Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[welshbairn]

10 minutes ago, BigDoddyKane said:

Hope your right WB but some sites like STV are now saying different today

https://news.stv.tv/scotland/scottish-government-u-turns-on-covid-testing-rules-for-travellers?top

Scotgov haven't updated their travel rules pages yet, but they said they're going by the London rules, which means no preflight test requirement from October 4th. I'm 99.99% sure that STV have fucked up. Worth mentioning you might still need a test here before boarding, that's up to the country you're flying to. So today you don't need one flying to Spain if you're fully jabbed but you do for Portugal or Turkey.

[BigDoddyKane]

Just now, welshbairn said:

Scotgov haven't updated their travel rules pages yet, but they said they're going by the London rules, which means no preflight test requirement from October 4th. I'm 99.99% sure that STV have fucked up. Worth mentioning you might still need a test here before boarding, that's up to the country you're flying to. So today you don't need one flying to Spain if you're fully jabbed but you do for Portugal or Turkey.

Thanks again mate, Aye your right will check that and wait and see when they clarify the rules and dates,

[steve55]

 

[Guest]

Just a quick update (or maybe not so quick) on my Spain trip as that's me just returned.

Basically it couldn't have run much smoother as Prestwick Airport have someone stationed in the middle of the terminal prior to security who just has a quick check that you have a vaccine certificate and that you have a spanish health form receipt, from there it's through security as normal, scan your own boarding pass on way through and the whole lot was cleared in less than 5 mins. (Granted we were the only flight within the following 3 hours).

flight was great, no issues at all, lots of space (as plane was just over half full) and mask could be removed while sitting having a drink / eating and nobody bothering at all.

Arrival at Malaga was a bit more chaotic, however this was due to Brexit as opposed to Covid restrictions. Basically the UK flights are now being denied air bridges and are having to taxi to far end of T2 where you are bused to the terminal at the back end of the queue. All EU flights are fast tracked through immigration and sail right through (like we used to do ourselves) but now we are like the Russians and have to wait in long queues before passport is checked and stamped which again just takes up more time. In total i think we were about an hour so not too bad I suppose. Once immigration is cleared you continue down the stairs to the old arrivals area where there are people checking your temperature and your vaccination letter and Spanish Health form, however it's very efficient and in total took us less than 5 mins to get through.

As for the resort itself (we were based in Benalmadena but also visited Carihuela, Torremolinos and Fuengirola) everywhere was open, everywhere was busy and it was pretty much business as usual from how I always know it. There were very few Brits (mostly elderly and a few golfers / couples) but full of Spanish, French, Germans and lots and lots of Dutch plus also quite a few Irish. The Marina in particular was very busy, especially at night with all the Restaurants doing a roaring trade, all the shops were open and fully stocked and really there was little sign of anything looking out of the ordinary. The gardens and beaches were all immaculate as always and the council seemed to be working as normal without any restrictions of any sort.

The only differences from normal times were similar to here as we had to wear a mask when on public transport (which all adhered to) in an indoor area such as a shop, hotel public areas and coming and going in a Restaurant, our Hotel also had disposable plastic gloves which you had to wear when using the buffet / touching the utensils etc but you just removed when back at the table and didn't really inconvenience you that much at all. The chambermaids were also working as usual with the room cleaned every day, towels changed every day and new soaps, shampoos etc replenished each day also. This makes me think that the UK stance on this is down to blaming covid when it's really down to Brexit repercussions and not having the staff available !!

As for the journey home, we got our antigen tests for 22.95 Euros at the test centre in Malaga airport terminal building, this was a simple 2 min exercise where the Nurse stuck a cotton bud in the nostril and whizzed it around for about 6 seconds and then sent the result to us via E-Mail / PDF about 20 mins later. This was all we needed to show at boarding gate on way back and was never asked for again but of course this will be going soon so no need to worry about in the future. We cleared Malaga Airport security in about 25 mins on return home and Prestwick was less than 5 mins with only our passport being required and nothing else. So the hulaballoo about passenger locator forms etc is just nonsense as usual and seems to be a way of making life difficult / trying to deter people from leaving as opposed to any public health reason, but I think some of us already thought that anyway !!

