Coronavirus

[exeterjeep]

13 minutes ago, windymiller said:

so face masks back in shops and public transport ?? boris on the box at mo

looks like yes, be confirmed in a day or 2 by health sec.

[Bibs]

It's not a hard decision to make, they should say back to masks now. It's not a major inconvenience and is effective.

[exeterjeep]

Our neighbours are currently in Guernsey, technically not part of the UK, I wonder if the new rules will apply to them when they return.

[pete]

Was there earlier this year and masks have never been worn there. Hand sanitising was every where though

[gregs24]

17 hours ago, exeterjeep said:

Our neighbours are currently in Guernsey, technically not part of the UK, I wonder if the new rules will apply to them when they return.

Guernsey is part of the Common Travel Area so no changes for them on return to Mainland UK

There are suggestions that the symptoms for 'omicron' are quite different to 'delta'. Will be interesting to see. Current media reporting is very poor and frequently inaccurate. Some of the questions at the PM news conference were plain embarrassing.

[gregs24]

13 of the passengers testing positive in Holland had the 'omicron' variant. It is inconceivable that previous flights last week will not be similar, and likewise those to the UK.

Current measure in the UK will only slow down the rate of introduction, but within a couple of weeks I imagine community spread will be well established, by which time transport restrictions will be pointless.

[exeterjeep]

Yes in these circumstances you can hardly put in place new restrictions before knowing about the existence of the new variant, and then can only plan for trying to reduce its spread once you know it exists. Or you have to keep more restrictions in place all the time. Then hospitality and the airlines etc will all complain. Bit of a no win scenario.

[Barrykearley]

Masks are back from Tuesday then. The last time it was compulsory did covid cases cease? Ummm 

[Bibs]

I think a summary is that while it's more transmissible, it's easier to detect but asymptomatic or at least less severe. 

Isn't 90% of the UK now vaccinated? Not sure what all the panic is about other than something exciting to put in the news after it had all settled down. 

[exeterjeep]

50 minutes ago, Bibs said:

I think a summary is that while it's more transmissible, it's easier to detect but asymptomatic or at least less severe. 

Isn't 90% of the UK now vaccinated? Not sure what all the panic is about other than something exciting to put in the news after it had all settled down. 

I think there is a suggestion that even people that are double jabbed can get this version more easily than the Delta variant. If that was the case then there may be more pressure on the NHS.

[Bibs]

Only if it's severe enough to require hospitalisation, which early reports are saying it's not. It's not even affecting people's sense of smell, it's reported that it's pretty mild. 

[NeilP]

With this new variant now identified, we have a delay until science can understand how effective the current set of vaccines will be against severe illness and worse. 
 

Death rates are low for covid (related), I just wish the govt would show the age groups for those daily infections - the rate has been 40k plus for a while now, so  would be interesting to correlate age groups of infection vs the death.

I’m all for protecting ourselves from infection, but as Barry said above does mask wearing really help (sorry if that provokes further debate) when infection rates still climbed.

[exeterjeep]

Just now, NeilP said:

I’m all for protecting ourselves from infection, but as Barry said above does mask wearing really help (sorry if that provokes further debate) when infection rates still climbed.

But I am led to believe that a large proportion on the newest cases are youngsters, eg school age, where they do not have masks. Older kids wore masks for a while but this was relaxed. Hospitalisations are often those who have not been jabbed.

[Barrykearley]

5 minutes ago, Bibs said:

it's reported that it's pretty mild

Not according to some media outlets - whom have been enjoying the thesaurus in describing the end of man.

[NeilP]

That’s true.

Currently kids in school don’t need to wear masks - a source of frustration during prev lockdown - then had to wear them in corridors.

The govt have been cagey in seeding the public with what might be coming, and then introduce restrictions. I really hope this doesn’t happen again, but only science will prove that. 
As to the effect of the new strain - main media are having a field day sensationalising a story to sell more content (my personal bike) - we need to wait for science.

(I’m tripple jabbed and all for vaccines by the way)
 

 

[exeterjeep]

As Bibs said, 

Omicron symptoms mild so far, says South African doctor who spotted it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-59450988

[Barrykearley]

55 minutes ago, NeilP said:

Currently kids in school don’t need to wear masks - a source of frustration during prev lockdown - then had to wear them in corridors.

Not any longer - we’ve had communication from the kids school tonight that as per gov guidance it’s masks at school

[NeilP]

That’s good news Barry!

[Barrykearley]

It’s frankly utter bollocks - in a school of 1500 kids not one has died of covid in the last 2 years. They also have to test twice weekly.

what next - taking PREP just in case of exposure to HIV?

[exeterjeep]

Even Australia has a case on the new variant, I wonder how long it will be until they close down again.

[andydclements]

9 hours ago, Barrykearley said:

It’s frankly utter bollocks - in a school of 1500 kids not one has died of covid in the last 2 years. They also have to test twice weekly.

what next - taking PREP just in case of exposure to HIV?

The kids keep acting as routes to infect adults, so stop the easy spread in the school children means less adults infected and so less hospitalisations 

[Barrykearley]

Worked really well when the kids were home schooled didnt it @andydclements. Oh hang on - no cases rose exponentially anyway even though schools and shops were shut.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

That’s just not true. Schools were closed March - June (or September) 2020 and cases dropped. After re-opening September 2020 cases rose exponentially until they closed again in January 2021 when cases fell exponentially yet again until re-opening in March 2021. Since the summer, they have risen again.

[Barrykearley]

I stand corrected @LotusLeftLotusRight - but  do note that when schools reopened they all had to wear masks.

 

https://fb.watch/9AiQ2Oqj2c/

[march]

Our neighbour died of Covid 19 last week. Mind you he was 95.