COVID19

[Which Tyler]

Social distancing has gone everywhere. Went to the shops today - I was the only person wearing a mask and no-one was even trying to stay 2m from each other. Morr to the point, people were looking at my mask and cracking wise about it, like I was a weirdo stuck in last month.

I think coronavirus is now officially fixed in the minds of a good percentage of the British public.

Puja

The government has been quite effective in achieving this perception. I assume that's what they've been aiming at.

That’s harsh. They want people to use common sense. Sadly, that’s not all that common. It is a difficult message to get across.

If only there had been some way of telling that what happened in mid-March, and again at Mothering Sunday, and Easter, VE day and every time there was a sniff of easing lockdown would happen when easing was increased too soon and too fast! Especially after they've literally sent the whole country the message that the rules they did introduce never actually applied.

If the government were genuinely expecting people to use their common sense, then they're even less competent than anyone had previously thought, and that's a hell of a low bar to manage to scrape underneath.

[Sandydragon]

The government has been quite effective in achieving this perception. I assume that's what they've been aiming at.

That’s harsh. They want people to use common sense. Sadly, that’s not all that common. It is a difficult message to get across.

If you want people to do something, you sack people who don’t do that. The government has dug this whole, don’t deflect blame.

If people here can wear masks, people in the UK can.

Oh there’s plenty of blame. But I don’t think the government deliberately wants people to mingle and spread the virus.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Social distancing has gone everywhere. Went to the shops today - I was the only person wearing a mask and no-one was even trying to stay 2m from each other. Morr to the point, people were looking at my mask and cracking wise about it, like I was a weirdo stuck in last month.

I think coronavirus is now officially fixed in the minds of a good percentage of the British public.

Puja

The government has been quite effective in achieving this perception. I assume that's what they've been aiming at.

That’s harsh. They want people to use common sense. Sadly, that’s not all that common. It is a difficult message to get across.

I'm being sarcastic. Well, at least I'm not sure what message the government is trying to get across exactly. Use your common sense and stay alert are meaningless because dealing with an epidemic is outside most people's experience, therefore people need specific guidance, not meta-instructions to be "sensible". The Cummings business simultaneously confused because they say that he did the right thing, and eroded the goodwill required for daily sacrifices. The reducing of restrictions despite the alert level remaining at 4 and R just below 1 (maybe) has allowed The Sun et al to create the perception that this thing is over and the Summer can begin.

[Digby]

That’s harsh. They want people to use common sense. Sadly, that’s not all that common. It is a difficult message to get across.

If you want people to do something, you sack people who don’t do that. The government has dug this whole, don’t deflect blame.

If people here can wear masks, people in the UK can.

Oh there’s plenty of blame. But I don’t think the government deliberately wants people to mingle and spread the virus.

Then they shouldn't have trashed their own messaging to protect Cummings, at best they avoid being deliberate in this and drop to wilful disregard over people dying and extra pressure on the NHS. They do have a problem telling people to put masks on and go back to work but also don't put masks on and go out to process. Still, the Cummings thing and having cabinet ministers and the PM rush to throw their integrity off the cliff to defend him remains shocking

[Galfon]

Yep, looks like it's business as usual alright..

https://news.sky.com/story/george-floyd ... n-12001942
Throw in WC's statue defacement too for good measure.

[Puja]

That’s harsh. They want people to use common sense. Sadly, that’s not all that common. It is a difficult message to get across.

If you want people to do something, you sack people who don’t do that. The government has dug this whole, don’t deflect blame.

If people here can wear masks, people in the UK can.

Oh there’s plenty of blame. But I don’t think the government deliberately wants people to mingle and spread the virus.

I will note that this government's plan A was herd immunity - delaying the peak and flattening the curve, but still letting the virus go through the young population. They wanted a plan whereby we could get back to work ASAP.

Does this current cf not result in a lot of those goals being hit?

Puja

[Sandydragon]

If you want people to do something, you sack people who don’t do that. The government has dug this whole, don’t deflect blame.

If people here can wear masks, people in the UK can.

Oh there’s plenty of blame. But I don’t think the government deliberately wants people to mingle and spread the virus.

I will note that this government's plan A was herd immunity - delaying the peak and flattening the curve, but still letting the virus go through the young population. They wanted a plan whereby we could get back to work ASAP.

Does this current cf not result in a lot of those goals being hit?

Puja

You don’t hear that mentioned too much anymore.

However standby everyone for significant unlocking actions to come. Saving the economy now looks to be the top priority.

[Galfon]

Brazil is nowhere near its peak yet, that could be really bad.

...but apparently it's only the 'current picture' that matters..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-52952686
..nothing like transparency and being held to account.

