Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[Seasider78]

He urged companies to 'do the right thing' and apply for the Job Retention Bonus. Launched in July it gives firms £1,000 for each previously furloughed worker who still has a job in January.

Figures released today showed that almost half the more than eight million people places on furlough remained on it in the middle of August, the most recent time period available.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.9 per cent to 4.1 per cent in the quarter to July.


How are companies meant to do they right thing if they can’t afford it?

A £1000 bonus is never going to be enough to sway an employer to keep someone on if the numbers are not stacking up they need to lose staff to balance the books. The payouts they will be making will be to companies who would have retained staff anyway and is a huge waste of public money IMO

 

[Fungus]

I can't remember anyone ever asking for a 'world beating testing system'.

What we wanted was an adequate testing system. That was all 'adequate'.

You've had over 6 months to deliver 'adequate' in the full knowledge it was likely to come back.

FFS, I really can't describe how annoyed i get by complete incompetence on this f***ing scale by people who claim to know what they are doing. Adequate, that was all that was needed and you were totally incapable of delivering that, you f***ing morons

...it could even have been developed and tested ahead of an actual pandemic. There have been warnings.

 

[pb21]

I can't remember anyone ever asking for a 'world beating testing system'.

What we wanted was an adequate testing system. That was all 'adequate'.

You've had over 6 months to deliver 'adequate' in the full knowledge it was likely to come back.

FFS, I really can't describe how annoyed i get by complete incompetence on this f***ing scale by people who claim to know what they are doing. Adequate, that was all that was needed and you were totally incapable of delivering that, you f***ing morons

...it could even have been developed and tested ahead of an actual pandemic. There have been warnings.

Quite

 

[highflyer]

Quite

View attachment 128404

As so often the case, a level of analysis and insight from Private Eye that has all but disappeared across our media.

Utterly utterly damning. But 99.9% of people won't get past the first few lines because it requires a bit of effort to read and absorb and we've lost the knack.

 

[keaton]

The MD articles in Private Eye have been consistently excellent

 

[highflyer]

This graph seems to suggest that nothing the government has done has had any effect. The epidemic has followed the usual bell curve and fizzled out.

View attachment 128382

I really hope this is true. And it may be.

But I don't think that you can draw the conclusion that it is 'fizziling out'. YET.

Cases only really started picking up significantly from the end of August. Before that the rise was relatively gradual and could be mainly accounted for by increased testing. Even now, the numbers are not really very high (as has been noted) compared to the reality of March/April. And the failure to see any increases in deaths so far could very easily be simply a time lag, as the virus passes from younger people to older and as cases that are picked up in very early stages, take up to a month to develop into serious illness. If infection rates (and the profile of those being infected) stay as they are, then I don't think we will see any major increases in deaths. But we don't yet know how far that rise will go (especially given the inexcuseable failure of the most basic systems to manage it). We are seeing in France the higher rise in infections now translating into increased hospitalization. And the Covid Symptom App is also suggesting that the rises in infections is resulting in rises in symptomatic cases (eg people getting ill) so in time, it's likely at least some of those will get more seriously ill.

On the other hand, there does seem to be evidence that the percentage of infected people getting seriously ill is decreasing, quite likely (in my opinion) due to reduced viral load, as social distancing, face covering have an affect and also (maybe?) the fact that more transmission is via younger peope who's immune system means they aren't putting out as much of the virus as older, more heavily infected people do.

Also, looking at other places, where there was an initial heavy 'hit' (parts of Italy, New York, Sweden, Belgium) it seems that, as more severe measures are relaxed (or never imposed as in Sweden), there is the distinct possibility that the new rise in infections will be more limited than we are seeing eg in France. But too early to know.

So my position is: Reason for cautious optimism. Nowhere near needing a new lockdown (yet). But given so much uncertainty, and the probability that 'viral load' matters, let's stick with all the reasonable precautions we have in place, and see what happens.

 

[Frutos]

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...er-lockdown-restrictions-from-friday-12073640

North East lockdown measures to be announced tomorrow and in place from Friday.

 

[beorhthelm]

...it could even have been developed and tested ahead of an actual pandemic. There have been warnings.

on that point, no one else had done so either. who knows why, health care authorities across world didnt think of this.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...er-lockdown-restrictions-from-friday-12073640

North East lockdown measures to be announced tomorrow and in place from Friday.

I get the feeling people with businesses etc patience is gone.

This government is utterly useless

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1306479602156670977?s=20

Second Lockdown incoming then

 

[Is it PotG?]

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1306479602156670977?s=20

Second Lockdown incoming then

I bet those 10 hours between your last 2 posts on this matter were hell....I need more quotes, I need more quotes.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I bet those 10 hours between your last 2 posts on this matter were hell....I need more quotes, I need more quotes.

