The New Normal

[regis80]

Ever since this term/phrase got mentioned to the press it seems as though it is fine to put it in every other sentence, when talking about covid. It doesn’t sit well with me in any way.

Are we really going to accept this is how our lives will become and accept social distancing forever?
Why are we normalizing this term?

I get it, so many lives have been lost but no way should we be under the impression this is how life will be from now on.

It is also as if every virus/pandemic film out there made is so close to the reality we are in right now (apart from the walking dead). Don’t you think it is weird?

Thoughts?

[baggieal]

As we now have officially the worst number of deaths in Europe and it's still increasing, perhaps when this pandemic subsides we need to look at the German model for efficiency and speed. Our number of deaths is appalling.

Is the new normal - still flinging open our doors to every Tom, Dick and Harry to enter, or will we insist on a 14 day quarantine on entry as some countries will do? I feel our doors will remain wide open and here lies the problem as always...........

As we have not had a real lock down like Spain and Italy, I can see a second spike in the UK when everything starts to re-open, and then there will be a huge issue. To be told starting football again ( like a park match with no fans ) will lift the gloom in the UK is utter bollox - the enhanced safety of the public will take a bigger priority than the greed in football for sure.

Even the social distancing by shop is laughable. Went past B & Q today and they had strict and sensible social distancing measures in place where Aldi next door was like a free for all!! I question whether the people in there would know the difference between 2 metres and 2 centre metres as it was a scrum.

I like to keep fit myself and did go to the gym a lot prior to Xmas, but if a jogger runs past me ( like one did today ) within touching distance again, I will trip the next f ucker over. Can't understand someone running not going in the road or crossing the road immediately, when they see dog walkers or families walking down the road. Surely, when running ( as I did ) to continue with momentum, it's easier to cross the road than expect someone not running to do so! So rude!

[westcountryvillain]

Hope you're ok and recovered from the big op Al, I think what this will come down to is NHS capacity weighed up against the economic costs to the UK and other Western nations with some assessment of risks of lockdown to mental health, domestic abuse etc. Tough call really for governments across the globe.

I like to keep an open mind on the stats, how many of these deaths are in excess of the normal death rate at this time of year. Could some of the deaths be incorrectly certified as Covid related when someone with a positive test has a stroke or a heart attack?

Know what you mean on social distancing, clearly the govt cannot control the individual actions of folk unless we become a police state and you cannot eliminate the spread, only seek to manage the risk - again a tough call. I do know that the NHS is preparing for a 2nd peak around Oct/November so that suggests a total lifting by September based on incubation periods - back to school it is then.

I really don't like the idea of the phone app thing - it could cause chaos and who is the custodian of our data, feels Orwellian to me.

[baggieal]

Hope you're ok and recovered from the big op Al, I think what this will come down to is NHS capacity weighed up against the economic costs to the UK and other Western nations with some assessment of risks of lockdown to mental health, domestic abuse etc. Tough call really for governments across the globe.

I like to keep an open mind on the stats, how many of these deaths are in excess of the normal death rate at this time of year. Could some of the deaths be incorrectly certified as Covid related when someone with a positive test has a stroke or a heart attack?

Know what you mean on social distancing, clearly the govt cannot control the individual actions of folk unless we become a police state and you cannot eliminate the spread, only seek to manage the risk - again a tough call. I do know that the NHS is preparing for a 2nd peak around Oct/November so that suggests a total lifting by September based on incubation periods - back to school it is then.

I really don't like the idea of the phone app thing - it could cause chaos and who is the custodian of our data, feels Orwellian to me.

Good post WCV - mainly good days but there's a few bad ones too but thanks for asking. Can't see many scrambling to book holidays though, so if the weather is decent, the UK could do well ie Lake District etc. Problem is - I find staying in the UK more expensive than going overseas.

Might need to work on Mick for a stay at his pad in Tenby this year

[mickd1961]

Good post WCV - mainly good days but there's a few bad ones too but thanks for asking. Can't see many scrambling to book holidays though, so if the weather is decent, the UK could do well ie Lake District etc. Problem is - I find staying in the UK more expensive than going overseas.

Might need to work on Mick for a stay at his pad in Tenby this year

I’m not even allowed to go down there myself so you can f o o k off 😆

[regis80]

As we now have officially the worst number of deaths in Europe and it's still increasing, perhaps when this pandemic subsides we need to look at the German model for efficiency and speed. Our number of deaths is appalling.

Is the new normal - still flinging open our doors to every Tom, Dick and Harry to enter, or will we insist on a 14 day quarantine on entry as some countries will do? I feel our doors will remain wide open and here lies the problem as always...........

As we have not had a real lock down like Spain and Italy, I can see a second spike in the UK when everything starts to re-open, and then there will be a huge issue. To be told starting football again ( like a park match with no fans ) will lift the gloom in the UK is utter bollox - the enhanced safety of the public will take a bigger priority than the greed in football for sure.

Even the social distancing by shop is laughable. Went past B & Q today and they had strict and sensible social distancing measures in place where Aldi next door was like a free for all!! I question whether the people in there would know the difference between 2 metres and 2 centre metres as it was a scrum.

I like to keep fit myself and did go to the gym a lot prior to Xmas, but if a jogger runs past me ( like one did today ) within touching distance again, I will trip the next f ucker over. Can't understand someone running not going in the road or crossing the road immediately, when they see dog walkers or families walking down the road. Surely, when running ( as I did ) to continue with momentum, it's easier to cross the road than expect someone not running to do so! So rude!

