Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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A 'group of scientists' has written to the PM asking for all Covid restrictions to be withdrawn in June. Not knowing the basis for their request I dismissed the matter. Then I heard that the Daily Express has strongly endorsed the sentiments expressed in the letter. That settles the matter for me, If the Express thinks it's a good idea it is quite obviously not!
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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So...🙄...keeping an open mind then? :laugh5:
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Stanley wrote: 25 Apr 2021, 03:18 An open mind is a good asset when there is a big problem to solve.

Just saying :extrawink:
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Richard Feynman said when you don't know what the answer is you 'make a 'guess', and then go on to analyse the results. We made a guess when we chose to run with a single shot vaccination. To some degree we were guinea pigs fortunately it worked. Nothing wrong with having an open mind but remember its lives we are playing with. When people are guessing I'll sit and wait with an open mind but not too keen to take part.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Maz, the Indian official wasn't claiming that every single Indian person would be safe if they wore a mask. He was talking about the population at large. If Indians all wore masks some would still have got infected but there wouldn't have been the catastrophe they're now experiencing which no oxygen left and the prospect of an enormous enormous mortality rate and also the ensuing economic crash. Social distancing is all very well for us but not practical in crowded places like Bombay and Calcutta. as you described it yourself: `Terrible scenes coming out of India, where many are keeping vigil of their loved ones, locked outside hospitals and begging for Oxygen ( and not a lot of masks being worn at all).'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stanley wrote: 25 Apr 2021, 07:15 A 'group of scientists' has written to the PM asking for all Covid restrictions to be withdrawn in June. Not knowing the basis for their request I dismissed the matter. Then I heard that the Daily Express has strongly endorsed the sentiments expressed in the latter. That settles the matter for me, If the Express thinks it's a good idea it is quite obviously not!
It reminds me of back in about 2005 when the climate deniers were eagerly publicising a survey which they claimed showed that most scientists didn't believe in climate change. In fact it was only a tiny fraction of the scientific community and the results had been obtained by putting out an invitation in a way that attracted deniers to respond. (Also the identities were not confirmed - many were not scientists and a surprising number had names like Mickey Mouse!)
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Acknowledged Tiz...but my comments were in response your ( brief) comment. It was not an entire script of what you heard, but I responded to that BRIEF comment you made, regarding masks and worrying about variants.
Personally, I think we SHOULD be worried about variants. I can’t get my thoughts across because there are so many closed minds on this site, but I think we may reach a stage where this virus is so overwhelming, it will change life as we have always treasured it. It won’t be a choice for many who live in big cities and those that live in multi generational households, but I think we will eventually isolate more. How you do that in a big city, with high rent, low income households....gosh...I don’t know.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Has anyone pontificated or discussed whether this current pandemic could be part of the Gaia hypothesis. Self regulation of the planet to protect itself, hit the most damaging organism on the planet to reduce it's impact on the balance.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Maz, I agree that we should be worried about variants and I know that scientists and epidemiologists have that worry. There are certainly closed minds among the population, like there are on many issues, but I don't believe we have members with closed minds on OG. What we do have is different opinions and different interpretations but that's how it should be so that we don't fall into the social media `echo chamber' problem. Coincidentally I've just been reading how in the early 1900s geologists finally had enough evidence to agree that the Earth was at least 3 billion years old. At the same time astronomers were agreeing that the universe was no more than 2 billion years old. The argument was sufficiently fired up and motivational for them to do the work that showed both the earth and the universe were much older than either side had believed! :smile:

Ian, James Lovelock would undoubtedly agree! Earth scientists now accept feedback mechanisms as a normal part of Earth's (and life's) existence. Sometimes an asteroid comes along and puts the boot in but eventually Earth recovers!
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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It makes little difference to our lives how many billion years it may be since it all happened...it makes little difference to our lives how many billion years are left...we are but a speck of dust in that regard. I get that.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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The US announces that millions of doses of vaccine are being sent to India. Now people are trying to analyse what exactly this means as doubts have been raised over contamination of one factory's output. It will not be good if this is what is being sent...... (LINK)
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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I was listening to a report from the Punjab on World Service and concern was voiced of a death toll in India from Covid of 200,000. Doubts are being expressed over this figure and it is assumed that there are many unrecorded deaths. This must be the case, we have about 140,000 here in the UK with only a twentieth of the Indian population.
The Punjab correspondent reported visiting hospitals where he was assured that Covid19 didn't exist and was a government ploy to keep farmers protesting about low prices off the streets.
Here and in the States there is a sense that attitudes are being relaxed. This is a mistake, this pandemic has a lot of legs yet!
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Just done the first of my free fast flow tests. My friend and I agreed we would both do a test before we meet this afternoon. As expected it was negative. We are taking tests away with us next week just to keep an eye on things . With my high antibody count the other day and not having seen anyone except our friends Wendy and Keith for our covid secure pub lunch it was as expected but always wise to do it
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Good move Sue. We have a supply as well for if we can get away camping for a few days. All freely available so why not?
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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PanBiker wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 15:44 Good move Sue. We have a supply as well for if we can get away camping for a few days. All freely available so why not?
Exactly . The longest part was registering online to record the result !
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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I received a letter from Imperial College yesterday via first class mail. It advises me that my recent test for their survey returned as negative! Nothing wrong with that apart from over egging the pudding. I have already received a text message and an email with exactly the same information. :surprised:
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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See THIS

