OK, a question for all those supporting mask wearing, vaccine/Covid passports and impending lockdowns and further restrictions to our freedoms... If (and I appreciate this is hypothetical (at the moment)) we see a modest handful of new variants next year and every year after that because, as we all know, viruses never actually go away, for how many of these years are you prepared to live in this cycle? How long is enough?
‘Hypothetical’ and unanswerable from my perspective. Depends on the seriousness of the variants and the capacity of the NHS to deal with them. If significant numbers of people are ending up in hospital and preventing other conditions being treated surely we have to do what we can to restrict it? It’s the capacity, or otherwise of the NHS, which is driving this. It’s a pain in the arse, I get it. It’s preventing me from retiring because there is no point sitting at home drawing a pension when I can sit at home getting a salary. But I really want to retire! William Hague, of all people, has a decent column on this in the Times.. He correctly points out that any new variant will have to be even more infectious than Omicron to take over from it. In that case (as with omicron) the only effective defence is near 100% vaccination. Probably regularly. But if this is achieved I suppose we wouldn’t need to demonstrate that we have been vaccinated, wear masks, isolate etc. Unfortunately to date only 75% of the U.K. population have been vaccinated. 15 million people haven’t - some under 12 and not eligible, less than half the 12-15 years old have had even one jab, there are some who can’t be jabbed for health reasons but several million adults unvaccinated because of ideology. So, would you like all your ‘freedoms’ at the price of ensuring that everyone healthy enough to be jabbed has no choice about it? As Hague puts it ‘the tension between the perfect liberty of the anti vaxxers and the wider freedom of the majority of the population’.
I'm not so sure about vaccine passports though, the old yellow International Vaccine Certificates should suffice, or further restrictions to our freedom.
It can't be unanswerable because you just gave an answer! Is the only effective defence near-100% vaccination, or should we, at some point, allow the thing to wash over us all with the vaccines that are already in us and take our chances with natural immunity? No, I wouldn't like my freedoms at the price of ensuring that everyone healthy enough to be jabbed has no choice about it. I think the anti-jabbers are foolish and my advice is always to have the jab, but I respect their right to be foolish, just as I respect a fatties right to camp out at Gregg's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all the arguments about how selfish they are and how more transmissible Covid is in them - they're all potential murderers, right? - but either our vaccines offer protection or they don't. Aren't these vaccines (and any future ones for the endless future variants) as good as it gets as far as protection is concerned, or will there eventually be one capable of stopping a bullet? I believe people must be free to make their own choices - even if they're the wrong choices - and I'm actually happy to use some of my taxes to care for them if they fall ill in the same way as I'm happy for some of my taxes to care for the obese, smokers, QPR Oslo, purveyors of dangerous sports etc. That's the social thing to do in a society full of difference, innit tho? Incidentally, once upon a time the NHS was setup to protect us, but now we're endlessly told we must protect it. Even before Covid it was always in crisis. It still is, but not least because of all the cancelled appointments and absent GPs. I'd have more chance of seeing a doctor if I rocked up on a Kent beach in a dinghy. I heard the other day that an estimated 130,000 people have been made homeless as a consequence of the UK response to Covid. If true, another desperate figure to add to the cancer/heart disease backlog and rise in domestic abuse & mental health stats. We all know we've a health timebomb on our hands, but it would appear many deliberately choose to push this to the back of their minds because Covid is more important. I suspect this will only change once these issues directly affect them in one way or another - a liberal is a liberal until he's been mugged and all that. Apologies that this response is all over the place, but I'm supposed to be working - alright for some sitting on their arses drawing salaries, eh?
@qprbeth any joy on this? Might be worth contacting your local Primary Care Network if not, could be a very local issue. I was just out walking the dog and noticed a lot of people with test kits in their hands - turns out South Warwickshire PCN has a stall in the middle of town every Tuesday giving out test kits to any one who wants them. Had a chat with the very nice blokes on the stall, they said it’s not publicised at all, just get passers by. Perhaps they are doing the same on your patch, you just haven’t bumped into them yet. These blokes also said that there was no problem with supply of LFT kits, but distribution is a bit dodgy. just read that there aren’t enough people to meet demand for in person PCR tests…….
Good news is that according to one medic on Newsnight last night this wave is going to be very short. This was not her intention. She was trying to rack up the terror by saying the number of people with the new variant doubles every 2 days and we were at 200k yesterday. By my admittedly weak maths, at that rate and assuming zero effectiveness of vaccines and no immunity from prior infection, everyone in the country will have had the virus by the time we play Bournemouth.
Our Pharmacy is getting loads of lateral flow kits on Friday. Hurrah. Our local PCR Centre is open..and busy due to lack of lateral flow kits around here. So you can say you have symptoms and get a test.. effective but not cost effective. My maths too had already worked out that everyone in the country had already had covid 1.5 times since it started, 2 years ago. It is a problem with asymptomatic carriers..who knows. I just want to have Christmas
Im following the guidelines until i get a defined result, more out of respect to others over anything Boris ****ing Johnson tell us.
These are separate issues (obviously all linked to covid). I think mask wearing is an easy, effective (according to many scientists) way to limit the spread of covid. I'll happily wear one on transport and in shops forever if I think it will be better for my health and the health of others. I don't think we should have covid passports, although I'm a little torn on the subject, maybe 70/30 against. I definitely don't think we should have any more lockdowns/major restrictions, unless an evil killer super variant arrives. We need to learn to (sensibly) live with this thing imo.
So there weren't any lateral flow tests yesterday and there are no PCRs today. This on top of Sajid Javid saying that we weren't geared up yet for the million booster jabs a day announced by Johnson. The promise of every adult being boosted by the end of the year has been scaled back to everyone being invited to book an appointment by the end of the year. It's seems that - not for the first time - Johnson went off half-cocked in his broadcast on Sunday. Almost as if he wanted to distract us from some other stuff.
From the birth of Christ until two years ago, we had the flu each year. Now we have Covid …… and by the sounds of it, many more strains of it to come in the future. In layman’s terms, isn’t Covid a more deadly version of the flu or have l got it all wrong? There are so many people needing surgery for other illnesses and l’m not trying to play down the effect and consequences of Covid but surely governments need to find a balance. As others have mentioned, there are so many people with heart, cancer and other health problems that are being shunned because of Covid whilst governments run around making it up on the run. I know it’s easier said than done.
Nothing is the short answer. In the first instance he points out that facemasks are useless. In the second he points out that they're necessary. Which is it? We need to point out the hypocrisy.
