There’s plenty to distract people. Ending lockdown. Not ending lockdown. Facemasks or not facemasks. The interminable glee of the British nationalists about divisions within the SNP. The constant harping on of certain independence supporters about Nicola Sturgeon. Should there be a new yes party. Should there not be a new yes party. But there’s only one debate that we should be having right now, and that is how come the UK is on course to be the worst affected European state when the British government had so much prior warning that the epidemic was on its way, and how we can put maximum pressure on Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in order to ensure that they remedy their failures.
But that’s not the debate we’re having. Yesterday the Scottish Government announced that it was recommending the use of face coverings in enclosed public spaces such as food shops or public transport where social distancing isn’t always possible. It’s a sensible measure which has already been introduced in some other European countries, Germany and the Czech Republic for example, and which many of the public have already adopted on their own initiative.
Face coverings do not provide total protection against the virus, no one is suggesting that they do, however there is reason to believe that their use will help to make the spread of the virus a bit more difficult. The wearer benefits, as there is a layer of fabric between their mouth and nostrils and the outside world which could potentially trap a droplet you were about to breathe in. Additionally wearing a face covering makes it difficult for you to touch your face directly after touching a surface which could possibly have the virus on it. This will also help to reduce the rate of transmission.
However the greatest potential benefit is amongst people who have the virus but who don’t have any symptoms or whose symptoms are so mild that they’ve not realised that they have it. Although they’re perfectly well and healthy, such people are still infectious and can unwittingly pass the virus on to other people. It’s thought that as many as 25% to 50% of people who become infected will show either extremely mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus Even amongst those who do go on to develop symptoms, there is evidence that they can be infectious for a couple of days before they do show symptoms and so go into self-isolation.
The benefit of a face covering in these cases is not primarily to protect the wearer, but to protect other people. The virus is carried in water droplets expelled during normal breathing out, sneezing, or coughing, and wearing a face mask will help to catch any virus carrying droplets which you might expel and thus keep those around you safe. It’s a social solidarity measure which could help to keep others safe and which can be carried out without causing any harm to the wearer.
Scotland is recognised as a distinct polity and society within the UK. That’s why we have a Scottish Parliament. We have distinctively Scottish laws. Devolution was established in the first place because even the British state was forced to recognise that Scotland is a nation and a society in its own right and the one size fits all policy of Westminster which is primarily designed to deal with England’s circumstances will not necessarily always be best for Scotland too.
However what we have seen time and time again during this crisis is that any attempt by the Scottish Government to respond to this emergency in a way which differs from Westminster is a British media which portrays it as a challenge to Westminster, as defiance of Boris Johnson, or as an attempt to undermine the British Government. That happened when Nicola Sturgeon announced that Scottish schools were to close. It happened when she announced that large gatherings should not take place after which City AM’s editor accused her of a “borderline coup d’etat” and Dan Hodges of the Mail harrumphed that she was “playing stupid political games”. It happened when the First Minister said that she wanted to treat the public as grown ups in discussions about when to come out of lockdown. We saw an outpouring of outrage from Conservatives over the weekend when Nicola Sturgeon said that if circumstances demanded it she could conceiveably ask Westminster for the power to close the Scottish border. They even denied that that Scottish border existed at all. And there was yet more faux British nationalist victimhood seeking again yesterday when she made the announcement about face coverings.
After she made the announcement, Tom Newton Dunn, the political editor of the Sun newspaper tweeted that if this announcement was not a concerted attempt to embarrass Westminster, it was having that effect anyway. Everything that the Scottish Government does which is not simply the sheepish following of Westminster’s lead is framed by the British media as a deliberate attempt by the SNP to drive a wedge between Scotland and England. That’s how paranoid and insecure they are.
If this were simply a question of the laughable insecurity of British nationalists, it would merely be a source of amusement for independence supporters. But it’s more serious than that. By framing any distinctively Scottish response to the crisis as a cynical political ploy to undermine the British Government, the British media legitimises and validates those in Scotland who don’t wish to adhere to the Scottish Government’s recommendations and advice.
As we all know, Scotland is not an independent country, and it doesn’t have an independent media either. The Scottish Government is faced with attempting to deal with this emergency while the bulk of the media in Scotland is determined to persecute it for any divergence from the Westminster line. Yet as we have all seen the UK is on course to become the worst affected state in Europe. Now if the Scottish Government was proposing far less restrictive measures than Westminster was, perhaps the British media in Scotland would have a point. But the Scottish Government isn’t doing that. At every step along the way the Scottish Government has proposed stricter measures than the British Government, or has sought to implement measures more quickly than the British Government.
Tied as we are the overall policies of the British state, anything that can be done to save lives and keep people safe ought to be lauded. Instead we have a media which is so terrified of independence, and so terrified of the anger that there will be against Westminster’s woeful mishandling of this emergency once we have got through it, that it’s desperate to demonise and undermine the public health decisions of the Scottish Government. That’s dangerous and irresponsible. They are preventing us from having the debate that we really ought to be having, because they are far more interested in protecting the British state from the consequences of its own failure.
At some point after the immediate emergency has passed, people will get back to the only debate we need to have, and they will conclude that they’ve been let down by both the British state, and the British media. Their own hatred of the SNP and their panic to attack anything that smacks of “separatism” will be their undoing.
And finally, because we could all do with some cheering up during these difficult times…
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
The howling lynch mob at every turn.
The strangest thing is that then the englanders follow Nicola’s lead.
Facts are chiels that winna ding,
But Britnats try tae mak them spin.
FRANKIE BOYLE
Why do we get more truth in one blogger’s rant than in a hundred Muppet Stream Media organs ? It’s almost like it’s designed to be that way. ; )
“It seems, on reflection, that there are some drawbacks to electing people who are fundamentally indifferent to human life. If you’ve ever wondered what it would take for the British media to really take this government to task, well it’s not nearly a thousand deaths a day.”
“Of course this government are failing to deal with a pandemic. At the fag end of neoliberalism, they don’t exist to do much more than transfer public assets into private hands. What we’re living through is exactly what would happen if we’d elected a firm of bailiffs to cure polio. That’s not to say that they won’t use this crisis, as they would any other, to advance a profoundly reactionary agenda.”
“You have to feel for all the folk who voted Tory thinking they would only fuck up life for other people.”
– ‘We’re knee deep in shit and drinking cups of tea,” by Frankie Boyle, 27th April 2020 – The Overtake twitter –
– https://twitter.com/theovertake/status/1254675397737881601
[…] Wee Ginger Dug The dangerous irresponsibility of the British media There’s plenty to distract people. Ending lockdown. Not ending lockdown. Facemasks […]
I recall the world cup semi-final in 2014 when Brazil – the hosts – were expected to trounce Germany before facing their old adversary, Argentina in the final. It didn’t work out that way..if you remember?
