SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Of course it does. Wearing something over your face for 10 hours isn't pleasant. Necessary, but unpleasant.
What a bizarre thing to ask.
I've worn a mask for two hours when they temporarily opened footy games again.
Was quite unpleasant and i wouldn't be in any hurry to get back into a ground if you still need one.

This guy wears it all day. Doing physical work.
That would be really horrible.
Well 1 it was a genuine a question because 2, in my like of work I also had to wear masks for extended amount of hours and it didn't particularly bother me or the rest of staff. Not that bizarre of a question at all.

Granted physical work makes it harder I guess.
 
Well 1 it was a genuine a question because 2, in my like of work I also had to wear masks for extended amount of hours and it didn't particularly bother me or the rest of staff. Not that bizarre of a question at all.

Granted physical work makes it harder I guess.

I’ve no problem with it, physically, but can’t wait to ditch the fecking thing for psychological/social reasons. It’s brought home how important it is to see all of someone’s face for normal social interactions. You lose so much by not being able to smile when interacting with strangers. It’s horrible.

It’s also made me rethink niqabs. They’re much crueller than I realised. Maybe not a discussion for this thread though!
 
I’ve no problem with it, physically, but can’t wait to ditch the fecking thing for psychological/social reasons. It’s brought home how important it is to see all of someone’s face for normal social interactions. You lose so much by not being able to smile when interacting with strangers. It’s horrible.

It’s also made me rethink niqabs. They’re much crueller than I realised. Maybe not a discussion for this thread though!

Whilst I 99.999% agree on the masks, I had to go see a child sexual abuse victim who suffers from selective mutism to the point she had never even spoken to her own grandmother. Her being able to “hide” behind a mask meant we were able to get 2 words out of her which was seen as a big success.
I had never considered the positives before this!
 
I’ve no problem with it, physically, but can’t wait to ditch the fecking thing for psychological/social reasons. It’s brought home how important it is to see all of someone’s face for normal social interactions. You lose so much by not being able to smile when interacting with strangers. It’s horrible.

It’s also made me rethink niqabs. They’re much crueller than I realised. Maybe not a discussion for this thread though!

You don't think they've a place going forward? Personally I'm hopeful they don't disappear completely because going into London on the tube and on some of the roads in the city I'd favour a mask.
 
Just a general tip for people who catch Covid if they want to make one preparation in case of critical illness. Find a comfortable position while in a prone position and try to make yourself comfortable lying on your belly for longer periods.

We've had numerous patients who we had to intubate and put on ventilators because they couldn't or wouldn't prone while awake due to discomfort, joint pain or neck pain.
I usually sleep on my belly so sorted. Fingers crossed I never need to
 
I bought some cloth masks that tie around your head and they are soo much more comfortable than surgical masks that hang onto your ears.

now obviously they offer less protection, so I wear two of them to try to make up for it somewhat. But although surgical masks offer more protection, people. Are forever touching them, adjusting them and so on. If someone has breathed on them you are going to get it on your hands when you constantly adjust them.

Whereas the cloth masks I would be happy to wear all day without needing to adjust... Apart from the fogging of glases and eating and drinking (although drinking could be solved with a straw).

i hope this pandemic ends soon, but if it went on for say 10 years, we need better masks.

masks that are reusable, comfortable and without needing of adjustment.

roght now we are all wearing someone else's shoes.

as for seeing facial expressions yeah totally agree.


I should give you a format warning for this dogshit post.
 
I’ve no problem with it, physically, but can’t wait to ditch the fecking thing for psychological/social reasons. It’s brought home how important it is to see all of someone’s face for normal social interactions. You lose so much by not being able to smile when interacting with strangers. It’s horrible.

It’s also made me rethink niqabs. They’re much crueller than I realised. Maybe not a discussion for this thread though!
I've found it difficult for other reasons - although I'm not deaf, I didn't realise how much I rely on looking at people's lips moving when they're speaking in Italian and I'm trying to translate what they're saying. The lady in the Post Office just shouts at me, which is funny because it's what Brits often do when they're trying to explain something to someone who doesn't speak English.
 
Ah. Ok. Interesting. I heard about this from a business colleague in Israel. He may well have said ultra-orthodox but I heard orthodox. He had quite a strong accent!

My vague understanding is that the ultra-orthodox (Haredim) are basically one branch within the broader orthodox fold (in very simple terms there is a traditionalist v modernist divide among the orthodox). But since they represent the stereotypical image that instantly comes to mind when we hear the term “Orthodox Jews” it is likely often the case that references to “Orthodox Jews” are actually aimed at them.

