Omicron variant and the measures implemented in response to it

[Class 33]

Another site says, that all rules will be removed, and the wearing of masks, will be 'no need, unless you want to'.

Which website is this please? All the articles I'm reading unfortunately say that face mask rules will stay/are to stay. Really hoping this doesn't turn out to be the case on the 27th.

 

[brad465]

Whatever people think of Corbyn normally, he's very clearly come out against vaccine passports, mandatory vaccines and big pharma in the below video from this morning, and thus were he in charge of Labour still, either as PM or even still as leader of the opposition, vaccine passports would never have been brought in, and he'd have been more cautious about boosters I think, knowing big pharma's antics and recognising the thin end of the wedge for invasion of liberties:

What's also worth noting is this video was done by Double Down news, which while this largely appeals to Corbyn supporters, from what I've grasped many of those supporters have supported things like vaccine passports, so this will test their ideology and will cause them to change their minds somewhere.

 

[cuccir]

A number of left wing Labour MPs, including Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis, voted against the last set of covid measures. I believe Caroline Lucas voted similarly. While right-wing media portray Corbyn etc as 'big state' communists, there is a large part of the left which has become very suspicious of increased state surveillance and would be against things like vaccine passports. Support for them is arguably most strong both the soft left and soft right.

 

[joncombe]

Which website is this please? All the articles I'm reading unfortunately say that face mask rules will stay/are to stay. Really hoping this doesn't turn out to be the case on the 27th.

Yes a lot of the press seems to be reporting that restrictions will be *reduced* at the end of the month and I think unfortunately that means the mask requirement at least for shops and public transport will remain (but perhaps go for cinemas and the like?) and then at the end of March when the Coronavirus act expires all restrictions will end (so that will finally remove the requirement to wear masks on public transport etc).

However as others here have pointed out the legislation to mandate masks does expire at the end of the month so if the wish to extend it, it will have go to another parliamentary vote which might be tricky. Although I think they can claim it's an "emergency" (it really isn't, at this point, if indeed it ever was) but it still has to be voted on within 28 days. So that might give the Government room to extend mask legislation for another 28 days and then remove it before the vote so there is then no point in having the vote.

I suppose we will find out in the next few days.

 

[LAX54]

Which website is this please? All the articles I'm reading unfortunately say that face mask rules will stay/are to stay. Really hoping this doesn't turn out to be the case on the 27th.

You have got me there I'm afraid, I was just scanning through a lot of them, it just caught my eye, but just thought we'll see on Jan 26 !

 

[Bikeman78]

Yes a lot of the press seems to be reporting that restrictions will be *reduced* at the end of the month and I think unfortunately that means the mask requirement at least for shops and public transport will remain (but perhaps go for cinemas and the like?) and then at the end of March when the Coronavirus act expires all restrictions will end (so that will finally remove the requirement to wear masks on public transport etc).

However as others here have pointed out the legislation to mandate masks does expire at the end of the month so if the wish to extend it, it will have go to another parliamentary vote which might be tricky. Although I think they can claim it's an "emergency" (it really isn't, at this point, if indeed it ever was) but it still has to be voted on within 28 days. So that might give the Government room to extend mask legislation for another 28 days and then remove it before the vote so there is then no point in having the vote.

I suppose we will find out in the next few days.

Still more positive than Wales. We've had work from home for 21 months and masks for 15 months. There appears to be no timescale or criteria for those to end.

 

[MikeWM]

Whatever people think of Corbyn normally, he's very clearly come out against vaccine passports, mandatory vaccines and big pharma in the below video from this morning, and thus were he in charge of Labour still, either as PM or even still as leader of the opposition, vaccine passports would never have been brought in, and he'd have been more cautious about boosters I think, knowing big pharma's antics and recognising the thin end of the wedge for invasion of liberties:

What's also worth noting is this video was done by Double Down news, which while this largely appeals to Corbyn supporters, from what I've grasped many of those supporters have supported things like vaccine passports, so this will test their ideology and will cause them to change their minds somewhere.

