The big Coronavirus thread

Stevo_666

rick_chasey said:

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

Almost 18 months after my partner then I got Covid, the only others I knew locally who had it or precautionarily isolating were literally a handful of work colleagues from March to November last year.

In the last week, 25 are now isolating at work (~25% of daily workforce), while my partner's mum/sis/BIL are now isolating awaiting expected positive PCR results.

Thought I'd maybe caught it again myself around last weekend, but two negative rapid flow tests and seeing my tonsils covered in grey patches means I've caught my first bug since late Feb... Just in time to scupper plans again to go and see my mum and sis for the first time in 13 months.

[VM] I don't believe it! [/VM]

Good luck and enjoy seeing your family.

Let’s hope Stevo doesn’t call you d!Cole’s for being careful (though obviously don’t give them your other illness)

What's one of those? Is it something that you find down the back of your sofa?

rick_chasey

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.04882.pdf

why the effectiveness of surgical masks in preventing respiratory infections has been underestimated

This work shows (1) that both theoretical and empirical evidence is consistent with masks protecting against respiratory infections and (2) that nonlinear effects and statistical considerations regarding the percentage of exposures for which masks are worn must be taken into account when designing empirical studies and interpreting their results.

First.Aspect

So if I've read that right, wearing one he helpful even if you are in the presence of people who aren't?

john80

First.Aspect said:

So if I've read that right, wearing one he helpful even if you are in the presence of people who aren't?

Best way to prevent covid is to wear a mask in multiple crowded places whilst having many arguments with those not wearing one.

Don't get me wrong I was close last night outside the coop with a guy wearing flip flops, shorts, beer gut, mercedes parked on the road and not the car park. No facemask was the least of his issues.

rjsterry

john80 said:

First.Aspect said:

So if I've read that right, wearing one he helpful even if you are in the presence of people who aren't?

Best way to prevent covid is to wear a mask in multiple crowded places whilst having many arguments with those not wearing one.

Don't get me wrong I was close last night outside the coop with a guy wearing flip flops, shorts, beer gut, mercedes parked on the road and not the car park. No facemask was the least of his issues.

Shorts AND flip-flops? What a monster!

womack

john80 said:

First.Aspect said:

So if I've read that right, wearing one he helpful even if you are in the presence of people who aren't?

Best way to prevent covid is to wear a mask in multiple crowded places whilst having many arguments with those not wearing one.

Don't get me wrong I was close last night outside the coop with a guy wearing flip flops, shorts, beer gut, mercedes parked on the road and not the car park. No facemask was the least of his issues.

No tattoos?

rick_chasey

Anyone have any experience doing very short trips abroad with all the additional administration required?

I'm flying in for a funeral/memorial (funeral has already happened without anyone present) and out the next day. The turnaround doesn't really leave any time to get a PCR test done abroad before I head home.

I can't really get a sense of what is needed and what isn't heading back. I can work out what's needed heading abroad - that's fairly straight forward, but I don't see how it's possible in the timeframe to get a test and the result done before I am returning home.

Any advice?

Ben6899

I don't know the answer to this, but wouldn't the PCR test taken in the UK cover the return trip as well? With it being within a certain time frame before the return trip?

A UK PCR test result would be transcribed in English, which I guess would pass for (I presume) Dutch authorities.

orraloon

Inbound UK is still show proof of negative PCR test within previous 48 hours (or pay Priti Vacant a £500 fine).

kingstonian

rick_chasey said:

Anyone have any experience doing very short trips abroad with all the additional administration required?

I'm flying in for a funeral/memorial (funeral has already happened without anyone present) and out the next day. The turnaround doesn't really leave any time to get a PCR test done abroad before I head home.

I can't really get a sense of what is needed and what isn't heading back. I can work out what's needed heading abroad - that's fairly straight forward, but I don't see how it's possible in the timeframe to get a test and the result done before I am returning home.

Any advice?

Where are you flying to? Are you double jabbed yet, and if so when was the second jab done?

If you are going to Holland, they seem to have some pretty strange and hard-to-find rules regarding entry to the country. My wife is looking to visit her parents - hasn’t seen them since Oct 2019 and her father is in poor health - and the Dutch embassy in London told her that as long as she is double jabbed she can enter the country to visit an ill relative without need to isolate etc if she can prove she hasn’t been in Holland during the pandemic. On her way back into the UK we don’t believe she would need to isolate.

Edit - meant to add that she would take a PCR test before leaving the UK and as long as her return was within 72 hrs we believe that will cover her return too.

