I stayed in this morning to do some writing on my new Sci-fi novel, I managed to get a page or two completed.
The sun can out at lunchtime and we went for a walk along the beck. It was beautiful and so warm I regretted taking a jacket.
The orchids were just popping out of the grass and we found a beautiful blue heron and two egrets down at the nature reserve. We were going to go back to catch the starling murmuration but the rugby’s on!! I can’t miss that.
Out in Coronaland where Brexit is stirring up shit things are going as usual – up and down. The vaccine is rolling out with 50% of vulnerable adults now vaccinated. Consequently the death-rate is falling dramatically – only a hundred deaths yesterday. Not as good over on the continent where they are being much too slow and are suffering a third wave. There is a lot of bad feeling being stirred up with accusations of us hogging the vaccine. Who knows? Looks to me as if the EU has been too slow at ordering it, that the UK bought it up quick, and the whole silly business has been stirred up by this politically motivated business against the AstraZeneca. There is such a hostile atmosphere because of the way the UK has behaved it is causing irrational behaviour.
I can understand that.
Our incompetent twat of a PM and his arrogant bunch of nationalist extremists drive me mad too!
We are being told not to go to europe this year on holiday. Travel to Greece is being blamed for a spike in cases. There is said to be a number of unknown variants on the continent that the vaccine might be ineffective against. Who knows? They are worried about people bringing them back in.
The sooner the whole world is vaccinated the better!!
I still have not heard about my second shot – most probably in four weeks time! That’ll be OK. I’m looking forward to a more normal summer. The infections rates here are falling fast. With summer on its way even Dido Harding, with £37 billion behind here, can surely isolate and mop up the hotspots?? Maybe not.
Anyway – Stay safe!!
It’s amusing, Opher, that you don’t mention that the person who planned the UK vaccine roll-out (Kate Bingham, who just happens to be the wife of a Tory minister) has a very similar background to Dido Harding. She does seem to have done a fairly decent job, though. As to the hostile atmosphere over the vaccine, you could as easily say that it’s caused by the way the EU has behaved. And Kate Bingham has publicly said just that, only yesterday.
And BTW, the fall in deaths has nothing to do with vaccination. It is caused by the fall in new cases over the last few weeks. (Which, in turn, is caused by the lockdown; but at what cost in other areas of our lives?) A certain proportion of deaths are “baked in” once you have the cases, and the mean period between the two is 21 days. When I see the deaths per case rate falling significantly, then I’ll believe that the vaccine protects the infected. And when I see new cases falling significantly under constant lockdown, or not rising under falling lockdown, then I’ll believe that the vaccine restricts transmission of the virus. I’m an “evidence based” person…
Neil – I’m an evidence based person too. I think we are seeing the effect of vaccination already. It’s the big difference between us and Europe.
That may be so, but it isn’t proven yet, because we’re still locked down. What I gleaned from the Israeli records is that they seem to have been able to make significant unlocks without any rise in cases. Suggesting that the vaccine does inhibit transmission, at least partially. I’ll re-visit the whole matter when I come round to update my Europe spreadsheets.
I’m wondering whether I should stick to my plan of doing Asia and Oceania first, or update Europe now – after all, it has been a whole month! I’m inclining more and more towards the latter, since I see that cases on the continent are now rising fast – France 35K new cases yesterday, Poland 26K, Italy almost 24K, Turkey 21K. And this is springtime!
That is heartening Neil – but it is what I would have suspected from my knowledge of viruses. I think they were being cautious. They’ve had that baboon clown mouthing out with silly optimistic rubbish like a cheerleader on steroids.
I’d do Europe. It would be interesting to see Neil.
I think it is too cold still for any virus suppression. This virus seems to like the cold (outbreaks in refrigerated plants).
You could also say that the virus doesn’t like the cold. Which countries have done best against it? Iceland, Norway, Finland… even Russia isn’t doing so badly, given its population.
Anyway, I’ve gone the Europe route. First indications are that the vaccine sort-of works. It has an effect, but it’s not a panacea. I’ll write it up, probably, the day after tomorrow.
Excellent.
BTW if Dido had overseen the use of Track and Trace using the NHS it would have worked beautifully. They are professionals. The effectiveness of the vaccine is not because of Kate Bingham ; it’s because of the NHS.