The Final FUCKDOWN

[flotemysost]

On a nearly full bus this morning, the sort of place I think most people would class as crowded.

Mask wearing less than 20%. We now have an even more unequal society where CV and CEV people are expected to lock themselves away because a large portion of society don't want to take a few precautions to reduce the risk to vulnerable people.

It's a privileged problem to have but as I've mentioned before, I was already pretty gutted after the removal of mask requirements, knowing that my parents will likely never again feel safe doing little things they used to love, like going to bareback orgy weekenders the cinema or museum, but it's even less likely now there's a higher chance still that they could run into someone coughin' their 'vid all over the place.

But more urgently, really feeling for anyone vulnerable who has to get public transport to essential medical appointments, or work with the public, or get food, and all that stuff you normally need to do to stay alive.

Also how many Amazon warehouse workers and the like are going to get culled for not hitting their back-breaking targets, because they've been forced to turn up to work feeling like absolute shit? I mean I don't doubt that was already the case with other illnesses and health conditions, but it still bodes horrendously.
 
Obviously everyone's affected differently by covid (as with any illness) but going my my own recent experience of a fairly mild case, the prospect of "freedom" in the days immediately after testing positive had pretty much zero appeal (and I say that as someone who normally HATES staying at home all the time) - but when you're feeling like a roasted pig taint you don't tend to be inclined towards going out or doing much. This is so ridiculously clearly not designed to benefit anyone other than businesses.

Sorry, I know I'm stating the haemorrhageingly obvious here. Just feeling a touch of the old directionless rage.

[buttgammon]

It's terribly sad and as you've eloquently described, flotemysost, removing the restrictions will make life much harder for a lot of people. For all this talk about 'freedom', there are lots of vulnerable people who will be much less free when these measures are prematurely removed.

[Fambo Number Mive]

It's frustrating how little opposition there is. What is Labour's position on this?

Are the unions going to call for strikes, given how this puts their members at risk?

Just absolute evil and bleak how many people outside of this board support Johnson in lifting all restrictions.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Drink driving laws to be repealed. Take that, you looney left snowflakes!

[BlodwynPig]

Bear baiting back on ITV, Saturdays at 5pm

[Fambo Number Mive]

This is what some of the rest of the world thinks of Johnson's callous early lifting of restrictions:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/11/world-experts-react-to-england-ending-covid-curbs

[Fambo Number Mive]

The Treasury is pushing for most free Covid testing to end as soon as next month to save billions despite warnings from public health experts and scientists.

Several sources told the Guardian that Rishi Sunak's department wants to end most PCR testing for people with Covid symptoms, possibly by the end of March. The exception would be those in hospitals, high-risk settings and for the 1.3m extremely vulnerable people who are eligible for antivirals if they contract Covid.

Under the plans, everyone else with symptoms would be either given some free lateral flow tests or no testing at all. A third option would be restricting the offer of lateral flows to symptomatic people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable. The advice for people without symptoms to take routine lateral flow tests is expected to be scrapped entirely...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/11/uk-treasury-pushes-to-end-most-free-covid-testing-despite-experts-warnings

[Psybro]

I've been using case rates to determine whether I start going back in the office or not (haven't been since November). If testing collapses so will the case numbers, and having no real visibility of the extent of the epidemic, I will have to give up and just start going back in.  This will increase the chances of the owner of the 60s office block making a return and lead to me buying a couple grand worth of train tickets annually with money I've recently been saving for spending on shit that actually enhanced my enjoyment of life.

Job's a good'un.

[jamiefairlie]

It's terribly sad and as you've eloquently described, flotemysost, removing the restrictions will make life much harder for a lot of people. For all this talk about 'freedom', there are lots of vulnerable people who will be much less free when these measures are prematurely removed.

It's almost as if one person's increased freedom/ rights limits another's freedom/ rights. Who'd a thunk it, freedom isn't an infinite pool after all.

[shoulders]

I've been using case rates to determine whether I start going back in the office or not (haven't been since November). If testing collapses so will the case numbers, and having no real visibility of the extent of the epidemic, I will have to give up and just start going back in.  This will increase the chances of the owner of the 60s office block making a return and lead to me buying a couple grand worth of train tickets annually with money I've recently been saving for spending on shit that actually enhanced my enjoyment of life.

Job's a good'un.

Go off the hospitalisation stats instead.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Think I'm much more hawkish on this than anyone on here is, definitely think the govt called Omicron right (although definitely for the wrong reasons) but ending LFTs, the legal obligation to isolate and the ONS survey are all absolutely mad. Those should be with us for the rest of the year at least.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I didn't realise the ONS survey was being removed.

Good to see some scientists are pushing back against the government's decisions:

A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned.

