Off Topic Coronavirus
- Thread starter Sooperhoop
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Yes mate, definitely different at my kids school. A few times we had emails to say that some child in their year was positive, however our ‘bubble’ wasn’t effected....seems to work well.
Definitely different for individual kids mate....twins are really struggling with concentration and their work.....seemed to have taken a real step backwards which is gutting for me as they really were catching up.
And my daughter is doing ok at her work but struggling on not seeing her friends...I guess like a lot of 14 year old girls. However with the problems we have had in the last couple of years I don’t want her blowing up again.
Ha ha couldnt be further from it. School isnt for everyone, it certainly wasnt for me but for different reasons to my son. An hour 1 on 1 is worth nearly a full term in a class of 30!!!
Its certainly each to their own and we do what suits our personal circumstances. My lad was going backwards at school at quite a rapid rate. Hes gone from what was bottom set in English to the equivalent of an 'a' star in literature and language. He sees his pals (or did do) on weekends. He works with me 2 days a week for a bit of cash.
Ha ha I'm just a hard grafter who doesnt mind sacrificing things in life to better my lad. Think we pay about 75 quid a week for 3 tutors so it's well worth it.hes a champagne socialist plasterer
I'm in favour of schools going back asap, but why aren't teachers being prioritised for vaccination?
From everything I've read - but happy to stand corrected by those more qualified - they aren't great at picking up positive cases, but the ones they miss tend to be asymptomatic cases where the chances of spreading the virus are much lower. In short, far from perfect but better than nothing.
If you are showing symptoms you will probably get a PCR test, so on the whole most of the lateral flow tests are done either as tests of a population or in surveys...so will be in the work place, or in schools, or routine daily tests in hospital or in care home staff and residents etc...so there are a higher proportion of negatives or assymtomatic people than in people who present with Covid symptoms.
The last data I saw says the lateral flow tests are still pretty crap at picking up low positives... And still an unnerving ability to throw up random false positives in people who are actually truly negative.
Now people are getting vaccinated and having protection ...low level transmission from assymtomatic people hopefully will be handled better and fewer people should get seriously sick..
Well that's the theory....
Scientifically it should work...
The last data I saw says the lateral flow tests are still pretty crap at picking up low positives... And still an unnerving ability to throw up random false positives in people who are actually truly negative.
Now people are getting vaccinated and having protection ...low level transmission from assymtomatic people hopefully will be handled better and fewer people should get seriously sick..
Well that's the theory....
Scientifically it should work...
Govt faced with competing advice on mandatory mask use - Chris Hipkins
3 hrs ago
The Covid-19 Response Minister says the government had to weigh up two competing strands of advice, before deciding to make masks mandatory on public transport.
After months of urging from public health experts, masks are now compulsory on all trains, busses and planes around the country, at alert levels 1 and 2.
The rules came into force overnight with some exceptions, such as school busses and for people with certain medical conditions.
Chris Hipkins told Morning Report the government had to consider whether masks were better as a reactionary approach to an outbreak, or a precaution to stop potential outbreaks.
"We're always looking at how we can further reduce risk, things that might not have been justified or that we might not have been fully confident with the basis for doing it a couple of months ago, sometimes those things will change."
Public health officials will be working with bus companies and those operating trains and ferries to make sure the public health advice is reaching them, he said.
"We will take a fairly light-handed approach initially because we want to give people that opportunity to comply."
Cabinet yesterday discussed making QR code scanning mandatory, but the minister said he wasn't confident with where it all shaped up and will seek further advice.
"Compulsion brings a number of issues with it including how do you enforce that, where does the burden lie, does it lie with the individual, does it lie with the business, what do you do with people who don't have phones, who don't use phones regularly. We've got to work through all of those things."
Hipkins said he will be looking at all of the ways to increase the usage of QR codes.
Vaccination rollout
"Vaccines work and that's why we're doing this," Hipkins said.
The ability to move on from the pandemic, he said, rests on the effectiveness of vaccines.
The minister said as of yesterday, about 400 people had been vaccinated. All 12,000 border workers were expected to have their first dose within the first two to three weeks of the campaign kicking off.
"We are getting more vaccines coming through, so Pfizer have indicated that they'll be shipping to us smaller batches regularly."
It would be highly unlikely that someone would test positive for Covid-19 straight after having the vaccine, he said.
"The Covid testing will still help us indicate whether somebody who's been vaccinated may have picked up Covid-19 say from someone who's coming back into the country. But the likelihood of them developing sufficient viral load, pass that on to someone else reduces significantly."
Community cases
Hipkins said he wasn't told of any additional community cases overnight but it's unlikely that any new cases wouldn't be connected to the current cases.
Papatoetoe High School students and staff considered close contacts of the current cases won't be back at the school until completing 14 days of isolation.
"They will have to have two tests, if we were to see any further spread it would be in that group first."
Hipkins said we can start to feel more confident there won't be further spread of the virus as we head towards the end of the 14 day incubation period of the current cases.
But, he added, "It's still a virus, you never say never."
3 hrs ago
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© RNZ / Dan CookThe Covid-19 Response Minister says the government had to weigh up two competing strands of advice, before deciding to make masks mandatory on public transport.