[Sandydragon]

Apparently a second wave is being reported in Iran after lockdown measures were eased.

[Galfon]

Bra has overtaken US with rolling avge. deaths (885/858)...NZ now virus free.

[cashead]

Yep, last active case was declared recovered. Poor woman was sick since March. Other than closed borders, everything re-opens as close to where it was pre-lockdown tomorrow basically.

Pretty cool to be living in a Covid-free country.

[morepork]

Yep, last active case was declared recovered. Poor woman was sick since March. Other than closed borders, everything re-opens as close to where it was pre-lockdown tomorrow basically.

Pretty cool to be living in a Covid-free country.

How long it will be before I am going to be able to visit home from this leper colony, fuck knows.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Yep, last active case was declared recovered. Poor woman was sick since March. Other than closed borders, everything re-opens as close to where it was pre-lockdown tomorrow basically.

Pretty cool to be living in a Covid-free country.

Top marks to NZ and its leaders. Wish we had a chance to change ours sometime soon.

[Sandydragon]

Apparently, we are now below the daily death total from pre-lockdown.

However, its a Monday and figures are always lower on a Monday so I can't get too excited.

Equally, I'm worried what recent mass events that have occurred since the lockdown was eased will result in. The R rate is reportedly above 1 in the North West and South West, which is really not good if correct.

I have a horrible feeling that we aren't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

[Galfon]

I have a horrible feeling that we aren't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

We appear to be stuck in a thicket...
been let down by the copse a few times too.

[canta_brian]

I have a horrible feeling that we aren't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

We appear to be stuck in a thicket...
been let down by the copse a few times too.

I think the government is stumped.

[Galfon]

I have a horrible feeling that we aren't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

We appear to be stuck in a thicket...
been let down by the copse a few times too.

I think the government is stumped.

seemed to lumber around at key moments.

[canta_brian]

We appear to be stuck in a thicket...
been let down by the copse a few times too.

I think the government is stumped.

seemed to lumber around at key moments.

Might be time to log off I think.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

I genuinely don't know where we go from here. R is on the increase through the whole country and is at or near 1 having been as low as 0.4 in London. Current estimates are that about a fifth of new cases are actually being reported and confirmed by testing, so that's a shit ton of infected merrily spreading the virus. Simply ordering a further restrictive lockdown won't work because the public is already in "Fuck you" mode due in no small part to the government indicating that rules don't mean shit. In any event the government have no appetite for that whatsoever so it won't happen unless deaths really rocket. We have no contact tracing worth the name and even people like me who really care about this sort of thing won't download the government's app - I don't trust a fucking word those cunts say any more so I'm not about to hand over a load of data about me to them.

At this point a second spike seems absolutely inevitable to me, even if we keep the restrictions we have and they were being obeyed. I'm reasonably mentally robust and I can't bear the thought of another 3 months of this. However more mass death isn't exactly cheering either.

Someone tell me I'm wrong and that everything is going well. Though I can't promise not to call you a pollyanna fuckwit.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I genuinely don't know where we go from here. R is on the increase through the whole country and is at or near 1 having been as low as 0.4 in London. Current estimates are that about a fifth of new cases are actually being reported and confirmed by testing, so that's a shit ton of infected merrily spreading the virus. Simply ordering a further restrictive lockdown won't work because the public is already in "Fuck you" mode due in no small part to the government indicating that rules don't mean shit. In any event the government have no appetite for that whatsoever so it won't happen unless deaths really rocket. We have no contact tracing worth the name and even people like me who really care about this sort of thing won't download the government's app - I don't trust a fucking word those cunts say any more so I'm not about to hand over a load of data about me to them.

At this point a second spike seems absolutely inevitable to me, even if we keep the restrictions we have and they were being obeyed. I'm reasonably mentally robust and I can't bear the thought of another 3 months of this. However more mass death isn't exactly cheering either.

Someone tell me I'm wrong and that everything is going well. Though I can't promise not to call you a pollyanna fuckwit.

The only positive thing I can see is that the cases and deaths are still falling, albeit very slowly. I thought the cases would have already started to rise again, now we're 4 weeks on from Boris telling everyone to go back to work. So maybe something is happening - there's more immunity out there than we think, social distancing (such as it is) is still having an effect, the weather is warmer, most of the really susceptible people have already died... something. I still think the numbers will pick up again, but ... well that's my scrap of positivity.

Agreed, the numbers will have to rocket for Boris to tighten things up again - it's herd immunity all the way in his head. I think he and Dom reckon that once Brazil (and maybe Mexico) exceed our absolute deaths, some people won't see him as the incompetent butcher of the old and infirm that he is.

Agreed about the app. These arseholes haven't missed a chance to divert work to the private sector - you can be sure your data will be going the same way, to help pay for the process.

