Covid-19 cases are rising again in much of the world

Thanks for the explanation and links PippaZ, I appreciate you taking the time to find those.

You're welcome maddyone.

Thanks for flowers Alegrias.

sodapop

Macron is trying to appease people by not having a total lock down and slightly relaxing the curfew now 7pm - 8am everywhere. Paris and 16 other departments are in lockdown, there was a queue of traffic 400km long on Wednesday of people leaving Paris. They wonder why its spreading. Still no appointments available for vaccination.
Things are definitely better in UK.

They certainly are Sodapop over 700,000 today, yeh ??

Alegrias1

^You are right except we already see a variant that they believe this current vaccine may not be able to deal with.^

Sorry to keep going on about this but I think it's important PippaZ. Do you have anything to back this up? (There I go, asking for proof again ) I don't believe that this is exactly a true statement and its things like this that cause people to catastrophise - me included. Repeating myself here, but the current vaccines can deal with all the variants we have at the moment. Maybe not as well with some of the variants but the efficacy of the vaccines is high and they are still effective. Maybe in future (and I mean maybe this winter) there will be variants that the scientists believe will be able to evade the vaccines at higher rates. Then we get boosters of a new variant of the vaccine to deal with new variants of the virus.

Don't worry about asking Alegrias1; you are right to do so.
This has been repeated on the BBC frequently over the last few days.

Both - one in the West Midlands and one in Haringey, London - were linked with international travel to Brazil.

Some variants, like this one, appear to be more contagious and there are concerns current vaccines may not work as well.

Also this.

It was also “able to evade 25-61 per cent of protective immunity elicited by previous infection” with another variant, the researchers found, a sign that current vaccines could also be less effective against it.

To be honest there is so much being said about it that it's difficult to know what to highlight. I have also heard (radio) and watched conversations with relevant scientists over the last few days but no chance of referencing them as I can't remember which programmes they were on. I think we will hear more about it as it gets further into other populations than the Brazilian one.

I'm sure GN can help there Pippa if you ask. You're right the Coronavirus ones end up all over the place, which is annoying if you want to discuss a particular aspect.
I wondered whether some of the CV threads last year about teachers should have moved to Education because they got very specific to teaching methods.
Sorry to have derailed this a bit earlier.

Ellianne

Sorry Pippa I didn't realise this was a political discussion. I was responding to the many posts about trying to be cheerful.

I should have put it under politics. CV subjects are difficult ones to place. I wonder if GNHQ can change the catagory.

There is concern that the current vaccines will not be that good at combatting the new variants:

Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the scientific pandemic influenza group on modelling, a Sage sub-group, said the increases in Europe made foreign summer holidays look “extremely unlikely”. He said travellers risked bringing back new variants of coronavirus that may be less affected by vaccines.

“I think that international travel this summer is, for the average holidaymaker, sadly I think extremely unlikely,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “I think we are running a real risk if we do start to have lots of people going overseas in July and August because of the potential for bringing more of these new variants back into the country.

“What is really dangerous is if we jeopardise our vaccination campaign by having these variants where the vaccines don’t work as effectively spreading more rapidly.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/20/covid-rise-europe-may-thwart-uk-plans-ease-lockdown-experts

Where I am working at the moment, the R rate hasn't really dropped since January. No sniff of a vaccine here. Only know of 2 people who have had it. While I am desperate to get home and see family, I am not travelling at all. It is far too soon, and not safe. Holidays are not a good enough reason to risk lives.

Macron is trying to appease people by not having a total lock down and slightly relaxing the curfew now 7pm - 8am everywhere. Paris and 16 other departments are in lockdown, there was a queue of traffic 400km long on Wednesday of people leaving Paris. They wonder why its spreading. Still no appointments available for vaccination.
Things are definitely better in UK.

I don’t think we can totally shut our borders, but we could continue the ban on foreign travel.

