Coronavirus - general, non tennis related

Julia Carrot · All-time great

RE: Coronavirus - general, non tennis related

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Julia Carrot wrote:
indiana wrote:

Wear ruddy masks!
And proper ones, not flappy single cloth ones under your nose.

Well said.

I've only got the N95 (FFP2) ones - if I'm going to wear the blinkin thing, it might as well be one that actually does the most good.

Elegant Point · Satellite level

paulisi wrote:
Elegant Point wrote:
Triple vaccinated holiday makers test positive for Corona
Friends of a friend who have just returned from holiday in Europe tested positive for Corona on return, despite having 2 doses of vaccine plus booster shots a couple of weeks before travel They have limited symptoms and arent sure whether picked it up in the resort or at the airports.

The vaccine just triggers a immune response. The success rate is not 100%, so you can still get infected, but the chances of severe illness are significantly reduced.

Yes, as healthcare workers I am sure they were aware of that - maybe being triple vaccinated made them feel safer, so engaged in more high risk behaviour whilst on holiday? eg frequenting crowded bars and restaurants

Noticed that Waitrose has a higher percentage of shoppers wearing masks than Sainsburys and that the numbers overall have dropped significantly in the past few weeks

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Speaking (by Skype) to a student, aged 20. She has 'flu' for ten days - dreadful sweats, completely out of it, coughing, no appetite, kept losing her hearing, more sick than she'd ever been before ......

She 'knew' it was flu because the girl she'd been working with in a big department store (a couple of days a week) had also had the same 'flu'. But came into work, coughing her innards up, and said even if it was covid, it didn't matter because the app said she wasn't infectious (because - according to others at the store now - she lied about when symptoms started).

And manager couldn't do anything (or didn't want to) because she 'only' had flu OR if she did have covid, the app said fine, and the manager wasn't in a position, she said, to challenge it or accuse her of lying about symtoms etc.

So, after 10 days, and now dragging herself into uni on a couple of days when she could, and getting a bit of shopping, when she could, and still coughing, left, right and centre, the student I was talking to got tested, and of course she had/has covid. And now, eight days later, she's beginning - just - to feel a bit better.

And when I asked her if she'd had the vaccine, she laughed ruefully, and said she'd been meaning to, but hadn't got round to it.....

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
Speaking (by Skype) to a student, aged 20. She has 'flu' for ten days - dreadful sweats, completely out of it, coughing, no appetite, kept losing her hearing, more sick than she'd ever been before ......

She 'knew' it was flu because the girl she'd been working with in a big department store (a couple of days a week) had also had the same 'flu'. But came into work, coughing her innards up, and said even if it was covid, it didn't matter because the app said she wasn't infectious (because - according to others at the store now - she lied about when symptoms started).

And manager couldn't do anything (or didn't want to) because she 'only' had flu OR if she did have covid, the app said fine, and the manager wasn't in a position, she said, to challenge it or accuse her of lying about symtoms etc.

So, after 10 days, and now dragging herself into uni on a couple of days when she could, and getting a bit of shopping, when she could, and still coughing, left, right and centre, the student I was talking to got tested, and of course she had/has covid. And now, eight days later, she's beginning - just - to feel a bit better.

And when I asked her if she'd had the vaccine, she laughed ruefully, and said she'd been meaning to, but hadn't got round to it.....

You'd think the department store would have had packs of tests to test workers who were clearly unwell on the premises. How many people did those girls pass it on to, vaccinated or unvaccinated it doesn't seem to make much difference now in terms of transmission. At the height of the pandemic I only knew a few people who actually caught it, now everyday I hear of someone who has it, and they are all double vaxxed. Some are responsible and isolate, but not all. It is a total shambles. And the guidance is woeful.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I agree, Julia, absolutely. The 'guidance' is woeful.

The manager in this case seemingly (a) had a bit of a staffing problem so basically didn't want to lose the employee, and (b) thought it was a question of medical privacy and couldn't interfere.

I mean, does the manager have the right to force the employee to be tested? To force them to stay at home? I wouldn't have thought so. Not if the employee swears blind it's a bad cold. Or the employee is lucky and is barely sick.

Many employers are very difficult about paying staff to be off sick for 10 days, and even if you pay them, many staff at places like this have a commission based part of their pay, so they're still going to be considerably out of pocket in some cases so will insist on coming in.

I have a group of family and friends in a big city 'up north' and none of them are getting official tests done now (and haven't been for months) because the track and trace effectively asks all your family/friend contacts to isolate and none of them can afford to keep doing that (most have done it once or twice at some point and that's enough, there's pure 'isolation fatigue', as well as major financial considerations for some, and the knowledge that no one else is so why bother). Some are using lateral flow tests from the chemists and taking personal responsibility and just isolating themselves if they test positive, and telling family members to keep checking themselves. A lot aren't.

Nearly all of this group are double vaccinated. Some have caught covid. None have had it very seriously. But there's an awful lot of it going round.

