the most over the top restrictions introduced

[DB]

What's the current year to date total number of UK deaths (all causes) compared with the equivalent figure for 2019?

The five-year average is more meaningful than a comparison with a single year as it fluctuates (obviously that also happens within five year periods due to factors such as how bad the flu season is, but it's more reliable than a single year comparison.

Public Health England statistics here:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/static-reports/mortality-surveillance/excess-mortality-in-england-latest.html

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Interesting, but rather a lot of detail there.

So what were the headline annual figures?

 

[Bantamzen]

I haven’t read this thread for a while but things seem to be getting more and more bonkers!

A colleague of mine recently lost his father and the family weren’t allowed to visit him in the funeral home because he had tested positive for covid before he died. Apparently my colleague’s sister asked (sarcastically) if they couldn’t just put a mask on him! I know some people derive great comfort from saying their last goodbyes in this way so it seems a particularly heartless rule. And I’m not convinced a deceased person can spread a respiratory illness?!

Incidentally, he was counted as a covid death despite contracting it in the hospital and having been admitted in an already dying state. Talking to my colleague the whole thing sounded a right shambles, it was a real eye opener....

This is one of the most heart-breaking things I have read this year.

 

[Crossover]

Some of it is just bonkers and makes no sense at all. My son has to take his Christmas cards in a sealed plastic bag. They are then dished out 3 days later.

I’ve heard of another school where all cards had to be in school by, I believe, Friday, so that they can be quarantined for 3 days to be handed out next week

 

[Richard Scott]

This is one of the most heart-breaking things I have read this year.

I agree this is inhumane, it's the sort of action we'd have looked down on if happened in another country before all of this. What has our society come to now? This constant virus obsession is going to end up destroying fabric of our society if we're not careful.

 

[DustyBin]

This is one of the most heart-breaking things I have read this year.

I agree this is inhumane, it's the sort of action we'd have looked down on if happened in another country before all of this. What has our society come to now? This constant virus obsession is going to end up destroying fabric of our society if we're not careful.

I know it makes me angry thinking about it to be honest. Literally nothing matters to these zealots except Covid-19.

 

[DB]

I know it makes me angry thinking about it to be honest. Literally nothing matters to these zealots except Covid-19.

And it's not even logical - the virus is transmitted by someone breathing, so viewing the body of someone who has died must present an absolutely negligible risk.

 

[Domh245]

So what were the headline annual figures?

Total deaths in England & Wales to the week ended 27th November was 554910, equivalent number for the 5 year average is 490107 - an excess of 64803 (13.2%) to that point.

A total of 66197 deaths were recorded with covid as a contributory factor on the death certificate - using the methodology set out by CEBM, 57507 of those had Covid as the underlying cause.

 

[kristiang85]

Yes I’ve been saying this for months.... Why nobody is challenging the government and the media over this subtle but critical difference I have no idea. FROM and WITH, two very different meanings!

Exactly. It's like saying 100 people died today with arthritis, because they were suffering from it when they died of cancer. That doesn't mean there's a pandemic of deadly arthritis...

 

[Smidster]

Here is another for the crazy rule bucket

At the local elections in May you must take your own pencil.

 

[Ianno87]

And it's not even logical - the virus is transmitted by someone breathing, so viewing the body of someone who has died must present an absolutely negligible risk.

And surely a perspex screen would be a reasonable precaution against whatever risk there is.

 

[duncanp]

Here is another for the crazy rule bucket

At the local elections in May you must take your own pencil.

And another one is GPs refusing to take part in the COVID-19 vaccination program because it means that they won't be able to do all their other work, and they "...need to keep their patients safe..." this winter .

Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

 

[Bantamzen]

I know it makes me angry thinking about it to be honest. Literally nothing matters to these zealots except Covid-19.

I hate to say this buy I would happily give the person that made this decision a shaking, I really would. I hope that the family concerned make a serious complaint against the funeral home, it is only by people calling out these kinds of ridiculous decisions that something will change.

And it's not even logical - the virus is transmitted by someone breathing, so viewing the body of someone who has died must present an absolutely negligible risk.