One of the main reasons I was a strong Corbyn supporter when he was leading the Labour party was his strong commitment to civil liberties, which he has demonstrated throughout his time as an MP. There are very few in the House Of Commons that can match him (David Davis is the obvious one on the Tory side). I continue to be pleased that he is still getting these issues correct (even though he was unfortunately rather wrong on many of the other aspects of lockdowns, etc. and his interest in 'zero-Covid' was far from his finest hour).

Those that thought he would be an authoritarian PM or support authoritarian ideas missed the point of the 'Corbyn project' entirely. We may argue - at length! - as to whether he could have achieved much of what he wanted to do without becoming rather more authoritarian, to be honest I suspect probably not, but that wasn't where he was coming from.

 

[duncanp]

Yet one of the goons on independent SAGE yesterday said 'maybe we should consider 200-300 deaths a day from winter flu as too high...'.

Yes, the penny has finally dropped at Fake SAGE, with them realising that the government is no longer listening to or scared by their utter rubbish predictions and "modelling".

So now they are focusing on flu, in the hope that we will have similar restrictions to combat flu as were used to combat COVID.

The one really practical thing that the government could do to combat flu is to increase the number of people who are eligible for a free flu jab on the NHS, or negotiate with the vaccine manufacturers to make it available at pharmacies for a charge of around £5.

If they are thinking of COVID style restrictions every winter to combat flu, they can jolly well stick that somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.

 

[nw1]

Yes, the penny has finally dropped at Fake SAGE, with them realising that the government is no longer listening to or scared by their utter rubbish predictions and "modelling".

So now they are focusing on flu, in the hope that we will have similar restrictions to combat flu as were used to combat COVID.

The one really practical thing that the government could do to combat flu is to increase the number of people who are eligible for a free flu jab on the NHS, or negotiate with the vaccine manufacturers to make it available at pharmacies for a charge of around £5.

If they are thinking of COVID style restrictions every winter to combat flu, they can jolly well stick that somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.

I very much doubt that would happen to be honest; too many questions, to which the government would have no answers, would be asked if the government decided to introduce lockdowns ('fludowns'?) or vaccine passports to deal with flu.

 

[duncanp]

I very much doubt that would happen to be honest; too many questions, to which the government would have no answers, would be asked if the government decided to introduce lockdowns ('fludowns'?) or vaccine passports to deal with flu.

I realise there won't be any lockdown style measure to cope with flu - the implications for the economy and mental health are just too great.

As I said, increasing uptake of the flu vaccine is the one thing that the government can do which would have a positive effect and no downsides, providing it is voluntary in all cases.

 

[DelayRepay]

The one really practical thing that the government could do to combat flu is to increase the number of people who are eligible for a free flu jab on the NHS, or negotiate with the vaccine manufacturers to make it available at pharmacies for a charge of around £5.

My flu jab was £14.99 at Boots. So whilst a reduction would probably encourage take up, I doubt the price is putting many people off. Perhaps people just aren't bothered, or perhaps they don't realise it's not very expensive.

Agree with increasing the number of people eligible for a free NHS jab though. It should also be made easier - my mum's GP has always done a mass clinic on a Saturday and if you aren't available on that day, tough. Letting people know the pharmacies can provide free NHS flu jabs to those who are eligible, as well as GPs, might help.

 

[joncombe]

My flu jab was £14.99 at Boots. So whilst a reduction would probably encourage take up, I doubt the price is putting many people off. Perhaps people just aren't bothered, or perhaps they don't realise it's not very expensive.

Agree with increasing the number of people eligible for a free NHS jab though. It should also be made easier - my mum's GP has always done a mass clinic on a Saturday and if you aren't available on that day, tough. Letting people know the pharmacies can provide free NHS flu jabs to those who are eligible, as well as GPs, might help.

