Exactly how stupid are these unvaccinated people. Haven't they noticed that Trump and co are operating on a do as I say (while I do the exact opposite myself) basis.
Is it a conspiracy to go on a conspiracy conference?
Presumably because there will be ten times as many infections but 40% fewer will need to stay in hospital.
I still say it was a mistake when they stopped teaching children to do arithmetic.
You're gonna have to slowly accept that COVID-19 is going to end up a contributory virus to the common cold/flu, causing lots of misery but something we live with.
We can see progress towards this end game in the reduction from 10 days to 7 days isolation. It will take a brave politician, but eventually someone will make the call to abolish isolation all together.
As @ydoethur , doctor friends and others have pointed out - staffing shortages will become a bigger danger and cost than the virus itself in the near future.
I think the isolation requirement will end by March
Which will be two months too late to solve the immediate problem.
Presumably because there will be ten times as many infections but 40% fewer will need to stay in hospital.
I still say it was a mistake when they stopped teaching children to do arithmetic.
You're gonna have to slowly accept that COVID-19 is going to end up a contributory virus to the common cold/flu, causing lots of misery but something we live with.
We can see progress towards this end game in the reduction from 10 days to 7 days isolation. It will take a brave politician, but eventually someone will make the call to abolish isolation all together.
As @ydoethur , doctor friends and others have pointed out - staffing shortages will become a bigger danger and cost than the virus itself in the near future.
I think the isolation requirement will end by March
Agreed - but only for the asymptomatic. The virus has evolved to be highly transmissible via infection of the upper airways (like a cold), and I think a good compromise would be to ask people with symptoms to stay at home whether it's flu, cold or Covid.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I'm surprisingly nervous about this launch. The JWST will be such an amazing tool, but there is so much that can go wrong ...
And they can go wrong: the Lucy probe launched a few months ago has had trouble with a solar panel not deploying. I haven't heard any news on it, but it *may* be a very big deal for its target orbit.
If you and I feel nervous, imagine how those who have been working on it for 25 years are feeling right now!
There’s more than 300 critical operations in the deployment phase, and if it goes wrong there’s no recovery options except to build another one.
I'm incredibly excited about this too. I am sure it will all go to plan and go smoothly. I cannot wait to see some of the images it sends back. Hubble is impressive enough but this will be revolutionary.
I have just watched part 1 of the 2013 Great Train Robbery film. They have snow falling in London in August - and you don't have to have independent info to know that, 4 days later they say on screen "12 August - 4 days later"
Also just watched No Country for Old Men for the 3rd time, and it vies with Private Ryan for being superb for 40 minutes and then meh. Brilliant up to and including Anton not shooting the gas station guy, then yawn, a lotta guys getting shot in motels, and who throws a briefcase full of money into a swamp?
Christmas arrived with the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special. Which you might consider a bit middlebrow. But it gets better every time you watch it. Doing Christmas tropes both well and originally is a tough ask, 70 years into the medium. But it's better than any Christmas film. When we do sitcoms well in this country, we do them very well indeed. I would also slot The Office Christmas special and the first three Royle Family Christmas specials into the same category.
On a more serious note, the Ukranian Mrs Sandpit pretty much agrees with The NY Times long read yesterday, about rising tensions and propoganda coming out of Moscow. Something is definitely happening. Apparently Mr Putin is doing one of his half-day addresses to the nation today, so we shall see what he has to say.
What would the early stages of a coup in Putin’s Russia look like?
Presumably because there will be ten times as many infections but 40% fewer will need to stay in hospital.
I still say it was a mistake when they stopped teaching children to do arithmetic.
You're gonna have to slowly accept that COVID-19 is going to end up a contributory virus to the common cold/flu, causing lots of misery but something we live with.
We can see progress towards this end game in the reduction from 10 days to 7 days isolation. It will take a brave politician, but eventually someone will make the call to abolish isolation all together.
As @ydoethur , doctor friends and others have pointed out - staffing shortages will become a bigger danger and cost than the virus itself in the near future.
I think the isolation requirement will end by March
Agreed - but only for the asymptomatic. The virus has evolved to be highly transmissible via infection of the upper airways (like a cold), and I think a good compromise would be to ask people with symptoms to stay at home whether it's flu, cold or Covid.
Although I can foresee endless arguments on what constitutes 'symptomatic' there.