Certainly every reference I’ve seen in Israeli media regarding the current COVID issue has referenced the “ultra-orthodox“, but perhaps in an informal context “orthodox” is thought sufficient.
 
I’ve no problem with it, physically, but can’t wait to ditch the fecking thing for psychological/social reasons. It’s brought home how important it is to see all of someone’s face for normal social interactions. You lose so much by not being able to smile when interacting with strangers. It’s horrible.

It’s also made me rethink niqabs. They’re much crueller than I realised. Maybe not a discussion for this thread though!
It really is, I still smile at strangers passing through shop doors ect and then as you walk off you think, I must have looked like a right weirdo then with my mask covering the smile. :lol:

But fear not, another branch at the company I work for has made a new transparent reusable mask with ceramic filters (still in the testing phase mind but they seem pretty confident about it)
 
If anyone doubts that employers (in this case the government) discourage use of the covid tracking app, and effectively encourage people to ignore the rules on self isolation take a look at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-mass-covid-outbreak-at-top-government-agency

If that's what happens in a major government office, it's not that hard to guess that it's also happening in lots of other smaller, less regulated workplaces. Or indeed to guess what's happening to the army of zero hours contract workers out there. It's not all about selfish individualism.
 
More covidiot protests in Denmark.

 
I know the UK is keen to highlight how many vaccine doses have been given out, but are there figures of how many have been fully vaccinated i.e had both doses? Quite a few older family members have had their first doses over the last week.
 
I know the UK is keen to highlight how many vaccine doses have been given out, but are there figures of how many have been fully vaccinated i.e had both doses? Quite a few older family members have had their first doses over the last week.

Yep, some good general data on the situation on this page:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

469, 660 have received both doses so far according to that page, as of yesterday. About 6.3 million received their 1st dose.
 
Took my Dad to receive his vaccine earlier today, I know there’s a few weeks to go before it will have any effect and even then he needs to be careful but I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is that he’s finally getting some level of protection.
 
A couple of pieces of preliminary, maybe good news on the treatments front.

Another report out recommending a daily low dose of Vitamin D (on a does no harm, will help a lot of people basis)
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland...ainst-covid-19-say-irish-experts-1069537.html
There are also now studies reporting that even in patients who already have covid, vitamin D can help.

And a gout attack treatment - colchicine - that's undergoing clinical multiple trials, also looks very promising. A new Canadian placebo controlled trial of 4000 patients showed what looks like a statistically significant impact on disease progression. I say looks like, because as this article warns, it's right on the edge of statistically significant, and it's currently "just a press release" not a peer reviewed paper.
https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/23/colchicine-gout-drug-shows-promise-for-covid-19/

Still, I wouldn't bet against a "lemsip for covid" prescription being available next winter, for people who don't get the hoped for results from the vaccine. Progress, and another reason to try not to kill too many people over the next few months by an impatience to restart normal life.
 


Will he ever learn?

I think this is just a press quote, something that got stretched too far. I think it was a, "Looking at' in the sense of checking the numbers, analysing what order they can release restrictions and the timeline for it, not in the sense of actually changing things immediately.

That said, I suspect we'll see the international travel restrictions change multiple times over the next month.
 


Will he ever learn?

Folding to the lobbyists and Tory back benchers once again.

That went fecking marvellously last time. He’ll announce Toby Young as his chief strategist next.
 
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Apologies if this has already been posted, but Astro Zeneca has been warned by the EU that it must meet the agreed amounts they signed up to deliver.
Ms von der Leyen spoke to AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot by phone this morning. (25th January)

"She made it clear she expects AstraZeneca to deliver on the contractual arrangements foreseen in the advanced purchasing agreement," commission spokesman Eric Mamer said.

"She reminded Mr Soriot that the EU has invested significant amounts in the company upfront precisely to ensure production is ramped up even before the conditional market authorisation is delivered by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0125/1191881-coronavirus-vaccine-eu/
 
Apologies if this has already been posted, but Astro Zeneca has been warned by the EU that it must meet the agreed amounts they signed up to deliver.


https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0125/1191881-coronavirus-vaccine-eu/

Bit of a strange one. Feels like she’s rattling her sabre to make everyone feel as though something is being done, rather than because it’s justified. At the end of the day, AZ already have a huge financial incentive to produce as much vaccine as possible, as quickly as possible. So I don’t see how threatening them changes anything.