[COVID-19] General Discussion

[TRF_Olyy]

If anyone is slightly confused about the Tories handling the vaccine rollout really well, then you can rest easy:

They took the idea from Contagion

Hancock reveals Matt Damon film Contagion inspired vaccine strategy

Matt Hancock has revealed that the Matt Damon film Contagion partly influenced the UK’s vaccine strategy.

www.standard.co.uk

 

[ncurd]

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Might be a controversial opinion but it boils my **** the amount of people justifying the Barbados trip,
Whole point of lockdown is to protect the vulnerable - makes losing a year of your life to lockdowns a bit harder to swallow when you see the vulnerable going off on holiday while everyone else is locked down and not able to see Family etc. over Christmas
Not seen my Nan in over a year, only seen my nephew once his entire life etc. etc.
Everyone has similar stories.

Just because it wasn't specifically illegal doesn't make it morally justifiable - especially as it wasn't just one person, it was his whole family that went

What happened to blitz spirit, we're all in this together, blah blah blah

The supreme irony is the same people saying it's fine were losing their minds over young people going on holiday to Dubai etc. at the same time

 

[Reiser99]

Might be a controversial opinion but it boils my **** the amount of people justifying the Barbados trip,
Whole point of lockdown is to protect the vulnerable - makes losing a year of your life to lockdowns a bit harder to swallow when you see the vulnerable going off on holiday while everyone else is locked down and not able to see Family etc. over Christmas
Not seen my Nan in over a year, only seen my nephew once his entire life etc. etc.
Everyone has similar stories.

Just because it wasn't specifically illegal doesn't make it morally justifiable - especially as it wasn't just one person, it was his whole family that went

What happened to blitz spirit, we're all in this together, blah blah blah

The supreme irony is the same people saying it's fine were losing their minds over young people going on holiday to Dubai etc. at the same time

There is always hypocrisy.

While I have sympathy for Captain Tom's family, I am curious as to whether other family members for other elderly people in the same situation were also allowed into the hospital. If other people were treated the same then fine. If not, then it's wrong. Yes he helped raised money, but how many people have no been their when their relatives have died. All it will do is make people think the rules are there to screw them over.

 

[RedruthRFC]

Might be a controversial opinion but it boils my **** the amount of people justifying the Barbados trip,

The number of companies virtue signaling with their oh so sincere tributes has had mine on a rolling boil all day. Not even a hint of irony in Exeter's post on Facebook.

I don't remember what the advice at the time of the Barbados trip was for 100 year olds with regard to shielding, but totally agree that taking a trip like this was incompatible with the role he created for himself as a chamption of the NHS. As things have panned out, there will always be the question of whether taking it contributed to the burden of the organisation he was championing. I suspect he (or whoever wrote his social media statements) knew this, hence the attempt to justify it as a "bucket list" item. If it really was on his bucket list, surely it wouldn't have taken him 100 years to get around to doing it.

I've read that access for family to terminally ill covid patients depends on the particular hospital (dependant on resources / infection levels), but don't know how true this is.

 

[ncurd]

 

[Which Tyler]

How dare those treacherous scientists change there mind based on data arriving from the real world, rather than opinion polls and press backlash.

 

[Jimcardiff]

How dare those treacherous scientists change there mind based on data arriving from the real world, rather than opinion polls and press backlash.

you forgot the important one ,Social media , where the real experts live.

 

[Which Tyler]

UK Can't Close Its Border Because It's An Island 'Unlike Australia', Says Grant Shapps

Transport secretary defended the government's record on border controls.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

The UK cannot "close" its border like Australia has because the UK is an island and Australia is a continent, Grant Shapps has said.

Boris Johnson has been under pressure to explain why the government has not introduced stricter measures at the border to prevent new variants of coronavirus being imported from abroad.
...
Quizzed on Wednesday over why the government was not introducing tougher border controls, Shapps told the Commons transport committee: "The idea that the UK could completely button down its hatches and remain buttoned down for a year is mistaken.
"But also the evidence that that is the only thing that you need to do, or even the primary thing you need to do, is also pretty shaky."
He said: "People say: 'Why don't we just close down and then we'll be safe?'.
"But, of course, we wouldn't be safe, because we are an island nation, unlike Australia or something which is an entire continent.
"That means that we need to get medicines in, we need to get food in, we need to get our raw materials in, sometimes we have to move people around, scientists and others.
...