I mean, I sneeze when I do LFTs. Does that mean I have the symptoms of a blocked airway? Well, yes - but there is sort of a reason for that not necessarily linked to Covid. If,however, I am asked if I have sneezed that day, would that be an acceptable explanation?
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I'm surprisingly nervous about this launch. The JWST will be such an amazing tool, but there is so much that can go wrong ...
And they can go wrong: the Lucy probe launched a few months ago has had trouble with a solar panel not deploying. I haven't heard any news on it, but it *may* be a very big deal for its target orbit.
If you and I feel nervous, imagine how those who have been working on it for 25 years are feeling right now!
There’s more than 300 critical operations in the deployment phase, and if it goes wrong there’s no recovery options except to build another one.
Almost as fascinating as the instrument itself are the orbital mechanics. It will, hopefully, end up making small orbits around the earth's second Lagrange point, a point in space about 1.5 million miles beyond the Earth at which an object remains in a stable position. This allows the heat shield to protect the cooled instruments from thermal radiation from both the sun and the Earth (and the moon), since they are always lying in the same direction from the point of view of the instrument.
Powell: 'The government needs to be doing more to control cases' Host: 'What would you do? Would you have a 2 week circuit break as Sir Keir Starmer has called for in the past?' Powell: 'It was a while ago he said that, we're not calling for that. But the Government need to be clearer.' Host: 'So if you're not calling for restrictions, what would need to change for you to call for restrictions'. Powell: 'There are a range of factors [lists six or seven factors] so its not possible to say. People want to make plans and the Government needs to be clear what needs to change for them to bring in restrictions'
Powell taking her lead so well with Captain Hindsight. Call for action, but no idea what action. No idea what threshold for action, but calls for the Government to be clear on it. What a bad joke our Opposition is, they're just a complete empty suit hoping that the Government destroy themselves, no iota of original thought or leadership or even Opposition at all.
Well I don't disagree that they couldn't be a lot better but none of them seem quite as totally ridiculous as the hopeless clown of a PM that you have given undying support to for the last couple of years until your recent hand brake turn. Perhaps you should change your name to Volte Face?
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I'm surprisingly nervous about this launch. The JWST will be such an amazing tool, but there is so much that can go wrong ...
And they can go wrong: the Lucy probe launched a few months ago has had trouble with a solar panel not deploying. I haven't heard any news on it, but it *may* be a very big deal for its target orbit.
If you and I feel nervous, imagine how those who have been working on it for 25 years are feeling right now!
There’s more than 300 critical operations in the deployment phase, and if it goes wrong there’s no recovery options except to build another one.
Almost as fascinating as the instrument itself are the orbital mechanics. It will, hopefully, end up making small orbits around the earth's second Lagrange point, a point in space about 1.5 million miles beyond the Earth at which an object remains in a stable position. This allows the heat shield to protect the cooled instruments from thermal radiation from both the sun and the Earth (and the moon), since they are always lying in the same direction from the point of view of the instrument.
I understood about three words of that post, so I liked it to show my appreciation of such erudition.
"Covid cases by borough: Full scale of London’s Omicron explosion revealed Cases spiralled so fast that all 12 worst hit areas in Britain are in the capital - mainly in inner London"
Presumably because there will be ten times as many infections but 40% fewer will need to stay in hospital.
I still say it was a mistake when they stopped teaching children to do arithmetic.
You're gonna have to slowly accept that COVID-19 is going to end up a contributory virus to the common cold/flu, causing lots of misery but something we live with.
We can see progress towards this end game in the reduction from 10 days to 7 days isolation. It will take a brave politician, but eventually someone will make the call to abolish isolation all together.
As @ydoethur , doctor friends and others have pointed out - staffing shortages will become a bigger danger and cost than the virus itself in the near future.
I think the isolation requirement will end by March
Agreed - but only for the asymptomatic. The virus has evolved to be highly transmissible via infection of the upper airways (like a cold), and I think a good compromise would be to ask people with symptoms to stay at home whether it's flu, cold or Covid.
Although I can foresee endless arguments on what constitutes 'symptomatic' there.
I mean, I sneeze when I do LFTs. Does that mean I have the symptoms of a blocked airway? Well, yes - but there is sort of a reason for that not necessarily linked to Covid. If,however, I am asked if I have sneezed that day, would that be an acceptable explanation?
