For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1841418
Portugal's links with Brazil overt and covert are too risky for my liking and my trip to Madeira in August is seriously in doubt ATM.

(By 'covert' I mean that in the day job years ago, Brazilians used to take advantage of the large Portuguese community in this area to masquerade as Portuguese to wangle (successfully because nobody checked) free EU based NHS care). :wink:
#1841427
PeteSpencer wrote:Portugal's links with Brazil overt and covert are too risky for my liking and my trip to Madeira in August is seriously in doubt ATM.

(By 'covert' I mean that in the day job years ago, Brazilians used to take advantage of the large Portuguese community in this area to masquerade as Portuguese to wangle (successfully because nobody checked) free EU based NHS care). :wink:


@PeteSpencer - it's well known here in Belgium that most "Portuguese" cleaners, gardeners, nannies, hookers etc are from the central or southern part of the American continent.

They are quite smart about it. They come over, they register for a faintly real job for a few months, then Foxtrot Oscar to wherever they want in Europe once the paperwork is sorted.

What makes many European health systems different from the UK is that you have to prove you've either paid tax or social security before you get some level of state-assisted healthcare. Even then, you will probably end up with a bill of some sort, then very aggressive debt collection agencies if you don't pay up QT.

Here in Belgium - the order of fear when it comes to debt collection is:
1. The Federal Govt
2. The Regional Govt
3. The Social Security companies

When it comes to Brazilians masquerading as Portuguese - here in Belgium they still had to prove they'd paid social security as 'Portuguese" before they can get refunds on healthcare visits. They still have to pay the full amount at the time of intervention - but then claim back via insurance. I honestly think most UK based folks don't realised how commercial "healthcare" is outside the UK....

I used to have a jolly little post on the theoretical political aspects of a disjoining of the UK from the European Union - but some big boy came along and took his ball back.....
User avatar
By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1841449
For years (I'm talking 25+ years ago) all nationalities, EU or otherwise helped themselves to NHS non-emergency treatment unchecked at our hospital: The medical staff and nursing staff all new about it and mentioned it regularly to management..

Nobody checked and we all carried on : Then the auditors turned up with suits and clipboards and identified the potential lost millions.

Management panicked and told medical staff they must check eligibility for NHS treatment of all patients they were treating before treatment commenced.

Medical staff invited management to take a funny run:

Stalemate.

Then suddenly a whole new stratum of 'Patient Affairs Officers' appeared, in order to claw back the funds lost, from patients, of all nationalities:
Patients from the fracture clinic who were encased in Plaster of Paris (POP in the vernacular) were identified as Private Out Patients (POP) and sent bills.

The abbreviation in my secretary's patients' GP letters signed on my behalf 'p.p.', which eny fule kno stands for 'per pro' were identified as- you guessed it -'private patients'- and sent bills.
You couldn't make it up................. :roll:

Apols for thread drift: I needed a chuckle down memory lane :wink:
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1841521
eltonioni wrote:Pete, I might have missed it, but did you ever put the white coat back on due Covid, or did you just give it up as a bad job due red tape?


I got my licence to practise back, looked at the 16page application to regain medical indemnity, then saw doctors decades younger than me dropping like flies with polythene aprons and paper masks , so 16 years post retirement and finding myself by virtue of age in the second highest 'at risk' group, I said to myself: I'll reassess the situation when I've had both vaccinations and have some degree of immunity.

I've just had my second vaccination and I've just re-assessed the situation....

edit for clarity. :wink:
Last edited by PeteSpencer on Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#1841662
20 April BBC summary of European developments

"Austria is to oversee the distribution of 651,000 Pfizer/BioNTech doses to six countries in the Western Balkans as part of an EU scheme. Serbia already has a successful rollout so many of the doses will go to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia and Albania. Bosnia has the lowest vaccination coverage in Europe. Some of the doses will go to Kosovo and Montenegro.

Denmark is already using a corona pass to allow people to enter hairdressers and beauty salons, but now France has adapted a mobile phone app to enable people to travel to other French territories such as Corsica and Reunion. The TousAntiCovid (everyone against Covid) app can now be updated to show a negative Covid test or proof of vaccination. Travellers will still be allowed to provide their documents on paper.

