Coronavirus: COVID-19

[Vertigo 7]

So the UK governments have decided to end the shielding and all of the care that was being given to those that were shielding. I was one of those people and I have to say I'm not actually comfortable with it ending, yesterday there were another 880 new confirmed cases and another 120 deaths related to covid-19, while not American numbers to me that is till quite a lot. So we have decided to continue shielding, especially after seeing what happened yesterdy. This raises issues as I still have to get things like my meds and shopping, fortunately I have someone that is willing to get my shopping for the near future but I will propably have to go out to get my meds. I do feel like we are just now being swept under the carpet as an inconvenience, and many others in a similar situation are saying the exact same thing. This is not over by a long shot and I do think the selfishness of others who are acting like it is, are just putting the lives of people like me at risk.

Can you get your meds through the mail? or a drive through pharmacy at least?

[fiksal]

^ that really sucks. All of UK done that?

[CBJ]

Can you get your meds through the mail? or a drive through pharmacy at least?

Drive-in anything isn't really a thing in the UK, apart from a handful of fast food places. And prescriptions for medicines need to be collected in person, or by a nominated individual. With the UK case numbers starting to creep up again, this really doesn't seem to be a good time to be leaving people like felter in the lurch.

[RegisterMe]

I've certainly picked up prescriptions for a could of neighbours of mine who were shielding, though I did need the prescription itself and their driving license / passport. I'm not sure if things are more restricted for "hardcore" drugs though (I was only getting antibiotics etc).

It's certainly worth a call to the pharmacist / GP.

[Vertigo 7]

Can you get your meds through the mail? or a drive through pharmacy at least?

Drive-in anything isn't really a thing in the UK, apart from a handful of fast food places. And prescriptions for medicines need to be collected in person, or by a nominated individual. With the UK case numbers starting to creep up again, this really doesn't seem to be a good time to be leaving people like felter in the lurch.

Seems like that would be a great idea to implement. I pick up all of my medications at a drive through. It would force social distancing between the pharmacy staff and the patient. ID checks and all of that wouldn't be any different than walking inside.

[RegisterMe]

None of our cities are built to accommodate that. We'd have to redesign every city in the land (and they'd take up more space, which would be a problem).

UK population density ~275 people / km2
US population density ~ 36 people / km2 (if I got my maths right)

[RegisterMe]

An interview with Neil Ferguson, it's an interesting (reasonably long) read.

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-te ... d-modeller

[CBJ]

Seems like that would be a great idea to implement.

I think you may have misunderstood; it's not a thing because it's not practical here. A typical shopping area in a UK town or city requires you to park some distance away and walk to where the shops are. Even in suburban areas where you may be able to park closer, the shops themselves are usually in a row of terraced buildings with a pavement in front, with nowhere you could physically get up close to the building in a vehicle. As RegisterMe explained, we simply don't have the space, or the infrastructure for drive-through.

[Vertigo 7]

Seems like that would be a great idea to implement.

I think you may have misunderstood; it's not a thing because it's not practical here. A typical shopping area in a UK town or city requires you to park some distance away and walk to where the shops are. Even in suburban areas where you may be able to park closer, the shops themselves are usually in a row of terraced buildings with a pavement in front, with nowhere you could physically get up close to the building in a vehicle. As RegisterMe explained, we simply don't have the space, or the infrastructure for drive-through.

hmm yeah, that would be a problem.

Any chance for a temporary setup to accommodate drive throughs? I doubt it would take a massive effort to use converted shipping containers to setup drive through pharmacy services in parking lots. They use those things for temporary office space all the time.

[CBJ]

I can understand where your thought process is coming from, but it's still based around the US idea of there being lots of free space. We don't have vast unused parking lots all over the place either. Parking areas for city centre shopping are typically jam-packed during shopping hours, with very little scope for cordoning off an area. Heck, in many cities you have to park underground or in multistory car-parks, or leave your car miles out and catch a bus into town. Even out-of-town supermarket car-parks are often only just big enough to accommodate shoppers' vehicles at peak times.