All in all everything was pretty simple and most definitely worth it so if anyone is having reservations about going abroad I'd honestly say, forget them and go for it, you won't regret it. The rest of the world is continuing to operate while we sit here worrying about things and reading scare stories in the media, all the time losing valuable days, weeks and months from our lives so my advice would be, don't do it and just get abroad if you can as you'll not regret it.

On a final sad note, if anyone reading this is familiar with Looneys bar in Benalmadena and Norris who owned it for years, then sadly i just found out that he passed away less than 2 weeks ago with cancer. I'd been going over there for over 25 years and always popped in for a chat / couple of pints and he was a true gentleman who'll definitely be missed....

[vikingTON]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/a-bit-of-a-mistery-why-england-covid-cases-are-going-down-despite-ease-of-restrictions

The Guardian and the shan modellers trying to work out why they've taken such a thumping L with their 'Reckless Freedom Day!!!111!!' pish. 

A lesson to remember the next time Sage get out the Old Man Danger calculator to try to shut down everyday life. 

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Prestwick was less than 5 mins with only our passport being required and nothing else. So the hulaballoo about passenger locator forms etc is just nonsense as usual and seems to be a way of making life difficult / trying to deter people from leaving as opposed to any public health reason, but I think some of us already thought that anyway !!

Small point, but presumably you had to show your PLF before boarding the plane in Malaga? The UK border force have basically sub contracted the checks to the airlines, and they risk a big fine if somebody sneaks through without the right papers.

[Thane of Cawdor]

1 hour ago, steve55 said:

 

 

Nominative determinism demonstrated.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

46 minutes ago, virginton said:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/a-bit-of-a-mistery-why-england-covid-cases-are-going-down-despite-ease-of-restrictions

The Guardian and the shan modellers trying to work out why they've taken such a thumping L with their 'Reckless Freedom Day!!!111!!' pish. 

A lesson to remember the next time Sage get out the Old Man Danger calculator to try to shut down everyday life. 

Love that the paper which has been pontificating over the last 2 years has a web dept that cannot spell ‘mystery’ correctly. Superb. 

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Small point, but presumably you had to show your PLF before boarding the plane in Malaga? The UK border force have basically sub contracted the checks to the airlines, and they risk a big fine if somebody sneaks through without the right papers.

Yes, the Ryanair guy walked up the queue as we were boarding and had a quick look at the mobile phone and then stuck a Red sticker on our boarding card, but I wouldn't say anyone actually checked it / read it as such and I was expecting a check at Prestwick similar to what we had by the spanish authorities when we arrived in Malaga.

[Granny Danger]

4 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Yes, the Ryanair guy walked up the queue as we were boarding and had a quick look at the mobile phone and then stuck a Red sticker on our boarding card, but I wouldn't say anyone actually checked it / read it as such and I was expecting a check at Prestwick similar to what we had by the spanish authorities when we arrived in Malaga.

Same experience I had a few weeks ago travelling to and from Lanzarote.  Spanish authorities very organised and doing it all themselves, U.K. authorise effectively delegating it to the airline carriers.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Just now, oaksoft said:

Maybe it's just me but that all sounds fucking depressingly horrendous to be honest.

Not that bad, basically there was an immigration queue because of brexit and a wee additional check that took 5 minutes, thats hardly horrendous. 

[Fide]

Our whole household had Covid about a month ago. Fucking horrendous. Like a cross between the flu and chemo. It takes a long while to shake, as well. 

[Elixir]

We sure need those vaxx passports. 

Plummeting.

 

[ddfg]

42 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

It wasn't just that. It was the experience he was describing of the holiday itself.

It just doesn't sound like fun at all.

I'm happy to be a miserable git and sit this out for the moment before going abroad again.

Depends what you like to do on holiday, we had a week at the pool or the beach, out for dinner everynight and had a bus trip to other parts of the island one day. Had to wear a mask in the supermarket and on the bus but that's no different from here, apart from that everything else was outdoors and no mask required. I get that that might not be everyone's ideal week away but it was much better and more straightforward than I'd expected. 

[NotThePars]

Somedy on here will know better than me but if you don’t have double vaccination are you unable to go nightclub events even if you’ve proof of a negative test?