All eyes in the Netherlands will be on the government’s evening press conference where a cautious relaxation of Covid measures is on the cards. The cabinet is expected to agree to reopening café and bar terraces under strict rules and an end to a controversial overnight curfew.

The EU’s medicines agency is set to announce the conclusion of its investigation into the safety of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine today. It’s reviewed four cases of rare blood clots, one of them fatal. The decision is significant as many EU countries have build the vaccine into their rollout.

French underwear shops have found a novel way of protesting against continued lockdown restrictions. Eight independent stores have sent Prime Minister Jean Castex some lingerie in a symbolic but humorous protest, complaining that it’s not their stores where Covid is circulating.

Students aged under 18 in Slovenia will get vaccinated ahead of their final exams -17,000 students are due to take final exams from next month but fewer than 3,000 have registered for vaccinations so far."
#1841906
21 April BBC Europe summary:

"German curfew vote and Denmark reopens restaurants: Latest across Europe

German MPs vote today on a change to the law that will allow the federal government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to impose an emergency brake of overnight curfews and school closures to help curb the pandemic.The 22:00 curfew will only come in in areas with a seven-day incidence rate of over 100 cases per 100,000 while schools will be shut if it reaches 165. There have been 24,884 new cases in the past 24 hours but the incidence rate has fallen to 160.1.Only the state of Schleswig-Holstein in the north is below 100 – at 71.9 cases per 100,000 people.

Denmark has taken a big step in reopening this morning, allowing customers inside restaurants, visitors in museums and spectators back in football stadiums. One museum in Silkeborg in East Jutland even opened last night just after midnight.
Museum Jorn in Silkeborg opened its doors at 00:01 this morning, so visitors can now see the paintings inside too. Denmark's corona passport* is key to the reopening, as it shows on your phone that you’ve been vaccinated, have had a negative test in the past 72 hours or had the infection in the past 180 days. Find out more here.

France will vaccinate some 400,000 people in 20 fields of work over a two-week period from Saturday. The list includes bus drivers, cab drivers and inspectors on public transport as well as refuse collectors, butchers and shop cashiers. Infections have begun to fall in France and almost 25% of the adult population (nearly 13 million) have been inoculated.

Spain’s health service will today start distributing Johnson & Johnson vaccines across the country after the EU’s medicines agency gave the drug its backing while listing the “very rare” side effect of blood clots. The country now has 3.45 million people vaccinated, more than have been infected since the start of the pandemic."

[*More on Denmark's 'corona passport': Enabled by government, required by some venues, apparently accepted by populace:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56812293 ]
#1841951
Another suspected infection between adjacent families within a Sydney quarantine hotel. Detected by further tests during the stay, followed by rapid genome identification

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/ ... /100085702
#1841981
It's encouraging to hear that Brits haven't succumbed to the OxAz scare merchants over the water. It seems that we still want it anyway, blood clots or no.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chan ... -dgx987ct8

University of Stirling researchers have been collecting data for a project on fear and concerns related to Covid-19 in Britain. They examined whether public concern about the AstraZeneca jab had led to “vaccine hesitancy”.

A survey after news of the European suspensions emerged in mid-March found no drop in the proportion of people who said they intended to get the vaccine.

Researchers carried out another survey on April 9 after guidance on vaccinating the under-30s changed and found only a slight alteration in people’s intentions.

They found that 85.7 per cent of respondents said they intended to get the vaccine compared to 86.1 per cent on March 17. There was little change in the 30 to 39 age group, who will continue to be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Dr David Comerford, of Stirling’s Behavioural Science Centre, said: “I was surprised — I thought we would see a change in response following the UK regulator’s new guidance.

“This is not to say that people were not concerned by the news. Google Trends data shows increasing search activity for the terms ‘vaccine’ and ‘safe’ coinciding with the headlines.”

He added that Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, reported that on April 9 all A&E departments witnessed an increase in the number of people with concerns after having the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“These concerns did not translate into mistrust of the vaccination programme in the UK, however,” Comerford added.

