Coronavirus: General discussion (see opening post for rules)

[mikeprice]

Meanwhile, Neil Oliver tells the world on GB News he would "cheerfully risk catching Covid" putting others at risk in the process:

 

Link: Anger at GB News' Oliver over 'catching Covid’ comments | The National Wales

 

WHAT - JC making a controversial comment!!

 

 

 

If I was being cynical I would comment that there may be a new series of Top Tour Farm staring soon

does seem like he comes out with this carp just before his new series starts

 

Really disappointed in Oliver - really think his Coast and similar series are great

but then it turns out that his political opinions are ............

 

turns out that you can;t just trust TV stars to have sensible political opinions

 

Who Knew!!!!!

[Ditto]

Not exactly Coronavirus, but a consequence. Interesting to see "teachers, nursery teachers and support staff in close contact with pupils" listed as being invited to flu jab in Scotland this year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58131218. In England the list includes front-line health and adult social care staff but not (yet?) school based staff.

[LeMarchand]

Not exactly Coronavirus, but a consequence. Interesting to see "teachers, nursery teachers and support staff in close contact with pupils" listed as being invited to flu jab in Scotland this year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58131218. In England the list includes front-line health and adult social care staff but not (yet?) school based staff.

 

Not sure why/how, but one of mine has offered this for years, and another started last year.

[6Foot2]

.

[Ditto]

With two years of cancelled exams, this is what the A Level graph looks like now.

 

If the traditional A Level examination comes back next year, it's going to be a hard bump. I can hear the outcry headlines already!

 

*** Edit - congratulations to all who got their A levels this year - I know it's been a hard an unusual two years, and the vast majority put in a lot of hard work ***

Edited August 10, 2021 by Ditto

[mikeprice]

Just been listening to CNN - 'cos Mrs mikeprice likes it????

 

Anyway - someone was saying they have refused to have the vaccine because in 'I am Legend' all the people became zombies because of taking a vaccine

 

 

When faced with this sort of logic it is no wonder that the USA has a low take up in a lot of places

 

it really does make you wonder how some people walk and talk at the same time

[LeMarchand]

Anyway - someone was saying they have refused to have the vaccine because in 'I am Legend' all the people became zombies because of taking a vaccine

 

So the screenwriters of the 2007 version were trying to warn us all by changing the source of the infection from the book? And people call Akiva Goldman* a hack!

 

*I don't, Akiva - I'm one of the few who loved Winter's Tale**

 

**Yes, I know he didn't write the book it was based on but his film really moved me - I've never been able to get more than a few pages into the book

Edited August 10, 2021 by LeMarchand

[mikeprice]

So the screenwriters of the 2007 version were trying to warn us all by changing the source of the infection from the book? And people call Akiva Goldman* a hack!

 

*I don't, Akiva - I'm one of the few who loved Winter's Tale**

 

**Yes, I know he didn't write the book it was based on but his film really moved me - I've never been able to get more than a few pages into the book

 

I suppose that if the SImpsons predicted every event ever to occur in the word (which they seem to have done***) then anything is possible

 

however they did make about 17 million episodes so that did have a good chance of predicting stuff and getting bits right

 

 

*** according to clickbait headlines on the WWW anyway

[6Foot2]

Link:

[Picture Tweet]

 

Clever librarians!!

 

 

[Andrew_C]

Who's book of horror stories?

[6Foot2]

Who's book of horror stories?

Link: The Corona Book of Horror Stories: 16 New Adventures in Horror Writing [Amazon.co.uk]

 

 

...The Corona Book of Horror Stories celebrates the best in new horror writing and brings you 16 dark tales from the best horror writers you’ve never heard of.

Herein you will find the brilliant products of dark imaginations, certainly; and something to scare you, revolt you or unnerve you, probably – it depends on how jaded and degenerate a soul you are. What we can promise you is a wealth of new writing talent with a variety of different takes on what can constitute horror. You will meet horror that is graphic, or merely sinister; supernatural, or natural - where the source of the horror is all too human. There’s the tale of the breakfast that is life-changing (and not in a good way), the story of the loner whose obsession in life is keeping parasites .... among many more dark delights to be found inside.

 

The book also includes potted biographies of all 16 writers and a list of author website and Twitter accounts, to aid you, should this book lead you to the discovery of a new favourite author...

[mavhc]

Cases are back to their normal rising situation now the extra rise caused by gathering together to watch people kick a sphere around a field has finished, I guess.

 

It would take exactly the same social distancing measures to keep infections at 100/day as it would to keep them at the current 30,000/day

[LeMarchand]

Hoping that this isn't too political but, whilst some might be unhappy with the handling of things in this country, imagine living in certain states in the US: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tennessee-mask-mandate-school-board-b1901112.html

 

In Tennessee

 

less than half the population has received even one shot of the vaccine

.

[6Foot2]

Link:

[Mark Hamill Picture Tweet]

 

We are all in this together. Don't be a #maskhole.

 

[Ditto]

I see cases are back to their normal falling situation with yesterdays week on week numbers showing a drop. Watching MOTD with full stadia makes me wonder about the next month or so though. Hospital admissions and deaths lower 6 out of 7 days in the last week. With 28k identified positives a day it does still feel like a we are walking a tightrope, but it is good to see small steps towards a new normal and the benefits they bring.