As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.

At the same time, demands are growing for Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the government's most senior advisers on Covid, to hold a press conference to reveal what evidence there was to back the decision to end all pandemic restrictions.

The dangers posed by accepting the widespread assumption that Covid-19 variants would continue to get milder in their impact was highlighted by epidemiologist Prof Mark Woolhouse, of Edinburgh University.

"The Omicron variant did not come from the Delta variant. It came from a completely different part of the virus's family tree. And since we don't know where in the virus's family tree a new variant is going to come from, we cannot know how pathogenic it might be. It could be less pathogenic but it could, just as easily, be more pathogenic," he said.

This point was backed by virologist Prof Lawrence Young of Warwick University. "People seem to think there has been a linear evolution of the virus from Alpha to Beta to Delta to Omicron," he told the Observer. "But that is simply not the case. The idea that virus variants will continue to get milder is wrong. A new one could turn out to be even more pathogenic than the Delta variant, for example."...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/scientists-plead-caution-covid-restrictions-lifted-england

[buttgammon]

I didn't realise the ONS survey was being removed.

This is a particularly bad decision, perhaps the signal that we've entered the "pretend it's gone away" stage of the pandemic.

[olliebean]

Think I'm much more hawkish on this than anyone on here is, definitely think the govt called Omicron right (although definitely for the wrong reasons) but ending LFTs, the legal obligation to isolate and the ONS survey are all absolutely mad. Those should be with us for the rest of the year at least.

Let's be clear about this: "the govt called Omicron right" (for whatever reasons) means "the govt took a gamble with the nation's health, and got lucky." The government should not be gambling with the nation's health, because sooner or later the luck will run out. Unfortunately, having got lucky this time means they're going to be more inclined to make similar gambles in the future.

On similar lines, if the government takes reasonable precautions to safeguard the nation's health, and it turns out those precautions were not needed, that does not mean the government was wrong to take them. I think this is something that many people - including members of the government - have difficulty grasping.

[jamiefairlie]

Let's be clear about this: "the govt called Omicron right" (for whatever reasons) means "the govt took a gamble with the nation's health, and got lucky." The government should not be gambling with the nation's health, because sooner or later the luck will run out. Unfortunately, having got lucky this time means they're going to be more inclined to make similar gambles in the future.

On similar lines, if the government takes reasonable precautions to safeguard the nation's health, and it turns out those precautions were not needed, that does not mean the government was wrong to take them. I think this is something that many people - including members of the government - have difficulty grasping.

Indeed, good prevention never gets plaudits. I worked for (a very profitable) three years on Y2K mitigation and the worldwide efforts to avoid catastrophe were met with 'cuh! What a panic about nothing' when we succeeded. People and risk do not mix.

[BlodwynPig]

I've been using case rates to determine whether I start going back in the office or not (haven't been since November). If testing collapses so will the case numbers, and having no real visibility of the extent of the epidemic, I will have to give up and just start going back in.  This will increase the chances of the owner of the 60s office block making a return and lead to me buying a couple grand worth of train tickets annually with money I've recently been saving for spending on shit that actually enhanced my enjoyment of life.

Job's a good'un.

we'll still be doing wastewater (ps. Wales doing a good job recently, which should have pleased @Zetetic)

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/monthly-statistics-for-the-environmental-monitoring-for-health-protection-emhp-wastewater-program-england

[shoulders]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/13/dash-for-covid-exit-proves-political-virus-lbertarianism-rampant

I find myself agreeing with this.

There's something particularly horrible about the section / faction that can't see that opening up is only even practical because of the sacrifices made by others and the collective consent to temporarily forgo individual pleasures and hobbies in the pursuit to drive down infections hospitalisations and deaths, to return to a freedom as many as possible can enjoy for as long as possible.

How many people waiting for delayed surgery or who buried a loved one that died after a Covid infection are libertarians? How many Rwandans are libertarians? It seems to be a feature of privilege.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Ministers are pressing ahead with plans to start winding down Covid testing and payments for isolation from next week to save more than £10bn, despite health chiefs warning that this could hamper crucial research into antiviral treatments.

No 10, the Treasury and the health department will decide this week on a "living with Covid strategy" due to be unveiled on Monday, which will involve phasing out free Covid testing and all but ending the tracing system.

Whitehall sources say the Treasury is driving efforts to reduce costs from an estimated annual £15bn, with an opening suggestion of cutting the budget by more than 90%, to £1.3bn. It is unclear whether the changes will apply to England only or UK-wide.

Under plans for the "living with Covid" strategy, from Monday 21 February people will no longer be advised to test regularly if they are asymptomatic. From this date the government is also likely to end support payments worth £500 to £750 for people isolating, as well as routine contact tracing.

