Coronavirus: General discussion (see opening post for rules)

[jthompson]

As terrible as this sounds, I needed to go shopping Tuesday, and ended up going to my local Waitrose instead of the local Tesco simply because I thought everyone would wear a mask in Waitrose...Might cost a few quid more but I thought it was worth trying it for mask sanity.

 

... and as terrible as that sounds, I was right. Every last person in there had a mask on.

 

I've often found that the proportion of people wearing face coverings in my regular supermarket varies quite a lot, and that it also varies just as much at the other supermarkets in the area. My regular weekly shop is always at the same time on the same day of the week, and there have always been 'good' days and 'bad' days in this regard throughout the year.

[Norphy]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I've just moved up to Scotland and from what I've seen they're taking the wearing of masks a lot more seriously up here. A trip to Tesco's yesterday and I'd say not more than one in 20 people didn't have a mask.

[Ditto]

BBC reporting Germany is considering banning the unvaccinated from shops and bars. Isn't there a point where vaccines need to be compulsory except for reasons that are currently legitimate exemptions. I don't think it's for the wider societal good to gradual ramp up sanctions against those who aren't vaccinated. Either give choice and live with the consequences at a societal level, or don't give the choice. The concept of compulsory vaccination pre-covid would be near unthinkable for me, as much due to freedom of choice (and our legislation), but we are in a very different world today compared the previous century.

[mavhc]

But testing people's faith in youtube videos is funny, I mean valuable scientific data.

 

As long as more people are wearing masks, that's good, it's a continuum of multiple measures that when multiplied together either make R<1 or R>1

 

Only 11 more days of possibly being infected until Christmas!

[hardtailstar]

Cant find if I have commented this before but....

 

A friend of mine works in Tesco petrol station and they are not enforcing masks because people would just refuse to pay for fuel as has happened before!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Did the big shop last night. Happy to report that mask wearing in both Asda and the local Aldi were high. Around 80-90% I reckon.

 

That was reassuring.

[elsiegee40]

From Sky News: Man wanting covid passport tries to use fake arm to avoid actually having the jab

[Norphy]

Just came here to post the same story from the BBC.

 

What a prat. The sad thing is, I'll bet there are people out there thinking "Hmm, what a good idea"

[mikeprice]

Based on the last few days I would say that mask wearing in Tesco here is up - but still only 50-60%

 

It does seem to vary a lot depending on the time you go.

I went yesterday and there were less than normal with masks - but forgot something and went back a couple of hours later and there were far more

 

it also seems to be varying depending on age - older people more likely to wear one - younger adults less so

Also - several cases of couple where the woman has a mask and the bloke doesn't

 

sigh

[LeMarchand]

Also - several cases of couple where the woman has a mask and the bloke doesn't

 

Last time I was "in town" it was a surprise to see the reverse two or three times! Saw the above last night while doing the weekly shop, though. The guy had a whiff of gammon about him and, as he seemed to have no problem ignoring social distancing, I'm going for him just being a rather than exempt. Even his teenage daughter was masked up. The shop was emptier than normal, but I'm pleased to say that the only other non-mask wearer was a would-be member of Oasis. I was very (pleasantly) surprised!

[6Foot2]

Link:

[Kevin Maguire Video Tweet]

 

Click the link above for the video.

 

*Sound on, but not up to the max.

 

[mikeprice]

Latest grandkid was 1 yesterday and there was a little party for him - and the other 2

 

came home and started feeling rubbish - sore throat and nose running like a tap

 

I was worried I had caught something from someone there - as the kids and their parents are the only people we ever go near other than shopping trips

 

so did a home test this morning - apparently I'm negative - must be a cold or something

 

still - worrying for a while

[smurfomatic]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-59538600

 

Six cases of Omicron in the town I work in, waiting for the email that says we're closing school early...

[BOOT]

Currently impossible to book a second dose. You'd think that would be a priority over booster jabs.

[southhamster]

I was eligible for my booster from last Monday and managed to get an appointment for Friday. It took a bit of retrying to get an early appointment, there seems to be a lot of churn with appointments so keep trying! Found a small venue in a rugby club bar with sticky carpet and signs of post match rejoicings but all good. It was phizer, my first 2 were AZ.

Felt rubbish yesterday; shivery, hot/cold, headache but hot water bottle and paracetamol really helped. Mostly ok now but glad it's done!

[smurfomatic]

Had my booster jab booking message at 3.50 this afternoon, booked in for next weekend at a place a mile or so from my house.

[Ditto]

I knew my local area case rates were high, but having checked the data it's even worse than I realised. Based on the smallest regions (Middle layer Super Output Areas or MSOA), we have been third in the UK for the rolling weekly average for the last two weeks! I'm hoping it starts to drop soon. My eldest has just gone back to school after 10 days isolation. 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. Fortunately he was asymptomatic, but he did get rather too used enjoying room service .

[mavhc]

Over 10 million people have now been infected in uk, with 145,000 of them dying

 

Over 1/4 of a million new cases every week

26000 cases per day start of august

45000 cases per day start of dec

 

So about 2000 extra per day per month.

 

At that rate another 20 million infected in a year's time, that's half of the population.

[BOOT]

I'd like to see the real case numbers given that testing capacity is limited to just over 50k per day.

[kennysarmy]

Over 10 million people have now been infected in uk, with 145,000 of them dying

 

Over 1/4 of a million new cases every week

26000 cases per day start of august

45000 cases per day start of dec

 

So about 2000 extra per day per month.

 

At that rate another 20 million infected in a year's time, that's half of the population.

 

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

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I'd like to see the real case numbers given that testing capacity is limited to just over 50k per day.

 

As of three days ago our PCR testing capacity was a little over 750,000 per day. On the 4th December we processed a little over 450,000 tests.

 

It looks like around 1 in 10 tests come back positive at the moment.

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/testing

[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.

[paulkerton]

Would love to get mine, but it seems they've announced something no one was prepared for and it'll be at least another 6 days before the 3 month window is opened.

 

Which is great, but as of the end of the week I'm over 6 months and yet to be invited as I'm not 40 yet.

 

Incompetence abound.

[Rob_D]

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.

 

When I had mine they were enforcing the full 15 min for people who'd had both the booster and the flue jab, but a shorter wait for people who'd only had the booster.

[LeMarchand]

Still nothing accessible anywhere near me .