Brazil were the tournament favourites, even though it was a largely untested side. They were standing on the shoulders of giants after all – Revalino, Kaká, Socrates, Jairzinho and of course, Pele. Nobody else came close.
What was so memorable that night was the faces of the Brazil supporters – they were in complete shock and total disbelief. It wasn’t a short-term transient affliction either. There is good evidence of suicides, depression, divorce, abuse – and an economic downturn – in the months and years that followed.
When you destroy someone’s belief system – all sorts of psychological challenges face the individual. How they react differs greatly.
Think about that in the context of establishment lackeys – whose faith in the status quo must be severely undermined, particularly when their ‘odio inimicum’ displays all the leadership qualities so lacking in those they blindly worship.
The only gracious response in these circumstances is: “Ah bless”. 🙂
I’ve already got my home made mask ready. (I’d post a photo, but it is NOT a good look!)
However as the FM herself said these ongoing ‘attacks’ are tedious.
They are also predictable.
But this ongoing risk to Scottish lives, caused by Westmister’s dither and incompetence, is not going unnoticed by the populus. Two Unionist (can’t all be perfect) friends, who had absolutely no time at all for Nicola Sturgeon, have separately told me that they think she is handling the pandemc well and that they listen to what she has to say every day.
Ms Sturgeon has previous experience of dealing with epidemics caused by novel viruses. She was Health Secretary during the outbreak of Swine Flu in 2009. The current situation is several orders of magnitude worse than back then but lessons learned then still apply.
This is an article she wrote for the Nursing Times about the outbreak. Some of it has relevance to the current situation although back then it was not a Tory Gov she had to deal with.
https://www.nursingtimes.net/archive/scotland-is-using-teamwork-to-tackle-swine-flu-25-06-2009/
Well said indeed…
Whether intended to divert public attention from the disaster unfolding in England or as a “perfidious albion” moment to “crush” independence, all the media’s relentless hostility and deliberate misreporting of SG’s handling of this crisis has been unhelpful and infuriating.
The only positive to this debacle has been unequivocal confirmation the media are working from the same script, blatant orchestration of a “free press” rarely seen outside the PRC.
Borders TV at the SG daily briefing would be better fronted by Alister Jack than him twitching the curtains, Pacific Quay’s prize diddies Summers and Campbell only succeed in embarrassing themselves further trying to appear smart, and as for the Scotsman’s harrumph-chief Paris Gourtsoyannis, it has not been the media’s finest hours, whatever their intent.
All the media and HMG will have accomplished by the end of this cycle is prove themselves utterly unworthy of trust by Scots, hell mend them…
“”…while the bulk of the media in Scotland is determined to persecute it for any divergence from the Westminster line.””
Yet the same media stay silent when England diverges from an agreed 4 nation approach, and seems to do so unilaterally without any consultation with the other partners in this precious Union.
Their silence when this occurs puts the lives of people in Scotland at risk. For example, on exercise and the guidance on not driving anywhere to go for a walk. The police authorities in England recently changed the guidance so that people in England could drive then take a walk under certain constraints. This applies only in England yet there is growing evidence that some people in Scotland think it applies here. More cars on the road and more people driving to the Trossachs etc.
Has the MSM in Scotland highlighted this divergence and the confusion and associated risks it has caused? Don’t be silly.
Perhaps Ms Sturgeon should mention it on a daily basis at her briefing to ensure the message gets out there.
In England this change has predictably led to car loads of people being stopped on their way to the Yorkshire Dale’s or trying to cross into Wales to climb Snowdon. What on earth made the Police authorities in England think this change was a good idea?
Speaking of confusion.
Legerwood – Did you see this?
‘Oxford is not in Wales’: Teenager wrongly convicted in England under Wales’ coronavirus legislation
https://nation.cymru/news/oxford-is-not-in-wales-teenager-wrongly-convicted-in-england-under-wales-coronavirus-legislation/
I had not seen it. What are they like?
Loose, cloth masks protect the community in the main by artificially increasing the relative humidity at the wearers mouth and nostrils. The > the humidity the > the moisture droplet size the < the probability that the moisture droplet will travel far enough to infect another member of the community.
Onywho, just back from Tesco and nae cnut's wearing a face mask. Get a grip peeps, even if you have to rig a mask out of stuff round the hoose.
I wouldn’t have Nicola Sturgeon’s job for love nor money. Whatever she does she infuriates someone. Not moving fast enough or declaring UDI; the National comments sections are filled with bile from supposed supporters of Independence. If you read it regularly you’ll know exactly who I mean. Making decisions which she feels will protect the Scottish people, for whom she serves as FM; the bile comes pouring forth from the England-centric MSM. In her own words tedious and misplaced. Carry on doing what you are doing Nicola, that is, making informed decisions on behalf of us all, to the best of your ability and the advice you are listening to. Ignore the nay sayers, you’ll never please them anyway. Their job is to undermine the Independence movement which is strengthened every time one of your critics lambasts you.
Excellent review of the basic common sense. Thank you once again for your calm clarity.
Of course that the social function of wearing a mask – you protect others from your own possibly infectious breath – is utterly irrelevant to Westminster is no surprise. It is not even on their radar. The alleged scientists employed by the government to issue advice are interested primarily in economic, not social, criteria of success.
It is also interesting that many people have for quite a few weeks been using masks when out and about. Clearly, common sense and native wit have been at work. Meanwhile the government and its lackeys have translated the perfectly reasonable scientific conclusion that wearing a mask will not stop the pandemic, but may help individuals protect themselves and those around them from infection, into there is no point in wearing a mask, and then using this as a stick to beat the Scottish government.
Surely there must come a moment when absolutely nobody believes this bollocks any more. Surely?
Jason Leitch observed on this earlier Duncan, there is no scientific evidence to support the wearing of masks, that scientific advice has not changed.
What HAS changed is a shrewd PR move by SG and not without some merit, is that with so much fake news and genuine paranoia in circulation, their “face covering” advice simultaneously addresses the paranoia (without the public straining an already high demand product) but makes it optional. 65 year olds can now relive Billy the Kid youth with bandana masks at Tescos… 🤣
By contrast, here in Romania, >65 may go shopping 0700-1100 and 1900-2200, You must fill out a form (old Communist habits continue), masks are obligatory and police checks are everywhere, BUT gov furnish 2 masks and pairs of gloves to every household. In the shops all wear masks and there’s a plastic screen between you and the teller, undoubtedly overkill, but at 36/Million deaths, perhaps underkill might be more accurate. Arafat’s days with Scottish Fire etc honed a man on a mission, and none will argue he transformed public health here dramatically (Check SMURD).
