O/T. The Government's handling of Covid

[MadAmster]

looks like you might be battening down the hatches anyway...

Back into a sort of lockdown for us as of 18:00 today. Face masks everywhere. Corona pass everywhere except for essential businesses which is, basically, food outlets, chemists and off licences who are allowed to stay open until 20:00. All "non-essential" shops have to shut at 18:00. Theatres and cinemas still open but with a max of 1250 visitors at any one time. A max of 4 visitors per day at home. Trade fairs and large events are cancelled. All sport, amateur and professional, can still take place but no spectators. Bars and restaurants to close at 20:00 each day although restaurants may keep the kitchen open later for take away meals. I was going gigging next Saturday but the latest rules mean seated only, no dancing or mingling so it's been cancelled. Today's record fair in Utrecht, an annual trip for me is also off. Work from home if at all possible. 1.5m distancing is back. The new measures have an initial period of 3 weeks. 90% of the population expects them to last way longer.

They have also said they will be pushing through the necessary new legislation to allow the corona pass to only be used "2G", that is only by those inoculated (Gevaccineerd) and those who have had, and recovered from Covid (Genezen). That would lead to those not vaccinated not being allowed into ant establishment that requires a corona pass for entry. At the moment the pass is "3G" and also valid for those with a recent negative test (Getest). As you might imagine, the 13% not vaccinated are pretty pissed of about this and things might turn ugly, especially if the current cabinet manages to get it through Parliament which will be difficult as they currently have a 76-74 majority and one of the coalition parties is a religious party who have huge moral and ethical objections to creating a 2 pronged society.

One thing that is happening is a shift of thought. Whether for or against the vaccine, more and more people are looking beyond the end of their nose and coming to conclusions the government aren't going to want them to come to. Due to the current number of patients in hospital/ICU with Covid, the number of available ICU staff is insufficient. Basically, they've been running a marathon and now, right when they thought they were on the last mile, they've been informed there's another 10Km extra been added on.

We have beds aplenty, just no staff to man them. Currently 20% of ICU staff are on the sick, long term with burnout and other mental issues following almost 2 years of having to sprint 24/7. 50% of those still working are experiencing mental issues and 30% are considering stopping for the sake of their own health. Like in the UK, we have had 11 years of austerity cutbacks meaning ICUs closing, hospitals closing, no pay rises which was causing nurses to leave even before the pandemic. This structural cutting back of services has delivered the current crisis and can be firmly pinned on the government although they strenuously deny it.

The solution? Proper wage rises for health care staff that will, hopefully entice a lot of leavers back and entice new staff to get trained. Reopen closed departments and hospitals. It's the only way to ensure we can handle the number of Covid patients without impacting other areas of the health service.

[ramAnag]

Curious, perhaps, that your (the Dutch) figures relating to increases in Covid cases per 100,000 over the last seven days appear to be ten times worse than those in Spain given that the Spanish have probably hosted more tourists than any other European country over recent months.

[MadAmster]

The government have consistently been saying that the released new cases figures were always low compared to reality because far from everybody went for a test when they got symptoms that might be Covid.

In the week ending 2nd October there were 1669 positive tests. In the past week that had risen to 16331. The number of tests per day has risen from less than 20K a day to more than 80K a day in that time.

The last 2 weeks the number of weekly tests went from 288K last week to 419K this week. Almost 50% increase in a week.

If we all stop going for tests the number of cases will plummet

[Andy_Faber]

Curious, perhaps, that your (the Dutch) figures relating to increases in Covid cases per 100,000 over the last seven days appear to be ten times worse than those in Spain given that the Spanish have probably hosted more tourists than any other European country over recent months.

Only the voice of one friend in the medical profession over there, my Irish friend in Mallorca, but it may be that the Spanish aren't telling the whole truth - that voice was backed up last year WRTtheir criminal under-reporting of care home deaths, but I've seen nothing in the papers since

[Andy_Faber]

Back into a sort of lockdown for us as of 18:00 today. Face masks everywhere. Corona pass everywhere except for essential businesses which is, basically, food outlets, chemists and off licences who are allowed to stay open until 20:00. All "non-essential" shops have to shut at 18:00. Theatres and cinemas still open but with a max of 1250 visitors at any one time. A max of 4 visitors per day at home. Trade fairs and large events are cancelled. All sport, amateur and professional, can still take place but no spectators. Bars and restaurants to close at 20:00 each day although restaurants may keep the kitchen open later for take away meals. I was going gigging next Saturday but the latest rules mean seated only, no dancing or mingling so it's been cancelled. Today's record fair in Utrecht, an annual trip for me is also off. Work from home if at all possible. 1.5m distancing is back. The new measures have an initial period of 3 weeks. 90% of the population expects them to last way longer.

