Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Michael W]

14 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I live in a terraced house and was basically in voluntary isolation for the 10 days up to my wife's due date to make sure I could get along to the hospital. I didn't install the app until after then for exactly that reason.

I think I can recall you saying at the time - a very wise choice. 

5 minutes ago, Snafu said:

People off 'sick' due to hot weather adding to those people off due to being pinged by their NHS app, will anyone be at work tomorrow in England?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/18/heatwave-staff-should-spared-return-office-tomorrow/

Heatwave: Staff should be spared return to the office tomorrow

To prevent workers from overheating, unions are calling for continued flexible working ahead of 'Freedom Day return' to the office

It is the day that freshly suited and booted workers were due to emerge from home offices and return to the traditional commute. But the heatwave means it is extremely unlikely that there will be a mass exodus of employees keen to get back to work on Monday as restrictions are finally lifted. Instead, sun-drenched beaches and parks are expected to remain crowded as sweltering workers either call in sick or book the day off, while many families also keep their children off school to avoid self-isolation ahead of the summer holidays.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far in both England and Wales, the Met Office said, with temperatures reaching 31.6C at Heathrow and 30.2C in Cardiff. The sunny weather is expected to continue until Thursday.

The TUC urged employers to ensure staff returning to work do not overheat. "Employers can help workers in hot weather by allowing flexible working, relaxing workplace dress codes and allowing staff to take frequent breaks,” it said. While there is no maximum temperature limit for workers, government guidance urges employers to ensure that it remains at a comfortable level and that clean and fresh air is provided. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said research showed around 70 per cent of workers were tempted to call in sick in hot weather.

BrightHR, which monitors 250,000 employees at 10,000 workplaces, said: "The dates lockdown restrictions ease are among the most-requested days off this year, outside major holidays” and the Federation of Small Businesses warned: "Employees' days off in hot weather do happen and can be a big problem."

The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics has said that productivity drops around eight per cent when temperatures go above 30C, warning: “Heatwaves hit some industries hard."

Beaches across the south coast were packed on Sunday as families made the most of the weather, with car parks at capacity as early as 9am.

But many emergency services were overrun, prompting police forces to urge people not to call 999 unless it was an emergency.

continued in link

I can only speak for myself here, but the air conditioned office is much cooler than my house is and it seals it for me tomorrow. Looking like a pretty warm week ahead.as well. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

I live in a terraced house and was basically in voluntary isolation for the 10 days up to my wife's due date to make sure I could get along to the hospital. I didn't install the app until after then for exactly that reason.

We're on holiday just now, but I deactivated the app in the days before as we live in flats and was I f**k having a holiday binned because someone I've never been in contact with lives through a fairly thin wall.

[welshbairn]

The Spanish and Portuguese apps have clear messages saying it's totally up to you if you isolate if you get pinged, nobody will know who you are. Was tempted to switch them off tbh when I was there until I read that. Are the English and Scottish ones different? (They obviously push a hard message that you should isolate if you get pinged.)

Edited July 18, 2021 by welshbairn

[philpy]

When we were down South a few weeks ago, I downloaded the nhs England app so I could just scan QR codes at pubs rather than signing in places. Deleted the app the day we left, f**k getting "pinged" and isolating if there's fuckall wrong with me.

Edited July 18, 2021 by philpy

[Left Back]

3 minutes ago, philpy said:

When we were down South a few weeks ago, I downloaded the nhs England app so I could just scan QR codes at pubs rather than signing in places. Deleted the app the day we left, f**k getting "pinged" and isolating if there's fuckall wrong with me.

How did you do that without an English address?

[Forever_blueco]

6 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Independent sage are on a different planet. 

Pagel who’s never out of the media is now calling for indoor mixing to be banned. And she’s putting herself into lockdown.

 

Ventilation in schools ? What planet is this headcase on 

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, Forever_blueco said:

Ventilation in schools ? What planet is this headcase on 

It’s one of the things Ashworth was bleating about this morning.  Said the summer holidays was plenty time to put air filtration units into schools.  I can’t recall if he mentioned everywhere else where restrictions would be eased but he certainly said schools.

