311 posts
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Post by olliebean on Feb 16, 2022 21:47:22 GMT
I don't know about LFTs, but it's been suggested the price of a PCR test might be set at £100.
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641 posts
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Post by christya on Feb 16, 2022 23:27:35 GMT
Won't be getting any of those, then!
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 17, 2022 8:17:33 GMT
I don't know about LFTs, but it's been suggested the price of a PCR test might be set at £100. Ha, never getting one of then again then! I prefer to test before going to events, but I will not spend exorbitant amounts to do so. If it's a tenner for a box of seven I could just about cope with that. Any more and there's no way I can justify it. |
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311 posts
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Post by olliebean on Feb 17, 2022 11:39:53 GMT
The DoH has in the past refused to say what they pay for the LFTs, but "One source has said they can run to £30 for a pack of seven."
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 17, 2022 17:55:19 GMT
The DoH has in the past refused to say what they pay for the LFTs, but "One source has said they can run to £30 for a pack of seven." Thirty quid? No chance of anybody using them after next week then! |
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7,190 posts
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Post by Jon on Feb 17, 2022 18:15:46 GMT
In Australia, LFTs or RATs as they call them are priced between $20-50
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 17, 2022 19:28:38 GMT
You are allowed to order a box of LFTs a day, I've done so three days in a row and will continue until next week when they start charging.
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5,707 posts
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Post by lynette on Feb 17, 2022 21:05:24 GMT
You are allowed to order a box of LFTs a day, I've done so three days in a row and will continue until next week when they start charging. Thanks for reminding me. |
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Post by jojo on Feb 18, 2022 10:22:15 GMT
The DoH has in the past refused to say what they pay for the LFTs, but "One source has said they can run to £30 for a pack of seven." Thirty quid? No chance of anybody using them after next week then! IMO they should continue to be made freely available to everyone, for at least the next few months. Doing regular tests, then acting on the results, is an act of basic kindness for our community. I could afford to pay for the tests myself. At £30 a pack it's just under £4.30 a go, and that's not a big addition to the cost of a night out. However, I do appreciate that when money is tight then expecting people to spend an extra £15/week to keep strangers safe, especially if it's for work not pleasure, then it's not going to happen, which I suppose is why they are doing it. I expect most people who can afford it will continue to do the tests before visiting family and friends, but this is where the two-tier society will come in. Clearly the tests come with a cost to the taxpayer and having them completely free while people complain about how much the government is spending on testing is not attractive for any government. I hope they can find a way to keep them free for as many people as possible for another couple of months at least, and then if they do feel they need to charge, make it a nominal fee. More of a handling charge, but free for people who would get free prescriptions or something. They should ensure that employers have an obligation to provide them to relevant staff for free too. Unfortunately a lot of employers don't want their staff doing the free tests now, so I don't hold out much hope. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2022 10:38:37 GMT
The tests cost but people infecting others and them being off or at worse case scenario needing hospital care costs more.
Will certain sectors get theirs free I wonder?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2022 16:40:27 GMT
I'm travelling to London tomorrow for a few days and would like to know what the situation is over there... are masks optional everywhere now? What about theatres? The Playhouse has requested a negative covid test and masks - what about other venues?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2022 17:18:54 GMT
I'm travelling to London tomorrow for a few days and would like to know what the situation is over there... are masks optional everywhere now? What about theatres? The Playhouse has requested a negative covid test and masks - what about other venues? Masks are still required on public transport, otherwise up to individual venues. Mask wearing was about 50% when I saw Cabaret a few weeks ago, no announcements or signs requiring it. Covid test results were checked though. |
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Post by distantcousin on Feb 21, 2022 13:23:45 GMT
I'm deeply disappointed but I can't say I'm surprised. The government have made it very clear that they don't give a damn if vulnerable people catch covid just as long as they don't do it all at once & overwhelm the NHS. Unspoken: "But we're going to look the other way if your employer insists you go to work regardless." It will be interesting to see if we end up with people taking their employers to court if they become seriously ill with covid having caught it from colleagues who came into work knowing that they were infectious. So the vaccine doesn't work then? Or are you still living in April 2020? |
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2,023 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Feb 21, 2022 13:25:18 GMT
Well done Spain. A while back in Japan, we saw people wearing masks and it looked random, mums with buggies but not their kids, business men walking but not people in shops, some people serving in shops but not all. V odd. Now I understand a bit more. Mind you , getting on the train there in the morning made it easier to comprehend. And guess who is going to be mask wearing til the summer? Well done?! For what? |
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Post by firefingers on Feb 21, 2022 13:33:11 GMT
You are allowed to order a box of LFTs a day, I've done so three days in a row and will continue until next week when they start charging. Changed as of this morning to every 72 hours. |
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311 posts
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Post by olliebean on Feb 21, 2022 14:25:47 GMT
I'm deeply disappointed but I can't say I'm surprised. The government have made it very clear that they don't give a damn if vulnerable people catch covid just as long as they don't do it all at once & overwhelm the NHS. It will be interesting to see if we end up with people taking their employers to court if they become seriously ill with covid having caught it from colleagues who came into work knowing that they were infectious. So the vaccine doesn't work then? Or are you still living in April 2020? The vaccine, as you know perfectly well, while it provides a significant amount of protection against serious illness (enough, it is hoped, to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed), is not 100% effective. Vaccinated individuals can, albeit with a much lower probability than the unvaccinated, still become seriously ill from Covid. |
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 21, 2022 14:55:53 GMT
I don't like how this is being portrayed as 'a plan to live with Covid'. Just dropping restrictions is about as far from a plan as you can get. I don't envy Whitty or Valance having to go on the telly and justify this with a straight face.
