Cheltz Fest 2021 Behind Closed Doors ?

[Lobos]

??
Not sure what you mean.
I've no idea how things will pan out.
But I'd imagine a person or persons who have been vaccinated will be a lot more free to roam than someone who hasn't.
Not sure why I think that, maybe just common sense.

It's like when you go abroad somewhere foreign and have to have a sugar lump & a needle

It may have a bearing when travelling abroad but you would not be excluded in this country for not having it.

[Lobos]

Whilst today is obviously very positive news, I don't trust this government to deliver a vaccine promptly, not one bit. They've been useless from start to finish, and a vaccine rollout in record time is littered with pitfalls (many of which will be out of their control). They can promise what they like, but the reason we are in lockdown right now is because this chronically inept government failed to put in place a successful track and trace system despite having 9 months to get it sorted, and having spent 12 billion pounds!

Happy to go on record and say I'd be nothing short of amazed if a single vaccine is administered in 2020 outside of a clinical trial. The data shows that two doses, three weeks apart, are needed and 90% protection is only achieved seven days after the second dose - which means one month from first vaccine to actually being protected.

Given a vaccine won't land till December/Jan at the absolute earliest, and they are starting with 80 year olds plus/NHS workers then working their way down, I'd say there is next to no chance this will be widely available to the masses till at least the middle of next year, and I'm being thoroughly optimistic at that.

All in my opinion and of course, I hope I'm wrong, I'd love to be wrong, fuck it I'd pay money to be wrong!

NHS CEO says that the vaccine will 100% be distributed to NHS and Care workers by the end of the year. I'll take that as gospel.

[Faugheen_Machine]

I was talking to someone last week about the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. They said if it was 60% effective and 60% of the population took the vaccine it would be a game changer. For this to be (potentially) 90% effective, by my maths, this is bloody brilliant news.

Been looking for Cheltenham hotels tonight.

[Kevloaf]

Getting racegoers back to racecourses is no where near the top of the priority list is it

It's good news regardless though, in the relentless waves of bad or irrelevant news that have been flooding our lives for quite a while, I'll take it!

How long it takes & how badly it's done all need to be acknowledged, but not become the key factor

[charlie]

NHS CEO says that the vaccine will 100% be distributed to NHS and Care workers by the end of the year. I'll take that as gospel.

Hahahaha. Taking the word of Simon Stevens as 'gospel' is akin to trusting a junkie that promises not to steal anything from your wallet when you leave the room.

Re the NHS, if they can vaccinate them all this year then great, but it's an irrelevant point re Cheltenham as they represent 1% of the population, which is nothing. As I've said, it will take a month from vaccine to effectiveness so an NHS rollout in December would still leave the masses unprotected as we enter 2021. By that point Cheltenham will be weeks away.

Delighted for the NHS if true, but it changes nothing for Cheltenham IMO

[Lobos]

I was talking to someone last week about the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. They said if it was 60% effective and 60% of the population took the vaccine it would be a game changer. For this to be (potentially) 90% effective, by my maths, this is bloody brilliant news.

Been looking for Cheltenham hotels tonight.

It might not happen but I definitely feel a whole lot happier and more positive about it now so that has to be agood thing going forward !

[charlie]

I was talking to someone last week about the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. They said if it was 60% effective and 60% of the population took the vaccine it would be a game changer. For this to be (potentially) 90% effective, by my maths, this is bloody brilliant news.

Been looking for Cheltenham hotels tonight.

'60% of the time, it works every time' (any excuse to quote Anchorman)

Most immunologists agree they'd take 75% effective, so 90% is very good news, plus no vaccine is perfectly effective anyway.

This issue for spectators being at Cheltenham is 'effectiveness' takes into account loads of different factors, and what makes coronavirus a uniquely challenging vaccine proposition is its varying degrees of severity in different people. All this makes a vaccine development and rollout extremely challenging.

[opatcho]

Yeah, I'm already prepared to watch the festival at home
Would be great to be back on the track but, with only 4 months left and with us at the start of a second lockdown, I cant see many fans being back at cheltenham until The Open

[opatcho]

... or what ever that first event is called now lol

[Istabraq]

Glass half full fellas.
There are discussions ongoing around sports venues being able to accommodate spectators in January, this is regardless of if/when vaccines can be given, so the fact there is a huge medical advancement can only be positive..

[charlie]

Glass half full fellas.
There are discussions ongoing around sports venues being able to accommodate spectators in January, this is regardless of if/when vaccines can be given, so the fact there is a huge medical advancement can only be positive..

Those discussions have been going on for months and month, yet every attempt has failed. 11 people died on the day they cancelled Ledger spectators, and we are at 100's of deaths now. Once lockdown ends everyone will go fu*king mental in December post lockdown, celebrating xmas, getting pissed, ignoring rules etc, and we'll be back in January to at least tiered restrictions, possibly more.

Right misery tonight me

[Kevloaf]

Fat Jockey Zoom Calls all over the place for 2021

[Pendil]

Being selfish I just hope the meeting goes ahead. The last time I was there was 2015. But for younger viewers I just remember the 2001 cancellation and how gutted I felt at the time because of foot and mouth disease

[Saxon Warrior]

Mass testing could help sports bring back crowds within two months.....

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13173270/new-covid-tests-crowds-matches-gigs-two-months/

[Middle_Of_March]

Just thinking aloud here but say the government by January have things sorted with the upcoming vaccine and mass testing in order.. and they say crowds could return in April or May.. how likely would it be that racing postponed the festival until then to let crowds return for the festival (the money for crowds in those four days is obviously a large amount). I’d have it as unlikely but if doable, having crowds there and the festival being slightly later would be of the greater good for pretty much everyone surely? Perhaps not aintree tbf.

Of course the clear fav at this point is that it goes ahead in the middle of March as usual but without the famous roar. Watching it on TV really wouldn’t feel the same though for the best week of the year.