Coronavirus

Just back from a week in Crete. We were slightly apprehensive and guilty about it, but have cancelled it so many times, my wife could really do with a break after being stuck in the house with me for 18 months for some reason...

Had to get commercial LFT tests for the kids (who have all had one shot of Pfizer) for entry to Greece. Checked at the airport. Our NHS Scotland apps were checked too.

100% masks at airport, on plane, on to hotel. Lots of hand gel. Masks in the hotel in all indoor areas unless eating. People would put them on while moving around getting food at the buffet. Mask wearing very common in general.

Every shop in Crete required a mask for entry. If we wanted to sit inside anywhere, proof of vaccination or recent LTF test required. Our apps scanned instantly, but the UK gov approved LTF proof did not have a QR code so was a bit harder. Also needed proof of vac status for entry to Knossos, which is all outdoors.

No one complained, every one just did it. The atmosphere in the UK against masks and "vaccine passports" is just ridiculous. Towards the end of the week, more English people arrived, and there was a noticable change in mask wearing. In my local supermarkets in Glasgow, it's still nearly 100%.

Seems quite insane what's going on in England, cases, deaths and illness much higher than in other European countries that have had no "freedom day" bollocks and yet they plough on regardless....
I've been in Spain and Italy this summer and was impressed by not just how high mask wearage was, but by how many people were using FFP2 masks and no fuss being made. Particularly comfortable being in Italy with the Greenpass checked everywhere.

Here in Switzerland we have a green pass-like thing for restaurants, cinemas etc. but stubbornly low vaccination rates and weekly unapproved protests that riot police have to break up. I passed an utterly enormous queue for one of the testing sites on Saturday, stretched a couple of hundred metres up the road. So people would rather queue for an hour or two and pay to get tested every week to be able to go out on Saturday night rather than just get jabbed. Utterly insane!

So pleased that despite starting late, Japanese vaccination has been an enormous success and flown past UK, USA, Switzerland etc.
Let tourists back in please.

Deaths are currently very low as are admissions which are relatively flat for a whle now.  So not sure there is something seen as  wrong - more like this is BAU / an acceptable level. Pre-covid something like between 9000 and 110000 died on average  (all deaths, all reasons) in the UK each week depending on the time of year, so lets call it 10k  per week and call it 1,400 per day generally.  Dying within 28 days of a covid test is average of 150 or so ish (all age groups)?  The level of death being seen isnt large as it was pre-vaccine. The question is can NHS cope with the winter of covid + everything else. 

Getting vaccinated will kill don't you know. Apparently.

It’s amazing that being on target for around 50k deaths a year after vaccines doesn’t make the public think maybe there’s something a bit wrong with the current approach.

The number of deaths per cases has dropped off and that ratio is pretty good now, but the number of cases is far higher than it needs to be and there’s evidence vaccine effectiveness is about to start hitting us.

Deaths look like they might be creeping back up again as well, cases are starting to rapidly increase as well just as people are going to offices more, the school transmission is moving to transmission at home and in the community.

I don’t think a full lockdown should be needed but mask wearing and a bit of discouraging of mass indoor events might be a good idea for a while.

And all of this is additional pressure on the NHS which already can’t cope with routine issues.

84 too which is way older than I would have guessed

If we ever do an all inc we tend to look for somewhere that is mostly Germans. They are far more respectful in general I find and just nicer to be around on holiday. The place we stayed in Fuertaventura there was only one other English couple at the hotel, it was absolute bliss.

I think the official plan now is that if we stop talking about it then we can all just move on with our lives and get back to normal

That works for me.

Sounds like hell, thats why I never liked going to spain/Portugal etc that attracts the Gammonpocalypse, thick loud mouth cunts who ruin holidays for everyone else. Thats why I always go further away as this filth does not tend to go there. Seen Australians gammons in Bali and thailand but its never as bad as eg spain/greece etc

Seriously though, the government strategy genuinely appears to be 'pretend its gone away.'

As long as they don’t dare tell me to wear a mask then it’s all ok.

Will the plebs accept another lockdown or wearing masks again? I doubt it

I think the tories will just carry on, does not matter if you get ill or any old people die as "its all about the tories friends and donors"

"No one could have predicted..."