With the encouraging news about the low levels of Covid deaths as the effect of the successful vaccination campaign eases our position there is some relaxation for care home residents. Not before time! Care homes have been very wary about relaxing their grip because of fear of litigation.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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There was a 2-page interview in The Times yesterday with Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, which is the world's biggest vaccine producer. His father, Cyrus, started the Institute in the 1960s and his son is now about to set up vaccine manufacturing sites worldwide. Adar Poonawalla is in the UK at the moment and we might hear this coming week of a site being set up here. At beginning of the pandemic Adar immediately took the risk of spending nearly a billion pounds to boost production dramatically because he could see it was going to be very serious. They have been making AZ vaccine and providing it at $2 a dose which only covered their costs. However the Indian government at the time didn't put in orders because they claimed the vaccine wasn't needed*, so the Institute sold its vaccine elsewhere and didn't set up a further production site then. Now covid-19 is rampant in India and the situation is critical. The government is blaming the Institute and Poonawalla and his company have police protection and the family is suffering abuse and threats to their lives. He gets messages and calls from government officials saying they'll close him down if he doesn't immediately provide the vaccine for the 1.4 billion population of India. Some people are never grateful but always demanding.

*They said that deaths due to covid were very low in India but, as I mentioned at the beginning of the pandemic, it's traditional in India for doctors to avoid giving a communicable disease as a cause of death. Families don't want to see it on the death certificate so it's `old age' or heart disease etc instead. Public health only works efficiently when accurate data are available.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Tizer wrote: 02 May 2021, 15:27 There was a 2-page interview in The Times yesterday with Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, which is the world's biggest vaccine producer. His father, Cyrus, started the Institute in the 1960s and his son is now about to set up vaccine manufacturing sites worldwide. Adar Poonawalla is in the UK at the moment and we might hear this coming week of a site being set up here. At beginning of the pandemic Adar immediately took the risk of spending nearly a billion pounds to boost production dramatically because he could see it was going to be very serious. They have been making AZ vaccine and providing it at $2 a dose which only covered their costs. However the Indian government at the time didn't put in orders because they claimed the vaccine wasn't needed*, so the Institute sold its vaccine elsewhere and didn't set up a further production site then. Now covid-19 is rampant in India and the situation is critical. The government is blaming the Institute and Poonawalla and his company have police protection and the family is suffering abuse and threats to their lives. He gets messages and calls from government officials saying they'll close him down if he doesn't immediately provide the vaccine for the 1.4 billion population of India. Some people are never grateful but always demanding.

*They said that deaths due to covid were very low in India but, as I mentioned at the beginning of the pandemic, it's traditional in India for doctors to avoid giving a communicable disease as a cause of death. Families don't want to see it on the death certificate so it's `old age' or heart disease etc instead. Public health only works efficiently when accurate data are available.
Horrendous, the Indian government need a kick up the arse. It's a standard disaster movie plot where the government ignore the scientists...
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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Isn't it Kev! Just the same in the EU of course, they are still persecuting AZ in court.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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On the radio this morning, someone from the tourist industry being optimistic about holidays and saying Turkey is welcoming tourists. Meanwhile, Turkey is instituting a nationwide lockdown due to covid-19. Who to believe?
`Turkey: Government to enforce nationwide lockdown April 29-May 17 due to COVID-19 activity /update 38' GardaWorld (GardaWorld is an international security company.)
`The Turkish government plans to impose a two-and-a-half-week nationwide lockdown in an effort to reduce the country's COVID-19 infection rate. From 19:00 April 29 through 05:00 May 17, a continuous curfew will be in place. Residents must remain in their homes except to perform essential tasks or seek medical care. In addition, all non-essential businesses will be required to close; catering establishments may operate only for carryout and delivery services..'.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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I heard that report as well Peter and wondered who was right. I think the bottom line is that the airlines and airports are getting desperate for traffic and are lobbying and spinning as hard as they can. The same can be seen in the hospitality industry but see THIS BBC report of the court verdict in the case the industry brought against the government. They have lost and furthermore, doubts have been raised as to whether the industry can be ready for a relaxation on May 17th.
Everyone is desperate for a summer opening up but it remains to be seen whether it can happen. The government is being super cautious and I think that's the right approach.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

Post by plaques »

So what is a beer garden?

By definition, a beer garden (taken from the German “biergarten”) is an open-air space where beer and food are served. The concept actually originated as Bavarian breweries planted gardens above cellars to keep their lagers cool enough to ferment underground.

Some have a roof and some have sides. I doubt if there is a legal definition of a beer garden. A bit late for city centre pubs but for pubs / restaurants with outdoor space this may be the future trend.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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And some are simply tables set out in the street or other open space. Seems to me as long as the wind blows on you it qualifies.
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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I must be wired up differently than other people, I have absolutely no desire to travel for a holiday and can't understand the risks people are prepared to take. I realise that is because I am a dinosaur but what's wrong with holidaying at home? Is it the pressures of social media?
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Re: Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

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We won't be getting back on an aircraft all that soon, I can say that for a certainty. 10 miles up the road to field in Stainforth is as good as anywhere.:smile: Or maybe up to Robin Hoods Bay or another coastal campsite. A change is as good as a rest as they say. Needing shared facilities is the key to whether we get away or not, we can please ourselves when as well, we are not governed strictly by holiday periods.
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