There are no wrongs in taking precautions when you’re dealing with a 3 month old virus you barely understand, but there are a multitude of wrongs in “take it on the chin” lunatics who then hide the dead they cause by it, while a complicit media play “Look, a squirrel” games…
England will go ballistic when the true death toll inevitably becomes known, SG have nought to fear, but a reckoning on Indy is certain afterward…
Part of Dr Leitch’s reasoning when it came to his advice about masks was that the virus was not airborne!!. Aerosol droplets microns in size whether from sneezes or breath can and do contain the virus from an infected person.
The distance they travel through the air – airborne – depends on whether they are from a sneeze or from someone’s breath. Hence physical distancing. Hence visors and masks being included in PPE .
The virus containing droplets can and do land on surfaces and can be picked up from these surfaces although its ‘survival’ time varies depending on the surface. Hence the instructions to wash your hand and use hand sanitizers.
‘ there are no wrongs in taking precautions ‘
Absolutely bang on observation.
I have mild hayfever, so on occasion I sneeze and cough. I wear one of those lightweight walking snood type things when I’m out, I don’t have to have it round my nose and mouth all the time, I just pull it up if in a Que or in a shop or if I feel a sneeze or cough coming on.
I watch almost all the daily press conferences by the First Minister as well as those from No 10. Chalk and cheese, there is no comparison as to who is providing the most honest and up to date information in these islands.
Despite that, almost every question from the media has a sense of ridiculousness about it. At times I feel embarrassed not just for the FM but for the childish journalist asking such stupid political questions.
The FM handles them with ease though you can see on her face sometimes a look of disbelief at the stupidity of the question being asked or the fact that it was answered just a moment ago in response to the same idiotic question from a different journalist.
I can’t believe that this attitude adopted by the media won’t backfire on them, Nicola Sturgeon appears stately, intelligent and fully on top of her brief, the journalists though appear to be idiots trying to score cheap political points. It can’t fail to pass unnoticed by the general public and many will be asking themselves just what is going on.
Regards certain sections of the Independence movement constantly attacking Nicola Sturgeon they, in my opinion, if they are genuine Independence supporters, are bigger idiots than the journalists if they believe that they are helping our cause by attacking the FM just as the media constantly do. I truly doubt that the majority of them attacking the FM in this way actually have Independence as their goal, just the opposite in fact.
Any Independence supporter must know that there is a coordinated effort by Westminster to get rid of the FM as leader of the SNP and the Scottish government simply because she is the most competent person who is likely to lead us to Independence and that is a major concern for them. Divide and conquer within the Independence movement, aided and abetted by Westminster has never been so obvious than it is now.
God , I do hope it backfires spectacularly on that bunch of dribbling nonentities.
I did see our FM sook one in and spit him oot in bubbles on Border TV.
I know, if you want a wound to heal, resist the temptation to pick the scab.
Today I picked at the scab that is Politics Scotland,
which now the most pointless rehash of BBC England News Where England Is, seeping from Pacific Quay (which, like the Herald Times Tower of Babel, will surely shut down and relocate to the ‘burbs as part of BBC London’s downsizing and rightsizing effort soon now) and watched Hang On A Minute Brewer struggling to stay awake as he and Andrew Kerr took us through WM virtual PMQ, without of course, Johnson, the Father of Many, being present.
In four short months Johnson has been absent ‘getting Brexit done’, on sick leave, and now on Maternity Leave.
Dominic Raab got the gig, his ample forehead glistening like a Kent holidaymaker’s bonce as he is flagged down by Jock Polis in his VW caravanette in the Trossachs.
Now there are plenty of slots on BBC to broadcast PMQ, but it seems that there is no Scottish politics of note today to lead Brewer’s weekly Dirge.
Starmer, then Raab, then, oh wait, a deliberately badly edited question from Ian Blackford demanding that the English Government defer Brexit for two years.
Raab’s response to this demand that Brexit cannot proceed with the 31st December timetable was Trumpian in extreme, and Brewer and Kerr had no comment to make on this.
Brexit? Whitsat?
The civil servants working on Brexit have been redeployed to deal with Covid 19, and nothing is being done on leaving the EU.
To leave the EU on No Deal WTO terms would mean that the UK economy would shrink by 9.3%, by the UK Government’s own forecast.
Now Covid 19 is forecast to shrink the UK economy by a further 35%; but Kerr and Brewer couldn’t be bothered expanding on this.
Free School meals, the Curriculum for excellence, and face masks.
They just can’t be bothered behaving like even token political analysts any more.
Are we to assume that Gordon Brewer will be travelling Home to England for his Covid test?
He lumps the Scottish HS 3,500 tests target in with England’s 100,000, asking David Porter, looking every inch the news bloodhound at lazy sunny afternoon repose in his study at home, whether ‘we’ would reach the 100k target by tomorrow.
Good old Just To Be Clear Brewdog; air brush the Scottish Health Service, and the Scottish Government out of the Covid 19 response.
They discussed England’s testing regime.
‘Politics Scotland’ my ERS.
They don’t give a damn about Scotland.
I hope they remember this when they relocate to the abandoned Scottish Amicable building in Stirling, those that survive the London cull, that is.
Finally; there are 140,000 children in Scotland poor enough to need Free School Meals. During the crisis 32 Councils (and that in a country of only 5.4 million citizens needs drastic reform in itself) have not had a joined up strategy in feeding these poor wretches during these dark times.
The last think that we should be doing is paying cash to families in the hope that all children will get a nourishing meal, presumably because their parent(s) will suddenly attain the middle class values of the proposer.
Many have parents with drug alcohol and mental problems.
A bag of chips ( at best) is not an alternative to a proper meal.
The money in sadly tens of thousands of households would go on drink and drugs.
Again, Brewer has nothing to say.
BBC Scotland politics and current affairs?
Stirling stuff. (not a typo)
Paul, you are on the money as usual.
It is more than their jobs are worth to speak truth to lies.
Oops, I just checked Google Map.. The Prudential is in the old Amicable building. The search goes on for cheap digs, BBC Jockland.
There’s probably an old RAF base in Sutherland that would do once it’s been dampproofed and the roof tarred…
A mask can be made from a scarf. Fold the scarf. Put an 4+ Times across length wides. A long strip, Put an elastic band or bobble a third along. Fold that overlap over. Do the same on the other side. Then put it across the mouth area of the face. The elastic band or bobble over the ears.
Or order on line. Still possible from abroad. 5 day wait.
@ Length width. Fold over four times. Long strip.
Stop watching BBC ‘News’ It gives it energy. No viewers no programmes. Folk feel better.
How low can they go?
Additional child benefit £10 a week is being paid to households in Scotland.
Many families in Scotland are spending more on food but less on other activities. Having to stay in.