Boris Johnson previously announced plans to end mandatory isolation for people who test positive from next week.

From 31 March the government is likely to end free PCR testing for people with symptoms, apart from in hospitals and high-risk settings and for more than 1 million of the most vulnerable people.

Those with symptoms are expected to be advised to take lateral flow tests (LFTs), although free tests may be limited to older age groups. The government is also likely to stop recommending LFTs on days five and six after a positive test, and to end free LFTs for asymptomatic testing...
A government spokesperson said: "We've previously set out that we'll keep the provision of free testing under review as the government's response to Covid-19 changes. No decisions have been made on the provision of free testing. Everyone can continue to get free tests and we are continuing to encourage people to use rapid tests when they need them.

"Testing continues to play an important role in helping people live their day-to-day lives, keep businesses running and keep young people in school."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/14/uk-ministers-press-ahead-with-plan-to-wind-down-covid-testing

[Pranet]

From tomorrow I am supposed to take an LFT before starting a shift at work. I am not sure how the above fits in with that.

Oh well covid is over apparently.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I see the coronavirus dashboard has a survey. Thinking about completing it but I don't want my answers to be used as a reason to stop reporting.

[Fambo Number Mive]

On Monday 21 February, the Prime Minister will announce a long-term plan to 'live with Covid' in England.

He is expected to scrap all self-isolation, even for people who have the virus, from around Thursday 24 February.

He is also likely to confirm the date free lateral flow and PCR tests will be axed - though it's not thought this will actually happen next week.

The £500 self-isolation payment for low-income workers and legal powers for councils both face being scrapped...

Just utterly evil. And the people in the Mirror comments section seem to mainly support Johnson's plans, though I wonder how representative online comments sections are of the general population.

Just so demoralising how most people outside of this forum seem to support throwing vulnerable people under the bus, although the UK seems to be a very ableist country so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

Boris Johnson will end free PCR tests "within weeks" and is drawing up plans to make the public pay £100 to find out if they have Covid, it is reported.

£100 pounds for a PCR test is just vile. The wealthy will be able to afford this but most ordinary people won't be able to. It's a tax on being vulnerable or knowing someone who is vulnerable.

A government insider told The Sun that PCR tests are expensive while lateral flow tests are now widely available and can cover the need.

I thought lateral flow tests weren't as accurate as PCRs, especially when not done by a trained professional.

This country can easily afford to keep free PCR tests, just look at the bottomless pit that is defence spending.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/free-pcr-tests-end-in-26231149

[olliebean]

A government insider told The Sun that PCR tests are expensive while lateral flow tests are now widely available and can cover the need.

But from the same article:

He is also likely to confirm the date free lateral flow and PCR tests will be axed

So how are lateral flow tests supposed to cover the need if they're being axed as well?

[flotemysost]

Fucks sake. I knew this was coming. I'll pay to continue getting LFTs if that's the only option but the people who'll need them the most are the most likely to be priced out of that, surprise surprise.

And £100 for a PCR if you have symptoms? As if people just do them for the lolz when they're feeling flush. Ooh got my bonus today, might treat myself to a flutter on the old tonsils, what what! And let's just totally ignore the fact that when people need to do PCRs they're potentially going to be unable to work for a while, and therefore might need to budget for being out of pocket anyway. Great work lads!!!

Really fucking sad and angry about this, thinking of anyone who's feeling scared or worried. 

[Ferris]

So wait hang on, there's no restrictions even if you do test positive (assuming you are willing and able to pay for a test in the first place)?

but... why?

[stonkers]

Tbf mandatory isolation needs to end at some point and it's basically unenforced anyway. LFTs really should remain free to those that want them.

[olliebean]

Tbf I reckon mandatory isolation ought to be extended to more infectious diseases.

[stonkers]

I think that's a very bad and largely unenforceable idea.

[Harry Badger]

How many Rwandans are libertarians? 

Only the Ayn Rwandans.

[olliebean]

I think that's a very bad and largely unenforceable idea.

It was a little flippant, but one thing I do believe is that something should be done to change the culture of being expected to go into work and carry on as usual while infectious - which has even continued to some extent during this pandemic. (i.e., employers expecting people to come into work as usual while symptomatic even when the guidance has advised otherwise.)

[Fambo Number Mive]

I know they get lots of funding from various wealthy people, but it's bleak that most of the movements around covid seem to be covid denial and antivaxx. Where are the groups pushing for the rights of the vulnerable?

Someone's scribbled over the awesome sticker on the High Street crossing that says "The real White Rose fought Nazis not science". Wondering where I can get some of them.

I haven't seen many White Rose stickers recently, perhaps because they've got most of what they want - although if governments give these people a mile they will demand two miles.