CV19 - Cure worse than the disease? (Vol 10)
Discussion
RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
My feeling is that masks are a placebo. They remind everybody the pandemic is still in full swing and comfort the wet blankets enough to get them out the house.
My boss wants us to wear masks in the office when we go back next week. He asked us if we we wanted to take them off when we were sat at our desks, or whether we were happy wearing them all the time. I pretty much said what is quoted above, which went down well.We managed months last year without...
Why does the furlough scheme need to run to September? Surely by the end of June everyone will be back at work if we go by the "roadmap."
This is yet another instance of kicking the can down the road. Wasn't the furlough scheme extended to the end of March before the current lockdown was announced? This is no coincidence or incompetence, there has got to be more to this than meets the eye, but I can't put my finger on it.
This is yet another instance of kicking the can down the road. Wasn't the furlough scheme extended to the end of March before the current lockdown was announced? This is no coincidence or incompetence, there has got to be more to this than meets the eye, but I can't put my finger on it.
Biker 1 said:
TV8 said:
No it isn’t and no they don’t. Sorry to disappoint you but you are making that up.
This.I would like to think I have a reasonably high IQ. I have a masters degree & have a great deal of experience with risk assessment, ride motorcycles, smoke, drive too fast, enjoy power boats, etc, blah blah. The whole mask thing is utterly ridiculous.
The rest of the 'face coverings' claptrap is just exactly that - nonsensical guff but very useful for politicians to be seen as doing 'something'.
RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:
My feeling is that masks are a placebo. They remind everybody the pandemic is still in full swing and comfort the wet blankets enough to get them out the house.
Yes I think that's true but I also think the government's reasoning went something like this:"We've told people not to bother with masks; is that a wise thing to do?"
"Hmm, good point. What if they're really effective and we're the only country not mandating them?"
"Well yes, then we'd be seen as negligent. Sod it, make them mandatory - they probably do nothing but, hey, no big deal, right?"
Ditto with closing pubs, gyms, golf courses and much else. They know it makes naff all difference but they must been seen to be seen to do something and the Karens on social media will approve.
Taylor James said:
Jordan210 said:
Furlough being extended till September!
Cost of £56BN so far and £100BN by end of September. This is Alice in Wonderland economics.Someone must be able to explain how we are able to afford this. Presumably a lot of the money gets recycled into the UK economy, but I wonder how much goes on Chinese tat from Amazon/Ebay.
isaldiri said:
Biker 1 said:
TV8 said:
No it isn’t and no they don’t. Sorry to disappoint you but you are making that up.
This.I would like to think I have a reasonably high IQ. I have a masters degree & have a great deal of experience with risk assessment, ride motorcycles, smoke, drive too fast, enjoy power boats, etc, blah blah. The whole mask thing is utterly ridiculous.
The rest of the 'face coverings' claptrap is just exactly that - nonsensical guff but very useful for politicians to be seen as doing 'something'.
They don’t, end of.
W201_190e said:
scenario8 said:
W201_190e said:
Indeed, although it doesn't help people who got new jobs after the end of last October like me, as we are not eligible for it.
Do you expect to be in need of it or would benefit from furlough now?
;)W201_190e said:
scenario8 said:
W201_190e said:
Indeed, although it doesn't help people who got new jobs after the end of last October like me, as we are not eligible for it.
Do you expect to be in need of it or would benefit from furlough now?I also would not benefit particularly from furlough due to the nature of my contract. Or at least that was my understanding from the then legislation this time last year.
Alucidnation said:
Jordan210 said:
Furlough being extended till September!
Madness.And not because of the cost either.
Judge them by what they do, not what they say. Extending furlough to september says only one thing. And its not normality.
W201_190e said:
Jordan210 said:
Furlough being extended till September!
Indeed, although it doesn't help people who got new jobs after the end of last October like me, as we are not eligible for it. 
)You can help pay for it though, when you are back up on your feet?
The only way I'd feel angrier about furlough than I do would be if I was in your shoes. I'm furious that my kids are going to spend their lives paying for this.
How about targetted furlough? (Up to) 3 more months hospitality and aviation/travel
Bring forward non essential retail to reopen on the 8th March. And lump in the hairdressers and gyms with the 8th March date (previously 12 April). Beer gardens (outside hospitality) too on 8th March, and full reopening 12 April (rule of 6 til May 17th)
scenario8 said:
W201_190e said:
scenario8 said:
W201_190e said:
Indeed, although it doesn't help people who got new jobs after the end of last October like me, as we are not eligible for it.
Do you expect to be in need of it or would benefit from furlough now?I also would not benefit particularly from furlough due to the nature of my contract. Or at least that was my understanding from the then legislation this time last year.
soofsayer said:
Easy to forget mask wearing isn't about protecting you and your own health, it's about protecting everyone else. Same theme with the vaccinations.
In short, it depends on the type of mask but for most people, yes. Exactly correct that fabric face coverings are more about preventing people who are unknowingly infected whilst out and about from transmitting the virus onto other people. Hence when I wear one in a supermarket I'm doing it primarily to reduce the risk I might infect you, not because I'm worried you might infect me.Surgical face masks (e.g. type IIR) offer two way protection but are not generally reusable, in relatively short supply (at least, they were earlier in the pandemic) and more costly than a washable fabric covering. Used throughout health and care settings, they protect staff from patients and patients from staff. From my own experience over the past few months the number of COVID-19 outbreaks amongst back office staff working in poorly ventilated offices plummeted after we advised they should be wearing surgical masks whenever they were in the same room as someone else, just as the medical and nursing staff were already doing.
Respirator stye masks (FFP3/N95 etc) that fit snugly to the face are of particular benefit protecting medical personnel when undertaking procedures on ventilated patients that generate aerosols ie tiny suspensions of exhaled particles rather than larger respiratory droplets.
From this it should be obvious that
1. wearing a builder's mask with exhalation valve in a supermarket is about the worst thing to do as far as protecting other people is concerned as it just blows viruses straight out into every passing person if worn by someone who's currently infected.
2. the suggestion that surgical masks can't possibly work because the fibres of surgical masks are wider apart than the diameter of a virus particle is wrong because it fails to account for Brownian motion of tiny virus particles, electrostatic attraction to charged fibres and generally the point that a bead might well be smaller than the holes in a lump of Swiss cheese but unless the holes all align, that bead won't get through.
3. fabric coverings are more effective the thicker they are, but how many people know that the World Health Organisation advises three layers of fabric as a minimum? I don't recall ever hearing a government message about what sorts of face coverings should or should not be worn in different settings. Come to think of it I don't recall it being advised that wearing them around the chin offered no protection either but plenty of people seem to think that's how they should be worn.
SAGE and WHO advice is very clear that whilst face coverings (as opposed to medical grade masks) are not a magic bullet, they offer an additional and sufficiently worthwhile measure of protection at the moment to the general public, though more by reducing the risk the wearer poses to others than the risk others pose to the wearer.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/advice-on-...
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/governmen... (yes it says January 2020 but is obviously from Janbuary 2021.)
Elysium said:
And we've apparently extended furlough to September ffs Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff