Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

Slime

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I'd very much agree with these numbers around here. The decline in mask wearing is notable. We even had our first 'outraged town Facebook post' from a person who walked into a shop without a mask, not exempt, and took the hump when they were asked to wear one. That post would have been unthinkable just a short while ago.

I think it still is!
 

DanFST

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Maybe, people don't want to spend the rest of their lives wearing masks?

I always have one on me, but I don't typically wear one if theres enough space for me to keep away from people. I'll wear one getting on a train, but once i'm sat down it's off. If there's a polite sign asking me to, i always will.
 

D-S

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Interesting that, I believe, mask wearing rules are stricter in Scotland than in England but never the less Scottish numbers are booming; they appear to be flattish in England.
I am not aware of any logic behind the short term difference in the trajectory of the numbers except that there was a mini spike in England due to some festivals, notably Boardmaster (?) in Cornwall, which is now dropping out of the daily numbers.
 

SocketRocket

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38,000 infections today. When will we admit it's getting out of control and bring in some sensible restrictions. Schools back in a week so we can expect a sharp rise.
 

Tashyboy

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38,000 infections today. When will we admit it's getting out of control and bring in some sensible restrictions. Schools back in a week so we can expect a sharp rise.
Next door neighbours came back from Spain yesterday, it seems mask wearing is at a different level to what it is here. Apart from the Brits on holiday.
 

Ethan

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what would you impose?

Reinstate mask wearing in shops and other indoor venues. Extend vaccination to 12-15 year olds right away. Limit attendance at concerts and theatres to vacc'd or tested people. The mistake of so-called freedom Day was to relax too many restrictions all at once. It should have been staged. Apart from anything else, relaxing them all means you can't tell which ones were OK and which caused problems.

The Govt wanted to maintain masks, SAGE advised them to do so, but their backbenchers wouldn't support that, and they didn't want to have to rely on position support, so it has sod all to do with the science, all to do with that which dare not speak its name.
 

Tashyboy

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Reinstate mask wearing in shops and other indoor venues. Extend vaccination to 12-15 year olds right away. Limit attendance at concerts and theatres to vacc'd or tested people. The mistake of so-called freedom Day was to relax too many restrictions all at once. It should have been staged. Apart from anything else, relaxing them all means you can't tell which ones were OK and which caused problems.

The Govt wanted to maintain masks, SAGE advised them to do so, but their backbenchers wouldn't support that, and they didn't want to have to rely on position support, so it has sod all to do with the science, all to do with that which dare not speak its name.

What I don’t understand is that all along we have been informed via daily briefings etc that Science and SAGE is advising us re what we can and cannot do. At what point did that stop happening. Personally I think a lot of the time we have followed the SAGE advice when it fitted an agenda. Without getting political ?
 

D-S

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Reinstate mask wearing in shops and other indoor venues. Extend vaccination to 12-15 year olds right away. Limit attendance at concerts and theatres to vacc'd or tested people. The mistake of so-called freedom Day was to relax too many restrictions all at once. It should have been staged. Apart from anything else, relaxing them all means you can't tell which ones were OK and which caused problems.
.
Isn’t some of this exactly what the Scottish Government are doing but their cases are going the other way?
 

Ethan

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What I don’t understand is that all along we have been informed via daily briefings etc that Science and SAGE is advising us re what we can and cannot do. At what point did that stop happening. Personally I think a lot of the time we have followed the SAGE advice when it fitted an agenda. Without getting political ?

"The science" was there to provide cover for decisions, so it was used selectively. I must have missed all the briefings with Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance since Sajid Javid to over. Say what you like about Matt Hancock, but he did appear to have a passing interest in health and wellbeing. Javid still thinks he is some sort of shadow Chancellor.

SAGE is not independent, most of the major players are Govt employees, so even that advice has, to some extent, taken political issues into account. They would not recommend anything they knew Govt would not do, although they would try to nudge Govt if there was political uncertainly.
 

theoneandonly

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I'm just back from Castleisland, they have much more restrictions. While mask wearing in shops is still strong, no one checked my vax status in pubs, the table service rule was ignored and pretty much no one wore a mask when moving about.
 

drdel

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"The science" was there to provide cover for decisions, so it was used selectively. I must have missed all the briefings with Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance since Sajid Javid to over. Say what you like about Matt Hancock, but he did appear to have a passing interest in health and wellbeing. Javid still thinks he is some sort of shadow Chancellor.

SAGE is not independent, most of the major players are Govt employees, so even that advice has, to some extent, taken political issues into account. They would not recommend anything they knew Govt would not do, although they would try to nudge Govt if there was political uncertainly.

Insulting to SAGE professionals and getting political !
 

Ethan

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Insulting to SAGE professionals and getting political !

It isn't intended to be insulting to SAGE professionals. They are people grounded in the real politik of their jobs. If you are Chris Whitty, whom I like and respect, or Patrick Vallance, a tad less so, you have to make a judgement about what influence you can reasonably bring to bear. Is it worthwhile producing a daring new strategy that you think politicians will reject or the Mail will have a conniption over, or do you think it is better to try for incremental improvements, a sort of nudge approach, to existing policy that the politicians might accept. The reality is that people try the first get ignored or booted out, and people who try the latter do better int he long run.
 

road2ruin

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Found that where we live (Surrey area) the use of masks is still pretty strong, I’d say that in the supermarket it’s 80/20 in favour of wearers at the moment.

Down at the folks this weekend and just back from Sainsbury’s and it’s completely different. Barely any staff wearing and that’s matched by most of the customers. Given we’re in Bognor which is largely speaking God’s waiting room it was surprising to see.
 

Tashyboy

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Insulting to SAGE professionals and getting political !
It may well be but I asked him a question. I think it was one of those where a honest opinion/ reply could not be said without getting close to non discussion area.
 

Swinglowandslow

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Ethans reply got it right, sensible restrictions that assist to keep infections down.

You and Ethan are clearly not fully accepting the difficulties which would arise if masks were mandatory. It has been said before but doesn't seem to get through.
Mandatory masks were manageable when a number of activities were closed down. Nightclubs, theatres, football stadia etc. People going to shops. etc would not find that impractical or too irksome.
However, pressure built to open up the entertainment industry, and mask wearing wouldn't happen there.
If you think it would, you are being naive or obtuse. How are the police going to uphold the law in those places. Not possible and the Government know it.
Anybody who know how nightclubs work etc knows it.
So, opening up had to be done , thus mandatory masks had to be changed to requesting masks.
If you want no opening up of entertainment industry, say so.- just tell us whether you think they should stay closed ( when all over 18 could - IMO should- be vaxxed and you would have the non vaxxers calling the shots!)

I still wear a mask as before the change. I value their use. But I recognise the impracticable scenarios I have mentioned. You are not doing that.
And that really isn't being fair to the decision makers and the Police who would be in an impossible situation .
I do agree with Ethan that admission to these places where many people gather should be limited to the vaxxed.
Let's start recognising where the problem really lies.
I am frankly fed up of the tail wagging the dog, where the non vaxxed ( the refusers) are contributing immensely to the infection rate, where care home workers think it right to work there not vaxxed, as if all we should worry about is their rights, and not the right of those in care to live a Covid free life as far as is possible.
 
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