When will this shit end?

[steviewevie]

12 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

If England get through surely every possible ticket should go to a paying fan who wants to be there? If they don't then I'm sure there'll be plenty of slots for this sort of thing! 

NHS Frontline workers

[DeanoL]

I'm finding the whole mask argument pointless at the moment. They don't stop COVID. They stop your breath travelling as far, which in a virus that's carried on your breath, makes them very effective if people stay a sensible distance from each other. Very little point having masks and dropping distancing. I guess you could argue with a mask you might only infect the people sat next to you instead of a larger crowd, but it doesn't seem like it'd make that much of an impact.

[steviewevie]

5 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

 

I do wonder how much of this is down to people becoming hyper-conscious about their health, given it's all we've talked about for 18 months? All this stuff about under-lying conditions and how they can make you more susceptible to a deadly disease, it might be causing people to not fuck about so much with their health. Generally plenty of people (myself included) would avoid going to the doctor unless absolutely necessary, and even then the NHS could just about cope - I wonder if we're seeing what's going to be a sustained increase in demand as people are just thinking more about them.
 

Backlog

[steviewevie]

 

[zahidf]

18 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

but not on transport.

you don't need to wear a mask now in a cinema, right? Not sure about theatre.

you do for the cinema

 

[efcfanwirral]

15 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

 

This is really interesting - it's seems to confirm what I've been saying already in that the third wave is already here. Case numbers are going up loads, hospitalisations and deaths are going up (but from a much lower starting position due the vaccine).

This seems to suggest that the primary driver to opening up is that the virus is out and spreading anyway, and won't get sped up much just by dropping the few remaining restrictions we had. I think everyone on here who has been in favour of not lifting restrictions on July 19 have just been suggesting keeping the current restrictions - none of us have really been suggesting backpedalling to a more stringent lockdown, though it looks like that was an option on the table.

Keeping the current restrictions seems to have been ruled out on the basis that it's spreading pretty fast anyway and it won't go that much faster if we re-open the rest of the economy. Based on that argument, and if that modelling is accurate, I can sort of agree with that. (I still have issues with the previous re-opening on the basis of equality of access to jabs but from a medical perspective I get the approach they're taking here).

They could reduce the gap for Pfizer/Moderna from 8 to 4 weeks. This is sort of our problem at the moment, mid-30s, we got the first jab as soon as we could book it, but even bringing the second jab forwards it means we get it the week after re-opening day, and then it's a couple of weeks for protection to kick in. Add in to that the fact that the protection from a first jab of Pfizer tends to wane after 4 weeks, we're now hitting the point where we are most at risk, while still being vaccinated.

No big deal, we're just going to be more cautious in that 4-ish weeks between July 19 and when our second jab kicks in - as in, we've started going out to cafes and restaurants again now, we're going to stop for a month over that time period.

But it's interesting that jabs were open for 18+ from June 18, so if they had the supplies to allow second jabs to be brought forward for everyone to 4 weeks, then all those adults most concerned (so who booked in as soon as possible) would be able to get their second does just before re-opening day.

I'm off to Latitude after 1 😂 probably pushing it but I'm not too worried 

[gigpusher]

To be honest I think we're basically going to try and go for herd immunity with the mitigation of vaccines. Maybe this is the best we can hope for after all this time. I have sympathy with people on every side of the argument. I'd be happy to wear masks on public transport and in shops etc if it made those in worse health than myself feel better. 

I also understand the need to get back to some kind of normal the health and mental health impact of this will be felt for years and not just by those who have had COVID or long COVID. Maybe getting the madness out of the way in Summer is better than waiting. Sad that I'll always be suspicious of our government because too often they have taken the populist approach but we are at the stage of having to balance the harm from COVID vs the harm of the measures to prevent COVID. 

 

[priest17]

7 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

It's not being scrapped but becomes optional. I've never been told to isolate so no idea what happens with scanning when you've been told to, but I would guess you just don't try to scan if you are ignoring the isolation guidance as now optional to scan in anyway. To be honest it feels optional in a lot of places I've been to anyway!

Ah so that's some of my confusion I read it as optional for the venue. They've been pretty on it in Manchester, seen a load of people getting called out recently for just waving the camera app at it. Gotta show the ol' green tick!

