Tiers Of A Clown

[Bytheloch]

Thread #3456

Released from our dirty T4, but still bamboozled. Let’s keep each other sane on here...

I'm half convinced the tighter the restrictions the more people will be flouting them and mixing in houses and I don't even mean big parties.
Or the alternative is a stoat round Tesco.

Thanks for all the clarifications. I don’t watch the daily updates as I don’t think it’s constructive or useful having daily figures which invariably need adjusting every week.

Agree Jodri. Occasionally switch on the News and shocked at how disquieting the coverage is.

Bottom line is numbers for Scotland as a whole have been about 1,000 per day since the start of October. There are definite quirks in the daily reporting due to weekends etc but the ups and downs invariably even out. Once you take into account the cluster effect of spikes due to large scale settings eg Faslane and the fact there are far more of these in densely populated areas I don't even think there is much difference between areas.

All the various measures and flexing thereof just look like distraction at this point.

And right on queue media reporting new covid-19 strain and worrying whether it will be vaccine resistant.

On that note I follow Prof Francois Balloux for balanced opinions. He predicted this from the start. He is a Director of UCL Genetics Institute.

*On cue

You can tell I'm not a theatre type.

Queues works just as well these days🤷‍♀️

See, here comes the fear factor a la Christmas. Do they have behavioral psychologists on staff, do you think?

@Bytheloch

Queues works just as well these days🤷‍♀️

See, here comes the fear factor a la Christmas. Do they have behavioral psychologists on staff, do you think?

I think they might...

@Bytheloch

Queues works just as well these days🤷‍♀️

See, here comes the fear factor a la Christmas. Do they have behavioral psychologists on staff, do you think?

They do. That’s how they worked out the initial strategy to make people shit scared.

I think they do @Bytheloch. The other day I fell down the rabbit hole of the named members of the Scottish Sage group: just googled their name and institution as I was interested in their area of research, thinking there would be a good range of expertise. I did read that others are advising, who they are and what their specialty was not revealed.
I understand the need for social science, anthropologists helped greatly in stopping the spread of Ebola due to them watching the preparations made when burying victims.
I was surprised and disappointed that it was heavily weighted towards public health and social scientists. I thought there would have been more virologists, immunologists, gosh even a large animal veterinary surgeon would be better than another public health social scientist (my thinking here is that they have experience and expertise of herd health and each farm and herd, like each local authority and its populace would have different age and pre-existing health of stock, routine, climate and landscape for example).

Think I'd get the fear if there was a large animal vet...culling could be put forward as a solution and ear tags to check identity

I know what you mean.

They say 'we're following the science'

We think 'biologists, chemists, pathologists' etc etc.

They mean 'statisticians and social scientists'

@Perihelion

Think I'd get the fear if there was a large animal vet...culling could be put forward as a solution and ear tags to check identity

Yup... I'm with you! Plus you know how farm animals have their temperatures checked...?!

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought this "new strain" was just a bit... well, convenient? And, yes, I'd definitely expect Matt Hancock and the House of Commons to be the first place all of viral genetic twitter (yes, it's a Thing) to have heard of it. If it is the paper Prof Balloux is referring to, I think it's the "new strain" that NS and JL were talking about last week, which infected Scotland from disobedient plebs going on summer holidays to Spain and England. Very convenient then too. I don't doubt that it is a different strain, and may well have slightly different characteristics, but it does seem to be being wheeled out for some slightly, well, Political, purposes.

I know someone who's on Scottish Sage - name not on that list but on a sub-group for her specialist area of medicine, an area where the patients are hugely affected by Covid. She's not a political animal in the slightest, definitely not a SNP fan, started the position on 1st Jan with no idea of the shitstorm the year would be. Not a "known face" though, certainly not appearing on telly spouting off and "advising". She's just one of the thousands in the background quietly getting on with it.

And she's just recovered from Covid, caught in a hospital setting either from a colleague or a patient.

Yup... I'm with you! Plus you know how farm animals have their temperatures checked...?! does this explain your username NotAnActualSheep

First thing DH said about the new strain was that’ll be the “look away from Brexit” strain then

@Perihelion

Think I'd get the fear if there was a large animal vet...culling could be put forward as a solution and ear tags to check identity

Well, let’s not discount it for 2021🤷‍♀️ 🙈

Jodri James Herriot type to replace the dentist. All bets on.

First thing DH said about the new strain was that’ll be the “look away from Brexit” strain

Yes, this.

@Perihelion culling is always a last resort of disease management with farm animals though....biosecurity, quarantine, individually tailored herd health plans reviewed frequently, vaccination, movement controls, management techniques eg. ventilations and stocking density, hygiene measures and movement records.
Farm animal health is moving massively away from the fire brigade method (always a place for emergency health intervention though) and moving towards prevention and better herd/flock/ group management.

See labour are demanding an impartiality assessment of the daily briefing.

This is a good thing. If it's not politically motivated maybe ns could start a cross party task group and they could all take a turn of presenting.

@titsbumfannythelot that’s actually a really good idea.

I’d have more faith in something like that.

would you have a good attitude I’m afraid I snorted at the very idea when I read what tits wrote as it seems so “over my dead --tartan masked— body”

Thank you for all the messages they are much appreciated.

Had a colleague phone message we've had 2 positive cases at school today. Sort of glad I am at home. Although if I have to isolate, I'd be able to watch the funeral online.

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons

would you have a good attitude I’m afraid I snorted at the very idea when I read what tits wrote as it seems so “over my dead --tartan masked— body”

See when I'm in charge, it'll be nothing but democracy and a level playing field.

😂 ok.. Point taken.

In an effort to cheer myself up and distract from not being allowed to go shopping, earlier I was perusing John Lewis. And came across this delight.

Was the designer suffering from lockdown mania? Have you ever thought "I know just what my xmas decor needs, a trio of phallic mushrooms"

Whipround to send them to Sturgeon, Swinney and Leitch??