catmiss

I’m aware of all the discussion around the vaccines and wouldn’t want to see it made mandatory in a free society. I’m also aware that it may not prevent the spread of Covid but could prevent symptoms. Once approved, I would be eagerly awaiting my call for vaccination. My health condition puts me in the ‘extremely clinically vulnerable to Covid’ category and have consequently been following advice to ‘shield’ for most of the last 8 months. The way I see it the risk of Covid killing or severely debilitating me far outweighs the risk of any vaccine. Having the vaccine would put me in the same position as the majority.

We’ve had fireworks for the last three nights, hardly surprising given lockdown night and the ensuing weekend BUT they have tended to be confined to individual households and ended earlier so overall less disruptive  than usual 

 Boris intimated that, in consideration of mental health, there would be no ‘shielding’ this time but on the eve of lockdown I received an email advising me to adopt all the previous shielding measures except being able to have a support bubble. This time no friend/neighbour has offered any help and someone has reported me for having someone regularly (twice weekly) visiting who is in fact my support bubble. 

4 hours ago, Hecate said:

Not a landslide.  Not a blue wave.  Trump's on his way out, but this wasn't a defeat of Trumpism at all.  Far too close.  Four years' worth of sewage spewing from the White House and too many Americans, again, looked at that and thought 'yes, I'll have some of that, thank you very much'.

 

Trump will be dumped by the GOP like the trash he is now he's reached the end of his usefulness; they've got the tax cuts, the judges and the Supreme Court for a generation.  They'll start looking for a successor, someone who can do the policies but without the clown car; an authoritarian with a slick facade.  Tom Cotton, possibly.  I wonder, though, if the base will still demand the spectacle, in which case a Trump Jr 2024 might be on the cards.  Perhaps the red meat from Trump TV might keep them happy.

 

Anyway, the progressives will soon start sniping at Biden for not being Bernie, and if the Dems don't win both Georgia run offs the Senate will still be Republican and nothing of substance will get done.  Trump will chuck the pardons around, probably including himself, and everyone will get off with the last four years of criming.

 

I am pleased, but that this wasn't a complete repudiation of all things Trump is beyond depressing.

Or, if Trump is forced to accept a Biden win, he could resign and his Vice President would take over in the interim and pardon Trump!

3 hours ago, Pettytom said:

I can’t be bothered to listen to failed dancers.

Or disgraced Prime Ministers such as Tony Blair advocating mass vaccination using a vaccine that could be 50% effective but has not gone through full evaluation. I’d be at the front of the queue for a vaccine but I’d want it to have gone through full safety and effectiveness scrutiny 

7 hours ago, MuteWitness said:

Yes,  but isn't it only old or already ill people ?

As previously posted NO. There are a lot of relatively young people who usually have well controlled illnesses (e.g. cystic fibrosis, transplant recipients) who live normal family lives, have children, mortgages and tax paying jobs. These people aren’t ‘old or normally ill’ but the way the virus acts renders them very vulnerable to its effects and probably requiring hospitalisation should they become infected. How would you define old-some 80 year olds are mentally young, active and socially active? How would you define ill- not all people who have long term conditions are sat in a chair waiting to die. Thankfully you don’t have to make those decisions but if the infection spread is not brought under control and hospitals are overwhelmed doctors will have to -and  convey that decision to loved ones. If none of the above hits home- imagine you or yours needed hospital, Covid or other, treatment/surgery delayed because beds were full of Covid patients, would you be able to choose who to kick out so you/yours could have treatment? 

Observing this fiasco only strengthens the power of the worlds dictatorial leaders

I’ve not heard any plans to accommodate the street homeless in the forthcoming lockdown. Does anyone know?

On 28/07/2020 at 00:36, catmiss said:

Had a frightening call on my mobile this afternoon from a Liverpool number supposedly from HMRC saying I was under investigation for tax fraud and if I didn’t press 1 a warrant for my arrest would be issued immediately. Although I terminated the call I was concerned but 101 assured me this was a scam call they were aware of

SYP website now warning of this scam  as is my on-line banking so I think some people have succumbed to this fraud 

On 01/11/2020 at 11:42, Anna B said:

Whether it's anxiety about lockdown, health, loneliness, jobs or money, there are a lot of very worried people out there, and mental health is taking a real pounding. This thread is for them. Let's do what we can to help each other through it. Positivity, Reassurance and Compannionship required please not politics.  



