Coronavirus

[Jobbo]

As the new mutation has now been found in many places all over the world including Europe I feel like the closed border is more to do with Brexit politics than anything else at this moment in time.

I don't think the closed border has anything to do with Brexit - it has a lot to do with the scary sudden lockdown announcement in the SE of England, the very area which is closest to the continent. If Normandy had a sudden massive increase in cases (whether new variant or the OG virus) then we'd presumably have done the same.

[ZedLeg]

I don't think you understand Jobbo, those Europeans are doing something we don't like so there must be a hidden agenda

[Ascender]

I don't know why the schools didn't close earlier, especially for those years who weren't doing prelims. My kids were told they could just stay at home this week, but if they wanted to come in, there would be manual contract tracing in place and increased social distancing due to concerns about Christmas.

Just close the schools.

Its still really difficult to have any sort of reasoned debate up here about how our government is doing because it immediately descends in to a nationalist/unionist thing which is depressing.

[Jobbo]

I don't think you understand Jobbo, those Europeans are doing something we don't like so there must be a hidden agenda

Yeah, I bet those lorry drivers all urinating in Mito's parents garden are forrin.

[duncs500]

I heard on the news that there's a theory that this strain is more effective at transmission through kids, rather than just generally more easy to transmit. That would be an interesting development.

[dinny_g]

Im already making arrangements with work to allow me capacity to support home schooling from Jan 11th

[jamcg]

So with the news of this new strain and the closure of the ports, how bad are you’re supermarkets? All of ours are resembling a perfect breeding ground at the mo. Ridiculously busy even with controls and people not giving a fuck about distancing

[Explosive Newt]

So with the news of this new strain and the closure of the ports, how bad are you’re supermarkets? All of ours are resembling a perfect breeding ground at the mo. Ridiculously busy even with controls and people not giving a fuck about distancing

Went to the local Waitrose yesterday evening. No queue outside. Moderately busy but certainly not rammed inside. Still lots of stuff on the shelves.

Friend who lives in Chiswick went to hers this morning and queued for 35 minutes.

Depends where you live I am thinking...

[DeskJockey]

So with the news of this new strain and the closure of the ports, how bad are you’re supermarkets? All of ours are resembling a perfect breeding ground at the mo. Ridiculously busy even with controls and people not giving a fuck about distancing

Went to the local Waitrose yesterday evening. No queue outside. Moderately busy but certainly not rammed inside. Still lots of stuff on the shelves.

Friend who lives in Chiswick went to hers this morning and queued for 35 minutes.

Depends where you live I am thinking...

Depends on where you shop.

[Simon]

My Dad's local Waitrose had a queue of 200 before 7am this morning. It snaked around the car park and out onto the road. He reckons that he queued nearly 40 minutes to get in. Our local Waitrose had maybe a 15 minute queue this afternoon.

[jamcg]

My “local” Waitrose is 36 miles away

[DeskJockey]

My experience of first lockdown was that Waitrose was busy, but people wore masks, queued patiently and maintained distance. Comparing that to Tesco and Sainsbury's were none of that seemed to apply, I shopped a lot more in Waitrose even though my nearest is quite small and to get there I pass both a Sainsbury's and a mega Tesco.

[Jobbo]

We were at Tesco in Cheltenham at 6.00am; both of us were awake so there seemed no reason to wait until later in the day. Shelves very fully stocked, really no problem but then we’re not in Tier 4 I guess.

[Mito Man]

M&S was quiet last night in London. During the last proper lockdown they were only really busy with a massive queue straight after 6pm when everyone decided to all go there together after work. I just went a few hours later and it was always quiet and freshly stocked bar the pasta and bog roll section

[jamcg]

Can’t remember exactly which country but one of the previous alternate strains they analysed didn’t mutate here so it’s certainly possible it’s imported.

Some background on the genesis of the mutations here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-heal ... st-spring/

I think the UK is being unfairly penalised for having better surveillance than the rest of the world. This new strain would easily explain why Germany’s latest lockdown measure haven’t been a success.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55413666

Beeb article backing your point. Apparently we account for 50% of all covid19 genetic sequencing in the world. We finally do something right and get fucked for it

[Explosive Newt]

Some background on the genesis of the mutations here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-heal ... st-spring/

I think the UK is being unfairly penalised for having better surveillance than the rest of the world. This new strain would easily explain why Germany’s latest lockdown measure haven’t been a success.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55413666

Beeb article backing your point. Apparently we account for 50% of all covid19 genetic sequencing in the world. We finally do something right and get fucked for it

It's fascinating science: you use the way the virus accumulates mutations to track its spread through populations. A friend of mine (who works for Cog-UK's Sharon Peacock) ran a study on Cambridge university students where they sequenced each positive sample and showed where it did and didn't spread. What was interesting for me was that students didn't really spread covid to the general population within the city, they remained fairly isolated and the strains seen amongst students were not those that made it into the rest of the populace. from 1:30 minutes onwards, if you're interested (the entire 3 hour session might not be for everyone).

[speedingfine]

Guy at work who has their lunch the same time as me in the canteen is a confirmed case. We were more than distanced but I went hot to the touch last night and a bit feverish so reported symptoms to the app. I have a test today at 12 and have to isolate. Of course I feel fine today and feel like a last day at work skiver

[Broccers]

Guy at work who has their lunch the same time as me in the canteen is a confirmed case. We were more than distanced but I went hot to the touch last night and a bit feverish so reported symptoms to the app. I have a test today at 12 and have to isolate. Of course I feel fine today and feel like a last day at work skiver

Merry Christmas

[Shlergen]

Interesting article on BBC re WHO visiting some caves in Wuhan, apparently lots of resistance from China. They have however been invited to the labs to rule out the theory of it been leaked into the wild but it doesn't seem to be of much interest.

I guess we'll never know. Sounds like a double bluff

[Jimexpl]

M&S was quiet last night in London. During the last proper lockdown they were only really busy with a massive queue straight after 6pm when everyone decided to all go there together after work. I just went a few hours later and it was always quiet and freshly stocked bar the pasta and bog roll section

Our lockdown 1.0 shopping was mainly done in M&S at Green Park - a nice 10 min drive with no traffic, run around the empty park with the kids, then a well stocked (albeit small) food shop with more staff than customers. Mayfair residents had clearly dispersed to country houses/UAE and there were no tourists, but M&S hadn’t accounted for it. Sometimes there were pallets of toilet paper, when less than two miles away shops had been without it for weeks.