Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

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.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy That's the key, I think; allowing yourself to pause. I know a lot of folks who could've used a proper vacation, and lockdown kinda granted them one, but they were unable to relax and make the most of it because it was enforced, it wasn't their choice.

At least you've got some company this time! Fingers crossed you'll both be okay.

@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?

@nessisonett People seem to lack that basic level of self awareness. Absolutely loathsome, selfish idiots. Something tells me this latest "clap for carers" thing is going to go down like a lead balloon, because most of the people clapping last time turned out to be absolute hypocrites who don't give a toss about the NHS or our healthcare workers.

@mookysam Don’t get me started on the bloody clapping, plus the complete appropriation of the rainbow symbol. The hilarious thing is that these are the people who write articles for the Spectator talking about ‘virtue signalling’ while clapping for carers and then tossing up whether Nan’s worth sacrificing for the sake of Philip Green’s millions.

@nessisonett The less said about Philip Green, the better. He's a tax dodging pervert who is under the delusion that his minimum wage jobs (where many employees end up needing tax credits on top just to survive) and sweatshop manufactured clothes add value to society.
It upsets me that so many don't seem to care about the health of their elderly relatives. My last grandparent died a couple of years ago, and I wish almost every day that she was still here.
Additionally, as many of the people currently seriously ill in hospital are middle-aged, people must wake up to the fact that this is not an illness that only affects the elderly.

Such a proud day here stateside, lemme tell ya.

My daughter has better hours this time round too so I'll be able to see her amd with my son back home too... Yeah I should be ok this time around @RogerRoger 😁

Thought I'd reply here to you @Rudy_Manchego instead of in the chat thread (Sorry about the lateness too)

I'm not working and neither is my partner this time around.

The school was actually doing pretty well, all things considered, before the christmas holidays.

Monday wasn't great however. We had pretty low student attendence there and from the few teachers we've had go in the past two days we've probably had the worst student turnout we've had so far. In fact my boss is really struggling to keep the school open with the few numbers we've got.

It's a shame as we managed to pretty much scrape through last year and remain open the whole time...

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oh at least you are both off together. We are currently all cooped up here.

We can technically send our kids into school as wife is a key worker (though she will be working from home it looks like) but we have heard our school is inundated with key worker requests as the qualification for key worker has expanded massively. They have had up to 60% of the population requst to attend which is greater than the ratios they have been told by the govt to accept.