France in August?

[Velma's Dad]

It seems certain now that Covid is not going to go away. As Covid is a coronavirus, as is the influenza virus, it will continue to mutate. It will not be long before current vaccines will not work. This is the situation with the influenza virus where we all accept that we need a new vaccination every year to deal with the latest strain. It is almost certain that Covid is heading the same way. Currently world Governments are fire fighting to try to avert a meltdown, they have little choice. However, I hope somewhere there is coordinated (please I so hope so) on how to cope with new Covid strains year on year. As I said, it is not going away. We have to learn to live with it.

At risk of being picky, but actually I think it's important: influenza viruses are not coronaviruses. Both those broad families of viruses are RNA viruses but they are structurally significantly different from each other.

Influenza A (the type that causes human seasonal flu and sometimes pandemics) is indeed highly inclined to mutate, especially through antigenic shift - when two different strains of a virus encounter each other in the same cell and 'have sex' with each other to produce a new 'offspring' variant. SARS-CoV-2 appears, as with other coronaviruses, to be much less inclined to antigenic shift even though it does of course mutate gradually due to chance changes in individual parts of the RNA sequence, which is termed antigenic drift.

If I've mis-described that then maybe a biologist on here can put me straight.

The emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 due to antigen drift do mean it's quite possible and maybe likely that adjustments to vaccines will be needed year by year, but the immunological consensus appears to be that that will be much less problematic than is the case with seasonal and pandemic influenzas.

This article in Nature at the end of January was a good summary of the covid vaccine escape and updating challenge: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00241-6

 

[Lambeth Cali]

I want to change thread name to Spain in August? but New Forest in August? seems more appropriate.
As a family with 2 young kids 2 weeks UK camping doesn’t work for us. In France we sleep in the van and do absolutely everything else outside. It needs to be 30+c for that. We can handle a days rain. I’ve spent many a happy time cowering under the awning during a shower as the kids colour inside the van. But if the shower lasts 2 days my wife starts crying. We don’t even risk Brittany. We’ve learned that lesson. We have gone to France in the Cali every year for 11 years.
First world problems I know. I’m still incredibly disappointed. “Help me Chris Whitty, you’re my only hope”.

 

[Amarillo]

Macron and others have unfortunately fuelled the anti vaccine, anti control faction and now to try to cover their own incompetence they are now setting about blaming others (AZ, UK etc).

Don’t forget that we in Britain have had the benefit of Professor Sarah Gilbert explaining in terms that a layman can understand how the AstraZeneca vaccine works. That has to be worth a few percentage points on the vaccine uptake. I don’t suppose a version of the Andrew Marr interview dubbed or subtitled into French, Spanish, Italian or German would quite have the same effect on their populations.

People in the UK are generally itching to get the AZ vaccine, but would it be the same if we were offered the equally effective Sputnik V or Sinovac vaccines?

 

[subthree]

People in the UK are generally itching to get the AZ vaccine, but would it be the same if we were offered the equally effective Sputnik V or Sinovac vaccines?

I am perfectly happy to take any vaccine from a country that has clear and transparent procedures in place. So in answer to your question, no.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I want to change thread name to Spain in August? but New Forest in August? seems more appropriate.
As a family with 2 young kids 2 weeks UK camping doesn’t work for us. In France we sleep in the van and do absolutely everything else outside. It needs to be 30+c for that. We can handle a days rain. I’ve spent many a happy time cowering under the awning during a shower as the kids colour inside the van. But if the shower lasts 2 days my wife starts crying. We don’t even risk Brittany. We’ve learned that lesson. We have gone to France in the Cali every year for 11 years.
First world problems I know. I’m still incredibly disappointed. “Help me Chris Whitty, you’re my only hope”.

Get your family into surfing / sups or any watersport . If it rains you won’t be worried as you be wet anyway & the beach carpark should at least have some spaces left!

 

[Dr-Snickers]

Get your family into surfing / sups or any watersport . If it rains you won’t be worried as you be wet anyway & the beach carpark should at least have some spaces left!