Don't get me wrong; yes, there would be space to do that in some areas, and indeed that has been done for COVID testing facilities in some places, but it's far from a solution that would give everyone easy access to a drive-through pharmacy. Even if it did, you also need to bear in mind that car-ownership is not universal here anyway. For some city dwellers it's not practical to own a car, as parking space close to your home may be either expensive or non-existent. And among people who could most benefit from easier access to medication, car ownership levels may well be even lower.

[RegisterMe]

Not to mention we're trying to pedestrianise urban centres and make room for bikes over cars etc.

[pjknibbs]

Drive-in anything isn't really a thing in the UK, apart from a handful of fast food places. And prescriptions for medicines need to be collected in person, or by a nominated individual. With the UK case numbers starting to creep up again, this really doesn't seem to be a good time to be leaving people like felter in the lurch.

My mother's local pharmacy has some sort of thing set up where they deliver her prescription to her door. No idea if that's the pharmacy themselves or something local volunteers are doing, though.

[Alan Phipps]

Or a facility/app something like this maybe? https://web.echo.co.uk/ It contains an explanatory video on the first page before any log-in. (I'm sure that other service providers exist too.)

[felter]

Why are people still getting on cruise ships, better still why are cruise ships still operating, didn't they learn anything from earlier on in the year.

[matthewfarmery]

Why are people still getting on cruise ships, better still why are cruise ships still operating, didn't they learn anything from earlier on in the year.

Why are planes still going? same risk, if not greater?

The problem is, they are desperate to get people's money, and to kickstart the economy going again. Take Spain for example, first it was safe to go there, no its not. And people returning need to self isolate.

But while the UK government said it was safe, I don't know who is more stupid, the government or the people who went to Spain?

but right now, We should still be doing all we can to keep this virus from spreading. And sadly, we aren't doing that. Which only makes the second wave of this virus even more possible, and dangerous.

[Alan Phipps]

I imagine that none of the passengers want their fixed length cruise to become an indefinite length stay aboard with very limited berthing permissions, whoever might pay for the extra time. I wonder what the onboard cruiseline doctors are thinking though.

[CBJ]

To be fair, Hurtigruten aren't typical cruise ships. This one was on an "expedition" route to Svalbard; others are passenger and cargo routes connecting coastal towns in Norway. Personally I wouldn't be using them at a time like this anyway, but we're not talking about the 3-weeks-all-you-can-eat-what-country-are-we-in-today cruises that so many people were stuck on at the start of the pandemic.

[Incubi]

Living in California and surfing the second wave

That is a little Californian humor. Being in the middle of what looks to be the current hotspot, I have to keep my humor up. Still delivering Pizza because food delivery is booming now and I need work, haven't paid rent in three months. Despite this, I think things are going to be fine. I am hoping that most of these new numbers are related to more available test, but the rising death toll is alarming. So much for this being done in August. How is everyone else doing?

[Vertigo 7]

Living in California and surfing the second wave

That is a little Californian humor. Being in the middle of what looks to be the current hotspot, I have to keep my humor up. Still delivering Pizza because food delivery is booming now and I need work, haven't paid rent in three months. Despite this, I think things are going to be fine. I am hoping that most of these new numbers are related to more available test, but the rising death toll is alarming. So much for this being done in August. How is everyone else doing?

I've weathered fairly well, though I've limited venturing outside my house to things like going to the pharmacy drive through. I was working from home way before covid hit so my normal day to day didn't change terribly much. My kids are bouncing off the walls but they're coping fairly well. I am going to hire a tutor and fully move them to home schooling for the time being if governor mee-maw tries to force schools to reopen for in person classes, however. The school faculty is pushing to keep the school closed, but I don't know how much the county school board is listening to them. Sadly, I live in MAGA country so student and teacher safety is a tertiary concern at best. I do wish it was feasible for me to move back to SoCal.

[Scarecrow]

People always told me I just wanted to be a hermit with an internet connection.

Doing fine here in western Colorado, but at 72 yo my life really hasn't changed much.