Good News Part 5. For science, positivity, puffins and daffodils. For anyone who isn't coping with gloom and doom.All aboard Boaty McBoatface!

[FuzzyPuffling]

New thread for the positive crew. Oldies, lurkers and newbies all welcome. Keep the science and positivity coming.

@FuzzyPuffling

My friend just posted a picture of vaccinations taking place in Lichfield Cathedral. Fabulous venue for a jab.

That must be a great picture - religion and science coming together!

That's just 49 shy of 322k jabs!

I’d love to have a vaccination in a cathedral.

My local, independent, pharmacy announced this today on Facebook!

"ONE OF THE FIRST IN THE COUNTRY!!
From wc 25th jan. Available for pre booked appointments seven days a week 8am till 8pm.
PATIENTS WILL BE INVITED BY THE NATIONAL BOOKING SYSTEM ORGANISED BY NHS ENGLAND when it is their turn to get vaccinated
WE ARE NOT ABLE TO BOOK APPOINTMENTS OURSELVES in the pharmacy so please do not call to ask.
It won’t take long for us to get to you!
We will be working non stop as we always do to get the people of *** and surrounding areas as safe as possible as quickly as possible!
WE WILL BEAT THIS TOGETHER!"

Amazing news, and hopefully more local pharmacies will be doing the same very soon!

Actually, I keep seeing similar but not the same numbers all over the place. Good news anyway.

Maybe they should utilise more churches for vaccinations. In my experience they are draughty places with plenty of space, a lot of seating and not many people! And someone could play the organ to keep everyone entertained. Or ring the bells to say a new delivery of vaccines has arrived.

(Disclaimer, in normal circumstances I am a churchgoer.)

They could ring the bell when there's a spare dose going 😂

Genius.

Plenty of ventilation in a church. It’s an ideal place to vaccinate.

Ringing the bells and playing the organ would be wonderful for morale.

@TeaInTheGarden

We are taking the lead in this race for sure.

we're certainly doing very well. However I read earlier today that Turkey only started it's programme yesterday and managed half a million in the very first day! So we'll have competition, and Israel is certainly steaming ahead (they have a very large conscripted army I'm told, who have basically been tasked with doing it, also a relatively small country) but in terms of the large European nations we are doing best currently. There is a nice graphic doing the rounds which shows it - only real competition at the moment is Denmark.

I obviously hope all nations manage to sort this out, but after the shambles here of the last year it's really nice to see us out ahead.

@FuzzyPuffling
my closest centre is a church just down the road it would appear a lot of GPs are clubbing together to use it. Big draughty space as you say, and also has a decent car park which are rare round here due to how built up it is.

The table of councils on the www.covidmessenger.com homepage is updated with the today's data release.

And there's LOTS of green!!!

(green = cases have fallen week-over-week)

200 councils falling cases week-over-week
114 councils rising cases week-over-week

@littleowl1 Amazing to so much green!

littleowl1 you have Cornwall as falling!

Anyone watching the press conference? BoJo’s a right mood hoover isn’t he...

@SaveWaterDrinkGin

Anyone watching the press conference? BoJo’s a right mood hoover isn’t he...

Something about entry to U.K.? Test for everyone? Missed the detail

I do like Whitty and Vallance they speak well

Chris Whitty has made me feel better than I have all week. So positive

Boost me up ladies !!! Whitty said not back to normal by spring 😭😭😭😭

But he said much better. It’s going to be a slow improvement, of course, but eventually vaccine will do the heavy lifting

Can I just say thank you so much for this thread, I've been in a proper slump all week but feeling much cheerier today reading all this positive news.

I think Whitty is right to stay cautious - we won't be back to normal by spring but looking at the rate of vaccinations we should be looking at significant easing of restrictions.

I mean, if you are looking longingly at concert tickets then you might be shit out of luck but life will still be a lot more normal by spring.

I’d take a tier 2 or 3 over this by then but let’s see. Just some normalcy for dc would help

@FuzzyPuffling

Cornwall has had some astonishing rises in cases recently.

But right now, week-over-week, cases are down. Prelim data suggest tomorrow will also register a week-over-week decline. But that could change.

It may not stay that way, but here's hoping it indicates daily new cases are leveling off. Would be lovely to have Cornwall turn a corner.

Tier 2 would be brilliant. Having a vaccine and being able to enjoy tier 2, priceless.