Re: Coronavirus
 

No.

Like seatbelts, airbags, and brakes in a car - they reduce the odds of serious injury or death, not eliminate them completely.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I don't get it :shrug:

https://news.sky.com/story/76-5-incr...-show-12324709

remember that number . . 85,600.


https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-...3-000-12324110

So we have Delta with 12,431, which, as it's the dominant strain, has more cases than the other two variants. If we knock just one case off the other variants - making them 12,430 each - then the total cases must only be 37,291.

85,600 minus 37,291 gives us 48,309 cases missing . . . have these recovered in a week, or are there more than 3 variants?

. . . or maybe something being 'dominant' doesn't mean what I think it means

Re: Coronavirus
 

ONS do random population testing and extrapolate figures from there. A bit like the BARB tell you 6 million people watched Phil's funeral by sampling 1000 homes.

Re: Coronavirus
 

So you're telling me that 85,600 people didn't in fact have Covid that week?

Great, we can forget restrictions carrying on then :p: :D

Re: Coronavirus
 

The original COVID-19 strain isn’t a variant- the other 4 are.

Here’s a worrying trend.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulat...hts#infections https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...5&d=1622817513

So we have nothing to fear but fear itself, and death, and Long Covid…

Re: Coronavirus
 

12,431 is cases of Delta confirmed by testing, but there will be many others that haven't been confirmed, either because no test was done at all or the sample wasn't sequenced (IIRC, they only sequence about half of them). 85,600 is the estimated total number of cases of all variants.

In other news...
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/re...start-20743606

Re: Coronavirus
 

Thanks for confirming everything is down to estimation and guesswork


oh, and a dominant strain is a dominant strain, it says so in black & white :p:

Re: Coronavirus
 

Shield the Old Boy.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Seph and Old Boy - you need to get out...less! ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Nope, would never say that - no drug or vaccine is 100% effective but I am a big fan of the Swiss Cheese Model of risk management.

Pulling figures out of the air, if my mums vaccination is 80% effective at preventing her becoming sick and my kids vaccination is 80% effective at preventing spread, then that's a 20% likelihood of my kids spreading and a 20% likelihood of my mum getting sick if thy do give it to her.

That adds up to 96% effective in combination which is a result to me

Re: Coronavirus
 

no, we need to get out more. You'll never achieve 'herd immunity' if everyone hides under the bed :p:

Re: Coronavirus
 

You do realise "herd immunity" also involves thinning out the herd of the old and weak... ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

nah, we've had two jabs, we're immune now . . . ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Let me be the first to express my sincere relief.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I did miss that point, but to be fair it wasn't clear what point you were making.

We all knew that there would be variants, and indeed I said a while back that I was concerned about mutations. What hadn't been appreciated was that there was already a variant in circulation that was more transmissable.

While transmission causes mutations in some cases, I still maintain that the longer this drags on, the more problems we will face with this virus. Better to get it out of the way sooner rather than later, but clearly that's not going to happen. So, we will need to maximise the speed of the vaccination programme instead.

---------- Post added at 17:43 ---------- Previous post was at 17:40 ----------

The increased transmissibility was was what took everyone by surprise, not the existence of the Kent variant. That is well documented.

---------- Post added at 17:53 ---------- Previous post was at 17:43 ----------

Yes, I read that, but I'm not unduly concerned. The rate per 100,000 remains low, and I am protected against serious illness by inoculations. My friends call me 'Two Jabs'!

My Superman costume is in the post!

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

I'll try one more time... :rolleyes:

This was known at the time - it's basic virology, and was one of the reasons for the lockdown that you railed against so much.

Re: Coronavirus
 

There's a difference between 'sick' and 'very sick'. Once we are all vaccinated, this virus will be no more dangerous than flu, which can claim up to 28,000 deaths in a year, incidentally. There is no choice - we all have to live in a world which carries the risk of deadly infection.

---------- Post added at 18:00 ---------- Previous post was at 17:58 ----------

Well, it caught the government by surprise and it changed their strategy on the lockdown.

I guess the PM should have asked you about this at the time. Too late now, though...

---------- Post added at 18:02 ---------- Previous post was at 18:00 ----------

They know who they are, and these are the people who should take more precautions.

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:02 ----------

I never shop at Aldi, Seph - I don't know where that rumour emanated from. I don't go anywhere near discount shops and I would be appalled if one opened in my neck of the woods!

Re: Coronavirus
 

I think you mean "flu and pneumonia"...

Re: Coronavirus
 

You are right, we probably will have to live with low levels of COVID. However, any simple safe steps we can take to minimise the risks is a good thing right? Every death is a tragedy to someone, not just something we can live with...

