IOM Covid removing restrictions

[2112]

Was watching the news this evening and the queues of people with masks queuing to enter shopping centres. Sadly our pathetic lot of politicos and Hennies will drag this lockdown out. Perhaps as the data dictates, the HRH The Chief Minister Show’s Headline announcement should have read ‘Retail, Lifestyle and Hospitality’ open for business on Tuesday 13 April. Still it’s all about HRH The Chief Minister and Ashie show, they are the headline act at the end of the pier show. A missed opportunity to put right their screw up! 

[Nom de plume]

Good morning!

Happy Tynwald Members Workshop Day on the borders & U.K. reaching herd immunity.

What a time to be alive.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Nom de plume

[Uhtred]

8 hours ago, TerryFuchwit said:

This shows what we are dealing with though.

These are the sort that spend too much time on Facebook and Twatter.

Well that’s confirmed at least 400 people who disturb me by purchasing the products of IOM ‘Newspapers’

[Out of the blue]

11 hours ago, Albert Tatlock said:

I thought the real headline in today's briefing was the 400 mathematically inept people who've pulled out of getting vaccinated.

 

I know one of the people who cancelled. He was due to be vaccinated on the day the media noise started and was persuaded to cancel due to the concerns of a worried wife. He listened to the briefing and did some reading and then re-registered and is getting his first AZ dose shortly. As is the case with this whole Covid thing, different people have different risk appetite so it is important that clear, factual advice without hyperbole is available. In this particular case DA's briefing convinced my friend and his wife, who are now getting vaccinated. I hope that many of the 400 were similarly reassured.

[Out of the blue]

1 hour ago, Nom de plume said:

Good morning!

Happy Tynwald Members Workshop Day on the borders & U.K. reaching herd immunity.

What a time to be alive.

We live in interesting times, and in the absence of a world war, we now have something to bore our grandchildren with in years to come.

Grandad, tell me again about the time when the world went Covid crazy and how Sir Howard Quayle VC, MBE, OBE, DSE, ABC etc, fought the virus on the beaches.

[Gladys]

4 minutes ago, Out of the blue said:

We live in interesting times, and in the absence of a world war, we now have something to bore our grandchildren with in years to come.

Grandad, tell me again about the time when the world went Covid crazy and how Sir Howard Quayle VC, MBE, OBE, DSE, ABC etc, fought the virus on the beaches.

Should have been fighting the virus on the pier. 

[piebaps]

41 minutes ago, Out of the blue said:

We live in interesting times, and in the absence of a world war, we now have something to bore our grandchildren with in years to come.

Grandad, tell me again about the time when the world went Covid crazy and how Sir Howard Quayle VC, MBE, OBE, DSE, ABC etc, fought the virus on the beaches.

Howard's beaches! And I thought he was a misogynist.

[code99]

15 hours ago, 2112 said:

I said ages on here that testing, testing and testing should be done, and free of charge. Sadly the likes of HRH The Chief Minister and his henchmen Ashie and others disagree, as it costs money.

Agreed! The problem with their myopic penny-pinching strategies is that they may achieve short term goals, but in the longer term they will always generate false economies. This government seems to be totally at ease when it comes to the spiralling costs of large capital projects (like the Liverpool Docks project), but unable to bring themselves to spend comparatively small amounts of money on vital health related programmes like random Covid testing of residents and mandatory testing of all visitors. IMHO, collectively, they lack perspective. The lockdowns we have had were always going to cost the IOMG far more that testing could ever have cost. The same 'false economies' will inevitably hold true in the future too, and when this happens again it will be the Manx taxpayers who ultimately pay for these misjudgement/ incompetence.

Edited April 13, 2021 by code99

[Andy Onchan]

51 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Should have been fighting the virus on the pier. 

That'll be the pier between Timothy Whites & the Novelty Rock Emporium then?

[Happier diner]

12 minutes ago, code99 said:

Agreed! The problem with their myopic penny-pinching strategies is that they may achieve short term goals, but in the longer term they will always generate false economies. This government seems to be totally at ease when it comes to the spiralling costs of large capital projects (like the Liverpool Docks project), but unable to bring themselves to spend comparatively small amounts of money on vital health related programmes like random Covid testing. IMHO, collectively, they lack perspective. The lockdowns we have had were always going to cost the IOMG far more that testing could ever have cost. The same 'false economies' will inevitably hold true in the future too, and when this happens again it will be the Manx taxpayers who ultimately pay for these misjudgement/ incompetence.

