BristolUK

Something that slows down the spread to something more manageable?

If the original aim was to prevent health services from being overwhelmed and the current lack of measures is causing that to happen - at least in part because staff are off sick and/or isolating - then something that would slow down the spread would seem a good idea.

Having convinced so many people that the current variant is harmless it may be too late to roll some measures back.
Three times this week I saw a UK daily deaths total of around 350. When you consider that 438 for a day in January was the highest since February 2021, it really doesn't take much to see that allowing this spread is killing almost as many as people now as it was over a year ago before vaccines.

When people were allowed to go to restaurants and mix but not go to multiple households and mix, many thought that didn't make sense but at least there was some semblance of control and tracing of infection sources.

I saw some research the other day that found that people thought they were safer with friends than strangers and behaved in a way that was more likely to see them infected.

Maybe some information/education would help instead of stats. Encourage behavioural change in order to maintain a level of normality.

printer

No that is not what i am saying. It's clear that health care professionals are normal people outside of their work place and will engage in socializing and therefore will leave themselves open to infection. They are not isolating outside of work. To bring back a mask mandate for example that only forces people to wear one inside a store or public building is not dealing with the biggest source of potential infection and that is gathering in groups at events either public or private where masks are not viable such as restaurants, pubs, clubs and private homes. Like i said it is an uphill struggle to contain this highly contagious variant and simply making people wear masks in some situations is not dealing with the problem. Likewise we hear constantly about health workers being burned out and stressed so taking a break from work because you are "sick" just became a very easy option for many on top of the many that are actually sick and should be at home.

old.sparkles

Thank you for that Printer - and sorry, think I was grumpy here this morning when reading your original post.

BristolUK

I think you are missing the value of "awareness" that such measures can bring.

Masks in restaurants were only "not viable" when eating. But the whole have proof of vaccination to enter, leave contact details, wear a mask until eating, have diners distanced from other diners and staff wearing masks throughout "told" people they needed to be careful. They could apply that care in other situations.

Currently it's a free for all with no encouragement to take more care.

BristolUK

Delays in moving 999 patients from ambulances to A&E and then to a ward are having a catastrophic effect on ambulance response times

printer

True it is a free for all in some sense but was it "awareness" or just another hoop to jump through, a pain in the proverbial? I believe that many were frustrated by the whole mask on mask off thing as well as the fact that health advisors were telling us not to continually touch the mask, sanitize after putting on and off etc... I can see that inside any medical settings or care home settings wearing one correctly and keeping it on for the duration makes some sense. I notice from my time out and about this weekend that mask wearing is still apparent but much less so now. This tells me that many were not in favour of wearing one but did so because mandate said so. Today in Home Depot most staff were unmasked which is a change from 2 weeks ago when all staff were masked. On entering eyeglass store the employees were not all wearing masks BUT as soon as they interacted directly with a customer they put one on and kept it on for the duration of transaction. This seemed like a reasonable compromise for the staff and of course an extra safety precaution when up close to clients.

BristolUK

It was a necessary step in order to be able to dine out. It's irritating to have to have a passport to travel abroad (generally, not covid related) instead of just being able to go. But the fact we need one made people aware that for certain countries a visa was needed and inoculations were needed for other places.

You have to "do something" so it makes you think "what else might I have to do?"

It's only a pain in the arse because you never had to do it before the pandemic. If, instead, it was originally promoted as "these measures will enable you to to enjoy going to restaurants again" people may have seen it as an enabler rather than a chore.

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Yes and in the early days people were using pencils or their elbows to touch lift buttons or wiping down their groceries but then all that was stopped when there was enough evidence to decide infection from surfaces wasn't that likely. That was a long time ago.
Announce these things in a positive way, make people aware of stuff and why they can now do things they couldn't before for specific reasons instead of just getting out of the habit because "nobody talks about it anymore" or just allowing people to do what they want.
Yes, that's similar to a previous post I made. It makes the staff very aware of it and when they become a client or customer of someone else, they may continue to adopt the same approach. But for the client they deal with they have nothing. They can just carry on in their own world "choosing" not to bother because they are allowed to and potentially worst of all is they mentally switch off.

printer

I saw people using their foot to push the crosswalk buttons sometimes.
Yes it's about education for everyone but without people feeling they are being told how to live their lives. Like teaching your kids right from wrong and how to cross the road safely or safe sex advice, you can only do so much, the rest is down to them accepting the risk and hopefully listening to the advice.
Still seeing trucks driving around town with multiple Canadian Flags hanging out the back and the F##k Trudeau message yet what are they still protesting about? I don't really know. Guy in coffee place yesterday was having a moan to his friend about Trudeau and saying he is thinking of moving to Texas!

BristolUK

Presumably not the older ones where anything bigger than a thumb wouldn't fit.

Odd thing though, when you consider how much time people spend in their cars regulated by seat belt laws, traffic signals, speed limits, drink driving laws, paying attention and wotnot that's quite a bit of being told how to live their lives right there. But most don't object to it.

Danny B

Well I'm back in Kamloops now and it's the complete opposite of Ottawa in terms of mask wearing. Seems to be the whiter the community, the less people are wearing masks.

I had my 2nd booster this morning, arm is starting to ache.

BristolUK

Anyone remember covid?
What was that UK daily deaths figure in January 2022 that was the highest one since February 2021...Ah, yes, 438.




And this appears to be just England rather than the UK

Danny B

Honestly, things here in my neck of the woods are like pre-COVID times. Life has resumed back to normal and now it's one of those things 'to look out for', kind of like the flu always was. Take sensible precautions and enjoy life.

Shard

Thanks. I was wondering what today's figure was (too lazy to check). So few people are wearing masks, even myself. It's over reliance on the (waning) vaccine I guess.

bats

Peterborough Ontario , the hospital has the highest number of COVID cases ever and the highest number of staff off sick with COVID. The Health Unit says the area is very high risk.

Shard

Red box on the chart

Human psychology is proving as challenging a factor as the virus itself.