The food banks are distributing to more people. Including the elderly. Families, neighbours and friends are helping members who can’t get out. People not working are helping others. Baking is increasing. Homemade simple, meals inexpensive meals. Never off the telly.
The DHSS will have stopped sanctioning people. Less bureaucracy. Not enough staff.
More from the incompetents – this time I’m looking at the MSM.
Mike Drakeford? ‘Sloppy’ Sky News gets First Minister’s name wrong
https://nation.cymru/news/mike-drakeford-sloppy-sky-news-gets-first-ministers-name-wrong/
Wee Wales – usually neglected. Then abused when she even dares to reach above the parapet.
Tell them to stick their precioussssssssss ‘union’ where the sun don’t shine.
I know you’ve all been wondering – Why haven’t we had a Broontervention for a long time?
So as not to disappoint: – Here you go. Apparently, he’s gonna be ‘helping’ my country now.
Titter ye not.
(Maybe, just maybe, you’ll agree with the Tory verdict for once: “Gordon Brown is the last thing that people in Wales need”).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-52468157
(Sorry for the BBC link).
I should imagine Mr Brown is being very, very careful about going out and about at the moment because one of his sons has cystic fibrosis.
Of course there is always Skype but it would not give the full flavour of the big clunking fist
Had indeed heard the 1st Div Gordon Heavy Arsetillery were on man hoovers, given the impact of his last exercise in Scotland, Plaid must be ecstatic over future prospects…
Paul, you might want to amend your bit on face coverings – you state that it affords the wearer some protection and there is no evidence for that (obviously, unless you have that evidence). One of the reasons the Scottish govt will have been reluctant to recommend face masks (and have now emphasised it as a covering) will be because people suddenly think they are less vulnerable and then take more risks – don’t keep a distance and all the rest. By suggesting what has not been said, you may influence others to think they are safer; but you need to keep washing your hands and keep a distance.
This virus is not air borne and in general you won’t breathe it in – it is spread by contact. Someone coughs on you, it sticks to your face (or mask), you touch face or mask then poke it in your eyes or in your mouth. It is different if you are working closely with patients, and the air is riddled with viral droplets. Your eyes are a prime opening to the outside world (leading to your sinuses) too.
I’m not sure I wholly approve of face coverings, you are more likely to touch your face more, and like I say, you might think you are less vulnerable. It might help stop the spread, maybe, something to do with humidity (one reason I’m glad to see the rain!) so droplets don’t hang in the air for so long. On balance? I think the first minister is giving good advice, but she also made it clear that it would not afford protection.
There isn’t conclusive evidence to show that the virus is airborne by itself, but it is widely accepted that it can be spread in droplets of moisture which can be airborne.
For example the US CDC says
Current data suggest person-to-person transmission most commonly happens during close exposure to a person infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, primarily via respiratory droplets produced when the infected person speaks, coughs, or sneezes. Droplets can land in the mouths, noses, or eyes of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs of those within close proximity. Transmission also might occur through contact with contaminated surfaces followed by self-delivery to the eyes, nose, or mouth. The contribution of small respirable particles, sometimes called aerosols or droplet nuclei, to close proximity transmission is currently uncertain.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-recommendations.html
The World Health Organisation’s advice on wearing face masks is here
https://www.who.int/publications-detail/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-in-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak
It says – “There is limited evidence that wearing a medical mask by healthy individuals in the households or among contacts of a sick patient, or among attendees of mass gatherings may be beneficial as a preventive measure.”
Paul, thank you. Air borne – that is, a disease that is infectious rather than contagious – means it can survive by itself in the air and its primary method is transmission through the air (like, what was that,,, legionnaires disease? I forget). Coronavirus is contagious (highly) but it could be breathed in if it’s attached to something – water vapour – but it won’t hang about in the air for long (good ventilation is useful there). You have to be standing very close to someone to breathe in their expelled water vapour (so, keep a physical distance). Coughs and sneezes are different but will be too high-velocity to be contained by a cloth covering (so don’t hang out in public with lots of people about for too long).
You need to be aware of just how small a virus is, and how big the gaps are in the weave of your face covering in comparison, to realise any protection is very limited.
We are lucky it isn’t airborne – that would be a whole new level of difficulty in trying to control.
Your final paragraph there says medical masks – that is a different thing, and even with one of those, you have to know how to use it, and the correct procedures for removing it. Chances are if you were in a high risk environment the outside will be smeared in virus.
The evidence and stats are so nebulous still on so much, that giving advice on safety precautions increases risk if you don’t actually know what the risk is – it is people’s lives after all (and health, possibly, even if they don’t lose their life). I prefer to err on the side of caution, but it’s up to you (of course). I think this is why Nicola Sturgeon was reluctant to give advice on face masks – the known measures for controlling spread might be ignored in favour of a false protection. As well as to stop everyone buying up the medical masks so badly needed by professionals.
The reason that a cloth mask is more effective at preventing the wearer from spreading the disease than it is at preventing them getting it is down to evaporation of the carrying droplets.
When they breath out, the droplets are quite large and will likely be caught on the fibers of the mask. However, by the time someone’s exhaled droplets reach you just a few feet away, evaporation will have shrunk them down to a size where many will find their way through the fibers of a cloth mask.
Contrary,
The droplets either from a sneeze or from someone breathing out which contain the virus are airborne. The droplets are measured in microns and the virus particle(s) inside them are measured in nanometres.
The distance they travel through the air will vary but there is always the possibility that someone can, in enclosed spaces such as public transport, be within that largely invisible cloud of droplets. Thus inhale the virus directly into their body. Consider the number of bus drivers in London who have been infected and how many have died because they had no protection
As Ms Sturgeon was at pains to emphasise yesterday the masks do not render you invincible. She emphasised physical distancing, hand washing, use of handkerchiefs are still essential but under certain well defined situations masks have a role to play in affording protection and potentially reducing transmission albeit in a limited way.
‘Airborne’ I was using to describe a type of infectious spread, this virus is contagious but might hang in the air for a bit. Like, in general, people can’t fly, but they can jump and become airborne for a short time, but that still doesn’t mean they live in the air. If this virus was infectious, we wouldn’t be allowed out at all & would probably need to tape our windows and doors closed, and wait for food parcels to be dropped in.
How many nanometres are the gaps in the weave of your face covering?
You need an electron microscope to take one of those pretty pictures of a virus. It would be like hitting a barn door perhaps, to get through those gaps.
Ms Sturgeon was at pains yes, and it seems to have been a wasted effort, by the looks of comments and a new confidence everyone has in their invincibility.
– physical distancing of 2 metres
– stay out of public
– wash your hands frequently, with soap, for 20 seconds min.
Those are known preventative measures, that work. If anyone finds themselves not bothering since they have a ‘mask’,,,
Contrary,
“”If this virus was infectious, ..””
