Joris Bohnson's Great Unlocking

[non capisco]

It means it can go and visit my parents in their garden again, so it's a big one for me.

[olliebean]

- Protest allowed but only if organised properly, social distanced and signed off by the police. This essentially means that something like the Clapham Common vigil could now go ahead legally.

"If signed off by the police," which means in practice that it still couldn't go ahead legally.

[Twit 2]

OK so Monday sees the next set of changes come into force, they are:

- Rule of six meetings allowed outside (or two households if more than six people). This one was probably safe all along, and, let's be honest, people have been doing it all the time anyway judging from walks in my local park.

- Outdoor sports like tennis, basketball and outdoor swimming pools reopen

- 'Stay at home' guidance dropped, but you're still supposed to work from home

- Protest allowed but only if organised properly, social distanced and signed off by the police. This essentially means that something like the Clapham Common vigil could now go ahead legally.

These all seem v minor to me, unlikely to lead to an uptick of any kind, especially when compared with schools reopening.

Bollocks. People will be maxxing the cuntery first thing Monday. Cunts gonna cunt. Lockdown over. Book 5 summer holidays and have an orgy in Primark. Britain open for business. Get in graves.

[jobotic]

It means it can go and visit my parents in their garden again, so it's a big one for me.

Same here. And my son has today had his second lockdown birthday. Looking forward to him and his sister being able to see their cousins in gardens next weekend.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

If the weather's good next week I'll be seeing my parents for the first time in months and potentially leaving the 5 square miles I've been stuck in to go hiking so I've been very much looking forward to this coming in.

As per the above, I also don't think Monday's restriction easings will result in too much of an uptick in infections. Not even sure April 12th measures will be a critical danger either, but the steps after that to me look quite optimistic.

I maintain we should have had a 2 week stay-the-fuck-indoors proper lockdown before easing off anything to squeeze as much value out of doing this as possible.

[BlodwynPig]

If the weather's good next week I'll be seeing my parents for the first time in months and potentially leaving the 5 square miles I've been stuck in to go hiking so I've been very much looking forward to this coming in.

As per the above, I also don't think Monday's restriction easings will result in too much of an uptick in infections. Not even sure April 12th measures will be a critical danger either, but the steps after that to me look quite optimistic.

I maintain we should have had a 2 week stay-the-fuck-indoors proper lockdown before easing off anything to squeeze as much value out of doing this as possible.

Maybe a Newcastle meet in June?

[olliebean]

As per the above, I also don't think Monday's restriction easings will result in too much of an uptick in infections. Not even sure April 12th measures will be a critical danger either, but the steps after that to me look quite optimistic.

Well, I guess we won't know by April 12th whether next week's easings have had any negative effect, because that 5 weeks to make sure that we were promised between further easings seems to have somehow been compressed to 2 weeks.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I think this week's stuff is separate from the "five weeks" thing, possibly a sign of how minor the powers that be think these changes are. Still five weeks between schools and pubs/restaurants outdoors on April 12th, then another five weeks to the next set of changes after that.

[BlodwynPig]

I think this week's stuff is separate from the "five weeks" thing, possibly a sign of how minor the powers that be think these changes are. Still five weeks between schools and pubs/restaurants outdoors on April 12th, then another five weeks to the next set of changes after that.

why do it by weeks and not prevalence or indeed incidence rates?

[Old Thrashbarg]

They are, supposedly. It's just a minimum of five weeks between each stage.

Obviously they're well aware that the "five week" thing will be latched on to by everyone anyway, so the dates proposed will be when changes happen and they're just giving themselves an out in case things start going very badly again. But in theory, it's based on situation rather than time.

[MojoJojo]

I think this week's stuff is separate from the "five weeks" thing, possibly a sign of how minor the powers that be think these changes are.

They split phase 1 into 2. They didn't give a reason but I suspect they feared if they did schools and outdoor mixing at the same time lots of people would just assume lockdown was over and ignore the remaining rules.

[olliebean]

They are, supposedly. It's just a minimum of five weeks between each stage.

Obviously they're well aware that the "five week" thing will be latched on to by everyone anyway, so the dates proposed will be when changes happen and they're just giving themselves an out in case things start going very badly again. But in theory, it's based on situation rather than time.

And in practice, apparently a month's delay in new vaccinations doesn't affect the situation at all. Or possibly it does affect the situation but it's actually just the dates that matter to them, at least unless/until things get really bad again.

[Kankurette]

Are the general public at large going to pay any attention though? On the weekend I had to deliver a few party packs to various friends of my son's for his online birthday party next Saturday and I was shocked (and a bit stunned) to see just how many people were milling about around Highbury and Islington tube at 1pm. Same goes for London Fields. The first nice Saturday of the year and it was like popular music festival Glastonbury out there. The bins were overflowing with cans and bottles of alcohol and there was no social distancing and very few masks. I really feel like we're going to be in and out of lockdowns for years to come vaccine or not.