I know we are told re bubbles/care bubbles etc but people who rely on paid care, either in their own homes or in a care establishment have many bubbles. So I personally do not think a relative caring for an elderly relative and another family is the end of the world or any higher risk than having paid care from a provider if precautions such as handwashing, facemasks and general hygiene is adhered to. Can I also add, local authorities and social services have been ringfenced money and PPE to give to these type of unpaid carers. So if you relative has a social worker get in touch with them if you require PPE (it will be facemasks, aprons, gloves etc)

maddyone

I remind myself often that six months ago we didn't even know if they would be able to find a vaccine for this. Now more than 50% of the UK population have been vaccinated - including me, yesterday!

Hope it all works out for you and your children.

Scientists are also already working on tweaking the vaccine so it can cope with other variants. I heard it could be ready by Autumn. That’s optimistic, not permanent pessimism.

Thank you again Alegrias for being upbeat and optimistic. As I understood it, you are correct in saying all the current variants can be dealt with, with the current vaccines. Not 100% but scientists have said they can be dealt with. The third wave in Europe is primarily, as I understand it, the Kent variant, or as the Europeans apparently call it, the British variant. We have already had that wave in January/February.
I need to hear optimism, not pessimism and speculation, especially not incorrect speculation. I can’t live my life feeling permanently pessimistic and I’m sure others feel the same. I need to look for signs that this is going to end. I need to have hope.

DaisieMae
You can’t be in multiple bubbles, but you can be in a support bubble and a childcare bubble, but you cannot mix the two. The guidelines are very clear, I took the trouble to read the government website when bubbles were introduced.

You are right except we already see a variant that they believe this current vaccine may not be able to deal with.

Sorry to keep going on about this but I think it's important PippaZ. Do you have anything to back this up? (There I go, asking for proof again ) I don't believe that this is exactly a true statement and its things like this that cause people to catastrophise - me included. Repeating myself here, but the current vaccines can deal with all the variants we have at the moment. Maybe not as well with some of the variants but the efficacy of the vaccines is high and they are still effective. Maybe in future (and I mean maybe this winter) there will be variants that the scientists believe will be able to evade the vaccines at higher rates. Then we get boosters of a new variant of the vaccine to deal with new variants of the virus.

Just been listening to the news and apparently a third wave is taking hold in Europe. Hardly surprising with all the infighting about vaccine supplies and now the debacle about the OAZ vaccine - thousands of doses sitting in fridges all across the EU while vaccine rollouts are agonisingly slow. Is anyone else feeling like EU countries are so busy squabbling that they’re sleepwalking into a disaster ?

Sorry Pippa I didn't realise this was a political discussion. I was responding to the many posts about trying to be cheerful.

Maddone - I was under the impression that you could not be in multiple support bubbles?

I'm beginning to realise some people are replying to what they think has been posted - not to what is there.

I have not said we will not be able to loosen the internal lockdown. I have said the opposite - we can loosen it if we keep being careful. I have, I thought, made it clear I was talking about our borders. To me, the alternative to us taking care doesn't bear thinking about.

Sorry - replying to Ellainne.

Who's crying? I want people, particularly politicians, to face up to some hard choices and make relevant decisions. I do not think life improves by ignoring such things.

I'm sure we can all take pleasure in the small blessings of life but this situation is not small. We will find ways to enjoy ourselves and ways to be together sensibly. It is hard. It was hard for those on the "home front" during both wars and it's very, very hard for those living in disaster zones. This is not that hard.

As for having to trust - I don't. I look at the evidence and think we should hold our politicians' feet to the fire or we will lose even more than the current numbers - twice those who died in the Blitz remember.

Wise words Ellianne.

At the moment, travel is illegal unless for work or emergencies. It’s even illegal within the country at the moment, never mind abroad. I think NellG is right, people will simply not comply with the restrictions if they are continued. I think it’s already happening, or at least, a wide interpretation of the word bubble is already in use. I’ve seen this in action myself.
My 93 year old mother was totally isolated for twelve weeks in the first lockdown, we got her shopping and delivered it to her door and that was it. I refuse to do that to her again, it’s cruel. As we’re in a bubble with her it doesn’t matter, and she has carers going in now that she didn’t before. She still got Covid so all our efforts didn’t make a jot of difference. She fell and went into hospital, and picked up Covid there, and of course, we then got it too (support bubble.)
How long can these restrictions last? I definitely think people will stop complying if it goes on much longer.