What on earth do you mean by that? One of the routes to person to person transmission is via the submicroscopic droplets which are airborne over a few metres hence the 2 metre physical distancing although some experiments have suggested that the aerosol droplets produced by a sneeze may travel further than that.
The weave of a cloth mask if double thickness would be sufficient to stop the penetration of the droplets. Hence the need to be careful when removing the mask and the need to wash it and your hands after removing it. Again mentioned by Ms Sturgeon.
“”Ms Sturgeon was at pains yes, and it seems to have been a wasted effort, by the looks of comments and a new confidence everyone has in their invincibility.””
Everyone? Really? Proof of that statement?
Aaaaaaarggghhhhhh.
Sorry Legerwood, but this is driving me mad, but I do appreciate that you listened to everything Nicola Sturgeon said.
There are 2 main ways a disease can spread – through the air (infectious) and through touch (contagious). An infection – a general term – is not necessarily infectious. But that’s why I tried to use airborne. It is a different mechanism of spread. It means a lot when you need to control the spread. If it was infectious it would ‘live’ in the air, and drift around in the air and float into your lungs when you breathe in.
Coronavirus is contagious, you need contact with it, it does not live in the air by itself. The aerosol droplets are the physical surface for the virus. And you might breathe those in. But it is still not airborne or infectious – that much is known, definitely.
Anything contagious is always automatically infectious: if you can catch it from someone, it’s being passed to you via an infectious agent.
An infectious agent is what makes you sick, like a virus or bacteria, Something like food poisoning is differfent, it’s contagious but not infectious as you can’t pass that on with a sneeze, a cough or a kiss.
FFS food poisoning is infectious but not contagious. Bedtime for me maybe lol?
Thepnr, my terminology is not exact – it’s what I use to distinguish air-borne from surface-borne (from water-borne) pathogen. All the terminology is confusing, and why it isn’t being described well to the public.
Infection is just you have caught something – it might not even be a pathogen (disease-causing micro-organism).
Food poisoning is probably the worst example you could use which is why you’ve got into bother – it can be caused by all sorts, and you will likely suffer from ingested toxins rather than an infectious organism. A poisonous mushroom isn’t contagious infectious or communicable. A tape worm is infectious (water-borne) or cryptosporidium (a protozoan)(water-borne). Salmonella, bacterium, is a definite pathogen that will multiply inside you. Some viruses.
Anyway! I have no idea WHAT you are all trying to argue:
Face coverings are NOT likely to offer any protection to the person wearing it – and it is irresponsible to claim this is so, because then people feel too safe and will reduce their physical distancing (it’s automatic, if you pay attention you can watch yourself do it). And physical distancing, and the 2m distance, HAS been shown to be effective.
It is good to wear face coverings in close confines because they WILL probably reduce the distance the virus can spread out around your person. It does not stop the virus getting out. And you need to change the covering frequently.
People with breathing difficulties should NOT wear face coverings because the possible conferred benefits do not outweigh the more likely harm.
If the government or NHS supplied appropriate grade masks for us to wear, it might be different.
After you have been out to the shops, clean all goods bought, put them in quarantine, clean the inside and outside of your shopping bag, go round and clean all door handles and switches in your house, wipe all keys used, wash your hands, clean the taps you touched, change your clothes and put old ones into quarantine, wipe down your jacket, wash your hands, wash your hair, wash your face and neck, go round and wipe down surfaces and door handles again, wash eye glasses, clean phone, wipe purse and bank card used, wipe down handbag, wash hands again. Not necessarily in that order, and I’ve probably missed a few things touched – this is basic, because we are most likely – the highest risk of catching it – is through touching things. It’s a balance of risk. I have a cardboard box of a delivery sitting in the hallway in quarantine for the past 3 days – and I might consider approaching it now (because evidence points to a 3-day survival on the surface of cardboard) – it was sprayed with disinfectant too – but I do not need to encase it in plastic because the virus is NOT air-borne and won’t drift into the air if it’s not disturbed.
Please do all take care and keep following basic hygiene procedures.
And, from the freedictionary.com:
“infectious:
– capable of causing infection; transmitted without contact: Cholera is an infectious epidemic disease caused by a microorganism.
– Not to be confused with:
contagious – transmissible by contact; catching; capable of carrying disease: A head cold can be contagious.”
That’s the distinction I was meaning.
When experts cannot agree then better to err on the side of caution
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00974-w
“”The assumption should be that airborne transmission is possible unless experimental evidence rules it out, not the other way around, says Tang. That way people can take precautions to protect themselves, he says.””
If face masks don’t offer any kind of protection from Covid 19then why do medical staff dealing with Covid 19 patients wear them?
Why has there been such a stink about the unavailability of face masks, a vital piece of personal PROTECTIVE equipment?
Of course, face masks provide some protection against the virus just as goggles and gloves also do.
The only reason they have not yet been recommended for general use is that there are not enough available to provide the public and front line staff. It will be all change when the kit does become available, that is a certainty. I’d also hazard a guess that it will be compulsory in places such as on public transport.
It’s no more than common sense to see that something you can catch through your eyes, nose and mouth has less chance of being passed on if there is a barrier such as a mask or goggles than if there isn’t a barrier.
See reply above. Paradoxically, masks are more effective at very close range because the exhaled droplets are still large enough to trap.
I happen to have a couple of P3 filter valve operated masks because of past renovations in our old property where asbestos could never be ruled out. That is ICU grade but still only stops 99% of covid 19 viruses.
Who cares about the science, good manners and respect for the well-being of others should be enough reason to follow Nicola’s advice. I was taught, and probably every single person reading this post was taught, to cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze into your hanky. In the film ‘ Gregory’s girl ‘ we are told that a sneeze exits our nose at 350 miles an hour, just check your steering wheel or dashboard for the results. So whether you can catch it airborne or touching something that’s been splattered, it makes sense to prevent as much as possible from getting past your own face. Nicola’s advice is no different to what your granny taught you, what is the problem.
