Brexit, for once some facts.

[Barry Shittpeas]

About Sweden
"
Over the course of the pandemic Sweden still has had fewer deaths per capita than the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Belgium and France, which have all opted for lockdowns, but much higher than Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland.

Sweden’s strategy, mostly based on voluntary measures regarding social distancing and basic hygiene, has been criticised by some as a dangerous experiment with peoples lives but also been put forward as a future model by the WHO.


Sweden’s open strategy seems to have softened the blow on the economy, with growth shrinking much less than in Denmark and Norway in the first quarter."

But we must remember the Swedes don't have Brexit voters do they?
And by any standard the behaviour of our population simply doesn't lend itself to anything "Voluntary"

With the notable exceptions of Chaos and Pandemonium

Agreed, from my visits to Sweden, there seems to be a greater sense of personal responsibility amongst the population. Little things like litter and general conduct in public. The UK is at the other end of the scale. Giving the UK population too much leeway and personal responsibility is akin to giving a baby a razor blade to play with.

Which reminds me of another old joke: What's red, sits in a corner and screams?

 

[Nev]

Which reminds me of another old joke: What's red, sits in a corner and screams?

Could it be Boris Johnson clearly the worse for wear trying to carry his morning shave in the toilets of Perugia airport whilst he was Foreign Secretary, after attending a drunken bash of some billionaire castle owner.

 

[oyster]

So-called PM appears to have done yet another U-turn. He has indulged in long-range planning:

UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson says new restrictions 'likely to remain in force for six months'

I wonder how long it will actually be before they abandoned or substantially changed?

 

[RossG]

£xactly what I said two months ago. Follow Sweden, take the hit, get it over with.

It's what we did inadvertantly in London and it's not us taking the major increase in infections now and new lockdown measures.
.

According to Sadiq khan London has 17,000 infections, so not exactly gone though has it flecc ? and it's not over with either. Sadly I would expect another hard hit until they get real and lock down just like they did last time, we'll soon find out what's what in the weeks ahead.

 

[Danidl]

agreed.
also half of Swedes live alone.

..see less touchy feely

 

[Woosh]

According to Sadiq khan London has 17,000 infections, so not exactly gone though has it flecc ? and it's not over with either. Sadly I would expect another hard hit until they get real and lock down just like they did last time, we'll soon find out what's what in the weeks ahead.

antibodies tests gave London 17% exposed to Covid, national average 7% so it's nearer to herd immunity but still a long way from being immune to Covid.

 

[flecc]

According to Sadiq khan London has 17,000 infections, so not exactly gone though has it flecc ? and it's not over with either.

Of course it's not gone or over with, but that's 17,000 out of 10.2 million, over 13 million if you count the supercity of London, and they are concentrated in just two spots. As I've reported here before, the main one is the Borough of Hillingdon around Heathrow Airport which supplies the bulk of Heathrow's over 76,000 staff, who of course have been interfacing all those continuing flights from all over the world.

In the circumstances we are doing extremely well with most of London's 29 boroughs having hardly any problem now, after being severely hit at the outset.
.

 

[oldgroaner]

Mark McLaughlin@mark_mclaughlin
·
1h
.@BenPBradshaw asks why Germany and Italy have a lower death rates than the UK
@BorisJohnson replies: "There is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world and that is that our country is a freedom loving country”

My response
olgroaner@oldgroaner

"There is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world and that is that our country is a freedom loving country”
That simply means
Many of our people are stupid

 

[oldgroaner]

£xactly what I said two months ago. Follow Sweden, take the hit, get it over with.

It's what we did inadvertantly in London and it's not us taking the major increase in infections now and new lockdown measures.
.

May I point out a niggling little problem with that
There may be an even bigger third wave next year

 

[oldgroaner]

..see less touchy feely

For some reason the Muppet's Swedish Chef sprang to mind
"Here Chicky Chicky! bork bork bork!"

 

[oyster]

May I point out a niggling little problem with that
There may be an even bigger third wave next year

Hopefully it will be the current government saying goodbye.

 

[oldgroaner]

Explanation of the trip?

 

[flecc]

May I point out a niggling little problem with that
There may be an even bigger third wave next year

May I point out a niggling little problem with that
There may not be an even bigger third wave next year
.

 

[RossG]

antibodies tests gave London 17% exposed to Covid, national average 7% so it's nearer to herd immunity but still a long way from being immune to Covid.

There's no way yet of knowing how long antibodies last within our bodies it could be a very short period, plus of course we now know for sure you can catch it twice so I believe any thoughts of herd immunity are ATM a pipe dream.
Maybe we should be looking at other places further afield for an answer, we could do no better than Saigon (Ho-chi Minh City) in Vietnam. Pop: 21 million - deaths from covid on first wave = zero - second wave (yep they have already had one) 35 all at one hospital it went through. Maybe they shut all their Wetherspoons down quicker than us.

 

[Nev]

I have been putting a fair bit of hope into the Oxford Vaccine trial but I have just read a report on the The New York Times web site which if correct is rather worrying.

I must admit I had not realized there had been two cases of transverse myelitis amongst the vaccine volunteers. I think a third case would almost certainly put an end to this trial.

If the numbers are correct in the article then I found the following statement rather worrying.

'Transverse myelitis is rare, it is diagnosed in only about one in 326,000 Americans a year. The trial in Britain involved only about 8000 volunteers.'

To have found two people with this condition out of just 8000 people who have had the vaccine seems extremely bad luck, or has the vaccine caused the condition.

Here is the link to the article.

AstraZeneca, Under Fire for Vaccine Safety, Releases Trial Blueprints (Published 2020)

Experts are concerned that the company has not been more forthcoming about two participants who became seriously ill after getting its experimental vaccine.

www.nytimes.com

 

[oyster]

Would this include the UK? I can certainly hope so:

Facebook says it may quit Europe over ban on sharing data with US
EU court in July ruled there were insufficient safeguards against snooping by US intelligence agencies

 

[oldgroaner]

May I point out a niggling little problem with that
There may not be an even bigger third wave next year
.

If there isn't a vaccine I wouldn't bank on it!

 

[oyster]

Let us hope that our so-called PM doesn't intend to be world beating (whether seriously or as a bluff) in some areas:

US reaches 200,000 coronavirus deaths amid fears for coming winter

 

[oyster]

If there isn't a vaccine I wouldn't bank on it!

And if you are UK passport holder but live in the EU you might not be able to bank at all.

 

[oyster]

There's no way yet of knowing how long antibodies last within our bodies it could be a very short period, plus of course we now know for sure you can catch it twice so I believe any thoughts of herd immunity are ATM a pipe dream.
Maybe we should be looking at other places further afield for an answer, we could do no better than Saigon (Ho-chi Minh City) in Vietnam. Pop: 21 million - deaths from covid on first wave = zero - second wave (yep they have already had one) 35 all at one hospital it went through. Maybe they shut all their Wetherspoons down quicker than us.

Even worse, we have no way of knowing whether presence of those antibodies really does indicate immunity after months/years.