When will this shit end?

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, Suprefan said:

 They assume that everyone wont really follow distancing at this point. With shop capacities reduced you will mitigate that kind of crowding anyway. Plus most people feel “safer” with a mask on and will close those gaps and act more normal. But you can buy an anti mask mask if you so choose!!

 

they are close anyway ... so the masks are more protection than nothing ... distancing seems to be ignored now unfortunately .....

[squirrelarmy]

If there isn’t a local spike in Leeds in 2/3 weeks time then I’m going to be very confident that things will be getting back to normal and large gatherings of people will be fine so festivals will be able to go ahead. I haven’t been down personally but I’ve seen a lot of videos of what seems like the whole city partying together. 

[Crazyfool01]

3 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

If there isn’t a local spike in Leeds in 2/3 weeks time then I’m going to be very confident that things will be getting back to normal and large gatherings of people will be fine so festivals will be able to go ahead. I haven’t been down personally but I’ve seen a lot of videos of what seems like the whole city partying together. 

Like there wasn't from the Liverpool tittle celebrations ?  hopefully will all be ok in Leeds aswell ... hope youve managed to enjoy it anyway 

[FestivalJamie]

7 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

If there isn’t a local spike in Leeds in 2/3 weeks time then I’m going to be very confident that things will be getting back to normal and large gatherings of people will be fine so festivals will be able to go ahead. I haven’t been down personally but I’ve seen a lot of videos of what seems like the whole city partying together. 

I think we’d be lucky not to have a spike given the government are only catching 50% of contacts.

Thank god the anti mask protest was poorly attended but f****d me off nonetheless.

[squirrelarmy]

4 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Like there wasn't from the Liverpool tittle celebrations ?  hopefully will all be ok in Leeds aswell ... hope youve managed to enjoy it anyway 

Yeah I was at a small scale garden party on Friday night celebrating the title with people who all know each other. I didn’t fancy getting involved with the huge crowds although there are already unofficial plans for another large gathering for the next game.

[Lizzim]

11 hours ago, MEGABOWL said:

I’m at Blairdrummond Safari Park today with the wife and kids. Lovely to be out and plenty of people about too. Good antidote to any Claustrophobia (not that I really have any, having worked throughout but you know what I mean) and a reminder there aren’t actually floating clouds of poison or Covid Zombies walking around.

I am amazed that the Safari park is still going.  I remember going with my grandfather when I was a very young teenager, and that was a very very long time ago.

[Lizzim]

I am due to travel to Jersey in a couple of weeks, part holiday and part family get together.  I'm actually really nervous about it.  In the last four months I have rarely left my house and when I have I have been really careful.   But my in laws in Jersey seem to be carrying on as if nothing is up - no sign at all of social distancing in the FB posts are anything to go by.  

I didn't think they will understand that I'm less worried about catching it than transmitting it.    My sis-in-law is particularly touchie feelie so I worry about upsetting her, but she is a care worker so I think she should be more careful.

[Suprefan]

3 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

they are close anyway ... so the masks are more protection than nothing ... distancing seems to be ignored now unfortunately .....

Yeah its a shame. I mean Ive been living with some type of mask mandate since early April so its pretty “normal” now. Except california shouldnt have opened up as soon as they did. What frustrated me was we had too many casual holidays in the path of opening up business and such. Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Memorial Day and July 4th all reasons to open places so people can have some normalcy. And it forced the issue even more because those holidays are tied to shopping for the occasion.

Going to be an interesting week as some of the biggest retail stores in the country are making masks mandatory nationwide beginning tomorrow. Itll be even more magnified because of Wal Mart especially, so all of the anti maskers will have to comply or shop somewhere else.

[Zoo Music Girl]

FFS we are just so shit:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53466471

[Leyrulion]

2 hours ago, Lizzim said:

I am due to travel to Jersey in a couple of weeks, part holiday and part family get together.  I'm actually really nervous about it.  In the last four months I have rarely left my house and when I have I have been really careful.   But my in laws in Jersey seem to be carrying on as if nothing is up - no sign at all of social distancing in the FB posts are anything to go by.  