I spent it refreshing Gareth Bales feed.

 

[Albion Dan]

This is what’s happening in Australia. They have totally lost the plot. Genuine question how will people feel if this sort of thing starts here?


https://www.facebook.com/kirratara/videos/10158568648547457

 

[Rugrat]

This is what’s happening in Australia. They have totally lost the plot. Genuine question how will people feel if this sort of thing starts here?


https://www.facebook.com/kirratara/videos/10158568648547457

Well that's a selective clip of a policeman trying to deal with a kid that doesn't want to be dealt with.

I'm not sure how you turn that into 'they (Australia) have totally lost the plot'

Edit: Just spoke to my 23yo daughter who lives in Sydney ... says life going on pretty well as (Covid) normal, no signs of wholesale Police brutality (yet)

 

[highflyer]

Well that's a selective clip of a policeman trying to deal with a kid that doesn't want to be dealt with.

I'm not sure how you turn that into 'they (Australia) have totally lost the plot'

Edit: Just spoke to my 23yo daughter who lives in Sydney ... says life going on pretty well as (Covid) normal, no signs of wholesale Police brutality (yet)

Yup, I am in regular contact with a number of people in Australia, including one in lockdown in Melbourne.
Obviously that's not easy, but generally I don't get any sense that people are about to rise up, or feel that the plot is being lost.

There's anger over how badly the care home situation was managed. But in general they are OK with the approach being taken.

This group may or may not be typical of the country overall, but it's no more reliable than a single video of a single incident.
As everywhere - different opinions, dfferent priorities and nobody knows anything for sure about what will turn out to be the 'right' response.

 

[Albion Dan]

Well that's a selective clip of a policeman trying to deal with a kid that doesn't want to be dealt with.

I'm not sure how you turn that into 'they (Australia) have totally lost the plot'

Edit: Just spoke to my 23yo daughter who lives in Sydney ... says life going on pretty well as (Covid) normal, no signs of wholesale Police brutality (yet)

A kid who doesn't have to wear a mask being jumped on and choked by a policeman without any prior warning or questioning? The big problem seems confined to Victoria.

Nope it all seems hunky dory over there and not heavy handed at all. Let us not forget they have barely any Covid deaths there at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TGRi2GusCI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pym4q9tladg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WMJdzLv0U

 

[sydney]

Well that's a selective clip of a policeman trying to deal with a kid that doesn't want to be dealt with.

I'm not sure how you turn that into 'they (Australia) have totally lost the plot'

Edit: Just spoke to my 23yo daughter who lives in Sydney ... says life going on pretty well as (Covid) normal, no signs of wholesale Police brutality (yet)

this is/was all to do with deliberately non compliant groups on fb provoking people to go out and confront police at every chance , there are numerous vids around like this and another woman is facing 15 years in jail for incitement , it's all a bit out of hand in victoria whose police force just happened to have spent 130 million dollars on vehicles, protective clobber and guns from china in the middle of last year , Melbourne has been on lock down for 6 or 7 weeks . coincidence..?

 

[Albion Dan]

this is/was all to do with deliberately non compliant groups on fb provoking people to go out and confront police at every chance , there are numerous vids around like this and another woman is facing 15 years in jail for incitement , it's all a bit out of hand in victoria whose police force just happened to have spent 130 million dollars on vehicles, protective clobber and guns from china in the middle of last year , Melbourne has been on lock down for 6 or 7 weeks . coincidence..?

Yep but people will just excuse it all and find reasons to justify. I genuinely think people would rather bury their head than even accept that there is some serious totalitarian behaviour developing in Oz.

 

[RossyG]

Just spoke to my 23yo daughter who lives in Sydney ... says life going on pretty well as (Covid) normal, no signs of wholesale Police brutality (yet)

Sydney is New South Wales. The nasty stuff is happening in Victoria.

 

[sydney]

A kid who doesn't have to wear a mask being jumped on and choked by a policeman without any prior warning or questioning? The big problem seems confined to Victoria.

Nope it all seems hunky dory over there and not heavy handed at all. Let us not forget they have barely any Covid deaths there at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TGRi2GusCI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pym4q9tladg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WMJdzLv0U

it is a very strange situation over here , we cannot leave the country without written consent from the PM , they are allowing 2000 Aussies a week to fly back in but they have to quranteen for 14 days , a mate of mines wife just passed away from cancer , her mum had flown out from uk to see her , they insisted she did the 14 day quarantine , she missed her .....................its a ****ing joke and an exercise in control as far as im concerned ....**** em and their stupid rules and laws.