Stealth Omicron

[wheelnut]

You do seem to be strangely fixated on the hospitality thing. What’s your solution, shut it all down?

You seem to be strangely fixated on believing that I'm strangely fixated.

On the Brexit threads I comment on Brexit, on the Covid threads I comment on covid and the management of it, and on the threads about the Ducati Desert X I comment on the Ducati Desert X. I suppose you could call it fixated if you were the sort of person fixated on allegations of fixation.

Question nicely swerved.

[Horse]

Where's the evidence of people being ill with omicron

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59627188

I read that and still unclear if they are in hospital because of Covid or with Covid.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59629916

"hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring"

[wheelnut]

I didn't think you were serious - the answer then is yes, if it's too dangerous for me to buy a pint of milk without a mask then shut the pubs/clubs down as well.

It’s not a case of being ‘dangerous’ or ‘safe’, it’s just a case of using common sense measures to reduce transmission where it doesn’t impact too much on our ability to go about our life.

Wearing a mask in a supermarket isn’t particularly troublesome as we don’t use our mouth to pick stuff off the shelves. Wearing a mask in a pub or restaurant is trickier as we tend to use our mouths a little more.

I know you realise that though and are just looking for bait.

[MrLongbeard]

Wearing a mask in a pub or restaurant is trickier as we tend to use our mouths a little more.

Use a straw

[Felix]

We have i think one pub in my town where you can just turn up and drink as normal. I dont care much for what the rules say but im of the thinking why risk it for the sake of a pint. The other pubs we still have to book a slot online. You turn up at your pre arranged time slot. Wait at door with a mask on and after scanning the QR code you get showing to your table. Masks can be taken off as its all table service for your two hour slot. Mask back on if you want a piss or leaving. I have used the pre book time slot pubs and it works quite well. Some rules are stupid but if allowed in a shoulder to shoulder pup it does not mean i have to use it, That would be stupid. I wont follow Boris if he said lets walk of the end of the pier.

We have Nickola with the cock watching out backs

[slowsider]

Wearing a mask in a pub or restaurant is trickier as we tend to use our mouths a little more.

Use a straw

Where do you put your straw?

[Horse]

I don't think Wheelnut is talking about 'rules', he's talking about personal decisions on how to increase or decrease exposure.

If that is the case, you're trying to explain something different.

[Mussels]

It’s not a case of being ‘dangerous’ or ‘safe’, it’s just a case of using common sense measures to reduce transmission...

I can only keep trying to explain it to you until you get it, but if you just label it as bait then we're going nowhere are we.

Common sense measures to reduce transmission would not include making pubs a free-for-all over the holiday period without any rules or PPE.
If you're going to sanction covid breeding zones like that then it's farcical to insist that people wear masks to pop into Tescos for a pint of milk.

It's like me running a building site and saying that if you use step ladders then you must use a safety harness, but because it's Christmas you can go up on the slippery roof in a gale and have a pissed up party with no PPE or fall arrest system. People would do it and it wouldn't be a defence for me to say that it was their own fault when deaths occurred and the HSE came after me in a prosecution.

Frankly I'm all about taking responsibility for oneself, but if we're shooting the shit on the philosophy of the rules then that's where I'm at.

The government doesn't want to pay businesses to stay closed, if they make masks compulsory in pubs then landlords will have more reason to ask for compensation and their remaining customers will just meet up elsewhere anyway so it's a bit pointless.
Restaurants are complaining people will vote with their feet so they still want compensation, they are right about losing bookings but now they need to adapt or go out of business.
Maybe we'll end up with restaurants and pubs that are pleasant to visit rather than being overcrowded.
In other areas such as shops it's good to limit transmission if possible.

[weeksy]

I don't think Wheelnut is talking about 'rules', he's talking about personal decisions on how to increase or decrease exposure.

If that is the case, you're trying to explain something different.

So even though the government says you're fine to go and hang around in pubs without a mask you're not going to do it and instead put your own personal rules in place that supersede theirs?

Yes, we've told you this 20+ times. Yes, yes, yes. We're going to ignore the ones we think may put us in greater danger. Come on fella, you're not daft.

[Horse]

Yes, we've told you this 20+ times. Yes, yes, yes. We're going to ignore the ones we think may put us in greater danger. Come on fella, you're not daft.

Took us a while that one didn't it, I've been repeatedly saying that the rules are bollocks and it's more sensible to make up your own - something you all seem to have come around to now.

Something we've been saying and doing ... no 'seem to have come around to' at all - you're inventing that.

Given the amount of 'in the pub' type posts you've made, your take on personal choice and responsibility is different from some of us. ie Personal.

[weeksy]

Yes, we've told you this 20+ times. Yes, yes, yes. We're going to ignore the ones we think may put us in greater danger. Come on fella, you're not daft.

Took us a while that one didn't it, I've been repeatedly saying that the rules are bollocks and it's more sensible to make up your own - something you all seem to have come around to now.

No, you've been on a windup for months and it's tired and old. No-one is saying the rules are not bollox, but i'm not exactly sure what you want us to do here ? Walk out and start shouting and ranting in the streets ? Our rules are bollox, so are the French, so are the Germans, Belgians, Americans... But i bet the Saudi rules are wonderful and make perfect sense and no-one has ever died

If you're so full of genius then go get a job in the government and start making decisions instead of just following them.