Does a face covering do any harm, well no it doesn’t so what’s the problem, if it affords you or others even the tiniest bit of protection then why on earth wouldn’t you do it, you’d be mad not to
Well I can tell you why some flatly refuse to and it has nothing to do with protection or not, it simply is the idiot clownbrained attitude that some mentally irregular zoomers have about “she’s no ma leader” and that’s part of Scotlands problem, people so stupidly and misguidedly placing an imagined political loyalty over the lives of their own families and those of others behind the idea that they will wait for their chosen leader from another country to make up his mind or not
We live in Scotland and none of the clowns exhibiting this stupid behaviour live next door to Boris Johnson or anybody else in England, they’ll make their own decisions or not for that country, we’ve got decisions made here in Scotland where we live, so just stop being prats about it
At moments like this I tend to think of Janey Godley when she said “I’ll run ma toe up the crack of your arse”
Please excuse the colourful language Paul
PS: Tom Newton Dunn’s Twitter filled up with folk from England informing him he was an idiot and all defended Nicola Sturgeons comments, and yes he is a tedious person who by the way said nothing about it in his appearance on SKY press preview later last night except that England should be wearing face coverings because Nicola Sturgeon showed the way
So I guess that was a wee bit of people power on the Twitter and a Uturn by the SUN newspapers political tedious person
A wee bit of (Welsh) history for you …
And yes, having revealed my age, it was before my time:
https://nation.cymru/culture/review-the-elan-valley-clearance-is-a-painstakingly-detail-account-of-an-act-of-dispossession/
Have the Welsh Govt. or Welsh Local Authorities ever received any payment from Liverpool and Birmingham for the theft of Welsh water?
Any kind of face covering will reduce the amount of virus from an infected person sneezing or coughing getting into the air and/or contaminating nearby surfaces even if there are no people around when the sneeze or cough happens.
That alone makes it appropriate in helping to reduce the spread of the virus and that was the main point being made by the FM.
Still the Brits twist the number of deaths to pretend they haven’t failed miserably. They are quoting deaths “including those who have died having tested positive in care homes”. Except hardly any bugger was being tested in care homes.
One of these days I hope Nicola congratulates the Brits on having the lowest percentage of deaths in care homes in all of Europe. Followed up with: ” tell us how you have been so amazingly successful in your care homes and comparatively unsuccessful in every other respect?”
I watched the Care Scotland guy taking no prisoners in The Nine tonight. He was excellent. More of that please. Nicola was excellent as usual in her daily update. If it wasn’t for her I would know nothing reliable about what is happening with corona virus on a day to day basis. Those who make sniping criticisms of her are minnows.
Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care certainly gave a robust and straight between the eyes response to the leading questions being put to him by one of the lightweight pair of presenters on the Scotland bbc Nine “news show”
This speaks for itself
Acknowledgements to Bellacaledonia and DDN
The Britnat media doing EngGov dirty work are an absolute disgrace. The undermining, bullying and belittling of Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, is obviously a coordinated attempt to discredit her and the SNP government. They cannot stand the fact that Scotland’s FM is being praised for her
work on tackling this crisis from many quarters, including people in England.
It’s very good to know that so many now see through the media manipulation fest going on, people realising that they are being treated as fools by the Britnat media, and the Britnat English government. A pandemic is no time to treat people as fools,
but down that route the Britnats and their compliant media go.
Full on propaganda mode, they must be up late each night, plotting their next devious move, or at least someone is doing it for them, how to twist what ever the FM says, to undermine the truth of her daily briefings.
Here is a link to a very good article about wearing masks, or scarves etc. Well worth a read and there is a longer detailed version there as well, going on research carried out.
https://www.fast.ai/2020/04/13/masks-summary/
Indeed, “The undermining, bullying and belittling of Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, is obviously a coordinated attempt to discredit her and the SNP government”…
Their problem is that SG and FM credibility is so firmly established in the English public psyche that the reaction has been revulsion to the conspiracy and the journalists involved.
Realisation that if they’re lying about the Scots, what else are they lying about follows in short order, and with HMG still trying to hide England’s true body count, this will blow up in their faces…
Independence supporters are forever squabbling with one another. It is actually a strength of our movement.
But, it must be said, all parties have factions. Blair vs Corbyn. May vs ERG. Swinson vs sanity. Salmond vs Sturgeon. I would be more worried if we all sang from the same script. Then we really would be a cult.
Lively debate is a sign of a healthy democracy.
I very much doubt that the begging bowl journalism that currently serves as a press in these lands touches any more than 10% of the population. Like the echo chamber that is twitter, the majority of society is untouched by the comments of engaged partisans of opinion. For most, life is just too short.
I have no problem arguing with fellow independence supporters. We are all engaged and strongly convinced of the rightness of our cause, despite our differences. We all are certain the future is brighter without the English Tory Party and their factors in the picture. The fact we fight like cats in a sack doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
But only Christ knows what British Nationalists look to to inspire their futures. Their inability to see disaster unfolding before their very own eyes is the true mark of a cult.
If we ever have the opportunity to vote in another independence referendum, I am supremely confident the Scots will not make the same mistake we did in 2014.
Is there any proof to support your comment, that is “Salmond versus Sturgeon”, John?
Studies show that coronavirus droplets can travel much further than say six feet or so, is exacerbated in polluted areas and can persist in the air for hours. In other words as you walk through a supermarket the droplets from someone’s sneeze can rise and travel up, over and across aisles and in fact may remain in the air for some time thereafter….. for hours. If you are venturing out once a week to do a big shop protect yourselves by erring on the side of caution folks. I would recommend wearing a cap with a visor (a fiver online), a homemade face covering, a hard surface jacket (or no jacket) and virus protective gloves. There’s more to this, a lot more, from putting your shopping in your boot to putting your shopping away at home. Too late to go into it all right now, step by step, but if anyone is interested it could be covered on here as soon as, if requested.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-study/coronavirus-can-persist-in-air-for-hours-and-on-surfaces-for-days-study-idUKKBN2143QP
The Westminster controlled MSM on the figures given. Scotland and the US have half the deaths of the rest of the UK (pro rata) US 60,000. Rest of the UK 26,000.
US 260Million pop 60,000 (pro rata) 15,000 (by comparison)
Scotland 5.2Million (half death rate with more elderly pop) 1,300)
Rest of the UK pop 62Million – 24,7000
If there is any accuracy in the figures,
Scotland care home deaths are reported.
Rest of the UK not reported accurately.
Scotland still have half the number of deaths (pro rata).
The MSM are absolutely incompetent. They do not have a clue how to analyse statistics, Banding about headlines and figures that are complete nonsense.
The SNHS was better funded and more prepared,
Planning for a pandemic is the responsibility of the Westminster Gov. It has failed appallingly. Cutting the NHS funding, instead of increasing it for years. Despite repeated warning.
The MSM are a disaster. Beyond belief. Lie after lie. The same as Westminster. A total danger,
The Tories are now investing in Nuclear. Plutonium from Britain is used in nuclear bomb production in the US, Killing more.
The Tories are funding death instead of keeping people alive. Life expectancy decreasing because of Tory policies.
Johnston now had seven children if the figure is reported accuracy. The migrant ever expanding family. Deporting other people. Charging essential healthcare workers £thousands for healthcare. Charging migrant essential workers £thousands for passports. Charging children born in the UK £thousands to stay.
Johnston, the lying hypocrite, and his cronies wasting public money faster than a sieve loses water. People are dying because of the Tory policies. An absolute failure. The Tories will be voted out, especially in Scotland.
