NWR new zero tolerance covid thread

Are you sure the GP is closed? I get the impression that many are open to those that need it, but the press are spreading the rumour that they're closed! I've no idea to what degree this is the case....

It's all about the timing of when you get it, I suppose.
I've used my GP quite a lot since Covid struck, and accessibly has been vastly improved from pre-Covid days.

Ths first problem used to be that their phone was often engaged, and if not there were massive queues. Then, while their system didn't allow bookings more than a month in advance, sometimes there were no slots available in that period - in which case your only option was to show up at the surgery and claim an emergency appointment, which I did once at the suggestion of a receptionist.

Now the phone is answered promptly, and a GP calls you back within an hour or so. Around half of my issues were dealt with on the phone - if I was there in person there would only be verbal communication anyway. Otherwise, while on the phone with the GP, I would be offered a face-to-face appointment the same day. Also, very simple requests and questions are now dealt with through "email" and SMS.

I can envisage people and situations where the new system has disadvantages, but it works well for me.
 
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Ours still looks like a nuclear fallout shelter, the signs are still up and you talk to Reception through a kiosk window. They have been granted planning permission to double the size of their surgery but aren't letting anyone in as far as I can see. I'm supposed to have periodic blood tests (supposedly non-urgent though who knows, if you haven't had them?) but have been told for the second month running they aren't doing them yet..another family member has a cardiac issue that needs further investigation (according to the surgery) but we are four months now and counting...

So..no, I wouldn't say they are open in any meaningful sense. Telephone appointments are all very well for the middle aged worried well (usually that is) but if you need something looked at or need something prodded or measured I'd say my GP service is generally pretty third world. Covid is used far too often as an excuse for a problem that has been developing over the past couple of decades.
 
Went to Covent Garden last night (a spendid Rigoletto!! Superb voices orchestra and play)... The room was full and hardly anyone was wearing a mask... I would say 10 to 20%. I don't know whether we would have gone if we had known.
I (try to) understand that in Covid, an important element is the initial load you receive and, alledgedly, a mask allows you to send less load if you wear one which is a reason why wearing a mask protects other people (they have more time to develop antibodies if they are contaminated with a lower charge?) .
 
Ours still looks like a nuclear fallout shelter, the signs are still up and you talk to Reception through a kiosk window. They have been granted planning permission to double the size of their surgery but aren't letting anyone in as far as I can see. I'm supposed to have periodic blood tests (supposedly non-urgent though who knows, if you haven't had them?) but have been told for the second month running they aren't doing them yet..another family member has a cardiac issue that needs further investigation (according to the surgery) but we are four months now and counting...

So..no, I wouldn't say they are open in any meaningful sense. Telephone appointments are all very well for the middle aged worried well (usually that is) but if you need something looked at or need something prodded or measured I'd say my GP service is generally pretty third world. Covid is used far too often as an excuse for a problem that has been developing over the past couple of decades.
That sounds poor. Have you actually spoken to a Doctor about the blood tests? You really should.
 
Went to Covent Garden last night (a spendid Rigoletto!! Superb voices orchestra and play)... The room was full and hardly anyone was wearing a mask... I would say 10 to 20%. I don't know whether we would have gone if we had known.
I (try to) understand that in Covid, an important element is the initial load you receive and, alledgedly, a mask allows you to send less load if you wear one which is a reason why wearing a mask protects other people (they have more time to develop antibodies if they are contaminated with a lower charge?) .
I am regularly astonished that no one seems to even expect precautions still to be taken. I am still keen to avoid infection if at all possible, old fashioned as that may sound.
 
I am regularly astonished that no one seems to even expect precautions still to be taken. I am still keen to avoid infection if at all possible, old fashioned as that may sound.
I can see that people might think that we're all going to get it at some stage. Perhaps it would make sense to work out when best fits in with your social and travel calendar and then go crazy for a few days before an optimal window?
 
