Making the news today....

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, sime42 said:

 

Seatbelts and traffic lights to be 'personal responsibility' from next week | The Daily Mash

WWW.THEDAILYMASH.CO.UK

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THE government will lift all obligations to observe red lights or wear seat belts as of Monday, no matter the consequences.

 

 

 

Yawn 

If ever there was a case for false equivalence is is it 

[Woodworks]

Yawn

 

Is exactly what health workers up and down the country are saying plus a few expletives I suspect 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Woodworks

[Steve Bullman]

8 hours ago, sime42 said:

 

Seatbelts and traffic lights to be 'personal responsibility' from next week | The Daily Mash

WWW.THEDAILYMASH.CO.UK

---

THE government will lift all obligations to observe red lights or wear seat belts as of Monday, no matter the consequences.

 

 

 

Sadly theres people who read stuff like this, believe it, and share it. Some of the comments on Facebook are always worth a look.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

1 hour ago, Steve Bullman said:

Sadly theres people who read stuff like this, believe it, and share it. Some of the comments on Facebook are always worth a look.

As snidy digs go it’s quite funny....

 

But you’re right, abject stupidity and confirmation bias will kick in. 
 

A quote from some Prof on LBC yesterday - wearing face masks to combat Covid is akin to throwing a fist ful of marbles at a builders scaffolding. 1 or 2 May hit a pole and bounce off but the majority.....  straight through!

 

Same with face masks. Unless properly fitted adequately spec’d , you’re just as well stick 1 finger in your ear for all the good they do. 
 

But they HAVE provided a comfort blanket to the terrified and the compliant and created self appointed Covid ‘police.’

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by kevinjohnsonmbe

[openspaceman]

7 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

May hit a pole

Did she?

 

So masks would have saved one Pole?

[sime42]

Sadly theres people who read stuff like this, believe it, and share it. Some of the comments on Facebook are always worth a look.

Seriously? People really think they no longer need to observe drink driving laws etc? I don't use Facebook so haven't read any of these comments that are worth looking at.

[Woodworks]

28 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

 

A quote from some Prof on LBC yesterday - wearing face masks to combat Covid is akin to throwing a fist ful of marbles at a builders scaffolding. 1 or 2 May hit a pole and bounce off but the majority.....  straight through!

 

Same with face masks. Unless properly fitted adequately spe’d, you’re just as well stick 1 finger in your ear for all the good they do. 
 

But they HAVE provided a comfort blanket to the terrified and the compliant and created self appointed Covid ‘police.’

 

The idea that dont work at all is ridiculous. Quality masks used by pros can up to 100% effective as in link below. Sure lesser masks used by us plebs are not as good but way better than nothing. Seen plenty online how the chap you are quoting is talking out of his rear end. Telegraph had him quoted as a memebr of SAGE yet another member of SAGE said they had never heard of him.

 

As masks are better at protecting others than the user this country as left it up to most callous and inconsiderate to dictate other safety. Lots of immune compromised now back into full isolation as of today. What a shit show

 

Covid: Masks upgrade cuts infection risk, research finds

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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Wearing a high grade FFP3 mask can almost entirely protect health workers from Covid, research finds.

 

[Big J]

1 hour ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

As snidy digs go it’s quite funny....

 

But you’re right, abject stupidity and confirmation bias will kick in. 
 

A quote from some Prof on LBC yesterday - wearing face masks to combat Covid is akin to throwing a fist ful of marbles at a builders scaffolding. 1 or 2 May hit a pole and bounce off but the majority.....  straight through!

 

Same with face masks. Unless properly fitted adequately spe’d, you’re just as well stick 1 finger in your ear for all the good they do. 
 

But they HAVE provided a comfort blanket to the terrified and the compliant and created self appointed Covid ‘police.’

 

 

I am inclined to agree. I think that the factors having the greatest influence on the spread of covid (and the death rate) don't relate specifically to lockdowns or PPE. 

 

Look at the US. They're more or less fully open, have a less compliant public and a lower vaccination rate than us. Then look at Sweden. Totally different approach with minimal social distancing and no PPE at all. Then Germany - harder lockdowns than us and more more militant use of PPE. Here are the current infection rates per 100,000 per week based on the 7 day average:

 

USA: 62.8

Sweden: 15.9

Germany: 10.1

UK: 461.2

 

But then compare death rates per 100,000:

 

USA: 0.52

Sweden: 0.001

Germany: 0.16

UK: 0.41

 

What this indicates (in my opinion) is that different approaches don't seem to offer especially different outcomes, that vaccinations make a difference to death rate within a country (compare wave 2 to wave 3 in the UK), but interestingly, in the four countries I've picked, those with the highest vaccination rate have both the highest infection and death rate. 

 

I wholeheartedly support vaccination, but I don't think that social distancing by diktat works. I won't be wearing a mask in the UK again and I won't comply with any further restrictions if they are reimposed. We're close to herd immunity and the very high infection rate in the UK is largely asymptomatic or cases of very mild disease. Shutting down a country for what is now less severe than flu (in terms of health outcomes) is nutty.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Big J

[Big J]

5 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

The idea that dont work at all is ridiculous. Quality masks used by pros can up to 100% effective as in link below. Sure lesser masks used by us plebs are not as good but way better than nothing. Seen plenty online how the chap you are quoting is talking out of his rear end. Telegraph had him quoted as a memebr of SAGE yet another member of SAGE said they had never heard of him.

 

As masks are better at protecting others than the user this country as left it up to most callous and inconsiderate to dictate other safety. Lots of immune compromised now back into full isolation as of today. What a shit show

 

Covid: Masks upgrade cuts infection risk, research finds

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

Wearing a high grade FFP3 mask can almost entirely protect health workers from Covid, research finds.

 

 

But why can a country like Sweden go through the pandemic with no masks and have a statistically insignificant death rate and an infection rate much lower than us? I've been twice in the past 9 months and didn't see a single mask on anyone at any time. Their current situation is much better than ours and their overall situation compares favourably too. 

 

I don't think that it's as simple as "everyone put on masks and keep 2m distant". In the UK we've been treated like total idiots. We've had all personal responsibility stripped away from us through much of this, and then randomly been given it all back in a rush. Think Eat out to help out and now the 19th of July. Infection rates are going to skyrocket again because there is no happy middle ground where the individual assumes personal responsibility and shows mutual respect. It's government diktat or total personal freedom. 

 

I expect that before the schools go back in September that the government will have reimposed restrictions of some description.

[MattyF]

Seriously? People really think they no longer need to observe drink driving laws etc? I don't use Facebook so haven't read any of these comments that are worth looking at.

It's a joke mate ... they are taking the piss ...