Coronavirus

[oddoneout]

So here we go again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59445124
Although for a good few of us it won't mean any change since we carried on wearing masks anyway...

[Petrushka]

So here we go again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59445124
Although for a good few of us it won't mean any change since we carried on wearing masks anyway...

I'll be wearing mine out of doors again in addition to wearing it, as usual, indoors. One or two people I know will not be happy as they ditched their masks on 'Freedom Day'.

[Dave2002]

We just heard that a couple of friends have had Covid and are now recovering. One is struggling - and recovering slowly. They would probably have had two vaccinations and a booster. Not sure how they contracted that - perhaps from children.

So probably not time to throw caution to the wind.

[Bryn]

So here we go again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59445124
Although for a good few of us it won't mean any change since we carried on wearing masks anyway...

Indeed, but I have had to carefully plan the times of day I use public transport. So few fellow passengers are wearing face coverings, and that includes the transport staff. Windows in buses are often all closed, despite the very clear notices stating that they must remain open. It's good to hear his raised during the BBC News channel's The Papers.

[oddoneout]

We just heard that a couple of friends have had Covid and are now recovering. One is struggling - and recovering slowly. They would probably have had two vaccinations and a booster. Not sure how they contracted that - perhaps from children.

So probably not time to throw caution to the wind.

Trouble is that when vaccinated people catch Covid there is a tendency to grumble that the jab hasn't worked. A family member was railing at the Astra vaccine not being much use because her daughter and partner caught Covid and have been quite unwell despite double jabs completed in summer. I have tried to point out that it isn't a " you'll never catch it" vaccine, but that any subsequent infection should be less severe and avoid hospitalisation, but I don't think it's made any difference. As throughout the pandemic so far we have not been well-served by effective public information - and that lack has of course been exacerbated by poor (other adjectives are available...) management, which not surprisingly has led to the latest back-tracking.

[french frank]

So here we go again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59445124
Although for a good few of us it won't mean any change since we carried on wearing masks anyway...

I started going to the Coop and the pharmacy because I don't see why neighbours should do it for me (and Neighbour One goes to Tesco anyway ) and I've been triple jabbed. Other than that, back to the hermit life … This isn't unpredictable.

[Dave2002]

Trouble is that when vaccinated people catch Covid there is a tendency to grumble that the jab hasn't worked. A family member was railing at the Astra vaccine not being much use because her daughter and partner caught Covid and have been quite unwell despite double jabs completed in summer. I have tried to point out that it isn't a " you'll never catch it" vaccine, but that any subsequent infection should be less severe and avoid hospitalisation, but I don't think it's made any difference. As throughout the pandemic so far we have not been well-served by effective public information - and that lack has of course been exacerbated by poor (other adjectives are available...) management, which not surprisingly has led to the latest back-tracking.

Not having multiple copies of myself to "play with" I can't say whether catching Covid is worse if (a) not vaccinated (b) caught by not wearing masks (c) if vaccinated once (d) if vaccinated twice (e) if vaccinated with a booster (f) if given anti-viral drugs.

Anyone who uses single examples as "proof" that vaccines don't work is not thinking properly. A similar thought process is the case of someone who gets anti-biotics for a bacterial infection, but after a few days and no change goes to a homeopath. A day or two later the infection has cleared up. Obviously the anti-biotics were no good - and the homeopath worked wonders!

The vaccines may not always work in the sense of preventing an infection - but that doesn't mean that the outcome would have been better or more pleasant without having them. All the statistical evidence so far suggests that in practical terms the vaccines really are good - with fewer people becoming severely ill or hospitalised.

This year I even had the 'flu injection - though I had been concerned as I suspected I'd been ill after the previous couple of occasions I had a 'flu jab. This year neither the Covid nor the 'flu jab had any severe effect that I can attribute at all. Post hoc ergo propter hoc isn't always a good rule to apply or make inferences from. It is important to weigh up the evidence carefully.

[Bryn]

Just seen this in a "Nature" alert:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00079-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=75af1396e3-briefing-dy-20220114&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-75af1396e3-46900426

Looks like there's a need to get the Pfizer–BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna etc. vaccines out to those countries relying on inactivated SARS-CoV-2 as a matter of urgency.

[oddoneout]

Words fail me. This is the Prime Minister, the person who made the announcements about work, gatherings, social distancing, penalties etc etc
Perhaps Rees-Mogg could lend the PM his Nanny, he clearly needs one.

nobody warned me it was against the rules, I am categorical about that

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/18/boris-johnson-nobody-warned-me-no-10-party-was-against-the-rules

[antongould]

Words fail me. This is the Prime Minister, the person who made the announcements about work, gatherings, social distancing, penalties etc etc
Perhaps Rees-Mogg could lend the PM his Nanny, he clearly needs one.


https://www.theguardian.com/politics...inst-the-rules

Indeed unbelievable …..

[french frank]

Listen very carefully to the words of the party chairman right at the beginning of this clip:

https://www.channel4.com/news/conservative-party-chairman-admits-failings-at-10-downing-street

[Serial_Apologist]

Listen very carefully to the words of the party chairman right at the beginning of this clip:

https://www.channel4.com/news/conser...downing-street

I watched that in the hope that with Marr now gone we could believe this flagship peak viewing time "show" would once more restore that great BBC impartiality beloved of at least one faithful stalwart of this forum. How disappointing then that Ms Maitlis who now hosts it, and in whom one had high hopes, gave this conceited cocksure man a very gentle ride, letting him drone on and on repeating himself, then followed up by laying into the hapless Starmer for being seen with a beer. Is the tacit assumption let them hang themselves by their own words? 'cos if it is, it ain't working!

[Cockney Sparrow]

Listen very carefully to the words of the party chairman right at the beginning of this clip:

https://www.channel4.com/news/conser...downing-street

Lining up the civil servants to take the rap. As ever with Johnson, blame has to lie elsewhere........

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Lining up the civil servants to take the rap. As ever with Johnson, blame has to lie elsewhere........

As Marina Hyde put it, Johnson will take it firmly on somebody else's chin.

[Bryn]

More of Less, on Radio 4 this morning was of considerable relevance to what Jarvid has to say about "died with" as against "died from" Covid-19. Well worth listening to both, and to "compare and contrast".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0013jbx