Coronavirus outbreak

[deptfordmarmoset]

Food bank closing:

Islington food bank in north London has announced it is to close after running low on food stocks and losing many of its volunteers who have been forced to self-isolate to avoid coronavirus infection.

The food bank, part of the Trussell trust network, is understood to be the first of the trust’s 426 food banks to close. The trust said no others had yet reported difficulties but it was carrying out a rapid survey of its members to gauge “pressure points”.

In a statement on its website Islington food bank said:

We understand that we provide a service to vulnerable people who may need us more now than ever, but still feel this is the best course of action for several reasons:

• The health and safety of our volunteers and clients is our top priority, and we feel this is the best way to minimise the risk of infection.
• Our food supplies are running low, with donations down and supermarkets limiting how much we can order, meaning that soon we will not be able to give our clients full food bags.
• We need a minimum number of volunteers at each session to operate safely. Increasing numbers are self-isolating and this is set to increase further if restrictions on over-70s come in as many of our volunteers are retired.

Many food banks warned last week that they were running out of staple food such as UHT milk and tinned pasta and tinned meat because of increased demand for food parcels coupled with lower donations caused by panic-buying in shops and supermarkets.​

Islington food bank said it would close on March 223 until further notice, adding that it would re-open “as soon as we feel it is safe to do so.”​

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said:​

Our main priority is ensuring the safety of everyone who comes to a food bank – whether it’s someone needing help, someone volunteering their time, or someone making a donation. Food banks sometimes run low on certain items, but we’ve not yet heard that any food bank in our network is running out of all food donations. A crisis can often bring out the best in people, and we encourage everyone to carry on donating after checking with their local food bank which items are most needed.

*Whether you need the support of your local food bank or wish to donate items, find out more here.​

Source: Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...f-isolation-travel-bans-borders-latest-update

 

[fossyant]

There are 16 teachers in the science department at my school. There are 7 staff away. 5 have coughs, 1 lives with someone with a cough and 1 is pregnant and self isolating. We have 6 technicians and one is off very I’ll with a cough and fever. No idea, obviously, if any actually have the Coronavirus

I don't think we ever really will, unless you are very poorly, or 'famous'.

 

[tom73]

I never thought I'd hear myself say this but bring back Jeremy Hunt as health secretary. He was interviewed a few days ago on Sky and was measured and clearly well briefed. He's been good today as well with questions that were sometimes poorly responded to. He let those drop and now is steering round to them again.

Matthew Hancock, on the other hand, looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights when interviewed. Completely out of his depth.

What a great idea he's do more damage now then the virus. He decimated the good will of staff over saw the 1st ever Junior Dr strike and it was only due to the RCN executive calling a strike ballot then ignoring the members yes vote. That he get away without the nurses walking out.

 

[tom73]

There are 16 teachers in the science department at my school. There are 7 staff away. 5 have coughs, 1 lives with someone with a cough and 1 is pregnant and self isolating. We have 6 technicians and one is off very I’ll with a cough and fever. No idea, obviously, if any actually have the Coronavirus

Blimey Staffing levels like that we can only dream of now since our Academy take over.

 

[Pale Rider]

The telephone consultation worked in that it dealt successfully with the two minor things I was inquiring about.

In that limited respect it was no different to me visiting the surgery.

However, it denied the doctor the chance to make a general assessment of me, which I'm sure the better GPs do simply by looking and listening.

The patient's presentation, I would suggest, is almost as important as the patient's inquiry.

Nothing lost in this instance, but it could be if telephone consultations become routine.

The email pic of the bandage box idea proved simple enough to adopt.

Thanks to the Prof for the suggestion, because I wouldn't have thought of it.

I will finish with one of my occasional attempts to publish the least interesting picture on the internet:

View attachment 508754

To complete this tale, I've just visited the pharmacy and my pain killer part of the prescription was there.

The bandage part was not, so communications have broken down somewhere.

To save time, I bought a tenner box of the bandage.

My prescriptions are covered by a season ticket, but I've done well enough out of that over the years, so paying piecemeal for the odd item is no problem.

