When will this shit end?

[Fuzzy Afro]

On the Corbyn stuff, I voted Labour in the last election and knew by approximately 10:04pm that I’d made the wrong decision.

 

I was at my office Christmas party and was drinking with a colleague of mine who I’m fairly close with, but we hadn’t really discussed politics before. She’s also fairly strict Jewish. As the exit poll dropped, she burst into tears and told me how relieved she was that her parents and grandparents wouldn’t have to leave the country. At that point, I realised I was wrong to vote for that version of the Labour Party. 
 

I hope Corbyn doesn’t get the whip back. 

[JoeyT]

Wife having a test today having finally succumbed to the "things don't taste right" issue she's had for the past couple of days.

Isolation and WFH for me pending results.

Hopefully it's negative and she's got the bug I had (had a test which was negative) 2 weeks ago.

Puts us in a strange position if she's positive of not knowing if I therefore did infact have covid so my test result was incorrect or it's just a coincidence!

[Ozanne]

12 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

I’ve got a close friend whose working 14 hour days in ICU on the front line. 
 

She also has diabetes and an has insulin pump to keep her sugar levels regulated. She should really be in the shielding category but instead she’s right in the thick of it caring for those who have been hit the hardest. 
 

Just to add to it, she’s South American so one of those “immigrunts” that brexiteers don’t think should be in this country. 
 

Nurses should be getting free drinks for life for the work they’re doing right now. 

How’s she doing from a mental health perspective?

[Zoo Music Girl]

9 hours ago, Ryan1984 said:

Not much about the Pfizer going forward yet on the major news outlet. Absolutely love the news that Dolly Parton contributed to the Moderna research though!

On another note, a friend of a friend is a frontline worker - and a compulsive liar (I’m pretty sure they have Munchausen’s Syndrome) - and is claiming they received a letter saying they have to isolate (due to their asthma) just after the current restrictions came in. I thought these letters were only sent out in the first lockdown..?

It’s a worry for them, their colleagues and their patients if they should have been shielding already. When they haven’t been working, they’ve been travelling around A LOT.

My friend is having chemo and hasn't been asked to isolate this time around, so would be surprised for asthma. I didn't think there were any letters this time, but could be wrong.

Not sure what I think about all this Christmas stuff really. I'm not a big lover of the whole thing, but I know our families would like to see us. Won't just be one trip for us as our families live in opposite directions. A five-day grace period would make it very rushed and increase risk of transmission between the two I would have thought (would prefer to do them a week apart or something). Personally I don't think it would be a massive risk for us to hire a car and go door to door, as we are not going anywhere other than the shop once a week, but will make that call nearer the time. If pubs and restaurants are open I can't see people agreeing not to see their families.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Also @Lycra very sad to hear your sad news.

I definitely think the worst of what's going on in hospitals is being kept out of the media.

[Zoo Music Girl]

1 hour ago, steviewevie said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54973530

BMA, a trade union for UK doctors, has said robust measures to keep the virus under control must be in place before lockdown ends, including:

• giving local public health teams more of the oversight and budget of Test and Trace to ensure it is fit for purpose
• replacing the rule of six, which allowed up to six people from different households to meet with a two-households rule to reduce social mixing
• banning travel between different local lockdown tiers
• replacing guidance with rules to ensure workplaces and public areas such as shops and pubs are Covid-secure
• continuing to encourage people who can to work from home

This all sounds really sensible to me. The two households rule always made way more sense to me than allowing six from different households to meet up (would also mean we could legally see our friends with three kids!). 

One other thing on Christmas: whatever they decide to do, they really need to start making it clear. It's only a month away really, people will be wanting to make plans.

[squirrelarmy]

19 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

How’s she doing from a mental health perspective?

She’s being her usual tough self and not showing any signs of strain. Just tired constantly. 

[SwedgeAntilles]

1 hour ago, zahidf said:

This is going great. Comments under Keir visiting a synagogue a couple of days ago

 

Awful. Facebook comments section really is where the dregs of society congregate. 

[stuartbert two hats]

Something to think about if you're worried about the compressed timescales for vaccine development:

 

 

[kalifire]

10 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Awful. Facebook comments section really is where the dregs of society congregate. 

It's a right wing cesspool at this point.

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

Rapid testing pilot being opened up to whole of South Yorkshire 

https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/news/barnsley-to-be-part-of-targeted-rapid-testing-pilot-message-from-julia-burrows-director-of-public-health-in-barnsley/

[Copperface]

On 10/12/2020 at 11:12 PM, SheffJeff said:

Thanks for the explanation, it makes me feel slightly better that there is some form of audit office to hold the government accountable though it does worry me that the Tories may have to agree to any enquiry being held because, well why would they.  I had always assumed our political structure was fundamentally different to how it is in the states where backhanders are standard but maybe I've been naive and this is how it's always been.  I've just not been paying attention as I was living a life rather than existing reading about science that's beyond me and politics that annoy me.  

Maybe something might result from this. I would imagine a lot of squirming going on .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54978460

[SwedgeAntilles]

18 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Something to think about if you're worried about the compressed timescales for vaccine development:

 

 

Great thread that.

[Copperface]

Wonder if Harding having to self isolate will reduce the damage she can do?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54985232

[Ozanne]

39 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

She’s being her usual tough self and not showing any signs of strain. Just tired constantly. 

Hopefully she’ll be ok in the long run!

[SwedgeAntilles]

22 minutes ago, kalifire said:

It's a right wing cesspool at this point.

Aye. The only reason I've still got it is my relatives tend to use it to keep in touch since I moved away. Well, that and the Ireland Simpson Fans page. If it wasn't for that I'd have ditched it. 