Totally agree with everything you have said Al. Hope you are on the mend and taking care.

You could blame those at the top for not closing our doors early on, as this may have made things worse.
What is odd and is that no investigation has been done on this. I’d be interested to know how many of those that went holiday and returned to the UK.. how many of them got infected. Why have we not even done this? Surely this is easy to work out.

What about Sweden? They have not locked anything down and NZ have eradicated it.

[Dubbag]

Am off for a week now.
So having been discussing the virus with colleagues over the last few months...a few things have come to prominence..

1....is the speed that the virus takes hold in society....this C-19 is fast..... makes annual flu look like a pedestrian.

2. When a virus is successful in moving around..it usually doesn't mutate or evolve quickly....this one appears to be doing just that.

3. It is highly contagious. Nasal droplets can have potential active C-19 many hours later and longer then the annual flu. Also while not airborne carried...there is tentative evidence that it can remain airborne far longer then had originally been expected. This could be a very new prospect.

4. Because of it been a novel virus...so much evidence still has to be gathered about it. Thankfully many scientists from around the world are collaborating on it. But it is clear much has been missed.

5. The vast majority of deaths have been people in the higher age bracket with underling health conditions...which tends to be the case, as the older a person gets the more the general immune system weakens. However, there have been quite afew cases of young healthy people dying from C-19. Why? Possibly a more virulent strain of the virus is evolving? To early to say.

6. Lifting restrictions.. This will be interesting to watch. Quite a few countries have spikes since lifting restrictions and more cases. At back of this is a drive to get economies going again. I get that but it also hoped that with the Summer coming in and warmer weather that the virus will fall away. This seems to be an unspoken and an unannounced reason for the quick return to activity......This is dangerous..
We really don't know what the virus will do.......so for me the new norm of life will be remaining away from most people as has been my way for quite some years.... Nothing new here for me...

We have entered a game changing situation on our planet, not only brought about by this virus but also by our lack of general responsibility to the planet it self...
There is nothing normal about these times that we live in today...

[baggieal]

Totally agree with everything you have said Al. Hope you are on the mend and taking care.

You could blame those at the top for not closing our doors early on, as this may have made things worse.
What is odd and is that no investigation has been done on this. I’d be interested to know how many of those that went holiday and returned to the UK.. how many of them got infected. Why have we not even done this? Surely this is easy to work out.

What about Sweden? They have not locked anything down and NZ have eradicated it.

Thanks Regis - appreciated! My Mrs keeps going on about Sweden and how cases have not rocketed but deaths seem to be increasing but not as much as you would expect. Time will tell....

[mickd1961]

Am off for a week now.
So having been discussing the virus with colleagues over the last few months...a few things have come to prominence..

1....is the speed that the virus takes hold in society....this C-19 is fast..... makes annual flu look like a pedestrian.

2. When a virus is successful in moving around..it usually doesn't mutate or evolve quickly....this one appears to be doing just that.

3. It is highly contagious. Nasal droplets can have potential active C-19 many hours later and longer then the annual flu. Also while not airborne carried...there is tentative evidence that it can remain airborne far longer then had originally been expected. This could be a very new prospect.

4. Because of it been a novel virus...so much evidence still has to be gathered about it. Thankfully many scientists from around the world are collaborating on it. But it is clear much has been missed.

5. The vast majority of deaths have been people in the higher age bracket with underling health conditions...which tends to be the case, as the older a person gets the more the general immune system weakens. However, there have been quite afew cases of young healthy people dying from C-19. Why? Possibly a more virulent strain of the virus is evolving? To early to say.

6. Lifting restrictions.. This will be interesting to watch. Quite a few countries have spikes since lifting restrictions and more cases. At back of this is a drive to get economies going again. I get that but it also hoped that with the Summer coming in and warmer weather that the virus will fall away. This seems to be an unspoken and an unannounced reason for the quick return to activity......This is dangerous..
We really don't know what the virus will do.......so for me the new norm of life will be remaining away from most people as has been my way for quite some years.... Nothing new here for me...

We have entered a game changing situation on our planet, not only brought about by this virus but also by our lack of general responsibility to the planet it self...
There is nothing normal about these times that we live in today...

I take more heed of your posts than I do of Matt Hancock Dubs.

All highly illuminating stuff as usual.

I read yesterday that this virus has already mutated into something different in the USA and Europe to what it was in Wuhan and that it continues to evolve.

My own thoughts now are that we will be left to confront this head on with no vaccine being discovered and that natural selection takes place.

If you’re 60+ and you have c r a p health then open your Xmas presents now.

It might seem harsh but nature always intended the strong survived and it’s only our species that has gained the intelligence to circumvent this.

It’s a bit like the “Final Destination” films.......we’ve artificially bucked what nature intended and now it’s reclaiming souls.

Sad as it maybe we may need to lose 600,000 to a million plus people to see a return to normal in the U.K.

New Zealand need to stop patting themselves on the back by the way.........if we’d been the final stop on the planet we might have got away with it.

Germany and Sweden need to stop gloating as well........I have a feeling they’ll get theirs this coming winter.

Stay well Dubs and thanks for the insight.

[regis80]

If the stories are true regarding the PPE from Turkey, then we all might as well give up. How the hell are we getting shafted by another country? First China and now Turkey. They can’t make PPE to British standards. We send our special force to pick them up.. why couldn’t some sort batch tests be carried out over there in Turkey. Now we are seeking a refund. Can’t make it up.
If it needs to be British Standard, Simple.. make them here. Keep the money here, because i’m sure with this extra delay our companies would by now have got them to the required standard.