 

[Reiser99]

UK Can't Close Its Border Because It's An Island 'Unlike Australia', Says Grant Shapps

Transport secretary defended the government's record on border controls.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

What he really means is, we've sacrificed out manufacturing and production sectors for years making the country dependent on trade as we can't actually produce enough of what we need here.

 

[McTallshort]

What he really means is, we've sacrificed out manufacturing and production sectors for years making the country dependent on trade as we can't actually produce enough of what we need here.

We have always been reliant on imports, the battle of the Atlantic brought about strict food and fuel rationing until the 1950s. Interesting we as a nation we at our healthiest during those years...as long as you could dodge to odd duddle bug.

 

[ncurd]

We have always been reliant on imports, the battle of the Atlantic brought about strict food and fuel rationing until the 1950s. Interesting we as a nation we at our healthiest during those years...as long as you could dodge to odd duddle bug.

Yup its just part of trade and manufacturing when you boil down to it we don't have the raw materials in this country so something in pipeline has to obtained from elsewhere.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Aren't France the only country with the capacity to be agriculturally self sufficient in Europe? Its impossible for any European country to shut up shop like Australia or New Zealand, strange reasoning from Shapps but far from an unreasonable position.

 

[McTallshort]

Aren't France the only country with the capacity to be agriculturally self sufficient in Europe? Its impossible for any European country to shut up shop like Australia or New Zealand, strange reasoning from Shapps but far from an unreasonable position.

I think Italy, Poland and Spain could if they didnt export anything. If you ever go to Northern Italy most of the gardens are veg patches and unlike in Ireland and the UK you don't get hedges you get lines of fruit trees. Poland is just one big Potato, Cabbage and Beetroot farm.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

The number of companies virtue signaling with their oh so sincere tributes has had mine on a rolling boil all day. Not even a hint of irony in Exeter's post on Facebook.

I don't remember what the advice at the time of the Barbados trip was for 100 year olds with regard to shielding, but totally agree that taking a trip like this was incompatible with the role he created for himself as a chamption of the NHS. As things have panned out, there will always be the question of whether taking it contributed to the burden of the organisation he was championing. I suspect he (or whoever wrote his social media statements) knew this, hence the attempt to justify it as a "bucket list" item. If it really was on his bucket list, surely it wouldn't have taken him 100 years to get around to doing it.

I've read that access for family to terminally ill covid patients depends on the particular hospital (dependant on resources / infection levels), but don't know how true this is.

Yeah, the Barbados trip was ill judged (albeit right now I can't guarantee what I'd say if BA offered me a Caribbean freebie.....). But it wasn't a Dominic Cummings moment and I'll throw my toys out of the pram at many others before him - the words Dubai and influencers particularly spring to mind.

He absolutely captured the mood of the nation at that time. His efforts did a lot of good and I was angry at the irony of COVID claiming him. Tributes were justified, but the saturation coverage and fawning was way OTT. Fine man, but no Churchill.

 

[duncanb]

What he really means is, we've sacrificed out manufacturing and production sectors for years making the country dependent on trade as we can't actually produce enough of what we need here.

But in 2018 we invested in both vaccine research and production facilities.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

COVID-19: Scientists have trained sniffer dogs to detect coronavirus with 94% accuracy

The dogs are conditioned to pick up the "corona odour" that comes from cells in infected people.

news.sky.com

 

[The Seeker]

President Biden has only been in office a couple of weeks and the vaccination numbers have already improved. Distribution was slow and erratic with Trump because all he cared about was himself and his so called stolen election BS. I'm so happy he's gone and I can't wait to get the vaccine. The only way were going to beat Covid-19 is by working together and I'm confident Biden and his medical staff will get it done.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Aren't France the only country with the capacity to be agriculturally self sufficient in Europe? Its impossible for any European country to shut up shop like Australia or New Zealand, strange reasoning from Shapps but far from an unreasonable position.

this is all a joke isn't it...NZ manufactures almost nothing itself apart from beer and diary products...import/export is still going and has been even during the strictest lockdowns, slowed down but I thought it was fairy well proven the virus could only survive on surfaces for a certain time and by the time products have been packaged, shipped and distributed...theyre all good

our boarder closures are 90% about people...not the materials needed for the country to keep going