I've never had the flu jab before this year and the only reason I had it this year is that I was offered it for free at the same time I had the Covid 19 booster (I was not aware of this until I got there). I am not sure why as I'm not over 50 and do not meet any of the other criteria to qualify for free but figured I may as well have it too since it didn't cost anything and would only add a few seconds on to the appointment. I know others that according to the website didn't quality for free NHS flu jab but were also offered it at the same vaccination centre. I'm not sure how widepsread this is but if it is widespread then it suggest cost shouldn't be a barrier either.

 

[yorkie]

What exactly is the point of keeping masks around at this point? Especially with such a hotchpotch of implementation.

To placate those who erroneously think that any old mask will actually keep cases down, like they were saying was the case in France.

Interestingly the people banging on about how effective masks are in France have now shut up; funny that. I wonder why?

Covid : 464 769 nouveaux cas détectés en 24 heures ce mardi en France

464 769 nouveaux cas positifs en 24 heures, l'épidémie continue d'affoler les compteurs ce mardi 18 janvier en France.

www-lindependant-fr.translate.goog

Public Health France announces this Tuesday 464,769 new positive cases of coronavirus identified in 24 hours in France. A figure up 26%, against 368,149 cases declared last Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1483548385000972288

France recorded 464,769 Covid cases today (apparently not a backlog issue). Assuming that ~1/3 infections are confirmed by a reported test, this may mean that ~2% of the population got infected by SARSCoV2 within a single day.

It's absolutely clear that this virus cannot be contained by the measures being imposed; Omicron has made this clear even to those who previously refused to believe it.

You're coming across as a little too hyperbolic and self congratulatory, in my view. People with this style of argument, from my experience, are rarely to be relied on. That's not to say you may not be right on some things as you claim.

You can believe what you want to believe

I'm sure some countries have managed to keep deaths down and with vaccines and a milder variant, hopefully we are all at the beginning of the end of this. The advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to the pandemic will be debated for years to come. But certainly, I will be interested in the measured conclusions from scientists and other experts about this pandemic and the approaches to it, and how we can better guard against future outbreaks.

I expect there will be lessons to learn in due course, but regarding the current situation right now we really ought to have learnt that the current restrictions are not able to reduce the spread of Omicron and we may as well just live our lives as everyone is going to get exposed to Sars-CoV-2 multiple times in our lifetimes and the only way to effectively reduce the spread is to build up sufficient levels of immunity, as we head for endemic equilibrium.

I also endorse @Bantamzen's response.

Human expansion into tropical rainforests has increased the liklehood of pathogens spreading as we are creating an ecological disequilibrium. I don't buy the 'viruses have always spread - nothing to see here narrative'. Spillover to humans is now more likely than ever before - so human activity, such as deforestation is increasing the liklehood of pandemics. Scientists are researching zoonotic diseases and this should be supported.

Sars-CoV-2 came from bats (via another host) and I don't think you can put that down to deforestation. I think if you want to make this argument, you'd need to decouple it from Sars-CoV-2 as I don't see any evidence to claim this is the underlying cause of Sars-CoV-2 spilling over into humans. I'd suggest a new thread (if there isn't one already) would be warranted to debate the possible origins. It's far from clear cut though.

....We need a clear projection: what level of serious infections and deaths is tolerable to avoid restrictions. What level of serious infections and deaths are intolerable and would require them.

The same as for influenza in the worst possible 'flu years before Sars-CoV-2 came along.

Yes, the article says



Er, isn't that a contradiction in terms?

How can you still have compulsory face mask laws after COVID restrictions are lifted, given that compulsory face mask laws are a COVID restriction?

I hope Boris Johnson does abolish compulsory face masks in London, just to stick two fingers up at Mr Khan.

Khan is a dangerous, divisive individual who lacks intelligence. Just ignore him!

No mention of vaccine passport status,. isolation or masks yet, but I'm sure more information will come when Sturgeon speaks.

Sturgeon will keep masks for longer than England, just to be different, and for virtue signalling purposes to demonstrate she is in control of the virus ()

Whilst arguments about mask wearing are at the fore, it deflects from more important matters such as gun and knife crime.

This is very convenient for Khan.

