Coronavirus outbreak

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PK99

Legendary Member
Location
SW19
WRT the calls for mass testing as per South Korea.

This BBC world service programme about /south Korea is worth listening to.

Only the centralised state, ID cards and ability to track and publish location and movement of individuals via Mobile phones made testing work.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csythk

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And this snippet from a Telegraph article about Taiwan:

It was 7am when James Fox was dragged from his slumbers by an incessant ringing on the doorbell of his flat in the Taiwanese capital where he was undergoing a 14-day coronavirus quarantine.

Still groggy with sleep, the American university researcher opened the door to find an irate policeman who instantly began to berate him in rapid-fire Chinese. “I had no idea why because I couldn’t understand what he was saying. It was a very frightening experience,” he recalled.

Mr Fox’s mistake had been to switch his mobile phone onto "airplane" mode in order to get a good night’s sleep, unwittingly dropping off the Taiwanese government’s electronic surveillance grid for those being quarantined after arriving from overseas.

The knock at the door came despite Mr Fox receiving two calls a day from a government-assigned social worker to check that he had not developed Covid-19 symptoms after a recent trip to Iceland.

His experience, shared on a Facebook group, offered a flicker of insight into the extent that some governments are prepared to go to suppress the spread of Covid-19, raising profound questions for Western democracies about how the state, big data and society should intersect as the global pandemic takes hold.

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Rocky

Hello decadence
The line about not hesitating to go further indicates that will happen on medical and scientific advice.

Which begs the question, what might the doctors and scientists want us to do that we are not currently doing?

Keep away from each other even more than we are now is the only answer that springs readily to mind.

Hard to see how anyone who is complying religiously with the current restrictions could do that.

I'm going to make the possibly bold suggestion that those of us fully complying at present have little to fear from new restrictions.

Throughout this process, our masters have been alive to the fact that any measures need to have public support, or at least acceptance.

Even if the science advises it, they will be wary of trying to impose something so draconian as to lose that support.

We are being told things will get worse before they get better.

It may be the softening up is in preparation for telling us three weeks inside won't cut it, and we will have to stay home for much longer.

Which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
Yes, I agree....perhaps what is planned are more powers for the police and greater fines for those who are not complying with the current restrictions. Of course it may be an exercise in communication - making sure the public don't get complacent and start to lapse into old habits.
 
Looks like we're getting buttered up for tighter restrictions.

View: https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1244029214933889024


Anyone care to speculate as to what they might be? I posted elsewhere that in Panama, there's a 24hr curfew. People are only allowed out for 2 1/2 hrs - a time slot linked to a number on the bearer's ID card. Can't see how that could be applied here as we have no ID cards. Could more businesses be forced to close? AIUI businesses can stay open if they can ensure safe distancing but I've read so many stories of this being abused so maybe that will be looked at.


Ruined it with the comment about great British spirit.:thumbsup:
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
There are a number of things they could do:

- Curfews - night or 24-hour
- Tighter restrictions on time out or movement
- Total lockdown for London/Birmingham with nothing open, only NHS/transport allowed out
- Total lockdown as above for the whole of the UK
- Greater fines/jail for those deemed to be
- Almost endless, but why?
 
Still think it is all bollocks and purely an exercise in social engineering, whether it will be used to usher in I'd cards or some other measures I don't know, but I would bet the next step will be told that work can open up and continue as normal in the interim but all social activity must remain in lock down.

Efit: indeed in that letter it still says that travel to work is permitted if it can't be done from home, no mention of essential work.

Interesting reply to the letter tweet, from an alleged professional, but maybe not a government recognised one
Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) Tweeted:
This is extremely encouraging.

A new study from Imperial shows the total deaths could be lower than 7000 - less than seasonal flu.

The peak could be just a week away if true.

What we are all doing is working - just by staying at home we are saving lives.
View: https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/1243820038131507200?s=20
 
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Mo1959

Legendary Member
Just read this........I can see restrictions in place for a whole lot longer yet. I think the mention of 3 weeks was just to break us in gently.

UK lockdown 'could last until June'
Tough measures to tackle the outbreak in the UK have been in force for nearly a week - but a leading government adviser has warned they may need to remain in place until June.
Imperial College London Professor Neil Ferguson told the Sunday Times: “We’re going to have to keep these measures (the full lockdown) in place, in my view, for a significant period of time – probably until the end of May, maybe even early June.”
He added that even if the lockdown was lifted, people would probably still need to abide by social distancing measures for months to come.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove told Sky News that the length of the measures was not something that was "absolutely fixed".
He said: "It depends on all of our behaviour. If we follow the guidelines, we can deal more effectively with the spread of the disease."
Article share tools
 
Just read this........I can see restrictions in place for a whole lot longer yet. I think the mention of 3 weeks was just to break us in gently.

UK lockdown 'could last until June'
Tough measures to tackle the outbreak in the UK have been in force for nearly a week - but a leading government adviser has warned they may need to remain in place until June.
Imperial College London Professor Neil Ferguson told the Sunday Times: “We’re going to have to keep these measures (the full lockdown) in place, in my view, for a significant period of time – probably until the end of May, maybe even early June.”
He added that even if the lockdown was lifted, people would probably still need to abide by social distancing measures for months to come.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove told Sky News that the length of the measures was not something that was "absolutely fixed".
He said: "It depends on all of our behaviour. If we follow the guidelines, we can deal more effectively with the spread of the disease."
Article share tools
And yet another says
Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) Tweeted:
This is extremely encouraging.

A new study from Imperial shows the total deaths could be lower than 7000 - less than seasonal flu.

The peak could be just a week away if true.

What we are all doing is working - just by staying at home we are saving lives.
View: https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/1243820038131507200?s=20

But we all know which professor the media will prefer
 

Mo1959

Legendary Member
And yet another says
Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) Tweeted:
This is extremely encouraging.

A new study from Imperial shows the total deaths could be lower than 7000 - less than seasonal flu.

The peak could be just a week away if true.

What we are all doing is working - just by staying at home we are saving lives.
View: https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/1243820038131507200?s=20

But we all know which professor the media will prefer

However the guy I quoted is a professor of epidemiology and the guy you quoted is an oncologist! I think I would prefer someone who has experience of such matters!
 
However the guy I quoted is a professor of epidemiology and the guy you quoted is an oncologist! I think I would prefer someone who has experience of such matters!
Ah sorry, missed that, an oncologist!!! cancer doctors, pah as if they know anything.

He also happens to be an adviser to the WHO, but we have BJ who needs the WHO
 
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roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Still think it is all bollocks and purely an exercise in social engineering, whether it will be used to usher in I'd cards or some other measures I don't know, but I would bet the next step will be told that work can open up and continue as normal in the interim but all social activity must remain in lock down.

Efit: indeed in that letter it still says that travel to work is permitted if it can't be done from home, no mention of essential work.

Interesting reply to the letter tweet, from an alleged professional, but maybe not a government recognised one
Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) Tweeted:
This is extremely encouraging.

A new study from Imperial shows the total deaths could be lower than 7000 - less than seasonal flu.

The peak could be just a week away if true.

What we are all doing is working - just by staying at home we are saving lives.
View: https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/1243820038131507200?s=20


Its an un-peer reviewed study by an electrical engineer. Here it is.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.25.20041475v1

It projects a *maximum* daily death rate for the UK of 260.

Deaths yesterday in the UK were... ...260.

The study has already been overtaken by events.
 
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