Coronavirus

[mattyq]

3 hours ago, Stront19m Dog™ said:

 

Remind me to bump this when it doesn't happen. 

Mate, feel free.

I'd be very happy if there were no more Covid deaths in Sweden but, sadly, that won't be the case

[Captain Turdseye]

33 minutes ago, Anubis said:

And as if by magic my sister-in-law and both nieces are exhibiting COVID symptoms and very poorly. Really worried about the 12 year old as she’s asthmatic, frequently uses an inhaler and occasionally steroids. Tried to get a test in Bolton - none available there or anywhere else. None even available in the NW Ambulance Service where my brother works. Fortunately, her school have come through and should have a test for her tomorrow.

 

I understand that Johnson was saying that a you could get a test in Bolton town centre today - lying cunt.

Awful situation. Fingers crossed it’s not Covid. 

[Elite]

37 minutes ago, Anubis said:

And as if by magic my sister-in-law and both nieces are exhibiting COVID symptoms and very poorly. Really worried about the 12 year old as she’s asthmatic, frequently uses an inhaler and occasionally steroids. Tried to get a test in Bolton - none available there or anywhere else. None even available in the NW Ambulance Service where my brother works. Fortunately, her school have come through and should have a test for her tomorrow.

 

I understand that Johnson was saying that a you could get a test in Bolton town centre today - lying cunt.

Hope they recovery quickly with no complications mate.

[sir roger]

2 hours ago, Sugar Ape said:

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-infection-rate-tips-over-18943965

 

Liverpool's soaring Covid-19 infection rate has now tipped over the worrying threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 people and the city is now awaiting inevitable lockdown measures. 

 

Latest figures show that the rate per 100,000 is 106.4 - and in just one week (7-13 September) there were 530 positive cases.

 

Mayor Joe Anderson said he now fully expects new lockdown restrictions to be imposed on the city later this week.

 

He said he would not be surprised if the government brought in measures for Liverpool, the whole of Merseyside and perhaps the entire North West region.
 

Merseyside was placed on a government watch list last Friday, but cases have continued to surge, especially in Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral and St Helens. 
 

The region is expecting to find out what action government will take next for the region, and an announcement is expected on Friday.

Big Undies is a spark of light isn't he, just the whole North West, Joe ?

 

How does Liverpool and its surrounding areas compare to other larger cities in England ?

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3194049980720449&id=100003464352346

[Sugar Ape]

1 hour ago, sir roger said:

Big Undies is a spark of light isn't he, just the whole North West, Joe ?

 

How does Liverpool and its surrounding areas compare to other larger cities in England ?

Badly. These are the worst 40 local authorities in England out of 315 of them. 
 

 

[Sugar Ape]

1 hour ago, sir roger said:

Big Undies is a spark of light isn't he, just the whole North West, Joe ?

 

How does Liverpool and its surrounding areas compare to other larger cities in England ?

And these are by region so you can see how badly the North West compares. 
 

 

[chrisbonnie]

1 hour ago, sir roger said:

Big Undies is a spark of light isn't he, just the whole North West, Joe ?

 

How does Liverpool and its surrounding areas compare to other larger cities in England ?

Liverpool seems to have similar numbers to us here in Dublin. 

 

All this bluster and bullshit talk from the governments of "please be more careful, you're on a knife edge" and other such shite is totally futile. They can say what they want, but if they haven't built it developed either above adequate testing capabilities or track trace resources then the only measure they can do to stop the spread is lock it down. 

 

This is what bugs me, lockdown costs how many millions?? Surely it would make sense to governments to actually invest in loads of testing. 

 

You see China where able to test 11 million in wuhan within 2 weeks, but us dopes here in Europe can barely do a few thousand. And we wonder why we're still crippled by this fucking thing. 