Bit of a minefield really, so hard to wade through the guidelines for each country and piece them together when it is a short there-and-back trip.

darkhairedlord

kingstonian said:

rick_chasey said:

Anyone have any experience doing very short trips abroad with all the additional administration required?

I'm flying in for a funeral/memorial (funeral has already happened without anyone present) and out the next day. The turnaround doesn't really leave any time to get a PCR test done abroad before I head home.

I can't really get a sense of what is needed and what isn't heading back. I can work out what's needed heading abroad - that's fairly straight forward, but I don't see how it's possible in the timeframe to get a test and the result done before I am returning home.

Any advice?

Where are you flying to? Are you double jabbed yet, and if so when was the second jab done?

If you are going to Holland, they seem to have some pretty strange and hard-to-find rules regarding entry to the country. My wife is looking to visit her parents - hasn’t seen them since Oct 2019 and her father is in poor health - and the Dutch embassy in London told her that as long as she is double jabbed she can enter the country to visit an ill relative without need to isolate etc if she can prove she hasn’t been in Holland during the pandemic. On her way back into the UK we don’t believe she would need to isolate.

Edit - meant to add that she would take a PCR test before leaving the UK and as long as her return was within 72 hrs we believe that will cover her return too.

Bit of a minefield really, so hard to wade through the guidelines for each country and piece them together when it is a short there-and-back trip.

Even if you have covid you can guarantee a negative test if you want one, So what's the point?

Dorset_Boy

Son went to Boardmasters in Newquay last weekend. Negative LF tests before during and on Monday. Positive LF test today and now awaiting PCR result on test done this afternoon.
Everyone in their group of about 10, bar one has now tested positive.

Fortunately we don't have to self isolate as doubled jabbed, but he loses quite a bit of work, assuming the PCR is also positive.

TheBigBean

Dorset_Boy said:

Son went to Boardmasters in Newquay last weekend. Negative LF tests before during and on Monday. Positive LF test today and now awaiting PCR result on test done this afternoon.
Everyone in their group of about 10, bar one has now tested positive.

Fortunately we don't have to self isolate as doubled jabbed, but he loses quite a bit of work, assuming the PCR is also positive.

Colleague's daughter also went to a festival (not sure which one) and came back positive.

briantrumpet

I've now got three double-jabbed friends who have caught it since the beginning of July: one was quite poorly (and has taken since then to recover), two just groggy for a few days.

First.Aspect

I guess the question is whether, absent vaccination, you would still have three friends.

womack

Whilst I realise lockdown couldn't last forever I am still amazed that we have gone from the restrictions in place to what appears to be a "free for all" sort of overnight.

Packed footie matches with some fan fighting thrown in, festivals, night clubs etc, at a time when the length of effectiveness of the vaccine is being questioned.

Little wonder the daily death toll is going up again.

Pross

First.Aspect said:

I guess the question is whether, absent vaccination, you would still have three friends.

Or you would have 10 friends who have tested positive

mrb123

briantrumpet said:

I've now got three double-jabbed friends who have caught it since the beginning of July: one was quite poorly (and has taken since then to recover), two just groggy for a few days.

A couple I know both tested positive at the weekend, both double jabbed.

I had actually been in their house for a few minutes on Friday so it has been an anxious few days.

First.Aspect

Perhaps it doesn't need repeating, but if 90% of the people in your friend's age group (sorry Brian, I am going to say you are closer to 60 than you are to 40) are vaccinated, almost all of the people who you know who catch it will be double vaccinated.

Anyhow. Seems to me that the booster jab idea is selfish and largely pointless until the vaccines have been tweaked. The rest of the world needs them more urgently. It makes me quite ashamed.

rick_chasey

First.Aspect said:

Perhaps it doesn't need repeating, but if 90% of the people in your friend's age group (sorry Brian, I am going to say you are closer to 60 than you are to 40) are vaccinated, almost all of the people who you know who catch it will be double vaccinated.

Anyhow. Seems to me that the booster jab idea is selfish and largely pointless until the vaccines have been tweaked. The rest of the world needs them more urgently. It makes me quite ashamed.

Tend to agree, though take a look at Israel - they are doing the same as they are seeing some evidence that the effectiveness of one full vaccination to reduce fairly quickly.

Read something in the FT about it yesterday, can't remember where now .

First.Aspect

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

Perhaps it doesn't need repeating, but if 90% of the people in your friend's age group (sorry Brian, I am going to say you are closer to 60 than you are to 40) are vaccinated, almost all of the people who you know who catch it will be double vaccinated.

