Coronavirus

[Weston Super Saint]

29 minutes ago, Turkish said:

No problem with the travel ban if they hadn’t announced only a few weeks ago that everyone can travel from may. Dangling the carrot and moving the goalposts yet again. 

To be fair, they've not exactly been hiding the fact that they want the UK economy to bounce back and fuck the rest of the world (I agree to be fair), remember 'eat out to help out'?

I imagine this summer will see similar themes but supersized, trying to get as many people to stay in the UK as possible and spend as much cash as they possibly can within the UK to boost the treasury funds!

My advice - steer clear of the M5 and Cornwall from June to September!

[Lighthouse]

43 minutes ago, Turkish said:

No problem with the travel ban if they hadn’t announced only a few weeks ago that everyone can travel from may. Dangling the carrot and moving the goalposts yet again. 

I don’t think they could have envisaged the EU third wave and their complete farce of a vaccination programme, that far in advance. If Europe was making a better attempt to catch us up and we didn’t have the supply problems which are now arising, I think things would be a bit different.

 

Domestically, there’s no sign of them not sticking to their word, but in terms of international travel they’re playing it was after what’s gone on before. 

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

No problem with the travel ban if they hadn’t announced only a few weeks ago that everyone can travel from may. Dangling the carrot and moving the goalposts yet again. 

Never underestimate the lobbying power of the travel / aviation industries. The goalposts have been moved but don't be too surprised if they move again to allow travel to some specified non European countries. 

[Whitey Grandad]

Third wave my arsenal. What is the point of all this vaccination if they think there's going to be another wave of it? If all the vulnerable people are protected then what's the problem with it.

And please don't give me all this shit about possible new mutations. Mutated strains of virus have been a possibility since the dawn of mankind. It's always likely that a new mutation will be more infective and less deadly and then the whole world is laughing. That's what happened to Spanish Flu and it stopped killing people.

 

[whelk]

They do run the risk of even sensible people starting to question it. As Whitey says the vaccine means something and if it means you can’t be complacent then fuck off. Hospitals are coping fine now and all the vulnerables who wanted the vaccine have been done so where is danger coming from? Magic science?

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Third wave my arsenal. What is the point of all this vaccination if they think there's going to be another wave of it? If all the vulnerable people are protected then what's the problem with it.

And please don't give me all this shit about possible new mutations. Mutated strains of virus have been a possibility since the dawn of mankind. It's always likely that a new mutation will be more infective and less deadly and then the whole world is laughing. That's what happened to Spanish Flu and it stopped killing people.

 

The mutation scare mongering is insane. I'm sure people are seeing through it, it's funny how they've only been banging on about variants of concern in the last few months. It wasn't that long ago they were telling us the virus was weakening. As they said all through the first lockdown it mutates all the time and there are 1000s of variants of every virus. 

[Lighthouse]

22 minutes ago, whelk said:

They do run the risk of even sensible people starting to question it. As Whitey says the vaccine means something and if it means you can’t be complacent then fuck off. Hospitals are coping fine now and all the vulnerables who wanted the vaccine have been done so where is danger coming from? Magic science?

The danger comes from thousands of people going abroad and bring back vaccine resistant strains in large numbers, which basically puts us back to square one. I think the strategy right now is to go with vaccination and isolation (from the rest of the world) and get the whole country opened up on schedule. When the rest of Europe catches up with their vaccines, we will probably start looking at allowing holidays.

[Whitey Grandad]

16 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

The danger comes from thousands of people going abroad and bring back vaccine resistant strains in large numbers, which basically puts us back to square one. I think the strategy right now is to go with vaccination and isolation (from the rest of the world) and get the whole country opened up on schedule. When the rest of Europe catches up with their vaccines, we will probably start looking at allowing holidays.

Where are these vaccine resitant strains and where have they been hiding all my life? Remember that I grew up in an age of Polio, Measles, German Measles, Diptheria, Tuberculosis, Tetanus, even Small Pox. 

[whelk]

31 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

The danger comes from thousands of people going abroad and bring back vaccine resistant strains in large numbers, which basically puts us back to square one. I think the strategy right now is to go with vaccination and isolation (from the rest of the world) and get the whole country opened up on schedule. When the rest of Europe catches up with their vaccines, we will probably start looking at allowing holidays.