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

In that flu often leads to pneumonia, yes, you are probably right.

---------- Post added at 19:09 ---------- Previous post was at 19:08 ----------

Yes, but it should be by individual choice.

Re: Coronavirus
 

The Reading article came courtesy of Spiderplant.
Pleased you're not impacted. ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

You have a link for that or are you just making it up? As we have been told ad nauseam the reason for lockdowns was to flatten the curve (when it was already heading down) to protect the NHS. Never once has prevention or reduction in mutation been mentioned.

Re: Coronavirus
 

That’s absolutely right. Some people really believe that lockdowns kill off the virus. How many waves after lockdowns do they have to witness before joining the dots?

There is only one way to see off the virus - herd immunity. Fortunately we now have a vaccine to bring that about more nicely.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

At £400bn+ how many more lockdowns do you need to witness before joining the dots that there is no normal economy for the foreseeable?

The public have resoundingly endorsed this Conservative Government's intention to stand behind flailing businesses. Stand behind employees.

See Lancet on Pfizer. General consensus v Oxford.

We will be in this for a long while yet Old Boy.

Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

---------- Post added at 20:05 ---------- Previous post was at 19:48 ----------

OB's contempt for the key worker plebs who work in retail knows no bounds.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I'd rather not 'stay home' any longer, I am a Free Man ;)

NHS is coping ok, apart from the backlog of 'normal' admissions that was caused by the initial Covid mess.

We're already saving lives, we could save even more by banning cars if you like :p:

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Once more I extend my sympathies, Seph.

Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Makes me wonder how many 'fingers' of sympathy you're extending :D

Re: Coronavirus
 

:upyours:

Re: Coronavirus
 

And if one of your nearest and dearest succumbed to one of the variants no doubt you'd feel differently and demand to know why we'd been so lax in the face of rising infections.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Now is not the time, Mr K. OB is in an area being prioritised for testing due to the increased risks of the variant. He deserves our hopes and prayers at a minimum, after all that's all we had from 23 March 2020 in his view.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Very prudent my good man.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Sorry to shock you, but I (mostly) agree with you.

Except for (2) - how do we/the country manage a local lockdown without martial law? We keep being told by HMG to use "common sense", but, as we’ve seen, it’s not that common…

Re: Coronavirus
 

By all means but people who choose not to vaccinate should be big enough to own the fact that they have chosen not to protect themselves and others around them.

Re: Coronavirus
 

The NHS doesn’t need saving. If the NHS is not under pressure - which it isn’t, and deaths remain low - which they are.

Then there is no need to change course.

Re: Coronavirus
 

No no Pierre, you need to look long term and the 'risk' of things becoming worse.
I've taken it all on board, listened to the arguments about risking thousands of lives because I didn't take the necessary precautions, and acted upon it.

I went to the doctors yesterday asking to be vaccinated from catching Malaria, Typhoid, Ebola and Rabies . . because when you look deep enough I could, maybe, possibly, there's a slight chance, catch it from someone.

To be fair the doctor told me to grow a pair . . in fact he got quite annoyed and kicked me out when I mentioned Black Death :(

tsk tsk, sometimes I think even the experts aren't listening

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Sorry, don't have a link, as it was based on conversations last year with ex-colleagues who are researchers in a University Faculty of Biological Sciences.

On an unrelated note, they did recommend chlorpromazine to reduce bile production - have you considered it? ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Have you tried Senokot? ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Either you are stuck in the past, or just trolling (I know which I think ;)).

We are a long way past needing to stay at home, and the NHS is not in need of protecting anymore.

Total deaths in the UK are now below the 5 year average, and covid is not the biggest killer.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Are you a robot? :D

---------- Post added at 20:07 ---------- Previous post was at 19:52 ----------

No, I wouldn’t be so ridiculous. Some people always look for someone to blame. As I keep saying, the most vulnerable have been vaccinated and we are rapidly vaccinating the less vulnerable age groups now, who in the first two waves tended not to be hospitalised.

The number of hospital admissions of people with Covid remain very low. There's no reason now not to lift the remaining restrictions.

I didn’t go for my two jabs only to be told that further lockdowns had to be imposed ‘just in case’. There would have been no point in inoculating people on such a grand scale if it was going to make no difference.

Covid is no longer the main reason for severe illness and deaths. We need to get this into proportion,and stop panicking, Mr Mainwaring.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I'm neither stuck in the past, nor trolling. Okay stay home was perhaps a playful jibe I'll accept that.

There's a long way to go before normal however, we can only hope we don't need to go backwards.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I have not said anything about retail workers. You just love introducing irrelevant stuff and arguments people haven’t made when you respond to posts.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I'd worry more about your local situation than some bloke on the internet OB. It's precarious out there. Hopefully we can ease restrictions near the end of July.

