Coronavirus outbreak

[Joey Shabadoo]

A somewhat hysterical and scaremongering piece from Robert Peston but this part rings true -

According to a senior government source, the perception that ministers are reluctant to make difficult and costly decisions to battle the virus is wrong. It is simply that the chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance are waiting for the optimal time to force restrictions on our way of life that will be very painful.

https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-14...ime-style-mobilisation-to-combat-coronavirus/

 

[PeteXXX]

My daughter has Crohn's and is not well with a normal cold bug at the moment.
Due to her infusion treatment, she is immunosupressed so she is laying low as much as possible, but with 2 kid to sort out, she has to do stuff and go places.
She phoned 111 a couple of days ago and an attempt was made to put her through to the full assessment people (from the basic 2 or 3 questions team.) It was, obviously, busy but she was promised a call back within 24 hours. She's still waiting for that call.

 

[Buck]

@PeteXXX my son has Crohn‘s as do I. He is on the biological infusions as well so I too am concerned about his wellbeing due to being immunocompromised. I’m not on biologicals at present although am recovering from a stoma reversal so not 100% just yet.

At the minute he is still going to college and I have impressed upon him the need to be a stickler for personal hygiene but being pragmatic may need to self isolate him (and potentially us) sooner rather than
later.

Edit: my current thinking is for him (?and your daughter) to follow any advice given for the elderly. The government may advise for the elderly and vulnerable separately but I feel that it is more likely they will offer the same for both groups as one.

 

[Buck]

Isolation for over 70s and vulnerable “weeks away”. For me that’s nearer 2 than say 6!

BBC breaking news : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51895873

 

[oldfatfool]

Meanwhile the airlines are bleating they will all go broke and will the tax man please pay their bills for a few months, fine so long as they pay it all back to the tax man when they are back making millions rather than operating from tax havens and paying CEO's millions

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

This is a simulation of the spread of the virus under different containment strategies (you should be able to get behind the WP paywall as it allows a few free views)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

The thing I found interesting was the 'leakiness' of the Chinese style total isolation. It seems that some form of social isolation does work best.

I think such simulation results are highly depend on assumptions - how big the leak they assume would drive how the total isolation (oxymoron given leaky is not total isolation) option performs in relation to the other strategies - so in a way we have no idea, because we do not know how leaky it will be in practice - the author can pick which option he wants to win, to certain extent.

Nevertheless I do think the Chinese style total isolation only works in China, because only they have the system and people/organisation to implement it fully (without leakage), which is why it worked so well in Hubei - they only have 25 new cases yesterday - a figure we can only dream of, and they have a population of 1.4 billions.

For Western countries, the approach like Hongkong's is probably best because it is best and doable, not because it is theoretically best.

 

[Mugshot]

Isolation for over 70s and vulnerable “weeks away”. For me that’s nearer 2 than say 6!

BBC breaking news : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51895873

View: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1239114357604323329?s=20

 

[Proto]

With a huge number of businesses, both large and small, at risk, what is the likelihood of some kind of banking crisis?

Asking from a purely selfish point view. We are waiting to exchange contracts on a house purchase within a fortnight, and I have quite a lot of money sitting in a couple of banks. Could my house money be at risk?

 

[PeteXXX]

@PeteXXX my son has Crohn‘s as do I. He is on the biological infusions as well so I too am concerned about his wellbeing due to being immunocompromised. I’m not on biologicals at present although am recovering from a stoma reversal so not 100% just yet.

At the minute he is still going to college and I have impressed upon him the need to be a stickler for personal hygiene but being pragmatic may need to self isolate him (and potentially us) sooner rather than
later.

Edit: my current thinking is for him (?and your daughter) to follow any advice given for the elderly. The government may advise for the elderly and vulnerable separately but I feel that it is more likely they will offer the same for both groups as one.

It's a worry, isn't it! My daughter has her Pre-infusion blood test this week, ready for next Tuesdays appt. If she is still unwell they won't go ahead with her infusion. That'll leave her with, potentially, serious issues as I'm sure you know.
She is, as I said, self isolating as much as possible, but not totally.

 

[oldfatfool]

With a huge number of businesses, both large and small, at risk, what is the likelihood of some kind of banking crisis?

Asking from a purely selfish point view. We are waiting to exchange contracts on a house purchase within a fortnight, and I have quite a lot of money sitting in a couple of banks. Could my house money be at risk?

No

 

[flake99please]

Full disclosure.... Costco employee.

The local warehouse has been struggling to keep up with demand for the last 2 weeks of toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, cleaning products, soaps, medicines, tins of soup/baked beans, flour, pasta, rice, and bottled water. Limits on the above items have been in place for most of that duration.

Numerous cashiers have been verbally abused when they have refused to sell above the ‘limit’ to the customers. The tills refuse to allow more than the maximum permissible to be bought. The cashier couldn’t override the system even if they wanted to allow ‘stockpiling’.

When toilet roll deliveries have occurred during store opening hours, we have had to guard pallets from the ‘mob’ customers entering restricted areas (goods in).

Customer numbers through the door (taken everything 15 minutes) during the last week have exceeded typical Christmas weekend numbers. It’s chaos at the moment.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Sitting in a hospital Starbucks and this guy obviously has flu. Coughing and spluttering, very red faced, no attempt to cover his mouth. There's about 12 other customers in here all keeping as far away from hom as possible.

 

[postman]

I have a dastardly plan,not to look 70.So i can go out.First i will buy some of those ripped jeans.then a holey jumper,one that looks like moths have eaten it.Jeans low low down so you can see my Primark underpants,A baseball cap backwards and finally a carrier bag over my head.I will walk the streets repeating innit innit over and over again,oh i forgot i must have a mobile phone i my hand so i can bump into people.Nobody will notice me ,problem solved.

 

[kingrollo]

What I would like to know is the prognosis for asthmatics - but for me my Asthma is well controlled - excercise brings it on - hence my 4 inhaler regime !
All the stats lump asthmatics with COPD or more serious respiratory problems.

 

[Proto]

No

i like the answer. Care to expand?

I’ve got the money in four accounts, (2 x Barclays and 2 x Marcus /Goldman Sachs) but all way ove the £85k protection for each account.