Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[BLOCK F]

The language certainly from this government is social distancing is here forever until we are all forced to have a vaccine if and when they get one

I don't believe that, US.
As I said in my post, it is not sustainable.
At the moment, I cannot cuddle my grandson or even have the little fellow in the house. People of all ages cannot form new relationships and normal social interaction is verboten.This kind of thing cannot last.
Whatever the language from the Government and scientists, SD will not be here for ever. In the meantime, however, it is a huge burden on almost every aspect of normal human life.

 

[ManOfSussex]

You are right, social distancing is the biggie here. Whilst this exists, it is impossible for life to get back to normal. I think people are starting to question it especially in the light of the problems it causes the hospitality industry. However, the rate of infection and deaths in the country still remain stubbornly high, and whilst this is the case, I think there will only be a very cautious approach to reopening hospitality and relaxing the two metre rule.
Personal observations from my quiet part of the West Sussex coast is that many youngsters are meeting up in groups and totally disregarding SD within their group and quite a few family and friends are meeting up in each others houses for socials. We have a second home owner near us and they frequently come down and spend the night there. Amongst all this, there are a number of people who are terrified and barely dare venture out of their homes. even though they are not 'shielders'.
SD can't be here to stay, and it won't be, it is already being disregarded by many and it is unsustainable in society. I hate the expression, 'the new normal'; there is nothing normal about it, I prefer to say, 'the transitional phase back to normality'.How long this will last , I just don't know and that is a pain in the arse, but I am sure we will all have to poke up with it for some time yet.

Social distancing is the issue, as you say. Plenty of people are disregarding it now who were following it. Personally I have got used to it very quickly though. Taking me as an example, my whole mindset is different to how it was 3 months ago:

I was a regular pub goer, I was drinking in pubs the week before they closed, but I wouldn't go near one now if they reopened next month. Plenty of pubs I frequented will have gone bust and not reopen anyway.
I regularly used public transport. Initially I was quite upset at seeing an empty bus go by with a driver wearing a mask. I haven't been on a train since going to the Palace game and I haven't been on a bus since 21st March. I wouldn't want to use public transport now and feel sorry for people who have no choice.
I didn't join the company I work for to WFH at the start of the year. I now don't want to go back into the office, I would prefer to WFH. I don't think our office will reopen this year anyhow.
I have cropped my hair and cut it myself using a trimmer I bought. You will not find me in a barbers either whenever they reopen, that's for sure.

Nothing is certain, so things or some things may go back to normal, some may not. Some changes may be permanent, they may not be. Emergency legislation during WW1 on pub opening hours was passed and we didn't have all day opening again in England & Wales until 1987 for example though. Your transitional phase back to normality could be a lengthy one, but I do hope you're right.

 

[atomised]

We're still in lockdown; the pubs are still closed; we can't watch a live match and we can't even hug our parents/children/grandchildren. It doesn't take a genius to work out that transmission rates will drop to <1 with most people following these guides/laws.

A second wave will be when we're back to normal and have a similar chance of catching the virus as we did in February - March time.

So genuinely just an excuse to derail the good news thread then?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I don’t believe that.

They are heading towards being completely unelectable.

That would kill them

We will see

91% of the uk said in a survey they would have it, far less in other countries as we are generally very compliant and do as we are told

We already have a compulsory mask or muzzle is a better expression on transport with no real evidence it does any good and does harm to the wearer brought in 3 months after all this started. The track and trace or monitoring will be ratcheted up soon as well

Social distancing will be here to stay until a vaccine is rolled out. They have pretty much said it time and again in all the briefings

 

[oldboyroy]

The language certainly from this government is social distancing is here forever until we are all forced to have a vaccine if and when they get one

They (the government) know the 2 metre rule has to be lifted as a matter of urgency in respect of 3 million hospitality jobs. At a pure guess I would imagine they'll relax it for 4th July when pubs can reopen. Perhaps it maybe relaxed before then in general for a trial period in certain settings to see if any small spikes in infections occur.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

They (the government) know the 2 metre rule has to be lifted as a matter of urgency in respect of 3 million hospitality jobs. At a pure guess I would imagine they'll relax it for 4th July when pubs can reopen. Perhaps it maybe relaxed before then in general for a trial period in certain settings to see if any small spikes in infections occur.

When do you think social distancing will end ?

 

[nwgull]

So genuinely just an excuse to derail the good news thread then?

