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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Unfortunately it is the case that as me and my Mrs look around and through my families network of friends and acquaintances, we see breaking of the rules all over the place.

Why is this the case? It really baffles me. It can't be lack of understanding of what we are being asked to do - as we are talking about intelligent people, and none of them can cite money-pressures as a mitigation for their behaviour (they are all comfortably off individuals and families). I can only think that there must be insufficient (perhaps not a total lack of) trust in and respect for those telling us what we must do, and that is used to justify and validate the decisions that they make around their actions - justification of selfishness - I just can't think of any other reason.

If I really don't want to do something, I will look for any justification to avoid doing it, and once I have identified that justification and it is set in my thinking then denial of the risk to myself and others of my actions becomes quite easy and it is sustainable. Perhaps the only thing that can break this mindset for an individual is something going very badly wrong.
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I get why you'd think that but I don't believe this is in anyway political, its far more likely to be a social problem
 
From the start of this there has been a great many people who have looked to find loopholes to avoid the rules because they somehow think they shouldn't apply to them.

Then there is another group who are pretending they don't understand the rules. I know a few who are otherwise intelligent, but don't like the colour of the current government.

Then there are the genuinely stupid and those that just don't care. Which is probably the biggest group.

But when you add it them all together, we get a very large group who could be adding to the spread despite everyone else's efforts. Given how contagious covid is. That has a huge impact on numbers.
 
Slab said:
I get why you'd think that but I don't believe this is in anyway political, its far more likely to be a social problem
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I'm not suggesting it is political or scientific. It is individuals looking to justify their actions - actions that they know are selfish and not justifiable - unless they can find a justification - so yes societal. I am looking at a very specific sector of society - affluent, white, middle class and educated - one that perhaps should really know better - and yet...

And yes I know that what I am doing tomorrow is in the eyes of some not justifiable - but it is within the rules, and I know with 100% certainty that our precautions will be much more 'severe' than 'lax' in their application. Else we and I would not be doing it.
 
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One of my shift colleagues is apparently going to be having 16 people in their house on Christmas Day, then come into work as we are on 12 hour nights. Covid for me as a Christmas present by the look of things.

Total idiots......In fairness she is not happy about it but her partner is not overly intelligent in matters of how your actions can impact others
 
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BiMGuy said:
From the start of this there has been a great many people who have looked to find loopholes to avoid the rules because they somehow think they shouldn't apply to them.

Then there is another group who are pretending they don't understand the rules. I know a few who are otherwise intelligent, but don't like the colour of the current government.

Then there are the genuinely stupid and those that just don't care. Which is probably the biggest group.

But when you add it them all together, we get a very large group who could be adding to the spread despite everyone else's efforts. Given how contagious covid is. That has a huge impact on numbers.
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Yeah, We know that unfortunately for all the people taking care not to spread it and all the people taking care not to catch it, some of them will still spread it/catch it.
Excluding the former, how many people does it mean then that just don’t give a crap in order for half a million to catch it in just 30 days!

It’s a mindboggling number and i think it requires many many millions to be in the latter group
 
Five girls in a house in London all head home to their parents for the Christmas break - having already met up with other London-based households of friends. When home they get together and meet up indoors with other groups of friends gathered from home town and across the UK...after Christmas the London group will head back to London - the other friends will head back to their family homes, plus to wherever about the UK they now live. Brilliant.

Or they might not.

My daughter (lives local) knows that we are not at all happy if that happens, though I think she may exclude herself (not so much through our disapproval as through her own awareness)
 
When this Covid first started taking prominence in the UK Feb/ March, I had been talking to friends in Italy a few weeks previous and they were quite frankly “bricking it”. They were a few weeks in front of us and it was not pretty.
On Sunday I got a message saying one of me Bessie pals in Italy has Covid. Seen today’s message. He is in ICU. He is having a tracheostomy today and will be in a bad way for a minimum few weeks if all goes well. But it don’t look good.
Just read on Sky news that Yesterday, Italy had its worst death totals so far during this pandemic. This Covid has not gone away by miles and why the hell anyone would want to risk catching it for the sake of a turkey dinner on Christmas Day is beyond me.
At the moment I feel like Ave been kicked in the goolies hearing that news from Italy.
Get well soon Alfredo.
 
There is another message that we could have had in the lead up to Christmas - though as we have reflected here - it probably wouldn't have made a lot of difference for a lot of folks.

 
AmandaJR said:
We both caught it despite being really careful, following guidelines and hands, space, face ad finitum. We've never found out where we caught it but did feel as if we'd been careless somehow. It's not a nice feeling to feel unwell and at the same time weirdly guilty and like a leper.

Some posts above suggest others may well have thought the same about us...
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I think it can be caught through the eyes.

