When will this shit end?

[tigger123]

6 minutes ago, MrBarry465 said:

We won't be in a 'lockdown' once those other groups are vaccinated. Just don't expect this to be a quick process.

The PM will be releasing a detailed phased roadmap in March which takes us through to August/September. I also have that on good authority. 

Whats the announcement on the 22nd Feb then? Boris has said that the speech on the roadmap out of lockdown will be on 22nd Feb

[Radiochicken]

14 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

I know it seems a bit infuriating, but it’s because it’s safer. It’s pretty much the same reason we don’t try out new cancer drugs on people with early stage disease that we might cure some other way. But, the safety profile of the vaccines is getting more and more sure (AEs being reported from actual use reflect those in the trials and now millions have had them rather than 100s of 1000s), so it’s becoming less of a risk to test in more frail individuals. There’s firm data on >65s coming for the OX/AZ jab in the next few weeks and I would expect that it will look as good or close to the data in <65s. If it’s not (though the nature of the immune response in older adults strongly suggests it will), then there are still options and testing booster doses with different vaccines will provide further ones (which is exactly what’s being looked at). 

Thanks! I understand, but it does seem to a mere mortal like me that AZ/Oxford are being more cautious testing on older people compared to some of the other vaccine makers. Which doesn’t seem to match up with the fact they always sound so confident about it.... and it’s already being rolled out to mainly >65+ right now...

[Crazyfool01]

11 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Have you heard of online shopping? 😛

Primark isn't online .... and squirrels tight and northern 🙂 

[MrBarry465]

2 minutes ago, tigger123 said:

Whats the announcement on the 22nd Feb then? Boris has said that the speech on the roadmap out of lockdown will be on 22nd Feb

Schools and universities and the plan on how they get them back. That's probably the biggest economic hurdle at the moment anyway. 

[Ozanne]

6 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Primark isn't online .... and squirrels tight and northern 🙂 

Haha yeah good point.

[Crazyfool01]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55967069

surge testing in workplaces to be increased ..... anyone doing this in work at the moment ? ive asked the question if we are going to roll this out ....

[Ozanne]

7 minutes ago, tigger123 said:

Whats the announcement on the 22nd Feb then? Boris has said that the speech on the roadmap out of lockdown will be on 22nd Feb

You are right, 22nd will be the roadmap out of lockdown and the pandemic. 

[tigger123]

5 minutes ago, MrBarry465 said:

Schools and universities and the plan on how they get them back. That's probably the biggest economic hurdle at the moment anyway. 

This video from Boris' Twitter suggests different to what you're saying:

 

 

[Ozanne]

Ruh roh.

[sisco]

6 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55967069

surge testing in workplaces to be increased ..... anyone doing this in work at the moment ? ive asked the question if we are going to roll this out ....

My work (government office) is starting to roll it out in the biggest offices.  Support being received from the army to set it up then down to staff volunteers to carry it on

[zahidf]

 

 

[Lycra]

19 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Deaths and admissions seem to be coming down. How is it on the ground for Mrs @Lycra? Is she seeing any signs of improvement?

@stuartbert two hats

It's still manic but there's definitely improvement, albeit slow. Mrs L had 2 free beds when she was last on duty, the first time since October. Patients are in longer & deaths remain high, though the latter is semi-typical of this time of year. Excess deaths rather than daily covid death reporting will ultimately be the better judge. The NHS is in a much better place now than in the first wave and PPE is much improved. She even gets to play at being an astronaut. 

[Toilet Duck]

17 minutes ago, ShakeyCrash said:

Or, because the virus is threatened is it more likely to mutate as numbers come down?
Also, in regards to transmissibility, does it have an equivalent with any other virus (mild or otherwise). It just seems off the charts.

So, there’s different pressures on the virus. The spike looks foreign to our immune system, so we mount an immune response to it. That response is wide and varied. In terms of antibodies, some of them will target the part of the spike that binds to its receptor. These are the “neutralising” antibodies as they prevent the virus from entering our cells and replicating. There’s significant pressure on the virus to change this part of the spike as it is a life and death scenario for the virus (if it can’t get into our cells it can’t replicate and it dies). However, binding antibodies that interact with other parts of the spike play a significant role in our immune response to the virus (they target infected cells for destruction among other things). These antibodies don’t stop the virus from getting into our cells and replicating, but do form the basis of us not getting overwhelmed by infection. Cytotoxic T cells that recognise other parts of the spike do a similar thing. There’s a lot less pressure on the virus to change the parts of the spike that binding antibodies interact with as it’s not a life and death scenario, the virus can still get into our cells, replicate, move on to find another host and we clear the original infection. This is more or less why we get recurrent infections with other CoVs (neutralising antibody titres wane after a short time), but we don’t get severe disease for the most part. It’s entirely possible that something weird happens with this one, but the above is why all the vaccines are still working for severe disease with the different variants, why the virus doesn’t really need to evade this and where I think we’ll likely end up when most of the world has been protected against this one. 

