ADs building hadron colliders out of used yoghurt pots

[NannyGythaOgg]

... whilst waiting to see if the kids are or are not going to school next week and walking with imaginary cows.

previous thread

The conclusion therefore is to avoid hospitals, surely.

The Zoe app is good for seeing what's going on in the community as opposed to the hospital transmissions. Joel Smalley on Twitter is also good for data and pertinent questions.

Looks like the tiers announcement is tomorrow, though I've only got that from Twitter.

I suspect it is becoming a hospital acquired infection, much like MRSA did. Someone posted (maybe an earlier thread) that only 25% of covid infections are now caught in the community. The other 75% are all hospital/nursing home acquired

Then i can see a backlash for the NHS on the horizon. I dont think people will respond too well to being used as tokenism

Some people are saying they have had messages from school, asking them to get tested.

We had an email from the MAT saying they hope we don't have to notify them of a case so we can all enjoy Christmas.

Also they are not closing Friday despite being told they could.

Not sure how I feel about it all. I don't like feeling guilted into other having or not having these tests. Fed up with it all.

Hospitals, care homes, similar with people using toilets, etc and older with underlying conditions..must be the main areas of concern surely

@thenightsky
I agree along with workplaces such as food processing plants, warehouses, distribution centres etc

I will not be participating in any voluntary testing. I don't see the point of it unless I am in contact with any vulnerable people (which I'm not). It's merely adding the the hysteria. The only measure that should be important is an honest assessment on the availability of hospital beds and ICU beds. Clearly we need to protect those who are most at risk but that has already started with vaccinations in care homes

I posted about nosocomial spread

It’s looked like that for ages and ages.

But they like to blame pubs!

@makingitupaswegoon

I will not be participating in any voluntary testing. I don't see the point of it unless I am in contact with any vulnerable people (which I'm not). It's merely adding the the hysteria. The only measure that should be important is an honest assessment on the availability of hospital beds and ICU beds. Clearly we need to protect those who are most at risk but that has already started with vaccinations in care homes

Agree. I’d not test unless I had symptoms.

I too will resist any voluntary testing. They think we don't know that more tests = more positives FOUND. Also, I refuse to condemn myself to "once a covid, always a covid" if I can possibly help it.

Don't read it if you're avoiding the Covid topic, but the thread about tonight's press conference actually has a lot of sensible replies, mostly on the theme that "if Boris says he'll clear things up, he'll do the exact opposite". Also that he said "it will be over by Christmas 2021"; well, he did also tell us not long ago that it would be over by Christmas this year. Fucking liar.

BBC say Wales will put that in law re two households but with exemptions for single households

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55336452

@Iheartmysmart

Wouldn’t surprise me. One of my grandparents went into our local hospital for a minor operation. Came out malnourished with MRSA and c-diff. Went from a fairly active and independent person to a shell in a matter of days!

Dps grandma went in with a broken ankle and died of some infection think it was MRSA that she caught in hospital.

@reedwarbler I hope all went well today for your father in law's funeral. Blobby what you said about your son having to go out in full body armour was scary. Yes you accept risks as your child is in the military but my goodness all parents want their babies safe, no matter how old they are! I don't think you need to feel that others have it worse than you, some do but it is a big issue for you. Having said that I hope you don't worry too much and that his duty there is uneventful!
Don't have much to say here, took my kids back to school today and they enjoyed it. Whilst I haven't liked the attitude of the teachers in the press - or one of my social media friends (who is now snoozed for 30 days due to her relentless talk of the risks to teachers. She works in EYFS, I'd have more sympathy if it was secondary due to their levels of infection) - the teachers at my children's school have been fantastic at doing as well as they can to keep things normal for the children. Sad they can't have their Christmas dinner at school, especially as for one of my girls it's her last year and one of the others it's her first, but that's the fault of our councillor rather than them. @Jourdain11 you were right when you said that you didn't think that they actually had the right to do that, I wish my borough hadn't behaved in such a rash way! I hope that you are feeling better and that your daughter is managing to eat something. Hope everyone else is ok!

@wanderings
Don't read it if you're avoiding the Covid topic, but the thread about tonight's press conference actually has a lot of sensible replies, mostly on the theme that "if Boris says he'll clear things up, he'll do the exact opposite". Also that he said "it will be over by Christmas 2021"; well, he did also tell us not long ago that it would be over by Christmas this year. Fucking liar.

What I don't understand is the constant requirement some people have for them to define 'elderly', or 'how far is too far', when those things are guidance.

Those things are relative and are giving us the opportunity to do our own risk assessment. I know people my age (65) who I would class as elderly. They are sedentary, have comorbidities, have been more or less isolating since March and are generally just old. (Isolating since March meaning their normal immune system has been allowed to hibernate and weaken). I also know people in their 70s who are in no way 'elderly'. They are active, sociable, eat a healthy diet etc etc. It really shouldn't need spelling out by the government at what number of years you become elderly.

