Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Agreed.

French embassy and foreign office say this:

1. What are the requirements for the test to be carried out before travelling to France ?
   All travellers aged 12 or over must present a PCR or antigen test less than 24 hours old prior to their departure.

2. What are the requirements for the test to be carried out in France ?
   All travellers aged 12 or more must self-isolate for 10 days at the address stated in the éOS form.

Their interior ministry page says this:

If you are travelling from the UK, whether you are vaccinated or not, you must present a PCR or antigen test dated less than 24 hours. The departure of the first flight in case of connecting flights. Children aged below twelve years are exempt from testing.
You must equally present:
A sworn statement certifying the absence of COVID-19 symptoms and of any contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19;
A sworn statement that you will take an antigen test or undergo a medical examination that may be performed on arrival in metropolitan France;
A sworn statement to self-isolate for 10 days and take a virological screening test (PCR) after the isolation period (cf. above).
All incoming travellers from the UK shall also be required to register, prior to their departure, on a digital platform, specifying the address where they will be staying in France. This platform will be used to generate prefectural decrees requiring all travellers, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, to self-isolate in a place of their choice. Visit the following address: https://passager.serveureos.org external link
This isolation obligation can be waived after 48 hours, subject to presentation of a negative test result (PCR or TAG).

I think all this is due to some bullet point formatting issue.

So according to the above, my kids didn’t need to fill in a eOS locator form.
But because the forms exist, the local police don’t want to release them from isolation, because their names are on the system, and they haven’t got LFTs on file for them. Even though they are exempt.

We had wondered whether it was going to be too much hassle to come to France for Xmas, I think we should have stayed. £350 of various LFTs and PCRs, just a massive pain.

@Stonehedge - I think you posted a chart of Covid infection among top and bottom tenth percentile income in UK - where was it from?

We’ve called border police, and they say that according to their info, they won’t let us through.
WTAF.

Kafka would approve.

Staying at MIL’s and she’s running my patience thin. Mass family gathering this week, everyone says they’re doing LFTs but she isn’t going to do one, why bother? She doesn’t have symptoms, and if she did test positive then what, what do they all do then?

TBH, give it a shot. What can they do; tell you to leave the kids and come back in a few days. Show them their own rules... what's the point in them making a stink when you're leaving.

Problem is there is a 1000 euro fine for breaking isolation, so they could slap us with a 2000 euro fine and also not let us travel.

Brittany ferries agrees with us, but wife has called the border police and they consider the isolation to be in place and they are the ones to check us through the terminal.

I did 15 day isolation before Christmas, all plans cancelled to insure a family Christmas and new year with my Scottish mum coming down. All went well, then I tested positive this afternoon.

Turns out my brother in law went to his 30person work night out on the 22nd then came over to stay, he tested positive too… baffles me!

At least I got my daughters first Christmas I guess.

Just looking at the health data in London, while the number of patients in hospital with covid 19 is rising, the number of patients on mechanical ventilation is not. Is there anymore detailed information on load on ICUs etc? It does like we may be able to get through this without a fuller lockdown, school closures etc.

Edit - daily deaths doesn’t seem to be rising particularly above autumn levels either in London. Surely we would be seeing a significant omicron impact by now?

I know rates of vaccination are lower in London, but is there any comparative analysis of antibody rates in London vis rest of country? Either way, if London doesn’t look like being overwhelmed then the rest of the country should be similar?

maybe they are on di2 ventilation

(sorry)

Lol

Just looking at the health data in London, while the number of patients in hospital with covid 19 is rising, the number of patients on mechanical ventilation is not. Is there anymore detailed information on load on ICUs etc? It does like we may be able to get through this without a fuller lockdown, school closures etc.

While lower ICU admissions is welcome, if that is the case, we can still have full hospitals and an overloaded NHS.

Yes, but there are trade offs in decision making. For example, I think we should be doing everything possible to ensure school children don’t lose more classroom time. I’m glad that it doesn’t look like a worst case scenario, which would probably have involved more school closures.

Unlikely.. The mild hypothesis looking more valid.

Expect Drakeford and Sturgeon to either:
A/ Reverse ferret their current restrictions, or
B/ Double down and claim that they are following the science

The honorary professor and doctor of dentistry, Jason Leitch, chose plan B this morning on R4.

As has been repeated fucking loads of times though, if it's a bit milder, that's a bonus, but if a load more people get it that's still worse overall unless it's suddenly got so mild no one needs to go to hospital anymore, which it hasn't.

Mild enough hopefully that we can stop living under emergency powers and stop giving jumped up dentists too much attention

The peak in Gauteng was actually lower than for the delta wave, and no significant restrictions were introduced there.

The peak in Gauteng was actually lower than for the delta wave

Have you calculated how many daily admissions the UK will see from pre Christmas cases if we have the same experience as either SA or Denmark?

Ugh. The increase in admissions in under 5s with severe disease in parts of the the UK and USA is depressing. I know a x5 increase from small numbers is still a small number but just goes to show how Omicron is still a serious disease in the immune naive. ~6 under 5s being admitted to hospital with Covid every day in London at the moment.

Further to this, we managed to find a test centre 40 minutes drive away, waiting for results now.

The test centre told us that they’ve had a wave of people contact them for the same reason as us, with the Gendarmerie enforcing children’s isolation and limiting travel.

We’ve reached out to the embassies, as well as the regional newspaper, because it’s infuriating.

To make matters more stressful, my wife left our passports and travel documents there.
So she is off to go get them, as it’s not on our route back to the ferry.

Need a holiday to recovery from this ‘holiday’.

You do know this isn’t the final variant we’ll have to deal with?

We’re two years into a pandemic (typical length five years). If you’re sick of emergency powers, move somewhere that has fewer.

What's the French equivalent of the IOPC?

Airlines are cancelling flights and many NHS staff are off sick.

It's good it's mild-er- (not at just a cold level) but it's spreading fast. And still leads to hospital visits (though luckily shorter / often disease is less serious)

Only 70% of people are double vaccinated and several people on here get infected because others don't give a hoot.

If the government doesn't set rules, then individuals set them leading to careful people being angry with those who don't test etc.

If you don't want more rules what would you do?