Definitely our plan. We already spent most of our summers at the beach and my husband and kids spend hours in the water. We weren’t able to use our SUP last autumn as it arrived just before we went in to lockdown. Can’t wait to get out on the water but I’m going to have to invest in a better wetsuit than my Aldi Shortie though (I tend to only go in when it’s hot)...might need to lose a few lockdown pounds too

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Get your family into surfing / sups or any watersport . If it rains you won’t be worried as you be wet anyway & the beach carpark should at least have some spaces left!

Took me a while to work out what SUP was!
It’s not a bad idea. When I say we spend all our time outside I might have given the wrong impression. Usually the morning is spent with the kids playing on a rug while we sit drinking coffee, deciding whether to bother having a shower.
But yes maybe I need a different plan.
We did kayak last year. Twice.

 

[sidepod]

We could learn a lot from South Korea.
Can you believe a population of 52m and only 1600 deaths...
I’m willing to give the state some control (temporary) if it means we can reduce the impact of Covid.

Covid: The countries that nailed it, and what we can learn from them

A year into the pandemic, we look at countries that have had some success in tackling the virus.

www.bbc.co.uk

Is it not a case of how the death is reported?
How many people in the UK have died of 100% COVID, nothing else, no underlying conditions, purely COVID?

 

[subthree]

Is it not a case of how the death is reported?
How many people in the UK have died of 100% COVID, nothing else, no underlying conditions, purely COVID?

I doubt we will ever know...

 

[66tim99]

Definitely our plan. We already spent most of our summers at the beach and my husband and kids spend hours in the water. We weren’t able to use our SUP last autumn as it arrived just before we went in to lockdown. Can’t wait to get out on the water but I’m going to have to invest in a better wetsuit than my Aldi Shortie though (I tend to only go in when it’s hot)...might need to lose a few lockdown pounds too

Lockdown Snickers the culprit, Doctor?

 

[WelshGas]

Is it not a case of how the death is reported?
How many people in the UK have died of 100% COVID, nothing else, no underlying conditions, purely COVID?

Probably not as many as reported.

 

[Dr-Snickers]

Lockdown Snickers the culprit, Doctor?

...my husband’s bread and flapjacks!

 

[Dr-Snickers]

Took me a while to work out what SUP was!
It’s not a bad idea. When I say we spend all our time outside I might have given the wrong impression. Usually the morning is spent with the kids playing on a rug while we sit drinking coffee, deciding whether to bother having a shower.
But yes maybe I need a different plan.
We did kayak last year. Twice.

Sounds like our idea of being outside! I love those lazy mornings drinking coffee, chatting, reading, planning what we might do when we eventually get going...

 

[Amarillo]

Probably not as many as reported.

The deaths reported are either within 28 days of a +ve Covid test, Covid mentioned on the death certificate, or excess deaths over the five(?) year average.

I think it is the last of these measures which will eventually give us the clearest indication of Covid’s toll, and the best comparison with other countries.

 

[sidepod]

I doubt we will ever know...

But isn't that the point? Are we fighting a virus or just an unhealthy population?

 

[GrannyJen]

But isn't that the point? Are we fighting a virus or just an unhealthy population?

Generally I look at the excess deaths figure. The unhealthy population will pop its clogs proportionately but consistently. When suddenly 20,000 more people die in a month than would normally be expected, there is no flu epidemic like 2017, but there is a novel respiratory virus that is quite deadly in certain sectors of the population then it is quite reasonable to suppose that the novel virus has something to do with it. Link that with the excess death count being remarkably similar in most months to the reported CV deaths then it seems reasonable to me that the figures quoted do have a ball park accuracy.

 

[Phase one]

I take it that Sidepod is being provocative!

It is worth pausing and reflecting, especially today when we remember the dead.

Remember being counted as a “Covid death” has happened to 2.74 million people during the last 12 months.

The pandemic has devastated many millions of families who have lost loved ones, and many others have lost friends and work colleagues.

Covid-19 has brutally exposed the health inequalities that exist in our own country and I hope these inequalities will be addressed in the recovery.

Those who have been most affected have been the disadvantaged, the poor, black and ethnic minorities, the vulnerable and certain occupations including health care and other front line workers.

Let us remember them today and not get hung up on precisely how we count them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mickyb123]

And yet today, visiting a large supermarket the numbers of people who still do not know how to wear a mask, eg apparently there is no requirement to cover the nose, or it’s actually designed as a chin warmer. Even better it’s a twist adornment. I could make further comment on specifics on who were the main offender, but will hold back on that.

