News this morning that White House staff who work closely with Donald Trump will be among the first to receive the Pfizer vaccine in the US... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55298015 A relief for them at least. I'm not surprised that Trump (because of the way he behaves) is seen as a significant infection risk to those who have to be around him. EDIT: Later versions of this story say Trump has refused to allow these staff members early access to the vaccine. A moral decision?
Fairly mixed news in Spain. The curve is flattening, but as we had a bank holiday at the start of december in which loads of people piled into the shops, it may just be starting to spike again. There is also finally some sign that the governments rather dodgy looking numbers for deaths may be under scrutiny. An independent body said they thought the government have probably missed about 18,000 covid related deaths, and there is a move to look into whether that was a mistake, or a cover up. Given how bad things were in march and april, the numbers always looked a bit on the light side, so it'll be interesting to see whether this actually converts into news, or gets swept out of sight.
70% of people contacted by T&T don't reply, even after multiple attempts. Many of them are still going to work, even after a positive test, including a hairdresser. NHS staff are even getting abusive responses from people they contact. The public must take its share of the blame for the rising rates of infection.
People in low paid jobs with unsympathetic employers cannot afford to risk being sacked. Many would rather risk the virus, and risk spreading it. It's easy for Government ministers (very high salaries & luxury pensions etc.) to tell poor folk to isolate and invite dismissal. That's what you get for putting millions of people on the breadline in the 'gig' economy.
The NHS happy clapping stopped some time ago , my wife has been shouted at and threatened in the last two weeks by impatient patients.
The lenient treatment of Cummings and Ferrier has set a bad example, agreed, but for 70% to not even respond, that can't all be down to poverty, and nobody should make a personal decision based on what those two did, plus a few less serious offenders.
I've never understood that. Abusing public service staff without provocation. What kind of weak-willed lack-brain with no self-control thinks it's OK to behave that way? There ought to be a class of offenders who are on a police list, of people who can have some sense slapped into them down at the station, like in the good old days. People who abuse or assault NHS staff or other front line service providers should definitely be on that list.
I gave you a like for your missus. The idea of shouting and abusing the people who risk their lives on the front line in a pandemic is sickening. Wtf are they angry about? Surely gratitude would be a basic minimum?
I hear being drunk is a common excuse. People say afterwards (without irony) that it was just the booze talking. As if that makes everything OK. As though being too drunk to control yourself is a valid excuse to behave in any kind of vile manner, then disown your behaviour later. I absolutely hate that. Being under the influence of alcohol should make an offence of abuse worse, not excuse it - as with driving offences. People should be more ashamed of being drunken louts than behaving despicably while sober.
Greenwich Council has been ordered by the Government to keep schools open or face legal action https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55311573 Despite 11-19 year-olds being the group with the fastest rising infection rate. And the school term ending in just one week anyway. Politics triumphs over science and common sense yet again.
Tier 3 rules say hairdressers and nail bars can stay open(this is good for @Clb74 and the girl), it seems that to stay in these places for an hour means you cannot spread/catch COVID. Total nonsense. Meanwhile I can still go to physio rehab and keep myself in good shape
So the virus may be mutating to make itself less lethal, so that instead of killing us it just makes us ill. In that way it survives. Clever little bugger, eh?
A lot of them do that according to a doctor mate of mine. The ultra lethal ones kill too quickly and hence die out. But it's worrying that something that small and brainless can do something to keep itself propagating.
From not knowing anyone with Covid locally it’s now popping up all around me , thankfully not in my household- but there again we are abiding by the rules -
It would be interesting to know how many people are abiding by the rules. It would also help to know where the virus is most likely to be passed on. The last research I read was that most transmissions occur in the home, is this still the case?
