Coronavirus

[Lamia]

2 minutes ago, tartandon said:

I think Wales have been more aggressive in their vaccination strategy.

I think we have been slightly more cautious and have been keeping some of our vaccine supply in reserve in case of further supply issues.

Wales look as if they are trying to keep a very short lead time between vaccine supply arriving in the country, and then getting it out to cover vaccinations. If there were an unexpected issue with supply they could potentially be faced with having to cancel some appointments due to lack of supply.

We appear to have taken a very prudent approach to supply allocation so that we aren't faced with potentially having to cancel appointments.

That appears to me to be the case too but I am not sure they have vaccinated that much more to make the significant difference in the infection rate.

[tartandon]

2 minutes ago, Lamia said:

That appears to me to be the case too but I am not sure they have vaccinated that much more to make the significant difference in the infection rate.

with lower numbers of infections, smaller localised outbreaks can have a larger impact on the percentages. So the current Moray outbreak is having a bigger impact on our nationwide figures just now because the overall national figures are relatively better than they have been previously.

If you take the current Moray figures and put them in the context of the national figures that we had in December and January, they wouldn't have had a noticeable impact because of the widespread community transmission and high infection rates we had across the country at the time.

I'm not aware of any localised outbreaks in Wales over the past wee while that would be comparable to current outbreak in Moray.

But the Welsh success in getting the vaccinations out a wee bit quicker will also have had a positive impact on their numbers because a greater percentage of their population will have some degree of protection.

Having said all of that, we were doing comparatively better than Wales in Q4 of 2020. So I think we are just seeing a slight reversal of that trend now.

[Scotty CTA]

The AZ vaccine has now been suspended here.

There's also talk of the Ontario lockdown being extended into June as our numbers aren't coming down nearly fast enough.

[dipped flake]

7 hours ago, Lamia said:

That appears to me to be the case too but I am not sure they have vaccinated that much more to make the significant difference in the infection rate.

Wales currently have 8% more vaccinated than Scotland with first dose although Scotland has vaccinated slightly more with 2nd dose. Their death totals are 25% higher than Scotland so probably why they have prioritised first doses

[phart]

Wales are adopting a different strategy and it's working so far.

 

 

 

[Orraloon]

Cases starting to rise in Glasgow again. Hopefully it's just a blip. Time will tell.

Seems to be centered close to the Hampden area. Could Hampden be in tier 3 for the start of the EUROS?

[Squirrelhumper]

18 hours ago, Lamia said:

From what I have seen Ireland (the Republic) has taken a significantly more cautious approach.

They also have significantly less vaccinated

[Lamia]

12 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

They also have significantly less vaccinated

I was talking throughout the pandemic

[phart]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

Cases starting to rise in Glasgow again. Hopefully it's just a blip. Time will tell.

Seems to be centered close to the Hampden area. Could Hampden be in tier 3 for the start of the EUROS?

Hospital and deaths still down atm, let's hope the vaccination process has broken the transmission from cases to hospitalisation to deaths.

[Lamia]

10 hours ago, dipped flake said:

Wales currently have 8% more vaccinated than Scotland with first dose although Scotland has vaccinated slightly more with 2nd dose. Their death totals are 25% higher than Scotland so probably why they have prioritised first doses

I find it hard to believe that 8% makes such a considerable difference. They have however undoubtedly done a better job so far rolling out the vaccine. 

[Lamia]

36 minutes ago, phart said:

Hospital and deaths still down atm, let's hope the vaccination process has broken the transmission from cases to hospitalisation to deaths.

It has only just started to tick up so time will tell.

 

I fear however Nicola Sturgeon has thrown caution to the wind. Easing up is one thing but it doesn't feel to me that the vaccine programme is  not advanced enough for the significant changes being made especially when it seems we don't really know what this Indian variant is going to do. It seems like it might be the most problematic one so far.

[tartandon]

2 hours ago, Lamia said:

It has only just started to tick up so time will tell.

 

I fear however Nicola Sturgeon has thrown caution to the wind. Easing up is one thing but it doesn't feel to me that the vaccine programme is  not advanced enough for the significant changes being made especially when it seems we don't really know what this Indian variant is going to do. It seems like it might be the most problematic one so far.

That is my worry as well.

The younger demographic are the most likely to be socially mixing now that restrictions are easing, and they are the demographic with the lowest vaccination rate. The easing of restrictions will undoubtedly see a rise in the number of infections. 

Unless we see a substantial increase in vaccinations in the next few weeks, I'm worried about the numbers rising again.

The First Minister had been very cautious about the easing of restrictions prior to the election and was not afraid to take a different approach for Scotland. But we have now seen her adopt the UK red, amber, green list for travel, and we have now seen her basically do away with social distancing in private settings with the introduction of hugging. 

Given what we have heard for the last year and a half about transmission via close contact, this looks like a recipe for disaster, especially given that less than a third of the Scottish population has been fully vaccinated with both doses.

[Alibi]

12 hours ago, tartandon said:

That is my worry as well.

The younger demographic are the most likely to be socially mixing now that restrictions are easing, and they are the demographic with the lowest vaccination rate. The easing of restrictions will undoubtedly see a rise in the number of infections. 

Unless we see a substantial increase in vaccinations in the next few weeks, I'm worried about the numbers rising again.

The First Minister had been very cautious about the easing of restrictions prior to the election and was not afraid to take a different approach for Scotland. But we have now seen her adopt the UK red, amber, green list for travel, and we have now seen her basically do away with social distancing in private settings with the introduction of hugging. 

Given what we have heard for the last year and a half about transmission via close contact, this looks like a recipe for disaster, especially given that less than a third of the Scottish population has been fully vaccinated with both doses.