 

[GrannyJen]

And yet today, visiting a large supermarket the numbers of people who still do not know how to wear a mask, eg apparently there is no requirement to cover the nose, or it’s actually designed as a chin warmer. Even better it’s a twist adornment. I could make further comment on specifics on who were the main offender, but will hold back on that.

I find myself in the extremely fortunate position that for a whole year I have not had to go into a supermarket or anywhere where large numbers of people are allowed to congregate. It seems that the herd instincts of the human mammal is such that close contact is irresistible.

My local stretch of coastline is normally almost deserted even on a hot summer bank holiday but for the last month is has more resembled the terraces of a football pitch with the human need to gather into herds and make guttural noises unhindered by facial covering and accompanied by ritualistic hugging.

 

[bob_summers]

I want to change thread name to Spain in August? but New Forest in August? seems more appropriate.
As a family with 2 young kids 2 weeks UK camping doesn’t work for us. In France we sleep in the van and do absolutely everything else outside. It needs to be 30+c for that. We can handle a days rain. I’ve spent many a happy time cowering under the awning during a shower as the kids colour inside the van. But if the shower lasts 2 days my wife starts crying. We don’t even risk Brittany. We’ve learned that lesson. We have gone to France in the Cali every year for 11 years.
First world problems I know. I’m still incredibly disappointed. “Help me Chris Whitty, you’re my only hope”.

Make a note to avoid the Basque Country for future holidays! My folks visited one year on the 1st July, had a great week. I dropped them off at the airport in the rain and it did not stop raining until August! We spend two of those weeks tent camping in the Picos and Cantabrian coast, it was just minging.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Increasingly it looks as if the UK could lead on the coordination front.
A. We do more Genomic sequencing than many other countries.
B. We have the Oxford team and the AZ vaccine, relatively cheap and easily transported worldwide.
C. We produce the Vaccine and are ramping up production with new facilities.
D. The UK population are not as Vaccine adverse as in many other countries.
Other vaccines may become available as time goes by as well.
We are also quit good at vaccinating for influenza on an annual basis already.
It's a pity these variants are named/referred to by the country they are found in rather than a purely scientic nomenclature as we do with Influenza.

‘It's a pity these variants are named/referred to by the country they are found in rather than a purely scientic nomenclature as we do with Influenza.’

Totally agree WG, it leafs to very unhelpful finger pointing.

The so called Kent variant that some in the EU are blaming the UK for is a good example. Is it a councidence that Kent is the port of entry for hundreds of EU lorry drivers every day. The Kent variant was quite possibly introduced to Kent from outside the UK and then exported back to the EU?

 

[andyinluton]

Make a note to avoid the Basque Country for future holidays! My folks visited one year on the 1st July, had a great week. I dropped them off at the airport in the rain and it did not stop raining until August! We spend two of those weeks tent camping in the Picos and Cantabrian coast, it was just minging.

At least it was probably warm. Ive lost count of the number of freezing cold wet days Ive had in Cornwall in August.

 

[GrannyJen]

Make a note to avoid the Basque Country for future holidays! My folks visited one year on the 1st July, had a great week. I dropped them off at the airport in the rain and it did not stop raining until August! We spend two of those weeks tent camping in the Picos and Cantabrian coast, it was just minging.

I've basked in Basque rain for many years!

It's confluence of so many Atlantic weather systems make it a warmer but just as wet and unpredictable United Kingdom.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I've basked in Basque rain for many years!

It's confluence of so many Atlantic weather systems make it a warmer but just as wet and unpredictable United Kingdom.

Few years ago, sunny one minute...huge storm the next!

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

‘It's a pity these variants are named/referred to by the country they are found in rather than a purely scientic nomenclature as we do with Influenza.’

Totally agree WG, it leafs to very unhelpful finger pointing.

The so called Kent variant that some in the EU are blaming the UK for is a good example. Is it a councidence that Kent is the port of entry for hundreds of EU lorry drivers every day. The Kent variant was quite possibly introduced to Kent from outside the UK and then exported back to the EU?

Sorry for the typos - on my 3rd glass of The Black Stump after a hard day digging at the allotment