2019–20 coronavirus pandemic

[Redirect Left]

The same the start of last year for the UK!
England has entered another lockdown as of tomorrow, and will last at least 6 weeks, with the review not expected until 15th February. The summer exams will not occur for English children due them.

As with the previous full lockdown last March, the only sanctioned reasons to leave you home is to get food, attend healthcare appointments (which includes veterinary appointments for animals), work where you cannot do so from home, so you can flee harm (such as from abusive partners) and excercise.
Schools will close, except some special schools and nurseries for very young children. University & college students will be expected to stay where they are, instead of a mass exodus to where they came from originally if they are living in a different city to attend such thing as happened over Christmas to some degree.

All non essential shops are back to being closed, sending millions of staff into furlough again. Also, everyone is going back to lockdown hairstyles, as hairdressers are closed again. It's good news if your garden is missing a gnome though, as garden centres are classed as essential! Hurray for small government sanctioned gifts.

yaaaaaaaaay. This is becoming quite the year or so, is it not? 2021 is off to a great start! At this rate might need to update the thread title to 2019-2021 pandemic and hope it doesn't need doing for 2022 too.

[Chrill]

These are harsh times indeed in the UK, but as an onlooker I wish we'd come closer to your setup. A huge part of Sweden have lived in a lockdown for 10 months now, where others simply go partying. If the reckless 25% would just be forced to stay in, we could calm this down in a matter of weeks.

[Auge]

Hello

The medium lockdown in germany will be continued at least to the end of january. It was officially planned to end on 10th of january.

If the reckless 25% would just be forced to stay in, we could calm this down in a matter of weeks.

Sorry, but dream on. The practical knowledge from other countries states, that (at least in the cold seasons) the virus stays. The counts might stagnate and not grow (at least in short term) but it will also not shrink substantially. Sweden will make no exception at that point.

Tschö, Auge

[GarryG]

Strange part 100 years ago in 1919 we had a pandemic where millions died around the world, but people listened and they stayed home, kept isolated, wore masks and they say it only last 6 months. They had no TV, computers, and Cellphones and many didn't get much schooling. Yet they listened and help to prevent it.

Here we are these days with all education we want, most of us have TVs, computers, cellphones and much more technology, but the reckless not take notice and don't care if the get the virus and killers. Until those idiots wake up to themselves this pandemic might never end.

Goes to prove before TVs, computers, cellphones and other technology the world was a lot smarter then us today.

[YNM]

They say it only last 6 months.

Nope, it lasted a whole year, with 3 spikes in illness.

If anything, the worst strain of that pandemic came out of the field hospitals of the world war that was going on.

The only thing this pandemic proves is that humans haven't learned to organize themselves any better than it used to be.

[ASide8]

I think this pandemic is causing my Australian patriotism to go off the charts. No new cases outside of hotel quarantine today. No patients in ICU. Barely over 900 deaths over the last year. And overwhelmingly, we all feel safe, because (at least for now) it's not too bad, we all have to be careful of course, masks are mandatory for some things in Sydney, but it's not bad. I don't think any other country of the same size has done what Australia has.

[Geo Ghost]

I think this pandemic is causing my Australian patriotism to go off the charts. No new cases outside of hotel quarantine today. No patients in ICU. Barely over 900 deaths over the last year. And overwhelmingly, we all feel safe, because (at least for now) it's not too bad, we all have to be careful of course, masks are mandatory for some things in Sydney, but it's not bad. I don't think any other country of the same size has done what Australia has.

I am insanely jealous of the Australian way of dealing with the pandemic and comradery between people.
Our daily cases and daily deaths in the UK far exceed Australia's total for the past year! That makes me so incredibly sad and worried about we we are heading still.

But by the same token, I'm very happy that you guys down-under are safe and well. It's good to know that others somewhere in the world have got through this and can return to a normal life
You guys done such a good job controlling the pandemic, and should rightly feel proud!

[Born Acorn]

According to the Independent, the UK is currently the most infected country in the world per capita.

This makes for grim reading as I live there.

On the bright side, I did get my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on the 13th December, so I'm now relatively safe for the time being. They have delayed the second dose appointment though, it'll be somewhere within 12 weeks from the first.

[Chrill]

Sweden finally passed the so called "Pandemic Law". Unlike many other countries, our leaders have not legally been able to close off public spaces or shut down stores, restaurants, and the like. As of Sunday, they will be. Until now, we have had to rely on merely adopting recommendations and guidelines, but have no legal ability to enforce them.

They've circumvented this cleverly in some instances, for example night clubs. The alcohol license defined between which hours you may legally serve alcohol, and those have been nationally rewritten to prevent serving after 8pm. However, many clubs solved that by closing at 8pm and reopening at 8:15pm serving non-alcoholic drinks. Now, we can physically enforce a limit of XX people in any given venue, or close them altogether. I am particularly keen to see stores shut down except for groceries and pharmacies. Why would you need to go clothes shopping right now? You don't.

[Geo Ghost]

Sweden finally passed the so called "Pandemic Law".

Out of curiosity, how comes they weren't able to before?


Today int he UK.. double record breakers!
Highest daily cases and deaths on record so far. We'll break 3million total tomorrow easily, and I would estimate we'll overtake Russia in total cases by the 20th of this month.