[steviewevie]

4 minutes ago, zahidf said:

you do for the cinema

 

oh, my kid didn't wear one, I'll have to punish her severely.

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, gizmoman said:

It was an example, so far there has been no festival running without restrictions, lets wait and see just how free we are in a few weeks, I suspect there will now be a push for vaccine passports for entry to events, if you listened to Johnson yesterday he said this isn't over by a long way and suggested businesses should consider using covid status as a condition of entry. He claimed it would be up to the businesses concerned but if you are reliant on a council licence there could well be pressure to bring in such a system to ensure the venue is "safe".

Spaffer made a point about no vaccine passports..but if they were necessary whats the big deal you might as well complain that people are expected to wear clothes. Or food stalls are expected to have hygiene certificates.

 

 

 

[zahidf]

Just now, eFestivals said:

Spaffer made a point about no vaccine passports..but if they were necessary whats the big deal you might as well complain that people are expected to wear clothes. Or food stalls are expected to have hygiene certificates.

 

 

 

SOme gig venues are saying they will ask for a vaccine certificate in London on a private basis to make people feel secure coming. I could see some festivals following suit

[zahidf]

Sainsbury says theyll be dropping mask requirements

[Dog Burger]

Can confirm the Avonmouth vaccine centre is indeed doing walk-ins from 10-3 every week day, as long as you're at least 8 weeks from your first jab. They only have Pfizer. I turned up at 10 and was done by 10.15 😀

[Havors]

20 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

 

Peston has conveniently forgotten all about this wonderful thing called.... vaccination. 

[andyrhodes24]

18 minutes ago, northernringo said:

In Northern Ireland, if we get vaccinated this week we get a free ice cream... That's about as good as it gets over here!

https://news.trust.org/item/20210601155421-gr1fs/

Interesting article here talking about what incentives different countries are offering their people to take up the vaccine. Cars in Moscow, US$116.5m lottery prize pot in California, a US1.4m property in Hong Kong, sausage sarnies in Romania and a cow in one Filipino village.

Free joints in Washington state USA. As the vaccination numbers get higher so does the general population, genius!

[st dan]

7 minutes ago, Havors said:

Peston has conveniently forgotten all about this wonderful thing called.... vaccination. 

He’s retweeting things like this now:

 

Isn’t he supposed to be neutral on things like this given his role? Quite clear where his views lie, and he will be reporting in a way to push his views to the wider public, both on TV and via his articles. Not sure it really helps anybody in this situation does it?

[Fuzzy Afro]

Peston very sadly lost his wife to lung cancer after she was immunocompromised. So I don’t think we can hold him as an impartial journalist on this. 

[st dan]

5 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Peston very sadly lost his wife to lung cancer after she was immunocompromised. So I don’t think we can hold him as an impartial journalist on this. 

Ahh I didn’t realise that. That’s awfully sad and clearly has an impact on his views in regards to masks and the reopening etc.

[Leyrulion]

39 minutes ago, zahidf said:

SOme gig venues are saying they will ask for a vaccine certificate in London on a private basis to make people feel secure coming. I could see some festivals following suit

I wouldn't have an issue with having to use the covid pass thing for the next year or so for really congested events. 

 

 

[Fuzzy Afro]

From the 19th I will no longer use the term “face coverings” and will revert to calling them “masks”

[topmarksbri]

38 minutes ago, zahidf said:

Sainsbury says theyll be dropping mask requirements

I think a lot of places will do this not from a safety perspective but mostly because it means they don't have to hire security staff to enforce and don't have to have their staff getting dogs abuse for asking people to wear them...

[steviewevie]

41 minutes ago, Havors said:

Peston has conveniently forgotten all about this wonderful thing called.... vaccination. 

from his 2nd tweet on that thread.

"There are millions of these frail people. For those whose immune systems are compromised or suppressed, the efficacy of vaccines is much reduced."

[steviewevie]

49 minutes ago, zahidf said:

Sainsbury says theyll be dropping mask requirements

tory scum supermarket.

[jannybruck]

Yeah, I really wouldn't know what to be doing if I was immunocompromised this summer. I'd probably feel like I was being thrown to the wolves a bit.

[st dan]

Not to get too political, but I do wonder how Labour and Starmer would have handled the ending of restrictions given the exact same circumstances.