Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[Guinness Boy]

A prime example of someone in a blind panic without listening to and understanding the comments from the Chief Medical and Chief Scientific Officers.

We need to get some perspective, there have to date been zero deaths in the UK, and the number of confirmed cases is still below 100.

So basically you are saying that the whole country should go home and lock their doors until July or whenever the merchants of doom say it is safe to come out again.

There is no suggestion that we need to sacrifice parents, grandparents or those with pre-existing conditions. If you accept the 8.4% death rate for those over 80, it still means that 91.6% of those over 80 who contract the virus will survive. While unfortunate for those that will die, you need to take a step back and consider how many of those would have died anyway from normal flu this winter, or from some other ailment.

But let's close schools although the evidence is that children catch the virus less frequently and have a milder version), to force parents to stay at home, or get grand parents to look after children, thereby lowering incomes so more deaths will occur in those that fall below the poverty line.

But what are you doing about the regular deaths from smoking, car accidents...... Let's just become a society that never leaves our homes to avoid death from any cause.

Spot on

 

[peterward]

I'm genuinely not trying to be an arse about it, but if you've voted for someone in the full knowledge that they are a liar, you can't get too angry when a few weeks later one of their lies directly impacts you.

Its a parliamentary democracy, not presidential, great local MP who has really helped with a couple of issues and I voted for the party (this time) inspite of its leader not because of. I would still prefer the cons over the hard left

If labour bins the extremism and moves back to the centre where the majority reside, that will soon change the calculus. New Labour sat in the right place, but another toxic/untrustworthy leader. Anyway this is about Covid-19, and the original point about the governments words in relation to that and not voting intentions!

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Absolute disgraceful comments what he said today. He has to stand down after those comments.
He may be willing to sacrifice millions of people in this country, but I don't think they public will fall for this shit when they see people dropping like flies and the chaos that follows

You need to take a breath. Seriously go to the World Health Organisation website to get a bit of perspective. Look at the situation reports that are issued regularly. These are the figures that we should all go by and not the sensationalist bollocks spouted by the tabloids ( daily mail headline today was appallingly Ill informed) and YouTube.
You are correct in saying that Boris is disgraceful. However, he doesn’t need a flu epidemic to point this out. He just needs to leave his house.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[peterward]

Absolute disgraceful comments what he said today. He has to stand down after those comments.
He may be willing to sacrifice millions of people in this country, but I don't think they public will fall for this shit when they see people dropping like flies and the chaos that follows

The BBC has edited the original article where it was written here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51749352

and now removed that Johnson quote? I didnt see him say it but trusted their quote, anyway I screenshot it before the BBC for reason canned it. Luckily I have faith that any political party would rein back from such crass comments, it would be political suicide to do actually do it. If the question is asked, my guess is they'll backtrack.

 

[Nobby]

Not seen or heard this today but it really does not surprise me. Johnson really struggles with empathy, his strengths lie in corporate bullshit and waffle. We could still possibly slow this down considerably if we took adequate measures, it seems to me that Johnson is more worried about business than people.

WHAT!!

No surely not....

 

[Nobby]

Spot on

[emoji2]

 

[Nobby]

The BBC has edited the original article where it was written here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51749352

and now removed that Johnson quote? I didnt see him say it but trusted their quote, anyway I screenshot it before the BBC for reason canned it. Luckily I have faith that any political party would rein back from such crass comments, it would be political suicide to do actually do it. If the question is asked, my guess is they'll backtrack.

View attachment 120727

It’s a bit like the part where the Chief Medical Officer advises against over 60’s going to crowded places. That’s disappeared somewhere

 

[Triggaaar]

a week ago he stood there and said directly to the country "my government will STOP AT NOTHING to prevent the spread of coronavirus"

1 week later, Israel has effectively shut its border, any foreign national from a country with more than 100 cases must show proof of self quarantine arrangements on arrival (who would go there now). Many other countries have closed their borders and either stopped flights from larger hotspot areas or forcing all from those areas into quarantine.