 

 

[Section_31]

They should never have reopened pubs IMO. A restaurant is manageable as you have to book a slot, went to meet my cousin for a coffee in town about a month ago and was leaving around 7pm and it was fucking bedlam in bold street and wood street. Pubs/clubs should have had furlough cash diverted to them to keep them closed until the new year, maybe even with curfews in city centres if needed.

 

Holidays have also fucked everything up too, people determined to get a break of some kind so you've either had people bringing it back with them for all over Europe, or 10 million people crammed onto the same Dorset beech.

 

Instead of curtailing the high risk stuff the clowns have let things get out of control so we're all gonna be sat indoors like dickheads for weeks again getting tazered for walking more than once around the park.

 

This country really is absolutely fuckinh shite. From day one I was less worried about the virus as I was about our reaction to it. I knew we'd act like dickheads and stockpile, I knew our media would be hysterical, knew we wouldn't be either willing or able to do anything that required organisation to achieve, such as testing, and I knew the government would tell lots of lies and offload the blame onto everyone but them.

[Bjornebye]

3 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

They should never have reopened pubs IMO. A restaurant is manageable as you have to book a slot, went to meet my cousin for a coffee in town about a month ago and was leaving around 7pm and it was fucking bedlam in bold street and wood street. Pubs/clubs should have had furlough cash diverted to them to keep them closed until the new year, maybe even with curfews in city centres if needed.

 

Holidays have also fucked everything up too, people determined to get a break of some kind so you've either had people bringing it back with them for all over Europe, or 10 million people crammed onto the same Dorset beech.

Bold St was bedlam today at lunch-time. Saying that , so was town in general and people only really wearing masks in shops. 

[sir roger]

Be interesting to see if my area Sefton is rolled into the mix which would seem a bit unfair with us roughly half of the other four and a lot lower than a lot of other places.

[Sugar Ape]

8 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Be interesting to see if my area Sefton is rolled into the mix which would seem a bit unfair with us roughly half of the other four and a lot lower than a lot of other places.

Pretty sure they will, they did similar in Manchester and Leicester with regards to surrounding areas. Plus Sefton is pretty bad in its own right anyway, it’s higher than Leicester was when it went into lockdown I think. It’s just that other local areas are even worse. No way they lockdown Kirkdale but not Bootle. 
 

I’m similar since I’m in the West Lancs area now which borders Merseyside. But we are about half the rate of Sefton and not as closely linked to Merseyside so I reckon we’ll avoid it. For now. 

[TheHowieLama]

16 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

They should never have reopened pubs IMO. 

 

Holidays have also fucked everything up too,

Here they have traced 7 deaths in Maine over the last few weeks to a single wedding reception.

[Dougie Do'ins]

28 minutes ago, chrisbonnie said:

You see China where able to test 11 million in wuhan within 2 weeks, but us dopes here in Europe can barely do a few thousand. And we wonder why we're still crippled by this fucking thing. 

I wouldn't believe a thing that comes out of China re the virus. Except that the virus came out of China.

[TheHowieLama]

A man boarded a bus using a snake as a face covering.

The commuter and his reptilian mask, which was wrapped around his neck and mouth, were seen on a bus from Swinton to Manchester on Monday.

One passenger, said she thought the passenger was wearing a "funky mask" until she spotted it slithering over hand rails.

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester confirmed a snake was not a valid face covering.

[Champ]

In Scotland gatherings of up to 6 must be from a maximum of 2 different families, so tell me after all that we have learned is it still ok for my friend to go with her friend to visit her husband who lives in a care home? What kind of madness is this?

[Elite]

27 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

A man boarded a bus using a snake as a face covering.

The commuter and his reptilian mask, which was wrapped around his neck and mouth, were seen on a bus from Swinton to Manchester on Monday.

One passenger, said she thought the passenger was wearing a "funky mask" until she spotted it slithering over hand rails.

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester confirmed a snake was not a valid face covering.

Slimy fucker.

[Anubis]

Quote

 

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester confirmed a snake was not a valid face covering.

