So how do we feel about Sajid Javid telling us not to ‘cower’ from Covid

GrannyGravy13

love0c if it were not for all those folks working throughout, others would not have had the privilege to stay home.

And that’s why I do everything possible to protect those that are still working because I’m in a position where I don’t have to. I mean, the comment came from a health minister who stopped mask wearing being mandatory on buses and in shops (which we’re protecting people working in shops and on buses) who then caught covid himself. If it wasn’t so awful it would be funny.

love0c

GrannyGravy Exactly! that is my point!

I am fortunate in that I have not been into our offices since the beginning of March 2020. I popped in yesterday to tie up several loose ends as from the end of July my seat is very definitely at the back apart from any major financial decision.

As a self confessed control freak I will be interested in how I cope with this ???

Lots of people are successfully working 'from home' too

Johnson is run by a certain cabal in the Tory party, who have never supported lockdown. Javid is one of them, as are the right wing press.

Javid was speaking the truth in the opinion of the cabal.

Those who as far as possible were remaining or working at home were acting altruistically in so far as they were supporting the NHS in its efforts to cope with the pandemic, they were not cowering.

The cabal would have never introduced lockdown, leaving the NHS to collapse under the strain and many more deaths.

This has just crossed my mind and I probably shouldn’t say it because I haven’t thought it through but I wondered if some people, especially government ministers, who have caught covid but only suffered from it mildly, feel superior in some way? I’m prepared to be shot down for saying/thinking it though.

2.2 trillion in debt. Imagine how well looked after everyone in this country had been. Imagine how good the hospitals, schools, infrastructures, economy, poverty a thing of the past. Imagine!! Goodness knows what these things will become like in the future with this colossal debt?! They are all in a bad way now!

'could have been'.

There was someone on Mumsnet last night saying she felt bad but didn't want to call the ambulance because we've been told not to do it unless our lips turn blue. There are people who haven't crossed their doorsteps since a year past March because they are scared of Covid. There are people who are still bleaching their shopping. The information they're working to is over a year out of date. (I'm not talking about anybody posting here.)

There are people who are surprised that they know people who have been double jabbed but still caught COVID. There are people who still think the vaccine is going to be rendered useless by a mega-variant that is going to pop up any day.

As a nation, we have been cowering for 15 months. There will still be people who have to be careful and I'm not minimising the problems they have, but as a nation we are going to need to stop cowering.

MayBee70

This has just crossed my mind and I probably shouldn’t say it because I haven’t thought it through but I wondered if some people, especially government ministers, who have caught covid but only suffered from it mildly, feel superior in some way? I’m prepared to be shot down for saying/thinking it though.

I think there is an element of that - like the working hard/work harder thing where they don't consider people don't have an equal footing or the same circumstances.

^ There are people who still think the vaccine is going to be rendered useless by a mega-variant that is going to pop up any day^

And I take it you understand why massively increasing transmission in a partially/imperfectly vaccinated population increases this risk fairly dramatically?

Why do you keep asking people that?

The risk of that happening is negligible.

Prof Sarah and her team think its highly unlikely, do you understand why?

Alegrias1 I agree with your sensible posts of 13.14 & 13.21 ??

Not the best choice of words but a complete over reaction as usual.

Javid comes across as an arrogant man. He talked about opening up when he’d only been in the job minutes, and had had no chance to even look at his brief. No learning from the Government’s previous mistakes in any way. I don’t trust anything they say now.

And as BJ said himself, he would have been the mayor in Jaws to “keep the beaches open”.

Of course it’s not negligible Algerias (PhD in evolution - if I wanted to create a vaccine resistant strain this is exactly what I would do)

And ahem Professor Gilbert also warned that easing Covid restrictions too quickly could result in higher transmission and increase the risk of new variants emerging with more resistance to existing vaccines

Which is exactly my point.

Nezumi65

Of course it’s not negligible Algerias (PhD in evolution - if I wanted to create a vaccine resistant strain this is exactly what I would do)

Are you implying that some random person is going to create a vaccine resistant strain?

If so it is a dangerous allegation which may frighten some on here.

No it’s not what I am implying at all

Alegrias1

Why do you keep asking people that?

The risk of that happening is negligible.

Prof Sarah and her team think its highly unlikely, do you understand why?

But, according to DrJohns latest blog the Delta variant is 1000 times more transmissible than the original covid. That’s how much this virus can adapt if allowed to go unchecked. Again, I need to listen to the blog again in case I’ve misunderstood it.

And the incubation period is much shorter…

I am saying that if I wanted to create a vaccine resistant strain I would partially vaccinate a population with an imperfect vaccination, ramp up transmission to a really high level and sit back and wait.

The issue is the level of transmission.

Thing is, when I was doing my PhD, we were reminded to actually pay attention to the questions we were being asked and discussions we were having, and not to head off on our own pet topic. The Boris Johnson school of answers, if you like.

I said: There are people who still think the vaccine is going to be rendered useless by a mega-variant that is going to pop up any day.

Cath Green says: The good news is that we also think it is unlikely that the virus can mutate in a way that keeps it functioning but makes our vaccine completely ineffective.

That's because a change in the spike protein – which allows the coronavirus to enter and infect human cells – that is radical enough to make our vaccine completely ineffective would also, almost certainly, be so extreme as to make the virus non-functional

You said: New variants! Resistance!

Scientists are normally careful about how they phrase things so as not to cause alarm. Normally.

Europe clamps down amid fears over rapid spread of Delta variant

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/25/europe-clamps-down-amid-fears-over-rapid-spread-of-delta-variant

MayBee70

Alegrias1

Why do you keep asking people that?

The risk of that happening is negligible.

Prof Sarah and her team think its highly unlikely, do you understand why?

But, according to DrJohns latest blog the Delta variant is 1000 times more transmissible than the original covid. That’s how much this virus can adapt if allowed to go unchecked. Again, I need to listen to the blog again in case I’ve misunderstood it.

I don't think a viral load of 1000x the original variant equates to 1000x as infectious MayBee70. But then I don't have a PhD in evolution, so I could be wrong.

What a fuss about a poorly used word. All politically motivated of course.