True, true. I have no answer - my colds tend to be really grim for a few days but last for weeks (my 5k times suffer).
Powell: 'The government needs to be doing more to control cases' Host: 'What would you do? Would you have a 2 week circuit break as Sir Keir Starmer has called for in the past?' Powell: 'It was a while ago he said that, we're not calling for that. But the Government need to be clearer.' Host: 'So if you're not calling for restrictions, what would need to change for you to call for restrictions'. Powell: 'There are a range of factors [lists six or seven factors] so its not possible to say. People want to make plans and the Government needs to be clear what needs to change for them to bring in restrictions'
Powell taking her lead so well with Captain Hindsight. Call for action, but no idea what action. No idea what threshold for action, but calls for the Government to be clear on it. What a bad joke our Opposition is, they're just a complete empty suit hoping that the Government destroy themselves, no iota of original thought or leadership or even Opposition at all.
That is a mirror image of Wes Streeting's interview a couple of days ago
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
Exactly how stupid are these unvaccinated people. Haven't they noticed that Trump and co are operating on a do as I say (while I do the exact opposite myself) basis.
Incredibly stupid, given the best line in that article:
"“There’s a 99.9% chance it’s anthrax,” Oltmann said on his podcast, even though no one had tested positive for anthrax poisoning and none of the other 3,500 attendees have so far reported suffering the effects of anthrax."
Evidence for Darwin effects mounts every day ...
Several people on Reddit and Twitter are running “The Herman Cain Awards”, named after the American politician who was rather sceptical, despite severe health issues, and then died of it.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I'm surprisingly nervous about this launch. The JWST will be such an amazing tool, but there is so much that can go wrong ...
And they can go wrong: the Lucy probe launched a few months ago has had trouble with a solar panel not deploying. I haven't heard any news on it, but it *may* be a very big deal for its target orbit.
If you and I feel nervous, imagine how those who have been working on it for 25 years are feeling right now!
There’s more than 300 critical operations in the deployment phase, and if it goes wrong there’s no recovery options except to build another one.
Almost as fascinating as the instrument itself are the orbital mechanics. It will, hopefully, end up making small orbits around the earth's second Lagrange point, a point in space about 1.5 million miles beyond the Earth at which an object remains in a stable position. This allows the heat shield to protect the cooled instruments from thermal radiation from both the sun and the Earth (and the moon), since they are always lying in the same direction from the point of view of the instrument.
I understood about three words of that post, so I liked it to show my appreciation of such erudition.
And it is a true sign of wisdom and learning to admit what one does not know. We could do with a lot more of that these days.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
On the subject of sequels that didn’t suck after number 3, there is the phenomenon of the even numbered original Star Trek movies being good, and the odd numbered ones being bad. ST4 The Voyage Home is an enjoyable movie.
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
Have you been radicalised by the Die Hard Xmas wars ?
I love TSE's logic
Die Hard is not a Christmas movie but because it's set of Christmas Eve we'll watch it as part of a Christmas Double bill with Love Actually.
Surely, if you are watching it as part of a Christmas double bill surely you have confirmed it's at least vaguely a Christmas movie.
Then again lawyers will happily argue black is white if there is money in it, so I can see why TSE argues for something he has himself contradicted.
It's as much a Christmas movie as Rocky IV, In Bruges, and Trading Places.
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I'm surprisingly nervous about this launch. The JWST will be such an amazing tool, but there is so much that can go wrong ...
And they can go wrong: the Lucy probe launched a few months ago has had trouble with a solar panel not deploying. I haven't heard any news on it, but it *may* be a very big deal for its target orbit.
If you and I feel nervous, imagine how those who have been working on it for 25 years are feeling right now!
There’s more than 300 critical operations in the deployment phase, and if it goes wrong there’s no recovery options except to build another one.
Almost as fascinating as the instrument itself are the orbital mechanics. It will, hopefully, end up making small orbits around the earth's second Lagrange point, a point in space about 1.5 million miles beyond the Earth at which an object remains in a stable position. This allows the heat shield to protect the cooled instruments from thermal radiation from both the sun and the Earth (and the moon), since they are always lying in the same direction from the point of view of the instrument.
It's every bit as engaging as the Antikythera Mechanism which we were discussing some months back.