Fine with that but I can imagine they wil! be saying mask wearing stays, sanitiser etc as no one will want to say otherwise as you can’t get “complacent” 

[AlexLaw76]

34 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

The danger comes from thousands of people going abroad and bring back vaccine resistant strains in large numbers, which basically puts us back to square one. I think the strategy right now is to go with vaccination and isolation (from the rest of the world) and get the whole country opened up on schedule. When the rest of Europe catches up with their vaccines, we will probably start looking at allowing holidays.

What is the point in vaccinations (given they soften the effects of covid, rather than stop you getting it), if we jab everyone and remain locked down.

This is verging on barking mad, considering for the best part of last year, vaccinations was touted as the way out.

Imagine reading this on coercion - https://niastories.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/bidermans_chart_of_coercion.pdf

Many of the heads could very easily fit the headlines / topics of the covid situation....

[Lighthouse]

12 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Where are these vaccine resistant strains and where have they been hiding all my life? Remember that I grew up in an age of Polio, Measles, German Measles, Diphtheria, Tuberculosis, Tetanus, even Small Pox. 

Scientists say they're concerned about the South African variant and its resistance to vaccines, that's good enough for me. Long term, we're going to have to continuously tweak the vaccines to stay one step ahead of the scarier variants and the situation will probably end up reflecting the previous flu vaccination programme for older citizens. First we need to get on top of the virus that's out there now. We're doing that in Britain, in fact we've done a brilliant job and we can look forward to going to football, concerts, pubs etc. within the next 3-4 months. We may even be able to holiday in places like Israel and USA, who're doing a pretty decent job themselves.

 

All I'm saying is that if Europe is lagging behind, it's probably not the right time to be going there, as much as I'd love to personally.

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

What is the point in vaccinations (given they soften the effects of covid, rather than stop you getting it), if we jab everyone and remain locked down.

This is verging on barking mad, considering for the best part of last year, vaccinations was touted as the way out.

Imagine reading this on coercion - https://niastories.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/bidermans_chart_of_coercion.pdf

Many of the heads could very easily fit the headlines / topics of the covid situation....

Have all you Navy lot had a jab yet Brett?

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

if we jab everyone and remain locked down

We aren't, why would you say that? We're getting vaccinated and opening everything up. Europe are lagging behind, locking themselves down and right now it's probably not a great idea to be going there.

[Whitey Grandad]

18 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Scientists say they're concerned about the South African variant and its resistance to vaccines, that's good enough for me. Long term, we're going to have to continuously tweak the vaccines to stay one step ahead of the scarier variants and the situation will probably end up reflecting the previous flu vaccination programme for older citizens. First we need to get on top of the virus that's out there now. We're doing that in Britain, in fact we've done a brilliant job and we can look forward to going to football, concerts, pubs etc. within the next 3-4 months. We may even be able to holiday in places like Israel and USA, who're doing a pretty decent job themselves.

 

All I'm saying is that if Europe is lagging behind, it's probably not the right time to be going there, as much as I'd love to personally.

I can understand that point of view but there's no real logic to it. 

16 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

We aren't, why would you say that? We're getting vaccinated and opening everything up. Europe are lagging behind, locking themselves down and right now it's probably not a great idea to be going there.

The UK has had the strictest lockdown of any country in the world. How much of it was necessary will be debated for years but closing schools was unnecessary in my view. They were only partially closed anyway and the damage it has done to trhe social and academic development of the younger generation is frightening.

[RedArmy]

Anyone that thinks we are going back to normal or near-normal on June 21st is kidding themselves. 
I just can’t see us going from only 20,000 at the FA cup final to full stadiums a month later for the European championships and fields full of people enjoying festivals. It doesn’t make any logical sense. 
If there was a plan for no social distancing then the FA cup final would be a trial of no social distancing. 

 

[aintforever]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

The mutation scare mongering is insane. I'm sure people are seeing through it, it's funny how they've only been banging on about variants of concern in the last few months. It wasn't that long ago they were telling us the virus was weakening. As they said all through the first lockdown it mutates all the time and there are 1000s of variants of every virus. 

Except it was a mutation, the Kent variant, that caused  so many extra deaths in the second wave and is now causing the extra problems in Europe.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

Fine with that but I can imagine they wil! be saying mask wearing stays, sanitiser etc as no one will want to say otherwise as you can’t get “complacent” 

Seems like a no-brainier to me. Masks and sanitisers are pretty much money for old rope, having a huge effect on the rate of transmission whilst not preventing 99% of people from going about their daily business. Yes it’d be nice to go back to the pub and have some stranger coughing his STDs all over me from an adjacent table but it’s my last priority personally.

