Covid, schmovid

I’ve started doing in store pickup from Loblaws again I am filling my freezer. I was just talking to my niece who is hoping to go out trick or treating. She has her costume all planned, although she hasn’t started working on it yet. I am usually the one to help her.

I’ve been collecting a few things (coffee, cheese, chickpeas, etc) in case we have a difficult winter with this virus. Anyone else, or is it just me?

Just catching up on this. So sorry, Ann, to hear of these complications. The most simple and humane practices are not possible at this time which is hurtful and will always mar the remembrance of the end of a fine life.

I’m so sorry Ann.

So sorry to hear about your loss Ann. I lost two friends during lockdown but could not go to the funerals because of the restrictions in place. We promised to have memorials when things permitted. My older relatives always used to say "you've got to have a good send-off". Socially distanced funerals even with more people are not the same. No hugs.

Amongst many other sadnesses, being unable to have a proper funeral probably doesn't seem that important but I am feeling upset about this today.

A wonderful friend and a true gentleman died at the age of 97, a good life, well lived. It is his funeral today and instead of a packed church and a wake at the Rugby Club (where he was still scorer right up until lock down) is replaced with 30 people at the crematorium. Some of his large family have stood aside to enable at least one representative from each of the many organisations he was involved with to attend, which is very generous of them, but this isn't what Sid deserved.

Wow ! Jeanene is Aunty !

Anyway ive been worried about you all over covid

Here in nz we have this cluster fuck called Auckland that's a ticking time

Its a worry but we doing ok except while Auckland was at level 3 the bastards could still fly in and out of the airport to the rest of NZ

We just had an unfirtunate case of a returnee becoming infectious well after 14 days quareteen so alot of contact tracing going on and isolation and deep cleaning because the infected family then went here there and every where as they went on holiday thinking it was safe

Thankfully they kept records of everywnere they had

I've had a few allergy-like symptoms lately. So I went to get a test this afternoon just to be safe, so I should hear back Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, they said my blood pressure was high. It was probably a little elevated there because I walked to the office (over a mile), stress, and dehydration, but it was still worrying. I'm going to start drinking chamomille tea at night to destress, and I'm taking a break from following politics. There's so little to be happy about these days and being troubled/angry is frequent, so there's no point putting my own health at risk. I'll focus on studying, gaming, music, and (maybe) sports for the time being.

If anyone has any meditation/destress ideas I'm all ears. I've tried meditating but my ADD makes it hard to stay focused on it. If something has worked for you, let me know and I'd love to give it a try. Much love all.

Grabbed from twitter.

I'll put this thought here as it's not so much political as a common sense thought.

I don't go to pubs cos I know they'll be busy - I go to cafés that I know are quiet with plenty of room (if not I leave) and I've only been for 2 meals since March in places, again, with plenty of room and pretty empty.

If you know that it's crazy for certain places to be open and not managed properly regarding numbers or distances - would you still go to them? Do you think that, as it's 'allowed' then why not?

It's time for us all to do what we think is safe and not make excuses. It's down to us ... well it is just now ... tomorrow may change that to a big extent.

it would appear a lot of people DID 'tear the backside out of it'.

In the Highlands, we've not been as badly affected as other areas, i terms of deaths, they've kept the case stats down by simply not testing unless it's pretty obvious you actually have it.

I've worked right through (Level 2 essential I'm told 😮) so it is kind of sad how little my life changed.

I'd say some wort of nationwide October lockdown is inevitable, but I don't think it'll be as stringent as April.

The two main UK issues for me were that lockdown came too late and the lack of testing.

But I guess that comes down to money.......the market must decide after all 😣.

Cummings has to go - should have gone ages ago. I think Whitty is furious with Cummings in the photo - Boris is the one looking on. Boris talks through his hat and we all knew that ages ago, too. Of course it was inevitable that there'd be a spike after so many people thought it was ok to get together in such numbers. It never was ok to congregate or have meals in restaurants with folk from several different houses ... but that didn't deter the majority. Hopefully, if the people conform (most will, the usual suspects won't) we'll be able to meet up with more family and friends over the Christmas period.

Coronavirus: Younger Scots make up fifth of new Covid hospital admissions

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18732601.coronavirus-younger-scots-make-fifth-new-covid-hospital-admissions/

Whitty doesn't look happy here. Dom looks on. (Boris Johnson talks to Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (Photo by Andrew Parsons / No. 10 Downing Street)

If I have this right, Boris Johnson is now saying that a second wave was 'inevitable'. Is this the same man who encouraged everyone to get down the pub, eat out, get back to the office and everything would be back to normal by Christmas?

I see even the right wing press are turning on him now - pity they didn't see through him a year ago.

Apologies @Willow . I hadn't noticed that you'd started this thread, before I started one in the Politics forum. Maybe they can be merged?

They were saying on the radio this morning that, while people died (probably/possibly due to Sweden's favoured reaction), numbers have remained low over time.

I think Sweden didn’t do a lockdown and tried for herd immunity. It seems it did not work.

Allowing for size of population Sweden has had 12 times the number of deaths from Covid-19 than Norway and ten times the number of Finland. If someone is dead their lives have been fully and permanently restricted. Something must have seriously gone wrong.

4 people have died with Covid the last 24 hours in Sweden (32 dead the last 2 weeks). The daily numbers have been down to single digits since the end of July. Total population of Sweden is 10 million. Life goes on pretty much in the same "moderatly restricted" way as from the beginning in March. Schools still open, people adviced to work from home if possible, gyms still open, people over 70 or with certain medical conditions adviced to stay away from other people. A lot of people get tested for Covid but most of them turn out to have caught a cold.

