Peter wrote:
I find it hard to believe that any normal cold or flu would be as infectious as CV19. You probably can’t infect someone by walking past them in the street but it can’t take much more than that, in an indoor space.
I think this example shows more than anything how vulnerable even societies who had a pretty clean record can be to a single source. Which also makes it clear that Covid won’t be over until everyone is vaccined and those who refuse put under stringent rules to keep them and those who they threaten to infect safe.
Peter wrote:
According to the Daily Trash, the one ferry worker on the Isle of Man managed to do 60 so far.
It was unlikely him directly passing it on – he probably passed it on to a few others, who passed it onto a few others and so on.
But yes, 1 ferry worker was the index case. And now we’re back in lockdown as we have cases with no known line of communication (e.g. probably an asymptomatic case who got it off the ferry worker through some casual contact e.g. in a shop, who subsequently passed it on).
There is now no chance I can get my BFR done by the end of March. I’ll probably have to wait till the borders open up.
Peter wrote:
I find it hard to believe that any normal cold or flu would be as infectious as CV19.
It depends heavily on how you define “as infectious”.
One of the many many differences between Covid and viral flu is the incubation time (so the time between getting infected and realizing that you got infected because you feel the first symptoms): For viral Flu the median incubation time is 2 days while for Covid it seems to be about 6 days. Even worse, within that incubation period for Flu you are only infectious for less than one day while in Covid it looks like being infectious for about 4 days.
Therefore the time period in which even the best intended patients walk around as sources of infection because they do not know they are infected themselves for Covid is more than 4 times longer than for Flu. That is causing massively more opportunity for spread…
My wife and I got vaccinated on Monday, here in the UK. We fall into the “60 to 65 category, no underlying conditions”.
We used the NHS online booking system which allowed us to book even though we were technically not yet in the requisite category. Clearly someone in charge has decided they want to get the vaccinations rolling asap and not get too hung up on the tiers system. The system gave us a booking for the next day, tho we had to drive 45 miles to do so.
There has been a lot of speculation here about whether or not the UK govt will introduce a “vaccination passport” and what it will consist of. So, for fun, we took along our old yellow WHO International Certificates of Vaccination. The young assistant at the actual vaccination desk had never seen these relics, but the wily old retired nurse who actually jabbed us had and she was happy to make an entry for us, complete with date, batch number and signature.
We got the AZ vaccine. I am perfectly happy with that. The latest results out of Scotland and the UK generally support the idea that both are very effective (90% +) in preventing serious illness, keeping you out of hospital and preventing transmission, no matter what your age.
All the fuss in Germany and France about people refusing the AZ vaccine is crazy. Take whatever you can get and your chances will be hugely better than if you refuse to be jabbed.
I got the Pfizer vaccine, and in a momentary fit of nationalist instincts briefly considered rejecting it, but then I remembered I am dual national and self-preservation won out… 
It’s really silly. It’s like arriving at an oasis close to dying from thirst, and rejecting the water because it isn’t the right brand.
Buckerfan wrote:
My wife and I got vaccinated on Monday, here in the UK. We fall into the “60 to 65 category, no underlying conditions”.
Great!
Somehow it is quite interesting to see how well the UK fares with this post Brexit. Needless to say, this would have been impossible under EU “organisation” which has failed totally. IMHO, the current EU and most of the Swiss Leadership as well should resign and leave this whole mess to the scientists, so we can finally lock the bloody continent down until someone can clean up the procurement scandal which lead Europe being out of vaccines.
Right now I am seething anyhow. The Swiss parliament has passed a resolution indicating they want to open the whole thing up by March 17 and declare the pandemic over. As if the virus would listen to parliament, bow it’s head and leave. Switzerland, if this gets through, will become the launching point of the 3rd wave. Personally I would love to criminally prosecute those bastards once that happens for millions of cases of inflicting bodily harm and a few thousand cases of manslaughter. Might need a new prison to house them all unless they decide to do away with the lot of them.
Yes indeed the UK would have been in a dire situation, with its vulnerability (widespread poor health, etc) and high level of international travel.
I am concerned about Italy, looking at this, and also note that the recent rapid drop in France seems to no longer be there, having been replaced with a more or less level trend
I really do continue to be amazed by how much time this whole COVID discussion continues to take up between pilots. Maybe it’s an age/health thing within the pilot community. From the beginning I have found the whole panic to be an abhorrent exaggeration and my view on it has not changed. I think it is criminal how governments have robbed people of their fundamental rights of freedom and to make a living. People should protect themselves, I get the vaccine, (well I don’t actually but that is only because I’m too young I’m being told to get it…) I get the masks, I get the hand washing and frankly didn’t need this pandemic to be convinced of the need for hygiene and a healthy dose of distancing from people
Globally in well over a year (14 months) we’ve had 2.6Mio so called ’’covid’’ deaths, of which according to serious studies by various universities 94% would have died either way. (a fifth of those are in the US…) we’ve shut down the worlds economy, robbed people of their freedom, their lives and an entire generation of the best years in their lives.
In France alone 50K people have died from late diagnostic and in the UK (as of July) statistics predict an increase of between 9 and 18% in cancer deaths (depending on the type) for at least the coming 5 years. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(20)30388-0/fulltext
It’s all the do-gooders that make me sick as well.
Each day, 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die from hunger and related causes. Some 854 million people worldwide are estimated to be undernourished, and high food prices increased by COVID may drive another 100 million into poverty and hunger. That’s 9 million a year for you – but they don’t matter because they are poor?
Want to make a difference? It would take 2 bio to solve for hunger annually, how much has been wasted panicking about COVID?
The world’s biggest killer is ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 16% of the world’s total deaths. Since 2000, the largest increase in deaths has been for this disease, rising by more than 2 million to 8.9 million deaths (I’ll make it easy and do the maths for you that’s 24K a day) in 2019. Stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the 2nd and 3rd leading causes of death, responsible for approximately 11% and 6% of total deaths respectively.
Each year, 1.35 million people are killed on roadways around the world. Every day, almost 3,700 people are killed globally in crashes involving cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, or pedestrians. More than half of those killed are pedestrians, motorcyclists, or cyclists.
In 2018, an estimated 9.5 million people died of cancer worldwide. That’s about 26,000 people each day and 1 out of every 6 deaths.
Lower respiratory infections remained the world’s most deadly communicable disease, (even before COVID) ranked as the 4th leading cause of death. However, the number of deaths has gone down substantially: in 2019 it claimed 2.6 million lives, 460 000 fewer than in 2000. Still More than COVID… but hey let’s panic now?
rant over…
Buckerfan wrote:
The latest results out of Scotland and the UK generally support the idea that both are very effective (90% +) in preventing serious illness, keeping you out of hospital and preventing transmission, no matter what your age.
Is there also data from reactions to vaccination?
Completely not statistically relevant but the only case in my family (f, 18yr, no preexisting condition) who already got the AZ vaccine was down for a day with 40°C fever. Not concerning for a young woman but for an 80yr old that could actually be dangerous.
On the other hand rumors say (again not based on statistically relevant facts), that with Biontec the second shot create more significant reactions while for AZ it is the first one…
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
Want to make a difference? It would take 2 bio to solve for hunger annually, how much has been wasted panicking about COVID?
Ok – so why do we even care about aviation? This 2bn you claim that it takes to irradiate global hunger (btw. not even 3 USD for each of the 854mn. that according to your statement are suffering from malnutrition) happens to be almost exactly the amount of the global annual spending for AVGAS.
Therefore in the logic of your rant: How about stop killing innocent people in Africa by burning avgas and instead of that giving them food?