 

It would seem very strange logic to say we can all remove our masks in Tesco and stop washing our hands, but we’re only allowed 5,000 in St Mary’s. If that’s the kind of choice we’re facing in the intermediate future I’m sure we’d all much rather have 30,000 masked fans in for the first game of next season.

[whelk]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Seems like a no-brainier to me. Masks and sanitisers are pretty much money for old rope, having a huge effect on the rate of transmission whilst not preventing 99% of people from going about their daily business. Yes it’d be nice to go back to the pub and have some stranger coughing his STDs all over me from an adjacent table but it’s my last priority personally.

 

It would seem very strange logic to say we can all remove our masks in Tesco and stop washing our hands, but we’re only allowed 5,000 in St Mary’s. If that’s the kind of choice we’re facing in the intermediate future I’m sure we’d all much rather have 30,000 masked fans in for the first game of next season.

I recall you didn’t want football back either but many view risks differently,  but there will be others, presumably you, who will just accept that masks are making you safe and allow this to become embedded into life. With the trotted out line that saving lives - is it really? I get it isn’t a huge convenience in grand scheme of things but worrying how people will accept this as a new normal when it is anything but that.

 

[Weston Super Saint]

22 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Seems like a no-brainier to me. Masks and sanitisers are pretty much money for old rope, having a huge effect on the rate of transmission whilst not preventing 99% of people from going about their daily business. Yes it’d be nice to go back to the pub and have some stranger coughing his STDs all over me from an adjacent table but it’s my last priority personally.

 

It would seem very strange logic to say we can all remove our masks in Tesco and stop washing our hands, but we’re only allowed 5,000 in St Mary’s. If that’s the kind of choice we’re facing in the intermediate future I’m sure we’d all much rather have 30,000 masked fans in for the first game of next season.

Not sure you can get STDs from a cough...  I imagine that's what the S and T stand for

[egg]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I can understand that point of view but there's no real logic to it. 

The UK has had the strictest lockdown of any country in the world. How much of it was necessary will be debated for years but closing schools was unnecessary in my view. They were only partially closed anyway and the damage it has done to trhe social and academic development of the younger generation is frightening.

That just isn't true. Take France for example. They've had times where they were getting fined if they drove past the shop nearest their home to go somewhere else. They've had to stay very close to their homes. Other countries ditto. Our lockdown has perhaps felt the most severe as we've had to live it, but it really hasn't been the "strictest lockdown of any country in the world". 

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, egg said:

That just isn't true. Take France for example. They've had times where they were getting fined if they drove past the shop nearest their home to go somewhere else. They've had to stay very close to their homes. Other countries ditto. Our lockdown has perhaps felt the most severe as we've had to live it, but it really hasn't been the "strictest lockdown of any country in the world". 

Not quite the most strict I’ll admit but way up there in the top six, and above France. Only Ireland is above us in Western Europe.

https://www.irishpost.com/news/irelands-coronavirus-lockdown-ranked-toughest-in-europe-and-4th-toughest-in-the-world-204462

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-worlds-sixth-toughest-lockdown-23554938

[Lighthouse]

20 minutes ago, whelk said:

recall you didn’t want football back either

I was against it returning during the first lockdown, when literally everyone who could stay at home was being told to whenever possible. 

21 minutes ago, whelk said:

will just accept that masks are making you safe and allow this to become embedded into life

I’ve never said it will make me safe but it will undeniably reduce the risk of transmission.

21 minutes ago, whelk said:

saving lives - is it really?

Yes.

21 minutes ago, whelk said:

isn’t a huge convenience in grand scheme of things

It’s quite literally my lowest and least concern out of everything that’s happened in the last year. Right now we’re still closing shops, pubs restaurants and even being told not to visit each other’s houses. When all of that is behind us, then I’ll worry about wearing a small item of disposable clothing, which is at worst a mild annoyance. 

22 minutes ago, whelk said:

worrying how people will accept this as a new normal

It’s not the new normal, it’s just where we are at this moment. Anyway, what are we supposed to be worried about? I don’t get how wearing a mask fits into any sort of government conspiracy.

[Tamesaint]

16 minutes ago, egg said:

That just isn't true. Take France for example. They've had times where they were getting fined if they drove past the shop nearest their home to go somewhere else. They've had to stay very close to their homes. Other countries ditto. Our lockdown has perhaps felt the most severe as we've had to live it, but it really hasn't been the "strictest lockdown of any country in the world". 