Researchers found that for those in the 30 to 39 age group, 85.3 per cent said they intended to take the vaccine after the change in guidance, compared with 87.3 per cent before, while 9.8 per cent said they would refuse it compared with 9.9 per cent in March.
#1842115
22 April BBC Europe summary:

"Italy's national unity government has backed a relaxation of Covid rules from Monday, even though the far-right League party abstained. The 22:00 curfew will stay but a colour-code system will return so that bars and restaurants can serve people outdoors in yellow and white regions and travel for work or health for orange and red regions will be allowed. A green pass will enable travel for people who've been vaccinated, have recovered or have a negative test.

Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, is today set to back a big change in the law to fight the pandemic, which will enable the government in Berlin to demand a curfew and school closures where infection rates are high. There’s only one state (in the north) where the seven-day incidence rate is currently under 100 cases per 100,000.

Greece will allow restaurants, bars and cafes to serve outdoors from 3 May, which is Easter Monday for Orthodox Christians. Schools will reopen the following Monday and domestic travel will open up on 15 May.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex will this evening detail latest moves towards reopening society and lifting travel restrictions. The big announcement is expected to be the lifting of the 10km (6 miles) limit on travel from 2 May and reopening terraces outside bars and restaurants in mid-May. However, more than 150,000 non-essential shops have been shut since 3 April and retail leaders have backed a call to reopen on 10 May. There has been a slight decline in infections but more than 5,900 people are still in intensive care.

The EU’s health agency, the European Centre for Disease Control has recommended that member states can consider relaxing mask and social distancing rules in some settings.The rules should stay in place in public or large gatherings, but it says they can be relaxed for meetings involving two individuals, households and social bubbles - when fully vaccinated young and middle-aged fully vaccinated adults meet unvaccinated people, if no-one has a risk of serious disease."



.. and counterfeit Pfizer found in Poland (and Mexico) ; alarming but, in today's world, perhaps unsurprising :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-56844149
#1842279
23 April BBC Europe summary:

"Italian ministers will finalise a plan from PM Mario Draghi for an enormous €221.5bn (£192bn) recovery package of investment and structural reform. All but €30bn of the money is from EU grants and cheap loans, so the package has to be approved by the EU first: it covers six areas including energy transition away from carbon fuels; digitalisation and innovation, infrastructure projects, education, social inclusion and health.

Twenty Indian nursing students who recently arrived in Belgium via Paris have contracted the Indian variant of Covid. They all tested negative in PCR tests before leaving India and all gave a negative rapid test on arrival in Paris, before going into Belgian quarantine. Belgian experts believe they were infected by one of the students on the bus from Paris to the towns of Aalst and Leuven. The chances they have infected anyone else are small.

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said this morning that vaccination rates there will reach 40% next week and will help the country reopen further. He says anyone with a vaccination card will be able to enter cinemas, gyms, hotels and theatres. But Hungary still has high rates of infection and had to limit a plan to reopen primary schools on Monday.

The Dutch parliament has backed measures to reopen café terraces during the afternoon and lift overnight curfews, even though infection numbers have reached their highest numbers since early January, with almost 9,700 cases announced on Thursday. Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte says five million vaccinations will have been completed by the end of this week.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex believes the third wave has peaked in France, with case numbers down 17% in the past 10 days. Nursery and primary schools will reopen on Monday with a strict testing protocol, and older children will start going back on 3 May."
#1842465
It's over, the UK no longer has a C19 pandemic. :clap:

Presumably, next week, the nation's lockdown enthusiasts will be along to tell us that it will never be over, but for the rest of us it could be a decent summer. Praise be to technology moving us forward as usual.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... c-britain/

Britain is no longer in a pandemic, experts have said, as new data showed the vaccination programme is reducing symptomatic Covid infections by up to 90 per cent.

In the first large real-world study of the impact of vaccination on the general population, researchers found that the rollout is having a major impact on cutting both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.

Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Oxford and Chief Investigator on the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey, said that Britain had ‘moved from a pandemic to an endemic situation’ where the virus is circulating at a low, largely controllable level in the community.

The new research, based on throat swabs from 373,402 people between December 1 last year and April 3, found three weeks after one dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab, symptomatic infections fell by 74 per cent and infections without symptoms by 57 per cent.

By two doses, asymptomatic infections were down 70 per cent and symptomatic by 90 per cent.
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