[Todd_is_God]

29 minutes ago, NotThePars said:

Somedy on here will know better than me but if you don’t have double vaccination are you unable to go nightclub events even if you’ve proof of a negative test?

Correct

[NotThePars]

Correct

Cheers. What a lot of shite that is haha.

[Todd_is_God]

57 minutes ago, Elixir said:

We sure need those vaxx passports. 

Plummeting.

 

Impact of schools re-opening decreasing at what looks to be a slightly faster rate than the summer wave. Schoolkids continue to make up around 33% of all cases too.

I find it hard to see how the SG can justify introducing them at this point. They aren't going to solve any issues simply because there are no issues to solve.

[superbigal]

 

Daily Summary for @oaksoft :   Deaths 18 (50 day before),  ICU cases 79 same from  79  (0 new admissions),  In hospital with confirmed Covid  1005 down from 1011 (105 new admissions).  This is the 4th day of reduction in hospital numbers   I think ICU cases are peaking and hopefully deaths not far behind.

Figures for Jags.  1st Vaccines   2,222 to 4,295 ,  2nd vaccines  1,754 to 3,892

Daily Cases Update: 15 days of falls now with  another  drop of 2.26% to 430.1 and I expect higher tomorrow.

Total Cases Scotland 7 days 16th September to 22nd September  were  24,053 to 23,510 down 2.26%, Positivity was 9.2% now 9.1%.  Cases per 100K were  440.0 now 430.1

Home Nations Daily Cases per 100K update  :  UK Average    312.6 to 321.4 up 2.82%, England  277.1 to 289.1 up 4.33%, Wales 589.3 to 597.5 up 1.39%, Northern Ireland   432.0 to 426.4 down 1.30%

In Europe for travellers (Countries Population over 3 Million) Serbia 526.8 (weekly change -3%), Romania 212.8 (weekly up 72%), Croatia 199.0 (weekly up 5%), Moldova 187.8 (Weekly up 21%),  Ireland  183.7 (Weekly  up 4%), Bulgaria 153.3 (Weekly -3%), Bosnia 151.9 (weekly -5%), Greece 151.9 (weekly -1%),   These are the only countries over 150 cases per 100K.

Scotland  peaks in wave 4 at 817.1 for 1st Sep to 7th Sep, (UK was 392.1), Cases that day were 44,663 and positivity 12.5%

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  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   738.1 to 699.6  Comfortably out in front 

East Ayrshire   592.1 to 616.8 day 3 on rise and climb to 2nd.

North Lanarkshire   603.6 to 584.5  

South Ayrshire   571.6 to 584.1  More of Ayrshire rising

Clackmannanshire   475.7 to 503.0 to 532.3 4 days on the rise now Tullibody for umpteenth time. Jumps 6 places

East Dunbartonshire  568.3 to 526.9

Dundee City   521.4 to 520.8 

Falkirk    523.8 to 508.8

North Ayrshire   522.2 to 502.8

Fife  503.8 to 499.6   

Renfrewshire    524.0 to 499.5  

West Lothian   481.4 to 480.9  

South Lanarkshire    481.6 to 468.2 

Glasgow City 462.4 to 453.9

Inverclyde 463.3 to 438.6  

BELOW AVERAGE

Midlothian   427.3 to 421.9 

Stirling   457.1 to 419.9 

Perth & Kinross   408.1 to 412.1  Rising for 4 days now.

East Renfrewshire  446.6 to 411.2  Fastest faller last week

Aberdeenshire   424.5 to 404.2

Argyll & Bute   375.7 to 374.6

Aberdeen City   377.6 to 366.3   

Dumfries & Galloway  321.7 to 341.9

City Of Edinburgh    318.8 to 311.0 

Angus    288.4 to 283.2

Scottish  Borders    262.9 to 265.5

East Lothian    279.9 to 260.4   

Highlands    261.2 to 239.6

Moray  214.2 to 219.4

Western Isles    177.4 to 173.6

Orkney Islands   102.7 to 111.6 

Shetland Islands    83.1 to 74.3

Edited September 25, 2021 by superbigal

[Kenneth840]

Right to protest will be curtailed.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-58570525