COVID-19 (The artist formally known as Coronavirus)

[Eenuh]

On 18/09/2020 at 7:00 PM, Happenstance said:

Anyone been on the trains recently and if so, how are they? I’ve got an urge to maybe go to London for the day at some point but the trip down there is what would concern me.

I'm not sure if this is an option for you, but I took a National Express coach into London in August and it was pretty much empty (same on the way back a week later).
They took our temperature before boarding, and every aisle seat was kept empty. Plus everyone had to wear a face mask during the entire trip. Might be worth looking into?

[Happenstance]

33 minutes ago, Eenuh said:

I'm not sure if this is an option for you, but I took a National Express coach into London in August and it was pretty much empty (same on the way back a week later).
They took our temperature before boarding, and every aisle seat was kept empty. Plus everyone had to wear a face mask during the entire trip. Might be worth looking into?

Yeah could be, I always forget there are other ways other than the train!

[Mandalore]

On 9/18/2020 at 7:00 PM, Happenstance said:

Anyone been on the trains recently and if so, how are they? I’ve got an urge to maybe go to London for the day at some point but the trip down there is what would concern me.

Been on quite a few trains to Bristol and Cardiff since lockdown. To begin with hardly anyone wore face coverings, more recently it's been much better. Last train I got on the way home from Cardiff, police were at the station and coming on board making sure everyone was following the rules.

[Dog-amoto]

I’m a driver for Avanti (used to be Virgin) When this first started, I was taking maybe 5-10 people to London on an 11 car train, but these days there are probably 150-200 people on a typical busier service. Obviously there are fewer on some trains, depending on the time of day. There are plenty of measures going on such as much more frequent cleaning but like anywhere public, there will always be some kind of risk, you just have to decide how much the cure is worse than the disease. 

Which is pretty much my outlook on the whole thing. I live in Bolton so we were one of the towns impacted by the stricter restrictions but I’ve just been mitigating my risk myself. I’ve still had people round, mainly in the garden, when it’s not allowed, I fail to see how it is riskier than going to a pub or restaurant which I haven’t been doing. Only difference I can see is there isn’t a credit card machine in my garden. We’ve got to a point where we’re more afraid of the virus than anything else - our council won’t let the lollipop lady at my daughter’s school come back to work as they haven’t done a risk assessment yet. So they’ve decided that safety of children on the road is less important than a virus that supposedly doesn’t spread as easily outside. It’s madness. 

[Goafer]

Looks like I've been selected for a random test as part of a Imperial College London study. Figured I may as well take part, as it only involves a quick survey and doing a home test. I suppose it would be nice to verify that I don't have it and if it helps a study, then we all win.

[Happenstance]

22 minutes ago, Goafer said:

Looks like I've been selected for a random test as part of a Imperial College London study. Figured I may as well take part, as it only involves a quick survey and doing a home test. I suppose it would be nice to verify that I don't have it and if it helps a study, then we all win.

Secretary at my school also got selected.

[sumo73]

On 9/18/2020 at 7:00 PM, Happenstance said:

Anyone been on the trains recently and if so, how are they? I’ve got an urge to maybe go to London for the day at some point but the trip down there is what would concern me.

I travelled down to London on Sunday and there were less people on the train than normal for a Sunday. Have travelled about a month ago back from London on a week day and the tubes/trains were less busy than normal.

There is still a percentage of people who are working from home or now work part time at home and then the office once or twice a week so the numbers on the trains should be a bit less than normal. Avoid peak times if possible, wear a mask and use the hand sanitisers around the stations and you should be fine.

[bob]

And don't lick anything.

[Happenstance]

1 minute ago, bob said:

And don't lick anything.

What's the point in going to London then?

[sumo73]

12 minutes ago, bob said:

And don't lick anything.

I've never tried licking anything with a mask on. Don't suggest anyone does either!

[Happenstance]

2 minutes ago, sumo73 said:

I've never tried licking anything with a mask on. Don't suggest anyone does either!

Don't worry, I've cut holes into all my masks so I can lick away

[Cube]

I currently have a holiday booked (UK one) for a few weeks, but a local lockdown in my area seems likely and, unlike the England local lockdowns, the Welsh ones don't allow you to travel out of the area.

[Jimbob]

8 minutes ago, Cube said:

I currently have a holiday booked (UK one) for a few weeks, but a local lockdown in my area seems likely and, unlike the England local lockdowns, the Welsh ones don't allow you to travel out of the area.

Had to cancel my break this week due to the local lockdown restrictions, luckily i didn't lose any money.  But know a few who have lost a couple hundred pounds from cancelled holidays (UK and abroad).  Cardiff is surrounded by local lockdown counties, even though itself isn't in one.

Did see my family over the weekend before they announced the lockdown, so that's something.

[Fierce_LiNk]

The rule changes around weddings borders on the nonsensical. Has there been a large number of cases attributed to weddings that I'm somehow unaware of? 

I work in a school and, currently, I am teaching more humans in my class than there will be allowed at our wedding. It's a small classroom, whereas our venue can allow for more than adequate spacing. Not only that, but if I were to teach in the Senior/Secondary School, I could potentially have contact with over 100-150 different pupils per day, every week. Yet, you can't meet the same number of adults at a wedding, a one-off event, for one day, in an area that has larger spacing, both indoor and outdoor.

