Coronavirus Pandemic

[Mac76]

Along with the vaccination program, this in my opinion is a genuine world beating system and the government deserves credit for it.

BS, they stumbled across anything they got right despite thier best efforts - hundreds if not thousands of poeple died in the first wave because of their dawdling, plus the lockdown went on longer than it would have if they'd acted more quickly, how many businesses went under because of that?

[Letters]

I think it's fair to criticise them for what they got wrong - and I agree with your assessment of what they got wrong. It cost a lot of lives and that shouldn't be forgotten.

But you have to balance that by giving some credit for what they've got right.

The annoying thing is had they just acted quicker at the start of the pandemic AND got all the things right around vaccines etc then we'd have done pretty well in all this. In 2020 we were "top" 5 in the world in terms of deaths per million. Now, largely because of the things they got right, we're about 30th. If only they hadn't buggered everything up at the start.

It's like last season. Yes, we did well from Boxing Day on. But things up to the previous Christmas were such a mess that overall it was all a bit mid-table when it could have been a lot better.

[The Wengerbabies]

Got my first negative test today
One more tomorrow and I'll be off clubbing with Wengerbabies and licking strangers

But here's the illogical double standard, you've been able to go clubbing all along anyway, you have a vax cert, you don't need to test negative.

[The Wengerbabies]

One thing i find interesting is that it seems the UK is a bit of an outlier in terms of providing free tests compared to many countries.

There are regular cries on social media that the tories wasted 37 billion on test & trace (ignoring the fact that is a budget not the actual spend) yet we can order 7 lateral flow tests per person per day. PCR tests are also free and we regularly carry out 1.5 million of these a day. When you include lateral flows, suspect that number is significantly higher. All for free (yes i know that taxes does not make them free, but we do not have to pay extra)

Yet many countries such as the US & Germany and others, charge for these, especially lateral flows. I think Germany sell 5 tests for 25 euros. This means you see on twitter many politicians saying germany has it right because htey spent less on test & trace however people have to pay for their tests and who is likely to do that just to test on the off chance you have the virus? At least here, because they are free, people are more likely to test before going out but I wouldn’t pay for it myself.

So i guess I’m wondering if those that regularly post on twitter that the government are evil bastards for spending 37 billion would be happy if they spent significantly less and made people pay for the tests like most other countries. I suspect not and suspect they would start arguing that evil tories want to kill people by refusing free tests.

I do believe when boris Johnson said we would have a world beating testing system, he was right. It was built from scratch at the start when we barely did 10k tests a day to now over 1.5 million a day excluding lateral flows. Germany at the start was hailed as the gold standard for testing, they have carried out approximately 100 million tests during covid. Uk has carried out over 400 million. Along with the vaccination program, this in my opinion is a genuine world beating system and the government deserves credit for it.

Never done any of those stupid free tests, have had to pay extortionate amounts for travel testing though because NHS test can't be used for that, only government donor approved private companies.

I'm not happy about my tax money being wasted on that.

If people had been forced to pay all along every time maybe we wouldn't have ridiculous amounts of needless testing.

[Ollie the Optimist]

But here's the illogical double standard, you've been able to go clubbing all along anyway, you have a vax cert, you don't need to test negative.

He hasn’t been able to go clubbing all along because a positive test means a legal requirement to self isolate for the required time.

[Letters]

But here's the illogical double standard, you've been able to go clubbing all along anyway, you have a vax cert, you don't need to test negative.

Yes, but only because I didn't report the positive results. The whole system seems to be entirely predicated on people being honest.
If they are trying to control us then they're bloody rubbish at it.

[Xhaka Can’t]

But here's the illogical double standard, you've been able to go clubbing all along anyway, you have a vax cert, you don't need to test negative.

If you report it, the Vaccine passport becomes void - but yeah - it relies on honesty.

Agree with the crap you have to go through when travelling - holy mother of fuck it is simultaneously a mess and a shakedown. The government probably could have self funded wider testing by allowing existing NHS test centres to charge for travel related testing.

[The Wengerbabies]

If you report it, the Vaccine passport becomes void - but yeah - it relies on honesty.

Agree with the crap you have to go through when travelling - holy mother of fuck it is simultaneously a mess and a shakedown. The government probably could have self funded wider testing by allowing existing NHS test centres to charge for travel related testing.

The tests needed post-arrival are an absolute racket. The only check they make is that you paid for it, not whether you actually take the test.

[Letters]

My niece was telling me that all you have to do is say your test was negative.
So you can take a test, it can light up like a Christmas Tree and all you have to do is say it was negative and off you go. No one checks.
This is the oppressive, authoritarian regime we’re living under, is it?
I think they’re doing it wrong.

[Letters]

Negative again

I'm going to party like it's 1998 #Double