Khan's a bloody nuisance. At it again I see, urging the government to keep this mandatory face mask on public transport nonsense. "Increase public confidence" wearing face masks on public transport??!! What an absolute joke!! He should have realised that the vast majority of people are sick of wearing face masks now and want all this to be scrapped for good! Why doesn't he make himself more useful and concentrate on more important matters such as gun crime in London??

There will be no mandate though; he can huff and puff all he likes, he can't make people wear them.

News from Zoe study:

Omicron wave has finally peaked

According to ZOE COVID Study incidence figures, in total there are currently 183,364 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID in the UK on average, based on PCR and LF test data from up to three days ago.

covid.joinzoe.com

According to ZOE COVID Study incidence figures, in total there are currently 183,364 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID in the UK on average, based on PCR and LF test data from up to three days ago [*]. A clear decrease of 12% from 208,471 reported last week (Graph 1).

Cases are dropping in all regions apart from North East, where the increase is already slowing and should start dropping soon (Graph 3).

Daily new symptomatic cases are now going down in all age groups. The rise in the over 75’s seen in previous weeks is now plateauing at low levels (Graph 4).

 

[farleigh]

I am feeling very positive at the moment and (I hope I am right) it feels that the arguments for any restrictions are evaporating.

 

[kristiang85]

I am feeling very positive at the moment and (I hope I am right) it feels that the arguments for any restrictions are evaporating.

Ditto. I really feel like we are nearing the end.

Who would have thought our saviour would be Dominic Cummings? (I believe his revelations have helped accellerate public opinion towards ending restrictions, and I'm pretty even the anonymous leaks are someone colluding with him... and the ultimate irony is he was pro-restriction!).

 

[Mugby]

I'm absolutely astounded!

Just seen the latest 'Google Doodle' for today and it's 'Wear a Mask - Get Vaccinated - Save Lives'

Why on earth would they feel it necessary to revive this nonsense at this particular time!

 

[island]

Which website is this please? All the articles I'm reading unfortunately say that face mask rules will stay/are to stay. Really hoping this doesn't turn out to be the case on the 27th.

I'm holding out hope that they move back to being "expected and recommended".

 

[scarby]

To placate those who erroneously think that any old mask will actually keep cases down, like they were saying was the case in France.

Interestingly the people banging on about how effective masks are in France have now shut up; funny that. I wonder why?

Covid : 464 769 nouveaux cas détectés en 24 heures ce mardi en France

464 769 nouveaux cas positifs en 24 heures, l'épidémie continue d'affoler les compteurs ce mardi 18 janvier en France.

www-lindependant-fr.translate.goog

https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1483548385000972288

It's absolutely clear that this virus cannot be contained by the measures being imposed; Omicron has made this clear even to those who previously refused to believe it.

I am in France now.

Re the figures, for what it's worth, I believe the figure registered on Monday was 0, so Tuesday's must have lumped together Monday and Tuesday - therefore in fact the figures are about the same as last week. But we all know the media don't want to be bothered by minor details like that when they can post attention grabbing lone numbers.

I do agree with you though. Mask wearing here is a farce, people have grown tired of it and many have it hanging round their chin, etc. And as if, if someone is contagious, how will it help that they wear a mask for 20 seconds to enter and take their seat in a restaurant when they then sit for 2 hours at the table maskless?

 

[DustyBin]

I'm holding out hope that they move back to being "expected and recommended".

That’s better than them being mandated of course, but I actually found it extremely divisive as it created a “grey area” and confused a lot of people. It also empowered the petty authoritarians to continue telling others what to do. What we really need is for the government to say “it’s your choice but there’s no requirement” and leave it at that.

 

[Smidster]

I'm holding out hope that they move back to being "expected and recommended".

We should find out later today.

I am bracing for at least another 3 weeks though honestly feel 6 is more likely - I just don't see them being willing to remove all measures at once.