No.

I have to admit, though, I'm glad I can spend my birthday with my parents this year. They've both been jabbed and I work from home and am practically a hermit.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

ONS survey today showing antibody rates at around 50% in all four nations. We might start to see where, if anywhere, the famous herd immunity threshold actually is.

[Zetetic]

Just in time for a pandemic of a novel variant.

[steveh]

ONS survey today showing antibody rates at around 50% in all four nations. We might start to see where, if anywhere, the famous herd immunity threshold actually is.

The authors of all those papers suggesting herd immunity could be achieved at a much lower level don't seem to have returned yet to explain why actually it didn't work out that way.

Just in time for a pandemic of a novel variant.

The N501Y and E484K mutations might be the worst it can get though:

Like all viruses, SARS-CoV-2 will continue to evolve. But McLellan believes that it has a limited number of moves available. "There's just not a lot of space for the spike to continue to change in ways that allow it to evade antibodies but still bind to its receptor," he said. "Substitutions that allow the virus to resist antibodies will probably also decrease its affinity for ACE-2"—the receptor that the virus uses to enter cells. Recently, researchers have mapped the universe of useful mutations available to the spike's receptor-binding area. They've found that most of the changes that would weaken the binding ability of our antibodies occur at just a few sites; the E484K substitution seems to be the most important. "The fact that different variants have independently hit on the same mutations suggests we're already seeing the limits of where the virus can go," McLellan told me. "It has a finite number of options."

https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/what-the-coronavirus-variants-mean-for-the-end-of-the-pandemic

Seen this reported in a couple of other places too.

[Zetetic]

That's really interesting.

[BlodwynPig]

Just in time for a pandemic of a novel virus.

[Zetetic]

Time to change all your y-axes to Hb g/L, I heard.

[BlodwynPig]

Hg Kg/nl

[Brian Freeze]

We are a bit unsure as to how far we can travel to meet up with our parents???

Its seventy odd miles in opposite directions to mine and the inlaws but we don't known if its ok to do that? We'd be going straight there and back and keeping to the two households rule while there but isnt the guidance that we ought to stay local?


Any ideas please? Based in that England we are.

[BlodwynPig]

Just do it. You're not going to be spitting out the window of the car. I'd be more concerned about the carbon usage, though.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Matt Hancock said he was going to travel from London to Suffolk for the day to see family and friends, which I imagine is more than 70 miles.

[bakabaka]

Hg Kg/nl

How is the amount of mercury in your average dutchman (by weight) useful in any context?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

We are a bit unsure as to how far we can travel to meet up with our parents???

Its seventy odd miles in opposite directions to mine and the inlaws but we don't known if its ok to do that? We'd be going straight there and back and keeping to the two households rule while there but isnt the guidance that we ought to stay local?


Any ideas please? Based in that England we are.

Stay at home order ended on Monday.

Guidance says only this:

The 'stay at home' rule will end on 29 March but many restrictions will remain in place. People should continue to work from home where they can and minimise the number of journeys they make where possible, avoiding travel at the busiest times and routes

So effectively 'Covid mate. Covid there that'

So you're alright to do that.

[BlodwynPig]

How is the amount of mercury in your average dutchman (by weight) useful in any context?

Hong Kong Phooi

[hamfist]

How is the amount of mercury in your average dutchman (by weight) useful in any context?

full on LOL - nice one !

[Icehaven]

On April 12th we should all obviously be sitting freezing our arses off in a pub garden surrounded by wary strangers all defiantly clutching pints in our frostbitten hands trying to take pictures on our phones showing what a great time we're having.

But that sounds awful so I'm going to the zoo instead, as I live about a mile away from one and it's still outdoors and we can walk around instead of sitting shivering and drinking just because it'll be possible to do so while technically within the boundaries of a pub. Hip flasks may be swigged in a dark corner of the reptile house.

[BlodwynPig]

On April 12th we should all obviously be sitting freezing our arses off in a pub garden surrounded by wary strangers all defiantly clutching pints in our frostbitten hands trying to take pictures on our phones showing what a great time we're having.

But that sounds awful so I'm going to the zoo instead, as I live about a mile away from one and it's still outdoors and we can walk around instead of sitting shivering and drinking just because it'll be possible to do so while technically within the boundaries of a pub. Hip flasks may be swigged in a dark corner of the reptile house.

Zoonotic transmission: A new contender emerges.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I'm also going to a zoo a week on Saturday. But also the pub.