I would say those persons with personal grudges against the FM and the SNP and blogged against them during the last general election therefore supporting the unionists parties are not Independence supporters. Some, with concerns over the SNP may well have held their nose and voted for the SNP and in my view are to be commended for their belief in the greater good.
Some Concerns about the SNP are you having a Laugh ,
You really are stupid brainless and bloody gullible, this management of the SNP have NO intention of going anywhere near independence , how many times have they been given a mandate for a vote ? and you are falling for it ,any criticism or alternative view is branded as a unionist supporter , christ waken up .
Leslie Evans why is she still in position ? . eh Nicola ? .
The book Alex is writing might just waken you up but i really doubt it, stupid idiots cant be woken because they are too dumb to realise they’re asleep ,
Aye you go for me pal and i bite back every bloody time .
Robert – don’t use this blog to insult other people who post here. Disagree without being disagreeable please.
Thanks for proving my point. Take care of your dentures.
It’s like the media in Scotland have a country wide briefing first thing every morning all lined up in a wee row receiving their instructions from their bosses while singing the company loyalty song like Japanese car workers “we must apportion blame we must apportion blame EIO ma daddio we must apportion blame” *Tae Nikla Tae Nikla*
And if they can’t pin the blame directly they’ll just change the odd word here and the odd word there of a statement made by the FM then find a way to misrepresent that statement but claim it was a mistake after they’ve reported it *wrongly* for at least a day and a half before the inaudible correction is made at a time when nobody’s looking or listening
They do it all with such wide eyed innocence too
People in the rest of the UK are twice as likely to die. They vote Tory. Yet the MSM criticise the Scottish Gov. All the time. No wonder the Press are in decline.
Am I correct in saying Scotland has 8 percent of the total UK population but 5.3 percent of covid 19 deaths. The statistical data is available for Scotland but once again the data for England is hidden in either UK totals or England and Wales and you then have to extrapolate separate data for Wales, N Ireland and Scotland to deduce what the data for England must be. It’s a bit like the Gers data freely available for the so called Celtic fringe but not England. The last time I checked the Gers data the total UK deficit was the same as the total deficit for the devolved areas ie England had no deficit!
Check the returns on the media around late afternoon.
The total figure always misses out Northern Ireland number as they’re later in compiling.
Have a look at skye’s website it’s full of old stuff,that contradicts the current, no editor?
See the report from the USA that our new aircraft for the aircraft carriers sans aircraft won’tbe allowed to fly supersonic speeds as the tail might fall off.
Media coverage, NIL.
Hard to say this but it’s looking like the UKis going to win the European Cup for Euthenasia.
Will check report cheers.
Once again as part of the UK we lead Europe in terms of overall incompetence. Have a look at the photos of Putin visiting patients in a Russian hospital he looks like he is at the aftermath of Chernobyl and contrast this with Boris’s visit to a hospital in March 2020.
Have a look at the information on this website: https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/
There is a table near the bottom of the page that gives figures for Scotland as part of the UK. It has Scotland with 8.2% of the population and 5,4% of covid-19 deaths. These are hospital deaths only figures.
If you haven’t already seen it, this link Ann put up on IndyrefTwo elegantly highlights the problem.
Borders tweet the “confused” message with a video of FM diplomatically having to explain to Peter MacMahon all over again why Borders are “at it” without saying so…
https://mobile.twitter.com/ITVborder/status/1255532417244450819
As one comment sagely observed, none watching the FM’s daily briefings (apparently massive numbers) misinterpreted what was clearly said, the confusion is a deliberate confection by the media (Alister Jack Broadcasting Inc?) for political ends…
The death rate is twice as high in the rest of the UK than Scotland (pro rata) per population. Scotland is half.
1,300. UK 26,000 Rest of the UK 24,700.
Scotland is collecting figures more accurately. The care home deaths are not being included in the rest of UK figures. They do not know them accurately.
They are half in the US (pro rata) compared to the rest of the UK.
If the data is being collected accurately.
It will not be totally clear until deaths per annum are calculated.
50,000 per die in Scotland per annum. 1,000 a week (norm) mainly elderly. Old age
500,000 (1/2million) die in the UK.
100,000 a week (norm) mainly elderly. Old age.
More on average in the winter than summer (flu, cold etc). Life expectancy 79.
Differential depending on number of elderly as a percentage of the population. By comparison.
Maybe everyone including the media should be listening Nicola Sturgeon and giving appreciation how to deal with a major crisis. Trying to save lives. Instead of telling lies.
Instead of a dope on a rope catching the virus. Endangering their family and the wider community. Clueless.
UK now has the highest % deaths per COVID cases in the world – source https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
That is the real scandal and yet all the MSM provide is mixed messaging to undermine the Scottish Govt. An absolute scandal, the majority of these “journalists” should hang their heads in shame.
A couple of days old, but probably best illustrates why HMG set the media attack dogs on SG, “Look, a squirrel”…
Scroll down for the UK’s 4 country breakdown….
MSM have also got Son of Boris, VE Day celebrations … and whole lot of other things to keep them occupied in the next few days.
Masks – FAQ for Skeptics
https://www.fast.ai/2020/04/20/skeptics-masks/
Its truly painful to watch what passes for the media in Scotland. It truly is. So bad is it, that I decided a long time ago to simply stop buying newspapers. My only experience of it now, is via links to various articles, that simply highlight what a god awful mess the media is in right now.
But Scotland – ah the media in Scotland – nowhere in the world will you find a more hostile and more partisan group than the Scottish media. Utterly hostile to the idea of independence and extremely hostile to the SNP. It has become so deranged that it has become a 24/7 hate campaign.
Its so obscene to see them tear into the SNP, in the name of “Holding them to account” – but then with a sly smile on their face, turn a blind eye to some truly awful things going on in the UK right now.
Sturgeon suggests people wear face masks when going to the shops. Watch them descend on her like a plague of locusts. News that 20k+ people have died in the UK due to the virus, while in NZ they are reporting no new cases at all this week – just watch the media not only, not challenge the UK gov on its abysmal record and wondering, “maybe Scotland is on to something” but completely avoid the news of a much smaller nation, not only get it under control but start to beat it completely.
First Minister,
“I’ve heard that some Care Homes are reducing the scoops of ice cream from two to one, in their jelly and ice dream desserts. What are you going to do about this?”
‘One of our readers tells us that they cannot clear the weeds from the pavement outside their house because you have forced them to stay in the house or be arrested by the Stazi Police Scotland. Have you no shame?”
” what are the exact ‘testing’ figures? What will they be next Tuesday afternoon at half past three in the afternoon? Why aren’t you as good as Boris?’
‘We hear of Care Homes wrapping their heads in cling film because they are not being supplied with PPE by Jeanne Freeman. Explain yourself!”