Elegant Point · Satellite level

Pfizers new protease inhibitor Paxlovid cuts deaths and hospital admissions due to Covid-19 by 90% This is an improvement on the data from Mercks Molnupiravir, which works by a different mechanism (induces mutations in the virus genetic code) and is allegedly not as effective in the later stages of infection. Likely the two antivirals will be better in combination.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/pfizers-pill-cuts-covid-deaths-and-hospitalisations-by-90/

To mask or not to mask? IMO there really is no question. Spotted an unmasked BoJo sat next to 95 year old masked David Attenborough- seriously??? after the recent outbreak of C-19 at the House of Commons. Buffoon

-- Edited by Elegant Point on Sunday 7th of November 2021 11:04:05 AM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Wondering what other folks are seeing on the ground in terms of cases - three of my work colleagues have come down with Covid over the past few days, a couple are in pretty bad shape, not life threatening but laying them very low. At my sons grad ceremony at the weekend, one of his friends has come down with it and a few others and in my area of Yorkshire (Harrogate) rates are up at close to 500 per 100k (and have been higher) which is stubbornly very high.

My wife has booked her booster today and I hope to get my notification through soon, but it feels to me like we are suddenly seeing a lot more cases close to my own life that I hadnt seen in some time

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Booster vaccinations have been available for 50-60 year-olds in London as of late October. (That's your age group, no? Or are you younger?)

I don't quite understand why there's been a big difference in availability in different areas - friends who are 60+ who live in Herts. still haven't had it (although it's due very soon).

But, yes, I know youngsters (my cousin's daughter) who has now caught it (despite being double jabbed) and has really been quite ill, still off work a month later (she is rather overweight, it doesn't help). And my in-laws carer (also double jabbed). And various other people. Most not seriously. But not great.....

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Booster vaccinations have been available for 50-60 year-olds in London as of late October. (That's your age group, no? Or are you younger?)

I don't quite understand why there's been a big difference in availability in different areas - friends who are 60+ who live in Herts. still haven't had it (although it's due very soon).

But, yes, I know youngsters (my cousin's daughter) who has now caught it (despite being double jabbed) and has really been quite ill, still off work a month later (she is rather overweight, it doesn't help). And my in-laws carer (also double jabbed). And various other people. Most not seriously. But not great.....

Hi CD, its been the 6 month gap that is required; my wife had her second jab in late May and so has got a text today saying she can book, mine was in early June so I should be able to get one early December, hopefully. Those initial second jabs followed a gap from the first jab of course, which was, what March, and those ones where later for us slightly, but that is the knock on. Yep, I am 56, so slap bang in the middle, and would have had it in October if I could have had it then!

Jan · Hall of fame

JonH comes home wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Booster vaccinations have been available for 50-60 year-olds in London as of late October. (That's your age group, no? Or are you younger?)

I don't quite understand why there's been a big difference in availability in different areas - friends who are 60+ who live in Herts. still haven't had it (although it's due very soon).

But, yes, I know youngsters (my cousin's daughter) who has now caught it (despite being double jabbed) and has really been quite ill, still off work a month later (she is rather overweight, it doesn't help). And my in-laws carer (also double jabbed). And various other people. Most not seriously. But not great.....
Hi CD, its been the 6 month gap that is required; my wife had her second jab in late May and so has got a text today saying she can book, mine was in early June so I should be able to get one early December, hopefully. Those initial second jabs followed a gap from the first jab of course, which was, what March, and those ones where later for us slightly, but that is the knock on. Yep, I am 56, so slap bang in the middle, and would have had it in October if I could have had it then!

You can book before the 6 months is up - I think once it's 5 months since second jab. I have one booked for early Dec (no need to wait for text/other message).

-- Edited by Jan on Tuesday 16th of November 2021 12:51:53 PM

DF · Tennis legend

In Wales you have to wait for a letter from the NHS. You cannot book.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Jan wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Booster vaccinations have been available for 50-60 year-olds in London as of late October. (That's your age group, no? Or are you younger?)

I don't quite understand why there's been a big difference in availability in different areas - friends who are 60+ who live in Herts. still haven't had it (although it's due very soon).

But, yes, I know youngsters (my cousin's daughter) who has now caught it (despite being double jabbed) and has really been quite ill, still off work a month later (she is rather overweight, it doesn't help). And my in-laws carer (also double jabbed). And various other people. Most not seriously. But not great.....
Hi CD, its been the 6 month gap that is required; my wife had her second jab in late May and so has got a text today saying she can book, mine was in early June so I should be able to get one early December, hopefully. Those initial second jabs followed a gap from the first jab of course, which was, what March, and those ones where later for us slightly, but that is the knock on. Yep, I am 56, so slap bang in the middle, and would have had it in October if I could have had it then!
You can book before the 6 months is up - I think once it's 5 months since second jab. I have one booked for early Dec (no need to wait for text/other message).

-- Edited by Jan on Tuesday 16th of November 2021 12:51:53 PM

we tried that but it wouldnt let us in our area, but when we got the text the system became available...different rules/processes in different areas?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

It's not really their fault but it doesn't help that each area has a slightly different system. People obviously talk to each other around the country, newspapers print things from various parts of the country, and it gets people confused, and cross, that the system is different in different places.

Jan · Hall of fame

Oh how strange - sorry I had no idea different areas worked differently!