Covid - news and views

The problem on some sites is that waste water from showers drains along a shared drain passing through each shower on it's way out and quite a few showers are internal so although there's air extraction a few open windows and doors would clear droplets in the air much faster.. The shower areas on some sites have very cramped old style designs. Not that I'd be using any at the moment! 

We went on our weekly trip to Sainsburys today. It was quite heartening that the vast, vast majority of customers, young and old, were wearing face masks. In marked contrast, only about 50% of the staff were wearing them. In fairness I suppose that they would be having to wear them all day whereas it was only for about half an hour for us and other customers. They did, of course, have to wear them all the time before 19th July.

Yes, a trip to the local shops and centre and most if not all were wearing masks and keeping away from others.

Were The Staff on check-outs behind the perspex panels still ??

With Devon being packed with holidaymakers I suppose it was inevitable but a few months ago we were down to nil cases just here, now we are at 582 per 100,000 and rising very rapidly, and Torbay and Plymouth are very much higher. Everyone I speak to seems to have friends or family infected or isolating. We don’t usually go far from home during the six week silly season but I think we will be going back to full pre vaccine precautions for a while.

Our rural area of S Somerset is up to 935 per 100,000 (looking at the covid interactive map) we've recently turned the deep purple colour, not seen before. The map changes as it's expanded so local areas can be pinpointed

Covid map LINK

Interesting watching just how things have developed over the last few days re the UK overseas travel policy being in dis-array, it would seem over there is not fairing much better, although the below is not mandatory across the EU and individual countries can choose to ignore or make it up as they go along, pretty much like over here

"Through the latest update regarding the epidemiological situation of the EU countries, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has decided to place Spain and the Balearic Islands in the dark red category.

Such a decision comes after the country registered an upsurge in Coronavirus cases, identifying more than 500 infections per 100,000 inhabitants during the last 14 days, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Consequently, since Spain has been registering high infection rates, ECDC has advised against all unnecessary travel to the country and to the three islands, Ibiza, Palma, and Minorca."

be interesting to see what BJ comes up with next to try to stop the variants entering our country maybe he will put all his faith in the vaccine

We've visited Healey's Cyder Farm today, as part of our Cornwall section of the holiday.  Lots of outdoor space where people are not wearing masks, but I reckon about 50% of folk were wearing masks in the indoor areas... a lot less than at home, to be honest.  Carol and I are still wearing masks in indoor areas.  Carol has popped into Sainsbury's at Truro, so I'll get a further mask report when she comes back to the car.

David

Just had the call, or rather, the email to arms.  Volunteers required to vaccinate our 50's plus this autumn.  Qualifications: the patience of Job and tendencies similar to Vlad the Impaler😳.  Okay I made the last bit up 😃 but if you fancy giving a hand with any of the tasks and skills needed to ensure the programme runs smoothly please try to help out.  A lot of very knackered people will be very grateful for your help 🙏. 

The latest figures show how vulnerable we still are to this disease. Some 4700 infected after an event in Cornwall. Here in Gwynedd we have seen a huge rise in cases, but of course the population has increased 3 or 4 fold with holiday makers. Covid now back in top10 of illnesses in UK. We notice much less face coverings generally and difficulty in Social distancing inside and outside of shops.  Doesnt seem that the mass vaccination is as effective as we think.