Hogmanae

[rookiemere]

This is an ongoing thread for Scottish mumsnetters - or indeed non Scottish mumsnetters such as myself, to comment on ongoing covid matters pertinent to ourselves, in a hopefully not too partisan and friendly fashion.

It sounds a bit like ms being more prevalent in Scotland too but exacerbated by common factors like lack of vit d, obesity and smoking

I've been here 10 years and I've never been one for a sunny holiday, more a city break and culture type but these days I feel hugely mentally better for a bit of sunshine. I did move here from a place with lo kg hot summers though.

I'm sure there's a lot to the vitamin d thing.

DD plays the tenor horn (not at exam stage yet). They play at home and send recordings to the teacher. Couldn't that be done for exams maybe?

@Iwillneverbesatisfied yes I think that's on the cards, I think the exams are to be recorded and internally marked. The teachers will find a way!

Can settle the Glasgow playground banter. Glasgow City Council is a law unto itself. They couldn't reopen the playparks with everyone else because they took it upon themselves to remove half the equipment to make it more Covid secure.

See my pp re Pollok Park. Most of the swings are see-saw affairs and they removed the counterbalance to them all. I am a Glaswegian for 3 generations so I am allowed.

(they may not be SG but they do contain NS's constituency and they are SNP for the first time - if they were still Labour they would probably have closed the playparks for grand renovations like they did practically every year in George Square for decades).

A plague on all their houses. Doesn't matter which Party is in charge because they are all just nodding along.

Poverty and deprivation play a large part in health outcomes

It’s really hard when you have 3 kids to afford to go to a cafe to meet your friends or family

Hardly any libraries are open

Who wants to sit on the park bench in December day after day or feed the fucking ducks again

Signed

The rev I m jolly

But anyway. We go on and look forward to Xmas

Can’t wait 💪

Our secondary put out a tweet last week for brass / wind player recordings submissions. (Lots will also have ABRSM etc beyond Grade 5 which could surely be used as supporting evidence for practicals (?))

I also think the lack of sunlight thing is probably massively important, both because of Vitamin D (which most people I think realise is important for good health in many ways) but also because of things like NO that are released in the skin on contact with sunlight (so supplements unfortunately no good for that). I saw an interesting talk a few years ago about how cardiac health gets worse with higher latitude, and they showed evidence suggesting that less sunshine was a factor in that, and that Vitamin D supplements didn't reverse the problem.

Here in Scotland its harder than elsewhere in the UK to get enough sunshine in a normal year, but this summer we had the added issue of being under stricter restrictions meaning people stayed in much more than usual. I think there is a very real chance that could have an adverse effect on health outcomes, if it isn't already.

Another overlooked element is that Glasgow is actually a very good city to be unwell in. Relatively affordable with good amenities and centralised healthcare. With a tradition of emigration it is the less healthy that stay put. If someone relocates back home with ill health they are more likely to choose City living than the rural highlands.

I also wonder if Glasgow's tradition of welcoming new arrivals from all over the World has an impact. The disproportionate impact in London and Manchester, which are similar could suggest this.

@Dinnafashyersel unfortunately not, ABRSM etc has never influenced SQA evidence, in some cases having a pupil attempt a challenging G7 piece but make a few mistakes would get them a lower mark than playing a simple G5 piece perfectly. Levels the playing field I suppose (former music teacher!)

I've just read the proposal again and they're looking for the full program in one sitting, woodwind, brass and singing can record at home if not possible to record in school... Or in a gazebo.

WaxOnFeckOff Yes no Christmas music just in case little excited 6/7 year olds burst into song

We were originally going to be allowed to sing outdoors and go along to the local nursing home and sing outside the windows, but our council has decreed no singing, even outdoors. Bizarre beyond belief

(Anyway sorry I'm off on.a tangent here and I missed an entire page... I thought we were still on the no singing in schools bit 🤦🏻‍♀️)

This time of year I would normally hear my school's amazing choir rehearsing for the Christmas concert. Those harmonies were lovely drifting up through the building when it's dark early. Still saved from doing the booze patrol at the senior (and middle school) parties - silver linings and all that.

On a more optimistic note, case numbers have been going down steadily day by day for the past couple of weeks throughout the UK. Downward trend seems to be accelerating. I suspect(ed) they were saving up tests. However the last 2 days have reported really high levels of pillar 1 testing and pillar 2 also high today. There has been no corresponding spike in cases.

(not that any of this will be reported or commented on by the doom mongering journalists or the caught in the headlights politicians).

Glasgow numbers have taken a wee jump today after a new low days. I actually wish they'd only report weekly. She says herself that a day's fluctuation should be obsessed over so why not just report once a week?

More tests means more positives🤷‍♀️

Brings the rate of positives down

It's all smoke and mirrors and still not cases

It's all smoke and mirrors and still not cases

Yes, absolutely. This obsession with positive test results isn't telling us anything about the burden of disease (which is surely the relevant measure) because such a high proportion are asymptomatic. If you tested hundreds of thousands of people for flu or RSV (or whatever other seasonal virus you like) you'd likely get the same kinds of numbers.

What's RSV?

If you follow the data, it basically depends on how many tests they did that day whether the numbers go up or down. How does that tell us anything?

RSV: Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults.

Yes! you only find what you look for (& the very act of looking changes what is observed)

@WaxOnFeckOff

If you follow the data, it basically depends on how many tests they did that day whether the numbers go up or down. How does that tell us anything?

But it seems to be what the gov are looking it. Levels of cases.

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons

Yes! you only find what you look for (& the very act of looking changes what is observed)

We used to call it the tomato soup effect. If you try to accurately measure the temperature of the soup you can't as you need to introduce something to measure it and unless that thing is the same temperature of the soup then you've changed the temperature by trying to measure...

A positive PCR test is not a case.

However levels of hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths are all down. The SG own page on how they decide on levels indicated that all hospital/ICU dependences were now low

DH says same, hospitals that he has been in are no busier or less busy than normal winter. He's not had the begging text from work asking people to be available for extra work either.

I lurk here too and really enjoy the chat. I don’t have much to add but it’s good to know I’m not alone in being utterly frustrated by it all.