What COVID restrictions are heading our way?

[Happylittlethoughts]

Nivola not best pleased today, and rightly do . Any ideas on what the,restrictions will be? I know schools are being warned at LA level to prep for blended learning .
A 2 week limitation?

The problem is even the scientists and medics don’t agree on what is the best approach. Robert Peston had a Twitter thread yesterday where he said he’d spoken to one epidemiologist who was confident there won’t be a big second wave and local restrictions as necessary will suffice but another who said that he thinks we are already too late to stop a second wave at all. I was listening to a programme a while back where a scientist said he was keen to do large scale trials on hydroxychloroquine and whether they were effective in preventing the disease (as opposed to using in already seriously ill patients) but it’s become toxic as it’s been politicised by Trump so he’s not able to proceed.

I do trust the government advisers but there are also professionals out there of equal knowledge and eminence who don’t agree with their approach. It’s a difficult situation and there’s just no definitive answers just now sadly.

I don't even know what that means. I said I was a teacher to show that I'm not qualified to harp on about science.

Why you feel the need to get personal I don't know.

If you can't cope with a discussion that doesn't fully go your way then maybe mumsnet isn't for you.

Yes exactly @MadameBlobby or are we saying we believe the experts available to the Scot gov are uniquely superior and above mistakes? Seems a bit unlikely...

It’s hard not to get engaged in all the materials out there as there has never been so much ‘data’ unleashed at the public.

I suppose the other factor is the gov’s advisers have to be more risk averse. It’s their necks/reputations on the line if it goes tits up.

Absolutely not. Of course other (real and relevant) scientists are worthy of attention but at the end of the day all four CMOs are currently in agreement. Chris Whitty is one of the most respected people in his field in the world and with the exception of Sweden most of the commonly reported on countries in Europe and the West are singing roughly from the same hymn sheet.

Folk are starting to sound like conspiracy theorists.

@MadameBlobby yes that's a great point and also they actually do have the safety of people as their burden.

It's easy to come up with big ideas and sweeping statements when you don't actually have that responsibility.

The trouble with all this YouTube "science" is that if you select the right data and papers you can spin any narrative you want. You take the 1% that fits and ignore the 99% that doesn't. Someone who is not familiar with the field won't know this or spot all the problems with your theory that were conveniently ignored.

The time of lay people being able to understand scientific papers is long gone. Even with a PhD and several years experience you only really understand things which are close to your expertise since the amount of knowledge produced is vast.

@Callisto1 exactly this!

@Dinosauratemydaffodils I remember you from the mask threads. I so sorry things aren't any better for you. I understand your bitterness.

Is your GP still refusing to see you even in an outdoor or other suitable setting. This is appalling. My GP is taking appointments so it's clearly not a national decision. Could you change. I'm gutted to hear you haven't managed to see someone!

@Callisto1

The issue is that science is not really a set of facts as is often portrayed. There are different scientists from different disciplines with different perspectives on the same issues.

There is rarely a right or wrong answer.

Sorry I misread. Not your GP your psychiatrist. I wish there was something I could say to make things better or easier for you.

@Ecosse did you even read @Callisto1 post?

@Ecosse, I would say that in science you usually gather data. How else are you going to verify your theories? If your experiment/data gathering doesn't fit your theory then you are wrong. There is no maybe about this.

Facts or absolute truths only exist in stuff like maths or philosophy. But that doesn't mean that there is no right or wrong within science it's just a bit more messy. You have to be careful how you gather your data and analyse it. That is doubly true for things like medicine, where you are very restricted in how you can gather the data and what experiments you can do. So i suppose the more imperfect your data is the harder it is to say things with certainty and you get a wider field of opinion and more caveats. But still i bet no scientist would advocate injecting bleach for example

Rumours of today's announcement having sweeping changes.

It's going to be a long winter.

What the rumours? you've given me sinking feeling.....

I suspect Sturgeon is fuming that her previous more cautious approach didn’t work, so will double down on showing how much more ‘caring’ she is than Johnson.

Just that Jason Leitch has pulled out of interviews today because of the "scale" of the announcement.

I share your sinking feeling.

I think because Sturgeon is one of the only leaders in the world who doesn’t have to worry about the economy, she can really do what she likes.

It will be close to a full lockdown with more demands for money from Westminster imo.

Oh please God not a full lockdown or close to it.
We don't have many cases in our area. Treating every area the same way is really bad leadership in my view. As though it doesn't actually matter if a couple of million lives are fucked up unnecessarily, because "we're all in it together".

In fact, I'm going to have to crack open the chocolate.

Why doesn't NS need to worry about the economy please?

Pretty sure she has to worry about the economy. If she wants to sell indyref to the undecided she has to make a case that Scotland can do well alone.

@pan2

Because she doesn’t need to raise tax revenues in order to fund spending as her budget is provided by Westminster.

@Callisto1

Sturgeon does not want Scotland to be economically successful inside the union. Her schtick will be “look at how we’re being held back by uncaring Westminster who won’t give me more money. Imagine what we could do on our own.”

All for 77 cases in hospital and zero deaths, that’s our threshold?!?! Are we allowed to ask again, how old are the people in hospital?
It would be so much braver to stand up and say we have relatively low cases in Scotland, it’s not impacting our elderly, most with the virus are recovering well at home, so we are continuing with our current measures and keeping an eye on regions, as we all need to learn how to live with this virus etc. That’s not going to happen, sadly.