It seems like the U.K. may have a better Covid strategy after all

[Warhertisuff]

... at least since the emergence of Delta. I generally supported the restrictions before last summer, but thought that opening up in July was sensible. It's too early to tell
for sure, but at the moment it looks like the right call.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59378849

FFS, it's too early to say if this is the case!
It's been said by someone who wants it to be true but simply cannot know yet.

Pascal Soriot (sp?) has recently said that he “thinks” AZ may be performing better when it comes to T cells and extending immunity. That would be interesting if true and proved to be the case. I think it must be what Sarah Gilbert thinks as she was against boosters. It’s hard to know what’s right but if this is right it’s good for many countries including us here in U.K that used a lot of AZ and similar vaccine types.

Should have held their nerve and opened up in June.

The anti U.K. rhetoric is extreme

This comment is offensive.

As a proud Brit I love this country and almost all my family and friends live here - I want the best for Britain.

I'm a patriot - it is my patriotism that fuels my sadness at the deaths and anger at government corruption and ineptitude.

@rrhuth

The anti U.K. rhetoric is extreme

This comment is offensive.

As a proud Brit I love this country and almost all my family and friends live here - I want the best for Britain.

I'm a patriot - it is my patriotism that fuels my sadness at the deaths and anger at government corruption and ineptitude.

I find a lot of what I read on here offensive re anti U.K. rhetoric.

When numbers high here ‘laughing stock’ ‘petri dish’ ‘variants’ we are selfish don’t comply the list goes on

Not once applied to Austria / Germany / NYC / India / Brazil

High here - all kinds of insults

There - everyone is trying, no strategy, not a competition, even, you just want to see high numbers

Who knows?

Everyone's guessing still....

@rrhuth

I haven't seen reports of people dying in ambulances from heart attacks and strokes in western Europe.

So maybe that bit of the UK 'strategy' (lmao at the idea there's a strategy tbh) needs work?

More lockdowns to mitigate the effects of former lockdowns.

I can't see a thing wrong with that

@MarshaBradyo
The anti UK rhetoric is extreme

That’s the time of nonsense the GW Bush administration was coming out with back in the day. People are allowed to call out their government as inept/incompetent/useless. It doesn’t make them “Anti UK” or “non patriots” or “traitors” etc etc etc. It always frightens me how easily some on the right embrace the authoritarianism mindset as a response to criticism.

It's quite scary that some people think that we are out of this and we are doing better than other countries, just because we have no restrictions. It's life as normal for people who aren't affected at the moment, until someone you love become seriously ill or die. Optimism is good, but not so good if it's just an illusion.

[quote supermoonrising]@MarshaBradyo
The anti UK rhetoric is extreme

That’s the time of nonsense the GW Bush administration was coming out with back in the day. People are allowed to call out their government as inept/incompetent/useless. It doesn’t make them “Anti UK” or “non patriots” or “traitors” etc etc etc. It always frightens me how easily some on the right embrace the authoritarianism mindset as a response to criticism.[/quote]
Don’t be silly.

I’ve given examples below.

Quote someone saying another country is a laughing stick or has a selfish population

You will only find it re the U.K. why?

Other places have had suffered too.

MarshaBradyo

"Plague Island"
"Blood on their hands"

Constant implications that UK residents are somehow uniquely selfish compared to their caring, community-minded counterparts in

Whose actually enjoying their freedom though?

I hate being in shops etc atm, people don’t respect space.
I loved it when we had to separate ourselves and I didn’t have to smell anyone else’s BO or bad breath or having someone breathing down my neck.

Can’t get in a queue lately and leave a small space without someone getting in it.

It still exists, we should be able to take precautions. I’m pregnant and having 2 children at school atm is worrying.

Some of us are happy to lay low/ respect space and try and prevent spread and shouldn’t be put at risk by those who are happy to go back to normal ‘ whatever that means’.

There should be a bit more compromise IMO.

@rainrainraincamedowndowndown

It's quite scary that some people think that we are out of this and we are doing better than other countries, just because we have no restrictions. It's life as normal for people who aren't affected at the moment, until someone you love become seriously ill or die. Optimism is good, but not so good if it's just an illusion.

I don't think anyone thinks this is "life as normal' but I am relieved my dcs are living a less restrictive life, yes.

Citizens have absolute right to be anti-government without Trumpian attacks about them being 'anti-UK'.

It is not anti-UK want better for your country.
It is not anti-UK to criticise the government.
It is not anti-UK to be angry at policy failures and proven corruption.

Accusing others of being 'anti-UK' is playing the far-right card of suppressing criticism and if that's not the intention, stop it.

