COVID THREAD

[Chekhov 488]

I was getting a bit depressed about all this speculation masks might remain into Feb and beyond. There is no rational reason why, just to show they're "doing something", even though nothing needs doing, though, of course, that's ironic, because masks (in the real world) don't do anything significant anyway ! Regardless of that here's some good news for those of us who wants to get back to normal :

 

Extend face mask rules and you risk three-figure rebellion, Boris Johnson warned

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/17/extend-face-mask-rules-risk-three-figure-rebellion-boris-johnson/

Extend face mask rules and you risk three-figure rebellion, Boris Johnson warned
Tory MPs urge Prime Minister to rule the possibility out ahead of review of ‘Plan B’ Covid restrictions next week

Boris Johnson has been told it would be "mad" to extend face mask rules beyond Jan 26 as Tory MPs warned doing so could spark a "three-figure rebellion".

Mr Johnson is widely expected to scrap regulations on Covid passports and guidance to work from home in England next Wednesday, when "Plan B" restrictions are reviewed. It is possible that an announcement on these measures could come as soon as this week.

However, the Government is understood to be considering retaining some rules on face masks beyond the end of the month.

The proposal would require a Commons vote, as the powers used to introduce the current rules – which oblige people to wear masks in most public indoor settings – expire next Wednesday. On Monday, a series of Tory MPs urged Mr Johnson to rule it out.

Tory Lee Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, urged the Prime Minister to switch from legal rules to voluntary guidance, saying: "I'm of the mind, as a Conservative, that people can make their own minds up if they want to wear a face mask."

The "Red Wall" MP said he would happily continue to put on a face covering voluntarily while using the London Underground "if hundreds of people are crammed in", saying that would be "sensible".

But Mr Anderson questioned why the rules should apply to quieter public transport situations, adding: "If one person is on a bus, why should they wear a face mask?" He confirmed that he would vote against an extension if one were brought to the Commons.

Tory MP Bob Blackman, who sits on the 1922 committee executive, said: "I don't see any point in having rules that everyone is ignoring."

He said that, during a visit to a supermarket in his Harrow East constituency last week, half of the shoppers and none of the staff were wearing face coverings.

One senior Conservative MP warned that the Government would "be mad" to pursue an extension of mask rules and predicted it would provoke a rebellion of more than 100 backbenchers.

"The last thing he [Mr Johnson] needs is another three-figure rebellion," said the MP amid Tory mutiny over "partygate". "The numbers [of Covid cases] are falling now. We know, mercifully, that the symptoms are pretty mild for those who are vaccinated.

If he does that, he looks like he's still being run by [Chief Medical Officer Prof Chris] Whitty and [Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick] Vallance, and at the moment he just can’t afford that. Any backtracking on that [scrapping Plan B restrictions], in his current circumstances, would be foolish."

On Monday night, government sources insisted it was too early for ministers to have made final decisions on retaining aspects of the Plan B measures.

[steve68 66]

8 hours ago, The_DADDY said:

Good luck. I'll give my Laughing Buddha a rub for you. 

 

 

finished 6th £20 not bad for a freeroll, say ta to Buddha for me... £95 total with earlier win, not bad for a zero investment.

[Guest makapaka]

8 hours ago, sibon said:

The absolute state of this thread.

None of the main posters in this thread come out very well tbf.

[RJRB 688]

2 hours ago, Chekhov said:

I was getting a bit depressed about all this speculation masks might remain into Feb and beyond. There is no rational reason why, just to show they're "doing something", even though nothing needs doing, though, of course, that's ironic, because masks (in the real world) don't do anything significant anyway ! Regardless of that here's some good news for those of us who wants to get back to normal :

 

Which is the overwhelming majority of the population and we are at a point in time where it seems probable.

However I have no doubt that some individuals will continue to use them .

Just as some Asian tourists have used them around the world for years for no reason apparent to us.

I cannot see any logic in the status quo where masks are supposedly required at certain venues and not at others.

[onewheeldave 22]

9 hours ago, sibon said:

You and I don't agree on much, but on this, I'm with you 100%.

 

Anyone in doubt about it just needs to look at the stats on infections/ hospitalisations/ deaths through the pandemic. Pick any country.

 

It is clear as day that the vaccines broke that link. 

 

The vaccine developers are heroes and geniuses

Shame then that their legacy has been severely tarnished by those who insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines.

[steve68 66]

16 minutes ago, onewheeldave said:

Shame then that their legacy has been severely tarnished by those who insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines.

Talking of shame

 

Man arrested after Covid deniers storm Liverpool hospital and accuse NHS staff of ‘aiding genocide’

 

"sovereign citizen" and "freeman on the land"

 

 

[Annie Bynnol 612]

1 minute ago, onewheeldave said:

Shame then that their legacy has been severely tarnished by those who insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines.

