Generic Virus Thread

[brommy]

6 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

Thought I may have avoided getting it but done 3 lat flows this morning and all positive. Have a PCR booked for 11. 

Sorry about that Mark.

I'm currently feeling mentally drained about this pandemic. It's difficult for me not to start feeling more relaxed or complacent, especially when it seems I'm the only one with a mask in my local supermarket, but at the moment I'm dreading testing positive. My son's wedding is on Friday so my wife and I are being very cautious about who we meet at the moment. We're going to rapid test on Friday morning.

What's annoying is for the past 2 weeks we've had sore throats and slight coughs, but we're still testing negative so I think some of the ailments are just cruel psychology - worrying about missing the wedding.

I'm also stressing about a holiday to Akumal we have in 4 weeks time with British Airways. BA still haven't cancelled/refunded the flights and hotel but Mexico remains on the UK red list. Surely they won't fly us and then expect me to fork out £3715 for me and the wife to spend 10 in a government quarantine hotel??!!

It's all messing with my head!!!

[Genie]

Just now, fightoffyour said:

Just don’t get one and make up a number for the form

If I was travelling alone i’d give it a go, but the wife is already panicking about it all.

Hopefully in the next 10 days or so Shapps will confirm PCR not needed from a point before we come back but i’m not holding my breath.

In related news the government website with suppliers is an absolute shit show. You know on ebay when you search for something then sort it cheapest first, but all the cheap ones are not what you want but something the seller added to get to the top of the list? It’s like that now. Lots of suppliers “from £2.99” but that isn’t any kind of test, what a joke they can do that on a government website.

I can’t find anything on that first one that costs £2.99. Day 2 year is £59, day 2 and 8 is £99, so far from the cheapest. 

[brommy]

16 minutes ago, Genie said:

If I was travelling alone i’d give it a go, but the wife is already panicking about it all.

Hopefully in the next 10 days or so Shapps will confirm PCR not needed from a point before we come back but i’m not holding my breath.

In related news the government website with suppliers is an absolute shit show. You know on ebay when you search for something then sort it cheapest first, but all the cheap ones are not what you want but something the seller added to get to the top of the list? It’s like that now. Lots of suppliers “from £2.99” but that isn’t any kind of test, what a joke they can do that on a government website.

I can’t find anything on that first one that costs £2.99. Day 2 year is £59, day 2 and 8 is £99, so far from the cheapest. 

That government information brings 'chocolate fireguard' to mind!

[markavfc40]

3 hours ago, brommy said:

Sorry about that Mark.

I'm currently feeling mentally drained about this pandemic. It's difficult for me not to start feeling more relaxed or complacent, especially when it seems I'm the only one with a mask in my local supermarket, but at the moment I'm dreading testing positive. My son's wedding is on Friday so my wife and I are being very cautious about who we meet at the moment. We're going to rapid test on Friday morning.

What's annoying is for the past 2 weeks we've had sore throats and slight coughs, but we're still testing negative so I think some of the ailments are just cruel psychology - worrying about missing the wedding.

I'm also stressing about a holiday to Akumal we have in 4 weeks time with British Airways. BA still haven't cancelled/refunded the flights and hotel but Mexico remains on the UK red list. Surely they won't fly us and then expect me to fork out £3715 for me and the wife to spend 10 in a government quarantine hotel??!!

It's all messing with my head!!!

I feel for you mate. If you have things to look forward to, especially something as big as your sons wedding, then it is natural to be stressing about catching it. The thing with anything like this is that you can only do so much and can't control what others do to protect you in things like the mask wearing. 

In terms of your holiday there is no way I could see a company like BA flying you to a red list country. I think with reviews happening every 3 weeks then they'd wait until as late as possible before cancelling. More stress you don't need I know but I'd be confident that you won't be taken to a red list country and will be refunded. At least you no longer have uncertainty of amber list. 

Try not to stress mate, take care and have a great day on Friday. Being father of the groom there is no speech to make so that is one thing you don't have to stress about. 

[KAZZAM]

5 hours ago, Genie said:

Can anyone recommend day 2 PCR test suppliers please?

The government have said they will be scrapping them “before the end of October” but not the exact date (they’re good like that).

Were coming back on the 22nd so possibly before changes come into effect. I’ll wait as long as I can before ordering but wondered if anyone could recommend a cheap supplier of this pointless test?

 

I've just come back from the Canaries and we used Randox (£43 using the code) day 2 only. I ordered them just before our holiday and they was waiting in our post when we got back (7 days). Sent them off day 1 of being home and got the results 2 days later.

[brommy]

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

I feel for you mate. If you have things to look forward to, especially something as big as your sons wedding, then it is natural to be stressing about catching it. The thing with anything like this is that you can only do so much and can't control what others do to protect you in things like the mask wearing. 

In terms of your holiday there is no way I could see a company like BA flying you to a red list country. I think with reviews happening every 3 weeks then they'd wait until as late as possible before cancelling. More stress you don't need I know but I'd be confident that you won't be taken to a red list country and will be refunded. At least you no longer have uncertainty of amber list. 

Try not to stress mate, take care and have a great day on Friday. Being father of the groom there is no speech to make so that is one thing you don't have to stress about. 

Thanks Mark; much appreciated. I'm feeling more confident the wedding will go well.