Here it has been pretty lax to be honest.

A country like Barbados (population 280,000) has had just 39 deaths. It currently has c 20 cases a day (equivalent population wise to us having c 4,500 cases a day). They have a 9pm curfew, compulsory mask wearing and temperature checks / compulsory sanitising on entering supermarkets.

Imagine the outcry here if we had a curfew!

[egg]

7 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Not quite the most strict I’ll admit but way up there in the top six, and above France. Only Ireland is above us in Western Europe.

https://www.irishpost.com/news/irelands-coronavirus-lockdown-ranked-toughest-in-europe-and-4th-toughest-in-the-world-204462

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-worlds-sixth-toughest-lockdown-23554938

Thanks for the link. I have to say that surprises me, but research is research. 

Regardless, I'm in the "what's the point of rolling out the vaccine if life can't go on" camp.

I'm signed up for a couple of UK hols, IOW festival, and hoping to get back to some proper socialising, gigs etc. 

Normality needs to come back. 

[egg]

8 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

Here it has been pretty lax to be honest.

A country like Barbados (population 280,000) has had just 39 deaths. It currently has c 20 cases a day (equivalent population wise to us having c 4,500 cases a day). They have a 9pm curfew, compulsory mask wearing and temperature checks / compulsory sanitising on entering supermarkets.

Imagine the outcry here if we had a curfew!

Yep, agreed. We've had no curfew, no actual requirement to stay within x metres of our homes, no obligation to work from home, no enforcement of mask wearing/penalties for breach, and for a while in between, life felt relatively normal. It's been shit, but I find it staggering that out version of lockdown is apparently one of the toughest. 

[Whitey Grandad]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

Thanks for the link. I have to say that surprises me, but research is research. 

Regardless, I'm in the "what's the point of rolling out the vaccine if life can't go on" camp.

I'm signed up for a couple of UK hols, IOW festival, and hoping to get back to some proper socialising, gigs etc. 

Normality needs to come back. 

You’re very welcome. I was a bit surprised too when I read something about it in The Times the other day. I had a bit of a hint when I saw that restaurants in France were open to some extent back in January (?). I can wait a couple of months or so before I start screaming my head off but by June I shall be climbing up the walls. 

At my age (71) I don’t have many years left I’ve just list one of them. In my unsociable lifestyle the chance of catching this virus is minimal anyway but I must say that the whole vaccination effort has been a majestic achievement.

Now let’s start to enjoy the benefits of it.

[buctootim]

4 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, agreed. We've had no curfew, no actual requirement to stay within x metres of our homes, no obligation to work from home, no enforcement of mask wearing/penalties for breach, and for a while in between, life felt relatively normal. It's been shit, but I find it staggering that out version of lockdown is apparently one of the toughest. 

Its been notionally tough in some ways but inconsistent with glaring loopholes and enforcement so lax as to make it optional and ineffective.  I dont know about many other country but Morocco had a lockdown where only one memeber of the household was licensed to leave the house, and only then for essentials. Everybody had to stay in, enforced by police patrols and prison.   

[Whitey Grandad]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, agreed. We've had no curfew, no actual requirement to stay within x metres of our homes, no obligation to work from home, no enforcement of mask wearing/penalties for breach, and for a while in between, life felt relatively normal. It's been shit, but I find it staggering that out version of lockdown is apparently one of the toughest. 

I think it’s weighted by length of time of restrictions or something. To be honest a curfew of 9 or 10 pm would have no effect on us since there’s nothing to go and see anyway.

[egg]

3 minutes ago, buctootim said:

Its been notionally tough in some ways but inconsistent with glaring loopholes and enforcement so lax as to make it optional and ineffective.  I dont know about many other country but Morocco had a lockdown where only one memeber of the household was licensed to leave the house, and only then for essentials. Everybody had to stay in, enforced by police patrols and prison.   

Yeah, that's my take on it. I hadn't heard of the Morocco situation, but that's what I've heard in other countries, and that's what a tough lockdown is. We had a summer holiday last year, aided by Rishi's eat out gift. I've been back in the office full time for ages, strolling out for a coffee and sarnie in the day, meeting a friend for a stroll, and a few other bits. Sure. Its not as I'd like it to be, but it's not house arrest. 

[Fan The Flames]

I don't think there will be a third wave, we were behind the european timeline all through this but then I reckon the kent variant pushed us ahead of Europe, so our second wave just merged with our third. But we need to exit correcty and keep the borders a bit tighter than we have and we have a chance of coming out and staying out.