Re: Coronavirus
 

You could have fooled me.

As for your ‘long way to go’ comment, clearly the scientists will need to stay on the ball in monitoring this virus, but for the rest of us, normal life will resume. I don’t expect the sky to fall in.

---------- Post added at 20:15 ---------- Previous post was at 20:14 ----------

Listen to yourself! Do you actually believe all this stuff you are saying?

And…do I seem bovvered?

Re: Coronavirus
 

Well with the best will in the world you have been wrong before, on more than one occasion. June 22 is in the bin. Better adjust to the new normal.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Ever so slightly ;)

Re: Coronavirus
 

From the Telegraph today:

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told reporters yesterday that Government "always expected cases to rise" as lockdown was eased, and said that the data which is being watched "very carefully" relates to hospital admissions.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Government in bland reassuring statement release shocker.

Doesn't matter what they say it matters what they do, and June 22 is toast. As a consolation to those on the thread I'm no longer going to engage in chat around June 22.

You know it's done. Pierre knows it's done. When you want to let go of the far end of the narrowest straws and engage constructively on the future of Covid I look forward to it. However between now and June 22 debating a meaningless deadline that's already redundant is pointless.

Re: Coronavirus
 

You're going on holiday eh, anywhere nice? ;) :D

Re: Coronavirus
 

The North of Scotland, so no. :)

Re: Coronavirus
 

Why the **** would that matter to you anyway? Where you live it's been toast since October 2020.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Not sure what you mean. I can go to the pub, restaurants, can meet with friends in their homes.

We're in a much better position than a couple of months ago.

I can't go to the lap dancing or a nightclub but on balance those aren't daily occurrences.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I doubt you do that very often, if at all

Oh, I can well believe you frequent the former of those establishments.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Good news?

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...7&d=1622970435

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57367849

Re: Coronavirus
 

Good news, pip, reinforcing what some of us have been saying on here for a while now. I see absolutely no reason not to scrap all restrictions, including social distancing and mask wearing, from 21 June.

While acknowledging the link between transmission and variants, the combination of vaccine rollout and increased infections will get us to that herd immunity point much more quickly.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

Devastating news for some.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Is this the same matt Hancock who should have been sacked 20 times according to saint Dominic the virtuous.

Re: Coronavirus
 

LOL don't you go upsetting the followers of virtue, integrity and science :D :D

Re: Coronavirus
 

You mate Hancock didn't seem so sure this morning... Mind you he's not been able to make a decision or stop lying for the last year, he must get it from his boss !

Re: Coronavirus
 

June 22nd has never been the date, its always been Monday June 21st.

Re: Coronavirus
 

The same protection after two doses. That’s good news, isn’t it?

Except for those who prefer perpetual lockdowns, I suppose.

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

He’s just hedging his bets in case Boris relents and extends the lifting of restrictions by two weeks.

Personally I think and hope he will keep his nerve and bring immediate relief to all those who are suffering under these restrictions. Enough is enough.

---------- Post added at 19:33 ---------- Previous post was at 19:32 ----------

I didn’t have the heart to tell him, so I’m glad this came from you! :D

Re: Coronavirus
 

I think you’ll find the rest of the quoted text is bad news.

From the man who confused hospitalisations and deaths.

If it’s any consolation we will still have masks, distancing and working from home on both dates. And the 23rd too.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Removing ALL restrictions was never on the table. Only those for social contact and events.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...g-2021-summary

Re: Coronavirus
 

I simply misremembered the post I was referring to. You are just misrepresenting people’s posts on a regular basis.

Let’s just stick to the subject under discussion. I thought you didn’t like personal attacks. Well, what was that?

Re: Coronavirus
 

I had my second AZ Covid-19 jab at 09:05 this morning.


Now waiting for potential side effects, my first I just had mild flu like symptoms so hoping the same or less

Re: Coronavirus
 

*The original report in The Australian is behind a paywall.

All sounds very suspicious.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It was a conspiracy theory when Trump mooted it, and talk of such was banned on Facebook as misinformation and fake news and derided by Trump opposition politicians, including the current incumbent president. The suggestion of it being an escaped manufactured virus was seen as being racist towards China.

However, now the Biden administration have suggested a link that COVID may have actually escaped from a lab, it's no longer a conspiracy theory and you can talk all you like about it on Facebook now with their blessing.

I wonder what else big tech companies, MSM and democrats will be seen to have wrong in the coming months/years but I guarantee you won't see any body on CNN saying, "well Trump had a point"

Re: Coronavirus
 

Some of the information around the supposed RaTG13 ancestor is quite interesting.