Similarly with distance, if you think it's a long way, it is and if you don't, then for you it isn't.

I would happily go and stay with my sister and bil for a couple of days, it's a 3 hour drive, but they are both retired as am I. So none of us has been doing much mixing and their house is huge, with their lounge being about 4m x 10m, so once there we wouldn't be on top of each other. we would also be out each day for a walk, again reducing the amount of shared air.

On the other hand, if my parent's were still alive, I would avoid going for more than half an hour, even though they were only half an hour away. They would be frail, which is why I would still go, but the time spent there would be sedentary, in a red hot room, with very little space and no air changes. (And, although getting it doesn't worry me much, I would be more likely to catch it there because of the number of care workers they would be in regular contact with)

@wanderings We know damn well this will go on into next year and may well include next Christmas, a lot arent falling for the "lets have Christmas next June" schtick. Would it be like for like. A four day holiday (Xmas this year is from Friday to Monday) So would they pick a Friday next June and close all the shops that day to replicate Christmas Day? Course that wouldnt happen . Not with all the money businesses have lost already. Esther Rantzen came out with this shit last night on Channel 4 news. We all know this is going to drag on and this is just more goalpost moving.

One of the women who works in a local supermarket here looks after her grandchildren so her daughter can go to work in the NHS as an ICU nurse. Whitty might want to be careful what he wishes for!!

I agree with you Nanny about age & risk assessment. I know unfit, unhealthy younger people who are always ill, & older people who are fit & active.

Maybe I have a warped sense of what being old means because I've known a lot of well & independent older people?

A couple of months before my GM died she told us she got chatting to a stranger at a bus stop.The stranger was moaning about all her ailments & then said that she was 75 so it was to be expected. GM said, "Is it?" She was 91. She would not have enjoyed this at all.

@TheOrchidKiller my DM is 84 and hates all this, She does have health problems from working in poultry factiories from the 1960s to nearly 2016, But she HATES what this is doing to young people. Shes been saying they will have nothing left. And shes asked why the homeless are still on the streets in a serious pandemic. Shes REALLY pissed off with the inconsistencies. I think them treating older people like kids or like they are stupid has backfired spectacularly. DM HATES being patronized and talked down to.

You've nailed it about patronizing the elderly @MercyBooth.
When GM was merely in her 80s she was a bit bored & looked into joining local groups. She was offered Bingo. She was outraged, & quite rightly so.

The funeral went as well as a funeral can in the present circumstances. The rain poured down throughout, and the sky was dark. Very biblical (although I am an atheist, but no matter). Thank you for all your thoughts and wishes. Poor H was a bit overstressed so I have fed him up with prime steak and chips tonight to cheer him up a bit- also in memory of his dad as it was his favourite meal too.
My H's stepmother died 10 years ago of a hospital acquired infection. The NHS don't have a very good record for us, do they?
We are planning on having a 'memorial garden party' in the summer for fil. But, like others, at the moment I really don't hold out much hope for anything like normality then. We are not even considering holiday bookings for example. I live in hope that the population will rise up and shout 'no more! ' at some point, especially if the vaccine roll out carries on as planned.
Neither of us have ever been tested for covid. On the local news just now were images of people sticking cotton buds up their noses (lovely while you're eating), testing 'just in case' they have got it. Why? If you feel ill and have the symptoms, then test. Otherwise, what's the point? I really don't understand this, and I have read that there is very little evidence of asymptomatic infection. It is mostly occurring, and spread, in institutions.

@TheOrchidKiller DM was working in the fields and running a farm at 7/8 years old because Nonno was conscripted into the Italian Army. She was brought up in poverty in post war Italy and had to grow up quickly. She hasnt seen relatives for many years as couldnt afford to fly back and forth plus being older now. "all ive got close is my family here" Family Christmases are incredibly important to her. Plus she can no longer lift a turkey in and out of the oven. She needs help.

She had to grow up so quickly and to be treated like a child now is galling.

Welled up typing this. Has reminded me of how much i love her.

@Reedwarbler My thoughts are with you and your DH

Hi everyone. Long time lurker - these threads are a lifesaver for my mental health!

Was speaking earlier to a secondary school teacher sort-of-colleague. They have loads of children sent home isolating at the moment (she's in an Essex hotspot). Think more of the pupils at are home at the moment than are in school.

BUT she said it has been really good being in school this term - yes, it's been difficult, but the children only get one shot at an education, so it's important that they try their best for them. And that she was enjoying being in school, and that the rest of the SLT felt the same.

So just thought I'd leave that there to counter the doom-and-gloom posted by teachers so often on MN

Im in Essex Braintree.