Coronavirus: General discussion (see opening post for rules)

[aicrd]

Link: Covid: Arm band calls for those with weak immune systems - BBC News

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62635[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

Seems like it could be helpful.

I feel like a better symbol would be more useful. Similar to the lanyards people wear for being mask exempt. I can see lots of people going into meltdown over the idea of an armband, specifically because its being used to make a certain group of people stand out against the rest, something which has been done before in no so great circumstances....

[sigma]

For another perspective, the ONS data is useful:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/16july2021

 

From the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group - How many COVID admissions are vaccinated?

 

https://www.covid-arg.com/post/how-many-covid-admissions-are-vaccinated

[aicrd]

I'm rather confused about those due to turn 18 being offered the vaccine. BBC says just that. They are being offered. NHS website however says this: "If you've been invited to book because you're turning 18 soon, please book a date for your 1st dose vaccination that is on or after your 18th birthday."

 

So whats changed? You could already book a vaccine after you turn 18? Something I'm missing here?

[stevejp]

I'm rather confused about those due to turn 18 being offered the vaccine. BBC says just that. They are being offered. NHS website however says this: "If you've been invited to book because you're turning 18 soon, please book a date for your 1st dose vaccination that is on or after your 18th birthday."

 

So whats changed? You could already book a vaccine after you turn 18? Something I'm missing here?

 

Not sure, but guessing they’re trying to get to all of the August birthdays who will be heading off to uni in September? Of course, nobody thought of sorting that out a couple of months ao, so that they could all get both doses…

[aicrd]

Not sure, but guessing they’re trying to get to all of the August birthdays who will be heading off to uni in September? Of course, nobody thought of sorting that out a couple of months ao, so that they could all get both doses…

 

It does say 3 months before though, so that would mean August, September and some of October

[Ditto]

Total deaths: 7th

 

I think the per capita is more informative.

Deaths per capita: 20th, above USA, Mexico, Chile, Romania, Spain, France, Portugal. Below 11 countries with <10 million people that in total are smaller than uk

 

The difference to USA is 0.5%! No account of how it's measured, demographics or population health - overweightness and obesity is a very significant factor in Covid infection outcomes. What is interesting is how similar the per capita numbers are between UK, USA, much of Europe and South America

Active cases: 2nd

 

Actual population: 21st

more informative - Tot Cases/1M pop: 39th

Tests per person: 3.4

Not sure what this tells us.

As we know we're doing terribly reducing restrictions is an even worse idea than countries that don't know.

With the data you present, it looks convincing 'we're doing terribly'. If we take vaccination figures for countries with a population over 30 million , we are are second on partial vaccination and first on fully vaccinated so it could be stated 'we're doing amazingly'. Neither is true of course. (Note, you can select a lower number than 30m, but it doesn't change things much; including Israel would bump us to 2nd on fully vaccinated).

For the record rhetorically, do I personally think we should be opening up as much as we are? No, but I would try hard not to be so selective with data to warp my viewpoint on to others.

[enbiggen]

Adding to the anecdotal information pile about mask usage: On the bus yesterday (first bus of the day) there were fewer people than usual, but most wore masks. Today, more people on the bus, about a fifth wore masks. The two mask-less people at the front looked like they'd been out clubbing (sorry, it's hard not to judge). I was the only person that opened any windows. Trains seem to be better masked than buses, but still down on what we had before.

[Rob_D]

Link: Covid: Arm band calls for those with weak immune systems - BBC News

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62635[/ATTACH]

Seems like it could be helpful.

 

Interesting idea, but the green cross just makes me think firstaider.

[6Foot2]

Interesting idea, but the green cross just makes me think firstaider.

 

I thought, perhaps, that was only a suggested design, perhaps not even an arm band: Just some way to say to others "This person's immune system may not be as strong as it could be"

[mavhc]

With the data you present, it looks convincing 'we're doing terribly'. If we take vaccination figures for countries with a population over 30 million , we are are second on partial vaccination and first on fully vaccinated so it could be stated 'we're doing amazingly'. Neither is true of course. (Note, you can select a lower number than 30m, but it doesn't change things much; including Israel would bump us to 2nd on fully vaccinated).

For the record rhetorically, do I personally think we should be opening up as much as we are? No, but I would try hard not to be so selective with data to warp my viewpoint on to others.

 

Only 70% of 18-24 year olds want the vaccine

We've run short of vaccines too, new supply in Sep apparently, explains why they just gave up.

 

At this point you're likely to meet someone who's infected, as vaccinated people aren't super unlikely to be infected.

 

Having half the population vaccinated isn't that great if everyone gets infected still. We've now beaten the Dec/Jan peak cases, and are 3 days away from the point where they let everyone back to school for 1 day to spread the disease, then locked down.

 

7-17% of people infected get long covid, yay, brain damage.

[FN-GM]

We have had 4 community infections in our state so we are going into a 7 day lockdown.

 

It looks like my COVID vaccine is going to be the highlight of my weekend!

[Ditto]

We have had 4 community infections in our state so we are going into a 7 day lockdown.

 

It looks like my COVID vaccine is going to be the highlight of my weekend!

 

We dream of 4! Good luck with the vaccine - do you know which one it is?

[Ditto]

Only 70% of 18-24 year olds want the vaccine

We've run short of vaccines too, new supply in Sep apparently, explains why they just gave up.

 

At this point you're likely to meet someone who's infected, as vaccinated people aren't super unlikely to be infected.

