[davidjay]

Well, who could have seen this coming?

Covid-19 is no longer a disease of the vaccinated, the head of the Oxford jab programme has said.

The “ongoing horror” of patients gasping for breath in hospital is now “largely restricted” to people who are unvaccinated, according to Prof Sir Andrew Pollard.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -scientist

I am shocked to hear that people who get vaccinated against a disease generally suffer less badly if they catch it than those who don't get vaccinated.

Who'd have thought?




Note: I'm not taking the piss out of Sir Andrew here.

All well and good but this does lead to the idea that it's all over so we can do whetaver we iike now, vaxed or not, because someone like me won't suffer. And that phrase "underlying health issues" comes into play again. Many people think it means the chronically ill, when in reality it can mean mild asthma, controlled blood pressure or diabetes, anyone who is on any form of prescription medicine.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is good. You'll probably get it straightaway but Alex Berenson is apparently pushing a Covid version of this.

[zuriblue]

I was in the UK between the 29th and the 7th and this morning I got a mail from World Beating 37 Billion Test and Trace telling me I'd been in contact with someone who'd tested positive and I need to self isolate for 10 days. I've tried to fill in the online form and it won't let me as I can't produce a UK postcode.

Firstly I can't be the only Brit living abroad who visits every now and then, secondly what is the bloody use in sending me an instruction to self isolate for 10 days 23 days after the latest possible contact?

I sent them an email, expect an answer within 72 hours. I called the phone line and got a recorded message then a hang up.

[Nigredo]

https://archive.ph/owfNf

UK closest to the end of the pandemic apparently.

[Nigredo]

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-11-25/

Well, never bloody mind then. Still a couple more years of COVID to go it would seem.

[Nigredo]

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-11-25/

Well, never bloody mind then. Still a couple more years of COVID to go it would seem.

Apologies for triple posting (and quoting myself) but here's an insightful Tweeter thread on this new development:

[The All New KevS]

Case of new variant in Belgium.

Admittedly the person in question is unvaccinated, but she'd only been to Egypt via Turkey. Hadn't been anywhere near the countries mentioned previously.

Strap yourselves in.

[Nigredo]

https://archive.md/0lIdc

‘Nu’ Covid variant: How worried should we be about the new African strain?

[kreuzberger]

Looks like ‘Omicron’ (yay, it's got a name and sounds like a 90s media buying conglomerate so it must be bad!) is now confirmed in Belgium and anecdotally also in the UK.

Doesn't look good, does it?

[Boiler]

Looks like ‘Omicron’ (yay, it's got a name and sounds like a 90s media buying conglomerate so it must be bad!) is now confirmed in Belgium and anecdotally also in the UK.

Doesn't look good, does it?

Listened to discussion of this on the drive home from work, where I learned a colleague has tested positive; so made a note to do a LFT when I got in.

Got to M&S to buy my dinner, with the recent naming of "Omicron" still in my head.

Probably about 10 - 15% of the customers (and staff) were masked...

The sleety rain and strong North wind seemed fitting.

[kreuzberger]

My scooter was in for its TÜV (MoT) today so I was on the transit system for a total of about 2 hours this afternoon. Faultless maskedness and responsibility, and spatial reticence to a tee.

Again, it is just a straw poll but I have no idea where this 0.35% infection weekly rate is coming from. Or, do those maths answer themselves and there is a level of infectious background noise that will continue until we are all vaccinated against the latest dominant strain?

I am not an epidemiologist.

[Boiler]

I am not an epidemiologist.

Unlike, it would seem, the majority of BTL commentors....

[The All New KevS]

Javid yesterday: "We shall do all we can to ensure this variant doesn't reach us"

Javid today: "It's in Chelmsford and Nottingham"

Ho hum.

[The All New KevS]

Johnson press conference later. Plan B here we come?

[The All New KevS]

So masks back in shops and public transport.

But not pubs, nightclubs, cinemas, theatres, restaurants etc.

And Javid will explain how it will be enforced "later".

Clueless.

[Cyclist]

Masks back? For some of us they never went away.

On the bright side, if the run-up to Christmas is going to see pubs crammed with maskless idiots the government might have to impose a lockdown while I'm in Yorkshire, so I'll be stuck at my mum's on Special Paid Leave for some indeterminate period.

Every cloud, and all that.

[Boiler]

Masks back? For some of us they never went away.

Certainly didn't at work, where 2m plus masks remains mandatory except where exempt. Judging by the stupidity on display round here, I think I will now have to adopt a policy of FFP2 or even FFP3 in shops and on buses but IIR at work.

Mate of mine suggested a "session" after work in a week's time: I think we'll be canning that (leastways, I will).

[The All New KevS]

Apologies, should have said "mandatory masks back" - all of sensible folk have never stopped, choosing to be sensible instead of following the example of the stumbling Kendal Mint Cake tribute act. (Thanks to Twitter for that one)

No doubt the cretins saying they won't wear a mask will be the first to scream if Xmas goes up the spout.

And if it becomes law, they'll still probably break it, and then blame Jodie Whitaker.

[Boiler]

[...] the example of the stumbling Kendal Mint Cake tribute act.

You're going to have to explain that one for me...

[The All New KevS]

Someone tweeted it as an insult, and I chortled heartily.

Not as good as the one Michael Spicer came up with the other day: "You football mascot costume full of straw!"