We fight the fire with empty words while leaving the door wide open to more burning people to walk in.

Then today he now says this:
...
Another way of responding to the virus would be to "take it on the chin" and allow it to "move through the population without really taking as many draconian measures", Mr Johnson said.
...
from his government stopping at nothing to stop it to doing absolutely nothing to stop it within 7 days?, "take it on the chin" and be willing to sacrifice your parents , grandparents and those family with pre-existing conditions.

I'm with you. Whilst we do need to do our best to carry on, keep the economy going etc, what exactly is the benefit of allowing people to travel to Northern Italy etc?

 

[darkwolf666]

Any decent company should have BCP / work at home arrangements. So should be no problem for her to self isolate?

That’s a massive leap... what if you work on the bins, do you just empty your own bin...

I am sure there are a million other jobs that couldn’t be done from home!

 

[Guinness Boy]

The BBC has edited the original article where it was written here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51749352

and now removed that Johnson quote? I didnt see him say it but trusted their quote, anyway I screenshot it before the BBC for reason canned it. Luckily I have faith that any political party would rein back from such crass comments, it would be political suicide to do actually do it. If the question is asked, my guess is they'll backtrack.

View attachment 120727

I've just clicked on your link and seen Johnson's quote in full. Probably the first time I've agreed with him.

 

[dazzer6666]

Any decent company should have BCP / work at home arrangements. So should be no problem for her to self isolate?

Depends - several company VPNs are unable to cope with the volume of people homeworking at times now - certainly becoming an issue for us. BCP parameters have been far exceeded already. We now have a positive diagnosis in our London office

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/05/hsbc-evacuates-trading-floor-coronavirus-12353173/

 

[Pavilionaire]

I do have some sympathy with you not realising that a pathological lying, back stabbing, self interested, privileged, egotistical, bigoted, bumbling buffoon wasn't the sensible, caring, centrist man of the people you thought you were voting for.

Nice description, although I marginally still favour Stewart Lee's Boris 'Piccaninny Watermelon Letterbox Cake Bumboys Vampires Haircut Inconclusive-Cocaine-Event Wall-Spaffer Spunk-Burster ****-Business ****-The-Families Get-Off-My-****ing-Laptop Turds' Johnson.

 

[Triggaaar]

We need to get some perspective, there have to date been zero deaths in the UK, and the number of confirmed cases is still below 100.

But we know that both of those statistics will soon change for the worse.

So basically you are saying that the whole country should go home and lock their doors until July or whenever the merchants of doom say it is safe to come out again.

Er, no, he didn't say that. Johnson said they would stop at nothing, and he seems to have changed that to 'do nothing'. PW wasn't saying 'lock your doors', he was simply pointing out that other countries are more cautiously limiting arrivals from the worst hit areas.

 

[peterward]

Sorry, this is inevitably going to take the thread off down a political alley, but when people vote by prioritising Brexit and a new blue passport over every other issue this is the inevitable result. You've only got yourself to blame.

Youre right and I dont want this to turn political and will say no more, except I respect you have your own reasoning you are sure is right.

But there are a lot of intellectual people, with deeply intellectual reasoning, who understand the machinations and structures of the EU, considered all the benefits and all the hindrances who then form an opposite opinion, even those where immigration forms no part and couldn't care less about passport colour!.

No more on this thread.

 

[Nobby]

Youre right and I dont want this to turn political and will say no more, except I respect you have your own reasoning you are sure is right.

But there are a lot of intellectual people, with deeply intellectual reasoning, who understand the machinations and structures of the EU, considered all the benefits and all the hindrances who then form an opposite opinion, even those where immigration forms no part and couldn't care less about passport colour!.

No more on this thread.

Uh oh....