[Lycra]

43 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

She’s being her usual tough self and not showing any signs of strain. Just tired constantly. 

Get home 8:30pm tired. Get up 05:30am still tired. Get to the hospital 06:45am, tired. Another 13hr day looms........Life on the frontine!

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, Lycra said:

Get home 8:30pm tired. Get up 05:30am still tired. Get to the hospital 06:45am, tired. Another 13hr day looms........Life on the frontine!

Do you get emotional and well-being support?

[steviewevie]

34 minutes ago, kalifire said:

It's a right wing cesspool at this point.

twitter isn't much better....and I wouldn't say it is just right wing...j

[mikegday]

1 hour ago, squirrelarmy said:

Just to add to it, she’s South American so one of those “immigrunts” that brexiteers don’t think should be in this country. 
 

I voted for Brexit so everyone (South Americans included) applying to move to the U.K. is considered equal irrespective of where the individual currently lives. Your comment is tosh and really frustrating that 4 years on we’re still in our trenches. I’m a ‘brexiteer’ (in that I voted Brexit, mad to try and lump 17million people as one entity). I’m very much looking forward to an increase in non-EU migrants, migrants from around the world who will benefit and find it much easier to do so once everyone is considered equally.

But please stop, it’s absurd to portray 17million people as thinking identical or to say you know why 17 million people voted the way they did.

[DeanoL]

16 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

we dont know this causes any transmission though because its not been tried  .... fans in huge stadiums virtually outside  in small numbers would be an absoute minimal risk in my opinion and especially if as @Homer mentioned they travelled from the local area ... isnt the best thing to open things up that have the tiniest risk  ? At what point did we try this out and decide that it caused issues .... we didnt !!! 

I agree it's fairly low risk but it's also fairly low reward - having a few 100 fans in stadiums is not going to save a football club from going under or anything like that.

11 hours ago, Ozanne said:

The worrying thing is that not once in that article do they mention if this is the right course of action taking into account the virus. What happens if after those 5 days, cases rise then hospitals start to get full again? I’m sorry to go on but I’m asking myself if this is the best course of action. 

They have to measure what the rules will be against the level of compliance they will get though. The best thing for the virus would be if we all just stayed in our homes all the time until it was gone, but that's not feasible, people wouldn't do it. If the Christmas rules are too strict then you risk people ignoring them. And you have to model what happens if people ignore them.

For example it's more than twice as risky if people go and see two different family groups over the period than if they see just one. If people are told they can see one, they might stick to that. If they're told they can't see any, there's a good chance they just ignore the rule entirely

[Ozanne]

8 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

I agree it's fairly low risk but it's also fairly low reward - having a few 100 fans in stadiums is not going to save a football club from going under or anything like that.

They have to measure what the rules will be against the level of compliance they will get though. The best thing for the virus would be if we all just stayed in our homes all the time until it was gone, but that's not feasible, people wouldn't do it. If the Christmas rules are too strict then you risk people ignoring them. And you have to model what happens if people ignore them.

For example it's more than twice as risky if people go and see two different family groups over the period than if they see just one. If people are told they can see one, they might stick to that. If they're told they can't see any, there's a good chance they just ignore the rule entirely

Then we need effective leadership to get the public on board. They should be out every week saying Christmas will be smaller and different but they don’t want to piss people off. Leadership is about doing what’s best whether it’s popular or not. This is in theory the ideal situation for a virus to be spread round and we’ll pay the price if we are allowed a normal(ish) Christmas period I fear. 

[stuartbert two hats]

23 minutes ago, mikegday said:

I voted for Brexit so everyone (South Americans included) applying to move to the U.K. is considered equal irrespective of where the individual currently lives. Your comment is tosh and really frustrating that 4 years on we’re still in our trenches. I’m a ‘brexiteer’ (in that I voted Brexit, mad to try and lump 17million people as one entity). I’m very much looking forward to an increase in non-EU migrants, migrants from around the world who will benefit and find it much easier to do so once everyone is considered equally.

But please stop, it’s absurd to portray 17million people as thinking identical or to say you know why 17 million people voted the way they did.

Do you still think your vote was the right decision given where we are in negotiations?

[Fuzzy Afro]

8 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Then we need effective leadership to get the public on board. They should be out every week saying Christmas will be smaller and different but they don’t want to piss people off. Leadership is about doing what’s best whether it’s popular or not. This is in theory the ideal situation for a virus to be spread round and we’ll pay the price if we are allowed a normal(ish) Christmas period I fear. 

Rightly or wrongly, there’s no way the British people are complying with any order not to gather at all at Christmas. You’d literally need to have army blockades from the 19th December until after new year to prevent it.

 

At least telling people to keep it small, keep it to a few households and keep it exclusive, you give them a chance to avoid the catastrophic superspreader event that a normal all-singing, all-dancing Christmas would be.

 

I think allowing people to form an exclusive bubble of three to four households that’s in force from Christmas Eve until the 28th inclusive is relatively low risk given that we’ll have been on a household mixing ban for 7 weeks beforehand and will go back to a mixing ban afterwards 

[balthazarstarbuck]

10 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Then we need effective leadership to get the public on board. They should be out every week saying Christmas will be smaller and different but they don’t want to piss people off. Leadership is about doing what’s best whether it’s popular or not. This is in theory the ideal situation for a virus to be spread round and we’ll pay the price if we are allowed a normal(ish) Christmas period I fear. 

Saying Christmas should be spent with your own household will just be ignored by large swathes of the population though- much like the overkill of 14 day quarantine. The fatigue is just too high at this point, especially when people know there’s a vaccine round the corner.

I think the government’s hand is forced on this one to a certain extent. They need restrictions  that are strict enough to make a difference but not so strict they’re widely flouted.