Coronavirus update - NO MORE RESTRICTIONS

[Rjk]

Good that some leading experts are excited by the latest developments unlike our First Minister. I was astounded at the stupid negative comments he made to the press yesterday. He was very negative about Pfizer's claims...." You would always want to read carefully what a particular competitor in this field says on their own behalf".

He doesn't realise that all Pfizer have done is report on the findings of a large double blind study, where the doctors involved did not know if patients were getting vaccine or a placebo until the code is broken. This is how medicines are tested worldwide. He really is anti-private industry.

Then he says "we will decide how to use it once it's available". Wales he says will be responsible for storage and distribution as well.

The facts are that supplies could possibly be available within the next 4-6 weeks. There is limited UK capacity for specialist distribution and storage at -80c, so he and Gethin had better get a move on and get a few logistic contracts sorted.

As for deciding who will get it first, well that will be sorted "once it's available". It needs sorting now. It's not as if you will be able to pop over to your GP for it.

Piss up and brewery come to mind

Drakeford is absolutely right to give a cautious message. nothing is certain with this vaccine yet, and some people are already talking as though the whole thing will be done and dusted within a few weeks.
this coupled with us coming out of lockdown could send a very bad message that people don't need to be as careful going about their day to day activities, which absolutely could lead to people dying. I would much prefer a leader who chooses their words carefully and thinks about the potential consequences of them than just waffles on like the UK prime minister.

if you think Drakeford can't organise a. piss up in a brewery then what do you think about Johnson ?

[lisvaneblue]

Drakeford is absolutely right to give a cautious message. nothing is certain with this vaccine yet, and some people are already talking as though the whole thing will be done and dusted within a few weeks.
this coupled with us coming out of lockdown could send a very bad message that people don't need to be as careful going about their day to day activities, which absolutely could lead to people dying. I would much prefer a leader who chooses their words carefully and thinks about the potential consequences of them than just waffles on like the UK prime minister.

if you think Drakeford can't organise a. piss up in a brewery then what do you think about Johnson ?

He wasn't just being cautious he was more or less suggesting that the Pfizer data should not be trusted.

As for him thinking about potential consequences, he is easing lockdown in Merthyr a place with the highest incidence in UK because his government may lose credibility if he didn't. What could the potential consequences of that be?

Then you look at the shoppers in Cardiff yesterday and wonder if the blanket easing of lockdown is going to come back to bite him.

[Vindec]

He wasn't just being cautious he was more or less suggesting that the Pfizer data should not be trusted.

As for him thinking about potential consequences, he is easing lockdown in Merthyr a place with the highest incidence in UK because his government may lose credibility if he didn't. What could the potential consequences of that be?

Then you look at the shoppers in Cardiff yesterday and wonder if the blanket easing of lockdown is going to come back to bite him.

I said something similar and there was a deadly hush except for one poster. The UK should act as one in a pandemic. Isn't it strange that, at the beginning of this pandemic, many people were criticising the government's lack of quarantine arrangements for those arriving in the UK from abroad when now we can't even adopt arrangements to quarantine parts of the UK?

The cessation of the firebreak in areas where there are high concentrations of the virus is shameful.

[the other bob wilson]

941 new cases in Wales, so up from yesterday, but still about a third down from recent figures.

[Hilts]

Care home residents and staff and over 80s first is the speculation according to Sky.

[xsnaggle]

Care home residents and staff and over 80s first is the speculation according to Sky.

what about doctors and nurses?

[Hilts]

I was in the city centre at lunchtime. Incredible scenes. Genuinely the busiest I've seen it since last Christmas. Long queues outside all of the major shops and some of the less obvious ones too.

So, it seems the local lockdowns are over, the national lockdown has finished and the floodgates have opened.

One bonus I didn't expect after seeing what was happening at 1pm - the bus home at 5pm was no busier than usual. Make of that what you will.

Would you say it was as busy as at Christmas with the amount of people walking about? I presume theres much less people in the shops due to the 2m rule. Hence the queues.

[The Lone Gunman]

Would you say it was as busy as at Christmas with the amount of people walking about? I presume theres much less people in the shops due to the 2m rule. Hence the queues.

No, nowhere near a normal Christmas crowd in the city centre, but then it is only November 9th.

I must confess the crowds took me by surprise today. Apart from a handful of days at the height of the summer, the city centre has been so quiet this year. I expected there would be a few more people about today than there were a fortnight ago before the firebreak lockdown, but I didn’t expect long queues outside shops and so many people buzzing around Queen Street.

[xsnaggle]

No, nowhere near a normal Christmas crowd in the city centre, but then it is only November 9th.

I must confess the crowds took me by surprise today. Apart from a handful of days at the height of the summer, the city centre has been so quiet this year. I expected there would be a few more people about today than there were a fortnight ago before the firebreak lockdown, but I didn’t expect long queues outside shops and so many people buzzing around Queen Street.