After months of urging from public health experts, masks are now compulsory on all trains, busses and planes around the country, at alert levels 1 and 2.
The rules came into force overnight with some exceptions, such as school busses and for people with certain medical conditions.
Chris Hipkins told Morning Report the government had to consider whether masks were better as a reactionary approach to an outbreak, or a precaution to stop potential outbreaks.
"We're always looking at how we can further reduce risk, things that might not have been justified or that we might not have been fully confident with the basis for doing it a couple of months ago, sometimes those things will change."
Public health officials will be working with bus companies and those operating trains and ferries to make sure the public health advice is reaching them, he said.
"We will take a fairly light-handed approach initially because we want to give people that opportunity to comply."
Cabinet yesterday discussed making QR code scanning mandatory, but the minister said he wasn't confident with where it all shaped up and will seek further advice.
"Compulsion brings a number of issues with it including how do you enforce that, where does the burden lie, does it lie with the individual, does it lie with the business, what do you do with people who don't have phones, who don't use phones regularly. We've got to work through all of those things."
Hipkins said he will be looking at all of the ways to increase the usage of QR codes.
Vaccination rollout
"Vaccines work and that's why we're doing this," Hipkins said.
The ability to move on from the pandemic, he said, rests on the effectiveness of vaccines.
The minister said as of yesterday, about 400 people had been vaccinated. All 12,000 border workers were expected to have their first dose within the first two to three weeks of the campaign kicking off.
"We are getting more vaccines coming through, so Pfizer have indicated that they'll be shipping to us smaller batches regularly."
It would be highly unlikely that someone would test positive for Covid-19 straight after having the vaccine, he said.
"The Covid testing will still help us indicate whether somebody who's been vaccinated may have picked up Covid-19 say from someone who's coming back into the country. But the likelihood of them developing sufficient viral load, pass that on to someone else reduces significantly."
Community cases
Hipkins said he wasn't told of any additional community cases overnight but it's unlikely that any new cases wouldn't be connected to the current cases.
Papatoetoe High School students and staff considered close contacts of the current cases won't be back at the school until completing 14 days of isolation.
"They will have to have two tests, if we were to see any further spread it would be in that group first."
Hipkins said we can start to feel more confident there won't be further spread of the virus as we head towards the end of the 14 day incubation period of the current cases.
But, he added, "It's still a virus, you never say never."
Probably ‘cos there’s loads more who can also claim that they should have priority in being vaccinated......Police, shop workers, delivery drivers etc.....all got a good case.
Every single Wetherspoons at 10am on 21st June
From
Brizzy
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Brizzy
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So everybody gets the fundamental shift in pandemic strategy that happened yesterday? Jolly d.
We get our "Roadmap" today - big difference from down there will be the use of tiers again, and the phased return of pupils to schools (P1-P3 returned yesterday). Leaks suggest that we won't be tied down by dates, but be governed by what the data says....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56161336
'Data not dates', isn't it?
Couldn't help noticing a lot of dates and not much data, though.
Not quite. They are being very up front about it. You’ll notice no mention of R numbers. They are no longer interested in the number of infections, having admitted that the virus will always be with us, the emphasis is solely on the vaccines to manage serious disease. The ‘tests’-
1. The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully.
2. Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated.
3. Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
4. Our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new "variants of concern".
Do not have my metrics/numbers attached to them, at least not for public consumption. How do we measure ‘unsustainable pressure’ on the NHS and surely we don’t wait until this is happening before acting?
Not saying this change in tack is wrong (how would I know, don’t have any access to data.......) but it is quite a dramatic change. What doesn’t fit in with it is the testing surge, if we know people are going to be infected, and we expect these infections to be mild because of the impact of vaccines, but we only care about hospitalisations and deaths, why test? Hospitalisations have always been the most accurate measure of this pandemic.
Seems to me that some people will never be happy with anything the government announce or do, simply because they're Tories.
So much negativity!!
The way out of this seems to me to have been judged about right with yesterday's announcement and it isn't difficult to understand how it is supposed to unfold imo. Faux confusion has been used by some since day one.
Everything depends on the continued downward trend of infections and deaths, along with the continued success of the vaccines, which, according to DATA and EVIDENCE are performing better than anyone could have dared hope.
The government have made many, many mistakes and I still think our borders are too open, but they are trying to balance EVERYTHING. An impossible task.
I choose to be optimistic whilst so much good news is arriving.
So much negativity!!
The way out of this seems to me to have been judged about right with yesterday's announcement and it isn't difficult to understand how it is supposed to unfold imo. Faux confusion has been used by some since day one.
Everything depends on the continued downward trend of infections and deaths, along with the continued success of the vaccines, which, according to DATA and EVIDENCE are performing better than anyone could have dared hope.
The government have made many, many mistakes and I still think our borders are too open, but they are trying to balance EVERYTHING. An impossible task.
I choose to be optimistic whilst so much good news is arriving.
I've long thought that numbers of infections were not a good metric, given that most would have mild or no symptoms. As you say, hospitalisations should be the predominant measure. I'm relatively happy with the approach Johnson announced yesterday.