Coronavirus

Yes, it’s grim. Never realised before but I’m quite a social animal. Always thought I was a bit of a hermit. But finding the isolation quite hard. Eleven pullets this year so plenty of eggs. I honestly think that without livestock I’d go barking mad.
Spring seems far over the horizon as yet and I’m not aware of the lengthening days.
Bring on the vaccine. At least a bit of a step towards normality.
But little pleasures. Stepped out last night before bed to let the dog scamper about. Big white snowflakes, the sort you only get on Christmas cards, still and silent.
 
Last night, my cat, Freddie, asked to be let out of the front door - first time since we've lived here. He was completely disgusted to find out it was snowing out the front as well. He hesitated but obviously he needed "to go" so he went.
 
Things are extremely grim over here now. An absolute explosion of cases. They've been tracking the genome sequence (is that right??) and discovered that what's been termed the "UK variant" is what's driving a lot of the surge as it seems to be much more easily spread, and also, now, they've found 3 cases of the South African variant.
Like everyone, I wish it was just over. Even though, in truth, the lockdowns are not really affecting my life that much. I still have to go to work and I still have to go to check on mum and make sure she's taken her meds, and is eating. But, I did miss our family tradition of our family getting together for a takeaway over Christmas. Instead, one brother and his wife got a takeaway and brought it to mum's, so she would have that little celebration at least.

At the moment, I'm more concerned about the weather. Was down to minus 4 locally last night, and minus 7 in some areas. My cooker runs on butane, so that's not working, because the gas freezes. But more important, it's an hour's round trip to check on mum and bring her lunch, and the roads are treacherous. Going to wait another hour or so, and then go. Maybe things will have improved! Next week, they say temps will rise to normal, and it's to rain. Every day. I don't care. I'd rather that than ice!
 
Many a true word spoken in jest, my mum got a phone call her vaccination is Tuesday at the local library, same time as my MOT would you believe. At least it is my day off.
 
Our ironing board died yesterday, not Covid. Old age
Tesco wouldn't sell us one as it is non essential. They had that aisle cordoned off with laundry related items in, we said we needed a new ironing board could we have one, as I need ironed shirts for work. :-)19

At least Sainsbury were happy to sell us one no problem, the worlds gone mad.

As for trying to re arrange my car MOT, it would be easier to fine a Yeti
 
Was talking to local garage owner yesterday. He told how someone had come in to their small office demanding to hire their van to ‘move some stuff’. He said ‘of course I’m really supposed to be self-isolating as my wife has got the virus.’
 
According to the BBC News website Covid-19: Rule-breakers 'increasingly likely' to be fined - Cressida Dick

but also Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the trip had not been "against the law - that's for sure.

People should go for exercise "from your front door and come back to your front door", she said, adding: "That's my view of local."

On that basis, all the idiots who have driven miles to Snowdonia and the Peak District haven't broken the law either unless No 10 state that Johnson cycled to the Olympic Park. :-)09
 
Wherever I'm going I nearly always go from my front door and come back to my front door - even when going off island (which is NOT allowed! at the moment). We are in Level 3 and can go anywhere in our local council area, but not to the mainland, Level 4. Since the Comhairle covers all of Harris and Lewis, the Uists, Berneraay, Benbecula, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay technically we could go to any of these. We will wait until this lot's over first. There have been 3 recent cases in the islands, one in hospital locally and two airlifted to the mainland.
 