It is racing through schools now. My son is super-careful but yesterday got sent home with a positive test which we repeated at home with the same result. Now according to the guidelines, as I am double-jabbed and symptom free I can go about my business as normal, however it is very clear that not only can one still catch covid, one can also pass it on to others. Luckily (for the wider world especially!) I'm not a key worker and able to work from home, so it's a relatively easy decision. However Alex's point is pertinent in that last night I was supposed to be enjoying a stellar line-up of wines at Medlar and tomorrow I was supposed to be doing the same at Wimps, both things I have been looking forward to for months. Whilst I appreciate that really is a proper first world problem, I have only just got back to normal thanks to another unrelated thing but now have to return almost to square one, which is actually pretty depressing.
 
It is racing through schools now. My son is super-careful but yesterday got sent home with a positive test which we repeated at home with the same result. Now according to the guidelines, as I am double-jabbed and symptom free I can go about my business as normal, however it is very clear that not only can one still catch covid, one can also pass it on to others. Luckily (for the wider world especially!) I'm not a key worker and able to work from home, so it's a relatively easy decision. However Alex's point is pertinent in that last night I was supposed to be enjoying a stellar line-up of wines at Medlar and tomorrow I was supposed to be doing the same at Wimps, both things I have been looking forward to for months. Whilst I appreciate that really is a proper first world problem, I have only just got back to normal thanks to another unrelated thing but now have to return almost to square one, which is actually pretty depressing.
Presumably you're still testing negative yourself according to freebie LFTs?
 
Went to Covent Garden last night (a spendid Rigoletto!! Superb voices orchestra and play)... The room was full and hardly anyone was wearing a mask... I would say 10 to 20%. I don't know whether we would have gone if we had known.
I (try to) understand that in Covid, an important element is the initial load you receive and, alledgedly, a mask allows you to send less load if you wear one which is a reason why wearing a mask protects other people (they have more time to develop antibodies if they are contaminated with a lower charge?) .
We went to the Gielgud Theatre last Friday and I’m pretty sure it was 100% compliance. I wonder what the different was between those two institutions?

Yes, we're all going to get it, pretty much. Probably multiple times, and hopefully less severe each time. I think this was always understood really. The plan was just to get as high a proportion of people vaccinated first as possible.
Interesting thread by the wonderful Zeynep Tufecki on how the 1890 pandemic may have been caused by a then-novel coronavirus, which has now become one of the coronaviruses which cause the common cold
I guess in general the strategy is not to wipe out the virus, but rather to decrease the impact it has on humans - which has behavioural (distance, wear masks etc), technological (open windows, air filtration etc) and biological (vaccine and infection induced antibodies) methods.
 
It is racing through schools now. My son is super-careful but yesterday got sent home with a positive test which we repeated at home with the same result. Now according to the guidelines, as I am double-jabbed and symptom free I can go about my business as normal, however it is very clear that not only can one still catch covid, one can also pass it on to others. Luckily (for the wider world especially!) I'm not a key worker and able to work from home, so it's a relatively easy decision. However Alex's point is pertinent in that last night I was supposed to be enjoying a stellar line-up of wines at Medlar and tomorrow I was supposed to be doing the same at Wimps, both things I have been looking forward to for months. Whilst I appreciate that really is a proper first world problem, I have only just got back to normal thanks to another unrelated thing but now have to return almost to square one, which is actually pretty depressing.
That really sucks, Chris, and good on you for doing the right thing.

With that said - (and I say this as someone who has paid for a stoicism app on my phone so you may wish to ignore everything I say) but there is something special about the sense of capriciousness that has arisen during the current apocalypse. Knowing that any event could be canceled at a moment's notice, or that I may not be able to attend, does make the things I am able to enjoy taste all the sweeter.
Is it considered that the public is too stupid to be apprised of this strategy? I am not necessarily suggesting that that judgment is incorrect.
When we are looking back on this whole affair, a few years from now, my strong sense is that the biggest unnecessary causes of death (certainly in the anglosphere) will have been the miscommunication to the public - both the dumbing down and in particular, the egregious misinformation around masks and aerosol transmission.

We very quickly forgot that the initial lockdown was a result of popular clamouring for it - the people led and the government followed.

I will breathe deeply and post no further, lest I am sent to the other place...
 
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We went to the Gielgud Theatre last Friday and I’m pretty sure it was 100% compliance. I wonder what the different was between those two institutions?


