Covid-19 Megathread

[wordsfromlee]

On 1/9/2021 at 12:25 PM, Your Fight Site said:

Yesterday, easyJet cancelled some flights I had to Portugal booked for May, so I’d be keen to know what they know for them to cancel flights so far in advance. Clearly things aren’t going to be “normal” come Spring.

 

On 1/9/2021 at 3:51 PM, LaGoosh said:

They don't know anything. Nobody does because all of this is unprecedented and unpredictable. And no one thinks things are going to normal in Spring, only that things will be different than they are now.

[LaGoosh]

I don't think other airlines have cancelled all flights which leads to the hilarious possibility that HMG told EasyJet that they were planning to close all travel corridors but didn't bother telling any of the other airlines.

In other holiday news, apparently people over 60 are booking holidays in Autumn in absolute droves at a level way higher than ever before. Cocky bastards living it up while the rest of wait for the vaccines.

[GlennCullen]

I have two trips booked before May, and another for June (the latter our honeymoon, for a wedding that was pushed back, all rollovers from last year, booked the year before). It's not important in the grand scheme of things, but losing them for the second year in a row is going to be an absolute shitter, and my resentment towards the government grows by the day for not getting on top of this. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by KJHenley

[BomberPat]

I have a flight booked for February, to move back to the UK. Jersey is in a common travel area, rather than a travel corridor, so might be affected and might not be, because no one knows what the fucking difference is. 

[SuperBacon]

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

to move back to the UK

You're moving back here???

[mim731]

6 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

You're moving back here???

Trying to evade Bergerac presumably @BomberPat? Surely there's no other sane reason to come back (I jest, but fingers crossed it's all ok for you and your flight goes ahead)

[patiirc]

19 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

I’m coming from my time working for a HIV charity. All I heard from older service users was how it increased being isolated and feared, and lead to increased physical attacks. It also lead to heterosexual men with HIV being beaten up because they must have really been gay. 
 

They lead to ostracising people with HIV and charities regarding funding because it was seen as a dirty seedy disease that affected deviants. These ads reinforced that narrative. It lead to increased fear and didn’t do much for awareness. At least that’s my experience but I accept others have different ones. 

I can remember the ostracisation well, even still in early 1990's from that. There was a lad playing quasar who volunteered he'd got HIV before a game of Quasar laser, in Weston and the look of sheer repulusion and horror on people's faces will stay with me. Everyone 'didnt' want to be on his team. It was awful.

It's interesting to read about older generation people as for a while they were in the main straight and LGBTQ the highest amount of HIV/AIDS sufferers, especially amongst those who have though they have had kids and do not need protection any more there was a massive rise in the mid 2000's https://www.gmjournal.co.uk/hiv-in-the-ageing-population

Quote

The proportion of adults accessing HIV services who were above the age of 50 rose from 12% in 2002 to 22% in 2011.⁷ Worryingly, the number of older adults being diagnosed late, after HAART should have been commenced, is disproportionately high; 61% in over 50s versus 45% in those younger than 50 years.⁷ It is well established that late diagnosis is associated with increased morbidity and mortality⁸ and a poorer response to HAART.⁹

Challenging misconceptions, perceptions and attitudes

The reasons for the trend towards late diagnosis in the over 50s are not clear but are likely to do with the fact that HIV prevention, counselling, testing, and education efforts are largely directed at the younger generation. This may be because widely-held societal beliefs are that after the age of 50 years, people become either sexually inactive or are in monogamous heterosexual relationships.

 

Since then  Chemsex, https://www.aidsmap.com/news/may-2018/gay-men-having-chemsex-are-five-times-more-likely-have-new-hiv-diagnosis-other-gay is having a huge impact as is the over reliance on PrEP etc to manage the condition and the feeling among the younger generation that they are invincible and as such arent as 'scared' of it, which is bonkers. 

It is important though that the stigma of HIV/Aids as an LGBTQ disease is smashed as in the latest figures I have only 41% are M2M or Bi https://www.tht.org.uk/hiv-and-sexual-health/about-hiv/hiv-statistics#:~:text=The most recent estimate suggests,know they are HIV positive. 