An injection of reality. How can we be in a 2nd wave when we're currently still in the lockdown phase of the 1st wave?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I don't believe that, US.
As I said in my post, it is not sustainable.
At the moment, I cannot cuddle my grandson or even have the little fellow in the house. People of all ages cannot form new relationships and normal social interaction is verboten.This kind of thing cannot last.
Whatever the language from the Government and scientists, SD will not be here for ever. In the meantime, however, it is a huge burden on almost every aspect of normal human life.

Population control ?

 

[LamieRobertson]

We will see

91% of the uk said in a survey they would have it, far less in other countries as we are generally very compliant and do as we are told

We already have a compulsory mask or muzzle is a better expression on transport with no real evidence it does any good and does harm to the wearer brought in 3 months after all this started. The track and trace or monitoring will be ratcheted up soon as well

Social distancing will be here to stay until a vaccine is rolled out. They have pretty much said it time and again in all the briefings

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1...-social-distancing-rule-reduced-boris-johnson

Or you take this survey (it is The Express so not brilliant) ...which is the other way...........I’d say the mood as things stand will turn towards relaxing the two.....after all pop over to Denmark and its one.....other countries 1.4 etc etc

If they want the hospitality area to survive then 2m wont stay.......and if progress continues ....it will go...(imho) ..just have to maintain good hygiene habits ...which is what we should do anyway

 

[oldboyroy]

When do you think social distancing will end ?

I think the 2 metre rule will end this month and it'll be a minimum of 1 metre and see how it goes. In general life unless your at a footy game on packed public transport etc you pretty likely to be a metre from someone. Now, of course everyone will be"alert" as the government want us so be and vast majority will still keep their distance. Some will wear masks anyway and, as I said above, if your unlucky to catch it now get a test and self isolate if it's positive.

 

[vegster]

Population control ?

Not necessarily, plenty of couples are probably at it like Rabbits behind closed doors as other than shagging there isn't much else you can do. Pills and Condoms ( if they have enough ) aren't 100% effective and so there will be a spike in births I think in about 8-11 months time.

 

[The Wizard]

Not necessarily, plenty of couples are probably at it like Rabbits behind closed doors as other than shagging there isn't much else you can do. Pills and Condoms ( if they have enough ) aren't 100% effective and so there will be a spike in births I think in about 8-11 months time.

Not to get too personal here but I think the opposite, being cooped up has made me less rabbit like and more want to bury my partner under the patio like.

 

[BLOCK F]

:

Not necessarily, plenty of couples are probably at it like Rabbits behind closed doors as other than shagging there isn't much else you can do. Pills and Condoms ( if they have enough ) aren't 100% effective and so there will be a spike in births I think in about 8-11 months time.

Pity the unfortunate people who want to have a shag and aren't living under the same roof!
Glad I'm not young again!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Not necessarily, plenty of couples are probably at it like Rabbits behind closed doors as other than shagging there isn't much else you can do. Pills and Condoms ( if they have enough ) aren't 100% effective and so there will be a spike in births I think in about 8-11 months time.

The point is couples not living together are effectively banned from being together and people cannot start new relationships again as it stands with no end date to these rules so inevitably the birth rate will fall in time. There will be a peak of births in 6-9 months from couples living together but then a big decline and pof might as well close now, lol

 

[Bozza]

An injection of reality. How can we be in a 2nd wave when we're currently still in the lockdown phase of the 1st wave?

I'm sorta with you and sorta not.

I certainly believe that falling infection rates, hospitalisations and death rates are a direct result of the action that most of us have taken for the past few months, many of which we are still adhering to as you say.

However, I'm not convinced there will be a second peak (I know you said second wave), because many of the measures introduced will be here for some time and we all have acute awareness of the risks, and do our best to minimise our exposure to them.

I think we'll be living in a "new normal" that is acceptable to most until such time as a vaccine is available and/or there is a groundbreaking development in therapeutics.

What I'm struggling to see is how "old normal" can return until either of the remedies are available and deployed at scale. By that I mean schools and other educational settings operating at regular attendance levels, indoor venues such as cinemas and theatres operating at full capacity and even sporting events with full crowds. The latter will be primarily due to transit and concourse arrangements as much as the event itself.

For example, I don't see how schools can fully return in September as things stand.

 

[vegster]

Not to get too personal here but I think the opposite, being cooped up has made me less rabbit like and more want to bury my partner under the patio like.

