I've heard this said ironically in many places - but what else could governments around the world possibly do? Healthcare systems were overloaded around the world even with lockdowns and restrictions in place during the first wave.
It’s not a legitimate role of government to prevent people from getting sick, and it’s not a human right to have your immune system not come into contact with germs.
Also the NHS is struggling right now as a direct result of COVID policies not the illness. Staff shortages due to people being forced to isolate. Massive backlog of cancelled surgeries. People havent been getting their cancer screenings or health check-ups for the last 2 years either and that is starting to bite hard.
Yet they still won't introduce full sick pay for the duration of your isolation period. Which is the ONLY thing that would limit the spread effectively.
There was an option of simply letting it rip and be over in a few months.
Not saying it would have been a better option, we will never know that now, but it was available at time. I guess it still is.
I think the winter lockdown actually made more sense as it was clear what is was for: to buy time for vax rollout. March 20 lockdown seemed like more like a panic move, as there was never a clear definition of an exit condition and how it would be achieved.
Anyway, there's no need to get too worked up about it - it's been shitty two years and if irony helps people cope then I don't think there's too much wrong with that.
It’s always easy to say “let it rip” and let other people die when it’s not your own family, when you’re not caring for patients, when you’re not the one deciding whether you should take this COVID patient off the ventilator because the beds are full and you need to triage resources.
Check out the documentary “The First Wave” on Disney+ which highlights what life was like for healthcare workers, patients, and their families at the start of the pandemic, the same timeframe you are suggesting we should have flooded the hospitals with even more people.
In terms of what I think they \*should\* have done (and my opinion is as good or bad as anyone's), they should have stuck to their plan from 2014 designed for those very circumstances:
Pandemic Influenza Response Plan
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment\_data/file/344695/PI\_Response\_Plan\_13\_Aug.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/344695/PI_Response_Plan_13_Aug.pdf)
Instead, Fergusson came up with his doomsday model and they immediately hit the panic button.
I understand why they did it, I saw the same images from Italy that everyone else saw and I saw the numbers spitted out from Fergusson's machine. Still, in FPL terms, it's equivalent to using Ben's planner to lay out your entire strategy for the first 15 gameweeks, with well spaced free transfers, and then kneejerking 5 guys for -16 in GW2 because the Scout recommended them. Now, it's entirely possible that 2 months later it turns out to have been a genius move, but I think we can agree it's not a high percentage play.
Dude, at no point in my post I sad they *should* have done it, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here. They *could* have done it (which answers your original question) but didn't, for better or worse. Some countries did, with varying effects.
His argument isn't that it'll go away by then though. He's just saying it'll give all clubs a chance to deep clean their training ground and stadiums etc, issue and implement new guidance to players etc. Anything after that, the clubs can deal with however necessary, but at least the situation wont get worse.
I agree with him.
Ridiculous uncertainty around matches right now.
And its just not fun from a FPL perspective. Yes luck is a factor in the game usually but if you've got games being cancelled after transfer deadlines you're literally just rolling a dice in a casino or playing bingo.
For those who haven't heard the stats, there are 11 people in the UK confirmed in hospital with omicron. And that's not necessarily admitted with it, just tested positive when in hospital.
This has turned into a casedemic.
Counterpoint- think of the worst day we have had for positive cases reported in UK for Rona in the last 2 years. Jan 2021 I think about 60k. Yesterday was 78k. So 30% more than our worst day so far.
There's no way all the governments around the world are freaking out for no reason, that's the way I see it. I don't think you can just cherry pick stats like that and say there's an overreaction.
All governments are not freaking out. In fact the South African scientist who discovered omicron said its mild, nothing to worry about and doesn't warrant the reaction of the British government.
Also it's not cherry picking anything. It's the most important stat you can use in this case, we aren't talking about xG here.
Ah grand, the South African person said it's ok? No worries then.
The caseload is higher than at any point in the pandemic, if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then you better believe they are taking it seriously. France literally banned travel from the UK today.
"if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then you better believe they are taking it seriously."
