Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

[IndigoPrime]

Again, here's the law in England:

- Minimum two confirmed cases within a class for that class to go into isolation
- If class goes into isolation, siblings in other classes or schools MUST attend school

And the government wonders why this is spreading so fast in schools.

[Barrington Boots]

UK libraries are open fully from what I'm told. It's to allow essentila internet access for those who dont have it. In reality, certainly where my brother is based, he's forever evicting people for using the PCs for watching porn or beheading videos.

Libraries aside, this entire clusterfuck is because our shambles of a government at very step has lacked the political will to address issues. Instead its half measures introduced too late at every stage, and the gradual erosion of trust due to their incompetence and cronyism where the rules dont apply to them and their mates, has led to weak measures being shrugged off by an increasingly disillusioned public. I feel guilty getting het up when I'm in a position some people are not where I still have my job and my health, but I'm so, so tired of this.

[Funt Solo]

It is sad: an over-privileged (bullying, nationalist), buffoon is elected, and then you get buffoonery as policy.

My folks are going to visit close relations during the festive period because the government has said it's okay. They've followed all advice so far to the letter - so they're going to follow that as well, despite it being shite advice.

Christmas is like some kind of weird spell that's been cast on people. I imagine if a river of lava sat between those people and their tradition on the far bank, they'd wade right on in on the basis that tradition trumps any other consideration - including being burnt alive in a river of lava through your own volition.

[Tjm86]

And the government wonders why this is spreading so fast in schools.

Leaving aside the fact that in comps it is impossible to socially distance in any meaningful sense in school and that no one is enforcing it the moment kids pass the school gates, trying to keep classes ventilated is a nightmare as you're fighting school management who don't want kids wearing coats in class on one hand and kids who are freezing on the other.

Mind you, the government is adamant that schools are not significant transmission vectors for this.  The same government that didn't believe in asymptomatic transmission not that long back.  Go figure!

[Barrington Boots]

The attitude the government are taking towards schools is ludicrous.

I agree that Christmas is seen by many as a sort of holy grail.that they'd happily risk life and limb (be it their own or everyone else's) so they could have it and it's insane. What seems so unjust on this count is the last minute sheer incompetence of it. The Eton Mess has had dozens of chances to handle this better and instead days ago he was saying the opposite. I do think we needed tighter controls over this period but it should have been discussed weeks ago.

It's all been said before, I'm just annoyed to see people whose made sacrifices all year have one more thing taken away from them. These sacrifices are worthwhile if it keeps them and others alive, but our government are wasting what opportunities they're buying to sort this out.

Anyway, I'm just venting, apologies.

[sheridan]

...and don't forget that if you go to church, synagogue, mosque or temple then you can continue to do that.

Because $deity protects or something?

[Funt Solo]

[IndigoPrime]

We're tier 2, bordered by tier 4 on north and east of our district council. A friend at the north-east tip reports his daughter has been ill—as have at least four of her class of 30. But, yes, keeping the schools open with the threat of legal action was a good move. Well done, Tories (who I note today are already blaming everyone else but themselves).

[TordelBack]

"New More-Infectious Strain" is the greatest get-out-of-jail-free card Our Leaders have ever been handed. Expect to hear nothing-but from now on.

[IndigoPrime]

It'll buy them a small amount of time, but the second kids return to school, that's all over.

[Professor Bear]

"New More-Infectious Strain" is the greatest get-out-of-jail-free card Our Leaders have ever been handed. Expect to hear nothing-but from now on.

A post-truth world of neverending chaos serves the ruling class too well to be allowed to stop, and epidemics and climate collapse, far from being something they're afraid of, are things they need to happen if they're to cling to power - they've known all along that their own incompetence would create the perfect conditions for them to thrive, so realistically, things are only going to get worse because that's what serves them best.

I say this because I finally gave Shock Doctrine a read, and what strikes me is how much faith Naomi Klein had in governments that she actually never saw the last few years coming - in which we've had one high-profile disaster after another that resulted in the funneling of public money into private hands - despite literally writing a book about it in which she says this is definitely what is coming, and yet somehow her predictions were that social changes would pull us back from the brink.
It's an interesting snapshot of the failings of liberal thinking even on (what is considered) the far left.

[The Legendary Shark]

Careful - you're starting to sound like me... :-D

[sheridan]

Careful - you're starting to sound like me... :-D

Got to admit, I was wondering when Shark was going to make an appearance after reading that first paragraph :-)

[Jim_Campbell]

A grim Covid milestone to note: yesterday's cumulative Public Health England 28-day fatality total (not the more contentious 60-day figure) of 67.1K deaths equals the UK's entire number of civilian casualties in World War 2.

[Funt Solo]

A post-truth world of neverending chaos serves the ruling class too well to be allowed to stop, and epidemics and climate collapse, far from being something they're afraid of, are things they need to happen if they're to cling to power - they've known all along that their own incompetence would create the perfect conditions for them to thrive, so realistically, things are only going to get worse because that's what serves them best.

Although there's an obvious difference between opportunistic carpetbagging and the idea of a "plandemic". The "they've known all along" bit is pure supposition and lends your enemy an almost mystical power. If they're so darned smart, does it make sense to sail the ship so close to economic collapse? Or right over the edge of a climate disaster of E.L.E. proportions? Wouldn't it make more sense, if we're imagining sitting at the round table handling those levers of power, to create a docile underclass, rather than a febrile, chaotic one?

Or were you being ironic?