November Lockdown: Mibbes Aye Mibbes Naw

[BlueThursday]

Thread 3!!!!

@StatisticallyChallenged if its any help, anyone I know who’s been in a hospital recently had said they’re really clean and well organised and that they felt safe.

Thanks @WouldBeGood. I'm a bit wary as I was admitted for a few days at the start of lockdown (I'm basically having gallstone like attacks, only I don't have a fuckin' gallbladder anymore!) and ended up sharing with a suspected covid patient who was coughing her guts up and nobody even told me. She was an older lady with bad arthritis who kept dropping things and muggins here had been helping pick stuff up for her as I was more mobile. It was only when I tried to go off the ward (to meet DH to get supplies) that I was told I couldn't leave because they were waiting for her test.

Thankfully it was actually negative, but that was far more luck than good judgement.

Oh yes. Really sorry to hear about your tests statistically But I agree about the safety... DF had to go in for an eye operation a couple of weeks ago and said it was all very well run. He was worried about going by himself but said the staff were great and helped him get there (he's not very mobile) and he was in and out no trouble. So fingers crossed its the same for you!

Ah, yes, sorry, cross posted. That changes things somewhat! That sounds rather bad... No wonder you're concerned.

@StatisticallyChallenged 😱 that sounds awful!

Bloody hell, I’m pretty cavalier but that would freak me.

I’m sure they’ll have learned lessons during all this, especially for a planned procedure. Will keep fingers crossed

Similarly when I was taken in (A&E initially) my bed was just parked behind the desk where the nurse was checking people in. Ambulance arrives, elderly patient, they'd literally got right through "check in" and the nurse had just started to tell them to go down to bay x, when the paramedic goes "Oh, she's covid positive btw"

I swear I heard the nurse go "For fuck sake" under her breath before saying she needed to go to bay Y, in the COVID POSITIVE bit of A&E. They were a bawhair away from putting her in the clean side.

@Matilda2013

I think now she will delay it and see how the numbers go. Hopefully anyway and use it later in December if needed.

I think going into a full lockdown in December, especially with England doing it now with the hope of it easing in December would be politically disastrous. So think they will try to avoid that at all costs.

We'll get to mid Nov at best and if the numbers aren't significantly better they'll go for it is my bet - they won't want to get too out of step.

But fingers crossed the tier 3 is working as we've got a lot of the conditions of lock down as it is.

I've been heavily distracting myself from the news, I recommend it!

@anon444877 I too have been trying to avoid the news, but I like to know what we are able to do. My neighbour runs an outdoor exercise class - first time in the pitch black last night - it's socially distanced and she follows all the guidelines. It's such a life saver to be able to see people and do a communal activity, and not on fecking zoom.

I was relieved that this could continue under Scottish Tier 3, but now I feel it's all in jeopardy again.

Plus I've been forced to take some annual leave before year end. I thought - if Edinburgh didn't get moved down to Tier 2 - I could treat myself to a couple of nights at a posh city centre hotel. But can't take time off for the next couple of weeks so who knows where we'll be by then.

There's another thread about resilience and I'm finding it so hard to remain up beat. It seems the only way you can do it is by not looking forward to anything except that day's dinner and even then that is sometimes spoiled by DH putting a tin of tomatoes in my carefully constructed bolognaise sauce.

Definitely a resilience challenge - I'll look for it, a community exercise group sounds great! I hope it carries on.

That's the hardest bit of it for us, none of us in the family being able to meet anyone and the same relentless choices of supermarket, park or activities at home.

Good luck today @StatisticallyChallenged

So what happened to following the science. She'll put all the country back in lockdown if she can get guaranteed furlough🤔 even though she said herself that infection rates are slowing down but "fragile". And is it really fair for those parts of the country where numbers are very low. Why does it feel like it's no longer about the 'science' and us as a people and more about politics. I'm not an SNP supporter but did think she had handled it really well compared to BJ, now I don't think any of them are. As WHO said at the very start 'testing, testing, testing' and the countries who have dealt with it best are those that have done just that. And protect the vulnerable. Also want to add that as someone who works in a school, if they can be open through all the tiers then everything can be open because clearly our lives don't matter!! Also there are more than just teachers work in a school, support staff in special needs and in mainstream work closer with the kids than the teachers do, well where I work they do!! Rant over. As you might have guessed like alot of people I'm totally fed up and needed a rant!!🤷‍♀️🤔

Rant away@Thistlegirl4 , I know teachers are really caught between a rock and a hard place.

I do have some sympathy for NS. If she'd known that lockdown would be implemented in England and furlough extended, then she'd have been able to make different decisions with advanced knowledge. I have to admit if there's going to be a lockdown, it makes a lot more sense for England and Scotland to go into it at the same time, and I guess - if we have any confidence at all that it will be lifted on 02 Dec - then go to the Level system then.