 

[BLOCK F]

Oh dear,
Politics and a teensy bit of hysteria seem to have infested the thread rather like a nasty virus.
What a surprise.
For what it is worth, I am sure ANY Government of this country would be guided by the best and latest medical advice and wouldn't dare veer away from this.
This includes the present Government headed by the Left's hate figure, Boris Johnson.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Youre right and I dont want this to turn political and will say no more, except I respect you have your own reasoning you are sure is right.

But there are a lot of intellectual people, with deeply intellectual reasoning, who understand the machinations and structures of the EU, considered all the benefits and all the hindrances who then form an opposite opinion, even those where immigration forms no part and couldn't care less about passport colour!.

No more on this thread.

The Brexit thread is bad enough without having "son of..."!

My point, really, is letting a single issue dictate how you vote will inevitably lead to the party or person you voted for letting you down over other issues. It could be the "B Word", Heathrow Third Runway, green issues, whatever. If voting for a party then consider their manifesto and leadership as a whole, and if voting for a person then vote for the best likely MP for your local area.

I do appreciate that the choice between Johnson and Corbyn was not an easy one for many of us.

 

[peterward]

A prime example of someone in a blind panic without listening to and understanding the comments from the Chief Medical and Chief Scientific Officers.

We need to get some perspective, there have to date been zero deaths in the UK, and the number of confirmed cases is still below 100.

So basically you are saying that the whole country should go home and lock their doors until July or whenever the merchants of doom say it is safe to come out again.

There is no suggestion that we need to sacrifice parents, grandparents or those with pre-existing conditions. If you accept the 8.4% death rate for those over 80, it still means that 91.6% of those over 80 who contract the virus will survive. While unfortunate for those that will die, you need to take a step back and consider how many of those would have died anyway from normal flu this winter, or from some other ailment.

But let's close schools although the evidence is that children catch the virus less frequently and have a milder version), to force parents to stay at home, or get grand parents to look after children, thereby lowering incomes so more deaths will occur in those that fall below the poverty line.

But what are you doing about the regular deaths from smoking, car accidents...... Let's just become a society that never leaves our homes to avoid death from any cause.

There is plenty of perspective. I certainly dont think this is a threat or risk to people moving about doing their day to day right now and I'm not in any way bothered for my own safety.

But you have to look through the prism of what is going on in the bigger picture, the exponential graph that Bozza posted show a clear and accelerating pattern, the chief medical officer did also say this is going to get worse (than it is today), of course it will, it is spreading everywhere...... nobody is suggesting a leak in the dam is dangerous but if and when the dam breaks it will take many with it. Its about what next, not what now.

Comparisons with flu are misguided. Flu which has no transmission control, affects millions and kills on average 650k PA, and thats with flu vaccines across the developed world for a disease that has a mortality rate anywhere from 10x to 34x less than covid-19 from official current best scientific extimates (the WHO latest is 3.4% which is 34x - but this may reduce?), others say covid-19 is almost twice as transmissible.

So you're comparing a disease thats potentially up to twice as transmissible, thats currently estimated at between 10x and 34x more dangerous than flu, where nobody has any vaccine or immunity and saying its almost the same as seasonal flu?

I agree there is no real threat today, but if or rather when the dam breaks this will be a hell of a lot worse than seasonal flu......... It may not kill you, or me, but prevention for as long as possible will save some lives, doing everything to stop it and plugging the holes for as long as possible is a governments responsibility. Look at the direction of travel globally and predict forward 8-12 weeks, what do you see?

 

[Uncle C]

But let's close schools although the evidence is that children catch the virus less frequently.

Did you just make that up?

The evidence that I have read is that they catch it as often as other age groups but get it milder. The downside to this for everyone else is that kids are still able to 'go out and play' and happily spread it around.

 

[peterward]

Did you just make that up?

The evidence that I have read is that they catch it as often as other age groups but get it milder. The downside to this for everyone else is that kids are still able to 'go out and play' and happily spread it around.

+1

They catch it just as easily, it doesnt affect them to the same degree statistically. But kids to parents/grandparents will be one of the key routes of transmission, thus why the Italians and Iranians have shut all schools.