etc, so really we're just kicking the can down the road with this, again.

Can anyone blame the dissenters for questioning why ?

We were told get vaccines, so we did, we were told to adhere to the many lockdowns and avoid our family members and friends, so we did. We were told that "next year would be different" but is it really ??

As I say, it was supposed to be about "saving the NHS", it was about "keeping the country functioning while the vaccination programme was carried out" so we've done all that, people have (for the most part) adhered to the many rules and accepted the many sacrifices but what's next ? is there no end in sight and is this going to be "the new normal" ?

No, I'm afraid the tipping point has been reached and a way out NEEDS to be found, otherwise what's really the point of anything anymore ?????

[superbigal]

Daily Cases Update:  Day 19 in a row of our 4th wave of infections, case rises up a large 7.75% to 392.8  I expect another  rise of around 8% tomorrow. This will possibly take us past the 3rd wave peak of 425.1 on 3rd July.   Todays record numbers of 4,323 cases if replicated for a week will have us up challenging Northern Ireland for top spot in Europe, and jousting for a podium spot in the Covid Olympics with Cuba & Israel.

Dumfries Central just hated being overtaken so has had another cracking day of face licking to rise to a monumental 1,920

West Dunbartonshire rises to 3rd place in the UK council charts.

Still 365,000 under 40s who can't be arsed to get jagged.  Pathetic figures today.

Figures for Jags  1st Vaccines drop again 3,202 to 2,854 ,  2nd vaccines still poor at 15,095 to 15,103

Total Cases Scotland 7 days 15th August to 21st August were  19,927 now 21,471 up 7.75%, Positivity was 9.9% now 10.3%.  Cases per 100K were 364.6 now 392.8

Home Nations Daily update  :  UK Average 327.4 to 334.4 up 2.14%, England  324.2 to 326.6 up 0.74%, Wales 302.2 to 320.5 up 6.05%, Northern Ireland  574.2 to 598.9 up 4.30%

In Europe for travellers  Ireland  248.8 to 250.2 (Weekly change +2%),  France 233.0 to 226.0 (Weekly change -11%),  Greece  212.3 to 214.9 (Weekly change -1%), Switzerland 199.2 to 206.6 (weekly change +30%),  Spain 146.1 to 160.5 (Weekly change -18%),  Portugal 159.3 to 158.2 (Weekly change -2%),  These are still the only main countries over 130 cases per 100K  Lower down the charts in the last week Bulgaria is up 51% Germany 57%,  Serbia 57%, Romania 59%, Slovenia 64%, Albania 65%, Moldova 74%, Bosnia 86%

Apart from Spain & France virtually everywhere is now on the rise.

Scotland peaks in Wave 3 at 425.1 for 27th June to 3rd July, (UK was 229.9) . Cases that day were 23,222 and positivity 10.8%

Scotland previously peaked in wave 2 at 301.9 for figures 29th Dec to 4th Jan, (UK was 642.1)    Cases that day were 16,496 and test positivity rate was 11.9%  

Council progress in last 24 Hours as follows.

Click cases by neighbourhood to see the spread on the geographical map. 
https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview

West Dunbartonshire  612.4 to 696.2   The top spot rises another 13.68%

Dumfries & Galloway  584.0 to 619.1   Lochside & Lincluden 1780,  Dumfries Central back up to 1,920 !!!

East Renfrewshire 560.1 to 603.8   

East Dunbartonshire   516.8 to 577.5 

Clackmannanshire  499.1 to 545.9 

Argyll & Bute 464.7 to 510.4   Teuchters in Bute face licking there way to  1,422

Renfrewshire  470.5 to 508.9

Glasgow City 467.7 to 507.4  Riddled city wide no real super hotspots.

South Lanarkshire 462.6 to 493.4

North Lanarkshire 441.8 to 486.3

Inverclyde  447.7 to 473.7

City Of Edinburgh  417.3 to 452.4

North Ayrshire   383.6 to 407.4 

West Lothian  334.6 to 356.9

East Lothian  337.3 to 352.2

South Ayrshire 324.6 to 348.7

Stirling  311.4 to 347.6

Dundee City   297.7 to 333.3

Scottish  Borders  327.1 to 331.5

Falkirk  305.2 to 328.8

Fife  307.6 to 327.4

Midlothian 290.9 to 311.3 

East Ayrshire   273.0 to 274.7

Highlands    244.7 to 264.5

Angus   225.3 to 244.3

Perth & Kinross   203.4 to 214.6

Aberdeen City  183.4 to 191.2

Aberdeenshire   172.9 to 179.1

Western Isles   109.4 to 124.5

Moray  99.3 to 99.3

Shetland Islands   65.6 to 87.5

Orkney Islands   53.6 to 58.0

Edited August 24, 2021 by superbigal

[The Master]

37 minutes ago, Left Back said:

Still not seeing what there is to get bent out of shape over.  I haven’t seen the headline mentioned but I think it’s a fair reflection of what was said.