They have also said they will be pushing through the necessary new legislation to allow the corona pass to only be used "2G", that is only by those inoculated (Gevaccineerd) and those who have had, and recovered from Covid (Genezen). That would lead to those not vaccinated not being allowed into ant establishment that requires a corona pass for entry. At the moment the pass is "3G" and also valid for those with a recent negative test (Getest). As you might imagine, the 13% not vaccinated are pretty pissed of about this and things might turn ugly, especially if the current cabinet manages to get it through Parliament which will be difficult as they currently have a 76-74 majority and one of the coalition parties is a religious party who have huge moral and ethical objections to creating a 2 pronged society.

One thing that is happening is a shift of thought. Whether for or against the vaccine, more and more people are looking beyond the end of their nose and coming to conclusions the government aren't going to want them to come to. Due to the current number of patients in hospital/ICU with Covid, the number of available ICU staff is insufficient. Basically, they've been running a marathon and now, right when they thought they were on the last mile, they've been informed there's another 10Km extra been added on.

We have beds aplenty, just no staff to man them. Currently 20% of ICU staff are on the sick, long term with burnout and other mental issues following almost 2 years of having to sprint 24/7. 50% of those still working are experiencing mental issues and 30% are considering stopping for the sake of their own health. Like in the UK, we have had 11 years of austerity cutbacks meaning ICUs closing, hospitals closing, no pay rises which was causing nurses to leave even before the pandemic. This structural cutting back of services has delivered the current crisis and can be firmly pinned on the government although they strenuously deny it.

The solution? Proper wage rises for health care staff that will, hopefully entice a lot of leavers back and entice new staff to get trained. Reopen closed departments and hospitals. It's the only way to ensure we can handle the number of Covid patients without impacting other areas of the health service.

Thanks for the insight. I've read in a numberof places now that UK is being seen as a possible model for management of Covid going forward, the need fornew restrictions in NL and Austria suggest we may be doing something right, I have a horrible feeling though that its more a case that all countries are riding monocycles and UK just hasn't fallen off yet. I hope not

[MadAmster]

Thanks for the insight. I've read in a numberof places now that UK is being seen as a possible model for management of Covid going forward, the need fornew restrictions in NL and Austria suggest we may be doing something right, I have a horrible feeling though that its more a case that all countries are riding monocycles and UK just hasn't fallen off yet. I hope not

I am certain someone will correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the UK "measures" that there aren't any?

Over here, we had some measures in place. Bars, restaurants and clubs had to shut at 00:00 at the latest. At all 3 types of establishment plus theatres, cinemas, football grounds, gyms and other places you needed to show your Corona pass to get into them proving you had a) had both jabs (or the one required with the Janssen jab) or b) had had Covid and had recovered or c) you had a recent negative test. With regard to the monocycle it might be better to get off before falling off.

[ramAnag]

I am certain someone will correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the UK "measures" that there aren't any?

Over here, we had some measures in place. Bars, restaurants and clubs had to shut at 00:00 at the latest. At all 3 types of establishment plus theatres, cinemas, football grounds, gyms and other places you needed to show your Corona pass to get into them proving you had a) had both jabs (or the one required with the Janssen jab) or b) had had Covid and had recovered or c) you had a recent negative test. With regard to the monocycle it might be better to get off before falling off.

The ‘measures’ over here are indeed curiously random, MA.
I ‘reported’ two or three weeks ago about how at a gig I attended everyone was temperature checked and had to produce a QR coded certificate of vaccination but how, a couple of days later, there were no such checks at a theatre visit...just a request to wear masks during the performance.
Later this week I’m attending an exhibition where the pre-visit information suggests that no Covid checks will be in operation although capacity has been reduced and people are expected to wear masks.
I’ve also entered two other countries during the last couple of months. Both required evidence of vaccination and one an additional temperature check. Returning to the UK involved neither temperature checks, QR codes or evidence of destination but there was a charge for completing a PCR Test after two days.
The rules on the quality of the masks that were expected in the two other countries I visited also seemed to be more stringent than those in operation regarding face coverings in the UK.

Before anyone chooses to believe this is an example of me ‘UK bashing’...it isn’t. It’s just objective and truthful observation. Like most people I just want this damned pandemic to be done with, but would like to see greater consistency from the various worldwide authorities.

[Andy_Faber]

I am certain someone will correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the UK "measures" that there aren't any?

Over here, we had some measures in place. Bars, restaurants and clubs had to shut at 00:00 at the latest. At all 3 types of establishment plus theatres, cinemas, football grounds, gyms and other places you needed to show your Corona pass to get into them proving you had a) had both jabs (or the one required with the Janssen jab) or b) had had Covid and had recovered or c) you had a recent negative test. With regard to the monocycle it might be better to get off before falling off.

rA is right, our 'measures' are curious but there seems to be a level of acceptance that they are 'working', although anyone who still succumbs to the disease may not think so. My worry is that they are working by accident and it'll all go to **** sometime soon, especially just before Christmas.

[ramAnag]

rA is right

Bloody ‘ell! Pass the brandy!

You were much better as a despairing Queen than a pondering Wayne staring into the far distance.

[Andy_Faber]

Bloody ‘ell! Pass the brandy!

You were much better as a despairing Queen than a pondering Wayne staring into the far distance.

I'm blaming my spellchecker