Coronavirus: social, economic and other changes as a result of the pandemic

[oddoneout]

It might be helpful to note that the NHS App and the NHS Covid app are not the same. The NHS Covid19 app is intended for contact tracing only. Vaccination status is provided on the NHS App, not the NHS Covid19 app.

Is the "NHS" Covid one the Serco one?

[Serial_Apologist]

Is the "NHS" Covid one the Serco one?

Do you mean the virus that was allowed to escape en route between the court of public opinion and the prison of government explanation?

[Bryn]

Hmm. I have tried to download and install the NHS app. While the registration process has eventually worked well enough via this laptop, the installation on my android phone took ages and when prompted to open it, I just got the large upper case italic "NHS" displayed with a cycling icon in the middle of the screen. It just keeps cycling without actually opening the app. No wonder the app had such a low review rating. The version of Android I have installed is the most recent the phone can handle, 5.1.1. This is supposed to be compatible with the app.

[Dave2002]

Seems that the Grange Festival in Hampshire (opera) is going ahead, and there will be a live orchestra - the Bournemouth SO - but it will not be in the main house. The quote below is from an email sent out by Michael Chance - the festival director.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, our resident orchestra, also puts the safety of their players first. They have felt unable to commit so many young and unvaccinated players in close proximity for a prolonged time in our small pit or to be responsible for compromising the performance altogether should players become infected with Covid. This has been the most challenging of all the compromises we have faced.

The options we have considered include repositioning the orchestra to a separate building; reducing the number of players to a basic socially-distanced quorum; dispensing with an orchestra altogether and using just keyboards; or using pioneering technology to play the full orchestral score digitally live with the singers on stage. We have chosen the last of these. We are thrilled with the results and confident that you the audience will be too. You will hear a live spontaneous performance conducted live with the orchestra presented on multiple digital sound files. It is one remove from having the full orchestra actually present in the theatre, which we are unable to do, but to all intents and purposes as close to the live physical event as cutting-edge technology allows.

This is a sensible precautionary measure. I wish the festival and the orchestra well.

[oddoneout]

Seems that the Grange Festival in Hampshire (opera) is going ahead, and there will be a live orchestra - the Bournemouth SO - but it will not be in the main house. The quote below is from an email sent out by Michael Chance - the festival director.



This is a sensible precautionary measure. I wish the festival and the orchestra well.

I hope everything goes well for them - a bold venture but as you say sensible. The advances in technology provoked and necessitated by the pandemic have been astonishing to my eyes, and I can't help thinking that much of it will be of great benefit. Perhaps a way to address difficulties of musicians moving between countries (eg Brexit, environmental impact of travel). Not the same as having the people physically in the space and not a total replacement for live performances, but an alternative.
Two family members were involved in an international online performance of Ode to Joy for a Japanese festival a year ago. I was lucky enough to see the video recording before it was removed from general view and found it more than a little mind-boggling to see these people in different countries playing as if in the same concert hall space rather than virtual space.

[teamsaint]

It’s not exactly being reported far and wide, but Israel has followed Denmark in “ retiring” its ( domestic) vaccine passport, according to Reuters.

[Serial_Apologist]

It’s not exactly being reported far and wide, but Israel has followed Denmark in “ retiring” its ( domestic) vaccine passport, according to Reuters.

Good place to go for a holiday break then, obviously.......

[vinteuil]

.

.
... good news, I think.

If you need to prove your covid vaccination status (for overseas travel or otherwise) it looks as if the nhs has got its act together.

Today, the first day it went 'live', Mme v was able to download the nhs covid app on to her smartphone, and - wayhey! - there were details of the two inoculations she had received.

I don't have a smartphone - but rang 119. I provided them with my nhs number, and they say a letter confirming my vaccination status should reach me in five days.

I am impressed.

,,, and today the official letter arrived - "Coronavirus vaccination confirmation - two doses received. This document is important. Keep it safe. I t proves that you have been vaccinated ...(then details of doses &c) "

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[Anastasius]

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,,, and today the official letter arrived - "Coronavirus vaccination confirmation - two doses received. This document is important. Keep it safe. I t proves that you have been vaccinated ...(then details of doses &c) "

.

See my response on the other thread. Actually I reckon I could go and get my second AZ jab and the system would let me do this. OK...it would screw up the COM-Cov32 trial as far as my contribution went....eeek! What am I saying ? There is no way that I want another AZ jab. I'd rather pay and get Pfizer.

[Bryn]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/covid-boris-johnson-government-money-b1871412.html

[oddoneout]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b1871412.html

Unfortunately we are now at the stage where proof of wrongdoing has become an academic exercise since there will never be any consequences to those responsible.

[Bryn]

Unfortunately we are now at the stage where proof of wrongdoing has become an academic exercise since there will never be any consequences to those responsible.

We are living in a damned kleptocracy.

[oddoneout]

We are living in a damned kleptocracy.

A kleptocratic kakistocracy even.

[Bryn]

A kleptocratic kakistocracy even.

I won't argue with that.

[Dave2002]

Returning to "normal" - there are still problems

As some things start to return to "normal" it's easy to forget that there might still be many ongoing problems in many areas of work. Many people are working, but working from home. For people who are normally based in offices this might mean that they don't have access to all the data that they would be able to see if in an office environment. Hopefully the better organised companies will have worked out good solutions for data access, but possibly not all have done this.

Some firms don't have direct telephone access to specific departments, so the way this "works" is to ring a general number, then get routed through several different people. That person may be isolated - at home - and actually not the person who is able to help. Then they try to route the calls through to the "correct" department - which will be represented by another person also at at home.

I had to apologise to one person as I tried to express my disappointment with the service when she explained she was still working from home and isolated - it is easy to forget that now - as things are improving in some areas.

We have been trying for days now to get a repair or replacement unit organised for our EV charger, supplied by Renault - it's a BP charger unit. Basically trying to get a fault reported and acted upon does still seem very difficult with some organisations. Bigger, and perhaps more profitable organisations, are not necessarily better than many smaller organisations.

We do still have one fossil fuel vehicle, so I suppose we'll just have to switch to using that for the immediate future.