Anyhow. Seems to me that the booster jab idea is selfish and largely pointless until the vaccines have been tweaked. The rest of the world needs them more urgently. It makes me quite ashamed.

Tend to agree, though take a look at Israel - they are doing the same as they are seeing some evidence that the effectiveness of one full vaccination to reduce fairly quickly.

Read something in the FT about it yesterday, can't remember where now .

I've read that a third dose does improve things somewhat, but the latest seems not to suggest that immunity wanes quickly. Are you thinking of the tapering of the Pfizer jabs effectiveness to the same as the AZs after a few months?

I am not sure there is enough evidence yet to tell the longer term benefits of a third jab, or how the two might compare.

However a booster jab now is a bit like building a higher dyke to keep the water out, when it would be more effective to lower the water level.

First.Aspect

The censored is 'd y k e".

Whoever owns this website is a cunt, that's for sure. American English spelling and fucking Mormon morality.

Ben6899

I might well get invited within the next month - I'll keep the thread updated.

Dorset_Boy

Seems like Boardmasters has been a super-spreader event. Everyone we know of who went who hadn't previously had Covid now has it, and it's even been reported on the news to that effect now.

rjsterry

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

Perhaps it doesn't need repeating, but if 90% of the people in your friend's age group (sorry Brian, I am going to say you are closer to 60 than you are to 40) are vaccinated, almost all of the people who you know who catch it will be double vaccinated.

Anyhow. Seems to me that the booster jab idea is selfish and largely pointless until the vaccines have been tweaked. The rest of the world needs them more urgently. It makes me quite ashamed.

Tend to agree, though take a look at Israel - they are doing the same as they are seeing some evidence that the effectiveness of one full vaccination to reduce fairly quickly.

Read something in the FT about it yesterday, can't remember where now .

Israel went with a three week gap between doses, which I think has been now shown to be less effective than 8-12 weeks.

TheBigBean

Colleague's daughter went to Boardmasters as well. Seems everyone got it.

Ncovidius

Hospitalisations are now at a level not seen since March 2021. Which is a problem. If it’s the vaccinated / double jabbed that are causing the issue, the ‘wonder vaccines’ aren’t working as well as hoped, if it’s the unvaccinated that are causing the spike, then the virus is causing issues in an age group we’ve been assured would be fine. Either way, it’s looking extremely dodgy. We’re still in ‘summer load’ mode ( average of 1 person contacting 4 others ). In ‘winter mode’ it’s typically 1 person contacting 10-12 people. It only takes a large spike in hospitalisations to invoke lock downs, the death rate is secondary. The Americans are advocating a re jab after 8 months, how many are going to agree with that?

kingstongraham

Ncovidius said:

Hospitalisations are now at a level not seen since March 2021. Which is a problem. If it’s the vaccinated / double jabbed that are causing the issue, the ‘wonder vaccines’ aren’t working as well as hoped, if it’s the unvaccinated that are causing the spike, then the virus is causing issues in an age group we’ve been assured would be fine. Either way, it’s looking extremely dodgy. We’re still in ‘summer load’ mode ( average of 1 person contacting 4 others ). In ‘winter mode’ it’s typically 1 person contacting 10-12 people. It only takes a large spike in hospitalisations to invoke lock downs, the death rate is secondary. The Americans are advocating a re jab after 8 months, how many are going to agree with that?

There's a lot of virus around and we opened everything up.

The vaccines are doing better than originally hoped for.

rick_chasey

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/19/us-trump-johnson-herd-immunity-aftershocks-book

US officials thought their British counterparts “were out of their minds” in aiming for herd immunity as part of Boris Johnson’s initial policy on dealing with the coronavirus, according to a new book about the global response to the pandemic.

As the scale of the threat became increasingly clear in January and February 2020, officials in Donald Trump’s administration were trying to convince him to take the threat seriously, despite personal reassurances he had been given by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, that it was under control.

But they were even more shocked by the approach being taken in the UK. In a book to be published next Tuesday, Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order, British health experts at the time are described as being “oddly pessimistic about their capacity to defeat the virus”, rejecting measures such as a ban on mass gatherings.

“We thought they were out of their minds. We told them it would be an absolutely devastating approach to deal with the pandemic,” one US official told the authors, Thomas Wright, a foreign affairs expert at the Brookings Institution, and Colin Kahl, who is now under secretary of defence for policy. “We thought they were nuts and they thought we were nuts. It turns out, in the end, we were a little more right than they were.”

kingstongraham

I remember someone on here pointing out last March that what the USA were doing through massive incompetence, we were doing as a formal policy.