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

[Dave2002]

The other reason is that I have no intention of going to theatres, galleries, shops, concert halls and opera houses until at least January 2021 nor use train, bus or tube services. I wouldn't go to other "mass" events in any case and will also avoid restaurants and pubs indoors. International travel is definitely off. By January, I will have sorted out personal matters, and when the time (risk factors) is right, and we are getting towards effective control/treatment and even an endemich status for Covid, I will be in a place to take my chance on Covid, in the sense that I realise I can't live like a Hermit for ever.[/URL]

Are you a Time Traveller, perhaps?

[Cockney Sparrow]

Wouldn't mind being a Time Lord - a great opportunity to prevent so many errors and omissions.... Post duly amended. (But leave out encounters with malignant forces, although I'm not sure I could contain my mirth if confronted with Daleks........)

I indicated in my post my "take cover" policy at the moment derives in large part to personal reasons. I'm a bit unwell - so not 100% at present (in a queue for treatment - can't complain - its a lower priority). I still need to get some of my/our "affairs in order" and also get rid of quantities of.....books.... programmes....articles.....papers and more. Mrs CS coped magnificently when a good few years ago I had an 18month recovery, learning too walk again etc - with the debility rather like long covid. However I can't leave that lot to add to the burden this time. (Mrs CS will have to cope with a very large CD collection if the worst happens but I'll be leaving disposal suggestions to help).

I'm hoping by the end of December I'll be able to assess the position and judge whether to attend events in person. All other considerations aside, there is little I would like better than to attend live music, opera and theatre performances after a gallery visit and a meal in a restaurant. Roll on the day when the risks are reduced and its not reckless to think of doing these things.

[teamsaint]

See if you can spot the missing element in tonight’s BBC report on the new travel regulations.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58602481

[muzzer]

I wouldn’t seek to discourage anyone from taking whatever precautions they feel necessary according to their own circumstances but I feel perfectly safe out and about in London. The only circumstances in which I wear a mask are in a tube carriage when others are present, and at the theatre or a gallery, where it’s mandated. I generally avoid crowds anyway. I don’t say my approach won’t change in the winter, and I’m still not happy about the low second jab rates in inner london but the simple fact is that Covid is not the threat it was 6 months ago. I accept YMMV.

[Bryn]

I wouldn’t seek to discourage anyone from taking whatever precautions they feel necessary according to their own circumstances but I feel perfectly safe out and about in London. The only circumstances in which I wear a mask are in a tube carriage when others are present, and at the theatre or a gallery, where it’s mandated. I generally avoid crowds anyway. I don’t say my approach won’t change in the winter, and I’m still not happy about the low second jab rates in inner london but the simple fact is that Covid is not the threat it was 6 months ago. I accept YMMV.

You have checked the most recent data regarding the incidence of infection, hospitalisation and mortality, I hope.

[french frank]

(I haven't heard a peep out of TV Licensing for years. I think they just check the electoral roll each year, see it's still me living here and save their stamp)

Update from 3 days ago: I have had an email (genuine this time). I just have to say I still don't need a licence, and they won't contact me again for another two years.

[Bryn]

Update from 3 days ago: I have had an email (genuine this time). I just have to say I still don't need a licence, and they won't contact me again for another two years.

I, too, have just had an email but mine is more directly related to the topic of this thread. My IpsosMORI REACT COVID-19 PCR test has been reported back as negative. This is particularly good news for me since I have an unrelated hospital appointment tomorrow afternoon which I did not want to have to cancel.

[Serial_Apologist]

I, too, have just had an email but mine is more directly related to the topic of this thread. My IpsosMORI REACT COVID-19 PCR test has been reported back as negative. This is particularly good news for me since I have an unrelated hospital appointment tomorrow afternoon which I did not want to have to cancel.

Hope all goes well with the hospital visit tomorrow too, Bryn.

[AuntDaisy]

Update from 3 days ago: I have had an email (genuine this time). I just have to say I still don't need a licence, and they won't contact me again for another two years.

That's a coincidence - I hope they don't monitor FoR3.

[Bryn]

Hope all goes well with the hospital visit tomorrow too, Bryn.

Just a follow-up clinic for an ankle operation I had in July. Not 100% successful but some slight improvement. Greater flexibility but more consistent attendant discomfort. Swings and roundabouts.

[Dave2002]

You have checked the most recent data regarding the incidence of infection, hospitalisation and mortality, I hope.

Here is an update on booster shots - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...b-global-en-GB

In the meantime we have now been to several live events, including over ten indoor ones. However in Scotland mask wearing is still pretty much the norm, and social distancing and bubbles are the order of the day. For some events one is permitted to remove a mask while sitting down, but some organisers continue to insist on mask wearing throughout. However the venues are also frequently churches, which are spacious compared with small meeting rooms. I also spent a day in a run through of a symphony, and as a wind player - along with others - I clearly would not have been wearing a mask.

I am still alive - just!

[DracoM]

Booster shots just started up here for 'vulnerable'.

[Barbirollians]

Time to try, and this is going to be understandably very difficult for many people, to move on.

Seems to me that we can learn lessons from our time in the EU and use this to our advantage in how we act internationally, including negotiations and progress on cooperation with the EU

Lets hope so.

And I absolutely don’t mean the lead set by Macron etc on bloody vaccine passports.

France has 6000 cases a day we have over 30,000 and 1000 died of Covid last week.- I was there last week - it felt safe , everyone was wearing a mask and the pass sanitaire was easy and straightforward .

Also strikingly there were no signs of any shortages in the supermarkets and there was loads of petrol easily available.

[teamsaint]

France has 6000 cases a day we have over 30,000 and 1000 died of Covid last week.- I was there last week - it felt safe , everyone was wearing a mask and the pass sanitaire was easy and straightforward .

Also strikingly there were no signs of any shortages in the supermarkets and there was loads of petrol easily available.

Just because using the pass sanitaire is “ easy” to use , for some people sometimes, really doesn't make it a great idea.
It is a terrible idea, and a huge and completely undesireable step change in the relationship between the state and the individual.
And it has absolutely no demonstrable public health benefit, as two parliamentary committees found. And that is before we get to the their discriminatory aspect.

Plenty of people are out and about in the UK and feeling “ safe”, and no doubt many in France who feel the opposite.

[teamsaint]

I have said a lot about vaccine passports on this forum, a subject which anybody has read my posts will know that I think is of the utmost importance.
I'd like to pull away from the conversation on that for a while, since I have said as much as I can, and no doubt others will think I have gone on too much about it.

However, I would say , or ask one thing further.

Before you( we, I) give our consent to vaccine passports, whenever they are introduced, can I suggest asking a few important questions ?

What is the demonstrable health benefit ?
Would that health benefit, if any can be shown, worth the other risks the passports will bring ?
Do we really want to hand the kind of potential control that they bring to people who may not have our best interests at heart ,the obvious example being the current govt ?
What kind of future use could this IT infrastructure be put to , in ways of which we may not approve?
Is the discriminatory path that they will set us on really one that we want to go down ?
Are the practical issues in implementation and use something that we want to inflict on ourselves ?