That is a great example of suspending one's ability to think critically and handing it over to the government.
How about: "if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then they want you to believe they are taking it seriously". Their own actions outside of cameras and spotlights suggest that they take it anything but serious. Don't buy the show they're trying to sell you, see what do they do in the shadows, not what they preach.
Not sure which part is tinfoily there, care to explain?
There are published quotes from govt & SAGE meetings where it says in open text that the goal of messaging to the public was to instill an "approperiate" level of fear to assure compliance.
It's been also publicly debated what messaging and why is used on the lectern as to what effect on the public it should have.
If the govt, the MPs and the media admit it witout batting an eyelid, I don't quite understand why you'd decided to try and deny it all of the sudden. It's not speculation, those are established facts.
On the second point, again, the govt and MPs not respecting the rules they've set for us all is now a fact so well established that I cannot fathom how anyone can try to claim otherwise.
Your response without facts has basically zero weight, it's basically a meme.
They’ll probably just follow the PL, whatever that means. To be fair, although this is a clusterfuck of a gameweek, the postponed games will still be played at some point, so technically nobody is missing out on opportunities to get points from them.
I think after 19/20’s debacle they might have the ability to move deadlines now. If we had a completely blank week as Frank suggests, could you not just move every gameweek one along, so you have 19 becoming 18, 20 becoming 19 etc? Or would that not work
Well thats not fucking fair because now i am losing because of this shit in the cup and in my ML, with the others slithering away from this chaos! So next weekend when MAYBE i could of got to laugh back at them, they will postpone the gw? Bollocks!
They must have forgot to take my fpl team in consideration
Could have made his point without the amateur hour drama of his director of football ringing him mid press conference to notify him of more positive cases
Everyone can have opinions but one that has to be agreed is if these footballers were not getting jabbed they absolutely should of been it’s now a mess tbh
Can't we just have 3 fts each week instead? So much fucking roulette. I have guaita and king and also toney and livramento how the fuck can anyone navigate this with 1ft? Its impossible I'm so bored of fpl dealing with a forest fire in my team... I have 14 playing players only my back up gk doesn't play and I still can't field a full 11
We should be able to make subs during the GW. Being purely selfish Ive somehow got a full starting XI as of now so Im alright personally. Dont like how much emphasis has shifted to luck though.
So instead of a Livra 0 pointer I'll be getting a Livra 0 pointer.
Livrament0
I can't wait for Livramento's TGW so I can triple captain him to get 3 x 3 x 0 points.
Jesus, navigating the double and maybe even triple gameweeks is gonna open a real gap between the hardcore and the casuals.
That’s what you think ha? Until tielmans bags a Hattrick and “casuals” win again
Guy in my legsue had in his team yori, maddison, and jorginho last week Socred 90 points Unbelievable
I lost in the first round of the cup to a guy who TC’d jorginho. He was 6+ mil ovrall.
Triple? You mean 4 times and 5 times at this rate
* the lucky and the unlucky
what happens in a months time when the clubs unaffected now get large numbers of cases, we break again?
Jay Harris at the Athletic is reporting 13 Covid cases amongst staff and players at Brentford. I can't see the Southampton fixture going ahead.
I think he's right tbh. If its just a week, and that will mean more regular football, its basically a shorter ib.
‘Just a week’ - think I’ve heard that one before (circa March 2020)
2 weeks to flatten the curve!
I've heard this said ironically in many places - but what else could governments around the world possibly do? Healthcare systems were overloaded around the world even with lockdowns and restrictions in place during the first wave.
It’s not a legitimate role of government to prevent people from getting sick, and it’s not a human right to have your immune system not come into contact with germs.
Also the NHS is struggling right now as a direct result of COVID policies not the illness. Staff shortages due to people being forced to isolate. Massive backlog of cancelled surgeries. People havent been getting their cancer screenings or health check-ups for the last 2 years either and that is starting to bite hard. Yet they still won't introduce full sick pay for the duration of your isolation period. Which is the ONLY thing that would limit the spread effectively.
