IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Utah 01 480]

5 hours ago, Boris Johnson said:

It is not a democracy but a giant public funded spin machine.

Kerchang!  The penny has dropped.  Were it not for the fact we live so far from the tropics we could justifiably label the Isle of Man' political system as that of a 'banana republic'.

[Scotty 495]

1 minute ago, Utah 01 said:

Kerchang!  The penny has dropped.  Were it not for the fact we live so far from the tropics we could justifiably label the Isle of Man' political system as that of a 'banana republic'.

Kipper Republic ?

[Roger Mexico 9,298]

11 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

Whatever they’re paying, it’s not working. 

You're misunderstanding what all those 'communications professionals' are actually paid for.  They aren't there to communicate with the public, they're there to surround the politicians and their puppet-masters in a warm bath of PR slop to make them feel good about themselves and terribly hard-done-by. 

That's why Quayle has hissy-fits when the media asks him impertinent questions.  They see the job of the media as being to reflect their own wonderfulness back to them and nothing else.  Admittedly if you look at the UK, you can see where they got that idea from.

[Roger Mexico 9,298]

To get back on topic, here is the talk that @rachomics gave to Tynwald members about Covid and testing:

If you find it a bit simplistic - just remember who she was talking to.

[Roxanne 1,281]

26 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

You're misunderstanding what all those 'communications professionals' are actually paid for.  They aren't there to communicate with the public, they're there to surround the politicians and their puppet-masters in a warm bath of PR slop to make them feel good about themselves and terribly hard-done-by. 

That's why Quayle has hissy-fits when the media asks him impertinent questions.  They see the job of the media as being to reflect their own wonderfulness back to them and nothing else.  Admittedly if you look at the UK, you can see where they got that idea from.

It’s funny. We know all the stuff that goes on with Trump and his methods  and how wildly unbelievable it all is but really, we are a microcosm of that.

Trump sacks people he doesn’t agree with or who tells the truth, here we just make their working life so uncomfortable that they resign, or we do deals with media outlets that secures their continued employment so long as no further questions are asked, or we buy the best enquirers off by making them an offer they can’t understand.

On a smaller scale for sure, but it has its similarities, and it stinks. 

[rachomics 814]

Maybe I should do the PhD version. I'm sure you're all dying to know the significance of a GC clamp, the 3'->5' exonuclease activity of high fidelity Taq polymerase and minor groove binding probes to the accuracy of our COVID-19 test 

[Scotty 495]

6 minutes ago, rachomics said:

Maybe I should do the PhD version. I'm sure you're all dying to know the significance of a GC clamp, the 3'->5' exonuclease activity of high fidelity Taq polymerase and minor groove binding probes to the accuracy of our COVID-19 test 

No. 👍

[Scotty 495]

21 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

It’s funny. We know all the stuff that goes on with Trump and his methods  and how wildly unbelievable it all is but really, we are a microcosm of that.

Trump sacks people he doesn’t agree with or who tells the truth, here we just make their working life so uncomfortable that they resign, or we do deals with media outlets that secures their continued employment so long as no further questions are asked, or we buy the best enquirers off by making them an offer they can’t understand.

On a smaller scale for sure, but it has its similarities, and it stinks. 

You may not be wrong. ( from a Gov. supporter )

[WTF 5,925]

1 hour ago, Roxanne said:

Whatever they’re paying, it’s not working. 

like the prom and NSC then ?

[Cambon 950]

1 hour ago, rachomics said:

Maybe I should do the PhD version. I'm sure you're all dying to know the significance of a GC clamp, the 3'->5' exonuclease activity of high fidelity Taq polymerase and minor groove binding probes to the accuracy of our COVID-19 test 

Yes please. 

[Boris Johnson 593]

2 hours ago, rachomics said:

Maybe I should do the PhD version. I'm sure you're all dying to know the significance of a GC clamp, the 3'->5' exonuclease activity of high fidelity Taq polymerase and minor groove binding probes to the accuracy of our COVID-19 test 

Come on, tell the truth, you lifted that from a Star Trek Next Generation script 😃

Edited November 21, 2020 by Boris Johnson

[Roger Mexico 9,298]

1 hour ago, rachomics said:

Maybe I should do the PhD version. I'm sure you're all dying to know the significance of a GC clamp, the 3'->5' exonuclease activity of high fidelity Taq polymerase and minor groove binding probes to the accuracy of our COVID-19 test 

Actually having watched it all now, I think it's pitched just right and explains a lot of the issues very well.  For example I liked the way you showed the graph of viral load against time - and then just as they were thinking "Test everyone at 8 days" displayed the messiness of the underlying data and how it wouldn't catch some cases.

[Lxxx 5,826]

3 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

So if you pretend really hard it isn't here it will go away because you are a terribly important person?  Are you sure your name's not Howard?

This dangerous magical thinking again.  If Covid does get out into the community we will find out it pretty quickly and refusing to test till every hospital bed is full isn't going to make it vanish.  It's possible that you will get the odd case that gets passed on to no one, but given the lack of measures to restrict spread in place on the Island, not only is wide  transmission possible, it's very likely. 

And when more and more people get Covid-like symptoms they will want to be tested.  Testing the whole Island would indeed be pointless, but testing those with symptoms is happening already and we should be testing close contacts more (and repeatedly).

 

It's not about pretending it isn't here it is about acknowledging it is but keeping it in perspective.  

Until such a time as it overwhelm's our health service we shouldn't make any knee jerk reactions. Keep it sensible, deal with cases as we are doing and don't whip up the illiterate's by going out of our way to find more cases or publicising the ones we do have. 

Nature will find a way of doing what it does, we need to work with it not carpet bomb the economy like they are doing across and destroy businesses, livelihoods and lives in the process.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Lxxx

[Derek Flint 4,042]

11 hours ago, Lxxx said:

It's not about pretending it isn't here it is about acknowledging it is but keeping it in perspective.  

Until such a time as it overwhelm's our health service we shouldn't make any knee jerk reactions. Keep it sensible, deal with cases as we are doing and don't whip up the illiterate's by going out of our way to find more cases or publicising the ones we do have. 

Nature will find a way of doing what it does, we need to work with it not carpet bomb the economy like they are doing across and destroy businesses, livelihoods and lives in the process.

Can we remind ourselves what  the Strategy was? 

Then we can see if what the island is doing is actually meeting it. 

[piebaps 3,122]

The masterplan is as its always been - Get rid of the English.

Some encouraging early results too