Covid-19 discussion thread

[Scass]

Pleased to read that your daughter and son in law are doing better FMP.


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[pulisa]

I hope you coped ok at work today, Scass? x

[Fishmanpa]

Pleased to read that your daughter and son in law are doing better FMP.

Thanks Scass... it definitely kicked their rears but it appears they'll get through it.

Positive thoughts

[Lencoboy]

Dr JC…? Jesus Christ! Surely shall ye know from his followers this man is truly theomorphic.

I may be wrong but I don’t think either He or Dr John Campbell is a government adviser….

Dr John Campbell isn't a govt adviser, nor a full-on scientist, but he is a well-respected, down-to-earth individual who basically tells it like it is in a rational and non-sensationalist manner, and has also admitted that he tries to be as non-partisan as possible whilst trying to see and hear all sides of the story, at least within reason.

Kudos to the man, we need more people like him.

[Scass]

I hope you coped ok at work today, Scass? x

Yes all good, thank you for thinking of me x


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[pulisa]

Very pleased to hear that. Glad that you've got that first day back done and dusted x

[Fishmanpa]

I have three pertinent questions concerning Covid:-

Notionally (and given the nature of this question, the answer can be only an approximation or best guess) how many folks in Britain have been saved from death by Covid through the implementation of lockdown to date?

What has been the financial cost to Britain’s economy as a direct result of lockdown, again to date?

Understandably, there are many and sometimes conflicting data from a variety of sources relating to these questions. Which are the most reliable in anyone’s opinion?

In the UK or anywhere else in the world for that matter, those questions cannot be accurately answered or even speculated or estimated within reason. This is still ongoing and will be for some time. Frankly, it may be years before the toll, both in lives and economically can be even close to estimated.

FMP

[Lencoboy]

I have three pertinent questions concerning Covid:-

Notionally (and given the nature of this question, the answer can be only an approximation or best guess) how many folks in Britain have been saved from death by Covid through the implementation of lockdown to date?

What has been the financial cost to Britain’s economy as a direct result of lockdown, again to date?

Understandably, there are many and sometimes conflicting data from a variety of sources relating to these questions. Which are the most reliable in anyone’s opinion?

Whilst it looks like overall rates of infections here in the UK have mostly levelled off over the past week or two (and still at reasonably manageable levels for the NHS and the like), there has been much talk over recent days that the vaccinations in this country are largely responsible for helping to cut the Covid death rates since the start of this year, even though they've also been known to see-saw up and down themselves over the past couple of weeks, albeit still remaining well below 100 per day.

Let's just hope that the recently-discovered Indian variant doesn't gain a major foothold in this country over the coming days, weeks and months.

Having said that, the SA variant so far hasn't wreaked major havoc as yet in this country, touch wood, and thankfully where there have been the odd flare-ups of it so far, surge testing has generally been ramped up in the affected areas.

Hopefully the very same actions will be taken over the Indian variant whenever and wherever further cases arise, but at least from early this morning, India has finally been added to the UK's 'red list' of countries to watch out for concerning Covid and further 'variants'.

As for the pandemic's impact on the UK economy, I seem to recall most people being far more terrified of the impact of the GFC back in 2008-09, but politically, I do reckon there were a fair few 'anti-Labour' agendas at play as well back then, whilst those on the Right were obviously taking advantage of said crisis to fulfil their personal political agendas, and seemed to believe that Brown and Co 'engineered' the crisis in order to 'control' us and as some cunning ploy to impose reckless austerity measures against our will!

Yeah right?

[Pamplemousse]

What has been the financial cost to Britain’s economy as a direct result of lockdown, again to date?

This is an interesting one as it is felt that older models of financial calculation may not be applicable - I wish I could point you at the reasoning behind it and where I read it. Certainly the "we'll be paying the debt for years" argument has been debunked. I suspect Brexit will have as big as, if not more of an impact.

I think the honest answer is "it's too soon to tell".

[Pamplemousse]

Meanwhile, an article from the New York Times that asks "do we still need to keep wearing masks outdoors?"

It gives a "two out of three" rule to determine what is appropriate, and also carries this comment:

But it’s OK to keep wearing your mask outdoors if you prefer it. After a year of taking pandemic precautions, it may be hard for people to adjust to less restrictive behaviors. Sarit A. Golub, a psychology professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, said it’s important for both the media and public health officials to communicate the reasons people can modify some behaviors, like outdoor masking.

“In the coming months, ‘normal life’ will begin to become safer, but I worry that some people won’t be willing or able to relax pandemic restrictions in ways that makes sense,” Dr. Golub said. “I worry that folks have internalized the fear messaging without understanding the reasons behind specific behavioral recommendations, and therefore, the reasons that they can be modified as circumstances change.”

Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/w...-outdoors.html