In short, if you have a new partner, irrespective, take precautions, get tested before a new relationship and so on https://www.bustle.com/p/heres-how-to-talk-to-a-new-partner-about-sexual-health-according-to-experts-18805522

 

 

[patiirc]

15 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I have a flight booked for February, to move back to the UK. Jersey is in a common travel area, rather than a travel corridor, so might be affected and might not be, because no one knows what the fucking difference is. 

Is this you moving in with the other half? If so congrats!. Hopefully things regarding corridors and the rest can be sorted (moving was/is allowed under exceptions I thought?)

[garynysmon]

Just seen this photo from a wrestling show in Oklahoma over the weekend.

The comments on FB are full of "Oh its ok, everyone was wearing masks."

This has been a phoenomenon I've noticed a lot while watching the Election and subsequent coverage over recent months.

Seems to be a prominent mindset over there that wearing masks is ok on its own, but without social distancing the protection it offers is pretty limited.

 

 

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

I want to know if those barriers were intentional or if the promoter forgot to hire some normal ones and ended up having to steal some from nearby roadworks.

[Keith Houchen]

21 minutes ago, scratchdj said:

She’s on TV in the capacity of an “expert”,

The grift is a very strong motivator. I don’t know if it applies to her directly but this seems to be the era of supposed balance. As we know, some views shouldn’t be entertained but when pricks like Eamonn Holmes are on TV saying we shouldn’t dismiss these views, it invites people to put themselves forward for the contrary opinion. And because there are less people with those views, the TV appearances and money that comes with them are more abundant. 

I’m entirely of the opinion that some people see the gap in the market and adopt this view for money. Even if they don’t believe it themselves. 

[BomberPat]

On 1/16/2021 at 12:30 AM, SuperBacon said:

You're moving back here???

Yes, I've grown tired of living in a jingoistic non-EU jurisdiction with a disastrous pandemic response, so am moving back to the UK with the assumption that nothing has changed in my absence. 

Now excuse me as I take a big old gulp of tea before reading the papers. 

On 1/16/2021 at 12:08 PM, patiirc said:

Is this you moving in with the other half? If so congrats!. Hopefully things regarding corridors and the rest can be sorted (moving was/is allowed under exceptions I thought?)

It is, thank you!

Moving is allowed as an exception, but the knock-on effect of travel restrictions is that flights start getting cancelled and ferry services really scaled back, so it becomes a bit of a de facto closing of the border just through lack of demand, so there are still worries in that regard. 

The government here are insistent that the borders remain open because we're reliant on the UK for medical support in a lot of areas, and they want people to be able to travel for compassionate reasons if necessary, so there's no issues there, it's just if Easyjet decide it's not worth their while as there's not enough people flying.

Edited January 18, 2021 by BomberPat

[wandshogun09]

@scratchdj I’ve always thought Emma Kenny seemed a bit of a nob and I didn’t even know her thoughts on COVID. My wife watches the Crime & Investigation channel all the time and Kenny seems to be a talking bollocks talking head on every single documentary on there. Just had a quick glance at her Twitter and it seems she’s deleted the worst tweets but as always someone screenshotted them. 

[FLips]

Covid is an absolute shitter, as you won't be surprised or shocked to hear. The first week of having it was a high fever, headaches, sinus pain and low energy and then once that cleared up, my sense of taste and smell went just in one go without warning.
After a week or so of having both sense gone, they're slowly starting to come back but now I wake up every morning completely bunged up and spend the first 15 minutes of the day hacking my lungs up and dry heaving as I clear my throat. I also have a constant and horrible cough that is ripping my chest up something rotten. 

Be glad when it buggers off! 

 

[Jazzy G]

Mrs Jazzy has been called and asked to go for her first vaccine this week, which means they're starting on the clinically extremely vulnerable round our way. My surname is close to the  end of the alphabet while hers is quite early, so I'd imagine I might have a week or two to wait before my turn. Still, shouldn't be too long.