But yes, the whole thing is complete nonsense - I went to a gig last night (transported by my personal train service) and you have a few hundred people in a room all being happy and normal and then the music ends and the masks come out to leave the venue...I just don't get the psychology of it all.

Very sad though to see what has happened to our cities and I don't have any bright ideas for revival!

 

[takno]

I'm absolutely astounded!

Just seen the latest 'Google Doodle' for today and it's 'Wear a Mask - Get Vaccinated - Save Lives'

Why on earth would they feel it necessary to revive this nonsense at this particular time!

I doubt that's a UK-focused message. It's likely to be more about what's happening in the lives of a team in Northern California who don't want to be forced back into the office, and are hanging onto every excuse the CDC can feed them not to

 

[Peterthegreat]

I am in France now.

Re the figures, for what it's worth, I believe the figure registered on Monday was 0, so Tuesday's must have lumped together Monday and Tuesday - therefore in fact the figures are about the same as last week. But we all know the media don't want to be bothered by minor details like that when they can post attention grabbing lone numbers.

I do agree with you though. Mask wearing here is a farce, people have grown tired of it and many have it hanging round their chin, etc. And as if, if someone is contagious, how will it help that they wear a mask for 20 seconds to enter and take their seat in a restaurant when they then sit for 2 hours at the table maskless?

The figure registered on Monday was 102,144.

 

[brad465]

Plan B confirmed to be ending, and that includes dropping mandatory face masks:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-60046073

Boris Johnson has announced the end of Plan B measures in England from Thursday 27 January, but what does this mean?

• The end of mandatory Covid passes in England, with businesses allowed to use them if they choose
• Mandatory face masks will end, including in classrooms for secondary students and on public transport - meaning people will not be criminalised for
• The end to work from home guidance
• Restrictions on care homes will be eased, with detail to be released
• However, there will still be a legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive for Covid

He adds the decisions reflect the government's intention to trust the British people to make the right choices.

 

[island]

Boris has just announced in the Commons that when the face covering and COVID pass regulations expire at the end of Wednesday, they will not be renewed.

 

[LAX54]

Boris has just announced in the Commons that when the face covering and COVID pass regulations expire at the end of Wednesday, they will not be renewed.

Self Isolation is hopefully not to be renewed on March 24, and they are also looking at the value of the 2 day test after you arrive in the UK (assume if vaccinated)

 

[greyman42]

Plan B confirmed to be ending, and that includes dropping mandatory face masks:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-60046073

Starmer ummed and ahhed about it sayong he wanted to see the scientific evidence for dropping plan B. In my opinion, he did not like it but dared not say so.

 

[nw1]

My flu jab was £14.99 at Boots. So whilst a reduction would probably encourage take up, I doubt the price is putting many people off. Perhaps people just aren't bothered, or perhaps they don't realise it's not very expensive.

Agree with increasing the number of people eligible for a free NHS jab though. It should also be made easier - my mum's GP has always done a mass clinic on a Saturday and if you aren't available on that day, tough. Letting people know the pharmacies can provide free NHS flu jabs to those who are eligible, as well as GPs, might help.

Surprisingly, I am eligible for a free flu jab, probably based only on my DOB; though given how infrequently I am affected badly by viruses (including Delta which was no worse than a moderate cold) I have not taken it. Maybe they should better target free flu jabs to those who actually need it based on illness history, obesity, asthma, etc rather than use a blunt instrument like DOB? (unless you are in a clear high-risk category such as being of pensionable age).

 

[AlterEgo]

Big victory even if it was for the wrong reasons today. Masks are useless and should have gone long ago.

 

[nw1]

Boris has just announced in the Commons that when the face covering and COVID pass regulations expire at the end of Wednesday, they will not be renewed.

The reason for the timing is of course crystal clear, and is nothing to do with Covid. The bribe will not work (though in all honesty I have no problems with masks anyway, though I do have a problem with vaccine passports on civil liberties grounds).

 

[Nicks]

Wonder what the London Major will do with the TfL, are we back to the byelaw enforcement and have to continue to endure the non stop messaging on the London buses and underground?