Powell: 'The government needs to be doing more to control cases' Host: 'What would you do? Would you have a 2 week circuit break as Sir Keir Starmer has called for in the past?' Powell: 'It was a while ago he said that, we're not calling for that. But the Government need to be clearer.' Host: 'So if you're not calling for restrictions, what would need to change for you to call for restrictions'. Powell: 'There are a range of factors [lists six or seven factors] so its not possible to say. People want to make plans and the Government needs to be clear what needs to change for them to bring in restrictions'
Powell taking her lead so well with Captain Hindsight. Call for action, but no idea what action. No idea what threshold for action, but calls for the Government to be clear on it. What a bad joke our Opposition is, they're just a complete empty suit hoping that the Government destroy themselves, no iota of original thought or leadership or even Opposition at all.
That is a mirror image of Wes Streeting's interview a couple of days ago
I'm surprised Labour have decided to change their view on lockdowns over the Christmas and New Year period. I thought they'd stick with their original position.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
I am watching Die Hard tomorrow night, preceded by Love Actually, that way I can see Alan Rickman get properly punished for hurting Emma Thompson by having an affair with that tramp.
#DeathPenaltyForAdulterers
I do not know why, but I have gone off movies in recent years. I much prefer science documentaries
That’s because most of the movies are crap superhero sequels. Documentaries, and stand-up comedy specials, kept me sane during the pandemic.
Oh, and James Webb Space Telescope launches tonight on Christmas Day! 🚀
I looked at windy.com for French guyana on christmas day, doesn't look fab I think ?
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
I only have a basic understanding of statistics (though I do have to think about this stuff at work), and it's not quite as bad as that.
Hopefully they will re-do their calcs after Christmas to tighten up the confidence interval with all the upcoming data.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
20,000 Omicron cases, 15 hospitalisations IIRC.
Thanks - that makes much better sense, even if the details miught still be a bit iffy re the different cofactors.
Powell: 'The government needs to be doing more to control cases' Host: 'What would you do? Would you have a 2 week circuit break as Sir Keir Starmer has called for in the past?' Powell: 'It was a while ago he said that, we're not calling for that. But the Government need to be clearer.' Host: 'So if you're not calling for restrictions, what would need to change for you to call for restrictions'. Powell: 'There are a range of factors [lists six or seven factors] so its not possible to say. People want to make plans and the Government needs to be clear what needs to change for them to bring in restrictions'
Powell taking her lead so well with Captain Hindsight. Call for action, but no idea what action. No idea what threshold for action, but calls for the Government to be clear on it. What a bad joke our Opposition is, they're just a complete empty suit hoping that the Government destroy themselves, no iota of original thought or leadership or even Opposition at all.
That is a mirror image of Wes Streeting's interview a couple of days ago
I'm surprised Labour have decided to change their view on lockdowns over the Christmas and New Year period. I thought they'd stick with their original position.
It is easy to attack everything with the benefit of hindsight but when asked what would you do their answer is
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
20,000 Omicron cases, 15 hospitalisations IIRC.
Thanks - that makes much better sense, even if the details miught still be a bit iffy re the different cofactors.
Yep it was fit for all radio news information.
Edit: my question was I didn't think we were up to 20,000 Omicron cases in total in the UK so no idea where the study was from.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
Powell: 'The government needs to be doing more to control cases' Host: 'What would you do? Would you have a 2 week circuit break as Sir Keir Starmer has called for in the past?' Powell: 'It was a while ago he said that, we're not calling for that. But the Government need to be clearer.' Host: 'So if you're not calling for restrictions, what would need to change for you to call for restrictions'. Powell: 'There are a range of factors [lists six or seven factors] so its not possible to say. People want to make plans and the Government needs to be clear what needs to change for them to bring in restrictions'
Powell taking her lead so well with Captain Hindsight. Call for action, but no idea what action. No idea what threshold for action, but calls for the Government to be clear on it. What a bad joke our Opposition is, they're just a complete empty suit hoping that the Government destroy themselves, no iota of original thought or leadership or even Opposition at all.
That is a mirror image of Wes Streeting's interview a couple of days ago
You'd think they would have learnt lessons, and been prepared, so as to avoid a repeat. Oh well.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
Agree but if you are an anti vaxxer then you put it all in the same pot without the nuances.
Ah, an old one but a good one. I think my favourite iteration is from 2016.