[funkychick2007]

13 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55967069

surge testing in workplaces to be increased ..... anyone doing this in work at the moment ? ive asked the question if we are going to roll this out ....

Yes we are in north somerset social care teams care home staff school staff and colleges!!! Its up to us if we access it as social care but most of us are! Service is very effecient and results back within thirty minutes!! School staff being tested twice a week! 

[Crazyfool01]

12 minutes ago, sisco said:

My work (government office) is starting to roll it out in the biggest offices.  Support being received from the army to set it up then down to staff volunteers to carry it on

good to see it happening .... I just wonder if logistically its something my workplace will ever do ... cant harm to ask the question given the workforce size of over 400 on the same site ......  I presume the positive tests that are returned then isolate and seek a pcr test for confirmation ?

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, funkychick2007 said:

Yes we are in north somerset social care teams care home staff school staff and colleges!!! Its up to us if we access it as social care but most of us are! Service is very effecient and results back within thirty minutes!! School staff being tested twice a week! 

Is it onsite ?or do you go elsewhere for it ? i thought I heard a friend saying that she went elsewhere to have it done ... 

[funkychick2007]

Just now, crazyfool1 said:

Is it onsite ?or do you go elsewhere for it ? i thought I heard a friend saying that she went elsewhere to have it done ... 

The school staff have the ones you send off i think they are doing weds and sundays!!! There are lateral testing venues in weston and portishead which we have to go too but for the majority there only 10mins from most work bases!! Physically north somerset is a small area but with a high population!! So testing stations and vaccination centres are easy to get to for most!! 

[Mr.Tease]

52 minutes ago, zahidf said:

 

Wow, finally journalists are starting to ask about the 1st to 2nd jab ratio and the impact on numbers getting their first dose! Thanks for posting that (I've been complaining about it for a while!) 

[steviewevie]

48 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Have you heard of online shopping? 😛

the bigger supermarkets sell socks.

[steviewevie]

When will Britain's Covid lockdown be lifted? Three scenarios

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/07/when-will-britains-covid-lockdown-be-lifted-three-scenarios

[Mr.Tease]

50 minutes ago, MrBarry465 said:

We won't be in a 'lockdown' once those other groups are vaccinated. Just don't expect this to be a quick process.

The PM will be releasing a detailed phased roadmap in March which takes us through to August/September. I also have that on good authority. 

Will it be a proper roadmap though, and not a repeat of their previous things where they keep adding tiers or completely changing the criteria for action as they go along?

[Mr.Tease]

38 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Ruh roh.

He seems to bring in the worst advisors and minds- his choice of covid scientist was the one who though we already had herd immunity back in summer! 

 

[ShakeyCrash]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Tease said:

Will it be a proper roadmap though, and not a repeat of their previous things where they keep adding tiers or completely changing the criteria for action as they go along?

To be fair it can't be a real roadmap until there is certainty about vaccine effectiveness etc.  I suspect it will be more nuanced than what went before but timescales should be treated with a pinch of salt unless it relates to things where we have a large element of control (as an example we have more control over testing and vaccinating people then we do over the virus' and general publics behaviour).

We will get an understanding of government thinking and priorities and it would be nice to see that they are at least thinking about some of the industries that seem to have been forgotten.

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, ShakeyCrash said:

We will get an understanding of government thinking and priorities

yeah, I don't think we'll get much more than that. We might get potential dates for some things, but like the dates they initially gave for opening up after lockdown1 they'll only be hope-for dates initially.

I'm hoping they might go a bit further than they did for lockdown1, and give indications for crowd events (even if only for covid safe events, which was a later announcement last time).

[steviewevie]

Rawnsley in Observer on Starmer and local elections in May...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/07/keir-starmer-may-election-battle-prove-labour-progress