Current Events/News

[mrblackbat]

And when you think it couldn't become any more absurd.... we get Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thegua ... den-centre

[Rover the Top]

The madness of 2020 - my 2 year old daughter has come out in a rash, isn't eating and was up most of the night crying. Doctor refuses to see her because she has a temperature...

[Gibbon]

I assume you rang 111? That sounds odd.

I hope she’s feeling better soon.

[Rover the Top]

I assume you rang 111? That sounds odd.

I hope she’s feeling better soon.

No, rang our own doctor. My wife spoke to them on the phone, and they said she needed to be checked out. But they had to assume the fever was Covid regardless of the other symptoms, so they couldn't see her. But it ws fine for us to wait all day then go see the out-of-hours doctor instead. Who in turn couldn't tell as much other than it wasn't Covid.

[Dan]

Bloody doctors. I've found 111 more useful than our doctor the couple of times our toddler has needed it. They can book the GP on your behalf I think, and maybe these days they can insist on the appointment as they've already diagnosed non-Covid over the phone (although probably not). I've had both extremes, once where it was sorted with a phone call and a bit of reassurance, and once where they blue-lighted an ambulance with a couple of paramedics in straight through to us while we were on the phone (with a first responder car that also turned up 10 minutes afterwards).

[Gibbon]

As a parent there's nothing worse than a sick child. Even though it's no longer the service it once was, 111 have been brilliant every time I've phoned. Granted, the days of house calls seem to have died a death but we've always been referred promptly to A&E appointments.

I've called them over (retrospectively) the stupidest things, but every time the healthcare professional we've seen has said we did the right thing and that you can't take any chances with your kid's health.

[mrblackbat]

Yeah it's totally stupid... but the sentiment at the moment seems to be that so long as you don't cause someone to die of covid it's all fine (including letting people die of all sorts of other shit).

Meanwhile, completely random and weird visualisation on the pandemic....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/id ... 94e0ee09fb

[Dan]

[Rover the Top]

Last time I tried 111 was during the first lockdown, little one had had a cold-like illness for a few days and was really struggling to breathe. The person on the phone said we shouldn't take her in, they'd send out an ambulance. It turned up 2 days later... By which time little one was over the worst and the ambulance crew kept moaning about why had we asked for an ambulance.

Meanwhile, completely random and weird visualisation on the pandemic....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/id ... 94e0ee09fb

I do wonder what's going on behind the scenes at the BBC these days. They put up a little graphic each day with daily stats on the pandemic. Prior to the second lockdown, it showed deaths, cases and patients with a 2 week trend showing generally a rise in all three. But once case numbers started falling, they moved it to the third stat, and changed the trend chart to 2 months, so it still looked at a glance like numbers were generally rising.

[Dan]

Last time I tried 111 was during the first lockdown, little one had had a cold-like illness for a few days and was really struggling to breathe. The person on the phone said we shouldn't take her in, they'd send out an ambulance. It turned up 2 days later... By which time little one was over the worst and the ambulance crew kept moaning about why had we asked for an ambulance.

Wow. That's appalling. We had similar breathing issues and that's when they had the ambulance with us in a matter of minutes, it was on the way as soon as we mentioned breathing problems. Half an hour later we were sat in A&E on a Friday night with a baby wearing an oxygen mask, which was a horrible experience on quite a few levels. Having said that, it was probably over a year ago now, before Covid, and back when 111 was a better service.

[Rover the Top]

Current alert level in Stockport
VERY HIGH ALERT

View Details
People tested positive by specimen date
Seven days to 10 December 2020
0 – 2

[mrblackbat]

Current alert level in Stockport
VERY HIGH ALERT

View Details
People tested positive by specimen date
Seven days to 10 December 2020
0 – 2

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... r-19477202

[mrblackbat]

So the union of teachers is saying schools are unsafe.

Unsafe for what?



Meanwhile the affects of lockdown includes children forgetting how to use a knife and fork or hold a pencil and reports of increase in self harm and eating disorders.

And by closing schools, more children will end up being looked after by grandparents, increasing the contact to that vulnerable age group.

I'm betting that the teachers still want their supermarkets to stay open, and those amazon deliveries to come through, though....

[Gibbon]

It’s not about the kids becoming sick though is it, it’s about them spreading it to family members who are more vulnerable.

And your point about schools being closed putting elderly relatives at risk through child care doesn’t really hold up if those kids are no longer coming into contact with anyone else to catch it in the first place.

[mrblackbat]

Which is why they shouldn't be staying home to be looked after by grandparents?

The infection rate in primary schools is very low. Secondary schools is higher, but not as high as supermarkets, which is the number one transmission area. I don't see people clamouring for those to be closed because they aren't safe....

And the death rate has been relatively flat since November, it increased through the lockdown then; the increased infection rate isn't really a problem if people aren't dying from it. Of course, because the government are reporting the wrong, warped stats daily as headline (date reported rather than date occurred.... obviously coronavirus can't kill you on a Sunday....) this just adds to the mass hysteria. If you look at the article below for a comparison of this winter season's mortality rate to previous years, you'll see that currently it's not much different than normal.

The statistics continue to show that a relatively small set of people are at real risk from this: they should be protected and isolated, and everyone else should get on as normal.

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2020/12/3 ... o-say/amp/

There are some very interesting points about the "success" of lockdowns in this article also.