Bill Clinton is walking along a beach when he sees a bottle. He picks it up ans tries to rub the sand off. A genie suddenly appears out of it, and in gratitude for escaping, offers Clinton one wish.
Clinton doesn't hesitate. 'Peace in the Middle East,'
The genie goggles. 'What? Peace between the Israelis and Palestinians? The Iranians and Saudis? The Kurds and Turks? After all the centuries of conflict? The massacres? The theft of land and property? I'm good, but I'm not that good. Choose something more realistic.'
Clinton thinks hard. 'I know!' he says suddenly. 'I'd like you to get people to like Hilary. To see that she's not completely stupid, and does care about others, and can get things done. And then, maybe she'll be elected President and stop nagging me for being more successful than her.'
There's a long silence.
Then the genie says. 'OK. The Middle East. Does it include India and Pakistan? Need to know what I'm dealing with here.'
Changing the subject, but I like the cartoon with the genie out of the lamp, and a dog sitting next to two balls. The genie is saying "are you sure you don't want to have a think before making your third wish?"
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
The misuse of the “L-Word” is quite funny.
For some of us, lockdown meant a month of needing advance permission from the police to leave the house, only every three days to visit supermarket or pharmacy, enforced by ANPR cameras and setting speed cameras to zero, and police patrols around residential neighbourhoods - followed by two months of a 10pm curfew, and a ban on visiting anyone else’s house.
"Covid cases by borough: Full scale of London’s Omicron explosion revealed Cases spiralled so fast that all 12 worst hit areas in Britain are in the capital - mainly in inner London"
The Omicron explosion in London was laid bare on Wednesday with Covid cases sky-rocketing by more than 200 per cent in a week in eight boroughs, official figures reveal.
More than doubled in a week doesn't exactly sound like doubling every 2-3 days, does it?
Doubling every 2.33 days would be up 700% (800% - the initial 100%), whilst the biggest increase is Lambeth at a 261% increase.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
20,000 Omicron cases, 15 hospitalisations IIRC.
Thanks - that makes much better sense, even if the details miught still be a bit iffy re the different cofactors.
It's not a sample, it's practically the whole population in a Scotland-wide study: We used the Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 (EAVE II) Scotland-wide prospective cohort, which comprises of linked datasets on 5.4 million people in Scotland (~99% of the population), to construct a nested test negative design (TND) among individuals with incident symptomatic infections.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
The misuse of the “L-Word” is quite funny.
For some of us, lockdown meant a month of needing advance permission from the police to leave the house, only every three days to visit supermarket or pharmacy, enforced by ANPR cameras and setting speed cameras to zero, and police patrols around residential neighbourhoods - followed by two months of a 10pm curfew, and a ban on visiting anyone else’s house.
@StuartDickson kind of nailed this paradox the other day, when he reported Swedish media as saying there would be tough new restrictions.
You now have to book a seat on some public transport...
Lockdown = not being able to invite my friends over for dinner
Restrictions = everything else
I think my lockdown definition is a bit wider than others by virtue of living alone - I really need indoor mixing for my general well-being, especially in the winter.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
This is where things get tricky:
Younger people are less likely to go to hospital anyway.
But younger people are also far less likely to be double (and more importantly triple) jabbed.
So, are they the ones catching it (and showing up in the tests) because they've not got the same degree of vaccine coverage, or because they're socialising. Or some mixture of both.
I know of 3 families blighted with Covid at the moment. Curiously 2 of them have someone who works in the NHS. One of them is positive but entirely symptomless. The other 2 have someone who is quite unwell but nowhere near hospitalisation, thankfully. Its going to be a considerably quieter Christmas for most.
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
The misuse of the “L-Word” is quite funny.
For some of us, lockdown meant a month of needing advance permission from the police to leave the house, only every three days to visit supermarket or pharmacy, enforced by ANPR cameras and setting speed cameras to zero, and police patrols around residential neighbourhoods - followed by two months of a 10pm curfew, and a ban on visiting anyone else’s house.
But just a few small tweaks to life as normal in Dubai?
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
Not really. That’s just the n for omicron. It’s also just one of a number of studies pointing the same way. And SA. There is no crisis in SA. It’s difficult to accept, but for once a new variant has arrived that is better for humanity. The evidence is growing by the day.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour we're ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour we're ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour we're ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
QED
You can't see beyond your hatred of the people who oppose lockdowns to admit that maybe, just maybe they were right. You're one of those people who would rather be in lockdown just so the politicians you dislike are wrong.
