Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@Th3solution I wouldn't bet on March. In the Netherlands they were talking about starting vaccination for regular folks around August. Medical personal and elderly have started as of yesterday. So we're definitely in it for another year.

I saw this as a tweet and thought i would republish as it is how I am covering the new UK lockdown.

We've had:

Lockdown
Lockdown 2: Lockdown Harder

We are now on:

Lockdown With a Vengeance

Next we will have:

Live Free or Lockdown
A Good Day to Lockdown

It's easier to cope with if i put it in pop culture references. Things are carnage with my work as everyone is suffering from child care woes. My wife is a key worker and in early years (pre-school) so having to work so our kids are at school until we can work out what is going in with her work. They are in a bind, they are told to stay open by government so don't qualify for funding support but half the parents aren't sending their kids so there is no funding.

@Octane Yeesch... August? That seems like quite a conservative outlook. It might depend on the other vaccine trials working out, because as I understand there are several more that could be approved in coming months. And I wasn’t suggesting an end to the pandemic in March, by any stretch. I was just thinking about when the current spike will have a downturn in activity back to a reasonable baseline where things could relax again. People being vaccinated in this first wave should have solid immunity by March. I agree that we’ll be fighting the pandemic as a whole for the largest part of 2021.

@nessisonett I've just bought three and stuck them in a plant pot on my windowsill. I've heard if you water them with sweat, they grow. I'm going to be rich

@Mpquikster I've heard it's only a year or so, but don't quote me on that. I haven't looked into it. Then again, it's hard to know for certain, because it's not been that long since the original trials started.

Either way, if everyone is vaccinated, the virus can't spread and will go extinct in theory.

@RogerRoger Nice - we can come back in 30 years for The Covid Awakens!

I also quite like Resident Evil titles, just so we can get up to Coronavirus Evil: Code Covid

Well I was off the first time we went into lockdown last year and only went in a month or so afterwards because I had to cover for a colleague @RogerRoger.

Personally I'm in two minds about not going in myself. My partner's happy though as she thought I was running myself a bit too ragged the past few months. The fact that she's off too does mean I might not go as stir crazy this time around either being off

Tiny allotment of vaccines in my area meant people queueing up some 10 to 12 hours in advance. Over 800 cars lined up by the time the location opened. Does not sound fun.

Much like the PS5, I'm waiting until this thing is freely available just about everywhere. I don't do queues.

Anyway I echo @Th3solution in that it'd be nice if maybe we were doing a little more stateside to help keep this thing at bay for a fair few more months. Not saying a full on lockdown is ideal, I certainly sympathize with those In the UK, but being there's actually a light at the end of this very dark and unpleasant tunnel now, I don't know why we can't crack down a little. But many have already moved on.

I'm getting pressure from my child's school to begin his clinicals because I'm the only person who thinks it's a bad idea to send a bunch of high school kids into hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies apparently. Also indoor sports are starting up (even wrestling) and, idk, I get these things are important when you're young but man, wtf are we teaching these kids when HS basketball season comes before people's lives.

Just feel like absent a nationwide lockdown, there's some basic, no-brainer, sacrifices we could all be collectively making here. This means state and local governments might have to step up and prohibit a few things as clearly far too many people don't care enough to do it on their own. But somewhere along the way the politically expedient thing to do became nothing at all. Sigh.

@zupertramp That sounds like a nightmare. I haven’t seen lines like that but I haven’t really looked. I wonder if Vegas has odds on what will reach market availability first — COVID vaccines or PS5s.

Yeah, just a couple months ago it was like playing the six degrees of separation game to find someone you had a link with that had COVID; now I can barely talk to anyone in my circle of coworkers and friends who doesn’t have a first degree contact with a COVID case. It seems like every single family and social group has been directly affected.

@nuSkilz My wife also works in a private pre-school/nursery and they have an issue in that they have been told to open by the Govt but half the parents dont want to send their kids in which means their funding is drastically cut but they can't furlough or anything. They are trying to see if they can only open to key workers children and still survive financially.

Where I am in England nothing seems that different to before this “lockdown” other than smaller shops on the high street closing again. It makes no difference to me though as the only times I’ve been leaving the house for 9 months is for work, food shopping, dog walking, and running.

Nurseries are a tough one though. I think they have specifically told they don’t need to close in England @nuSkilz One friend who is furloughed got told by his kid’s nursery that he had to carry on partying whether he sent them or not or lose their place which is disgusting.

And as @Rudy_Manchego says, staying open for key workers is very noble but not necessarily financially viable, although everyone seems to be able to say they’re a key worker now..

@Thrillho you've got to carry on partying, though.

@kyleforrester87

Lockdown has been really weird for me because me and my fiancée have been chucking money into savings because we're moving to a new place, so we weren't going out or doing anything anyway. So all that has happened really for me is I've got to put a mask on sometimes.

I see people losing their minds and being proper sad about the whole thing but I'm struggling to relate to it since I'd be going home to sit in my pants and play Skyrim virus or no.

@johncalmc Don't feel bad, honestly my life has improved over the past year - there are some good opportunities to be had from all this if you keep your head screwed on, along with a slight increase in the risk of potential early death, of course!

@kyleforrester87 Yeah, for us 2020 was a really good year + masks.

@johncalmc @kyleforrester87 I have to agree that I have actually liked the social restrictions and isolation aspects of the pandemic. People suck.

@Th3solution I’m far from the most social person in the world but I can’t say I love having to stay away from people I like. I do miss just being able to go for a few spontaneous drinks, or being able to easily break up a walk/bike ride with a few beers or a coffee. I really miss going to the cinema and the occasional gig - I’d probably be bummed if my clubbing days weren’t behind me!

Fortunately I’ve been working throughout and there have been some good opportunities to focus on my health while just trying to keep it in perspective.

I don’t think I’ve had it but several colleagues have (one of which I work very closely with so who knows what’s happened there) and hopefully I can still say that by the end of 2021 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Oh and I have like £7 on a Game gift card that I really want to spend in store. Been gathering dust in my coffee table for nearly a year now.

I wonder if people complaining about the lockdown have realised that the lockdown’s been put in place because they spent the whole of the last one breaking the rules and generally being absolute morons. Like... if you want it to be over then just adhere to the rules already?