Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[PanBiker]

Thanks everyone, just waiting now, should know one way or the other by Wednesday. I still have the cough but it seems to be easing a little.

[Stanley]

Sorry to read about infections. I must be lucky, only a bad back and that's getting better!
Trouble is we are steeped in Covid and one sneeze and that's it we have the lurgy!
I wish all of you good health. There should be testing at every pharmacy! Bugger driving anywhere.
(Nice to see you back Ian and Sally.)

[Sue]

I agree Stanley but it takes time and money to make and test the kits, we have the third highest testing in the world yet we still don’t have enough.

[Stanley]

My immediate thought about that Sue is that in the middle of the pandemic we have opened the taps on spending on HS2. There will be complicated arguments about why this is so but the fact remains.

[PanBiker]

There should be testing at every pharmacy! Bugger driving anywhere.
(Nice to see you back Ian and Sally.)

Just for the record, the drive through test centres also take pedestrian traffic. The one that was in Barlick was the same. If you do go in a vehicle the tests are quite efficient, you do them yourself in the car which keeps everyone isolated. Yesterdays at Settle was at the Rugby Club Car Park. It was quite busy and they had bays for about 20 - 30 cars. Tables set up in a square under a large gazebo in the middle, you picked up on one side, parked, completed the test, had it checked that all was present through the window before sealing the bio bag then deposited it at the other side of the gazebo on the way out. Most of the operatives looked to be quite young maybe from the student community.

I should add that you can also request a home test kit from the Gov. website. No reason not to get tested if if you feel you need one. Pharmacies have enough on with dispensing and I doubt they could handle the traffic level.

Thanks for the welcome home.

Still got the chesty cough.

[Wendyf]

I certainly wouldn't want to collect my prescription from the chemist if I knew there would be folk with symptoms queuing up to get their tests.

[Big Kev]

I certainly wouldn't want to collect my prescription from the chemist if I knew there would be folk with symptoms queuing up to get their tests.

Me neither, most chemists won't have the the infrastructure in place, or the staff, anyway. Much easier to just order one online and post it back.

[plaques]

Once a month I go into Boots Colne for my 'keep me alive pills' I've never seen more than two people waiting. This morning I looked at Boots online booking for flu jabs. It looked very much that a ½ slot was allocated for each person. I wouldn't think that other pharmacies would work to a lower standard. I've never checked to see if they do covid testing.

[Tizer]

Our local Well Pharmacy often has a long queue. We got the impression that people who usually went to Boots or Superdrug in the town centre we visiting the local ones instead. This could be because they're not going into town on their usual errands or are working from home.

Ian, I hope you and Sally are simply suffering from the effects of camping in the wet but that if it turns out to be covid you won't be badly affected.

`Matt Hancock says UK 'likely to have coronavirus vaccine by early next year'' Evening Standard

It's also worth listening to this BBC Newscast from 30 July...
`Inside AstraZeneca: Adam meets the pharma giants making 2 billion doses of Coronavirus vaccine.' BBC
`The race is still on to find a Coronavirus vaccine - but what will it look like, and how will we get hold of it?
Adam finds out from Sir Mene Pangalos and Pam Cheng from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.'
The first 10 minutes is general covid stuff then it begins the interview for the final 20 minutes with the two AstraZeneca bosses. They're talking here about the vaccination being a first jab followed by a second a week or two later and it lasting at least a year, maybe two years. Like with influenza, it will never be totally eliminated from circulation, and vaccination will be an annual event.

[PanBiker]

Our results are in, just received them via text and email. Thankfully our tests came back as negative for the virus.

Still got the cough but it is improving slowly.

[Sue]

Phew, relief for you. Take care, get well soon

[Stanley]

I'm glad these aren't the standard masks!

[Big Kev]

Our results are in, just received them via text and email. Thankfully our tests came back as negative for the virus.

Still got the cough but it is improving slowly.

Good news

[plaques]

Here we go again, more restrictions to be applied on 14 Sept limiting family members to six within a household. Link. Of course there are the usual exceptions which make a mockery of these new rules. We are all concerned about the increase but to put the blame on some half baked statistic is nonsense. Ref...

Close contact within homes remains the most common risk of transmission identified by contact tracers.

How many people can put a name name to others that were in the pub, restaurant, bus, supermarket etc: So what is left? family groups! therefore it must be them!. Loads of ordinary families would exceed this number by having Grandma & Grandad visit at the same time. So who are they really pointing the finger at? Anyone who can't get light to shine in one ear and out the other will see that certain ethnic groups with large families who are family orientated will be penalized but we haven't to say that. And then if its that important why wait another week to impose the restrictions?
A p..s up in a brewery about sums it up as long as they are 2 metres apart.

[PanBiker]

I have never understood why, when they introduce new sanctions they always give notice. Sometimes a week or more. Like you say why next Monday, why not from midnight tonight. I reckon he biggest problem has been that the so called "lockdown" has been too soft and of course they played down the risk to "most people" by saying that you may not even know you have had it. Back when the Aid's virus hit the headlines which was only really relevant for certain sections of the population we were force fed shock horror ads predicting horrible death etc. What's the difference here. It should have been presented as a killer disease right from the word go not a variant of the common cold for the masses. Total cock up comes to mind. All the waffle, delays and U turns only feeds the conspiracy theorists.