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2,496 posts
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Post by zahidf on Feb 21, 2022 15:05:46 GMT
I don't like how this is being portrayed as 'a plan to live with Covid'. Just dropping restrictions is about as far from a plan as you can get. I don't envy Whitty or Valance having to go on the telly and justify this with a straight face. Why? They both made it clear there would be a time when we have to live with Covid. It's a political decision now. |
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311 posts
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Post by olliebean on Feb 21, 2022 15:41:35 GMT
I'm far from the first person to say this, but living with Covid isn't the same as pretending it doesn't exist. Johnson's strategy seems to be heading firmly towards the latter.
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Post by talkingheads on Feb 21, 2022 16:14:48 GMT
I don't like how this is being portrayed as 'a plan to live with Covid'. Just dropping restrictions is about as far from a plan as you can get. I don't envy Whitty or Valance having to go on the telly and justify this with a straight face. Why? They both made it clear there would be a time when we have to live with Covid. It's a political decision now. It's not living with it though is it? Living with it is masks, distancing and frequent testing. This is Boris sticking his fingers in his ears like a toddler and pretending it doesn't exist. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2022 16:14:55 GMT
Would the medics back it if they didn't agree with it. SAGE resignations en masse would be very embarrassing.
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2,496 posts
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Post by zahidf on Feb 21, 2022 16:26:29 GMT
Why? They both made it clear there would be a time when we have to live with Covid. It's a political decision now. It's not living with it though is it? Living with it is masks, distancing and frequent testing. This is Boris sticking his fingers in his ears like a toddler and pretending it doesn't exist. That isnt living with it though, especially distancing. That's fundamentally changing society. Its fine to argue that's what you think we need to do of course, but its not a minor thing, and its fair to look at the current IFR and death rate to say we dont have to change society around Covid. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2022 16:29:06 GMT
It's not living with it though is it? Living with it is masks, distancing and frequent testing. This is Boris sticking his fingers in his ears like a toddler and pretending it doesn't exist. That isnt living with it though, especially distancing. That's fundamentally changing society. Its fine to argue that's what you think we need to do of course, but its not a minor thing, and its fair to look at the current IFR and death rate to say we dont have to change society around Covid. Living with it and going back to how society was two years ago are not necessarily the same thing. And it isn't fundamentally changing society to require some minor adjustments to daily life. Fundamentally changing society would be suddenly becoming Communist. Not requiring us to on specified occasions wear a mask that has zero impact on most people's ability to do anything else. |
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Post by zahidf on Feb 21, 2022 16:43:45 GMT
That isnt living with it though, especially distancing. That's fundamentally changing society. Its fine to argue that's what you think we need to do of course, but its not a minor thing, and its fair to look at the current IFR and death rate to say we dont have to change society around Covid. Living with it and going back to how society was two years ago are not necessarily the same thing. And it isn't fundamentally changing society to require some minor adjustments to daily life. Fundamentally changing society would be suddenly becoming Communist. Not requiring us to on specified occasions wear a mask that has zero impact on most people's ability to do anything else. But it's not JUST wearing a mask in that post I replied to was it? Maybe fundamentally changing isn't the 100% right word. But it's a substantial change to society to expect people to wear masks , distance from each other in public (Bye bye most arts) and test yourself before leaving the house. It's fine if you think we need to do that going forward. But there are negatives to it, it has to be weighed up against the fact Covids IFR is very low cos of vaccination, and I feel the ones pushing most for continued restrictions always downplay the negatives of such |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 21, 2022 17:00:29 GMT
Second booster in the Spring for the elderly and people with certain medical conditions apparently? I’ve been very happy to be vaccinated and boosted at the Government’s bidding but that will be 4 jabs for the same disease in a little over 12 months. It does make you wonder how effective the vaccine is, if that’s really necessary. I’m not sure I’d be as willing to do it again if asked.
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