 

Having half the population vaccinated isn't that great if everyone gets infected still. We've now beaten the Dec/Jan peak cases, and are 3 days away from the point where they let everyone back to school for 1 day to spread the disease, then locked down.

 

7-17% of people infected get long covid, yay, brain damage.

Some interesting data points here. Would you be so kind to link to the resource as I'm interested in reading those. In particular to the:

• 70% of 18-24 year olds want the vaccine
  
• Vaccine shortage
  
• 7-17% long covid
  

 

Thanks.

[Garacesh]

Interesting idea, but the green cross just makes me think firstaider.

 

My first thought, too.

Well, outside of a certain fascist ruining armbands for everybody

 

But yes, the + icon is definitely associated with first-aid for a lot of folks, and the last thing you'd want as a vulnerable person is to have people trying to drag you close to other folks because they got the wrong impression.

[mavhc]

Some interesting data points here. Would you be so kind to link to the resource as I'm interested in reading those. In particular to the:

• 70% of 18-24 year olds want the vaccine
  
• Vaccine shortage
  
• 7-17% long covid
  

 

Thanks.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y49w

[tg12]

Moved my second vaccination forward from mid-August to tomorrow fairly painlessly. Only difficulty I had was the NHS system hadn't emailed or texted my booking confirmation, so no number to manage the booking online. Thankfully, after navigating all the menus on the 119 phone line, I spoke to a helpful woman who was able to find my appointment and get me sorted out!

[bald_pig]

Moved my second vaccination forward from mid-August to tomorrow fairly painlessly. Only difficulty I had was the NHS system hadn't emailed or texted my booking confirmation, so no number to manage the booking online. Thankfully, after navigating all the menus on the 119 phone line, I spoke to a helpful woman who was able to find my appointment and get me sorted out!

 

Thanks for the reminder, just moved mine from 31st August to the 7th!

[Boredguy]

Bah, tried a couple of times to see if I could move it forward, but our local centre had no other slots

[elsiegee40]

How many weeks will it be between jabs @tg12? I keep trying to convince my daughter to ring up and see if she can move hers forward from early August. Edited July 20, 2021 by elsiegee40

[tg12]

It was 8 weeks ago yesterday, and they’re saying to get the second from 8 to 12 weeks (my original appointment was 12th August, so 11.5 weeks on)

[bald_pig]

How many weeks will it be between jabs @tg12? I keep trying to convince my daughter to ring up and see if she can move hers forward from early August.

 

Mines gone from 12 weeks and a couple of days down to 9 weeks, I did it via the website, it will show you availability before you cancel and rebook.

[Ditto]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y49w

Thanks. I did listen to the full audio. I have to say it was rather 'primary school teacher' in its presentation style, but overall seemed balanced. What really surprised me is that in the first few minutes the statement that unlocking now was probably better than later, acknowledging that an exit wave is inevitable. There was no reference to research articles to back the views expressed, however, they all seemed to be bona-fide commentators.

There is one other statistical measure I did struggle with... it was the lack of a correlation between the data you posted and the perception I got from the soundbites. To my surprise, I came with feeling of being more reassured than I did before I listened to it. Look, I don't want to continually shoot down every one of your Covid data posts and will try to back away unless I feel very strongly. I would implore everyone who has an interest to listen to the sound cast and post their own feelings to broaden the discussion and take on other perceptions. It's half an hour, but I think well worth the time.

[Ditto]

How many weeks will it be between jabs @tg12? I keep trying to convince my daughter to ring up and see if she can move hers forward from early August.

It's fascinating how we all have such different feelings on vaccination dates. My mum, over 80, had Pfizer in December and 2nd jab 3 weeks later in January. Six months later, I now worry a little about waning protection. There isn't a lot of data on this topic but some of it isn't great reading. This wretched virus has ways to stress us all out in so many ways.

[Boredguy]

Well it went from at least 21 day gap to 3 months to get more people done, and now it's dropped down nearer to the original 4 weeks again

[jmak]

Thanks. I did listen to the full audio. I have to say it was rather 'primary school teacher' in its presentation style, but overall seemed balanced. What really surprised me is that in the first few minutes the statement that unlocking now was probably better than later, acknowledging that an exit wave is inevitable. There was no reference to research articles to back the views expressed, however, they all seemed to be bona-fide commentators.

There is one other statistical measure I did struggle with... it was the lack of a correlation between the data you posted and the perception I got from the soundbites. To my surprise, I came with feeling of being more reassured than I did before I listened to it. Look, I don't want to continually shoot down every one of your Covid data posts and will try to back away unless I feel very strongly. I would implore everyone who has an interest to listen to the sound cast and post their own feelings to broaden the discussion and take on other perceptions. It's half an hour, but I think well worth the time.

I listened as well and I agree - it was much more positive than I expected. For context, I'm a long time listener and the presentation style is supposed to be slightly light hearted (which I can see might grate), but they're rigorous on their statistics.

 

For months last year they spent every week explaining why the government's figures were untrue* (especially on numbers of tests and how long it was taking to trace contacts) as well looking for realistic measures of numbers of deaths to allow a meaningful comparison between different countries and to give an indication of the true impact of the pandemic.

 

I haven't come away from the programme completely convinced that everything's rosy and the pandemic is over (and that's not what they said), but I'll definitely take their commentary seriously.

 

A stat that caught my attention from the programme was that for every child with a positive covid test in school, on average 20 other children have isolated and over 99% of them did not contract covid. I haven't come to a conclusion about how I think that should be responded to, but it's definitely food for thought.

 

*Not a political opinion; the programmes are still available to listen to and catalogue how what was being briefed didn't match ONS figures.