Coronavirus: General discussion (see opening post for rules)

[BOOT]

Still nothing accessible anywhere near me .

 

I know the feeling. I wish they'd set one up at my local hospital, it'd be a short walk.

[mavhc]

The graph of positive percentages maps quite well to the graph of cases for the past year

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing?areaType=nation&areaName=England

[jmak]

Won't case numbers independent of number of tests carried be misleading?

Mostly the case numbers are based on the ONS population survey which gives an estimate based on prevalence in the general population. A lot of cases are asymptomatic, so wouldn't be picked by the self selecting group of people taking PCR tests.

 

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

[mikeprice]

Vaccines and boosters were very well organised here - at least ours went well.

 

maybe we are just lucky?

 

 

also - been feeling rubbish since Saturday - feels like a bad cold/flu/"galloping dry rot"(as my Dad used to say)

so I have taken a home test 2 days running and it seems I am negative

 

still feel rubbish but at least it isn't the "variant of many pronunciations" or anything like that

[caffrey]

Wonder if we should test daily to be honest, someone in the office had a cough for days - under the weather etc. They did daily testing all negative, until the weekend when they finally tested positive. I never trusted the LF tests to begin with

Now I'm starting to feel like something is coming on, could be purely psychosomatic

[StevieM]

also - been feeling rubbish since Saturday - feels like a bad cold/flu/"galloping dry rot"(as my Dad used to say)

so I have taken a home test 2 days running and it seems I am negative

When you say 'home test', do you mean PCR or just a quick LFT? If the latter, pleeeaaasse, go and get a proper test done. I know too many people who have taken LFTs that showed negative when, really, they were positive.

[Andrew_C]

I know too many people who have taken LFTs that showed negative when, really, they were positive.

Yeah, me. Took two, half an hour apart. One positive, one negative.

 

Chocolate tea pots come to mind, along with dodgy procurement. RIBBIT!

[paulkerton]

LFTs are generally more accurate than people might think, especially the one made by Acon. A lot of the time, the issues with LFTs is that its easy to not do them properly at home.

[enbiggen]

"The booking system is currently being updated so eligible groups can pre-book a booster dose from 2 months (61 days) after their 2nd dose. If you are not able to book a booster dose yet, please try again later today or tomorrow."

 

I had booked for the first day I was eligible (22nd December) under the 6 months rule - I've just moved it forward to next week - not much difference, but it gets it out of the way.

[StevieM]

LFTs are generally more accurate than people might think, especially the one made by Acon. A lot of the time, the issues with LFTs is that its easy to not do them properly at home.

...which makes them unreliable as the sole source of infection status.

 

My advice remains, if you have symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, book a PCR - even if a LFT shows negative. Hopefully, the PCR will show negative, too, but I believe that it's better to play safe.

[6Foot2]

We have just had our boosters (Moderna) It took a lot longer than last time: The vaccination centre was ignoring appointment times and the queue was down the corridor and out of the block.

 

Also, they were enforcing a fifteen-minute wait post vaccination, whereas a five-minute wait was advised last time.

 

My arm's a bit sore, like I had been punched, but I haven't reacted at all like I did for the first vaccination.

 

[Ditto]

... The other three householders managed to escape a positive LFT. I'm putting that down to the jabs (I'm triple jabbed), him mostly sticking to his room and I'm going to say good fortune.

Well lots of swear words to that . I was LFT positive yesterday, PCR confirmed overnight. I had one other contact beyond the household!. Symptoms mild so far.

[Ditto]

LFTs are generally more accurate than people might think, especially the one made by Acon. A lot of the time, the issues with LFTs is that its easy to not do them properly at home.

My minimal experience is 100% consistency between LFT and PCR - that's a tiny sample. Neither is going to be perfect and PCR has the downside that it can show positive long after you are passed the infectious stage. So much so, that after a positive PCR, you are advised on to re-take for another 90 days.

[jmak]

LFT has always been intended as a screening test. If you are symptomatic, you should get a PCR test ASAP, whether or not your LFT is negative.

 

The main benefit of LFTs is that it picks up some asymptomatic (and some pre-symptomatic before you start shedding virus and becoming highly infectious) cases in the community and this slows down the spread by reducing the chance of people who don't know they've got Covid spreading it around.

 

It's not a green light, but along with other measures like proper mask wearing, good ventilation, working from home where possible, it reduces the number of cases overall.

 

I heard an interview with a senior Scottish public health figure yesterday and his recommendation was that every day you're going to meet with other people you should take an LFT. Twice a week is useful, but the more often you test, the more likely you are to avoid infecting other people, should you be unfortunate enough to be infected yourself.

 

I also know two people who've had a positive LFT (while asymptomatic) followed by a negative PCR followed by symptoms followed by a positive PCR.

[6Foot2]

Trending on Twitter today:

 

 

Phew! Maybe just as well that we had the Moderna booster yesterday!

 

[jthompson]

Wow. I'd heard that these plug & play vaccines could be quickly tailored to be more specific in what they target, but I'd no idea they could be quite as specific as that.

[mavhc]

Trending on Twitter today:

 

3 equally important headlines.

 

Only 7 days left to get infected before christmas!

[paulkerton]

Well, HR have had the "So what happens in Plan B next week for staff that worked from home the last time we had to" email.

 

Be interesting to see if they insist on us coming in this time around. I was told that "it was unfair that teachers had to but office staff didn't" so, if I get that response I will ask them about pension parity with the teachers, and whether all staff will be paid full-time like teachers and not pro-rata like HLTAs and see how that goes down for "fairness".

[Rob_D]

Well, HR have had the "So what happens in Plan B next week for staff that worked from home the last time we had to" email.

Be interesting to see if they insist on us coming in this time around. I was told that "it was unfair that teachers had to but office staff didn't" so, if I get that response I will ask them about pension parity with the teachers, and whether all staff will be paid full-time like teachers and not pro-rata like HLTAs and see how that goes down for "fairness".

 

Our staff briefing this morning suggested that schools would be a special case when it came to WFH, and we're waiting for the official DFE guidance (good odds on that not arriving long enough before the end of term to make any difference). But then the school has always been slightly against WFH unless we really have to.

[TwistedHelixis]

I was told that "it was unfair that teachers had to but office staff didn't"

imagine if all companies looked at it like this, nobody would be working from home. 'Frank the security guard has to come in to set the alarm each day, so it's not fair that other staff, who have remote access can work from home', :-)

[mavhc]

Life is not fair…it’s just fairer than death

[chris11256]

The DFE guidance has been published and they advise that office staff who are able to work from home(those not involved in the delivery of face to face teaching) should do so.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=1b224897-d6f5-4281-93ba-8780016eec2b&utm_content=immediately

[LeMarchand]

The DFE guidance has been published and they advise that office staff who are able to work from home(those not involved in the delivery of face to face teaching) should do so.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=1b224897-d6f5-4281-93ba-8780016eec2b&utm_content=immediately

 

Wonder how many schools will implement that?

[paulkerton]

Wonder how many schools will implement that?

Well I have sent it to HR here so let's see what they say!

[Rob_D]

Well I have sent it to HR here so let's see what they say!

My guess: "If the school's open to teachers and students then we need XYZ support." (catering, site team, ICT, etc)