I agree that returning residents should not have to pay for their tests once the border opens. Government is imposing it upon us. Perhaps you should have to pay for a test when

1) You require a test for entering another country

2) You chose to leave the Island at a time when travel off Island was not recommended

A more realistic figure/cost should be applied in these circumstances.

[2112]

4 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

I agree that returning residents should not have to pay for their tests once the border opens. Government is imposing it upon us. Perhaps you should have to pay for a test when

1) You require a test for entering another country

2) You chose to leave the Island at a time when travel off Island was not recommended

A more realistic figure/cost should be applied in these circumstances.

What’s a more realistic figure? These clowns are prepared to pay £53m+ for the new Liverpool Berth and Terminal. A civil servant would seriously think that whatever is being proposed to never enough. 

In all honesty when is off island travel recommended? Do we properly seal the islands borders? How long? Another year should do it, and cancel TT next year, all motorsports events. No tourists allowed, nobody allowed off island, no ifs or buts. Nobody allowed to come over for family functions. 
 

We could go on for ever with even more draconian actions. Keep non essential retailers from opening, prevent hairdressers and barbers from opening - you can’t be too careful! 

Perhaps it would be better to tax the population like there’s no tomorrow, another 10p do the island costs a fortune to live. At least it’s pitchforking residents will be happy as there’s less of a risk, but there may eventually be less residents. 
 

Incidentally if I have to pay then so be it. I disagree but for the chance of freedom, not having to self isolate anything is better. 

[code99]

13 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

I agree that returning residents should not have to pay for their tests once the border opens. Government is imposing it upon us. Perhaps you should have to pay for a test when

1) You require a test for entering another country

2) You chose to leave the Island at a time when travel off Island was not recommended

A more realistic figure/cost should be applied in these circumstances.

Thanks for making these valid points. I agree in principal and yes they make sense. Going by the experience from the Faeroe Islands (as I have read about it), it seems that testing of all arrivals, which is free of charge, is a very cost-effective strategy, with the benefits far outweighing the costs. Using the determinant of ''unnecessary travel' to decide who pays for Covid tests and who does not could however turn out to be counter-productive.

My view is that if we had had, over the last few months, a combination of free Covid tests and also Dr Glover's genomic sequencing testing, we could have largely avoided most of this latest lockdown. We could have had many more personal freedoms and much less stifled economy.

[Happier diner]

57 minutes ago, 2112 said:

What’s a more realistic figure? 

A realistic figure would take into account a proportion of all the fixed costs. The analysis machines, staff costs, laboratory overheads.

I imagine the £50 only covers the consumables for a one off test. 

Obviously I don't know the number but if i were guessing I reckon it will be more like £200 ish

[2112]

Just now, Happier diner said:

A realistic figure would take into account a proportion of all the fixed costs. The analysis machines, staff costs, laboratory overheads.

I imagine the £50 only covers the consumables for a one off test. 

Obviously I don't know the number but if i were guessing I reckon it will be more like £200 ish

We will have a situation where only the wealthy and IOMG employees could afford to travel off the rock. Like I said this situation can’t continue much longer, unless we keep burying our heads on Douglas Beach.

[Roger Mexico]

2 hours ago, Out of the blue said:

I know one of the people who cancelled. He was due to be vaccinated on the day the media noise started and was persuaded to cancel due to the concerns of a worried wife. He listened to the briefing and did some reading and then re-registered and is getting his first AZ dose shortly. As is the case with this whole Covid thing, different people have different risk appetite so it is important that clear, factual advice without hyperbole is available. In this particular case DA's briefing convinced my friend and his wife, who are now getting vaccinated. I hope that many of the 400 were similarly reassured.

This has the hallmark of another of Ashford's 'stories' where he blows up an isolated incident or two into something terribly important.  It also looked like a planted question because he was so well prepared for it. 

Interestingly he was careful to say he wasn't sure how many of the cancellations had re-booked as that wasn't possible to tell from the system.  Of course in any remotely capable system you could, so I suspect he just wanted another dramatic headline and not to examine what was going on too closely.

The number given of 400 looks suspiciously high when you consider how many people would be booked in at any particular time and I suspect most of them are people rescheduling appointments over a much longer period.  But that wouldn't give Ashford a chance to sound reassuring and statesmanlike.