Lockdown = not being able to invite my friends over for dinner
Restrictions = everything else
I think my lockdown definition is a bit wider than others by virtue of living alone - I really need indoor mixing for my general well-being, especially in the winter.
Absolutely. Lockdown is a generic term which means different things to different people all of which, nevertheless, are lockdown.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
Shouldn't they all have the whip removed for voting with their consciences and voting against the all powerful fat clownish one?
Can't read the article but if you are told that you have to lockdown to "defeat" the virus why would you bother getting jabbed. You won't be meeting with anyone to give or receive the virus.
Both help to reduce the risk. And of course lockdown in some people's defintions is pretty much open access to other people, albeit restricted.
Doesn't make sense. Lockdown as advocated by some profs is lockdown.
And lockdown as defined by some here is quite different. As one of us remarked, it's no longer a very helpful term.
The misuse of the “L-Word” is quite funny.
For some of us, lockdown meant a month of needing advance permission from the police to leave the house, only every three days to visit supermarket or pharmacy, enforced by ANPR cameras and setting speed cameras to zero, and police patrols around residential neighbourhoods - followed by two months of a 10pm curfew, and a ban on visiting anyone else’s house.
But just a few small tweaks to life as normal in Dubai?
Been completely open here since about July 2020, no restrictions this year other than masks in public and 1m between tables in restaurants.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
Shouldn't they all have the whip removed for voting with their consciences and voting against the all powerful fat clownish one?
Cabinet taking back control from Boris is very welcome and Boris's time is rapidly coming to an end
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour we're ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
QED
You can't see beyond your hatred of the people who oppose lockdowns to admit that maybe, just maybe they were right. You're one of those people who would rather be in lockdown just so the politicians you dislike are wrong.
Eh? Hate. Nah. Not worth it.
I’ve been a bit busy. What I observed is a new variant creating a hockey stick and people being concerned by that and implemented policies to mitigate risk.
Some evidence came out yesterday saying the risk was not so bad. That is a good thing and policy can adjust accordingly.
In PB terms, Covid will be over once we devote more posts to the boundary changes, or WWIII in Ukraine, or Indyref2.
People will be as slow to recognise and adapt to the return of things to normal as they were to recognise the dramatic change arriving in early 2020. We're seeing that now with some of the commentary on Omicron.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
Yes, there were 15 admitted Omicron patients, compared to 47 predicted if same severity as Delta.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
Shouldn't they all have the whip removed for voting with their consciences and voting against the all powerful fat clownish one?
That happens on confidence and supply motions normally.
Like when both Major and Boris made their EU agreements a confidence vote.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour we're ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
QED
You can't see beyond your hatred of the people who oppose lockdowns to admit that maybe, just maybe they were right. You're one of those people who would rather be in lockdown just so the politicians you dislike are wrong.
Eh? Hate. Nah. Not worth it.
I’ve been a bit busy. What I observed is a new variant creating a hockey stick and people being concerned by that and implemented policies to mitigate risk.
Some evidence came out yesterday saying the risk was not so bad. That is a good thing and policy can adjust accordingly.
In PB terms, Covid will be over once we devote more posts to the boundary changes, or WWIII in Ukraine, or Indyref2.
People will be as slow to recognise and adapt to the return of things to normal as they were to recognise the dramatic change arriving in early 2020. We're seeing that now with some of the commentary on Omicron.
Maybe. Just pre-omicron people were just about getting back to normal with, say, mask wearing at 5-10%
Sky still doom and gloom referring to the least favourable reports and how the NHS will be overwhelmed
Gloomy email from our Medical Director this AM. Omicron now the dominant variants locally. We have to double up the on call rotas with a shadow rota, prepare for redeployment. NHSE back on level 4 national command.
My main take away from this latest twist in the CV19 story is that in this day and age you have to worry about a political culture that cannot handle uncertainty and doesn’t allow politicians to say ‘I don’t know’ when they don’t know something.
My other take away is that we all remain at risk until the world vaccinates it’s poorest.
Sky still doom and gloom referring to the least favourable reports and how the NHS will be overwhelmed
Gloomy email from our Medical Director this AM. Omicron now the dominant variants locally. We have to double up the on call rotas with a shadow rota, prepare for redeployment. NHSE back on level 4 national command.