Interesting thread by the wonderful Zeynep Tufecki on how the 1890 pandemic may have been caused by a then-novel coronavirus, which has now become one of the coronaviruses which cause the common cold
I guess in general the strategy is not to wipe out the virus, but rather to decrease the impact it has on humans - which has behavioural (distance, wear masks etc), technological (open windows, air filtration etc) and biological (vaccine and infection induced antibodies) methods.

At the ROH I know some of the orchestra sitting near the front rows are rather grumpy that their inhabitants aren't masked (understatement).

From what I've read it took about 5 years for the 1890 pandemic to reach relative stability/endemicity (I've previously linked to an excellent article by Mark Honigsbaum about it and its precedents in terms of long disease). We have the huge advantage of vaccination to help us towards this, and yes we'll probably eventually all get it, but you want it to be hitting immune systems that are as well primed as possible (not least in countries with healthcare systems that aren't advanced). I'm genuinely curious if mutation ends up being towards something less nasty or if it just becomes less dangerous as more people are exposed - I've read articles claiming both quite strongly.
 
UK vaccination rates are now longer high compared to other European countries, with a few now doing better. Portugal is top of the league table.

In his latest video Tim Spector (of Zoe App fame) suggested that Boris should announce that there is no shortage of vaccine supplies, so all those in petrol queues would get themselves to vaccination centres.
 
At the ROH I know some of the orchestra sitting near the front rows are rather grumpy that their inhabitants aren't masked (understatement).

From what I've read it took about 5 years for the 1890 pandemic to reach relative stability/endemicity (I've previously linked to an excellent article by Mark Honigsbaum about it and its precedents in terms of long disease). We have the huge advantage of vaccination to help us towards this, and yes we'll probably eventually all get it, but you want it to be hitting immune systems that are as well primed as possible (not least in countries with healthcare systems that aren't advanced). I'm genuinely curious if mutation ends up being towards something less nasty or if it just becomes less dangerous as more people are exposed - I've read articles claiming both quite strongly.
I think if I were in the orchestra pit, I'd be very concerned about ventilation. Has anything been done about bringing lots of air-changes in? Or is that a silly question?
 
After a forum friend had to withdraw from offline due to children infected, I saw this chart:
Apparently the case number for students goes up a lot, possibly brings up infection in parent age group people. Young adult and elder adult are less influenced.
IMG_20211002_142547.jpg
 
It is racing through schools now. My son is super-careful but yesterday got sent home with a positive test which we repeated at home with the same result. Now according to the guidelines, as I am double-jabbed and symptom free I can go about my business as normal, however it is very clear that not only can one still catch covid, one can also pass it on to others....
Pretty much the same story here....my grandson tested positive the day of my daughter's 40th birthday party, he gave it to one of his cousins whose parents (the birthday girl and husband) have both now caught it. Miraculously my wife and I didn't get it although the grandkids were all over us for several hours, weird isn't it? The 2 kids had barely one symptom between the two of them, my daughter has had a couple of hours of light fever, bad headaches and has lost taste and smell, now a bad cough and feels exhausted but on the mend it seems. Her husband not so bad (both double-jabbed).

It seems to be secondary school (11-15 Y-O) children who are the main carriers at present who pass it on to Mum and Dad, what messes one up as much as anything else is the long incubation period which means it can be weeks before a family can resume a normal life with confidence. None of us is going to die though, thankfully!
 
Some interesting statistical deforestation here:
Covid by numbers: 10 key lessons separating fact from fiction

Eg "When Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate in the first wave, it was the underlying cause of mortality for more than nine in 10 registrations. That changes somewhat when the virus becomes rarer, with the proportion dying “with” Covid-19 at 32% in late April 2021. When there is less virus around, cases tend to be less severe, though the present infection was considered to have contributed to the death in some way."
 
Some interesting statistical deforestation here:
Covid by numbers: 10 key lessons separating fact from fiction

Eg "When Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate in the first wave, it was the underlying cause of mortality for more than nine in 10 registrations. That changes somewhat when the virus becomes rarer, with the proportion dying “with” Covid-19 at 32% in late April 2021. When there is less virus around, cases tend to be less severe, though the present infection was considered to have contributed to the death in some way."
Interesting that point 2 is something they were hugely guilty of!

Also fascinating that for under 29s deaths were net positive overall!
 
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