ADs self isolate in a fridge Boris style

[BogRollBOGOF]

We've polished off our hotel breakfasts, flocked to the beaches and eaten out to help out with Rishi. Now the D-Day style floatilla of Anti-Dementor boats weather the stormy seas of tiers 1, 2 and 3 and support each other through the calls for lockdown.

Hold on tight and get those bouyancy aids on...

Just waving hello to you all. It's nice to see so many familiar names on here.

I don't have much to report, I just feel I'm checking off the days at the moment. I do feel positive about what's waiting on the other side of winter thankfully so that's helping me cope but I know a lot of people are really struggling.

I haven't had the courage to wear this outside yet - and it hasn't really been cold enough yet (was far to warm when I got them - I hope I will dare to wear it. With a hood (and if sunny my photochromic lenses) it will be fun to see the reaction

Our next stage in Wales will be the "Haen o uffern"

@PickAChew
I miss new TP books so much. I have downsized and had to get rid of all my books but I just couldn't. The only ones I have kept have been Terry's.

I just love his books, can read them over and over. Funny but somehow more real than roundworld ones - No genre as such, just life without the roundworld politics.

Funny, intelligent, real, sad, procedural,

Shines a light on so much of human behaviour in a humorous and non blaming way

@HitchikersGuide

Just checking in. Think I need to come off MN again but it's like a car accident... You know you shouldn't look but can't help yourself. What a heap of shit. I wish all the screaming numpties who want this shit show would just lock themselves away and bleach their shopping and their kids to their hearts' content but just leave the rest of us alone. How have we got to a stage where we have government-by-social-media? And every time someone says 'well you'd feel differently if your loved one had died of Covid' , I want to say ' no I wouldn't you simplistic idiot. And what's more, I've never met your 80 year old gran who was 'taken too soon' so honestly no, I don't actually care more about her than about the effing long term shit show we're creating. In similar vein, you utter moron, you don't give a shit about my 88 year old mother's worsening dementia or indeed any other issue. Because you're a self-serving idiot with a brain the size of a pea and no moral compass. ' Ah that's better. God I'm so angry. In case I hadn't made that obvious

All of this.

[quote IAintentDead]@PickAChew
I miss new TP books so much. I have downsized and had to get rid of all my books but I just couldn't. The only ones I have kept have been Terry's.

I just love his books, can read them over and over. Funny but somehow more real than roundworld ones - No genre as such, just life without the roundworld politics.

Funny, intelligent, real, sad, procedural,

Shines a light on so much of human behaviour in a humorous and non blaming way[/quote]
I love the Discworld. They are some of the most intelligent rummages in human nature written by anyone, I think. Quite unflinchingly honest about the small, petty selfishness of your everyday human. And yet so beautifully balanced with warmth and humour and hope. Amazing writing. I could never get rid of my books either.

Where'd you get your skull masks? I'm feeling pissed off and increasingly antisocial. I wants one.

@TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair

Just waving hello to you all. It's nice to see so many familiar names on here.

I don't have much to report, I just feel I'm checking off the days at the moment. I do feel positive about what's waiting on the other side of winter thankfully so that's helping me cope but I know a lot of people are really struggling.

Nice to see your name too, wishing.

For you lovely lot

@justasking111

For you lovely lot

There I am 😂

@SirSamuelVimes

It's this mask from Amazon.

I do love how it looks - much better than I expected

@Taswama

Can someone explain why Nottingham (highest rate in the country) is in tier 2 but Liverpool is tier 3? I (naively) thought the tiers were going to be based on per 100k rates?!

Nottingham suddenly rocketed in recent weeks when the students moved in, and UoN are doing a lot of testing throwing up the numbers with assyptomatic positives. 80-90% not showing symptoms apparently. Cases are very much concentrated on student neighbouthoods and UoN is significantly a campus based university on its Beeston and Jubilee sites. NTU's main campus is in the city centre, but have Clifton Camous in the south.

Nottinghamshire has been dragged into it because the city council boundary is a relatively small core of the city and most of the suburbs fall into surrounding councils like Rushcliffe (catching NTU students in West Bridgford) and Broxtowe (Beeston campus)

Liverpool has a long standing high rate over recent months that has not come down with additional measures. Hospital capacity is more concerning.

Nottingham has good hospital provision at the QMC which is a major regional hospital with major links for R&D at UoN and is is a major pharmacutical city, famously for
Boots.

I hope that being a relatively contained and a lower risk population that the previlence amongst students passes over fairly quickly within weeks with little community transfer.

Can someone explain why Nottingham (highest rate in the country) is in tier 2 but Liverpool is tier 3?

I heard on the radio that it related to the capacity of hospitals as well as just numbers. Also Nottingham University has done a massive testing programme, so high numbers may be mainly amongst students (last time i looked the cases were concentrated in student areas) perhaps a lot of asymptomatic cases, and not leading to higher hospital admissions.

twitter is over capacity

Somewhere I saw someone complaining that their area was up because ALL their 18 to 20 year olds had gone to uni and mixed with 'others' and were then testing positive and the results were being registered to their (posh uncontaminated) home address areas. WTAF

If students weren't being booked to their university areas there would be no huge uptick in uni areas.

AND if they are all infecting each other and getting better isn't that the best result

The problem with "covid-only" care homes as I see it (I visit a lot of care homes) is the well-being of residents who test positive & get moved to one.

Not sure how this will benefit someone who has dementia, & potentially becomes more confused by the move, being looked after by staff who don't know them, possibly then won't eat or drink because of being unsettled, on top of being unwell. I'm not convinced covid homes will save lives.