 

[tom73]

I've just been to our Morrisons all joking aside i'm totally at a loss as to the utter mindless thinking of people. I only went in for a few day to day bit's. I've seen better stock levels in stores I've overseen the shutting down of. No point me going in the end left with the only box of Cup-a-Soup. So Mrs 73 can at least take that to work.

I did manage to get some milk in Iceland one of only 3 left.
Spotted a notice as I went in tomorrow they are opening 8.30-10.30 for the elderly which they class as anyone on state pension and anyone in a vulnerable group (not sure how they will police that one). Saying that if they don't stock up it will not be much good.

Anyone else think that stores still running promotions like multi buys is not very socially responsible at the moment ?

Our local shop is going his normal thing when people get like this. Last week he filled his van with toilet rolls at last week price and now has a sign up say toilet rolls, medication and other essential goods all in stock. But not at last weeks price mind.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I've just been to our Morrisons all joking aside i'm totally at a loss as to the utter mindless thinking of people. I only went in for a few day to day bit's. I've seen better stock levels in stores I've overseen the shutting down of. No point me going in the end left with the only box of Cup-a-Soup. So Mrs 73 can at least take that to work.

I did manage to get some milk in Iceland one of only 3 left.
Spotted a notice as I went in tomorrow they are opening 8.30-10.30 for the elderly which they class as anyone on state pension and anyone in a vulnerable group (not sure how they will police that one). Saying that if they don't stock up it will not be much good.

Anyone else think that stores still running promotions like multi buys is not very socially responsible at the moment ?

Our local shop is going his normal thing when people get like this. Last week he filled his van with toilet rolls at last week price and now has a sign up say toilet rolls, medication and other essential goods all in stock. But not at last weeks price mind.

Having never worked in a supermarket I don’t know if this thought is workable or not, so feel free to adjust it or shoot me down in flames.

Gather all the highly sought-after essentials that people are panic buying into a couple of roped off aisles. Customers don’t get to wander up and fill their trolleys but instead a staff member(s) will retrieve the permitted quantity and hand it over. Customer continues with remainder of shopping duties.

It’s by no means foolproof but could it be made to work? It would just be going back to the old days when the shop assistant got you everything on your list while you waited.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Could you explain what this means please?

You wouldn't understand.

 

[PeteXXX]

Having never worked in a supermarket I don’t know if this thought is workable or not, so feel free to adjust it or shoot me down in flames.

Gather all the highly sought-after essentials that people are panic buying into a couple of roped off aisles. Customers don’t get to wander up and fill their trolleys but instead a staff member(s) will retrieve the permitted quantity and hand it over. Customer continues with remainder of shopping duties.

It’s by no means foolproof but could it be made to work? It would just be going back to the old days when the shop assistant got you everything on your list while you waited.

Tesco's, yesterday, were monitoring purchases at the tills. The girl in front of us was only allowed 2 tubs of Sudocreme for her kids, not the 3 she had, so they wouldn't scan the third. Same with gnocchi, but she was allowed 3 as they were fresh pasta, not dry. This was decided by a conversation with the next door till person.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I'm a bit wary of some of the death estimates:

With Swine Flu which was a decade or so back: the range in the UK was a minimum of 3100 deaths (bit of an odd number) to 65000 worst case and the actual was 457.

 

[Rocky]

I'm a bit wary of some of the death estimates:

With Swine Flu which was a decade or so back: the range in the UK was a minimum of 3100 deaths (bit of an odd number) to 65000 worst case and the actual was 457.

It is so difficult to untangle these, even retrospectively. Sadly many of these people (currently projected to die from Covid19) will have a range of quite serious diseases. There's no doubt that covid19 has probably sped up their demise but it is hard to estimate. It also depends on what has been put on their death certificate and this isn't always an exact science. What also makes the daily comparison of figures difficult is the change in testing policy and the fact that many people infected show no symptoms at all.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Extraordinary from the Chancellor

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Extraordinary from the Chancellor

Quite surprising. I do wonder how, down the line, they will recoup all this money.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Extraordinary from the Chancellor

Extraordinary what? Fart, long sentence, behaviour, saxophone solo?

 

[Rocky]

Extraordinary what? Fart, long sentence, behaviour, saxophone solo?

I don't know why but I've now got a fit of the giggles.