I'm thinking that your partner is not a 7 st 24 year old Thai girl then ? … Seriously though, for all those that are looking seriously to re-patio, there will be plenty of couples still in the full bloom of love who suddenly have lots of time on their hands and few visitors.

 

[vegster]

I'm sorta with you and sorta not.

I certainly believe that falling infection rates, hospitalisations and death rates are a direct result of the action that most of us have taken for the past few months, many of which we are still adhering to as you say.

However, I'm not convinced there will be a second peak (I know you said second wave), because many of the measures introduced will be here for some time and we all have acute awareness of the risks, and do our best to minimise our exposure to them.

I think we'll be living in a "new normal" that is acceptable to most until such time as a vaccine is available and/or there is a groundbreaking development in therapeutics.

What I'm struggling to see is how "old normal" can return until either of remedies are available and deployed at scale. By that I mean schools and other educational settings operating at regular attendance levels, indoor venues such as cinemas and theatres operating at full capacity and even sporting events with full crowds. The latter will be primarily due to transit and concourse arrangements as much as the event itself.

For example, I don't see how schools can fully return in September as things stand.

Yes, you are pretty much right, we have changed our routines ( most anyway) in order to avoid picking up the virus and cleanliness and the use of masks is going to help that. There will be outbreak spikes in small areas which may require temporary lockdowns and sadly, those currently shielding, will not be able to hide away forever, the virus will probably find them at some point one way or another unless there is a vaccine/ antibody injection.

As for schools, they can often be a hotbed of transferrable infections, no matter how you try, kids, especially the young ones will always be at risk of passing the infection on even if they don't develop the full conditions. You can never social distance kids.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1...-social-distancing-rule-reduced-boris-johnson

Or you take this survey (it is The Express so not brilliant) ...which is the other way...........I’d say the mood as things stand will turn towards relaxing the two.....after all pop over to Denmark and its one.....other countries 1.4 etc etc

If they want the hospitality area to survive then 2m wont stay.......and if progress continues ....it will go...(imho) ..just have to maintain good hygiene habits ...which is what we should do anyway

Unless they announce a package of support for cinemas/pubs/clubs etc they simply won’t survive 2m

I fully expect it to be lowered for pub openings.

I think we are at the point know where it’s being put back into personal choice, if you don’t want to go to a pub stay at home.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Yes, you are pretty much right, we have changed our routines ( most anyway) in order to avoid picking up the virus and cleanliness and the use of masks is going to help that. There will be outbreak spikes in small areas which may require temporary lockdowns and sadly, those currently shielding, will not be able to hide away forever, the virus will probably find them at some point one way or another unless there is a vaccine/ antibody injection.

As for schools, they can often be a hotbed of transferrable infections, no matter how you try, kids, especially the young ones will always be at risk of passing the infection on even if they don't develop the full conditions. You can never social distance kids.

I’m not sure you can say that with any certainty at all....the science is still out at the moment...and if anything leaning the other way

 

[BLOCK F]

I'm sorta with you and sorta not.

I certainly believe that falling infection rates, hospitalisations and death rates are a direct result of the action that most of us have taken for the past few months, many of which we are still adhering to as you say.

However, I'm not convinced there will be a second peak (I know you said second wave), because many of the measures introduced will be here for some time and we all have acute awareness of the risks, and do our best to minimise our exposure to them.

I think we'll be living in a "new normal" that is acceptable to most until such time as a vaccine is available and/or there is a groundbreaking development in therapeutics.

What I'm struggling to see is how "old normal" can return until either of the remedies are available and deployed at scale. By that I mean schools and other educational settings operating at regular attendance levels, indoor venues such as cinemas and theatres operating at full capacity and even sporting events with full crowds. The latter will be primarily due to transit and concourse arrangements as much as the event itself.

For example, I don't see how schools can fully return in September as things stand.

I am not necessarily disagreeing, but what do you think 'a new normal' acceptable to most would look like? For instance, will we be allowed to visit each others houses and cuddle our loved ones? Will people be allowed to form new relationships? Will shops, hotels , pubs and restaurants still be required to limit capacity? The list goes on re schools, unis, industry, hairdressers..........etc.
What I am really saying is, if there isn't a vaccine, which is a distinct possibility, how long do you think it will be before a decision is either made to 'take it on the chin' or the general public rise up and say f--k it, we can't live any longer in this new normal?