Covid-19 pandemic

[Guy Profumo]

Sadly, one of the latest fatalities is that of the brother of Joe Anderson, Liverpool Mayor

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-54584112

In the grand scheme of things, just a statistic, but if it helps draw attention to this and helps stop other incidents, then so much the better

[Amor de Cosmos]

2,221 new cases in Canada yesterday, the highest number since the outbreak began. The upward trajectory has leveled off somewhat this week, which might be good news or a false dawn. Fortunately the daily death rate remains comparatively low at 23.

[Balderdasha]

The current death toll of 1,112,221 is higher than the populations of Fez, Morocco or Bujumbura, Burundi.

[Balderdasha]

Nearly 11,000 new cases in Italy today, a new daily high, taking it to over 400,000 cases in total. Active cases are nearly as high as they were at the peak in spring (over 100,000).

[Jimski]

Can anyone explain to me how the "rule of six" works outdoors?

According to social distancing regulations (https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ial-distancing) one should socially distance from anyone not in one's household/bubble.

If one goes outside then there are plenty of people about - one keeps socially distanced from all of them. And if one "meets up" with friends outdoors, one similarly needs to socially distance from them. So how do you count the maximum of six people, given you are equally socially distancing from friends and strangers?

It's never made sense to me.

(This is a purely academic question on my part btw - I'm not planning on meeting up with loads of people any time soon!)

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Wales going full lockdown, according to a leaked letter.

[Snake Plissken]

Speaking of letter, heres one from 20 MPs to Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham asking them to shut up and go into a lockdown, there are more important constituents to worry about. Specifically, theirs.

https://twitter.com/JeromeMayhew/status/1317537385832394753

[Fussbudget]

Can anyone explain to me how the "rule of six" works outdoors?

According to social distancing regulations (https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ial-distancing) one should socially distance from anyone not in one's household/bubble.

If one goes outside then there are plenty of people about - one keeps socially distanced from all of them. And if one "meets up" with friends outdoors, one similarly needs to socially distance from them. So how do you count the maximum of six people, given you are equally socially distancing from friends and strangers?

It's never made sense to me.

(This is a purely academic question on my part btw - I'm not planning on meeting up with loads of people any time soon!)

Yeah I've never understood that bit. If you're in a group of 6 and everyone is staying at least 2 metres apart from each other then you're not really in a group of 6 are you? Just a bunch of people on their own shouting across at each other (which you're also not supposed to do.) If you're in a pub garden it's not even physically possible unless you're sitting at different tables.

Presumably the rule has been written in the full expectation that no one will pay any attention to the social distancing bit.

[Fussbudget]

Speaking of letter, heres one from 20 MPs to Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham asking them to shut up and go into a lockdown, there are more important constituents to worry about. Specifically, theirs.

I was already thinking 'fuck them' when I read the letter, but I hasn't realised that they're all Tories as well so this is just grandstanding as of course they know it won't make Burnham or Starmer budge one jot. Dicks.

[Gangster Octopus]

Ah, thanks. I was wondering if I could be bothered to check out their constituencies.

[Fussbudget]

They're almost all in the South West or East Anglia.

[Balderdasha]

32,427 new cases in France today, means that France overtakes Peru in terms of total case numbers, moving into 8th position.

[Balderdasha]

Daily deaths in India had been coming down, but then have jumped today to over 1,000 deaths in one day for the first time since October 1st.

[Patrick Thistle]

Wales going full lockdown, according to a leaked letter.

Worst kept secret in Wales, that. This morning at the hairdressers I could hear one of the stylists phoning people telling them to being their appointments forward or they would be shut because of the lockdown.

[Balderdasha]

40 million cases worldwide. The last million barely took three days.

[Balderdasha]

Iran is the tenth country to officially exceed 30,000 deaths from Covid-19.

[Balderdasha]

Poland and Guatemala have both exceeded 3,500 deaths.

[Balderdasha]

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the 30th country to exceed 300 deaths per million population, or 0.03% of the population dying from Covid-19.

[Balderdasha]

The USA has reached 25,162 cases per million population, or 2.5% of the population confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19.

[Balderdasha]

Something that has just occurred to me. So, my children are very alert to what is and isn't allowed under Covid-19 restrictions. They were very disapproving last weekend when I went to stay overnight at my friend's house in London for one night (her husband and children were away visiting his parents so it was a rare chance to socialise without interruption) and it took some time to persuade them that what I was doing was legal. Ironically enough, while it was legal last week, it now wouldn't be.

Anyway, we've got as far as thinking about Hallowe'en and the kids know that it wouldn't be possible to go door to door for trick or treat at the moment, so instead people are proposing to decorate their houses and families to walk around dressed in fancy dress admiring the decorations with a tick sheet seeing how many decorated houses they've seen, and then I will give my children the same number of sweets as houses, but they won't actually knock on anyone's door.

But what has just occurred to me today is Christmas. How am I going to persuade my children that it will be safe for Santa to visit EVERY HOUSE IN THE WORLD without infecting people with Covid-19?!? Does Santa have magical viral immunity? If he does, why is he not helping scientists develop this immunity for everyone else? It's an absolute minefield.

[EIM]

Try explaining why Father Christmas prefers rich children too. "Sorry he only gave you a satsuma, when your classmate got a BMW. That's just how life works..."

Nasty wanker, Father Christmas. I'll be telling my kids not to believe in him.

[Balderdasha]

Current global death toll of 1,115,599 is now higher than the populations of Kigali in Rwanda, Benin City in Nigeria, Dakar in Senegal, as well as Gwalior, Howrah and Allahabad in India.

[Sporting]

Does Santa have magical viral immunity? If he does, why is he not helping scientists develop this immunity for everyone else? It's an absolute minefield

He has immunity but can't explain how this can be developed for other people. If he could, he would help.

[Balderdasha]

Try explaining why Father Christmas prefers rich children too. "Sorry he only gave you a satsuma, when your classmate got a BMW. That's just how life works..."

Nasty wanker, Father Christmas. I'll be telling my kids not to believe in him.

The main problem with this is when other parents get annoyed with your little darling telling everyone in their class that Father Christmas isn't real. It's ok for my daughter, who's seven, as there are several other children in her class now who have "seen the truth", but for my son, who's only four, I don't want him to be singled out as the bearer of bad news (he already suspects. His current plan is to write a letter to Father Christmas asking him if he's really mummy and daddy. This plan is slightly hampered by the fact that he can only currently consistently write the letters "o", "c", "i", "l" and "f").

[Sporting]

You can also tell the kids that Santa always wears a mask and uses the very latest hand gel. And that when he goes down chimneys (do you have one and if not how does the bugger get in?) everyone is in bed so social distancing is easy. Dunno how the reindeer manage, though. Rudolph's red nose might be a symptom nowadays.