[mikeprice]

I am rather confused about the figures

 

everything seems to be falling - which is good - and Mrs mikeprice's son says the hospital is coping fine

 

but I see full stadiums and race tracks and people giving up wearing masks

 

but then the vaccine take up has been good

 

I just hope the International community can get the rest of the world sorted out with vaccinations before a really bad/different version develops

[jthompson]

Interesting article from New Yorker that looks into what sort of evolutionary space(s) the virus might be heading for: How Will the Coronavirus Evolve? Delta won’t be the last variant. What will the next ones bring?

 

TLDR: the most likely outcomes being that the vaccines remain effective regardless or that the virus selects for increased transmissibility at the expense of lethality. So reasonably reassuring for the long term.

[LeMarchand]

or that the virus selects for increased transmissibility at the expense of lethality. So reasonably reassuring for the long term.

 

Sounds like a line from the pilot of "The Burning Zone" (short-lived show that had a young Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the lead for the first few eps). The premise (later ignored) was that viruses were plotting against mankind and soon the "warrior viruses" would RULE THE EARTH.

[mikeprice]

Interesting article from New Yorker that looks into what sort of evolutionary space(s) the virus might be heading for: How Will the Coronavirus Evolve? Delta won’t be the last variant. What will the next ones bring?

 

TLDR: the most likely outcomes being that the vaccines remain effective regardless or that the virus selects for increased transmissibility at the expense of lethality. So reasonably reassuring for the long term.

 

That is the way these things normally go

 

a virus will evolve to promote the variant with maximum ability to infect people

and if you kill people your ability to infect - and hence breed - stops at that point

 

if you infect people with few major symptoms then your version gets to breed and spread - and hence become more prevalent

[Norphy]

Meanwhile, in FreedomLand™️:

 

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ivermectin-deworming-covid-mississippi_n_612061bfe4b0ff60bf80dc14?ri18n=true

 

They don’t want to take a vaccine that’s successfully been given to millions of people around the world with mostly minor side effects but they’re quite happy to poison themselves with medication meant for cows. Genius.

[6Foot2]

Meanwhile, in FreedomLand™️:

 

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ivermectin-deworming-covid-mississippi_n_612061bfe4b0ff60bf80dc14?ri18n=true

 

They don’t want to take a vaccine that’s successfully been given to millions of people around the world with mostly minor side effects, but they’re quite happy to poison themselves with medication meant for cows. Genius.

 

I worked on ivermectin during my time as a pharmaceutical analyst. It's an anti-parasitic drug (the vets at my place of work were testing its effectiveness against worms in cattle [and cats and dogs, I think?]) There appears to have been some work with ivermectin in high doses, testing its antiviral action, if any. It seems that the results show it made no difference.

 

Also, it should be noted that these trails were strictly controlled by health professionals ready to render assistance to the test subjects should it be required: The linked report says: "...The high doses of ivermectin products for animals “can be highly toxic in humans..."

 

This is inadvisable is putting it mildly!

[LeMarchand]

Meanwhile, in FreedomLand™️:

 

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ivermectin-deworming-covid-mississippi_n_612061bfe4b0ff60bf80dc14?ri18n=true

 

They don’t want to take a vaccine that’s successfully been given to millions of people around the world with mostly minor side effects but they’re quite happy to poison themselves with medication meant for cows. Genius.

 

 

Makes the stupidity in our local Dunelms seem minor, but I noticed yesterday that hardly any of the retired peeps were wearing masks, but the only younger refuseniks were a mother + daughter in (expensive) hippie chic dresses. Presumably Mother Earth/their money would keep them safe as they were far too beautiful to deny the rest of us the chance to bathe in their beauty (and germs).

[Andrew_C]

I'm staying in S Devon at the mo' Can quite see why cases are so bad down here.

 

One small quiet pub - staff all masked with sensible spacing of tables. (Can highly recommend the Tradesman in Scorriton - in the a*** end of nowhere)

 

One busy pub - no effort at all.

 

Minimal masking, but shops generally making an effort.

[southhamster]

I'm staying in S Devon at the mo' Can quite see why cases are so bad down here.

 

One small quiet pub - staff all masked with sensible spacing of tables. (Can highly recommend the Tradesman in Scorriton - in the a*** end of nowhere)

 

One busy pub - no effort at all.

 

Minimal masking, but shops generally making an effort.

Hi!

The Tradesman's is very near to us: yes good pub.(wave)

On topic. Although S. Devon has not been too bad for cases that is ramping up and one of our neighbours had the virus a couple of weeks ago. Anecdotal I know That is the first infection in people I know round here.

[elsiegee40]

Currently in France on holiday. Drove over via Eurotunnel.

 

Printed off our covid passes just in case and it was useful to wave them at the border official.

 

We also uploaded our vaccination evidence to the French TousAntiCovid app. Every restaurant wants to scan the QR code from this before they’ll serve you.

 

Masks are being worn in the outdoor market and in shops and restaurants.

 

Motorways much quieter than usual and very few British cars. Not that many Belgians, Dutch or Germans either. It appears the French are choosing to holiday in France this year as the market is still too busy for my comfort.

 

We need to get a test done to come back, have worked out where and that we don’t need to book in advance.

 

We also have Day 2 tests waiting for us when we get home.

 

As we are staying in a house and the location is rural we are simply enjoying the good weather, wine and cheese … and a spot of bird watching in the Cevennes and the Camargue

Edited August 24, 2021 by elsiegee40