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Do we need a coronavirus thread?

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  1. LaidBack
    Member

    @crowriver - agreed. Just done an issue of The Geographer celebrating 175 years of the Russian Geographic Society. Always good to see dialogue with criticism where due.

    Meanwhile on Twitter. Oooh Richard Leonard! Seems Adam McVey wasn't promised level 2.I

    Writing to Leonard on Twitter, McVey said he was just made aware of the comments this morning.

    “You stated in questions to Nicola Sturgeon that John Swinney told me Edinburgh would move to level 2 prior to the Cabinet’s discussion – this isn’t true and I’ve never said that.

    “You stated public health officials told me we’d move to level 2 – this isn’t true and I’ve never said.

    “As I informed my council yesterday, they (unusually) didn’t give me an indication beforehand of what their recommendation to Cabinet would be. The DFM informed me afterwards.

    “You stated my motion at yesterday’s council contained your claims above – it doesn’t, as you can see below.

    “Can you correct the record urgently please? This is serious and we’re all trying to work as hard as we can to protect public health, businesses and jobs.”

    Speaking in the Parliament yesterday the First Minister explained that in the last seven days the number of cases per 100,000 in Edinburgh has increased by 14%, while test positivity has gone up by 0.5%.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  2. Baldcyclist
    Member

    "Russia and Oxford to test combining their vaccines"

    Well that should be easy, they are identical...

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55270942

    Posted 3 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/11/covid-upturned-planet-freedland

    Posted 3 years ago #

  4. SRD
    Moderator

    someone i follow on twitter has quit the Oxford vaccine trial over the russia ties...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    Someone I saw on the Brooks website has castigated them for making their goods in China. He did not serve tours in Nam to pay top dollar to a Brit company to outsource to china

    Posted 3 years ago #

  6. crowriver
    Member

    @Baldcyclist, I fear your information may not be entirely accurate. The "Oxford" vaccine uses a chimpanzee virus, however:

    "Unlike AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Sputnik V uses two different human adenovirus vectors to try to trigger a stronger and longer-term immune response. "

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/11/oxford-covid-vaccine-to-be-combined-with-sputnik-jab-for-trial

    I note how the Graun cannot quite resist showing its contempt by calling the Russian vaccine a "Sputnik jab". Chauvinism does crop up in the strangest of places sometimes...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    “

    SCOTS across the central belt have been warned not to travel outside their area for Christmas shopping as police warned they would take enforcement action if necessary to stop people flouting restrictions.

    “

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18938310.coronavirus-scotland-christmas-shoppers-told-not-flout-travel-ban/

    Posted 3 years ago #

  8. Baldcyclist
    Member

    @crowriver I'm just being frivolous, as it's been well documented that the Russians hacked into the Oxford vaccine research during the summer...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  9. crowriver
    Member

    @Baldcyclist, did they leave a calling card in Cyrillic? Maybe it was the Chinese? They seem to be promoting their own vaccines to many countries. Or maybe.....gasp! The Americans???!!!

    Posted 3 years ago #

  10. Stickman
    Member

    I note how the Graun cannot quite resist showing its contempt by calling the Russian vaccine a "Sputnik jab". Chauvinism does crop up in the strangest of places sometimes...

    Not chauvinism - the Russian vaccine is called Sputnik V.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  11. SRD
    Moderator

    @crowriver by all means let’s not be anti-Russian in a knee jerk racist way. But the efforts of the Putin state to attack ‘western’ (and other) systems is well-documented (I know more about their activities in African and Middle Eastern states). I am far more dubious about their intentions than I ever was of the ‘soviets/commies’ during the Cold War.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  12. ejstubbs
    Member

    @Stickman: the Russian vaccine is called Sputnik V

    Have to admit that crowriver's comment puzzled me, too. The name actually occurs in the text crowriver quoted.

    OK, the use of the word "jab" as an informal term for a vaccine, from reference to the actual act of vaccination, is apparently regarded as somewhat proletarian* but AFAIK it's a perfectly well established and innocuous usage which carries no derogatory undertones. At least, down south it is. Up here, of course, the more usual term is "jag". I've often wondered why, but it certainly doesn't bother me. It's all of a one with usages such as "bye just now" (or, as my wife learned to say when she lived in Solihull as a child, "tara for a bit") and "needs done" which IMO just add to the richness of interpersonal communication.

    * Chris Maslanka, via his alter ego Pedanticus, called it out in his Pyrgic Puzzles column the other week. I thought that in that instance his pedantry was unjustifiable (and certain of my acquaintances might suggest that I should know...)

    Posted 3 years ago #

  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Absolutely.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  14. crowriver
    Member

    @Stickman, @ejstubbs, this was in the context of a headline that used "Oxford vaccine" and "Sputnik jab" in the same sentence. Obviously I'm aware that the Russian vaccine is called Sputnik, and equally that "jab" is not necessarily a pejorative, but I suppose I'm quite alert to the ways in which media represent "the other". Something to do with living in Scotland and seeing how anything Scottish is represented... A minor difference in language could be explained away as just good form in variation of vocabulary, but in this case I interpret it as a signifier of difference, not a neutral choice.