Should we be wearing masks and visors. :unsure:
 
chellie said:
I think it can be caught through the eyes.

Should we be wearing masks and visors. :unsure:
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I've always averted or closed my eyes around anyone with sniffles. Harks back to when I ran marathons and wanted to avoid getting sick before a race and saw a documentary where the nasty purple spikey germs got in through the eyes.

Perhaps those visors are a better option all round.
 
Slab said:
I’m more than a bit confused how uk has managed to rack up way over half a million positive covid tests in a month. That’s an incredible number, if I wanted to go herd immunity I’d be happy with half a million a month catching it! (plus all the untested/asymptomatic)

There’s still just the two primary ways to get it right?
Touch something with the virus on it then shove your fingers in one of the holes in your face
Come into contact with an airborne droplet that enters through one of the holes in your face

And masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, sunglasses, soap & water, keeping distanced, staying at home etc all create barriers & reduce the chances of the above happening… but more than half a million times in just a month those safeguards have failed, what the hell has happened?
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There is a certain % of the population who appear to not be bothering, but also as shown on here plenty who have tried to be very careful but succumbed. It is in part likely to just how widespread it became in the 1st wave.
Keep in mind the UK is in the top 10% of testing per population, and 44th in cases per population.
 
Slab said:
I’m more than a bit confused how uk has managed to rack up way over half a million positive covid tests in a month. That’s an incredible number, if I wanted to go herd immunity I’d be happy with half a million a month catching it! (plus all the untested/asymptomatic)

There’s still just the two primary ways to get it right?
Touch something with the virus on it then shove your fingers in one of the holes in your face
Come into contact with an airborne droplet that enters through one of the holes in your face

And masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, sunglasses, soap & water, keeping distanced, staying at home etc all create barriers & reduce the chances of the above happening… but more than half a million times in just a month those safeguards have failed, what the hell has happened?
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you have left out the most prevalent method, though it is very close to "airborne droplet".
It is aerosol effect, which is breathing in expelled air of others, some or one of whom is infected.
Droplets method was thought to be the only airborne method, and thus SD of 2 meters came in, because that was the limit of the distance such droplets could carry.
But in aerosol method the SD doesn't come into it INDOORS ( sorry for the shout, my bold option is gone )
Indoors, the air is mulling around for some time, similar to expelled tobacco smoke, so others air gets breathed in , more than once maybe.
Outdoors , of course, no problem.

That is why we had the second spike, pubs etc open, more time spent indoors than out.
That why Xmas relaxation will be not good , to put it mildly.
 
Swinglowandslow said:
you have left out the most prevalent method, though it is very close to "airborne droplet".
It is aerosol effect, which is breathing in expelled air of others, some or one of whom is infected.
Droplets method was thought to be the only airborne method, and thus SD of 2 meters came in, because that was the limit of the distance such droplets could carry.
But in aerosol method the SD doesn't come into it INDOORS ( sorry for the shout, my bold option is gone )
Indoors, the air is mulling around for some time, similar to expelled tobacco smoke, so others air gets breathed in , more than once maybe.
Outdoors , of course, no problem.

That is why we had the second spike, pubs etc open, more time spent indoors than out.
That why Xmas relaxation will be not good , to put it mildly.
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Indeed hence the strong and rather emotional message from the Canadian Premier of Manitoba about Christmas in the vid I posted.
 
Swinglowandslow said:
That is why we had the second spike, pubs etc open, more time spent indoors than out.
That why Xmas relaxation will be not good , to put it mildly.
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Not trying to dispute this, but have you actual evidence that Pubs are one of the main reasons for recent infection rates. Almost everyone I know that has had COVID is quite adamant that the root cause has been either work or school.
 
bluewolf said:
Not trying to dispute this, but have you actual evidence that Pubs are one of the main reasons for recent infection rates. Almost everyone I know that has had COVID is quite adamant that the root cause has been either work or school.
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I know there is the weather conditions etc but levels stayed low even after pubs first opened. Perhaps more were sitting outdoors then
 
Lost another staff member today. Not an ICU nurse but someone that a lot of the staff knew. Was only confirmed as positive on Wednesday and declined suddenly last night. Only 35 and a mum of a little 6 year old.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Lost another staff member today. Not an ICU nurse but someone that a lot of the staff knew. Was only confirmed as positive on Wednesday and declined suddenly last night. Only 35 and a mum of a little 6 year old.
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I have followed this thread with interest over the past 6 or 7 months and somehow to me it’s become a bit of a theoretical discussion of a subject that has not impacted my family or friends, but your post just pulled me up short and brought some tears to my eyes. The suddenness, the young age of the lady and the plight of the child really got to me. It’s such a sad situation, i can’t think of any words that help that family.
 
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