Scottish numbers are a lot lower than Englands generally, but then you could argue that Cornwall shouldn't be going into lockdown either as they are fairly removed from the hot spots.

I look across the patch - I don't think Boris or Macron or Merkel etc. especially knew they were going back into lockdown 1-2 days before they did - a real muddle. So NS not alone there - England wouldn't have mucked around with 3 tiers if they thought National lockdown was the inevitable trajectory.

I stay off Twitter as the comments and some tweets are so vile, there is no criminal mastermind at work, no coherent plan or strategy as events keep overtaking them.

I agree with a PP in that I can handle a lockdown if it ends when she says it will, but she said hospitality would open on Oct 26th and it didn't, so I don't believe a word she says any more. I can't bear the thought of another indefinite lockdown, except in winter this time, and still having to put myself at risk every day taking public transport to work in a school.

I think anyone (BJ, NS) stating that lockdown will end on a specific date is taking a big risk. What happens if rates are worse on that date? That's outwith their personal control.
We all have a responsibility as individuals to stick to the restrictions for our area to make them work.
It would be cruel to put low-incidence areas currently in Level 1 straight into a full lockdown.

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst , I'd say unfair rather than cruel because none of this is fair.

What Tier you happen to be in is largely a matter of chance, I'm in Edinburgh in Tier 3 not even because of our own numbers, but because of potential pressure on the local hospitals and people leaving their own areas to come here if we're moved down to Tier 2.

I agree we should all do as much as we can to minimise spread, but I really dislike this narrative that the people in the Tiers with higher numbers are somehow all naughty. Sure a number will be breaking the indoor number rules, but as over 50% of the infection rate is caused by nursing homes and schools/universities, then the majority of people aren't breaking the arbitrary guidelines.

I'm in Glasgow in tier 3. We're in tier 3 because the numbers here (and in our associated areas) are high. I've followed every rule. I could not tell you last time I was in anyone else's house, or anyone else was in ours. But the numbers are high. The numbers of students didn't help, and neither does the fact that there are are areas of high deprivation, many people living in multi-generational households, overcrowded housing in many communities... etc. It feels sometimes like there's no point in following the rules, as we're going to be first into lockdown regardless. None of this is fair.

At this point here, the vast majority have been complying well for a long time by this point!

I think most people have bern complying, it's only very recently I've felt that there's been a real change in tone from many people, that many folk don't believe in the restrictions anymore.

Numbers sharply down again in East Dunbartonshire today, according to the Zoe app. Still at over 1000 across the authority, but down from 1800odd at the end of last week.

I also think that the rhetoric that "Nicola is doing it all so much better than Boris" is a load of rubbish - is there ANY world leader who has handled this well?

And I don't mean the sainted Jacinda, who has the luxury of being detached from the next nearest country by 1500 miles. Everyone's screwed up, made mistakes, gone too late, too early. Everyone's
learning as they go.

I am getting really fed up with the doom-mongering from the BBC, mainly the national news rather than the Scottish. Clive Myrie - as soon as he comes on you know it's all people dying and no hope whatsoever. Their agenda is clearly to terrify. The piece they had on yesterday from LIverpool was actually very positive - more people in hospital than April but they're coping, new drug treatments, fewer people on ventilators, more people surviving. But oh no, doom and gloom, sombre tones, scared people.

Hasn't 2020 been totally shit?

Important to not forget the latest proposed lockdown is-once again-with the message to protect the NHS.
Not even on the basis that most hospitals will be overrun with covid patients, but that with the usual winter excess numbers, other areas will potentially be mothballed over the winter so resources can be allocated to covid as a priority despite building specialist covid facilities. Hospitals in Scotland are not currently overrun with covid patients, it’s really helpful to keep that in mind.
Shame on the politicians, in all nations, who continue to bicker like children over who gets to dip in the sweetie jar, instead of working together on one clear strategy that best serves the health of the nation, not their own political party and personal careers.

Lanarkshire is close and sending non covid patients to Forth Valley. Hence Stirling being stuck in level 3. But the rest seem ok.

@RaspberryCoulis I've given up on the BBc for news. Even in the summer when there were good news stories - the numbers were going down, new treatment strategies were evolving- they'd drag up depressing covid-19 stories in other countries. Almost as if there was a deliberate policy to keep the nation in a perennial state of fear .

That's my issue now - I feel reporting is far from impartial. Put bluntly NHS is at full capacity most winters and we don't close down the country. I'm not saying that's not the right thing to do, but rather than sad sob stories and interviews with individuals- I've noticed a lot of that going on - I'd rather have some hard facts. What are the numbers in hospital like normally at this time of year ? What does the hospitals being overwhelmed look like numerically?