Helpful Links / Support:

 

The Samaritans (Confidential Phone or Email) - https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

Andy's Man Club - Post #3

Help for older people and Telephone friendship service;  'Silverline.' 0800 4 70 80 90 or thesilverline.org.uk Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

Give Us a Shout (24/7 Text Service if you are struggling / in crisis) - Text: 85258 or https://giveusashout.org/

 

Dear Forum... You have to message one of the mods/admins with what you would like posted if you wish to remain anon. We post it anon via the Dear Forum... account. We then delete the DM we have received and don't even tell the other staff where the message has come from. The only people that know is the mod in question and the person who sent it.

UK Men's Sheds https://menssheds.org.uk/find-a-shed/

 

Also some links in - https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/471994-covid19-sheffield-help-thread-read-first-post-before-commenting-please/#comments

 

Thanks Anna, how do we contact the Mods?

‘Panic buying’ and ‘stocking up’ is not only governed by income but also by housing- people living in overcrowded households or one bedroomed flats etc have limited storage space. In addition those on low incomes are less likely to have access to cars to carry bulk buys home

The ‘Statement: F— Lockdown ‘ 300+ rave at Kelham Island on Halloween eve where the organiser  said he could get a £10,000 fine but it would be worth it sums up the attitude of a lot of people. In my neighbourhood Pre tier 3  we had police attending a large house party     juxtaposed with an elderly couple wrapped up in coats having a socially distanced garden meeting with family < 6.  It seems fewer people, perhaps fuelled by lockdown opposers/apathy/bloody mindedness/ are subscribing to the all in this together attitudes of the March lockdown  which may result in failure or extension of the current one

Post office considering stopping Saturday mail deliveries for cost cutting reasons. Incidentally their rates for parcels are higher than others and 72p collection fee higher too- Hermes charges 50p

47 minutes ago, PRESLEY said:

Thursday,  plenty of time for the Virus to spread even more.  

Lockdown proposal going for parliamentary vote so can’t start ‘TIL Thursday. 

13 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Mmmm... I wonder what's going on behind the scenes.

Probably still looking for the fag packet to write it down on😀

3 hours ago, *_ash_* said:

I think the police are probably told not to be heavy handed, because they don't want riots to break out. If they arrest someone who resists and it gets ugly, it will find it's way into social media. Surely everyone can see this, especially if someone is of a certain background.

 

However, I've thought for months that it's too relaxed, and we need to look at what countries who are fairing better are doing.

 

People saying, ''it's too confusing I don't know what to do'' - is too common.

 

Here was my plan... (and still is)

 

1. As soon as you leave your property, you wear a face covering. No ifs no buts. That way it's easy to police. Just drive around and fine people - this needs enforcing

2. Before entering any building, you are temperature checked, and HAVE to clean your hands. It's not difficult to have a station in building entrances. 3 Steps... wear mask / clean hands / temperature gun / (then distancing as well of course)

3. Make use of the army working with the police

4. People coming into the country unless bringing in goods, should all isolate, or be tested (there not point us doing anything if people can come in and bring it in with them)

 

In a rare watching of the news yesterday (for good reason as I nearly put a brick through the TV), I saw Nottingham.

 

Tougher action needed.

Get all the CCTV, and police camera footage, fine every one of them. And put that on the front page of newspapers.

 

The one who knocked off the police woman's hat, should be locked up (assault police officer if we need something to do them for)

That for me, was a huge offence. It shows complete lack of regard for authority and the virus, and the kind of thing that will encourage others.

 

 

 

The businesses who are flouting restrictions need harder sanctions too- two news items today re a Birmingham Shisha bar and a West Midlands Hotel both received £10,000 fines but caught doing the same thing within a couple of weeks. Can’t think it’s just the Midlands but perhaps their police/public more vigilant 

If you were scowling or frowning (commonly as my teenage self) my dad would say ‘what’s up with thee, if wind changes tha’ll stay like that and we’ll be stuck ‘wi thee forever ‘

If you asked what was for tea both my mum and my gran used to say ‘a run round ‘t table and a kick at cellar door ‘. 

On 21/10/2020 at 00:05, Longcol said:

My gran (Dad's side) buttering bread -" Ah scrawps it on and ah scrawps it off agin."

 

She could have made butties for the five thousand with a pound of lurpak.