[Donny osmond]

I genuinely don't know where we go from here. R is on the increase through the whole country and is at or near 1 having been as low as 0.4 in London. Current estimates are that about a fifth of new cases are actually being reported and confirmed by testing, so that's a shit ton of infected merrily spreading the virus. Simply ordering a further restrictive lockdown won't work because the public is already in "Fuck you" mode due in no small part to the government indicating that rules don't mean shit. In any event the government have no appetite for that whatsoever so it won't happen unless deaths really rocket. We have no contact tracing worth the name and even people like me who really care about this sort of thing won't download the government's app - I don't trust a fucking word those cunts say any more so I'm not about to hand over a load of data about me to them.

At this point a second spike seems absolutely inevitable to me, even if we keep the restrictions we have and they were being obeyed. I'm reasonably mentally robust and I can't bear the thought of another 3 months of this. However more mass death isn't exactly cheering either.

Someone tell me I'm wrong and that everything is going well. Though I can't promise not to call you a pollyanna fuckwit.

It's fine, it'll all be fine don't worry.

I've no idea what a Pollyanna fuckwit is, so have at it.

At the risk of me being several kinds of fuckwit at once... you shouldn't be so worried about CV-19 because the forthcoming environmental apocalypse is going to make this little chapter look like a fucking picnic.

Sent from my CPH1951 using Tapatalk

[Galfon]

the forthcoming environmental apocalypse is going to make this little chapter look like a fucking picnic.

Yes it looks increasingly like the 'new normal' will not include many songbirds and rose-scented f@rts..

Locust swarms:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-deve ... iddle-east

Giant Asian Hornets:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1 ... rch-dorset

'Asian hornets were brought across to Europe by mistake when a container of Chinese pottery holding the insects entered France in 2004.'
..Don't let DT get sight of this !...

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anim ... ed-states/
(This one's added so the entomologist mentioned gets an acknowledgement..)

[Lizard]

Well NZ now has 0 active cases so we are fully out of lockdown. There will be crowds at the rugby, a jam at the bar afterwards and licking strangers is being positively encouraged. The border remains basically shut though, with strict quarantine for any exceptions.

[Sandydragon]

I genuinely don't know where we go from here. R is on the increase through the whole country and is at or near 1 having been as low as 0.4 in London. Current estimates are that about a fifth of new cases are actually being reported and confirmed by testing, so that's a shit ton of infected merrily spreading the virus. Simply ordering a further restrictive lockdown won't work because the public is already in "Fuck you" mode due in no small part to the government indicating that rules don't mean shit. In any event the government have no appetite for that whatsoever so it won't happen unless deaths really rocket. We have no contact tracing worth the name and even people like me who really care about this sort of thing won't download the government's app - I don't trust a fucking word those cunts say any more so I'm not about to hand over a load of data about me to them.

At this point a second spike seems absolutely inevitable to me, even if we keep the restrictions we have and they were being obeyed. I'm reasonably mentally robust and I can't bear the thought of another 3 months of this. However more mass death isn't exactly cheering either.

Someone tell me I'm wrong and that everything is going well. Though I can't promise not to call you a pollyanna fuckwit.

The only positive thing I can see is that the cases and deaths are still falling, albeit very slowly. I thought the cases would have already started to rise again, now we're 4 weeks on from Boris telling everyone to go back to work. So maybe something is happening - there's more immunity out there than we think, social distancing (such as it is) is still having an effect, the weather is warmer, most of the really susceptible people have already died... something. I still think the numbers will pick up again, but ... well that's my scrap of positivity.

Agreed, the numbers will have to rocket for Boris to tighten things up again - it's herd immunity all the way in his head. I think he and Dom reckon that once Brazil (and maybe Mexico) exceed our absolute deaths, some people won't see him as the incompetent butcher of the old and infirm that he is.

Agreed about the app. These arseholes haven't missed a chance to divert work to the private sector - you can be sure your data will be going the same way, to help pay for the process.

There was a report that some medical practitioners are beginning to notice that the severity of the illness is less in new patients. Perhaps some hope of a mutation that makes it less harmful, but that's really speculative.

Unfortunately the government has lost its credibility due to the Cummings affair and publicity stunts like the 14 day isolation for those entering the country.Lockdowns were always going to be difficult to maintain long term, but goodwill is evaporating fast and may only return if there is a severe second wave.

Looking at the details of the tracking app and I don't feel that there is a significant privacy issue here (we give far more info voluntarily to companies like Facebook (or most people do)) but again its a credibility thing.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Btw I heard today (by a secondary source) that medics are being told to gear up for a fairly imminent second wave and a lot more deaths and full morgues. Arse.