I get locked down. Tiers go up again.

[Cismyfatarse]

New Fred.

Yes, because then even if people get the virus it won’t t put pressure on the hospitals

Once the world is largely vaccinated then strains etc hopefully will be less of a concern.

the entire world is vaccinated? Do you want to go off and google vaccination rates in Chad, or Eritrea, or El Salvador? Developing countries can't afford to vaccinate everyone, never have, never will. Polio, which doesn't require an annual vaccine, still causes regular outbreaks in Africa. 6000 kids died of measles in the DR of the Congo a year ago.

I thought is was interesting that Jason Leitch brought up yellow fever. Yes some countries where yellow fever is an issue restrict entry and exit. You need a vaccination certificate. Yellow Fever is fatal in between 15% and 50% of cases. Covid is about 1%, or less. But we can't do the vaccination certificate thing because.... because we don't want to. Stay in Scotland. Enjoy the drizzle and midgies.

Didn't we all stay here last summer with most things closed so we didn't introduce new strains? That went well. Do we need to give up another summer to demonstrate again the failure of that strategy?

I could bear another winter lockdown if hospitals at crisis next winter again if I'd had a decent July holiday and not more glumping around in the mud.

No not the entire world but restricting large movement of people to and from the country surely makes sense until the global picture is better

When are they going to establish the cause for and deal with what can be dealt with, in terms of the East/West divide in "positive cases" given that's a figure they base so much on?

Let's be clear here, I am not saying that the folk on the East are behaving and those in the West aren't. I think that there are many more things at play, some of which have been discussed here.

Until that can be dealt with, then the whole country is held at ransom over something that they can't do anything about. You'd have thought that this would be something that they would be on top off having suppressed cases in general at one point and then the touch point is pretty much always the west coast councils. Again, not saying that folks living there are causing this because they don't give a feck. It's a virus, it does virusey stuff.

But shouldn’t we now be preparing NHS now for next winter.

That is what planning is for not planning for another lockdown

They certainly let it spread out of the West.🤷

It's surely endemic by now and will lurk in people over summer before re-emerging in autumn.

Unless they are going to mass test asymptomatics..

@littlbrowndog

But shouldn’t we now be preparing NHS now for next winter.

That is what planning is for not planning for another lockdown

yes exactly. all the clapping should help with that.

@WaxOnFeckOff I suspect it’s poverty and population density, combined with huge hospitals and warehouses etc? Hard to deal with.

But the point remains, it doesn’t matter of it spreads when the vulnerable are vaccinated.

English schools should be going back on the 8th March and they are looking at summer school for those falling behind . Wonder If we get the same .

I already have a holiday booked for this year I accept it may have to be cancelled though and will get the money back with no issues so not worried about that.

Holidays in Scotland will be even more prohibitively expensive this year

@WouldBeGood yes I think they've changed their tack with regards to the most vulnerable vaccinated and life can return. It appears that many of the people most ill in hospitals lately were over 50 but below 70? 60% I think I read, although I could be wrong with those figures.

@anon444877

Didn't we all stay here last summer with most things closed so we didn't introduce new strains? That went well. Do we need to give up another summer to demonstrate again the failure of that strategy?

I could bear another winter lockdown if hospitals at crisis next winter again if I'd had a decent July holiday and not more glumping around in the mud.

Thousands of families went abroad! That's why the numbers went up again in the first place.

You and I may have stayed home but many many people didn't. If we repeat the same thing this year, well, that's the definition of insanity isn't it.

@WouldBeGood

Holidays in Scotland will be even more prohibitively expensive this year

We're going to England. DH is English, she doesn't have the power to stop him going to see his elderly parents (who are being vaccinated tomorrow).

might not even be able to have a holiday elsewhere in the UK, knowing NS and her lot.

Wouldn't surprise me either if she keeps schools closed til Summer, y'know, anything to do one better.

But we still don't know how the positive covid test impacted on them being in hospital. I know that not all the folk in hospital with a positive covid test will be there because they have covid and are in for other reasons. Some will obviously be there only because they have it, for some it's irrelevant and for others it will be a mix of the two, i.e. maybe have a lung condition that may or may not be more serious due to covid.

The positive tests are definitely in the "younger" age groups so it would make sense that anyone going into hospital has a higher chance of already having had a positive covid test even if they aren't postive at that precise point or of catching it in hospital.

It's also not generally been the elderly in the ICU beds as a significant proportion already have a DNR in place.

Thousands of families went abroad! That's why the numbers went up again in the first place.You and I may have stayed home but many many people didn't. If we repeat the same thing this year, well, that's the definition of insanity isn't it.

Well no, because we have consistently been told that vaccination is the way out of this.

If you believe the Scottish government figures that they will have all the 50+ people, and all the 16+ people with serious conditions done with TWO doses by the end of June, why no travel at all for 2021?

Because we don't yet know about the transmission issue, and the more people mix the more chance of mutations we find it harder to vaccinate against.

I saw an immunologist describe it as nobody is safe until everyone is safe, which is obviously going a bit far, but I think she was talking in terms of countries not individuals.

I just wonder at what we are doing differently this year then to make sure nobody travels.

I'd be very sad if we went nowhere this summer and we ended up in the same situation next winter, we don't want to be stuck in a cycle of lockdowns they say, but that is where we are isnt it?

If it takes one or two folk travelling for essential reasons to spread a new strain, is it going to be a success?

Well let's hope infections slow down as the vaccinations roll out.

There will still be people travelling for essential reasons but I suppose the idea may be you capture any imported variants with supervised quarantine.🤷

So I moved my holiday back a year to December 2021 and it looks like even that may not have been far enough!

It’s fucking ridiculous now