If she asked you to butter bread my gran used to say ‘and don be leaving owt so as we don grease us fingers’-in other words butter to the edges. 

4 hours ago, Anna B said:

10 years of austerity. You don't continually cut funding for 10 years without these sorts of results. The irony is far from reducing the deficit it actuallyincreased substantially under the Tories, and that was long before Covid. 

 

Meanwhile the banks who almost bankrupted the country are doing very nicely thankyou:

"Banks Stockpile Cash for Bumper Bonuses" was the headline in this week's Financial Mail.

   'Barcleys boosts huge payout pool for staff to £745 million after reaping a fortune in crisis' (Mail on Sunday Oct. 25th 2020)

    Goldman Sachs has set aside £8.3 Billion

    Morgan Stanley - £6.8 Billion

    J P Morgan - £9.7 Billion

    UBS - £30 Million 

and so it goes on.... 

 

The money is there, but it's not for the likes of us plebs, so interest rates fall, children go hungry, and people suffer considerable hardship, while the fat cats (of which several are Tory) get fatter.

 

And, after years of the government urging us to save, banks are now considering charging savers to keep their money for them to use. They lag behind fraudster techniques, take their time reacting to scams rather than being proactive. Wish I’d got an old fashioned mattress to stuff my savings into ☹️

2 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

France in full lockdown for a month. Germany doing  broadly the same. We will follow them in a week, two weeks tops.

I think you might be right (possibly sold as tier 4) with scientists claiming only minimal impact from Tier 3 measures and infections back to May levels. My concern is the public have lost faith in the management of Covid and won’t be so compliant this time round possibly prolonging severe restrictions 

What is amazing is that all the MPs I’ve heard, even hard line Tories citing increased Universal Credit/Local Council payments in mitigation, accept that in 2020 British children are going hungry. What have they been doing for the last few years to let things get to this? 

3 minutes ago, Pettytom said:

That’s a very dignified response to a rather unpleasant post.

Thank you. Making things personal only undermines your argument 

On 25/10/2020 at 08:47, avalunche said:

Have you considered that if we continue locking down to protect people like you, it will result in massive unemployment, destroyed economy, no one paying tax to pay your comfie pension?   Its probably already too late to change course.

 

I know there is a tendency in Sheffield to think benefits and public sector wages magically appear in bank accounts, but no, someone went without part of their earnings to pay them.  The sums didn't add up pro-covid with the government having to borrow billions, and they sure dont now. 

 

Serious and unexpected change is coming, do not rely on things to continue as they always have done.

 

I bet some will think that by increasing taxes on far fewer people working, we can somehow continue,  no chance of that at all.   Magic money tree?   Well in that case, pensions will stay the same but a loaf of bread will end up a tenner.  

I think you missed my, perhaps clumsily made, point. I don’t need (or am expecting) anyone to ‘lockdown’ to keep me safe as I can make the decision to self isolate (or not) and have financial and social support to assist me in my decision. Others, including many young people, who have high Covid risk factors but normally live full and productive lives may not have the same advantage. Are these people also acceptable collateral damage? There’s also the long term health implications and costs to individuals, services and society from Covid complications 

I

21 minutes ago, Longcol said:

Somewhere on the original covid thread I posted a link to a study from Scotland that suggested the average loss of live due to covid is 10 years.

 

I think the stat that XX% of covid deaths had "underlying conditions" is particularly misleading - and appears to have been interpreted wrongly by some as "at deaths door".

 

A 65 year old has, on average, a life expectancy of another 15 years or so.

I have a lung condition which renders me particularly susceptible to Covid but am 66, receive a pension and have the support to be able to self isolate. My concern is, that government local lockdown strategy fails and leads to a return to herd immunity theory ‘survival of the fittest’ 

Boris is only following his nemesis Margaret Thatcher ‘ Milk Snatcher’

Listened to Question Time/Any Answers today. A 78 year old man, supporting the Barrington theory, advocated a return to ‘normal’ with any resultant deaths in the ‘vulnerable group’ of over 65s being collateral damage  and  merely shaving a few months off life expectancy. The obvious flaw in this argument is the significant group of younger people who live with conditions that render them susceptible to Covid but, with ongoing treatment, live a productive life, have jobs, families,   and a future. The contributor, when questioned, stated that some lives are less worthy than others.  A very scary echo of survival of the fittest theory which seems to be gaining support