I didn't think they will understand that I'm less worried about catching it than transmitting it.    My sis-in-law is particularly touchie feelie so I worry about upsetting her, but she is a care worker so I think she should be more careful.

You have to have a test when you arrive in Jersey or prove you've had a negative result in the last few days. So if you limit contact a week or two in advance and the test is negative the chances of you passing it on are incredibly low.

 

They only have 5 cases, total, atm. No new cases since 6th July.

[Crazyfool01]

5 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Yeah its a shame. I mean Ive been living with some type of mask mandate since early April so its pretty “normal” now. Except california shouldnt have opened up as soon as they did. What frustrated me was we had too many casual holidays in the path of opening up business and such. Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Memorial Day and July 4th all reasons to open places so people can have some normalcy. And it forced the issue even more because those holidays are tied to shopping for the occasion.

Going to be an interesting week as some of the biggest retail stores in the country are making masks mandatory nationwide beginning tomorrow. Itll be even more magnified because of Wal Mart especially, so all of the anti maskers will have to comply or shop somewhere else.

I work for the English arm of them ... it begins fri for us here ... hopefully all the anti stuff calms down after the initial grumbles ... people can’t stand change !! 

[steviewevie]

9 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

If there isn’t a local spike in Leeds in 2/3 weeks time then I’m going to be very confident that things will be getting back to normal and large gatherings of people will be fine so festivals will be able to go ahead. I haven’t been down personally but I’ve seen a lot of videos of what seems like the whole city partying together. 

there haven't been spikes after protests, raves, L'pool celebrations, packed beaches etc etc, so probably be ok. It's when people are indoors there could be a problem..like clothing factories in Leicester etc.

[steviewevie]

Coronavirus: Protein treatment trial 'a breakthrough'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53467022

[steviewevie]

How do we conquer Covid-19 fears now we can go out again?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/19/how-do-we-conquer-covid19-fears-now-we-can-go-out-again

[parsonjack]

24 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Coronavirus: Protein treatment trial 'a breakthrough'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53467022

Could be a game changer 🤞

[Ryan1984]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53469269

As well as the protein treatment, we have deals for three different vaccines confirmed. Williamson again faffing on about how Britain needs to show we are ‘world leading’ when it comes to vaccines  but also to not expect it by winter.

@Toilet Duck - can we get your thoughts on the protein and these/Oxford findings when they are out?

 

[zeppelin]

11 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

If there isn’t a local spike in Leeds in 2/3 weeks time then I’m going to be very confident that things will be getting back to normal and large gatherings of people will be fine so festivals will be able to go ahead. I haven’t been down personally but I’ve seen a lot of videos of what seems like the whole city partying together. 

The state of Millennium Square this morning 😥

Hopefully there won't be a spike. I don't think there's been one in Liverpool so fingers crossed. I was actually in town but went in the opposite direction when it started getting manic. 

 

[Sawdusty surfer]

12 hours ago, Suprefan said:

 They assume that everyone wont really follow distancing at this point. With shop capacities reduced you will mitigate that kind of crowding anyway. Plus most people feel “safer” with a mask on and will close those gaps and act more normal. But you can buy an anti mask mask if you so choose!!

so who went to the rave

 

 

Every time I see reports of an illegal rave by heart leaps with joy.

 

 

Then I immediately think NOOO, don't do it. 

We were so lucky back in the day to have the freedoms now denied to the youngsters. 

There were several thousand at the Bath rave dancing in drizzle and light rain. Imaging how many more there would have been had it been a warm clear night.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Sawdusty Surfer

[zahidf]

Ha!

https://lwlies.com/articles/covideo-classics-the-dark-knight-unmasked/

[jparx]

Seems like some positive news today re: vaccine and treatment.

When is the Lancet report due on the Oxford vaccine? It was today right?

[parsonjack]

17 hours ago, zero000 said:

You would need to know the number of tests per week to make any inferences on that information. It could be attributable to an increase in testing.

