The UK may have got it right

[VioletRiemelt]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57911032

Australians back in lockdown, while our restrictions are gone. Our exit wave could be over by September.

Wha aren’t kids being jabbed? Given they are super spreaders with schools you’d think they’d be a priority.

Why do people bang on about variants. We want it to mutate to a less serious disease.

You do understand that's not how viruses work, don't you? Is this Boris' new plan, negotiate with the virus to be more kind?

My mate recently undertook a City and Guilds exam at home. It was on a computer package made by C&G and the invigilator was on Zoom and he had to place the phone so it was looking over him.

So why can’t all exams be done like this.

Do the french go to their local uni?

Our issue was probably more we had the pubs open so students arrive start going up. (If schools had had masks)

Weve mainly done badly as
No masks on kids until just before easter 2021.
Pubs being open - it has raised r over 1 every time that school has also been in. (It wasnt too bad when this yr pubs open outside only plus schools

@Notonthestairs

So one the one hand you want to compare and on the other you absolutely can't 🙄

Exactly! What a bizarre post-let’s compare two countries, oh, but we can’t compare them too closely

Our only way out of this now and attempt to get schools functioning as ‘normal’ is to offer vaccines for over 12s.

The NHS has been on its knees for a long time. Think Boris wants to highlight this and make out it’s not fit for purpose so he can privatise it all.
‘Nobody will support another lockdown’ has been the cry from the beginning almost, but it has happened time and time again whether we supported it or not. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another. Boris is a chump. He’s basically just given up.

I think it's too early to say which country (if any!) got it 'right'. This virus comes and goes in waves, so at any point a country can look like its policy is working, but a few months later they're back with a big wave. This will be fascinating to analyse in future years, but right now, I think we just can't say.

@treedragon

Wha aren’t kids being jabbed? Given they are super spreaders with schools you’d think they’d be a priority.

Because it is more risky for them to have the vaccine than Covid. And why should we need to get the kids jabbed to protect adults who believe daft conspiracy theories?

I think there's a lot of hysteria on this board now. I don't know how anyone can stick around here without going crazy.

I think we have done some things rather well. Investment in vaccinations and a determined effort to distribute quickly by clinical need rather than whinging capital was well done.

I think it was a good that the jcvi were clear about the ethics of vaccinating a section of a population who do not, on balance
benefit form the vaccine to preserve the well-being of those who do. Although I think quicker work should be made to immunise vulnerable children.

I think having an exit wave over the summer and autumn months before we all retreat indoors and the flu starts spreading is the least worst option.

That's not to say I think the whole thing was a success. We moved far too slowly to begin with and education provision in the first wave was abysmal. Eat out malarkey was a farce.

I don't trust anyone who thinks that any one country got things entirely wrong or entirely correct. It's the kind of black and white thinking that betrays political grudges.

We are all going to need a booster by September!

@JellyBabiesFan

Population density

UK - 700 people per square mile
Australia - 7 people per square mile

A virus transmitted by air being more problematic in very densely populated environment.?

Who wudda thunk it?

As most of Australia’s population is concentrated in cities, this isn’t a valid comparison. However it is true that population density in Australian cities is lower than that of cities in the UK, though indoor spaces (eg classrooms) may be similar, albeit perhaps more easily ventilated.

Not really. Wait and see what happens over the next month.

What Australia should have done was to vaccinate everyone while their cases were non existent. They’re in panic mode now. My friend can’t book a Pfizer jab until September and is too scared to get AZ.

Let’s hope so
There is no public support for more lockdowns so I don’t think the government has a choice

I think polls have repeatedly shown that the majority still support lockdown.

My friend can’t book a Pfizer jab until September and is too scared to get AZ.

That's one thing we have got right. We do not have the unnecessary silliness that some countries have over vaccines, with heightened anxieties due to governments / politicians trying to win political capital.

I think we have done some things rather well. Investment in vaccinations and a determined effort to distribute quickly by clinical need rather than whinging capital was well done

Many countries invested in vaccines and now have rates of the pop. vaxxed similar to UK but still far lower death rates plus it now turns out the EU funded Oxford for many years long before CV, help build the earlier work AZ vaxx was based on.

I think it was a good that the jcvi were clear about the ethics of vaccinating a section of a population who do not, on balance
benefit form the vaccine to preserve the well-being of those who do

More to do with vaxx supply?

I think having an exit wave over the summer and autumn months before we all retreat indoors and the flu starts spreading is the least worst option

Looks like Delta will just keep re infecting, so i don't think we will see this reduce without mitigation measures.

I don't trust anyone who thinks that any one country got things entirely wrong or entirely correct. It's the kind of black and white thinking that betrays political grudges

Criticising deciosns made by the ruling govt, doesn't betray grudges at all, thats daft.
CV has made me change from being a long standing Conservative to wanting anything but!
For me, its highlighted the NHS, education, skills and training (or lack off)
Do agree, there is a long way to go but so far the UK's data is v bad and thats what matters.

I think we have done some things rather well

I don’t.

Given how many of us are crammed into our tiny island, our rates were always going to be high.

I’d like to introduce you to the concept of ‘Singapore’.

They've just messed up their vaccine roll out.

We're pretty much reliant on no more variants

@VioletLupins Kids education hasn't been affected in the slightest...Fucking hell some people.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Quite.

Yes I think we might have done. It’s hard to know either way yet but Australia are in a terrible conundrum and I can’t see a clear way out for them.
The ideal scenario is a bit of elimination in 2020 with the ability to create, test and manufacture credible vaccines and then the ability to roll it out to your population quickly. On the second part the U.K. have obviously excelled but we did cock up part one.
My opinion is that to do well in part two ( the vaccine) is actually much more important than achieving elimination in part one. An ideal response would be to be good at both, pre and post vaccine.
I do think we’ll have to see where we all are in a years time before knowing for certain.

@VioletLupins Kids education hasn't been affected in the slightest...Fucking hell some people

Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Quite

This ^

What about the 1.5 m pupils who weren’t in school due to isolation/ infection last week? Or don’t they count?

Australia and NZ got it right, however it is not sustainable for them given that the rest of the world has got it so spectacularly wrong.

No one has got it right. No country on earth has handled this perfectly. Even NZ which has a totally different population spread from us. There is no perfect way to handle this. The best way is to vaccinate effectively as many people as possible. We've done that. Bozza is useless but UK chemists and medics have done their best to provide the next best thing to a solution.

@Wakeupin2022

My friend can’t book a Pfizer jab until September and is too scared to get AZ.

That's one thing we have got right. We do not have the unnecessary silliness that some countries have over vaccines, with heightened anxieties due to governments / politicians trying to win political capital.

I think the concerns over AZ being less effective have proved correct with Delta and Beta variant.

It has really dawned on me the last week that Covid is not going away and is going to be endemic. I was really hopeful for the vaccines and I still am but double vaxed people can still catch the virus ( as my husband did a week or so ago). Therefore it will circulate in the community whatever we do. Hence my opinion that zero Covid is utterly impossible longer term and a foolish goal now vaccines are here.