Personally I would rather have pubs and restaurants open than a foreign holiday.

[The Cat]

12 minutes ago, Fan The Flames said:

I don't think there will be a third wave, we were behind the european timeline all through this but then I reckon the kent variant pushed us ahead of Europe, so our second wave just merged with our third. But we need to exit correcty and keep the borders a bit tighter than we have and we have a chance of coming out and staying out.

Personally I would rather have pubs and restaurants open than a foreign holiday.

As someone who doesn't often go on holiday I completely agree. I'm more than happy with spending the summer at festivals and being able to go to gigs and football again.

However if Saints qualified for Europe and we couldn't go to the away legs that would piss me right off!

[Raging Bull]

They’re coming for the kids in August 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/23/exclusive-children-line-covid-vaccines-august/

[Lighthouse]

9 hours ago, Raging Bull said:

They’re coming for the kids in August 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/23/exclusive-children-line-covid-vaccines-august/

Excellent news. Hopefully we will have most of the country done by Christmas, or at least everyone will have had the opportunity.

[edprice1984]

On 23/03/2021 at 11:44, Turkish said:

A problem i see it is there is no clear direction into what good looks like. On the one had they're congratulation themselves on the vaccine roll out, rightly so. Yet the next minute banning travel. We'll be at zero deaths before long the way it's dropping, we're at 0.25% positive tests a day, we've been told that we'll live like it with flu, with most of the vunerable vaccinated, low infections and hardly any deaths if that isn't living with it what is?

Agreed. Not being able to go on a foreign holiday is probably not going to be the straw that breaks the camels back; mainly because of the total sh*tshow that is the European vaccine rollout. The big challenge will be when, all being well, we are out of all restrictions after June and cases start to rise or we get to November/December and there is the standard pressure due to Flu season etc. If the Government start locking down again or imposing restrictions I think that will be a game changer. 

The only legitimate reason for doing any of that is if we had some super-mutation that starts killing people quickly (which due to the normal evolutionary pressure on viruses is very unlikely).

[Trout-Tickler]

On 23/03/2021 at 16:40, Whitey Grandad said:

Where are these vaccine resitant strains and where have they been hiding all my life? Remember that I grew up in an age of Polio, Measles, German Measles, Diptheria, Tuberculosis, Tetanus, even Small Pox. 

I don't really understand why people think there isn't going to be a third wave...there is, the only question is how severe it's going to be. The development of the current vaccines is fantastic but people forget about evolution and natural selection. Viruses like SARS-COV-2 mutate rapidly and whilst the vaccines may prevent infection from current strains, SARS-COV-2 will undoubtedly mutate in some way that'll either reduce vaccine efficacy or negate it's effect all together. Once such a mutation happens natural selection will ensure this resistant strain becomes dominant. There's always the chance that a vaccine resistant strain could be less infectious or lead to a milder illness but the opposite could be true as well. It's pure Darwinism in action!

Edited 24 March, 2021 by Trout-Tickler

[Whitey Grandad]

21 minutes ago, Trout-Tickler said:

I don't really understand why people think there isn't going to be a third wave...there is, the only question is how severe it's going to be. The development of the current vaccines is fantastic but people forget about evolution and natural selection. Viruses like SARS-COV-2 mutate rapidly and whilst the vaccines may prevent infection from current strains, SARS-COV-2 will undoubtedly mutate in some way that'll either reduce vaccine efficacy or negate it's effect all together. Once such a mutation happens natural selection will ensure this resistant strain becomes dominant. There's always the chance that a vaccine resistant strain could be less infectious or lead to a milder illness but the opposite could be true as well. It's pure Darwinism in action!

Spanish Flu is still with us yet we live with it. All epidemics eventually fade away.

[aintforever]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Spanish Flu is still with us yet we live with it. All epidemics eventually fade away.

Isn’t the difference the fact that humans have been suffering from the flu for centuries though?

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Spanish Flu is still with us yet we live with it. All epidemics eventually fade away.

 The only place the 1918 H1N1 strain is around now is the lab.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, aintforever said:

Isn’t the difference the fact that humans have been suffering from the flu for centuries though?

Probably. These things come and go. At least it’s not as bad as the Black Death.

1 hour ago, Doctoroncall said:

 The only place the 1918 H1N1 strain is around now is the lab.

