Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

A friend of mine's daughter is vaccinating people and she was given the vaccine herself before starting which seems sensible

I haven't seen anyone inside in months, even my elderly parents. 95% of my friends are the same way.

Having a masked and distanced walk with a friend outside isn't going to do either party any harm if they're following the rules elsewhere, I guess, is my point.

yeah I don't see how walks with friends become a spreader even

*event

yes things are really bad in uk and there is a pathological insistence - among govt and populace - on accentuating the positive (vaccinations plus a slight dip in cases from our enormous 2nd peak, basically) and refusing to acknowledge the terrible parts (absolutely everything else); this is understandable from ppl trying to kip & get through the winter and unforgiveable from actual policymakers I think

I watched the latest briefing from the independent SAGE panel and it seems clearer than ever what a mess we're in

- cases coming down in all age groups except over 80s which are rising: this is obv the most vulnerable group, the ones who are dying and who we are in the biggest rush to vaccinate so this is a concern. unclear the exact cause of this trend but probably something to do with all the christmas cheer being spread to elderly relatives, & in particular care homes who only required a notoriously unreliable lateral flow test before letting ppl come visit at xmas (there was also a suggestion in the comments that they might be getting infected at vaccination centres, which are indoors & only require 1m distance post jab per guidance). the thing they stressed was that vaccines are great but not enough, you need to have an actual strategy (narrator:)

- workplace infections are surging because thousands of ppl are being made to go to work despite it not being a) necessary or b) safe - legally employers are required to make workplaces "covid safe" but there is no system for certifying this and it has never been enforced. Also many ppl are deliberately not getting tested because there isn't adequate financial support for ppl who have to isolate. call me crazy but stopping ppl going for walks is not a big fucking priority for me.

- schools a prime example of the strategy point above: don't just close them, wait a few weeks and open them again, have an actual plan to make them safe to open (they will never have an actual plan to make them safe to open)

- it's in the news today that we are "considering" managed isolation of ppl coming into the country - weirdly this is being put down to the brazilian variant rather than being something we should have been doing since the fucking start (one of the panel members on friday said that uk & ireland are "almost unique" in not bothering to do this, I will go out on a limb & guess usa one of the few others). the "system" for the last year has been for the person at the airport to say "be good, yeah?" to new arrivals, send them off to get the tube and never follow up ever

- lots more bits & pieces but the thing they were focusing on this week was mental health among young ppl and they had 3 guest speakers, 16yo kids who talked about their experience of the pandemic and how it was affecting their mh. so sad and infuriating listening to them, they have been utterly failed by these cunts & it did not have to be this bad. one was a trans lad who was living on his own at the ymca, had experienced mh issues in the past & made the point that many people in situations like his were already being neglected before the pandemic and it's only got worse. also spoke really eloquently about the strain of living in indefinite stasis at a time of life that is meant to be all about transition, moving to the next stage towards adulthood, which I hadn't considered.

it's all so pointless and tragic. whoops there go another 1400! I feel like there is the general acknowledgement that the next few weeks are going to be "tough" but that too many ppl internalised that "take it on the chin" rhetoric from last spring, like this is just a necessary stage we pass through on the way back to the pub. maybe we'll get another fucking £10 off a ploughman's

booming post

🤨

All OTM. Comes from the top down and the Prime Minister's need to be liked and for the world to be cardboard box models of buses full of happy smiling people inside. The BBC and most of the British press is basically a propaganda wing of the government and there's no effective political opposition.

OTM, plus likely a thousand examples of shitty admin systems/ processes adding to the nonsensical picture everywhere else, e.g. anecdotally lots of people, healthcare staff included, are trying to volunteer to become vaccinators but the bureaucracy is overwhelming

Ripping post there.

Nothing much more than lip service has been paid to vital elements for controlling a pandemic too. When was the last time anyone mentioned test and trace? It's just been shoved under the carpet with a tacit admission that no-one ever cared about the idea in the first place. The whole thing's been an object lesson in how not to manage a public health crisis, that no-one with any authority will learn from. I suppose we can be thankful that the 1922 Committee or whatever they're called don't have more power than they do, otherwise the death toll would be nearing half a million and the NHS would have completely collapsed.

-have an actual plan to make them safe to open (they will never have an actual plan to make them safe to open)

If we think of COVID as just another type of workplace injury (like falling beams or lecherous bosses) we naturally address it in the same manner as the others: barely and spitefully.

My mom’s cousin passed away at around 2:00 AM this morning from COVID. He was visiting his children in Texas over Christmas, was hospitalized there during the visit, and never recovered.

My sincere condolences, DJP. Fuck covid, and fuck the Trump administration for making this so much worse than it needs to be.

I'm sorry, Dan, that's terrible news

i'm so sorry, Dan :(

Ugh, so sorry

Aw Dan, that’s horrible. Love and condolences xx

So sorry Dan.

My condolences DJP 😞

Just awful. So sorry to hear it.

I'm so sorry, DJP.

Sorry to hear Dan.

sorry DJP, best to you and your family

my condolences, DJP. :(

So sorry, Dan.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry, DJP - keeping your family in my thoughts

Sorry for your loss, Dan.

Sorry and infuriated to hear, Dan.

That's grim, DJP. Thoughts.

Sorry, DJP.

Congrats to Boris on the UK on now having the highest death rate in the world, having successfully implemented so many active spreader policies in the weeks over the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, LA have had to suspend their air pollution policies due to excess smoke from crematoria.

You'd never know any of that from the British media. It's like living in Russia.

keep calm
and
die quietly

A family member told me he doesn't want to get the vaccine because of its link to abortion. Not sure how to respond to this. Thankfully he's in good health (for now) but it is concerning (he's in his 70s too). Hoping we can all talk sense into him.

the Pfizer mRNA vaccine owes its existence to knowledge gained through earlier stem cell research -- which is prob why yer family member confusedly links it to abortion. I'm not sure if the other vaccines have even a whiff of connection to abortion.

The Catholic Church issued a "pro vaccine don't mention the stem cells" statement just before vaccinating the Pope.

so the Pope is filled with dead babies, is basically what you're saying

I mean that was understood to be metaphorically and metaphysically the case anyway non

Dead babies can't make it on their own, from what I understand.

^Ice Cube lyrics in 2021

I know social distancing is challenging at "big events" but it didn't seem a very big thing in America today (to a Britisher).

supposedly they all had two tests a day for 5 days or something but yeah not the greatest 'message' to those viewing

It was making me shudder a bit even though it seemed very different from the Trump era. Everyone was wearing a face covering, I think. But, yeah, difficult to tell people to keep two metres away after that.

Like, I don't actually know that much about Bernie Sanders but I felt for him making his way to his chair.

i imagine everyone in that picture has been tested within the past two days.
but yeah the optics suck

It was gross. I was particularly mad at Garth and Gaga.

I hope they got vaccinated. I assume so.

Didn't watch it all but ... vaccination wouldn't necessarily protect them ... and the "quick tests" (lateral?) are reportedly unreliable.

(Sorry, not really getting into the spirit of things).

Well, given that this is almost exactly three weeks since we saw photos of the Senate folks getting the vaccine, I'm hopeful that a lot of the elected folks in attendance have even had their second round already - which would put them about as protected as one could be at this very moment in time. Obviously the family members are a different concern.

if garth gave w the vid, i wouldn't exactly be upset