Up here in Northumberland, and elsewhere in the North East of England, we are beginning our penance due to so many people not adhering to the rules. Households are not allowed to mix unless they have formed a bubble - exemptions are apparently in place for carers and other situations that warrant a relaxation. Apart from Kate not calling in for her dinner once or twice a week, I won't be unduly affected. It's Kate's birthday tomorrow so that's put the kibosh on the meal that was planned on Sunday - which would have been my first visit to a restaurant since lockdown. I'm sure we'll be able to celebrate at a later date.

As a family, we're split as to who agrees with the lockdown rules and who doesn't. My son and his wife, living near Edinburgh, are against just about everything either government comes up with, my youngest has been meeting up with all her pals since March ... distancing in photos is non-existent. My eldest, like her siblings, has been at work throughout - she's a train manager/conductor - so adheres to whatever rules are placed on us.

We'll all have to try a little harder and make sure this current situation is lifted in time for people to meet up again around Christmas. I'm looking forward to a walk down to Morpeth later today as it should be a lot quieter ... one of the good things to have come out of it all - at least it was until people started disregarding rules and snubbing the rest of us. Thanks, in part, to Cummings and the rest of those who also flouted the rules.

I popped back to ask how testing, tracking & tracing are going in other parts of the world? Ours is a shambles.

Steve, I am really pleased to hear that SA has done better than expected. I remember watching a video you posted of people living in townships and how hard it would be for them to self isolate and how, if it took a grip in some areas, it would be devastating.

To answer your question, from observations I have made, the majority of people are adhering to mask wearing. The hand sanitising in shops etc is hit and miss, some shops have a sanitising station right by the entrance, others don't. I would guess that no more than 50% of people are sanitising their hands regularly. I have only had my temperature checked twice, on both occasions when I was eating out.

My son, who works in retail, is becoming very anxious again as the one way system has been removed, far more people are allowed into the store and the distancing policy has gone out the window.

I believe we became far too sloppy in August when we were definitely being given mixed messages and we are about to pay a heavy price.

We still have our COVID advisory forum every Monday (it used to be 3 times a week) but we do not have as many active cases anymore. On Monday we discussed what we are calling ‘Pandemic Fatigue’ and how it has affected the workforce, our clients and how we expect business to go over the last quarter of the year. People just tired of the numbers, the talk, the conspiracies… With our weather already very warm, the expectation is our numbers will reduce. I watch the Northern Hemisphere with keen interest.

I have been working from home now since March but I have been going out into the trade the last few weeks more than before. We move nationally from next Monday to ‘Level 1’ which is as close to normal as possible. But what will stay in place is compulsory masks, and sanitising. I’ve actually been meaning to raise this on here and this thread gives me the opportunity. South Africa seems to have actually handled the pandemic quite well, considering the doom and gloom predictions at the start. We are a third world country after all. I think part of what has made the difference definitely has been the compulsory masks and compulsory sanitising. And by that I mean every time you walk into any shop, they spray sanitiser on your hands, and your basket or trolley handle. They also take your temperature. Every time. The same applies at restaurants, with the added level of having to give your details on a form. Name, ID, phone number. My question to you guys is how much of this happens in the US or UK/Europe? Because judging by what I see about people throwing their toys about just having to wear a mask in a shop, I’m guessing not much of it, right?

I will also have to fly for the first time since Feb in a couple weeks…. Nervous but also curious about how that will go.

September is rapidly becoming the crutch month here I think. During August things started to feel almost normal, certainly in my town. People were encouraged out into pubs and restaurants, positively encouraged by a scheme which gave a Government subsidy of £10 off meals out.

Schools reopened at the beginning of September and universities reopen around now. People have been encouraged back to offices, but many who can work from home have continued to do so. The business districts in most cities remain quiet.

All this activity has seen a real spike in infections, a stark reminder that this has nowhere near gone away.

There seems to be a real weariness in people now, confusion about what we are allowed to do, and underlying anger at some of the decisions. For example we can go grouse shooting in groups of 6+ but can't go birdwatching in groups of 6+! Not that I wish to do either! Local lockdowns are another issue. Birmingham, 25 miles away, has tighter restrictions than we do, but day trippers are still pouring off the Birmingham trains into Stratford.

We are braced for some big job losses when the furlough scheme ends in October and, I think, we are in for a long, hard winter.

Christmas? Who knows...

Here in South Australia there is no community transmission and no active cases and in many respects everyday life as normal in Adelaide has resumed. Although right next door is the state of Victoria, currently Australia's hotspot, so we have hard border closures which is an issue for people on either side of the border who live on one side but work / go to school / have family on the other.

Personally, though, I have been working from home since mid March and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. I work in system testing for one of the big Aussie banks. In my role, everything we do is possible to do remotely and working from home regularly was an option long before COVID if one chose to do so. ( I personally preferred going in to the office).

However, despite the improved general situation here, the 1.5 metre social distancing requirements are still mandated by government for all businesses. With the bank buildings we work in, none have desks / work stations set up that meet this specification. As such, only every second desk (or third desk in some cases) can be used. So only staff who absolutely need to be on site to perform some of their tasks are being accommodated in the buildings. People like myself who can do all their work remotely are instructed to stay home.

To be honest, I must be more anti social than I realised as even after 6 months working from home isn't bothering me. We have many ways of remotely interacting with other team members, and with the easing of restrictions we have even met for lunch two or three times in recent months.

It also helps that things like the local Australian Rules Footy league is back up and running with spectators up to 3000 per game allowed... that's a good welcome dose of normality on weekends, even if we all have to practice social distancing while at the game.