Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[Weststander]

I think many people think they will get the virus but be ok, however my concern is if they then pass it on to someone far more vulnerable.

That being the case I am steering well clear of my parents in their 90s

My parents are 80 and 82, they’ve made the sensible decision to self isolate (for about 6 days now). Groceries are placed outside by family, as well as mother’s day flowers etc. My dad still exercises with bike rides, on his own.

As for those packing the pubs until yesterday and laughing to film crew, it’s a feeling of invincibilty.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Without naming the company for obvious reasons, what line of work are you in?

Supplying software to facilities they want to keep running. I think they are stretching it a bit, tbh.

No reason not to fix the bugs ( very rare anyway ) from home.

But it gives my bosses more cover for not letting us WFM.

 

[Weststander]

[/B]

So how do we know that's not what's happened in the UK?
At first we were only testing those who had been to infected countries or those who had been in contact with such people.
Surely Italy had the same testing criteria?

To compare and contrast, when did the UK have its first recorded case of COVID-19? Italy was around the 29-31 January according to various media sources.

 

[Triggaaar]

My parents are 80 and 82, they’ve made the sensible decision to self isolate (for about 6 days now). Groceries are placed outside by family, as well as mother’s day flowers etc.

I wish my mum was so sensible. She's 78, and confirmed to me that she was self-isolating. Also, she managed to get me a voucher code for something, which she'd seen in one of the magazines she was reading while getting her hair cut

 

[Pinkie Brown]

220 is sadly the total today. Still broadly matching Italy’s trend.

The current trajectory is far too broadly for comfort. Italy locked down on the 9th. The UK only closed the feckin pubs last night.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

My parents are 80 and 82, they’ve made the sensible decision to self isolate (for about 6 days now). Groceries are placed outside by family, as well as mother’s day flowers etc. My dad still exercises with bike rides, on his own.

As for those packing the pubs until yesterday and laughing to film crew, it’s a feeling of invincibilty.

One moron* was interviewed with a pint in his hand. Almost weeping with emotion, his thesis was that to go to the pub was a quintessentially English activity and that without this opportunity we'd lose our identity. (He didn't quite use these terms.)
Makes you proud to be English, as he does his little bit to wipe out his compatriots!

*I think he might be the product of a night of passion shared between The Pub Landlord and Ann Widdicombe.

 

[Weststander]

I wish my mum was so sensible. She's 78, and confirmed to me that she was self-isolating. Also, she managed to get me a voucher code for something, which she'd seen in one of the magazines she was reading while getting her hair cut

Sorry about that, naturally a concern for you. Despite some longterm health issues, essentially my Dad wants to live for as long as possible. He’s got all his mental faculties, and loves the little things in life like current affairs, Nordic Noir, some TV sport and a bit of gardening. That’s a point, what will my Mum do it comes to visits to hairdressers etc ... will simply miss out for a long time.

 

[drew]

Shouldnt forget that the UK got twice the amount of ventilators compared to Italy meaning you should be able to cope a bit longer before reaching the point where you need to choose who lives and who dies, which to me seems like the point where it goes from really bad to horrible.

As for ICU capacity its really easy to increase as long as you have the staff and the equipment.

That is such a blasè comment.

 

[Beach Hut]

That is such a blasè comment.

Grow up, he knows everything

 

[Swansman]

Have you got any references for those two statements?

Edit: And we have far fewer doctors per 100,000 inhabitants than Italy. Which will make ICU management even harder.

As for the number of ventilators, i.e. here: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/03/21/the-ventilator-problem

Says 5000 but initial reports however, iirc, said Italy had 3000-3500 ventilators but either that or this information was wrong or these numbers are taking into account the x number of ventilators they got from China, the 400 from Hamilton Medical and the ones they are producing themselves.

The UK number at the list on the site also states 8,175 ventilators in the UK, which seems plausible considering the NHS got 5900 according to:

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-shuts-european-plants-amid-coronavirus-fears

As for ICU, the source is my mother who says that if you have equipment, staff and space its not very difficult increasing ICU capacity. I think if you google it you'll find "more credible" sources saying it is fairly easy and that the problem is shortage of staff/equipment, but for me I'm just gonna settle with her words, she's been a ICU coordinator for ten years and is not the type of person to whitewash reality.

 

[Swansman]

That is such a blasè comment.

Okay please tell me why its difficult to increase ICU capacity if you have space, staff and equipment.

 

[Weststander]

The current trajectory is far too broadly for comfort. Italy locked down on the 9th. The UK only closed the feckin pubs last night.

View attachment 121332

We seem exactly 2 weeks behind.

Germany only gave the go ahead for individual states to close bars just 8 days ago, with individual states taking up the option over a few days, all this despite COVID-19 being confirmed in Bavaria on 28 Jan. France closed their bars etc only 6 days ago, despite having a more advanced spread of the virus than other nations such as the UK, Parisians infamously ignoring the ban last Sunday to socialise en masse. Seemingly, Western nations have taken measures in stages, as the seriousness of the disease hits home.

 

[jabba]

Hopefully we don't track Italy. They had a hot-spot in the North and a lot of people seemed to escape there before lock-down to distribute South.

Surely with the new restrictions, we should see a slow down in 2-3 weeks and probably will track Italy rates until then unfortunately.

 

[Wozza]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1241463928271581185?s=20

[tweet]1241463928271581185[/tweet]

 

[Weststander]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1241463928271581185?s=20

[tweet]1241463928271581185[/tweet]

Every western democracy will increase more than for Wuhan, where the military and secret police confined people to their homes literally at gunpoint. It works on a pure numbers game, but is arguable barbaric.



For many reasons, their strategy can’t be copied in civilised nations.

 

[Wozza]

https://twitter.com/BillNeelyNBC/status/1241376583786598401?s=20

[tweet]1241376583786598401[/tweet]

 

[Bodian]

What should people do now if they have already organised things like painters / decorators and so on for the next week or so? These are all self-employed, and so need to be supported, but inviting them into your home for 4-5 days goes against all the prevailing advice.

Another quandry faced by many I should think.

 

[vagabond]

What should people do now if they have already organised things like painters / decorators and so on for the next week or so? These are all self-employed, and so need to be supported, but inviting them into your home for 4-5 days goes against all the prevailing advice.

Another quandry faced by many I should think.

Well what do you think...?

You cancel these appointments surely, or is your decorating more important then your and your families lives?

Why is social distancing so hard a concept for so many people to grasp? I genuinely don’t get it.

 

[BN41Albion]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1241463928271581185?s=20

[tweet]1241463928271581185[/tweet]

Any reasons given as to why our death rates are so high? And how the likes of Japan and Korea have been able to test and track so effectively compared to European countries?

 

[Solid at the back]

What should people do now if they have already organised things like painters / decorators and so on for the next week or so? These are all self-employed, and so need to be supported, but inviting them into your home for 4-5 days goes against all the prevailing advice.

Another quandry faced by many I should think.

Not really, no. You cancel, without a doubt, you cancel.

Same as these efing idiots going on jolly to Snowdon, or Skegness, thinking this won't impact them.

Time for stricter measures if people keep flouncing this advice. Time to introduce fines for those ignoring the current measures.