They should stop interviewing people who are not masked up, socially distanced or not. Do what they threaten and make an example of the ones that flout the rules with some punitive fines. Unfortunately it needs to kill a few thousand fit 20 to30 year olds to ram the message home.

[Tizer]

Viruses are always mutating but fortunately most of the results weaken them. However, it's possible that the virus could mutate at any time and become capable of making the young just as ill and vulnerable as it does the elderly. That information should be circulated among the younger generation through social media but we'd soon find contrary claims appearing saying it's a lie propagated by the liberal elite!

[Big Kev]

Viruses are always mutating but fortunately most of the results weaken them. However, it's possible that the virus could mutate at any time and become capable of making the young just as ill and vulnerable as it does the elderly. That information should be circulated among the younger generation through social media but we'd soon find contrary claims appearing saying it's a lie propagated by the liberal elite!

Unfortunately whoever posted it on Facebook would be shot down for scaremongering. Until it did actually start seriously affecting those it currently doesn't you're fighting a losing battle. There are quite a few that can't grasp the reason why the 'case' rate has gone up but the death rate has gone down even with the evidence (majority of new cases found through testing are a lot younger than at the start of the pandemic). The sensible among us, who are avoiding the rat lickers, are being accused of being 'sheep' by following the instructions provided by the government. They also seem to be missing the point that most of the instructions have been written into law and are potentially trying to incite anarchy with some of the things they are posting.

[Tripps]

They should stop interviewing people who are not masked up, socially distanced or not.

The Prime Minister just said that everyone should wear a mask in a confined space - whilst not wearing a mask in a confined space.

[Stanley]

Private Eye said interesting things this week about changes in the PR team at No. 10 and shock horror when I turned on the telly yesterday I was confronted by Johnson and his supporters doing a press briefing again. As you note David, no mask. The fact the briefings have started again is an indication of how worried they are.
While having my second walk yesterday I met the kids going to school, I saw hands touching, hugs and no distancing. I had to step out of their way, they were giving me no space. I'm not blaming them, it was just normal good behaviour in another time but it's obvious that unlike me, they haven't got the full message and have no fear of the virus. I have the terrible thought that only a close death will drive the message home.
I note your comments about trolling on Facebook Kev. It squares with a complaint I heard in a general discussion yesterday that we are being governed by Facebook and Twitter.

[Tizer]

This Boris `moonshot' idea of testing 10 million people a day is barmy. It's not even feasible in practice. Even if it was it would do more damage than good by (1) raising false confidence with people going around thinking they are free of covid when they might be one of the false negatives (of which there would be many), (2) the fact that anyone could be negative but infected soon after testing, and (3) putting a lot of people unnecessarily into isolation and fear due to false positives.

We have to remember that none of these tests are 100% accurate and the type of test that you'd need to use on millions of people would likely be less accurate than the ones we use now. Even a high accuracy with only 5% error would give incorrect results for 500,000 when used on 10 million people. With false negatives that means a lot of people going around mixing with others because they think they are free of the virus; with false positives it means not only the tested person unnecessarily going into isolation but their family and contacts too, and a lot of work needing to be done to trace and test all the contacts - all for nothing.

[PanBiker]

I think we are forgetting that Bojo is essentially a Snake Oil salesman and will say anything that looks like it might score a few brownie points.

Outside Cloud Cuckoo Land and and back in the real forest. I received a letter from the NHS this morning, I thought it might be my annual go in the MRI scanner letter but it isn't. It's and invitation from Imperial College London to take part in a Covid research project which will be analysed by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care. I'm not special just selected at random from anyone registered with a GP. I need to register online if I agree to take part. The test is just a standard swab test which will be sent out by post between 17th and 30th September done at home and then collected by courier. You get the results in about a week and the data will be used to determine the levels of COVID-19 across the country. Results will then be added to your medical record and if positive also passed to NHS Test and Trace.

No reason not to do it so I will be registering shorty, every little helps as they say.

[PanBiker]

Sorted, the website asks for the access code given on the letter and then enters a short questionnaire which covers your age, who else lives in the house, employment status and whether you have ever been a smoker and when you quit. Ticked all the relevant boxes and was sorted in five minutes, there was choice at the end to opt out.

I did look at volunteering for the vaccine trials but that involves a lot of travelling as they are only conducting the tests at a limited number of sites across the country, none particularly local.

[Tripps]

It's all quite straightforward. . . . .

meeting rules.jpg

[Stanley]

I heard a very well qualified epidemiologist on R4 saying that problem is there is no approved test that gives quick enough results. Ian is correct, snake oil.
PS. Xmas won't be cancelled, just hampered severely.

[Big Kev]

As Alan Rickman, as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Theives, said 'Christmas is cancelled and no more merciful beheadings'