I have no doubt it is under strain but there are exaggerated claims of hospital admissions by some
We have to learn to live with this and those both in my immediate family and elsewhere who have caught it have been ill but have not needed medical intervention
At the Hibs game "You can stick your fucking booster up your arse"
If you tell young people to get boosted, but still stop them going to open - air stadiums and close night clubs, they are absolutely right to ask what the point is.
In PB terms, Covid will be over once we devote more posts to the boundary changes, or WWIII in Ukraine, or Indyref2.
People will be as slow to recognise and adapt to the return of things to normal as they were to recognise the dramatic change arriving in early 2020. We're seeing that now with some of the commentary on Omicron.
Was discussing this in an on-line meeting a couple of days ago. There are several ways life will be in a new normal. For example, those OAP's who, like me, are reasonably comfortable with the internet will have their horizons expanded further. Many of those who were once less comfortable will join us, having realised it's not always full of trolls.
However, I do hope that I will be able to go and watch live cricket. It's no fun drinking alone, even on a warm summers day.
Strange how Tories seem to want to simultaneously claim that others play party politics, whilst making all sorts of party political points about Omicron.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
It's that party politics and party management that has kept us out of lockdown. You should be glad that the 100 stood up to the bullshit on plan b and the cabinet told the scientists to go back and do their sums properly.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
For all the criticism of too many PPE graduates in politics if you have someone like Sunak in there then you would imagine that out of all of them he would understand the importance of putting numbers in to models can give varying results depending on the numbers entered from his hedge funds days.
So PPE shouldn’t be as important as maybe their career and experience. We’ve seen that scientists are fallible too in a different way and so the calls to stuff politics with scientists isn’t the panacea that people think it would be.
Whatever people think of Sunak’s career he must have been pretty smart to do as well as he did and so thank heaven for small mercies that somebody there understands numbers and not just Roman numerals…..
Sky still doom and gloom referring to the least favourable reports and how the NHS will be overwhelmed
Gloomy email from our Medical Director this AM. Omicron now the dominant variants locally. We have to double up the on call rotas with a shadow rota, prepare for redeployment. NHSE back on level 4 national command.
I have no doubt it is under strain but there are exaggerated claims of hospital admissions by some
We have to learn to live with this and those both in my immediate family and elsewhere who have caught it have been ill but have not needed medical intervention
I don't think anyone is seriously arguing that Omicron isn't less serious than its predecessors.
However, there is still a limit in how many cases the country can cope with at once. (Actually, there are at least two. One is if the hospital beds fill up, the other is if the staff rota isn't filled because of staff who are isolating.) And there are rumblings from various front lines that things are close to being not OK, and still getting worse.
Living with it might be ensuring the ketchup comes out of the bottle gradually, rather than in a spurt that makes a mess of our nice suit.
"Separately, Danish data showed that among people who tested positive between November 22 and December 15, Omicron cases were three times less likely to be admitted to hospital than cases with other variants. But experts warned that the concentration of Omicron outbreaks among younger groups could skew the data.
(Chart showing that so far, Omicron cases in Denmark skew younger than cases from other variants)
“It is primarily young and vaccinated people who are infected with Omicron, and when we adjust for this, we see no evidence that Omicron should result in milder disease,” said Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark’s public health agency, in a press conference on Wednesday."
Does anyone know if the Scottish study was similarly age corrected?
I have tracked down the Scottish paper, and it does adjust for age, vaccine status, SE status by Scottish quintiles and clinical risk. It seems a lot to pile onto 15 admissions, but they did it.
I haven't seen the Scottish report, but are you saying that certain folk are partly justifying the neglect of further measures on the basis of a multifactorial study with total n = 15?!
20,000 Omicron cases, 15 hospitalisations IIRC.
Thanks - that makes much better sense, even if the details miught still be a bit iffy re the different cofactors.
Yep it was fit for all radio news information.
Edit: my question was I didn't think we were up to 20,000 Omicron cases in total in the UK so no idea where the study was from.
Comments
Hope all is well in Chris-land.
You know we're always here to provide comfort and reassurance.
I mean, I sneeze when I do LFTs. Does that mean I have the symptoms of a blocked airway? Well, yes - but there is sort of a reason for that not necessarily linked to Covid. If,however, I am asked if I have sneezed that day, would that be an acceptable explanation?