The traffic in Cardiff and on major routes has been horrendous today compared with any time since March. It is far heavier than before the lockdown, and there is lots of traffic going up and down the A470, more than the new normal.

[Hilts]

Yes more than your typical Monday.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...-pack-19250170

[The Lone Gunman]

Yes more than your typical Monday.

Update from the front: it was much quieter in the city centre today when I went in at lunchtime. Busier than before the firebreak lockdown and there were small queues outside some of the shops, but it was a good deal less hectic than Monday.

[goats]

Update from the front: it was much quieter in the city centre today when I went in at lunchtime. Busier than before the firebreak lockdown and there were small queues outside some of the shops, but it was a good deal less hectic than Monday.

How long did you queue to get into Primark?

[Cyclops]

How long did you queue to get into Poundland?

CFY

[Hilts]

Johnson and his handling of this has been a disaster from day 1.

While I still think him and his front bench are a disaster and the worst govt in living memory I thought yesterday was his best performance by some distance.

I expected a fist pumping everything thing will soon be ok performance. But no very cautious , stick to the rules etc.

Very similar to Drakeford and Sturgeon.

Staggered really that anyone would criticise what Drakeford said. Particularly from Tories when the bloke they voted in did the same.

[Hilts]

I think it's a bit of a leap to suggest that any Government would be sitting on their hands doing nothing in the situation the Welsh Government now finds itself in, do you really believe that they will not start thinking of how it is allocated before the vaccine has been approved and is in their hands?

Theyve probably more or less decided on how it will be allocated.

[the other bob wilson]

Theyve probably more or less decided on how it will be allocated.

Of course they have and I bet the arrangements will be the same, or virtually the same, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Of course they have and I bet the arrangements will be the same, or virtually the same, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Oh, there'll be little variations I'm sure -just to show how different we are. England in the right arm, Wales opting for the left..

[the other bob wilson]

Oh, there'll be little variations I'm sure -just to show how different we are. England in the right arm, Wales opting for the left..

And based on the UK (English) Government's record on the virus so far, I say (to borrow from another country) Vive Le Difference!

[A Quiet Monkfish]

And based on the UK (English) Government's record on the virus so far, I say (to borrow from another country) Vive Le Difference!

I'm not sure anything he's done differently to England has had any material difference. I'm not sure that much that has been done/not done in other countries has had much impact. Italy, France and Spain have imposed far more strict lockdowns/restrictions/curfews that the UK, yet have all had pretty much the same 'results'. Wales has a few built up areas - the rest is mountains and sheep, just like Cornwall. High figures in the Valleys, low in the hills. Mr Pastry & Co. haven't been that effective, despite what us Welsh would like to think..

[lisvaneblue]

Of course they have and I bet the arrangements will be the same, or virtually the same, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The man himself, Mark Drakeford said" we will decide how to use it once it's available"

So if you reckon it's already been sorted you are suggesting that he's not being truthful.

[Hilts]

The man himself, Mark Drakeford said" we will decide how to use it once it's available"

So if you reckon it's already been sorted you are suggesting that he's not being truthful.

He was asked a direct question on who decides how its used. This was to clarify who decides the UK government or the WAG. He said they will decide.

[lisvaneblue]

He was asked a direct question on who decides how its used. This was to clarify who decides the UK government or the WAG. He said they will decide.

Not quite. He said that the UK Gov purchases it and we get a share based on population.(.ie 5%). Then he said "we will decide how to use it when it is available."

All newspapers today have the vaccine as front page news, experts say its a breakthrough, WHO says same. Wales says, be cautious the data needs to be read carefully because its from a particular competitor in this field and published on their own behalf.

My daily newspaper had the table of action listing priority patients for England, nowt from Wales.

I hope for our sakes that our Wales government realises that they could have enough vaccine within a few weeks to protect 250,000 people in Wales.( 2 jabs each) They have to arrange specialist storage and distribution at extremely low temperatures and produce a priority list and an action plan.

This is nothing to do with party politics, just a siren call from me that I do not think Wales has considered mass vaccination as an imminent possibility. I'd love to be proved wrong.

[the other bob wilson]

The man himself, Mark Drakeford said" we will decide how to use it once it's available"

So if you reckon it's already been sorted you are suggesting that he's not being truthful.

He's being a politician and he's giving a political answer because he doesn't want it to look like the Welsh Government automatically follows the UK Government's lead - it's just that I suspect that they will do in this case.

[Elwood Blues]

He's being a politician and he's giving a political answer because he doesn't want it to look like the Welsh Government automatically follows the UK Government's lead - it's just that I suspect that they will do in this case.

This playing politics is getting ridiculous on all sides now.

It is far too important for our leaders to play party games

[Hilts]

The UK should have gone into a coordinated lockdown to tie in with half term and with the knowledge furlough would be extended.

Didnt happen because the UK govt dithered delayed and eventually did a massive U turn.