..stock

@MarshaBradyo
you just want to see high numbers
Just dial your anger down a notch or two and listen to yourself for a minute. You’re coming across really, really badly.

@rrhuth

Citizens have absolute right to be anti-government without Trumpian attacks about them being 'anti-UK'.

It is not anti-UK want better for your country.
It is not anti-UK to criticise the government.
It is not anti-UK to be angry at policy failures and proven corruption.

Accusing others of being 'anti-UK' is playing the far-right card of suppressing criticism and if that's not the intention, stop it.

Again no

Why can’t you find the same sentiment for other countries with high numbers?

@Lilifer

Those excess deaths are more likely to be the people who didn't get to their doctors or hospital for treatment during lockdown and died as a result (huge upsurge in excess deaths in the home during the lockdown). Excess deaths could be from numerous causes and not necessarily from covid.

A agree. Lots of areas in the NHS just came to a stop "due to covid" and are still struggling to re-start. My OH was about to start chemotherapy in March 2020 and got a curt phone call at 9am on the first morning to say it was cancelled and "they'd be in touch". But it got to April, and still nothing heard, so he phoned them only to constantly get an answerphone, so he left numerous message. It got to May, just the same. Then June, just the same. Finally made contact with a human in July and found out they'd actually closed the oncology dept and moved it to a different hospital in the next county and that his chemotherapy should have started months ago as they were still doing it. Didn't occur to them to contact him! That's not down to Covid, it's down to crap NHS admin/management.

[quote rrhuth]@Lilifer what is the covid case rate in the parallel Scotland/Wales where they don't wear masks?[/quote]
If Scotland and Wales’s rates would be even higher without masks, what does that say for how effective our other measures like vaccine passports/WFH/mandatory isolation until PCR for close contacts are? Not very, right?

Unless you’re going to say it would be even higher that that without vaccine passports, and even higher than that without WFH, etc etc. but at that point you end up in a situation where Scotland/Wales would have had a rate five times higher than England with the exact same rules because… why?

Like all ‘minor’ restrictions, they probably work a bit to keep some infections happening. But the more infections they prevent, the bigger the immunity debt is in the population, and the steeper the case rise once cases start going up again. Scotland and Wales had harsher restrictions in place for longer, so now Scotland and Wales have faced higher case rates now that most things have opened up.

England’s strategy seems to have been to accept that all you can do is delay covid exposures, you can’t put them off forever, so get some of them out of the way now to avoid all of them hitting in winter. There isn’t an option where everyone wears masks for a little while and covid just goes away.

@MaxNormal

MarshaBradyo

"Plague Island"
"Blood on their hands"

Constant implications that UK residents are somehow uniquely selfish compared to their caring, community-minded counterparts in

This is anti-government rhetoric, not anti-nation.

The government is not the country.

This is not a totalitarian state.

In Britain, we are free to slag off our government and their policies.

@MaxNormal

MarshaBradyo

"Plague Island"
"Blood on their hands"

Constant implications that UK residents are somehow uniquely selfish compared to their caring, community-minded counterparts in

This is anti-government rhetoric, not anti-nation.

The government is not the country.

This is not a totalitarian state.

In Britain, we are free to slag off our government and their policies.

[quote supermoonrising]@MarshaBradyo
you just want to see high numbers
Just dial your anger down a notch or two and listen to yourself for a minute. You’re coming across really, really badly.[/quote]
Why?

I’m not angry it’s easy to disprove if you want to

Just quote the insults we’ve had

If you can’t then maybe you are wrong

I’m dual nationality and the difference stands out wrt to narrative re U.K.

I’ve not seen it for other countries but if it has feel free to quote.

Also it was fairly obvious there was a next big wave coming for most of Europe a few weeks ago, because you could see it hitting Eastern Europe and moving west. Countries were having their highest rates ever in the pandemic, and people on here were going “why can’t we keep cases low like Europe, why is Europe managing fine, I was on holiday at a lovely little village in the south of France and all the waiting staff wore masks without complaining, British people are so selfish.” Europe is a big place!

@Leftbutcameback

I've also noticed more people wearing masks recently - I've been on public transport in London and at football matches and it's definitely increased over the last two months.

I was out and about yesterday, north west. First bus no one had masks on bar me and one other person downstairs and windows closed. Return journey loads of masks on and windows wide open.

But I agree the town I visited I definitely saw more people wearing masks than when I went two weeks ago. It’s probably more elderly than other age groups. But it’s not a bad thing to do I’m still wearing mine in busy areas. I’m still recovering from one of the nasty virus’ going around. Three weeks later.