Logic doesn't seem to come into it, some people simply like to make up stupid rules for their own satisfaction.

And surely a perspex screen would be a reasonable precaution against whatever risk there is.

Why? The guy was dead, its not like he was going to sneeze or cough. Quite honestly suggestions like these encourage the idiots that end up making these kind of decisions.

 

[adc82140]

Here is another for the crazy rule bucket

At the local elections in May you must take your own pencil.

As the ones provided are normally blunt, I'm happy to oblige with this one.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Dec 2020 ==

And another one is GPs refusing to take part in the COVID-19 vaccination program because it means that they won't be able to do all their other work, and they "...need to keep their patients safe..." this winter .

Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

They do have a point though, if slightly clumsily put. GP surgeries offering the vaccines have been told to put all other work on hold. This isn't good enough. People with other medical needs cannot be ignored. The vaccines should be administered in village and town halls or other public buildings, not at the surgery.

 

[duncanp]

They do have a point though, if slightly clumsily put. GP surgeries offering the vaccines have been told to put all other work on hold. This isn't good enough. People with other medical needs cannot be ignored. The vaccines should be administered in village and town halls or other public buildings, not at the surgery.

But people who have other medical needs have been ignored.

It has become more difficult to get an appointment, with so called "telephone triage", and referrals to hospital for things such as cancer and heart disease are much lower than normal.

GPs have been offered extra money by the government for the vaccination program, so the clinics can take place at times when the surgery is not normally used by other patients, such as evenings and weekends.

The vaccination does not have to be given by the GP themselves. Anyone who is suitably trained can do it, and I have seen reports that organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance have been asked to assist.

If there are suitable premises available locally, then these can be used as an alternative to a GP surgery building (My flu vaccine was in a church hall last year, and a local pharmacy this year) But it may be that in certain locations the GP surgery building is the only suitable premises available.

 

[trainophile]

I have heard that some places were doing flu jabs in a gazebo in a carpark. When I had mine it was a walk-through in the practice, but in the back door and out the front door in ten minutes. Agree that it probably doesn't have to be a fully qualified doctor, I imagine health visitors and practice nurses are qualified to give injections.

As for the rest, we are seriously in headless chicken territory nowadays.

 

[Wychwood93]

I have heard that some places were doing flu jabs in a gazebo in a carpark. When I had mine it was a walk-through in the practice, but in the back door and out the front door in ten minutes. Agree that it probably doesn't have to be a fully qualified doctor, I imagine health visitors and practice nurses are qualified to give injections.

As for the rest, we are seriously in headless chicken territory nowadays.

We had ours in a gazebo outside our Surgery - in one gate and out the other.

 

[trainophile]

Another one just remembered - Lads' Sunday league football team that my friend's 8-year-old grandson plays in - only one spectator per child allowed (to stand around the outside of a muddy, seatless pitch in the middle of a field). So if she drives the lad and his dad there only one of them can watch, the other one has to go home and pick them up later.

You can now have 2,000 spectators in a FA stadium, but apparently only 22 in the open air in the middle of nowhere.

 

[DB]

Toilets on Sheffield station have a sign on the door saying a maximum of 2 people.

Unless you are able to see through walls, how are you supposed to know whether or not anyone else is in there?

 

[yorkie]

We are being dictated to by hysterical authoritarians who are detatched from reality

Another one just remembered - Lads' Sunday league football team that my friend's 8-year-old grandson plays in - only one spectator per child allowed (to stand around the outside of a muddy, seatless pitch in the middle of a field). So if she drives the lad and his dad there only one of them can watch, the other one has to go home and pick them up later.

You can now have 2,000 spectators in a FA stadium, but apparently only 22 in the open air in the middle of nowhere.

Is this on a public field or is there a public space within viewing distance of the pitch? If so they can't actually impose this.

Toilets on Sheffield station have a sign on the door saying a maximum of 2 people.

Unless you are able to see through walls, how are you supposed to know whether or not anyone else is in there?

The sort of people who implement such rules do not think of such practicalities.