    @SRD, I'm not denying the murky machinations of the Russian state. However there are various other states also involved in murky goings on (including our own and several of our allies). I certainly understand that, as political and military adversaries, it's natural and even logical for British media to demonise Russia. However I do think we miss out on information that a less partisan media might report more truthfully. That's my main concern here. I also think we shouldn't always assume the worst about any initiative that comes from the Russian state.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  15. SRD
    Moderator

    well of course we should;dn't be skeptical of something just because 'it's Russian' but better people than me have asked questions about the Russian vaccine.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  16. ejstubbs
    Member

    @crowriver: this was in the context of a headline that used "Oxford vaccine" and "Sputnik jab" in the same sentence

    Journalists are usually taught not to use the same word twice in close proximity. Arguably they could have re-cast it as something like "Oxford and Sputnik covid vaccines to be combined" but I suspect any major newspaper can plead time pressure (with more or less justification). If it truly worries you then you can complain to the Readers' Editor: https://www.theguardian.com/info/2014/sep/12/-sp-how-to-make-a-complaint-about-guardian-or-observer-content. Their Editorial Code does state:

    "Language Respect for the reader demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend"

    It then goes on at some length about swearing, though it doesn't actually say that the code only applies to that form of offensiveness.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  17. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/12/scotch-eggs-10-fold-surge-in-demand-for-substantial-meal

    Posted 3 years ago #

  18. crowriver
    Member

    @ejstubbs, maybe you missed this bit in my post?

    "A minor difference in language could be explained away as just good form in variation of vocabulary, but in this case I interpret it as a signifier of difference, not a neutral choice."

    On journalistic training, the Graun has been notorious for decades for typos and poor sub-editing, hence the Private Eye joke that they'd even spell the name of the paper wrongly. As for that headline: "Oxford Covid vaccine to be combined with Sputnik jab for trial" could have been written more concisely I'm sure. For example it might have been " "Oxford and Sputnik Covid vaccines to be combined for trial". That they chose a different form of words which leads to a (subconscious) comparison of vocabulary could be explained as mere coincidence, but I beg to differ.

    The Graun is not a neutral actor, you only have to look at, say, their recent coverage of the US elections to see their use of highly emotive and partisan language - however justified that might have been, it was not neutral reporting. Neutrality or objectivity in reporting is, in any case, impossible. There's always an agenda.

    But go ahead and see journalistic word choice as a neutral decision or an innocent consequence of professional style guides. I'll continue to disagree.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I'm not sure I agree.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  20. crowriver
    Member

    So in the shop yesterday, a bloke started encroaching on my personal space while I was unloading messages onto the till conveyor. I asked him to keep two metres away, he responded that he was wearing a mask. I replied yes I can see that, two metres please, he started cursing...

    At least he was wearing a mask, that's something.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  21. Baldcyclist
    Member

    "New fast-spreading variant of virus identified"

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55299653

    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @crowriver

    Mentalist in a mask is still a mentalist. Plenty mentalists.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  23. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/14/bame-groups-hit-by-covid-triple-whammy-official-uk-study-finds

    Posted 3 years ago #

  24. chdot
    Admin

    “

    Pre-existing social inequalities contributed to the UK recording the highest death rates from Covid in Europe, a leading authority on public health has said, warning that many children’s lives would be permanently blighted if the problem is not tackled.

    “

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/pre-existing-inequality-led-to-record-uk-covid-deaths-sir-michael-marmot-public-health-chief

    Posted 3 years ago #

  25. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/city-leaders-urge-people-edinburgh-stay-home-hogmanay-3067681

    Posted 3 years ago #

  26. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/man-who-rode-jetski-from-scotland-to-isle-of-man-to-see-girlfriend-jailed-for-covid-breach

    Posted 3 years ago #

  27. LaidBack
    Member

    @chdot - Jetskied from Scotland to Isle of Man and now has four weeks in jail! Island is Covid free and has most things open up for residents.

    Of course many will be like him and just driving miles to see partners etc. (His first time on Jetski that he bought specially for the trip).

    Other non approved behaviour.... friends of friends relocating from London. Saw a house in Edinburgh on web. Came up last weekend to check over. Was in Harrison Gardens but they were not happy with parking situation there. Maybe a couple of cars - who knows.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  28. crowriver
    Member

    Covid in Scotland: Poverty linked to higher risk of death from virus

    People in the poorest areas are most likely to be severely ill with and die from Covid-19 than those in wealthier areas, a study has suggested.

    ...poor housing, increased use of public transport and the financial pressure to continue working may be included.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55309935

    See also the global version of this story (nice animation):

    Coronavirus and poverty: Is there a link?

    The coronavirus pandemic has not affected all communities equally, with wealth appearing to be a major factor. The BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty looks at some of the reasons that poorer people are more likely to catch - and to die from - Covid-19. Animation by Joe Payne.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-52920591

    Posted 3 years ago #

  29. SRD
    Moderator

    coincidentally, I was just about to suggest that this local area mapping shows the relationship between poverty and rates of infection:

    : https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview

    click on 'view cases by neighbourhood'. then on next page, near the top of the page change 'scotland' to 'edinburgh' on the pull down menu

    Posted 3 years ago #

  30. crowriver
    Member

    East Lothian now back up into Level 3, along with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Not surprising really as EL saw the biggest surge in cases (per 100k) in the UK last week...

    Posted 3 years ago #

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