(Chess) Life Returning To Normal

[Mick Norris]

The Oxford vaccine is now running a further trial that may take 3 to 6 months to complete.

My girlfriend is on the original trial, which is ongoing; of course, it has been hampered a little by Liverpool appearing to have gained control of the escalation of the virus (hence going into Tier 2), although she lives in Preston, where it appears to be completely out of control at the moment

Brazil is the other location, though, and no signs of them getting to grips with Covid-19, so lots of data from there I suspect

Production of the vaccine is in full swing in the North West, so hopefully it will get approved soon; Astrazeneca are selling it at cost, so only £3 per dose as opposed to £15 or £25 for the US vaccines, making it much more affordable

[Simon Rogers]

Someone is optimistic... (Czech Tour 21)

I hope the optimism is justified.

"Dear chess friends,

Let us invite you most cordially to upcoming tournaments held within the frame of 21st CZECH TOUR Series. Hopefully the tournaments will be finally realized, we are going to put all our effort into it.

The series begin with Litomysl Open (26 Dec 2020 – 1 Jan 2021) followed by Prague Open (15–22 Jan 2021), Marienbad Open (23–30 Jan 2021) and Liberec Open (27 Feb – 6 Mar 2021).

Other future tournaments of the series will be announced in February 2021."

Young TS will be happy.

[JustinHorton]

The Oxford vaccine is now running a further trial that may take 3 to 6 months to complete.

My girlfriend is on the original trial, which is ongoing; of course, it has been hampered a little by Liverpool appearing to have gained control of the escalation of the virus (hence going into Tier 2), although she lives in Preston, where it appears to be completely out of control at the moment

Brazil is the other location, though, and no signs of them getting to grips with Covid-19, so lots of data from there I suspect

Production of the vaccine is in full swing in the North West, so hopefully it will get approved soon; Astrazeneca are selling it at cost, so only £3 per dose as opposed to £15 or £25 for the US vaccines, making it much more affordable

Some scepticism

[J T Melsom]

Panaglos being panglossian?

[Mick Norris]

Interesting that the Wired article references the phase 3 trial in Brazil as being for healthcare workers yet does not mention that in Liverpool most of the recruitment was among healthcare workers

The US will want to discredit AstraZeneca to enable their companies to make bigger profits

Anyway, we will see when the full results are published

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Interesting that the Wired article references the phase 3 trial in Brazil as being for healthcare workers yet does not mention that in Liverpool most of the recruitment was among healthcare workers"

A young doctor informed me that a very large number of healthcare workers volunteered.

[NickFaulks]

The US will want to discredit AstraZeneca to enable their companies to make bigger profits

Possibly, but AZN have done a decent job of that themselves.

[Mick Norris]

My daughter has just had a 4th call from Test and Trace, all of which have come during the normal school day, when she would be expected to be in a Zoom lesson (she's self-isolating until 7 December as 1 of her school friends tested positive; school have told her she can't come in until 8 December, but tets and trace have just said isolation ends 6 December)

They know her date of birth, just how stupid a system is it? Explaining to me about how she can apply for sick pay or a 1 off £500 payment too

They didn't ask about her close contacts

[Simon Rogers]

There was a programme change last night 9pm to 10pm on BBC2. The BBC showed an interesting docudrama about the Spanish Flu of 1918/19 presented by Christopher Eccleston.
It's just been announced on the news that the Isle of Man will keep its border restrictions to at least the new year.
I'm afraid I have heard some sad news about the death of a Chess legend yesterday morning in East Anglia and two further chess deaths from Yorkshire, which I'll report now.

[Tim Spanton]

This (from BBC News) might make it easier to travel abroad, ie other countries that have restrictions on entry from the UK may lower them:

UK's R number estimate drops below 1
The R number - the number of people one infected person will pass coronavirus on to, on average - could now be below 1 in the UK.
The latest government figures estimate it as being between 0.9 and 1. Last week, it was estimated at 1 to 1.1.
The latest growth rate for the UK is -2% to 0% per day - it means the number of new infections is shrinking by between 0% and 2% each day.

[Mick Norris]

Covid zoe research says covid back under control

Regional R values are: England, 0.9. Wales, 1.0. Scotland, 1.0

[John McKenna]

There was a programme change last night 9pm to 10pm on BBC2. The BBC showed an interesting docudrama about the Spanish Flu of 1918/19 presented by Christopher Eccleston...
SNIP

About that -

https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/a-portrai ... e-country/

From which -

"... advice to ban Armistice celebrations [published in the Manchester Evening News not in the reports] was ignored however which accounts for the soaring death rate in the winter attack which caused ‘distress’ and ‘formidable’ mortality... "

[John Swain]

SAGE has advice in favour of a family quiz at Christmas and avoiding board games, citing the risk from sharing pieces:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55107473

[Roger de Coverly]

SAGE has advice in favour of a family quiz at Christmas and avoiding board games, citing the risk from sharing pieces:

I do think their advice could be more nuanced. If you are unlucky enough to invite a Christmas guest with Covid, isn't being in the same house the major risk, with what you do a secondary effect of possibly reducing transmission risk? From that view, card games are a higher risk than chess, because you only really touch your own pieces whereas all cards are handled.

[Neil Graham]

SAGE has advice in favour of a family quiz at Christmas and avoiding board games, citing the risk from sharing pieces:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55107473

In that case I'll provide a family quiz starting in December.