All that matters is their ability to tick a box indicating they have taken some measures.

The people driving these things lack intelligence and the ability to consider the bigger picture.

 

[DB]

Another one from Sheffield station - main waiting room only open 8 to 4 Monday to Saturday. Presumably the virus is busy elsewhere during that period but is hanging around tge station at all other times?

 

[duncanp]

Toilets on Sheffield station have a sign on the door saying a maximum of 2 people.

Unless you are able to see through walls, how are you supposed to know whether or not anyone else is in there?

Oh the coronaphobes don't worry about trifling little details like that.

This is just a box ticking exercise, to make it look as though they are doing something.

 

[kez19]

I noticed in my local gym two urinals (one is out for distancing), same with the sinks too 3 (use 2 at a distance) and both normal toilets are ok (unsure of showers as I had been told in email not too but people use them), again not against anyone let alone gym it’s the stupidity of it all!

 

[Richard Scott]

Here is another for the crazy rule bucket

At the local elections in May you must take your own pencil.

Can use anything, doesn't take much to spoil the ballot paper!!!!

 

[sheff1]

Toilets on Sheffield station have a sign on the door saying a maximum of 2 people.

Unless you are able to see through walls, how are you supposed to know whether or not anyone else is in there?

You stand outside and shout "is anyone in there ?"

If no answer, you go just inside the entrance and shout again in case people using the cubicles didn't hear you the first time.

If still no answer, you enter but check all the seemingly closed cubicle doors in case there is someone inside who is a bit hard of hearing or is listening to music etc on headphones.

If there are two (or more ) people in there, you obviously have to wait outside until they leave. The problem on Platform 2/5, though, is that there an entrance on each side, so after a suitable period you have to do the shouting thing again in case the people already in there have gone out the other exit or other people have come in that way.

 

[trebor79]

You stand outside and shout "is anyone in there ?"

If no answer, you go just inside the entrance and shout again in case people using the cubicles didn't hear you the first time.

If still no answer, you enter but check all the seemingly closed cubicle doors in case there is someone inside who is a bit hard of hearing or is listening to music etc on headphones.

If there are two (or more ) people in there, you obviously have to wait outside until they leave. The problem on Platform 2/5, though, is that there an entrance on each side, so after a suitable period you have to do the shouting thing again in case the people already in there have gone out the other exit or other people have come in that way.

I thought this post was parody, but as I got towards the end I'm not so sure.
Personally I ignore all the maximum occupancy signs unless there's someone on the door controlling access. Life's too short for this sort of nonsense.

 

[Butts]

I have heard that some places were doing flu jabs in a gazebo in a carpark. When I had mine it was a walk-through in the practice, but in the back door and out the front door in ten minutes. Agree that it probably doesn't have to be a fully qualified doctor, I imagine health visitors and practice nurses are qualified to give injections.

As for the rest, we are seriously in headless chicken territory nowadays.

I had a phone call this afternoon (left message) asking if I wanted to go for a flu jab.

Initially I thought it was an invite for a covid vaccination , but no just flu. I've never had one (or flu) - what's the point ?

 

[Bikeman78]

Toilets on Sheffield station have a sign on the door saying a maximum of 2 people.

Unless you are able to see through walls, how are you supposed to know whether or not anyone else is in there?

Same thing on the door of the toilet in my office. The toilets are still closed at Cardiff Central, apart from a single cubicle on platform 8. Meanwhile the cramped, and well used, toilets at Tottenham Hale have been open for months.

 

[DelayRepay]

If there are two (or more ) people in there, you obviously have to wait outside until they leave.

Surely if you find more than two people, you should immediately call the police on 999, and perform a citizens arrest to detain the offenders until officers arrive...

 

[island]

I noticed in my local gym two urinals (one is out for distancing), same with the sinks too 3 (use 2 at a distance) and both normal toilets are ok (unsure of showers as I had been told in email not too but people use them), again not against anyone let alone gym it’s the stupidity of it all!

It’s less bad than most. There is no reason to close off every other cubicle what with the large walls/partitions between them...