I love when the writer is so bored he/she decides to have a bit of fun.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Stumbled across this on BBC 4 while channel hopping on Sunday night. Interesting enough and passed an hour away.

 

It's on I Player for another 11 months.

 

Plague Fiction

Quote

In light of the Covid-19 global outbreak, Professor Laura Ashe takes a look back at the Black Death of the 14th century, the deadliest pandemic in human history. 

Going from one of the earliest accounts of plague in 1347 through to Samuel Pepys's record of the Great Plague of London in the 1660s, Professor Ashe explores how literature helped us cope with fear and tragedy, the importance of bravery and personal sacrifice, and whether the words of the past can offer us the comfort and healing that we need now

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000mmjf/plague-fiction

[Mudface]

Jesus fucking Christ. Our sacrifices bought them a few months to get sorted after they completely fucked up the original response, and they've managed to fuck this up beyond belief within weeks. These cunts should hang, along with whatever bellend came up with the idea that Covid couldn't spread within schools.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/16/up-to-25000-teachers-in-england-self-isolating-due-to-covid-fears

 

Quote

 

Up to 25,000 teachers in England self-isolating due to Covid fears
Shortage of tests worsening schools’ difficulties, with some reporting 20% of teachers absent


One academy trust leader said that 740 state schools in England were either partially or wholly closed.
Up to 25,000 teachers in England may already have been forced out of the classroom and into self-isolation at home amid a national shortage of Covid tests just a fortnight after schools reopened, research suggests.

With some schools reporting up to a fifth of their teaching staff off and unable to get a test, unions warned the crisis was spinning out of control and jeopardising plans for a full return to education, bringing the risk of “lockdown by default”.

One academy trust leader said that 740 state schools in England were either partially or wholly closed with Covid-related issues, meaning tens of thousands of pupils are stuck at home, with their parents unable to go to work.

Some private schools, meanwhile, are paying £120 to test symptomatic students and teachers after many were unable to secure tests locally. “If schools can afford to take the hit, private companies don’t have any problems providing tests,” said one Guildford private school teacher.


State schools are fast using up the 10 testing kits supplied by government at the start of term – regardless of the school’s size – as teachers and pupils with suspected Covid struggle to book tests.

On Wednesday, Boris Johnson admitted to MPs that the testing system “has huge problems”, as new figures showed nearly 4,000 UK cases in the last 24 hours – the highest daily total since early May.

The government responded to the growing schools crisis by setting up a hotline from Thursday for heads to call for advice and report cases after being told that staff were waiting hours or even days to hear back from local public health teams.

Headteachers representing more than 16,000 pupils in Gateshead in north-east England, which is on the government’s watchlist due to its high infection rate, said the lack of Covid testing would “break” some schools and that their plan for returning children to classrooms had “collapsed” due to the crisis.

A letter to MPs from the Gateshead Association of Primary Head Teachers, which represents 67 schools, cited “significant problems” with staff and children unable to get a test and those that did were taking “far too long” to get a result.

Mustafaa Malik, chair of the association and head of Harlow Green primary school in Gateshead, said a fifth of his teaching staff were isolating as well as a “double figures” number of its 400 pupils. He said there were considerable absences across the town, where the infection rate is nearly three times the England average.

“It’s just unsustainable,” he said. “The parents can feel the anxiety growing. It’s taken a lot of convincing them that it’s safe but we’re starting to get a buildup of fear in some communities.”

 Getting kids back to school was easy compared with what will come next
The cost of paying supply teachers to fill staff absences would break some school budgets and whole year groups would have to be sent home because heads could not afford to pay for their teaching, Malik added.

A survey of 6,700 teachers in England by the Teacher Tapp app found that 4% were isolating away from school for Covid-related reasons on Tuesday. That would equate to around 25,000 teachers nationally, with primary teachers more likely to be isolating, as were those teaching in the Midlands or the north-west of England.