This is true but....even monitoring the ratio of positive cases to tests does not give you a true picture as we are only testing symptomatic cases at present which means there is a greater likelihood of them being positive than if we were testing everyone.  The percentage of cases/test is therefore skewed high as a result.

That said the ratio is a reasonable indicator of the trend of positive cases in a symptomatic group so does have some creedence in this respect.  I've graphed the ratio since beginning of June and copied below.  Broad reduction of positive cases/test over the period...with perhaps a hint of a rise in last week.  I'll continue to monitor.

 

[zahidf]

8 minutes ago, jparx said:

Seems like some positive news today re: vaccine and treatment.

When is the Lancet report due on the Oxford vaccine? It was today right?

Yup sometime today

[Toilet Duck]

2 hours ago, Ryan1984 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53469269

As well as the protein treatment, we have deals for three different vaccines confirmed. Williamson again faffing on about how Britain needs to show we are ‘world leading’ when it comes to vaccines  but also to not expect it by winter.

@Toilet Duck - can we get your thoughts on the protein and these/Oxford findings when they are out?

 

Morning!

So, interferon beta has been around for ages. and interferons were developed originally as antiviral agents as they are the natural things our cells release when they are infected with viruses. Beta interferon is mainly used as a disease modifying drug for MS these days. It's what is known as a cytokine, which are chemical messengers released by cells to activate and control the immune system (especially inflammation). So, if it turns out that it really does have a significant impact on COVID outcomes, then it could be used very quickly as it has been through safety testing for other things. Interferons control a wide range of responses, so other, more specific modulators of the immune system are also under investigation and are having similarly good results early on (especially the IL6 inhibitors). It's good that this was tested in a randomised trial, the caveat being, it's a small trial so needs to be confirmed in a much larger study. I've seen many drugs fail at this point (most in fact) and part of the problem is always identifying which patients will actually benefit from it rather than giving it to everybody (what we like to call "precision medicine"). It's promising, but then again, the early Remdesivir data looks spectacular and it didn't quite pan out like that (it's useful, but mainly when your hospitals are swamped...doesn't have better survival associated with it). 

Part of what you are seeing is the need to generate funding for the next phase. Same with the Imperial vaccine, they are talking a good game, and the data certainly looks promising, but somebody has to pay for ongoing studies to verify the data, so there's a degree of self-promotion involved in all of these statements. This goes on all the time in the development of medicinal products (drugs, vaccines, diagnostic tests etc), but normally it isn't in the national media with the whole world watching! You normally apply for funding, or privately meet VCs, or privately meet pharma companies to see if they agree with your data and want to help fund the next step...it normally takes a fair while and you'll meet with loads of people who say no before you meet with someone who says yes (being a scientist is often like auditioning for an acting job...you get rejected more often than not! You just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go again if you believe in your own data...or some of the rejections highlight flaws in your data that you then seek to investigate further, and then armed with better data you try again), 

The Oxford trial data is looking very promising (not for a vaccine that stops you from getting infected, but certainly for one that stops you dying...which is good enough for me). The Imperial vaccine has a long way to go, the GSK/Sanofi one is not in the news, but I'd expect that one to make a splash next year (proven technology that most of the world uses for flu jabs, re-tooled for COVID). 

[steviewevie]

4 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

The Oxford trial data is looking very promising (not for a vaccine that stops you from getting infected, but certainly for one that stops you dying...which is good enough for me). The Imperial vaccine has a long way to go, the GSK/Sanofi one is not in the news, but I'd expect that one to make a splash next year (proven technology that most of the world uses for flu jabs, re-tooled for COVID). 

So...by a vaccine that stops you dying...do you mean it stops the severe symptons that lead to hospitalisation? Would it also stop people developing the long term problems, chronic fatigue etc?....or is all this yet to be determined...

[Toilet Duck]

2 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

So...by a vaccine that stops you dying...do you mean it stops the severe symptons that lead to hospitalisation? Would it also stop people developing the long term problems, chronic fatigue etc?....or is all this yet to be determined...

Hi Stevie,

All to be determined! To be honest, if the vaccine stops spread from the airways, then it is likely to diminish these other side effects.