“People will just say ‘sod it’ if you extend the curfew beyond May 7th. Isn’t it time you chucked this totalitarian lockdown so that we binraking hacks can come back here in a few weeks time to declare what a failure you have been when deaths quadruple?”
‘What can’t builders get on with building jerry built little boxes. So a few bricklayers get a bad flu/
HS2 is being built. Why not half a million pound executive flats in Leith?”
“Aren’t you thoroughly ashamed that you have allowed fly tippers to run riot and are you not directly responsible for the plague of rats?”
“What about ‘Single Parents’ being treated hostilely just because they take their rug rats to supermarkets and let them run riot while they shop?
Don’t you know that every single parent is a blessed saint, (Ed. sorry, that should be in caps; Single Parent) struggling to make their way in a hostile world, and that the absent dads are bastards. Will you demand that Tesco’s does something about this?”
“Do you agree with the hypothetical ‘parents’ who would surely agree with me if I could be arsed actually asking them as part of my research into posing this spurious SNP/NS Bad question, that teachers can’t be trusted to assess course work to grade students this year?”
And so it goes, day in day out.
They have deliberately reduced this to a version of FMQ. A barrage of hostile spurious outbursts, the theme of which is NS / SNP Bad, and here comes Q 13 today about ‘testing’, to which NS replied twenty minutes earlier, and had to repeat, and repeat, and repeat, as the gaggle of Hacks put her under attack/pressure/ scrutiny for the piss poor performance of the Scottish Government.
It is deliberate. Reduce the daily briefings to a boring pointless farce, and slag off the FM and the Scottish Government, and our HS, Teachers Police and Care workers for good measure.
They are dying, and they know it. Like a mad suicide bomber, they are determined to take as many innocents with them as they can.
Just listen to the nonsense tomorrow.
FM, I heard from a care worker that she is to be taken out into the car park, and publicly executed for refusing to wok without PPE. Are you not ashamed?”
Continuing the discussion with Contrary re infectious/contagious. They are not distinct from one another and the terms apply to microbes (eg bacteria) and viruses
“”Infectious diseases are caused by microscopic germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that get into the body and cause problems. Some — but not all — infectious diseases spread directly from one person to another. Infectious diseases that spread from person to person are said to be contagious.””
https://kidshealth.org
There is person to person transmission of Covid-19
More detailed explanation of the terms here:
https://www.dictionary.com/e/contagious-vs-infectious-the-difference-can-be-important/
Corvid19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-cov2 virus. Human to human transmission takes place thus the disease is contagious.
One route of transmission is via droplets/aerosols from sneezes, coughs, breathe from an infected person. These microscopic /submicroscopic discharges are airborne for a short time and over a relatively short distance. Therefore this is one route for transmission of the virus that causes the disease. What is not known, and may take some time to establish is the degree to which this route contributes to the incidence of the disease. In the absence of such definitive knowledge then the advice is that it is better to err on the side of caution. See the reference from Nature that I gave in one of my earlier posts.
Ms Sturgeon has taken this advice and recommended that in certain well-defined circumstances where this airborne transmission could occur – public transport and shopswhere social distancing is not possible – then masks would be advisable. As was also stressed the masks do not make you invincible and do not under any circumstances replace the need for the guidelines on physical distancing and hand washing.
Nicola Sturgeon may not have the authority to close the Scottish Border, but with responsibility for Scotland’s roads and for Scotland’s National Health Service, under the current Corona virus restrictions she does have the authority to institute checks on all vehicles and individuals who are travelling anywhere to determine whether or not their journeys are necessary. At a rough check I reckon that there are about 30 roads crossing the Scottish border, only 3 of them main routes. It does not seem like an inordinately large number of crossings to introduce police checks simultaneously. This would have to include motorway checkpoints. It would not stop the virus but it would certainly cut down travel across the border.
Wearing a mask keeps people alive. So be it.
Airforce jets out late evening. A racket.
Minimum of air traffic recently,
Oil workers are being testing at Aberdeen Airport centre routinely for weeks. Oil companies paying? Oil workers and others are working from home as per usual. Some extremely busy.
70% of workforce in Scotland still working?
Deaths in Scotland are minimal. Despite the hysteria in the Press. The Scottish Gov has done a reasonable job in containing distress. Every death a tragedy,
Some relent will have to come soon. Or people could act out accordingly. Relieved perhaps by age group.
The Tories have closed the borders with their appalling policies. Minimal traffic going anywhere. Just essential traffic. Delivery etc. The Police have enforced the road closure. £60 fines etc. Redirecting traffic. If Nicola wants then closed longer to save lives. So be it,
Brexit. No freedom of movement. It will be even worse. The bad affect on the economy. The Barnett Formula, The Tory mess and shambles.
Westminster probably would like to open up sooner than Scotland but will they take the chance of the spike then lose their electorate in England completely and will they test Nicola Sturgeons resolve that she won’t do it if she says so
These things and more we’ll find out in next weeks thrilling installment of *Crisis at Westminster* starring any given selection of Tories and introducing Michael Gove as Vilanelle
Counting the deaths in Britain,
How many people have died directly as the result of coronaviras?
How many people have died with the coronaviras in their body? But not because of Coronaviras
How many people have died, after examination by a doctor, of coronaviras in their homes?
How many people have died, with no medical diagnosis of coronaviras in their homes? But presumed to have died of coronaviras without post-mortems being carried out?
Coronaviras can be in the body, but you need not die of it,
There needs to be some discrimination and correct recording as to wether the patients had had a serious health issue, before they had coronaviras, or had recently undergone a operation that weakened them, including lung problems that can occur after being under anaesthetic.
How many people died of regular influenza, that occurs every year?
Are these two similar influenza symptoms being presumed as coronaviras when no post -mortem is accurately diagnosed,
I do not doubt the coronaviras is endangering lives,
And any one person whom does not take voluntary precautions to safe guard their families and friends by wearing face masks, gloves and thorough washing is asking for trouble. The ordinary person in the street does not know enough about the new virus to be so blasé.
It would be a very happy MSM that had to report more deaths in Scotland than in England, especially as bbc was predicting this would happen at the beginning of March, and Westminster do not wish Scotland to close its borders to coronaviras happy travelling campers, or second holiday home owners from down south.
You can use your head,by covering it with a mask, or possible no longer need your head because your body died of coronaviras.
Great post!!
I thought media independence is positive thing for the people to see and find the truth. but it seems that behind the term “independence media”, we can still find an affiliation of publication policy either to a government or business group. Your opinion here is not only open my eyes to realise the danger of irresponsible media, but also make me understand how a simple thing like face coverings is used as a political bullet to criticise a good policy to protect the people in Scotland. Thank you