[Tubby Isaacs]

Just going yo do it now, as it happens.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Got them. What do I do now? Flying on 16th Feb.

[Boiler]

Got them. What do I do now? Flying on 16th Feb.

Follow the instructions in the box. Have a go with one now?

You will need to sort out an NHS account so you can report the result of the test(s) which you can do here https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result - you'll also need to download the Covid 'passport' as well to your phone.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavir ... ovid-pass/

Then, as described before, you and your fellow travellers will each have to do a test less than 24 hours before you travel and report the results. You can report for someone else, by the way. Get the text and e-mail confirmations, this is important.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Thank you. That's a good idea about doing a practice test.

[Spoonman]

So Charles has got the 'rona again & was in close contact with his mother quite recently.

Covid: Charles met Queen two days before testing positive

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60334842

It would be a fairly morbid irony if Elizabeth Windsor was to suddenly become quite ill with Johnson & Co. determined to lift all COVID-19 restrictions in England at seemingly any cost.

P.S. The above article mentions that Charles is triple-vaxed - didn't know that they could be given to lizards.

[The All New KevS]

On the other hand, should the worst happen, God forbid, then Johnson will use it as a dead cat the size of a brontosaurus.

[Boiler]

Brenda's just tested positive for Covid. (source: BBC)

[Cyclist]

Would it be overly dramatic to say the Tories want us dead?

Public health advice is no longer being followed under Boris Johnson’s “living with Covid” strategy to end mass testing, senior civil servants have acknowledged in a leaked account of a cross-Whitehall briefing.

The briefing by a senior member of the Covid taskforce was delivered to civil service leaders across Whitehall on Thursday afternoon, making clear that following public health advice was no longer the sole priority...

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... ak-reveals

This is not good

“It will be the case from 1 April that testing in DH own settings including the NHS and adult social care will not fully match the public health advice because of spending considerations. We will not be testing adult social care staff or NHS staff at the frequency recommended by clinicians because there is not the funding to pay for it.”

The government has not published its public health advice from the UK Health and Security Agency but it is understood its advisers did not recommend winding down testing unless the prevalence of Covid was at a low level in the UK and that the pandemic was in a “steady state” near to endemicity. The government’s experts do not believe that state has currently been reached.

The strategy to end mass testing was published after a row between Sajid Javid, the health secretary, who wanted up to £5bn more for testing, and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, who insisted there would be no more cash after spending £15bn over the last year.

The strategy ends most symptomatic and all asymptomatic testing for the general population, as well as for NHS staff. It will be decided over the next month whether very elderly people and some vulnerable people will get free lateral flow tests if they are symptomatic.

This bit is comedy gold - if you like very dark humour, that is

Johnson has repeatedly stressed throughout the pandemic that he would “follow the science” and listen to his public health experts.

Tories show their true colours. Money before people.

We're fucked, aren't we.

[Boiler]

Well, I am pleased to learn from an e-mail forwarded yesterday that masks and distancing will still be compulsory for at least the next three weeks at work, depending upon what a relaxation in certain allied areas shows. Isolation, if you test positive, will *still* be required to isolate until two consecutive tests show negative.

I'll still keep wearing them even if restrictions are lifted, especially around those colleagues I know to be on the "extremely vulnerable" list.

[Cyclist]

More joined-up thinking from a government renowned for it...

The government has left schools to make their own decisions over turning pupils with Covid symptoms away, amid fears of conflict with parents.

School leaders’ union NAHT had demanded “clear and unambiguous guidance” for schools and parents when the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid was scrapped this week.

Today the government has updated guidance for parents and carers who “insist” on children attending with symptoms.

It informs them schools can still “take the decision to refuse your child if, in their reasonable judgement, it is necessary to protect other pupils and staff from possible infection”.

Similar wording is used in operational guidance for schools themselves, though it says such decisions can be made for pupils with either “confirmed or suspected” cases. There is no explicit reference to symptoms.

A line in the advice for parents – but not schools – adds: “Their decision would need to be carefully considered in light of all the circumstances and current public health advice.”

School leaders meanwhile are told that “in most cases” parents will agree children with symptoms should remain at home...

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-covid ... ttendance/

You must send your infected kids to school, who will promptly send them home again. Or not.

[Boiler]

"Yes, because you have to go back to your office, slacker. You'd have sent your child in with a cold and this is no worse, according to my science."

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The junior school I am a governor at has had to close completely as over 50% of staff are infected. They don't have enough teachers to cover classes or ensure safeguarding and most of the senior management team are out.

Sick staff expected (by Zahawi) to teach remotely...


Let it rip.

[Boiler]

Cases are climbing round here again, not falling.

Heard at work yesterday:

"We've got a meeting about 'X' tomorrow."

" 'Y' is saying he can't attend as he has Covid."

"It's a Zoom meeting. Tell him you can't spread Covid over the Internet."

Looks like presenteeism is back.

[Nigredo]

Went to my first gig on over 2 years last night. I'd say the venue was overstuffed to be breaching fire safety regulations, let alone COVID-19. Here's hoping I haven't picked anything up.

[Boiler]

28% increase in testing positive over the last seven days, 1.6% increase in hospitalisations.

Herd immunity it is then; this from the Guardian caught my eye though.


Why have some people never caught Covid?

Also: Covid can shrink brain and damage its tissue, finds research

[Watchman]

Went to a wedding reception on Saturday night, there is now a COVID outbreak! Me and Mrs Watch feeling a bit slow and cold like symptoms, but this mornings LFT ‘s were negative. Son negative but similar symptoms, but d-i-l positive and gone down with a really bad cold

[Boiler]

Here's hoping that all remains well, Mr Watch. My T1 diabetic colleague seems to have recovered well (we were desperately trying to protect him at work) and is just waiting for his two consecutive negatives; another colleague said that took twelve days in his case.

I had a text message from my brother this afternoon: my elder great-nephew has tested positive for the second time - the last time was mid-October. Delta -> Omicron? - also, did he get it from school or his little brother, who has also had it this week?

[Watchman]

Mrs Watch and I now positive, son now has it. Everyone feels it’s like a bad cold

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Mrs Watch and I now positive, son now has it. Everyone feels it’s like a bad cold

Hope it stays that way! Get well soon.

[Watchman]

Thank you