The holiday is further complicated -  after Mexico went red in August and expecting the cancellation, I booked Cyprus leaving this Sunday. I can cancel the Paphos holiday before 4pm this Thursday.  I don't want the expense of both holidays so need to know whether Mexico is leaving the red list, before Thursday afternoon. Still, very much a 'first world problem' compared to those who have suffered this pandemic.

[LondonLax]

Interesting little quirk. Apparently purchasing of PCR tests in Hubei Provence in China suddenly doubled around the summer of 2019.

Quote

Spending on tests used to detect coronavirus in China’s Hubei Province soared in the months before official reports of COVID-19 first emerged, suggesting that virus was spreading in the northern summer of 2019, well before it was publicly acknowledged in China.

The data, compiled by Australian cybersecurity outfit, Internet 2.0, showed that the sale of polymerase chain reaction tests -- used to detect the presence of specific viruses -- jumped to 67.4 million yuan ($14.3 million) in 2019, from 36.7 million yuan in 2018, and 29.1 million in 2017.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/spending-on-pcr-tests-in-china-soared-months-before-covid-19-revealed-20211005-p58x89.html

[Stevo985]

18 hours ago, trekka said:

I went with Expresstest when arriving back from Gibraltar.  They have a drive-thru at Birmingham Airport or you can get the test kits sent to you. 

 

I used them as well when I went to Ireland. Cost aside they were great. Took about 2 minutes, literally. It was genuinely about 5 minutes from parking my car to getting back in it.

Results were less than 48 hours as well

[foreveryoung]

20 hours ago, LondonLax said:

Interesting little quirk. Apparently purchasing of PCR tests in Hubei Provence in China suddenly doubled around the summer of 2019.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/spending-on-pcr-tests-in-china-soared-months-before-covid-19-revealed-20211005-p58x89.html

I still believe I had it in Nov/Dec 2019, caught off my pal at work, who does triathlons and is super fit. He said he rarely gets colds but had never felt so bad with shortness of breath symptoms in his life. My symptoms were shortness of breath which I had never experienced before, but just thought it was a bad flu as we hadn't really heard about the Virus then.

[PussEKatt]

A friend of mine ( I mentioned him in this thread,the guy thats 1 sandwich short of a picnic ) has ordered his 2 children and his fiance NOT to get vaccinated.His fiance has been living in Nigeria for the last 18 months and as mentioned she is not vaccinated.Surely she should have caugh COVID 19 by now ?! 

[PussEKatt]

@bobzy She is not vaccinated and living in Nigeria and has not caught the virus.How can this be,surely Nigeria is one of the places that you are more likely to get the virus.There are heaps of people living in England that are getting the virus,yet she is living in Nigeria,not vaccinated and not got the virus.That does not make sence to me

[sidcow]

13 minutes ago, PussEKatt said:

@bobzy She is not vaccinated and living in Nigeria and has not caught the virus.How can this be,surely Nigeria is one of the places that you are more likely to get the virus.There are heaps of people living in England that are getting the virus,yet she is living in Nigeria,not vaccinated and not got the virus.That does not make sence to me

I'm just guessing here, maybe..... just maybe she's not had close contact with someone who has coronavirus? 

[PussEKatt]

27 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I'm just guessing here, maybe..... just maybe she's not had close contact with someone who has coronavirus? 

You could be right,I just think that if anyone is going to get it Nigeria is a very likely place to start.She could also be very very very lucky.

[Genie]

On 04/10/2021 at 14:46, markavfc40 said:

I used expert medicals mate a few weeks ago when we came back from Corfu. £28 each inc postage. Ordered a few days before we came home (just to make sure rules hadn't changed/no longer needed) received code needed to put on PLF form straight away, tests were waiting when we got home. Did tests and had results back within 3-4 days. 

FYI, expert medicals now removed from the government approved ( ) list.

[markavfc40]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

FYI, expert medicals now removed from the government approved ( ) list.

If this government doesn't approve of them then they are better than I thought 

[HanoiVillan]

Footballers really keen to trash their new 'socially conscious' reputations by not getting vaccinated aren't they.

[sne]

5 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

Footballers really keen to trash their new 'socially conscious' reputations by not getting vaccinated aren't they.

Athletes in general it seems. Tons of high profile American athletes who refuse or are dragging their feet about it. Still have my doubts about if Lebron James actually got the jab or if the NBA let him slide as long as they can  publicly state that he did. He's too big to suspend.

Evander Kane suspected of faking his Covid vaxx card. The list is endless.

[sidcow]

And yet they'll all happily get needles stuck into them when they've got a bit of pain somewhere or wolf down asthma drugs to increase lung capacity. 

The club Dr's just need to tell them a little known side effect is that it enhances their performance and they'll be beating them off with sticks. 

[Genie]

6 minutes ago, sidcow said:

they'll be beating them off

[Stevo985]

On 29/09/2021 at 10:09, Stevo985 said:

I imagine this is something that's much easier to enforce in the US than it is here. I doubt you'd be able to sack someone here for not getting the vaccine.

We got a company wide email the other day asking us to verify our employees'  "vaccination status"

It was quickly rescinded and we were told it was meant to be for US managers only (we're a US company).

Kind of indicates they're trying to enforce that kind of thing over there but can't do it here

This has escalated.

Still only applicable to US employees. However...

 

The US employees have now been told to provide their vaccination status by 15th October (via an online form). But further to that, this is a direct quote from the email

Quote

If you choose not to submit a completed form by Oct. 15, 2021, your choice will be treated as a resignation from the company and your employment will be terminated.