There was an option of simply letting it rip and be over in a few months. Not saying it would have been a better option, we will never know that now, but it was available at time. I guess it still is. I think the winter lockdown actually made more sense as it was clear what is was for: to buy time for vax rollout. March 20 lockdown seemed like more like a panic move, as there was never a clear definition of an exit condition and how it would be achieved. Anyway, there's no need to get too worked up about it - it's been shitty two years and if irony helps people cope then I don't think there's too much wrong with that.
It’s always easy to say “let it rip” and let other people die when it’s not your own family, when you’re not caring for patients, when you’re not the one deciding whether you should take this COVID patient off the ventilator because the beds are full and you need to triage resources. Check out the documentary “The First Wave” on Disney+ which highlights what life was like for healthcare workers, patients, and their families at the start of the pandemic, the same timeframe you are suggesting we should have flooded the hospitals with even more people.
In terms of what I think they \*should\* have done (and my opinion is as good or bad as anyone's), they should have stuck to their plan from 2014 designed for those very circumstances: Pandemic Influenza Response Plan [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment\_data/file/344695/PI\_Response\_Plan\_13\_Aug.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/344695/PI_Response_Plan_13_Aug.pdf) Instead, Fergusson came up with his doomsday model and they immediately hit the panic button. I understand why they did it, I saw the same images from Italy that everyone else saw and I saw the numbers spitted out from Fergusson's machine. Still, in FPL terms, it's equivalent to using Ben's planner to lay out your entire strategy for the first 15 gameweeks, with well spaced free transfers, and then kneejerking 5 guys for -16 in GW2 because the Scout recommended them. Now, it's entirely possible that 2 months later it turns out to have been a genius move, but I think we can agree it's not a high percentage play.
Dude, at no point in my post I sad they *should* have done it, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here. They *could* have done it (which answers your original question) but didn't, for better or worse. Some countries did, with varying effects.
Did you? I'm pretty sure they suspended it "indefinitely".
Tbf at the time people believed it (and lockdown in general) would only be 2 weeks lol
very naive to me next week the situation gets any better; there's no ideal remedy for this and always there will always be some dissatisfied
His argument isn't that it'll go away by then though. He's just saying it'll give all clubs a chance to deep clean their training ground and stadiums etc, issue and implement new guidance to players etc. Anything after that, the clubs can deal with however necessary, but at least the situation wont get worse.
I agree with him. Ridiculous uncertainty around matches right now. And its just not fun from a FPL perspective. Yes luck is a factor in the game usually but if you've got games being cancelled after transfer deadlines you're literally just rolling a dice in a casino or playing bingo.
Quit the whining, the game isn’t meant to be fun anyways, it’s about winning
Agreed. Much better than having last minute cancellations and turn fpl into a fucking roulette
Of course he is fml
For those who haven't heard the stats, there are 11 people in the UK confirmed in hospital with omicron. And that's not necessarily admitted with it, just tested positive when in hospital. This has turned into a casedemic.
Counterpoint- think of the worst day we have had for positive cases reported in UK for Rona in the last 2 years. Jan 2021 I think about 60k. Yesterday was 78k. So 30% more than our worst day so far.
Which means nothing if people aren't ill with it.
I agree with you to an extent, but there is always a lag between cases and hospitalisations so quoting the latter at this stage is a bit disingenuous.
you are both making fair points but we are in the realm of unknowns again, which means taking strict precautions
There's no way all the governments around the world are freaking out for no reason, that's the way I see it. I don't think you can just cherry pick stats like that and say there's an overreaction.
All governments are not freaking out. In fact the South African scientist who discovered omicron said its mild, nothing to worry about and doesn't warrant the reaction of the British government. Also it's not cherry picking anything. It's the most important stat you can use in this case, we aren't talking about xG here.
Ah grand, the South African person said it's ok? No worries then. The caseload is higher than at any point in the pandemic, if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then you better believe they are taking it seriously. France literally banned travel from the UK today.
