Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Ron Aldo]

That's fucking mental.

That's fucking ridiculous of that's true. Why would they still be putting emphasis on case numbers given they become less and less relevant the more people get vaccinated?

If they still intend on basing restrictions on cases rather than hospital admissions then we'll be stuck in this cycle forever.

[GNU_Linux]

[10menwent2mow]

And test positivity consistently below 5% daily

Are those two figures even compatible. My higher maths doesn't really stretch to this.

How many people are being tested roughly at the moment. Off the top of my head. 5% positivity at a rate of 50/100,000 people would mean if we were testing 50,000 and 5% of them tested positive, that would be 2,500 positive tests. This would be roughly 50/100,000 across the country. If we are testing less than 50,000 then the number of cases could be below the threshold but positivity could be above and if we are testing more then the positivity could be below 5% but the cases above 50/100,000.

Am I missing something here or has Mr May's teaching in 2000/01 served me well.

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

That's fucking ridiculous of that's true. Why would they still be putting emphasis on case numbers given they become less and less relevant the more people get vaccinated?

If they still intend on basing restrictions on cases rather than hospital admissions then we'll be stuck in this cycle forever.

Yep, the whole point of a lockdown is to ease the strain on the NHS.  There's no strain on the NHS if a fit and healthy 40 year old has to sit in his house for 10 days with a mild cough.

[Caledonian1]

Well, if you want to avoid answering any of Gary Robertson's questions on GMS you should perhaps adopt the policy Michael Gove deployed this morning - simply ignore the question and answer something else three times then Gary will give up.

 

Annoyingly, it was a question many of us would like to hear the answer to - what do you actually mean by Car Homes in England being "offered" a vaccination - is that the same as the number actually vaccinated ?- he kept saying that England had vaccinated more than Scotland and never once did he even attempt to explain what they meant by "being offered"   Gary Robertson pushed on this but couldn't believe when he simply gave up and moved on.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Caledonian1

[Marshmallo]

I appreciate it's not going to be as much of a part of the consciousness of the wider population as a bunch of VLs on a football forum posting gifs all day, but nonsense like that from Leitch would put people off getting tested. I'd just sit in the house for 2 weeks unless I was experiencing severe symptoms.

The schools returning will render those sort of case numbers a pipe dream.

[super_carson]

That is honking patter from Leitch, shows the level system has been pretty much binned.  "Learn lessons from last summer" means hammer us all in a never ending lockdown - a lazy policy from the SG that means they don't have to take any decisive action themselves and shift responsibility on to the population.  

[vikingTON]

10 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

The 7 day average is around 134/100k, getting below 50/100k isn't a big ask and we're heading for that in a few weeks.

It absolutely is a big ask to do so nationwide while firing up the infection factories at the same time. Nearly all of the Central Belt hasn't hit under 50/100k since August: as soon as a dozen people test positive in an entire town then that's the game up the poley.

An absolutely ridiculous benchmark to set when hospital rates and deaths will be steadily falling. This is yet more shifting the goalposts from the criteria used in the tiers system. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by vikingTON

[Bert Raccoon]

I've gave Leitch and the likes the benefit of the doubt so far but he can take this chat to f**k tbh.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Bert Raccoon

[Marshmallo]

Scotland as a whole crossed the 50 case number at the end of September. Why were we able to do multiple things which are now prohibited far beyond that date, including Christmas Day? 

The lack of consistency is frustrating, particularly giving people are literally dying due to these decisions.

[Michael W]

13 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

Are those two figures even compatible. My higher maths doesn't really stretch to this.

How many people are being tested roughly at the moment. Off the top of my head. 5% positivity at a rate of 50/100,000 people would mean if we were testing 50,000 and 5% of them tested positive, that would be 2,500 positive tests. This would be roughly 50/100,000 across the country. If we are testing less than 50,000 then the number of cases could be below the threshold but positivity could be above and if we are testing more then the positivity could be below 5% but the cases above 50/100,000.

Am I missing something here or has Mr May's teaching in 2000/01 served me well.

Scotland isn't testing anywhere near 50,000 people on a daily basis at the moment. 

[MuckleMoo]

Just received confirmation that all social care staff are to be tested on a weekly basis and most (including myself) are to be tested twice weekly. Considering that most, if not all social care staff have received there first vaccination it will be interesting to see what kind infection/illness rate there is within what is a fairly large demograph

[Marshmallo]

1 minute ago, Michael W said:

Scotland isn't testing anywhere near 50,000 people on a daily basis at the moment. 