I agree.  Now that the election is past, the FM appears to be happy to adopt a 4 nations approach, which basically is why we had such problems at the start of the pandemic.  I can foresee another wave coming, albeit it may be mitigated somewhat by the number of people who have been vaccinated - however their remains a major concern about varinats that the vaccines might not protect against.  I think the proposed easing of restrictions is becoming too extensive.  Is it really essential that people should be able to hug when staying even slightly apart might make a big difference?  This easing seems to be driven by populism and media pressure.  Following anything Boris Johnson proposes is probably going to be the polar opposite of what we should be doing because the man's an utter fanny whose main concern is lining the pockets of his pals.

[Lamia]

2 hours ago, Alibi said:

  Following anything Boris Johnson proposes is probably going to be the polar opposite of what we should be doing because the man's an utter fanny whose main concern is lining the pockets of his pals.

This! 

[Orraloon]

Sounds like there has been a major cock up with vaccination letters.

[Big Ramy 1314]

That's me booked now for my first jag. Pfizer, next Thursday..  Second jag in September. Funny story. My wife booked the appt, she said the one in sept is 245pm, I said, there might be football on at that time.  A long pause, as she just rang me, She was not impressed..🤣🤣

[phart]

5 hours ago, Orraloon said:

Sounds like there has been a major cock up with vaccination letters.

You got anymore info on that, i'm approaching my 2nd vaccination timeslot.

[Morrisandmoo]

Glad to see Nicola Sturgeon continuing to follow Boris Johnson's lead. Very encouraged by the plan to 

23 hours ago, tartandon said:

That is my worry as well.

The younger demographic are the most likely to be socially mixing now that restrictions are easing, and they are the demographic with the lowest vaccination rate. The easing of restrictions will undoubtedly see a rise in the number of infections. 

Unless we see a substantial increase in vaccinations in the next few weeks, I'm worried about the numbers rising again.

The First Minister had been very cautious about the easing of restrictions prior to the election and was not afraid to take a different approach for Scotland. But we have now seen her adopt the UK red, amber, green list for travel, and we have now seen her basically do away with social distancing in private settings with the introduction of hugging. 

Given what we have heard for the last year and a half about transmission via close contact, this looks like a recipe for disaster, especially given that less than a third of the Scottish population has been fully vaccinated with both doses.

Scotland's policies have largely replicated England's for most of the pandemic - just a couple of weeks later. Nothing has changed in the respect. The majority of differences are in style, not substance. 

Social distancing has to come to an end at some point. And infection rates necessarily will go up. Whether it's now or in month or two's time isn't going to make the world of difference. In a month or two's time might have been better though. 

[Morrisandmoo]

Anybody else think we should stop naming variants after locations? I've noticed folk are much more concerned about "foreign" variants, especially third world ones, than they are about native ones. Even where there is no rational reason to be. 

Edited May 13, 2021 by Morrisandmoo

[vanderark14]

8 minutes ago, Morrisandmoo said:

Anybody else think we should stop naming variants after locations? I've noticed folk are much more concerned about "foreign" variants, especially third world ones, than they are about native ones. Even where there is no rational reason to be. 

Couldn't agree more but they wont stop naming the variant. It gives the masses someone to blame

[Morrisandmoo]

3 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Couldn't agree more but they wont stop naming the variant. It gives the masses someone to blame

Aye it's a lot harder to get folk wound up about variant XY-1789 than it is about fighting the Chinese virus or the Indian variant. 

Xenophobia does indeed sell. But it obscures objectivity and we should recognise that - and cut it out. 

[Scotty CTA]

Ontario lockdown has been extended another 2 weeks (till at least June 2nd now).

[tartandon]

9 hours ago, Orraloon said:

Sounds like there has been a major cock up with vaccination letters.

There have been ongoing issues with letters. This is inevitable given the scale of the the vaccination programme. But people need to be proactive about chasing up their appointment slots if they haven't heard anything, especially for second jags.

To give you a personal example, both myself and my mother, who I am the carer for, have both received our second jags. Her letter did not arrive until after she had received her second dose, and I never received the letter for my second dose at all. 

As we approached the due date for our second jags, we had not heard anything. So I phoned the hotline and they gave me details of both appointment slots which were due in the next few days.

I have heard similar stories from a couple of work colleagues who only received letters for their first jags after the actual appointment date.

So there is certainly a problem, but I don't know how widespread it is

[Orraloon]

9 hours ago, tartandon said:

There have been ongoing issues with letters. This is inevitable given the scale of the the vaccination programme. But people need to be proactive about chasing up their appointment slots if they haven't heard anything, especially for second jags.

To give you a personal example, both myself and my mother, who I am the carer for, have both received our second jags. Her letter did not arrive until after she had received her second dose, and I never received the letter for my second dose at all. 

As we approached the due date for our second jags, we had not heard anything. So I phoned the hotline and they gave me details of both appointment slots which were due in the next few days.

I have heard similar stories from a couple of work colleagues who only received letters for their first jags after the actual appointment date.

So there is certainly a problem, but I don't know how widespread it is

Aye, there have been issues from day one, but mostly on a fairly minor scale. A couple of thousand letters here and there in various locations. What I heard yesterday seemed to indicate that this one could be on a massive scale. I was expecting it to be at the "breaking news" stage by now. Maybe it's not as bad as the person I was speaking to seemed to think?

 

 

[Orraloon]

13 hours ago, phart said:

You got anymore info on that, i'm approaching my 2nd vaccination timeslot.

No concrete info. Just speaking to somebody who I thought was in the know. Starting to think it might be nonsense? If you get to 9 weeks and you haven't got a letter yet, you should get in touch with them through the NHS inform website.