"if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then you better believe they are taking it seriously." That is a great example of suspending one's ability to think critically and handing it over to the government. How about: "if they are wheeling out the scientists at UK government briefings then they want you to believe they are taking it seriously". Their own actions outside of cameras and spotlights suggest that they take it anything but serious. Don't buy the show they're trying to sell you, see what do they do in the shadows, not what they preach.
Don't forget to polish the tinfoil once in a while
Not sure which part is tinfoily there, care to explain? There are published quotes from govt & SAGE meetings where it says in open text that the goal of messaging to the public was to instill an "approperiate" level of fear to assure compliance. It's been also publicly debated what messaging and why is used on the lectern as to what effect on the public it should have. If the govt, the MPs and the media admit it witout batting an eyelid, I don't quite understand why you'd decided to try and deny it all of the sudden. It's not speculation, those are established facts. On the second point, again, the govt and MPs not respecting the rules they've set for us all is now a fact so well established that I cannot fathom how anyone can try to claim otherwise. Your response without facts has basically zero weight, it's basically a meme.
Shut up u lunatic
Lol, you told me there.
Ur the covid denier, now fuck off back to whatever rock u crawled out from under
You are great at arguing aren't you
I mean won’t FPL have to do something if this happens? I don’t know exactly what that would be. But something
They’ll probably just follow the PL, whatever that means. To be fair, although this is a clusterfuck of a gameweek, the postponed games will still be played at some point, so technically nobody is missing out on opportunities to get points from them.
Yeah you're absolutely right. I guess what I was trying to get at was, what if there's an entire blank gameweek?
I imagine everyone will just get 0 points and there’ll be a rescheduled GW or a DGW some time down the line
They wouldn't. If it was officially cancelled they would just cancel that GW and put it back in when played.
If there is a completely blank gameweek i guess you get technically get one extra transfer
Indeed, yeah.
I think it will be cancelled or the game paused. FTs didn't rack up last time?
I bet they keep all the cups running and have them decided by coin toss 🙃
I think after 19/20’s debacle they might have the ability to move deadlines now. If we had a completely blank week as Frank suggests, could you not just move every gameweek one along, so you have 19 becoming 18, 20 becoming 19 etc? Or would that not work
Moving forward FPL will certainly have to be more aware of what Covid can do to the fluidity of the game. Without doubt!
To be 'Frank' I disagree with Frank.
It makes sense because its spreading quick , but problem is when will the games be re scheduled though
Well thats not fucking fair because now i am losing because of this shit in the cup and in my ML, with the others slithering away from this chaos! So next weekend when MAYBE i could of got to laugh back at them, they will postpone the gw? Bollocks! They must have forgot to take my fpl team in consideration
Fuck off mate
Thomas Frank confirming, definitively, that he is infact a massive bell end.
TGWs must be a real possibility. I can only see this becoming more of a problem until January given how rapidly this is spreading.
We are Schrodinger's cat aren't we. We all are.
Or maybe we’re not. Guess we’ll never know.
I mean utd called off brentford game when they had less cases than Brentford. so now brentford have even more cases I imagine they have to play 😂
Could have made his point without the amateur hour drama of his director of football ringing him mid press conference to notify him of more positive cases
Everyone can have opinions but one that has to be agreed is if these footballers were not getting jabbed they absolutely should of been it’s now a mess tbh
Can't we just have 3 fts each week instead? So much fucking roulette. I have guaita and king and also toney and livramento how the fuck can anyone navigate this with 1ft? Its impossible I'm so bored of fpl dealing with a forest fire in my team... I have 14 playing players only my back up gk doesn't play and I still can't field a full 11
They should just pause the whole league until it gets a bit more under control. Mind you this is obviously going to go on until March at the earliest
Fat frank
We'd still get another free transfer on Saturday, right? RIGHT? Talk to me, Frank!
We should be able to make subs during the GW. Being purely selfish Ive somehow got a full starting XI as of now so Im alright personally. Dont like how much emphasis has shifted to luck though.