The figures are per week, rather than per day

[ICTChris]

Perhaps related to the current musical chairs in the SNP, it's interesting that Jason Leitch is essentially the public face of the pandemic.  We have a Health Minister who appears on teh briefing every few weeks or so and ther are also ministers for Older People, Public Health, Mental Health, Infrastructure.  Have they had a hand in any of the response?  You get the feeling that if Nicola Sturgeon had to step aside for any reason there isn't much behind her.  Standing on the shoulders of midgets.

[djchapsticks]

6 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

Scotland as a whole crossed the 50 case number at the end of September. Why were we able to do multiple things which are now prohibited far beyond that date, including Christmas Day? 

The lack of consistency is frustrating, particularly giving people are literally dying due to these decisions.

Bear in mind, we were told back then that the threshold to start considering Tier 4 (and near lockdown) was when an area was surpassing 200/100,000 cases.

Anyone now reading that 50/100,000 cases is the threshold and is not asking serious fucking questions of this mob needs their head looked at.

They are a complete fucking shambles. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever in saying this as I've entrusted my last 6 or so votes to the party but they are tying themselves up in knots by moving the target so much to a point where it's not achievable.

We were told that furlough being extended to devolved Governments was a welcome relief for use 'WHEN WE NEED TO' and in the 3 months since that extension was announced, it's now in the territory of no longer only using it when we need to but fucking milking it dry until it's taken away, regardless of case numbers.

 

Get this proposal so far to f**k. Honestly. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by djchapsticks

[djchapsticks]

2 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

Perhaps related to the current musical chairs in the SNP, it's interesting that Jason Leitch is essentially the public face of the pandemic.  We have a Health Minister who appears on teh briefing every few weeks or so and ther are also ministers for Older People, Public Health, Mental Health, Infrastructure.  Have they had a hand in any of the response?  You get the feeling that if Nicola Sturgeon had to step aside for any reason there isn't much behind her.  Standing on the shoulders of midgets.

Which is why independence must be sought and achieved ASAP and the SNP consigned to the past. There is a staggering lack of anyone behind Sturgeon.

In the tories, you could pick 3 or 4 folk who could step into the PM role at any point and continue to be a despicable, irredeemable b*****d. b*****ds they may be but they are consistently laced throughout their party.

[ayrmad]

http://daily record.co.uk/ayrshire/nhs-ayrshire--arran-forced-23427705 

[ICTChris]

1 minute ago, djchapsticks said:

Which is why independence must be sought and achieved ASAP and the SNP consigned to the past. There is a staggering lack of anyone behind Sturgeon.

In the tories, you could pick 3 or 4 folk who could step into the PM role at any point and continue to be a despicable, irredeemable b*****d. b*****ds they may be but they are consistently laced throughout their party.

If you think that the SNP will be consigned to the past after independence, I have a bridge to sell you.

[Burnieman]

6 minutes ago, virginton said:

It absolutely is a big ask to do so nationwide while firing up the infection factories at the same time. Nearly all of the Central Belt hasn't hit under 50/100k since August: as soon as a dozen people test positive in an entire town then that's the game up the poley.

An absolutely ridiculous benchmark to set when hospital rates and deaths will be steadily falling. This is yet more shifting the goalposts from the criteria used in the tiers system. 

It was around end of September when the 50/100k was breached, that co-incided roughly with the "circuit breaker" in early October which never really ended.

As such, 50/100k is reasonably consistent as a target to relax restrictions, it was probably the target to bring them in.

We'll almost certainly be under 50/100k by the time the current lockdown is reviewed in early March, which is fair enough.  Daily infections consistently under 400 per day/3,000 week means less than 50/100k.  Yesterday was 778 and the last 7 days total is 7,309. 

I have no idea what "infection factories" are.

[super_carson]

I can only really agree with the sentiments of many on here this morning; I have voted SNP in every election I've been old enough to vote, but if this nonsense comes to fruition then I won't be voting for them come May. 

It will be very interesting if they make any comment about the Oxford findings today.  That data seriously suggests vaccinations are they way out of this, but that involved the government taking a bit of responsibility to get them done as fast as humanly possible.  

Edited February 3, 2021 by super_carson