They’re easy to fit and cheap apparently.  One of the things Labour would have done before easing restrictions.

[philpy]

13 minutes ago, Left Back said:

How did you do that without an English address?

Nhs covid app, my mistake.  You just put in the first part of the postcode of the district you are in.

[Louis Litt]

They could put in place all the measures that Pagel and other experts recommend before they're definitely, absolutely 100% happy and comfortable for us to get back to normal living and they'll still always manage to think up something else that has to be done or another target that has to be met. 

It's depressing reading the replies to these sort of tweets, I can't see their attitudes changes but thankfully it feels like these people are in the minority now. 

[speckled tangerine]

17 minutes ago, Forever_blueco said:

Ventilation in schools ? What planet is this headcase on 

Windows open, heating on full blast. That's what my school did in the 80s anyway, nearly all year round.

[Elixir]

7 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Are you saying that adults who have been infected shouldn’t get vaccinated?

No.

 

5 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Is no one who is predicting the impending implosion of England taking into account that the third wave in Scotland peaked all by itself having happened pretty much through a period of loosening?

Yup. Things peaking as restrictions ease can only be a good thing.

 

4 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

Is there evidence to show that having had Covid gives complete immunity?  We know people who are fully vaccinated are not 100% immune.  Surely it’s in everyone’s best interest to get vaccinated even if they’ve had Covid.

There’s complete agreement on this thread that we want things back to normal ASAP, getting every adult vaccinated is a huge step towards that.

It is likely immunity from natural infection is at least as robust as that derived from vaccination. There are studies showing very few healthcare workers re-infected up to almost a year so far. Those infected and subsequently vaccinated will have the best protection.

Near enough every human on Earth will encounter Covid sooner rather than later, and eventual re-infections will be mild. It's how this ends and it likely joins the four other 'common cold' coronaviruses which circulate in humans.

 

1 hour ago, David W said:

This sort of thing (not just relating to Covid) should result in severe sanctions for the media companies involved. That headline is simply a lie.

Yup. Edmunds is an absolute snake who has a face like a well-skelped arse. Citing that widely discredited South Africa study is tragic, but then, who could forget his about turn after his minter of an interview on Channel 4 in early March 2020.

[Ron Aldo]

Yes this is correct and at least one of them has.
Either he believes this contradicting his colleagues, or he has been told to say this by a lobbyist for the Government?
I'm suspicious the UKG are playing the long game here timing this variant to throw the country back into heavy restrictions in September so they can continue with minimum opposition, continued support from the fear porn spreading mainstream media and with emergency COVID laws extended. Be interesting to see how our SG reacts if this is the happens.
Utterly bizarre that now this is called a French variant while its known as the Beta originally from South Africa, keep in mind that the majority of cases on French soil are on an Island in the Indian ocean. Kent live doing there bit to confuse the public into thinking there's a new variant from France. This made up pish has to stop, someone has to police this shit, its unacceptable.
https://www.kentlive.news/news/health/french-covid-variant-evades-vaccines-5664648

SAGE expert says French variant of COVID-19 may evade vaccines

"Of the variants that are out there and are known about, that one has always been a threat to us."
A scientist advising the Government has warned that the Beta variant of the coronavirus spreading in France may evade vaccines.
Travellers returning from France must continue to self-isolate even if they are fully vaccinated, unlike other amber list destinations.
Professor John Edmunds, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said ministers are right to be concerned.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "The Beta variant has remained a threat throughout. It is probably less infectious than the Delta variant that is spreading here in the UK at the moment.
"Where it has an advantage is that it is able to escape the immune response to a better extent."
He added: "As the population here becomes more and more immune, the conditions are right then for the Beta variant to get an advantage, so I can understand the concern. "Of the variants that are out there and are known about, that one has always been a threat to us.
"There is some good evidence from South Africa that it can evade the immune response generated by the AstraZeneca vaccine more efficiently."

In a way its reassuring that there's no new variants floating about so they're having to rehash existing variants (which we already know get their arses handed to them by the vaccines) to try and keep the fear going. Pathetic really.

