Generic Virus Thread

[Xela]

I'm now turbo boostered. 

Hope I don't have any reaction as I have a bastard of a busy day working tomorrow. 

[mjmooney]

3 minutes ago, Xela said:

I'm now turbo boostered. 

Hope I don't have any reaction as I have a bastard of a busy day working tomorrow. 

Power through. Being busy will take your mind off it. 

[HanoiVillan]

6 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Really? Are these taxations going to generate enough revenue to cover the cost suggested in the tweet that would give everybody under the age of 30, quite a few thousand pounds each.

Not only the idea of the older generation having to pay a thank you taxation is disgusting imo but I can’t imagine any tax like that even getting a fraction of the money needed to cover the cost of giving all that money/stimulus to under 30’s.

Why do they need to 'cover the cost'? A one-off payment like this doesn't need to be covered pound for pound in the budget for one year. Some mix of taxing capital and paying out of borrowing would easily do it (remember that the government has recently paid up to 80% of the salaries of a similar number of people for a more extended period of time).

It's a fallacy that government finances are anything like your personal finances.

[nick76]

41 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Why do they need to 'cover the cost'? A one-off payment like this doesn't need to be covered pound for pound in the budget for one year. Some mix of taxing capital and paying out of borrowing would easily do it (remember that the government has recently paid up to 80% of the salaries of a similar number of people for a more extended period of time).

It's a fallacy that government finances are anything like your personal finances.

You’re correct but why in a time when the government have paid rightly a lot just to help people out like furlough in the last two years followed by more announced the last few days do we want to increase the debt further just to say thank you a thank you.  Seems fiscally very irresponsible.

Plus the back and forth, and originally tweet was that the older generation indirectly through tax pay a thank you payment to the under 30’s.  Doing what you are saying is more likely then to have to be paid by the working generation including the younger generation in later years and won’t come from the older generation when paying down the national debt.

Forgetting the finances, the idea that the older generation paying a thank you to the younger generation is still disgusting argument (not saying you endorse that, just the original idea).

Anyway it’s never going to happen so seems pointless discussion.

Edited December 22, 2021 by nick76

[hippo]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Why do they need to 'cover the cost'? A one-off payment like this doesn't need to be covered pound for pound in the budget for one year. Some mix of taxing capital and paying out of borrowing would easily do it (remember that the government has recently paid up to 80% of the salaries of a similar number of people for a more extended period of time).

It's a fallacy that government finances are anything like your personal finances.

Last sentence says it all. So true.

[HanoiVillan]

58 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Forgetting the finances, the idea that the older generation paying a thank you to the younger generation is still disgusting argument (not saying you endorse that, just the original idea).

I agree with you that it's not a good idea (though I suspect we come to the same conclusion through different routes), but I think 'disgusting' is not the right word for it. It's not morally reprehensible, nor is it practically difficult, it's just not a very good idea.

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I agree with you that it's not a good idea (though I suspect we come to the same conclusion through different routes), but I think 'disgusting' is not the right word for it. It's not morally reprehensible, nor is it practically difficult, it's just not a very good idea.

I do think it’s morally reprehensible to suggest the idea that the older generation having to pay a thank you to the younger generation.

Edited December 22, 2021 by nick76

[HanoiVillan]

31 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I do think it’s morally reprehensible to suggest the idea that the older generation having to pay a thank you to the younger generation.

Fair enough, we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

[Stevo985]

5 hours ago, bickster said:

The point is, they aren't really big life events in the grand scheme of things. Much more important and memorable events will happen in peoples lifetimes than those set events that people are going on about.

When you're older (I know I know) you'll think being at the birth of your children, getting married etc will be much more important than a few pissups that are standard events in a young adults life. Thats what those events are, pissups, they aren't particularly life changing, nor are they ultimately that memorable. Young, had an excuse to get drunk. Thats it

They aren’t for you, because it sounds like yours were shit. 
 

Other people’s weren’t. You don’t get to decide what events people hold dear

[Delphinho123]

So it’s just a mild cold then? 

[tinker]

28 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

So it’s just a mild cold then? 

Looks that way. However the 10 years of NHS underfunding means it can't cope with the increase in patients so we all have to put our lives on hold while the NHS sorts the mess out on their reduced budgets.

[sidcow]

Between first, second and booster doses there were 1,062,705 administered today including 968,665 boosters. 

For all the anti vax throbbers out there a seriously impressive number of people are coming forwards to protect themselves and others. 

[Panto_Villan]

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

I do think it’s morally reprehensible to suggest the idea that the older generation having to pay a thank you to the younger generation.

What's morally reprehensible about it?

[sidcow]

I wonder how many NHS staff are isolating at the moment.  That could be as big a worry as admissions. 

You would imagine Omicron is ripping through the doctors and nurses. 

Shows the importance of why they need vaccines. 

[hippo]

4 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I wonder how many NHS staff are isolating at the moment.  That could be as big a worry as admissions. 

You would imagine Omicron is ripping through the doctors and nurses. 

Shows the importance of why they need vaccines. 

Can only speak for the hospital I work at. But you only isolate if a household member has covid.

[hippo]

Re the news that Omricon appears to have a hospilisation rate 40% lower than Delta. 

It seems to have been forgotten that it is also 5x more transmissible.

Think both elements need to be factored in before we get confident it's nothing.

[CVByrne]

11 minutes ago, hippo said:

Re the news that Omricon appears to have a hospilisation rate 40% lower than Delta. 

It seems to have been forgotten that it is also 5x more transmissible.

Think both elements need to be factored in before we get confident it's nothing.

Where are you getting that it's 5x more transmissible? What is most complicated about Omicron is its rapid spread and quick peak before a rapid fall. So initially yes spread appears very fast but it doesn't last at all. 

So as with the 3 different estimates of how less severe it is in terms of hospitalisation Vs Delta (Scotland, London, South Africa). We have even less ability of modelling the spread.

[CVByrne]

11 hours ago, nick76 said:

I do think it’s morally reprehensible to suggest the idea that the older generation having to pay a thank you to the younger generation.

One big issue with the pandemic and the government support for businesses etc. is that the people who will pay ultimately are the young. We have seen massive growth in asset prices like houses and stock market and these are predominantly in the hands of older people how own homes and have big pension funds. Those assets are Inflation protected while now owning a home is even further out of reach for the younger people. Inflation is eroding their purchasing power by over 5% a year at the moment and the home they wish to own has gone up over 10%. All the debt the government has taken out is on their decades of tax to repay instead of used for public services. 

It's not great that the pandemic has resulted in this. What should be done is to tax wealth not income. But obviously a Tory government wouldn't think of such a thing. 

[hippo]

24 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Where are you getting that it's 5x more transmissible? What is most complicated about Omicron is its rapid spread and quick peak before a rapid fall. So initially yes spread appears very fast but it doesn't last at all. 

So as with the 3 different estimates of how less severe it is in terms of hospitalisation Vs Delta (Scotland, London, South Africa). We have even less ability of modelling the spread.

Widely quoted. But even if that is incorrect - we shouldn't expect 40% less admissions not create a high peak - the increased transmission will IMO mean more infections and in due course hospitalisations coming at the same time.

[CVByrne]

36 minutes ago, hippo said:

Widely quoted. But even if that is incorrect - we shouldn't expect 40% less admissions not create a high peak - the increased transmission will IMO mean more infections and in due course hospitalisations coming at the same time.

Yes it could well be that the level of transmission stays high enough to lead to a large number of hospital admissions. We really don't know though and it's too hard to predict. I think as I've said before the London data is what will tell us how the spread unfolds and what hospital pressure is like with this wave.