I'm really furious about what I just heard on the radio about a comparison with WW2.
They said that total deaths this year were nearly 700,000 compared to an average of about 600,000. By my calculation the average per year is actually about 836,000. If it was 600,000 then average life expectancy would be 113. (that's wonderful news!)
So, anyway, it prompted me to have a look at the Office of National Statistics data for the last year and its very interesting.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending1january2021
The effect of the virus can clearly be seen but these are deaths. I totally understand that the hospitals are full and its an awful situation (the vast majority will recover, of course, but its still a huge strain on the service) but putting out what looks to me like emotive rubbish cannot help with confidence.
Apparently we always get a spike in registered deaths around now because of the bank holidays followed by a return to nearer average which will no doubt be claimed as a great success! I shouldn't be surprised - its just really annoying!
 
rick said:
I'm really furious about what I just heard on the radio about a comparison with WW2.
They said that total deaths this year were nearly 700,000 compared to an average of about 600,000. By my calculation the average per year is actually about 836,000. If it was 600,000 then average life expectancy would be 113. (that's wonderful news!)
So, anyway, it prompted me to have a look at the Office of National Statistics data for the last year and its very interesting.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending1january2021
The effect of the virus can clearly be seen but these are deaths. I totally understand that the hospitals are full and its an awful situation (the vast majority will recover, of course, but its still a huge strain on the service) but putting out what looks to me like emotive rubbish cannot help with confidence.
Apparently we always get a spike in registered deaths around now because of the bank holidays followed by a return to nearer average which will no doubt be claimed as a great success! I shouldn't be surprised - its just really annoying!
Click to expand...

David Warburton MP was one of the few people to vote against this latest lockdown and he gives his reasons below. It's worth a read, whatever you think of his party affiliation. Very sobering to see the predictions of future excess mortality as a result of government policy.

https://www.davidwarburton.org.uk/news/my-vote-national-lockdown

I have deep reservations about the way they are classifying covid cases and covid deaths at the moment. If you enter hospital having suffered a road accident for example, and subsequently test positive for covid, then you are treated as "a covid case", should you die of your injuries within 28 days of that test, then you become a covid death. When asked how may "covid cases" in hospital were actually in hospital because of covid the director of the NHS couldn't give an answer.
 
There is some better detail in the ONS data - They make a distinction between 'Deaths where the disease was a contributing factor' (i.e. it appears on the certificate, but is not the 'within 28 days of a positive test' figure) and 'Deaths due to the disease' when the doctor has considered it the main cause. I cannot see any figure given for the number recorded as the main cause (I wonder why not although contributing factor is serious enough.) There is a comparison between what has been termed 'underlying cause' in covid and flu/pneumonia cases as a comparison. That is a striking difference 87% for covid, 7.5% for flu - that is, the doctor reckoned it to be an underlying cause (not a main cause) in 87% of cases with covid. (that was week 53 not the whole year.)
Its a nasty bug alright, but I also agree with pretty much everything David Warburton is saying.

Looking again I think the whole data is from records on certificates (i.e. in week 53 it was 87% contributing factor and 13% main cause) It doesn't look to me like the ONS data contains the 'within 28 days' number which, as you say, would also include being run over by a bus!
 
I always take a bottle of water with me when I go for a walk (or a cycle ride). Why, if the weather's cold, am I not allowed to take coffee instead? Have I missed something?
 
bigyetiman said:
Many a true word spoken in jest, my mum got a phone call her vaccination is Tuesday at the local library, same time as my MOT would you believe. At least it is my day off.
Click to expand...

I hope you were well & out of quarantine in time for your MOT, BYM. Or was it you rather than your car having the MOT? :-)
 
Between the two of us, we’ve had four telephone calls telling us that our second vaccinations have been cancelled. One was from a lady with a long script that she said she had to read in its entirety, even though my husband said that wasn’t necessary as he knew all about it, who said she had a list of 2,000 people to ring up. Two of the calls were from our local GP practice, one call each, who had no idea that we were going to be rung by a central NHS agency.
I wonder if we shall ever hear from any of them ever again, - or maybe will we be eventually be offered more than one appointment each?
The best thing about the cancellation was that it was for an inconveniently early time in the morning, would have necessitated getting up more than an hour earlier than usual to get breakfast and walk Poppy before driving to Winchester. We reflected on this when drinking our morning tea in bed today.
 
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