If she’d ruled out having to re-impose restrictions then it would be a lie (but she’s a politician so any definites really means not in the next 30 seconds).

It's not a fair reflection of what was said because it misses out the part about increase in serious illness.

By your logic, the statements "If I get a COVID test and it comes back positive, I have COVID" and "If I get a COVID test I have COVID" are the same. 

 

[Thereisalight..]

36 minutes ago, Lex said:

Restrictions will be back next month. Football/other big gatherings will be the first target, no doubt.

Well if that's the case you'd hope the SG have some provision in place to financially help people who work at clubs on matchday and those who do event work. Seeing as furlough ends in Sept

[Lurkst]

7 minutes ago, Snafu said:

Holding back on the Lambada variant hysteria until the right moment.

Nae wonder, how easy would that be to transmit!

[Left Back]

24 minutes ago, The Master said:

It's not a fair reflection of what was said because it misses out the part about increase in serious illness.

By your logic, the statements "If I get a COVID test and it comes back positive, I have COVID" and "If I get a COVID test I have COVID" are the same. 

 

There’s a chance that restrictions will come back and thats whats in the headline you kicked off about.  There’s no lie in that.  It’s a headline, not a full story.

your example above completely changes the meaning of two statements, it doesn’t nuance them.

[williemillersmoustache]

10 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

There needs to be an endgame though as we can't go on like this indefinitely, can we ?

People die in road accidents but we don't ban cars, people die climbing mountains or swimming in Lochs and Burns but we don't make it illegal as it's all about risk management.

It's tough to say that ANY death is acceptable but we are where we are and the sad truth is that for every person directly affected by Covid there's another 1000 (at least) who will be indirectly affected through mental health issues, cessation / backlog of critical NHS services such as cancer treatments etc, so really we're just kicking the can down the road with this, again.

Can anyone blame the dissenters for questioning why ?

We were told get vaccines, so we did, we were told to adhere to the many lockdowns and avoid our family members and friends, so we did. We were told that "next year would be different" but is it really ??

As I say, it was supposed to be about "saving the NHS", it was about "keeping the country functioning while the vaccination programme was carried out" so we've done all that, people have (for the most part) adhered to the many rules and accepted the many sacrifices but what's next ? is there no end in sight and is this going to be "the new normal" ?

No, I'm afraid the tipping point has been reached and a way out NEEDS to be found, otherwise what's really the point of anything anymore ?????

I'm not blaming folk, well other than the ones who are obviously at it and throwing homophobia about, I just disagree. We're coming to the end of summer, the hospitals are busy as f**k, the nurses and medics I know are properly strung out (worryingly so, like much worse than last year) the case rate is enormous and as far I can tell that's not a good position to be in.

Smaller numbers of cases getting seriously ill thanks to the vaccine is good news but if the case numbers are very high then the smaller percentages will play out as large and unmanageable numbers of patients and an unacceptable numbers of deaths. As if the numbers weren't already unacceptable enough.

I find the "if not know when" and "there must be an end point" arguments reductive. Often deliberately so. As if "learning to live with the virus" just means licking railings and pretending it doesn't matter or exist anymore. Learning to live with it means, in my opinion, accepting that reaching a level of infections/hospitalisations and deaths will require us to accept some restrictions on our way of life. Either imposed by legislation from government, by business to protect their staff and customers or because washing our hands, wearing a mask and keeping a distance from folk is the considerate thing to do.

I see @scottsdadargument about moving to common sense and individual responsibility and I'd love that to work. But that would require a unity of purpose and togetherness which just isn't there. Folk are doing, and will do out of spite, boredom, ignorance and a dislike of SG, whatever the f**k they like, and I fear this will lead to (further) disaster. If we wanted to do that, the Team5 Million thing, then we needed to have one government and one voice leading us. As it is we have one we elect who may have made errors but is trying and another which quite simply has never been arsed, other than when they realised how much money was up for grabs.

And yes it is different to last year. I went to the football the other week and everything.

[scottsdad]

I didn't hear the announcement. Was the bit about restrictions in the main speech, or in response to some question from a journalist?