You would also need very good standards of hygeine & infection control, & excellent leadership to make it work.

Staff already work brutal hours for little pay, some have more than one job. Many are women with dependants at home. Getting staff to stay & live in sounds great & some would do it, but practically I'm not sure it would work out that well.

I think isolating properly within existing care homes would be better. It can, & has been done in the good ones.

www.itv.com/news/2020-10-15/sale-of-alcohol-in-house-of-commons-to-be-banned-speaker-announces

@HeIenaDove

twitter is over capacity

Oops. It looks a bit broken

@TheOrchidKiller
I agree - if a resident in a care home is tested positive then their care needs to remain within, what is, their home - with as much protection as possible.

In my post, I meant people being discharged from hospital because they no longer need medical/nursing care.

If people cannot be discharged to their own home, existing care homes shouldn't have to accept them. There should be dedicated convalescent/palliative care homes/wards with dedicated staff.

I am never in favour of moving people with dementia unless it is essential for them to get care that isn't available where they are. IE home to care home or either of these to hospital.

@TheOrchidKiller

The problem with "covid-only" care homes as I see it (I visit a lot of care homes) is the well-being of residents who test positive & get moved to one.

Not sure how this will benefit someone who has dementia, & potentially becomes more confused by the move, being looked after by staff who don't know them, possibly then won't eat or drink because of being unsettled, on top of being unwell. I'm not convinced covid homes will save lives.

You would also need very good standards of hygeine & infection control, & excellent leadership to make it work.

Staff already work brutal hours for little pay, some have more than one job. Many are women with dependants at home. Getting staff to stay & live in sounds great & some would do it, but practically I'm not sure it would work out that well.

I think isolating properly within existing care homes would be better. It can, & has been done in the good ones.

Aye, but they need to fund the care homes better than the outrageously low bids the care home owners put in to make that work. Like everything else outsourced, suddenly something thrown into the private sector to save money is turning out to be a false economy and it is not the fault of the people staffing the homes at a few pence above nmw.

iAintentdead

That mask is great, wear it. I bought similar but it was too tight. Must have a fat face!

I must say, all this infighting about north south lockdowns has at least made the news a bit more interesting - I am sitting back with a mix of horror and amusement to see what happens next.
I have noticed, on the BBC news website, that they often seem to use pictures of people wearing masks outdoors, which, as we know, is not a requirement. I wonder why?
I e mailed Dunelm after they indicated their policy was no mask, no shopping. They, in turn, have asked which store I want to go to, and they will ask and let me know what 'the management' say. I did say in my e mail that I hoped they weren't considering being discriminatory against the disabled. I'll let you know what happens.

That's a good point about dedicated convalescent homes & decent funding. The current system doesn't allow for it. It's a matter of getting patients out of hospital to anywhere when the hospitals are busy. And no, it is not the carers' fault.

A lot is coming back to chronic underinvestment through public services (or money ploughed into the wrong thing, or simply done badly...)

We need capacity in the NHS so that it's not in peril every bloody Dec/ Jan at peak flu season

The policies of super-sizing hospitals and schools, and closing smaller community services is ideal for viral spread.

It isn't simple to go back because the defunct land was sold off.

My DC's school is lovely modern and only 20 years old (it should be older, the area went for years without a school). It's just too small. Site space is no issue, they just skimped on the classroom space and even at the best of times, the kids fall over themselves to move around.
Every school I know that's been redone with PFI was skimped on sizes and classrooms. Secondary teachers no longer get a room to be based in most of the time and are moving around with the kids. Teaching in 5 different rooms per day, with creaky technology that's slow to get started impairs your ability to get a great start to the lesson.

The government doesn't like this being exposed.

Talking of the tier 2/3 arguments I was talking to another mum at swimming the other day. She's technically in the tier 3 area but we aren't and swimming is still in tier 2. She said she was unsure whether they should still attend or not. It's never occurred to me not to attend something in another tier. I'm not even certain where the exact area boundaries are for the things we do. Obviously I could check on a map but before now it would never have occurred to me to do so. I just see our activities as part of my local area even though I'm driving over 'boundaries' all the time.

There's considerably more mask wearing outdoors in Liverpool centre this week than there was last. Not by me though!

With the care homes. I'm so glad my grandparents died just before this kicked off. I feel so sorry for those with elderly relatives they can't visit or support. It's just awful.

My main argument against lockdown, social distancing etc is the damage it is doing to MH, particularly amongst the young and the old. I spend many depressing shifts talking to elderly people who have tried to commit suicide because they are so fucking lonely. They say things like, ‘ my family won’t come and see me because they’re scared of giving me the virus’ and ‘ I haven’t had a hug for months, I can’t go on like this’. All their routines have gone, day centres, chats in the library and at coffee after church, they can’t hear people with masks and so their isolation mounts. Those who are carers for spouse never get a break because the volunteer befrienders and friendly neighbours can’t come in to sit with their spouse to allow them out. Most don’t succeed in taking their own life because they don’t know what will kill them so they take an OD of antibiotics or laxatives and are therefore not put on any casualty of Covid list, but they really do want to die.
Some do succeed and I wonder how many are not even noticed as an OD because they’re expected to die fairly soon so no post mortem. After all most of the elderly stockpile their meds anyway and an overdose of , for example, beta blockers wouldn’t be noticed.
Those who sanctimoniously say “ they wouldn’t like dying of Covid either” are spectacularly missing the point. Life’s are being shortened massively, loneliness is the biggest killer in the western world before all this shit happened, god knows how many it will kill now.