Even then there are only partial samples but the DNA has been sequenced. I said that it was still around in the sense that the family of which it is a part is still with us today.

[Lighthouse]

6 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

At least it’s not as bad as the Black Death.

I do wonder sometimes how modern society would cope with something like that. Or more specifically, to what extent certain people would be willing to deny something staring them in the face. No doubt if a disease came along and wiped out a third of the country, there’d still be some claiming that it was, "all part of the big reset, they need us scared so that we’re obedient," and that the lockdowns have actually killed more than 20 million people in delayed cancer treatments.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

I do wonder sometimes how modern society would cope with something like that. Or more specifically, to what extent certain people would be willing to deny something staring them in the face. No doubt if a disease came along and wiped out a third of the country, there’d still be some claiming that it was, "all part of the big reset, they need us scared so that we’re obedient," and that the lockdowns have actually killed more than 20 million people in delayed cancer treatments.

The modern generations are not accustomed to death being a common part of their lives and I suppose we ought to be grateful for that. In the late eighteenth century and early part of the twentieth infant mortality was one in three in the countryside and one in two in the cities.

My wife’s grandmother lost her entire family of two daughters and a son in their teens and early twenties to scarlet fever and then went on to have a second family of three daughters yet she was reportedly the most sweet and kind person you could ever hope to meet.

No wonder they had a fatalistic outlook on life and a belief in religion and a better life in the next world. 

[buctootim]

9 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

The modern generations are not accustomed to death being a common part of their lives and I suppose we ought to be grateful for that. In the late eighteenth century and early part of the twentieth infant mortality was one in three in the countryside and one in two in the cities.

My wife’s grandmother lost her entire family of two daughters and a son in their teens and early twenties to scarlet fever and then went on to have a second family of three daughters yet she was reportedly the most sweet and kind person you could ever hope to meet.

No wonder they had a fatalistic outlook on life and a belief in religion and a better life in the next world. 

Different attitude to life indeed, bred by common disease and war.   A Swedish friend was telling me about her Grandmother and the village 'Angel Maker'. When I looked puzzled and asked what that was she simply said "you know! when you have an unwanted baby you sent it to the woman who would 'take care of it' for you".  This was even up to the early 1970s.      

[Plastic]

An interesting read on the history of Malaria in the UK, if you are having a slow day...

Quote

Malaria flourished in the coastal and estuarine marshes of England for several centuries, its geographical limits determined by the natural habitats of the A. atroparvus species of mosquito. There is clinical proof that a mild form of vivax malaria was still indigenous in parts of Kent during the early 20th century. A patient from Romney Marsh found in 1910 to have malaria parasites in his bloodstream protested 'But it's only the marsh-fever!'

https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC1291929&blobtype=pdf

Edited 25 March, 2021 by Plastic

[Whitey Grandad]

47 minutes ago, Plastic said:

An interesting read on the history of Malaria in the UK, if you are having a slow day...

https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC1291929&blobtype=pdf

The ‘agues’

[Clapham Saint]

2 hours ago, buctootim said:

Different attitude to life indeed, bred by common disease and war.   A Swedish friend was telling me about her Grandmother and the village 'Angel Maker'. When I looked puzzled and asked what that was she simply said "you know! when you have an unwanted baby you sent it to the woman who would 'take care of it' for you".  This was even up to the early 1970s.      

Took me a second read to realise what you meant by "take care of it".

 

Thought you were referring to some sort of orphanage at first...

[Doctoroncall]

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I do wonder sometimes how modern society would cope with something like that. Or more specifically, to what extent certain people would be willing to deny something staring them in the face. No doubt if a disease came along and wiped out a third of the country, there’d still be some claiming that it was, "all part of the big reset, they need us scared so that we’re obedient," and that the lockdowns have actually killed more than 20 million people in delayed cancer treatments.

The bubonic plague is still around and because of modern society (sanitation, pest control and drugs) the outbreaks are small and occur in less developed countries, otherwise there are the odd cases that can happen.

[Whitey Grandad]

[Jimmy_D]

Looks like Europe is starting to be hit by the UK variant as bad as we were.

I fear that the narrative that it was purely down to incompetence that it hit us so hard has led to it being underestimated. They need to lock down far more strictly than they are, right at a time when people want to do the opposite.

[The Cat]

Just had my jab. Got a phone call asking if I could go this afternoon so obviously said yes. 

[Turkish]

Our leader has spoken

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/bill-gates-covid-vaccine-microsoft-b1822180.html