Which of the thousands of researchers in hundreds of labs around the world "... insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines."?

Do you blame the hundreds of thousands of health workers exhausted by dealing with death and illness made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

Do you blame the millions of sick made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

Do you blame the hundreds millions of bereaved families and friends dealing with death and illness made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

 

Not forgetting the  far-right who have jumped on the Conspiracy Theorist bandwagon.

 

Not forgetting your improved chances of survival and avoidance of severe illness due to measures the vast majority have taken and you and you pals are trying to undermine.

 

 

[onewheeldave 22]

8 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Which of the thousands of researchers in hundreds of labs around the world "... insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines."?

None, hence why it is such a shame that their legacy has been ruined by the various corporate interests and authoritarian politicians who forced and coerced people to have an injection they didn't want.

Quote

Do you blame the hundreds of thousands of health workers exhausted by dealing with death and illness made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

Do you blame the millions of sick made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

Do you blame the hundreds millions of bereaved families and friends dealing with death and illness made worse by the tiny number of Conspiracy Theorists like you?

 

Not forgetting the  far-right who have jumped on the Conspiracy Theorist bandwagon.

 

Not forgetting your improved chances of survival and avoidance of severe illness due to measures the vast majority have taken and you and you pals are trying to undermine.

 

 

I'm not going to waste my time engaging with people who lie about me. I've commented before on your obsession with conspiracy theories, which now seems to be bordering on mental illness.

Edited January 18, 2022 by onewheeldave

[Guest sibon]

1 hour ago, onewheeldave said:

Shame then that their legacy has been severely tarnished by those who insisted on compulsory and coerced vaccines.

Just to be clear. I'm not in favour of forced/coerced vaccination, vaccine passports or any of those things.

 

I do wonder why people would turn down a safe and effective treatment simply because some anti-scientists are good with social media.

 

But enough of us have done enough to render the unvaccinated rump irrelevant.

 

29 minutes ago, onewheeldave said:

. I've commented before on your obsession with conspiracy theories, which now seems to be bordering on mental illness.

That's a shameful thing to say.

Edited January 18, 2022 by sibon

[Chekhov 488]

11 minutes ago, sibon said:

Just to be clear. I'm not in favour of forced/coerced vaccination, vaccine passports or any of those things.

I do wonder why people would turn down a safe and effective treatment simply because some anti-scientists are good with social media.

Covid vaccines are very effective at preventing serious illness but not that effective at preventing infection. So, as regards one's personal risk of serious illness, it matters relatively little how many other people have been vaccinated but (if in a vulnerable category) it matters very much if you yourself have been jabbed.

That's just basic logic. 

That said, now we have the milder Omicron, it all matters slightly less.

[trastrick 866]

Just an update from the Third World.

 

Where I live, hardly anyone is wearing masks on the street, in most stores, on the beach, in the pubs and restaurants,  and there's no social distancing in those places.

 

Even when earlier restrictions were put place, it they were enforced only in the larger public institutions, the majority of the Island was and is, business as usual.

 

Yet, despite the lax attitude, the DR ranks 127th in deaths per capita.

 

Well below the more authoritarian countries with their vaunted Universal Health Care Systems.

 

Like the U.K.

Canada

Most of Europe

Scandinavia

 

And of course, Cuba!

 

 

[onewheeldave 22]

1 hour ago, sibon said:

Just to be clear. I'm not in favour of forced/coerced vaccination, vaccine passports or any of those things.

Not saying you're this type of person, I don't know you. But throughout this, a lot of those who supported various mandetory measures [masking/lockdowns] similarly claimed to be against forced/coerced vaccination; yet they did and said very little when the authorities started moves towards them.

It was left to conspiracy theorits and alt-righters to speak in opposition  to them, which again, is a shame, because now a lot of those who truly value civil liberties will remember that, when it came down to it, the alt-right and conspiracy theorists were the only ones who cared enough to actually oppose forced/coerced vaccinations.

1 hour ago, sibon said:

 

I do wonder why people would turn down a safe and effective treatment simply because some anti-scientists are good with social media.

As long as you continue to dismiss them all as gullible idiots, you will continue to wonder.

1 hour ago, sibon said:

 

 

 

That's a shameful thing to say.

Don't you think that someone who sees 'conspiracy theorist' in anyone who disagrees with her on these issues, has an obsession that could be bordering on mental illness.

 

Or is it that you, like many, see 'mental illness' as a very negative thing? Bear in mind that people who are depressed or suffer from anxiety are technically mentally unwell ['ill'], so it not an inappropriate label for someone who sees conspiracy theorists everywhere.

 

Also, is it not a shameful thing for her to be repeatedly calling me a 'conspiracy theorist', when I am nothing of the kind/