But in lighter news, I'm now clear of quarantine legally and can go out. Still a small cough though, so I'll probably try to stay inside still apart from some night-time walks locally perhaps.

[pelya]

Strange part 100 years ago in 1919 we had a pandemic where millions died around the world, but people listened and they stayed home, kept isolated, wore masks and they say it only last 6 months. They had no TV, computers, and Cellphones and many didn't get much schooling. Yet they listened and help to prevent it.

Here we are these days with all education we want, most of us have TVs, computers, cellphones and much more technology, but the reckless not take notice and don't care if the get the virus and killers. Until those idiots wake up to themselves this pandemic might never end.

Goes to prove before TVs, computers, cellphones and other technology the world was a lot smarter then us today.

Nope. The pandemic of 1918 had much higher mortality rate. This also likely means that people started wearing masks seriously only after a lot of deaths. Right now, people look at the official statistics of 1.4% fatal outcome chance, and think they will personally beat the infection, however this 1.4% fatal outcome is only after they get you to the hospital.

On September 29, the global COVID-19 death toll topped 1 million people, and as of November 17, the figure is 1,332,470 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
We don't have an accurate death count for Spanish flu, but estimates range from 17 to 50 million people across the world, and there were possibly even more. The CDC says an estimated one-third of the world's population was infected with the virus, resulting in at least 50 million deaths.

https://www.health.com/condition/infect ... d-19-alike

[Chrill]

Sweden finally passed the so called "Pandemic Law".

Out of curiosity, how comes they weren't able to before?

I think that's a two-parter. They felt that the recommendations were followed strongly enough. Sweden's government enjoys large trust among our population, so when we're told "hey, please do like this" we will. Reports found, for example, that the number of cars travelling over Easter weekend reduced by 85% in 2020 compared to 2019. Over time, as we grew tired and more people began ignoring guidelines, it became clear a new law was required. Then, it's just the bureaucracy of introducing a restrictive law.

We will see. They have so far announced that any public space, such as a gym or a library or a store, etc. must allow only 1 person per 10 square metres of space.

[Redirect Left]

They felt that the recommendations were followed strongly enough. Sweden's government enjoys large trust among our population, so when we're told "hey, please do like this" we will.

How totally polar opposite to everything in England. We'd be in a much better situation if that were true here for sure.

[Geo Ghost]

They felt that the recommendations were followed strongly enough. Sweden's government enjoys large trust among our population, so when we're told "hey, please do like this" we will.

How totally polar opposite to everything in England. We'd be in a much better situation if that were true here for sure.

I think first we'd need a competent government to start with!
Aurgh.. I laugh, but deep down I'm actually fuming and so incredibly angry about it all.

How can any government continuously mess up THIS badly, again and again!

[Born Acorn]

How can any government continuously mess up THIS badly, again and again!

Well, a lot of government supporters would retort with "they're doing their best", but the devolved governments are seemingly always at least two weeks ahead in the big decisions.

[Geo Ghost]

How can any government continuously mess up THIS badly, again and again!

Well, a lot of government supporters would retort with "they're doing their best", but the devolved governments are seemingly always at least two weeks ahead in the big decisions.

Exactly! I watched a video last night about all the chaos and errors over the year. I knew about every single one (my housemate and I have had a great many rants about it to let off steam) over the year.
But, watching it back in a timeline video from start to now, and even then not including every detail... man it made me so angry about everything again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NUZfFTxALI

It is a good watch mind you, but does create a lot of anger.

[Chrill]

My wife was just on a very full bus headed to work, and she was one of only 3 people to wear a mask. So I guess you could say recommendations do not work anymore. Sweden needs to enforce social distancing by law (as in, limiting the number of people per bus/train/tram/boat) (yes we use boats for public transport, we're a very watery city) or at the very very least enforce the wearing of facial coverings.

[dol422]

enforce the wearing of facial coverings.

This is already the case in England. Masks and social distancing are required for every public space, including on buses and supermarkets

[Redirect Left]

People in my area are ...semi... following advice on buses, it is the larger supermarkets where it all goes out the window. The train network in West & South Yorkshire (the only bit on the network I use at present due to this virus) is rather heavily patrolled by police and other enforcers at present, ensuring every one is wearing coverings when a train goes past larger stations (especially Leeds & Sheffield from what I can tell).
When it comes to buses, its basically all on passengers to be sensible, as bus drivers have no intention to challenge non covering wearings, probably due to them being the only staff member on a bus in case stuff gets out of control. The security staff in large supermarkets have decided they're well hard, unless you have to ask people about not wearing a face covering. Much less hard then. I have generally resorted to using Amazon Prime Now for shopping, as going to larger supermarkets is a bit too risky until everyone decides to be sensible with coverings, especially given my Multiple Sclerosis has already relapsed once during the pandemic.

(yes we use boats for public transport, we're a very watery city)

Had to look up your city on Google Maps, definitely a very wet looking place. Best I can do for water transport is go to London and get a Thames Clipper that hops across the river every so often. Which is on my to-do list once I've finished travelling the entire tube network!

[Born Acorn]

I live in a semi rural area, where everything revolves around "getting to town" for shopping, banking, services etc. The drop in business has forced non-subsidised buses off the road, which has left a lot of non drivers without a route to... anywhere, really. Unfortunately this is disproportionately older people.

Edit: And now an outbreak amongst Arriva drivers has cancelled a great deal of the subsidised services too!