[Lyle Lanley]

29 minutes ago, philpy said:

Nhs covid app, my mistake.  You just put in the first part of the postcode of the district you are in.

Yep just used the first part of the hotel postcode when i was staying in Liverpool last week. Like you I deleted the app the day we left. 

I was rarely asked to use the app at all to check into places and there was no social distancing anywhere. 

[Honest_Man#1]

2 hours ago, Left Back said:

It’s one of the things Ashworth was bleating about this morning.  Said the summer holidays was plenty time to put air filtration units into schools.  I can’t recall if he mentioned everywhere else where restrictions would be eased but he certainly said schools.

They’re easy to fit and cheap apparently.  One of the things Labour would have done before easing restrictions.

The way these public health people casually talk about ventilation systems and how they should be added to schools is one of the most hilarious and obvious signs that whilst they may be experts in their narrow field, they have absolutely no idea about the real world situations they are attempting to influence.

Retrofitting a ventilation system throughout a building would take huge amounts of time, money and effort, and can not be done properly with it occupied. You’d have to shut schools for a year to get it done. 

[101]

2 hours ago, Snafu said:

To prevent workers from overheating, unions are calling for continued flexible working ahead of 'Freedom Day return' to the office

Worryingly that suggests that employers in England are heeding Boris' plea to save Pret and get folk back into the office.

I would hope there is a much more pragmatic way taken up here and employers don't get wide.

[Left Back]

9 minutes ago, 101 said:

Worryingly that suggests that employers in England are heeding Boris' plea to save Pret and get folk back into the office.

I would hope there is a much more pragmatic way taken up here and employers don't get wide.

I’ve got a customer in Surrey wanting us to bring the whole team down from Edinburgh for a workshop.  Absolutely no reason we all need to sit in a room together.

She can bolt.  Up here it’s still WFH where possible and this clown customer can’t get her head round the fact there are no expenses factored into this contract as it was signed at a time when none were envisaged.  Are we hell shipping a dozen people down south at our cost for a vanity meeting that serves no purpose other than an introduction thing that has been done over Teams anyway.

[PedroMoutinho]

13 minutes ago, 101 said:

Worryingly that suggests that employers in England are heeding Boris' plea to save Pret and get folk back into the office.

I would hope there is a much more pragmatic way taken up here and employers don't get wide.

I think the vast majority of employers will take a flexible approach and discuss with employees. 

Tbh I think people do want much more flexibility, but I’m not sure most want to WFH 5 days a week every week (I certainly don’t).

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

Agree this virus will reach everyone eventually.

I'm quite sure the numbers of those that have been infected by all the variants since early last year is a lot more than official numbers as many especially last year during the first wave didn't realise they had it and passed it on to others who also had either mild or no symptoms at all. It might even be as much as around 90% of the population of the UK already have the antibodies in their system from either vaccination or from infection.

The biggest issue we face now is in the mind.

ONS surveys do suggest ~90% of the UK population have at least some antibodies. Undoubtedly the number of infected both here and globally is a massive underestimate. At the start of October last year the WHO estimated ~10% had contracted it. That's pre Alpha and Delta, and the winter/spring waves in the northern hemisphere.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-united-nations-health-ap-top-news-international-news-54a3a5869c9ae4ee623497691e796083

[welshbairn]

A fair few people happy working from home must get a bit worried about if promotion spots or job cuts are incoming and others are back in the workplace. A lot easier to sack somebody online, and to put a word in the right ear in the office.

Edited July 18, 2021 by welshbairn

[Michael W]

13 minutes ago, Left Back said:

I’ve got a customer in Surrey wanting us to bring the whole team down from Edinburgh for a workshop.  Absolutely no reason we all need to sit in a room together.

She can bolt.  Up here it’s still WFH where possible and this clown customer can’t get her head round the fact there are no expenses factored into this contract as it was signed at a time when none were envisaged.  Are we hell shipping a dozen people down south at our cost for a vanity meeting that serves no purpose other than an introduction thing that has been done over Teams anyway.

Tell her how much extra it'll be and I imagine she'll STFU.