Please someone tell me it gets better than that.
Cases spiralled so fast that all 12 worst hit areas in Britain are in the capital - mainly in inner London"
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-omicron-covid-variant-borough-b973445.html
Every Succession season starts a bit underwhelming.
Culkin, McFadyen, and Braun I would watch reading the phone book.
This is the moment a masked robber in a Man Utd shirt helped rob a shop - but forgot to put his balaclava on
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/moment-idiot-crook-man-utd-22537855
So not a Civil Servant at the DfE, which was my first thought.
Die Hard is a Christmas film. Heed not the heathen utterances to the contrary!
Hopefully they will re-do their calcs after Christmas to tighten up the confidence interval with all the upcoming data.
'We haven't a clue'
Edit: my question was I didn't think we were up to 20,000 Omicron cases in total in the UK so no idea where the study was from.
(I may of course have been wishing I hadn't said that by the end of this thread!)
@Keir_Starmer
Boris Johnson's recklessness means we're going to have an NHS summer crisis.
The Johnson Variant is already out of control - and we're heading to 100,000 cases a day.
https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1417185971284496384
For some of us, lockdown meant a month of needing advance permission from the police to leave the house, only every three days to visit supermarket or pharmacy, enforced by ANPR cameras and setting speed cameras to zero, and police patrols around residential neighbourhoods - followed by two months of a 10pm curfew, and a ban on visiting anyone else’s house.
The Omicron explosion in London was laid bare on Wednesday with Covid cases sky-rocketing by more than 200 per cent in a week in eight boroughs, official figures reveal.
More than doubled in a week doesn't exactly sound like doubling every 2-3 days, does it?
Doubling every 2.33 days would be up 700% (800% - the initial 100%), whilst the biggest increase is Lambeth at a 261% increase.
We used the Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 (EAVE II) Scotland-wide prospective cohort, which comprises of linked datasets on 5.4 million people in Scotland (~99% of the population), to construct a nested test negative design (TND) among individuals with incident symptomatic infections.
They’ve had a few hard weeks.
You now have to book a seat on some public transport...
Restrictions = everything else
I think my lockdown definition is a bit wider than others by virtue of living alone - I really need indoor mixing for my general well-being, especially in the winter.
However you want to approach it we all owe Christmas this year to Tory MPs. Labour were ready to wave through all of the proposed measures as usual. It was Tory resistance to more lockdowns that has halted it.
And SA. There is no crisis in SA.
It’s difficult to accept, but for once a new variant has arrived that is better for humanity. The evidence is growing by the day.
In PB terms, Covid will be over once we devote more posts to the boundary changes, or WWIII in Ukraine, or Indyref2.
The first few months though, that was a lockdown.
I’ve been a bit busy. What I observed is a new variant creating a hockey stick and people being concerned by that and implemented policies to mitigate risk.
Some evidence came out yesterday saying the risk was not so bad. That is a good thing and policy can adjust accordingly.
The rest is largely BS.
Like when both Major and Boris made their EU agreements a confidence vote.
My other take away is that we all remain at risk until the world vaccinates it’s poorest.
We have to learn to live with this and those both in my immediate family and elsewhere who have caught it have been ill but have not needed medical intervention
tried to record an LFT result and given up.
If you tell young people to get boosted, but still stop them going to open - air stadiums and close night clubs, they are absolutely right to ask what the point is.
However, I do hope that I will be able to go and watch live cricket. It's no fun drinking alone, even on a warm summers day.
So PPE shouldn’t be as important as maybe their career and experience. We’ve seen that scientists are fallible too in a different way and so the calls to stuff politics with scientists isn’t the panacea that people think it would be.
Whatever people think of Sunak’s career he must have been pretty smart to do as well as he did and so thank heaven for small mercies that somebody there understands numbers and not just Roman numerals…..
However, there is still a limit in how many cases the country can cope with at once. (Actually, there are at least two. One is if the hospital beds fill up, the other is if the staff rota isn't filled because of staff who are isolating.) And there are rumblings from various front lines that things are close to being not OK, and still getting worse.
Living with it might be ensuring the ketchup comes out of the bottle gradually, rather than in a spurt that makes a mess of our nice suit.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1043466/20211222_OS_Daily_Omicron_Overview.pdf