I can go into a pub and restaurant and there could be dozens of tables with multiple people sat at them. Yet, somehow, if you know these people and have arranged for this to happen, it's breaking the law. But if you don't know these people and have never met them, this is ok. 

The problem with altering the rules in this way is that the less sense that they make and the more inconsistent they are, the less people are likely to want to follow them. 

On another note...

The testing system is an absolute disgrace. I have known of three teachers in our school who have had huge problems with this.

Teacher number 1: Son had symptoms consistent with Covid and got a test. She had to wait 72 hours for a result.

Teacher number 2: Son had symptoms consistent with Covid. Couldn't get a test on the Thursday. Got offered a test in Bristol for Friday morning (a 3 to 4 hour round journey) and got the result back on Sunday. 

Teacher number 3: Husband (teacher in another school) had a test on Sunday morning at 8:30am. Only got the result back this morning at 8:10am, so just shy of 72 hours.

All three came back negative.

In short, the UK has fucked this one.

[Ashley]

With weddings I guess it's like pubs; people get together and drink, celebrate etc. I guess? Generous interpretation. 

[Rummy]

track and trace me like goodbois plz;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/24/close-to-100-accuracy-airport-enlists-sniffer-dogs-to-test-for-covid-19

[Raining_again]

On 23/09/2020 at 6:17 PM, Fierce_LiNk said:

The problem with altering the rules in this way is that the less sense that they make and the more inconsistent they are, the less people are likely to want to follow them. 

This is EXACTLY EXACTLY what's bothering me.  For 2 weeks we had half of a town in lockdown.  Even the locals didn't know where was and wasn't. odd exceptions.  People going to work in non covid secure workplaces and nothing being done about it (my workplace is under fire about it).  School busses, full of kids with no masks... what's the sense in class bubbles when they're all on the same bus lol.  Pubs opening, eat out to help out, yet no shared meals in your families homes.  If they were consistent and sensible with the rules, I reckon there would be double the compliance.  

Here we're all just riding on the hope that it doesn't get crazy out of control.  Northern Ireland is small, we've had a couple of months with not even a handful of deaths, hardly any hospital admissions... people yappin on about how its all being made to nothing and doing what they want. Over the past few days its gone from <5 in hospitals, to 41 in hospital and 5 in ICU.  

[Dog-amoto]

Any adherence to lockdown rules ended when they failed to sack Cummings. 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Dog-amoto said:

Any adherence to lockdown rules ended when they failed to sack Cummings. 

I find this attitude a bit childish.

You can dislike the government and still follow the rules for the benefit of the country/world.

[Raining_again]

When I came back from shielding I was given a desk away from people, at least 2m away from anyone else.  Not my desks, it was a service that was on furlough or working in different locations/home.  They are coming back on Monday.  First I heard about it was a telephone call on Friday morning when I was on leave. 

So they're scrambling NOW.  After I asked to WFH for MONTHS.  While I was off on shielding leave.  Denied, multiple times.  Now they're talking about *possibly* getting me the permission to WFH because there is literally nowhere to put me.  They're more than likely bringing in more than 1 person to that space I used to sit in, that is only covid safe for 1 person max.  One section of our office has people sitting <1m away from each other because there is no space anywhere for them.  So if a positive case came into our office THREE ENTIRE services, ESSENTIAL services, would have to be completely shut down. 

Fuckin unreal.  

Also there's an article in the BelTel about NHS staff in my town having a pizza party, in work, on work time, 15 people in a room risk assessed for 5. And i'm not even shocked.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Raining_again

[Rummy]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I find this attitude a bit childish.

You can dislike the government and still follow the rules for the benefit of the country/world.

Yes you can.

But people won't because of it. That's probably the subtlety of Dog-amoto's point that you're missing - it is difficult to credibly impose rules upon people and expect them to follow them when you yourself do not abide by their spirit, you see?

[Ronnie]

9 hours ago, Rummy said:

Yes you can.

But people won't because of it. That's probably the subtlety of Dog-amoto's point that you're missing - it is difficult to credibly impose rules upon people and expect them to follow them when you yourself do not abide by their spirit, you see?

Yes, I get the point they're making.

I get that people won't in a "if they won't I won't" sort of way. Me personally I'd rather just do my bit to help end this pandemic asap. There's a greater cause here than sticking two fingers up to the government.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Ronnie

[Rummy]

You seem to still think it's about 'sticking fingers up to authority' - which does explain a lot.

Have you considered it might be people just don't believe it to be as serious as it is made out, rather than actively rebelling, due to the fact the message is inconsistent? This world isn't quite as simple as you are to things, Ronnie. You always seem to enjoy ascribing wicked intents to people that do not neccessarily have to exist?

[Goafer]

I think that's the thing with leaders. When people aren't sure what to do, they turn to the leaders for an example. When our leaders are changing their mind every 5 minutes and telling us to "Eat out to help out", "go back to work" and god knows what else, then telling us that we need to play by the rules to avoid another lockdown, is it any wonder no one knows what to do or isn't taking it seriously? 

Add the Dominic Cummins thing on top and they've made an absolute joke of the whole thing. No one is taking it seriously and you can hardly blame them when the very people we turn to for leadership aren't either.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Goafer

[Rummy]

Nice post edit following my response to try and make yourself look better there Ronnie. I will sure be remembering to use the 'quote' function for you in future - interesting to see in this discussion you are of the 'dirty delete' brigade whilst also complaining elsewhere of cancel culture. But hey, you keep doing you. People here love it.