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Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread







Guinness Boy

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Jul 23, 2003
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Google offices in London have told all their staff to work from home until further notice.
Catering staff are still expected to go in.

View attachment 121015
They even have their own app for it :lolol:

Standard. Tech / software firms will be leading the way in home working over the next few weeks. I've been told the same thing which will mean no more Uxbridge for a while :cheery:

We might have that coffee and catch up in about July :lol:
 


AmexRuislip

Retired Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
34,708
Ruislip
Standard. Tech / software firms will be leading the way in home working over the next few weeks. I've been told the same thing which will mean no more Uxbridge for a while :cheery:

We might have that coffee and catch up in about July :lol:


:lolol:
Any old excuse not to experience the delights of Uxbridge......
 


jabba

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2009
1,341
York
From the BBC Liveblog

"A group of Dutch scientists believe they’ve found an antibody that could help to detect and prevent the coronavirus from being able to infect people.
It hasn’t been tested on humans - a process that will take months.
The researchers at the Erasmus Medical Centre and Utrecht University describe their discovery as an antibody to Sars2, the coronavirus causing the current pandemic (Covid-19).
The scientists were already working on an antibody for Sars1 and when the new coronavirus broke out, they said they had found that the same antibodies cross-reacted and blocked the infection.
Their findings are still being reviewed and the antibody is yet to be rigorously tested.
The researchers are hoping to convince a pharmaceutical company to support its mass production as a medicine which they believe would detect and prevent the spread of the virus."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-51886497

Anyone recovered fully would also have antibodies to the virus. If the one being developed by Dutch is specific, it could be used in a testing kit which might have advantages over the current ones?
 


father_and_son

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Jan 23, 2012
4,650
Under the Police Box
There is no other strategy. All any government has is delay, that’s all it is. You’re holding on to a precept that the virus can be stopped. It can’t, it can only be delayed and with delay you hope you’re better placed to cope. Our old folks lives are at risk whether next month or next year from this virus. Hopefully it will be spread out enough for them.

This.

Epidemics follow two basic patterns... if you think about the number of cases per day over time. The first scenario is called 'The Upright Cat' (picture a profile of a cat sat down with front legs straight, it's tall and narrow). This is tough on the health services as it piles all the pressure early on but is over and done with quickly.

The second is 'The Lazy Cat'. This has the profile of the same cat, laid down. The same number of people are impacted but over a much longer time period.

In both scenarios, the area under the curve (or the number of people infected) is the same, but the timescales and peak-load on services are very different.

China built temporary hospitals and went through an upright cat pattern, we are trying to slow things and manage the scenario to be a lazy cat.
 




Creaky

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2013
3,862
Hookwood - Nr Horley
Exactly what [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION] has said above. There is absolutely no situation in which old people will not get this, the whole point is that there should be the best possible chance of them getting a bed and respirator if they do, and of them not infecting young, fit NHS workers with a large viral load.

The only thing is that I still don't buy the "80%" figure. That is literally the worst case scenario. The infection rate wasn't that high on the Diamond Princess, which was pretty much a coronavirus lab test. But whatever % of us do get it, exactly the same % of those at risk will get it as those not at risk. There is no "prevention" strategy left. We are at mitigate.

EDIT - incidentally this means we need to be good at identifying the peak. At some point living with covid-19 as a possible disease is going to be the new normal.

The procedure put into place on the Diamond Princess was essentially a microcosm of what could happen if we had a total lock down and the whole population was put into isolation. Of course there was a lower level of cross infection all the time the lockdown was in place but what we don’t know is how many passengers have since contracted the virus or are likely to in the future.
 




dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
55,457
Burgess Hill
Standard. Tech / software firms will be leading the way in home working over the next few weeks. I've been told the same thing which will mean no more Uxbridge for a while :cheery:

We might have that coffee and catch up in about July :lol:

Our firm (a bank) has implemented a two-team setup as of Monday for UK sites. For two weeks, team A have to work from home, without exception, and team B can come in to the office. After two weeks, the teams swap. Contact between people on opposite teams has to be avoided.

Going back to the ‘bed blockers’ question, part of the rationale seems to be the most vulnerable that are in hospital will be at even more risk once the buildings become essentially Covid19 hospitals as they’re expecting. Does feel as though anyone old and frail is being seen as, at best, more expendable - but given the capacity constraints I’m not sure what other options exist if the extrapolation becomes reality.
 






Guinness Boy

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The procedure put into place on the Diamond Princess was essentially a microcosm of what could happen if we had a total lock down and the whole population was put into isolation. Of course there was a lower level of cross infection all the time the lockdown was in place but what we don’t know is how many passengers have since contracted the virus or are likely to in the future.

Hmm, not sure.

No one except those on board will know exactly what went down but I can't imagine the rest of the world being locked down in a room right next to someone with the virus, with common air conditioning, with a worsening food supply and, presumably, immune systems being run down by a combination of pre-virus strike boozing and possible sea sickness.

The stats that are on the dashboard I linked to a few times were after all tests were done and people were allowed off. Of course someone could get it later but you won't 100% know if the source was a fellow passenger or someone they met after disembarking.

For me I keep going back to it because essentially cruise ships are well known germ breeding centres. Norovirus can go through an entire ship. Yet here the infection rate was below 80%. Well below.
 








dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
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Hmm, not sure.

No one except those on board will know exactly what went down but I can't imagine the rest of the world being locked down in a room right next to someone with the virus, with common air conditioning, with a worsening food supply and, presumably, immune systems being run down by a combination of pre-virus strike boozing and possible sea sickness.

The stats that are on the dashboard I linked to a few times were after all tests were done and people were allowed off. Of course someone could get it later but you won't 100% know if the source was a fellow passenger or someone they met after disembarking.

For me I keep going back to it because essentially cruise ships are well known germ breeding centres. Norovirus can go through an entire ship. Yet here the infection rate was below 80%. Well below.

Still think a lot of people may be getting it and not showing any significant symptoms..........so we’ll never know the true infection rate.
 


Guinness Boy

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Still think a lot of people may be getting it and not showing any significant symptoms..........so we’ll never know the true infection rate.

Yeah I also agree with that in the wider world but everyone on the ship was tested, hence my "lab test" comment. In the real world we'll have no real idea of % catching it, who has immunity and what the mortality rate is. It's all guesswork and I've said that from early on.
 




pb21

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
6,682
Herd Immunity, if that is indeed the UK Govt's preferred tactic, is utterly inhumane and should be slapped down by the populace earlydoors

I was thinking herd immunity was a good idea, but then heard today that you would need ~70% of people immune for this to be effective.
 










Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,773
GOSBTS
Yanks banning UK & Irish flights.
 




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