In that it might not actually exist at all.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

It only got uploaded to the database after Covid-19 despite being “discovered” in 2013. By the Wuhan Institute.

There are no samples available for analysis to confirm it actually exists we just have their word for it. The theory goes it is to distract from the genuine lab ancestor.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I won't be rushing to the front of the disinfectant injection queue, that's for sure. ;)
Trump had so many crazy theories that like a broken clock, one would eventually be true. Whether this is the one we may never know.

---------- Post added 08-06-2021 at 00:19 ---------- Previous post was 07-06-2021 at 23:20 ----------

A leak in The Times suggests that a two-week extension is indeed on the cards.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/j...ight-bfvnthssj
https://storify.com/services/proxy/2...102193_001.jpg

Re: Coronavirus
 

Ah the 2 Government doom mongers. The Indian variant in both India and Bolton {which had the largest cases in the UK) is now on the downturn. The panic should be over.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Covid cases are up 53% in the UK in the last week.
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

June 21st unlocking isn't going to happen.

Re: Coronavirus
 

El gov has stated that the metric is hospitalisation, not case rates, except to the extent that there’s still a correlation between the two. If evidence continues to build that the vaccine has broken the link between catching covid and being seriously ill with it, the unlocking may proceed as planned, or else be delayed only a week or two.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Exactly this. It's looking better and better that the link between cases and hospitalisation is broken. Hopefully there will be enough evidence by next week when the decision is made but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a couple of extra weeks to absolutely confirm things and mop up the last few older peoples vaccinations (my second dose is next week for example)

Re: Coronavirus
 

I had less issue with 2nd dose of AZ than 1st as is borne up by other evidence, tends to be reverse with Pfizer.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Re: Coronavirus
 

I don't get what the issue is, we've been locked up for eighteen months, two more weeks just to be certain we don't have to endure it again is very sensible imo

Re: Coronavirus
 

:tu:

Re: Coronavirus
 

:tu:

---------- Post added at 11:34 ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 ----------

:tu:

---------- Post added at 11:34 ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 ----------

:tu:

Re: Coronavirus
 

That is the issue.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Then fourteen more days shouldn't present a significant difficulty to most ?

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:20 ----------

In terms of lockdowns we've had it very very easy compared to some other countries

Re: Coronavirus
 

You get less than 18 months for manslaughter

can we at least go before the parole board on this one?

Re: Coronavirus
 

time for a jail break

Re: Coronavirus
 

Really, me not getting this as an issue is the issue, I'd say a much bigger and pressing issue is reckless gamblers wanting to throw away all the sacrifices people have already made for the sake of a couple of weeks


Speak for yourself, for me it's been horrific, not been able to sit in the same room as my partner because of her cancer, saw my children once in 14 months because they'd never hear the end of it if I'd infected them and their grandparents in law died, three people dead at work and another on a ventilator for months who might never be the same again plus no furlough for key workers, in fact I've done more hours to make up for the death but although it sounds like I'm complaining I'm not, it was worth it if those closest get through it unscathed and if it takes a couple more weeks so be it imo

Is it worth going before the beak for two weeks, they might decide you were dealt with to lenient and increase the sentence :Yikes:

Re: Coronavirus
 

My meaning was that we haven't been sealed up in buildings like some in China were, we didn't require a written permit to be out of our house like in France.

Lockdown was/is incredibly arduous & painful for many, however, it's been even more arduous for some in other countries.

Perhaps that's a better way to phrase it.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Looks to me like it's the same people that were constantly bleating about Brexit extensions . . some of us had enough of those too :Yes:

Re: Coronavirus
 

And then in a couple of weeks it’ll be, let’s just give it a couple of weeks, then another month has gone. Then variant Epsilon turns up, oh we don’t know this one, best give it a couple weeks.....after all what’s a couple of weeks?

The government should have enough data on hospitalization and deaths to make an informed decision we shouldn’t have to wait and see.

Either the vaccine programme is working or it isn’t, don’t tell me we’re leading the world in vaccinating people but still need to lock down, don’t tell me we’re vaccinating millions and it’s a great success but we still have to have tests before events and tests after events.

Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

If there is solid verifiable evidence to not open up in two weeks fine, otherwise open up.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Exactly right. It’s hospitalisations that are important. The number of infections is increasingly irrelevant.

What’s the point of vaccinating the population if you still cling to lockdowns?

I am convinced that the PM will stick to the 21 June deadline. It is absolutely the right decision. Q

Re: Coronavirus
 

I fully expect it to be UK "Independance Day" again.

(Well technically, it will be the 5th July this year, not the 4th).