Rebecca Allen, professor of education at the University of Brighton and chief analyst for Teacher Tapp – an app that conducts anonymous daily surveys of teachers and school leaders, said the results suggested the autumn and winter cold season was going to play havoc with staff numbers.

“We shouldn’t overlook the fact that more than 7 million children are in school with more learning taking place than during lockdown. But the government needs to add teachers to its priority list for tests, and it needs to find a way to help schools pay for the cost of hiring supply teachers to fill in for those isolating.

“Otherwise a lot of schools without surpluses will have no choice but to close after having spent their budgets on supply teachers.”

The Guardian understands that more than 30 schools in Oldham, one of England’s worst-hit areas, have had to send at least one year group home due to a Covid case. In wider Greater Manchester, more than 110 schools have reported at least one coronavirus case, with the figure rising daily.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said the lack of testing and schools was “causing real distress” for families and teachers. “It needs to be fixed and fixed urgently,” he said.

Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust which runs 52 schools across England, many in deprived areas, said 1,200 children in two primaries and six secondary schools within the chain were currently at home self-isolating.

A single confirmed case in one Bristol secondary school resulted in 187 pupils in the same protective bubble being sent home. In some cases multiple year groups had been sent into self-isolation following guidance from local public health authorities.

“All of it is tragic,” said Chalke, who was among those school leaders pushing for an early return to classes after lockdown. “We were told this morning that 740 schools across England are either partly or wholly shut. We are frustrated. All of it could have been avoided. If Boris [Johnson] said it’s our moral duty to get back to school, it’s a moral duty to come up with a plan to keep schools open.”

Heads and school governors wrote to the prime minister on Wednesday imploring him to take personal charge of the crisis in Covid testing. The National Association of Head Teachers, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the National Governance Association leapfrogged the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, to tell Johnson they felt compelled to express “mounting concern”.

The ASCL’s general secretary, Geoff Barton, said: “This will feel I think like lockdown by default – it will be more frustrating for parents because you can’t predict whether it is going to happen.”

Announcing the new hotline for schools, Williamson said: “The number of confirmed cases in schools remains low but to protect schools it is important headteachers continue to have access to timely support and advice. This new dedicated advice line will help schools, colleges or early years settings to implement the most appropriate public health measures, once a case is confirmed.”

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

A man boarded a bus using a snake as a face covering.

The commuter and his reptilian mask, which was wrapped around his neck and mouth, were seen on a bus from Swinton to Manchester on Monday.

One passenger, said she thought the passenger was wearing a "funky mask" until she spotted it slithering over hand rails.

Transport bosses in Greater Manchester confirmed a snake was not a valid face covering.

That adder be a joke?

[Mudface]

Fortunately, they've now made online ordering from supermarkets more expensive. That'll help.

 

Email from Morrison's.

 

Since the 13th March 2020 carrier bags used for online deliveries were free of charge.

Following the latest Government mandate, from 21st September 2020 carrier bag charges will be re-introduced for online orders, charges will apply per bag. 

Carrier bags that are being returned are currently limited to a maximum of 25 bags per collection.

We are continually reviewing the latest guidelines and will update if there are any changes.

[Strontium]

Science.

 

 

[Sugar Ape]

The Tories are fucked whatever they do now they’ve lost control of testing. 
 

If they lockdown now everyone will moan including their own MPs as they don’t think cases/hospitalisations are high enough to justify it, if they don’t lockdown and end up like they were in March and April them everyone will be fuming at them for not introducing a lockdown until it was too late. 
 

 

[Barrington Womble]

2 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

The Tories are fucked whatever they do now they’ve lost control of testing. 
 

If they lockdown now everyone will moan including their own MPs as they don’t think cases/hospitalisations are high enough to justify it, if they don’t lockdown and end up like they were in March and April them everyone will be fuming at them for not introducing a lockdown until it was too late. 
 

 

38000 seems pretty hard to believe when it was 3000 just a few days ago. There's the Zoe app also tracking symptoms as well as tests and there hasn't been that level of uptick.