General Chat

As the numbers of positive cases of COVID rise are we sleep walking into another lockdown?

Well, all the false negative tests from that Wolverhampton lab haven't helped.
Makes you wonder how many other labs, set up on the spur of the moment, and funded by our tax money are as useless.

I suppose, due to the number of vaccinations, the death rate is lower, but can/should people work with covid, even if they're working from home?

Apparently, there's a 'Plan C', not sure what it entails - I'm not sure the Government know, either. :-(

I really can't get my head round the idea that if daughter (who lives with me, both double jabbed), or I caught covid, the other could go out and about and circulate as normal.

That can't be right..........

I'm also wondering now about all those negative PCR tests I had since last June, after positive lateral flow results. :-S

At no time did I feel ill , have symptoms or have any known contact with a positive case, so I sincerely hope that I really was negative and didn't unknowingly pass the virus onto others.

Scotland isn't exactly out of the last Lockdown yet !
Still got mandatory wearing of face masks for certain places & have to have vaccination passports for certain venues in this part of the world & that's bad enough, so I hope we won't be going backwards again!

Joan.

Gwyn, I believe that's happening with schoolchildren.
The one with it, stays home, the others go to school.

Here's the official advice:

"If you live in the same household as someone with COVID-19, you should stay at home and self-isolate. If you are fully vaccinated or aged under 18 years and 6 months you are not required to self-isolate if you are a contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19."

But, confusingly, it then goes on to say:

"You could be fined if you do not self-isolate following a notification by NHS Test and Trace. You may be entitled to a one-off payment of £500 through the NHS Test and Trace Support Payment scheme if you are required to stay at home and self-isolate or you are the parent or guardian of a child who has been told to self-isolate."

How many would read on to the next bit?

Yes as Joan said, its different up here in Scotland. We have a bad outbreak in our little corner and everynight we get told how many new cases. Tonight there are 12 cases.8 are connected to existing cases but the other 4 are new and unconnected..and so it goes on & on.
If you get covid here(say my daughter tests positive) she has to isolate for 10 days. If I test negative, then i dont have to.

Each time I have had to go to hospital recently, i get the 3rd degree as to why i cant wear a facemask. The questions they ask me are really intrusive even though i wear an exemption mask!

I really hope we are not heading into another lockdown before xmas! Some business's have just really got going again, a 3rd shutdown would destroy many.

Florence in the hebrides

Well, it appears we have one of the worst infection rates in Europe!
Not so much sleepwalking, more a case of 'If we ignore it, it may go away' :-| :-|

Here in Ontario we've had the mask wearing all the way through and just started covid passports to go to many indoor places. In my area children have had to wear masks in school all day even the 4yr olds. Our daily count is hovering in the 500 area though sometimes down to late 300's. Now we're be inside more often it will be interesting to see the numbers as we move forward, and also the fact we'll shortly be able to drive over the border to the states for non essential travel.

Here in BC, we've had short periods where masks have been "advised" for certain activities, but transit, businesses etc have also been able to declare masks mandatory at all times. This has never changed for transit, and most people obey without any problem.

We are currently still in the 4th wave of covid, which started in late August early September. Masks are once again mandatory indoors and advised outside when near people.

All school kids age 5-18 have to wear masks all day in school, as well as on school buses and in the playgrounds.

We have vaccination passes showing that we have been double vaccinated, and have to show this plus government issued photographic ID when wanting to enter non-essential services such as restaurants, gyms, sports arenas, etc. Fast food, take-away food and coffee shops do not need the pass.

Masks must be worn when indoors, except when actually drinking or eating, and is advised outside (most people do that).

We've learnt to live with it, and most people are actually more comfortable wearing masks and distancing than without.


I had an appointment with an ENT surgeon this afternoon, he wore a mask all the time, and I only took mine off while he actually examined my ears and nostril, then had to replace it. Hand sanitizer was at the front desk and had to be used ............. I actually carry my own sanitizer as I've found most of the ones used by businesses cause me problems. Most people seem happy with that.

Like Ontario, our daily counts are hovering between 500 and 600 a day, although that is down from 2 or 3 weeks ago. Large numbers are having to be hospitalized, and the vast majority of those have not been vaccinated.

With the huge increase in positive cases it looks as though tougher measures and probable lockdowns must be on its way.

Is there a regional difference in the wearing of masks? Many people locally still wear their masks in shops and public transport but friends of mine went to the north west recently and felt awkward and out of place because they were wearing masks and no one else seemed to be doing so.

Our local intensive care is full of covid patients again.

Perhaps someone who, for medical reasons, can’t wear a face mask, can let me know whether a Perspex/plastic visor is suitable for them? I’m not knocking them - I simply want to know whether they can wear such a visor and if not, why not?

I think mask- and/or visor-wearing ought to be compulsory inside everywhere and on all public transport - trains, trams, buses, taxis etc. I can not understand any reluctance to do so, nor can I understand government reluctance to bring in such a ruling - and not, as Boris was so fond of doing, making it advisory!

We may be in for a bumpier ride than we expected this winter - for me it would be down to a lax government ….. so not much different from last year really. Hospitals, like our local one, may find themselves in danger of being overrun by covid again and medical staff run off their feet but why, when the remedy is within our grasp?

I am feeling exactly like this :-S :-S :-S

Names in Scotland ItS mandatory to wear facemasks.Nicola Sturgeon decided we should keep wearing them in public places ufn.

Well, I think Nicola’s right, Florence.

Oh that Boris didn’t crave for love quite so much ……. we’d all be safer.

Even where masks are mandatory, as on LondonUnderground, they seem incapable or unwilling to enforce it.

One of my daughters workmates refuses to wear even a face shield as it is claustrophobic. She also refuses to touch one’s loyalty card (even when you are having difficulty getting under the screen to reach the machine- so I always make sure I use cash to pay her. :-D

Masks, social distancing and so on just don't fit into Boris world view. And so as covid infections rise action is well behind the curve with the NHS directed to making face 2 face GP appointments its priority.

After the last 18 months it is astonishing that the govt can still sell its lacksadaisical policies and even more astonishing that it remains ahead in the polls..

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8

My Gnddtr travels on the tube to work. She wears a mask but has told me that not everyone does so. I had not realised mask use was mandatory but if a few more hefty fines were handed out it would be good and if people were told they would be refused entry at station entrances, rather than on the trains (so reinforcements can be brought in more easily if necessary), it would be even better. It takes a lot to get through to some people whose heads are thicker than others.

I wonder how many MPs use the underground (maybe none will do so following the murder of David Amess) but what about their families - surely some will do so? Is it too much to expect our Members to apply themselves to keeping people safe? We need a Nicola in times like these.

Selfishness springs immediately to mind but my patience is running thin with government’s lack of cohesive planning.

I also think that Boris is rather slyly introducing his early gung-ho plan of herd immunity. Remember that - and how long and how many deaths it took before he heeded the advice of scientists and doctors!

Rollo, you beat me to it! (Only because my pal knocked to thank me for something.)

ONS data up to 9th October shows the increase to be school children and a sharp increase in those in years 7 - 11.

Unfortunately the steepest rises in positive tests seem to come after that date, which could mean that the other age groups are now positive.

Advice is difficult to follow, when, in the House of Commons, the Oppositin Parties are doing as advised - wearing masks, but the Government doesn't - using the excuse 'but we know each other!

So, according to the Government, you can't catch a virus off of anyone you know!

Try telling that to children, whose parents died when they brought Covid home from school. <3

Well in Wales masks and social distancing mandates are still in force. Our rates for hospital admissions, positive tests and ICU beds in use are all well up compared to this time last year
:-S :-S