I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I walked into town in my lunch break and found that everyone in the shops were still wearing masks.

 

Went to ASDA for a weekly food shop last night and I'd say 95% of people were still wearing masks.

 

Common sense prevails.

 

I always thought it would. It’s been so easy over the past couple of years to just assume everyone is a selfish idiot. But really most people will do the right thing. I expect those 5% wouldn’t have had a mask on last week either.

Yeah I think that's true. The people who are not wearing masks at indoor public places now are the same people who had the masks hanging off their ears or round their necks when no one was around to enforce them to wear it during the times when it was mandatory to have a mask indoors.

Latest figures - 96 deaths today, highest since March and 4,567 hospital admissions. I know these figures are low in comparison to the first two waves but let’s remember these figures will no doubt substantially increase over the next few weeks and this didn’t have to happen as cases were really low only 6-8 weeks ago and this is the result of very bad decision making and sheer incompetence on behalf of a government who has lost any credibility they might have achieved through a relatively good vaccine programme.

Olympics could still be cancelled at this late stage as number of athletes testing positive for Covid increases daily. IOC to meet in emergency talks tomorrow morning, with football starting on Thursday and Opening Ceremony on Friday.

 

EDIT: Spelling.

Edited July 20, 20213 yr by common sense

Olympics could still be cancelled at this late stage as number of athletes testing positive for Covid increases daily. IOC to meet in emergency talks tomorrow morning, with football starting on Thursday and Opening Ceremony on Friday.

 

EDIT: Spelling.

 

First competition, women's softball, actually kicks off tomorrow morning Japan time, in less than 8 hours, along with women's football tomorrow - so it'd be something if it gets cancelled completely.

 

Could well still be suspended mid-games, but from what I can see it's again the Japanese organising committee wanting to cancel and the IOC saying they must go ahead - and I think in that system the IOC still wins out.

 

edit: seems like PM Suga's still behind it, definitely can't see it.

Cases now down 8,100 week on week. Great news.

Cases now down 8,100 week on week. Great news.

 

Testing has reduced though - hard to read to too much in to it now, but it does look as if we are following a similar pattern to Scotland with the post-Euros crash. Definitely do not think we will see those levels of mixing again until the winter now.

Yeah, Newcastle city centre has been pretty quiet pub/club-wise since the EUROs.

Case numbers may not rise again until the schools return.

Went to Tesco local in Bristol. Afraid mask wearing was easily less than 20% so loads of people ditching them. Guess more likely for convenience shopping.

Stats from my local broadcaster suggests that only 0.03% of those who are fully vaccinated have caught Corona which sounds quite promising.

 

 

So far 1.7m people in Berlin, 47.4% of the total population, has been fully vaccinated and there are 527 break through infections. 259 of these were aged 80 or older where we know that immune response isn’t as strong due to normal ageing shit. The Charité hospital also believes that peak protection takes longer to occur in older populations which leaves them more vulnerable for longer after dose two than younger ages. Charité also noted People with Rheumatoid Arthritis, transplant and cancer patients also had lower responses and were therefore more subject to break through infections.

 

Nationwide it’s about 5.5k break through cases from 40m fully vaxxed.

 

 

Quite reassuring I think to see some of the detail on these. We always knew they weren’t 100% effective and vaccines never stop you getting it, it’s supposed to teach your body how to fight when it arrives. But these high numbers can give us some confidence that there is a way out of this once we really start to power up efforts to vaccinate the entire planet

Testing has reduced though - hard to read to too much in to it now, but it does look as if we are following a similar pattern to Scotland with the post-Euros crash. Definitely do not think we will see those levels of mixing again until the winter now.

Yeah it defo looks like the Euros was the major super spreading event that has been driving this. Similar patterns in a few host cities

 

 

 

The thing that is driving our infections is unvaxxed age groups (a small but persistent portion of whom are determined to ruin everyone’s lives by having super spreading illegal raves in parks just like last summer which caused wave 2). Infection rates in 20-24 are 4.5x the city average, and it’s 3X in 25-29, double in 15-19 and 1.5x in 30-39. compared to the older age groups it’s wild. 0 in 90+, 50+ is ⅓ the City rates, 60+ 1/5 the City rate And then 70+ is 1/10 the city rate. These vaccines work so well.

Went to Tesco local in Bristol. Afraid mask wearing was easily less than 20% so loads of people ditching them. Guess more likely for convenience shopping.

Yikes! Removing masks was a foolish idea I think. It’s such a good tool at preventing transmission.

 

Vax + Mask + avoid/minimise time in unventilated spaces = the sustainable path out of this.

 

 

Our city said today they have fined 10000 people for not wearing a mask and warned 170k. But mask compliance is 97-99% on public transport. We don’t have any opt out like the UK does which I think makes enforcement and societal pressure a bit more effective

I’ve cancelled my gym membership since they relaxed restrictions. I’ve read some research from the states which suggests working out in the gym is a medium risk activity and it recommended social distancing and masks to reduce risk. I just don’t like the idea of being in a confined space say on the treadmill and someone potentially stood right next to me who could be asymptomatic. Most of the people who go my gym are quite young so unlikely to be fully vaccinated. I’ll exercise outside for now!

I’ve cancelled my gym membership since they relaxed restrictions. I’ve read some research from the states which suggests working out in the gym is a medium risk activity and it recommended social distancing and masks to reduce risk. I just don’t like the idea of being in a confined space say on the treadmill and someone potentially stood right next to me who could be asymptomatic. Most of the people who go my gym are quite young so unlikely to be fully vaccinated. I’ll exercise outside for now!

Have they taken screens out of gyms in England?

Have they taken screens out of gyms in England?

 

At my gym it was every other machine you could use. However when I went in the week you could use any machine, so basically the social distance was out of the window. You still had to clean down what you used before and after use though.

 

Also you had to book swimming previously, however now that's just come when you want etc - basically back to normal.

 

I think class sizes are back to normal as well and everything is basically as it was pre pandemic (although with hand sanitizer etc more available)

Edited July 23, 20213 yr by ElectroBoy

Have they taken screens out of gyms in England?

 

There wasn’t any screens ever at my gym but you could only use every other machine but now all machines are available, hence why I cancelled my membership while case infections are high.

At my gym (Wales) we can use every machine but there is a Perspex screen between everything-something I’d quite like to stay forever. We also wipe down everything and still have to wear masks when not exercising.

 

We also still have to book the pool which I wish would be dropped because, if anything, the pool is busier since it had to be booked. It’s like if they dropped the booking, people wouldn’t think to go and it’d actually be safer for us regulars.

We’re still on the every other machine requirement out here (Berlin) along with masks worn when not exercising. I take a cloth mask and swap my FFP2 mask for it while I’m exercising. I’m not totally comfortable exercising without a mask. The ventilation at my gym is reasonable but could be better so I’d rather just keep a barrier between me and the rest of the gym.

 

Clean before/after use is here as well but tbh that’s just good gym etiquette

 

 

 

We still need to show a negative test to get into the gym tho (or an EU vaccination certificate or proof of recovery from recent infection) but my gym will let you take a rapid test under supervision as well as accepting the test certificate from one of the cities test centres

I’ve just had my first foray into England since restrictions lifted as I spent the morning in Chester. Pleased to say about 95% of people are still wearing masks indoors.