Like Irie you're becoming tiresome with your little rantettes without actually giving us an alternative.

"the gov is full of shit".... OK, so how about you give us YOUR solution and the solutions to that solution and the problem that brings within society too. You can't have it all ways.

"Have a full lockdown".... sure, OK, so what happens to the businesses, the economy, the mental health

"just let people get on with it",.... Sure lets go with that and stack all the dead bodies in the streets.

I don't see why it's so hard... if there were a simple solution here, all countries would be following/doing it... every single one, because amazingly, none of them/us want to see countries collapse, people die and families become split.... None... at all.

As always i'm sure you'll mostly dismiss this which honestly makes you as bad as the rest of them..

Give me a better solution and i'll back you 100%

[wheelnut]

Took us a while that one didn't it, I've been repeatedly saying that the rules are bollocks and it's more sensible to make up your own - something you all seem to have come around to now.

My dentist told me to take the mask off last week during my checkup. Turns out she couldn't do the checkup with the mask in place.

You put basic rules in where it's practical. Where it's not you don't put impractical rules in place. It's not bollocks, it's just doing what you can, where you can.

On top of these 'rules' we also have our personal risk management thresholds, which we are free to use all the time.....

The only other option is to shut all hospitality (and dentists) and that's unpalatable from the point of view of both the public and the government.

Also, while masks may help reduce transmission,they aren't 100% effective so a lot of this is moot.

Hence the vaccine push announced last night. The gov know it's going to rip through us like a knife through butter, they are just hoping the vaccine booster will keep the admissions manageable.

[DefTrap]

The rules are there to -
- be simple enough to not be confusing
- be generic enough to apply to all settings

Not all settings are equal though; not everyone's assessment of acceptable risk is equal; not everyone's personal safety is equal.
But also not everybody gives a shit anyway.
And some people are just a bit mental, convinced this is a plot to undermine their civil liberties (they never expand on how this might play out though ....)

Hence we are where we are. I'm currently supposed to wear my mask if I walk up the Hight Street - my local town Hight Street is pretty quiet. I'm guess if I walked through a major city Christmas shopping street it would feel rather more applicable.

So my feeling is that it mainly works, if folk mainly do it right. I'm not interested in rebellion - it doesn't make sense - and in this context it just makes you look like an ignorant twat as well as a selfish twat.

What I don't like is politicians taking the piss on their own rules on a daily basis, and not even being sorry about it.

[Asian Boss]

I'm spending a lot of time in Waitrose, without a mask, coughing - to frit up the toxics.

They won't frit themselves up, those toxics. Ok, that's not entirely true. But it doesn't hurt to keep them on their toes.

[Yorick]

Over here you need to wear a mask in pubs and restaurants unless you are sat down. No exceptions.
We're happy with that.

[Saga Lout]

Over here you need to wear a mask in pubs and restaurants unless you are sat down. No exceptions.
We're happy with that.

This virus is bloody clever, knowing not to attack you when you're sitting down.

[Horse]

Over here you need to wear a mask in pubs and restaurants unless you are sat down.

This virus is bloody clever, knowing not to attack you when you're sitting down.

Indeed, it knows when you're walking past other people and breathing near them, whilst when you're sat down there will be fewer potential new hosts nearby.

Yup, cleverer than some people

[Asian Boss]

I don't think the level of mitigation has to be consistent in all areas to be effective. Maybe there will be more transmission in arena a than arena b but there's still an overall reduction.

[irie]

Judging by experience of Omicron in South Africa where it was first reported, the government's response to the Omicron threat is completely over the top. Furthermore it is likely to prove counter productive.

By all accounts Omicron is a mild disease which is far more infectious thus out competing Delta, but in contrast to Delta rarely requires hospitalisation and even more rarely death, especially of the vaccinated. As they do now with Delta the unvaccinated will have to take their chances with Omicron.

Given that Covid will keep on circulating for the foreseeable future it is desirable that Omicron should replace Delta.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/ ... cron-mild/

The head of the South African Medical Association refreshed her claims that the Omicron variant is 'mild' having spent one month treating patients with it.

Dr Angelique Coetzee spoke to Tom Swarbrick a fortnight after her initial appearance on LBC where she told him that the West was overreacting to Omicron.

She echoed her initial claims that Omicron is a relatively "mild" variant of coronavirus, which sees greater transmission yet lower rates of hospitalisation.

These are Dr Coetzee's initial claims:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... cting.html

The UK Government's handling of what Boris Johnson warned will be a 'tidal wave' of Omicron infections verges on hysteria.

With predictions of one million cases by the end of the month and concerns about the NHS being overwhelmed with up to 10,000 hospitalisations per day, I gather there is talk of Christmas again being cancelled and a possible New Year lockdown.

Yet you only have to look at the picture in South Africa, where the world's first known cases of Omicron were spotted, to realise this reaction is out of all proportion to the risks posed by this variant.

And I should know — because I am the doctor who first raised the alarm about Omicron back in November.

PS - Sorry to be tiresome.

Like Irie you're becoming tiresome

[Felix]

Over here you need to wear a mask in pubs and restaurants unless you are sat down. No exceptions.
We're happy with that.

Over here its the same or shoud i say Scotland. All the pubs i have been in in my town and Edinburgh are like that so not all UK pubs are standing about swapping germs like idiots. I dare say them masks are all gone in disco bars and private functions but until this covid shit is under better control i wont be going to any shit like that.