Super'rona in the UK

[Muse]

So, I see a couple stories on this new strain tonight.

On local NBC OTA news they said it spreads "70 times faster" than the strain we have prevalent here (i.e. Northern California). But network NBC OTA news said it's "50% more contagious." Are those consistent? Seems like somebody's got bad info there.

I was wondering if I heard that "70 times" right, but I heard them say the same thing an hour later from the local news room.

 

[Muse]

i can only speak for the UK here;

the extended capacity means that the local national health service (aptly named NHS) is now diverting a part of its functions to private hospitals. I had a visit just last month and it was done by a private hospital, but paid for by the NHS. (i got a visit tomorrow but right now it looks like it's not cancer)

we're not doing so bad. It's hard to interpret what you see on the news, the NHS is coping well, people are being overworked, but it's not a "refrigeration rooms full of body bags" situation. PPE is plentiful.

People are still dying. For some fucked up reason, the one cultural thing they decided to import from the US is the antivax movement. THANK YOU AMERICA.

The new strain is more efficient, but essentially it's the same. It's expected that the vaccine will work on all strains. This is also not unusual behaviour from a coronavirus.

Things can still go to shit. We probably would not handle well a spike, and there is always the possibility of a runaway effect.

Most of the UK is now under T4 lockdown .. in theory. I went to buy food earlier today and you'd think it was a normal pre-christmas shopping. British people are made of not give a fuck, they will happily queue in a well formed line but are incapable of understanding what is happening around them. I'm starting to think that their legendary resistance during the Blitz was only due to them not actually noticing it was happening.

I want to leave this place.

Oh, I thought they were smarter than us about these things in the U.K. Guess not. Apparently the stupids are everywhere.