Coronavirus outbreak

[Rocky]

Just worked though the last few posts and what can I say.
Thanks guys

I hope she stays safe. Please thank her for all she is doing.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

From the look of the Tory press' headines for tomorrow, Boris better phone in sick again.

 

[newfhouse]

From the look of the Tory press' headines for tomorrow, Boris better phone in sick again.

I expect Johnson will do a Trump and blame the ministers he appointed only a few weeks ago.

 

[Low Gear Guy]

I have to say I disagree with your comments.

We were told to wash our hands and carry on our business as usual on 12th March. At that point, over 1000 had already perished in Italy, anybody with eyes would have seen their death toll was doubling every 3 days, even assuming one pays no attention at all to what happened in China weeks previously.

What was/is so exceptional about Britain?

Imposing lockdown at the last possible minute is so stupid that it is criminal - as we all know, the scale of the problem (ICU beds requirement e.g.) grows exponentially with time, that means for every 3 days we delayed firm action to curtail transmission initially, the total infected doubles in scale, quadrupling for 6 days, 8 folds for 9 days, 16 folds for 12 days delay etc.

While that may be news to the layman, should that be news to the advisors who are allegedly world experts on epidemics/pandemics?

Put it another way, if the CMO/CSA/Government were on the ball by merely 3 days earlier, the scale of our eventual COVID-19 challenges in the NHS would have been halved, or a quarter if 6 days.

If the problem had been addressed earlier, it could have been nipped in the bud - in Hongkong because of early actions, resources were never stretched, and they never needed a lockdown as comprehensive as the one here currently. Have delays exacted a low price, or a high price?

And have we forgotten that we were told the curve will be flattened, the objective was to sneak it under the NHS surge capacity, if we were to do what is necessary when the time comes, even delaying the peak to the Summer? How could that have possibly been achieved by waiting? Given the sh*tstorm for all to see in China and Italy, is it really just 20-20 hindsight, or they had a completely indefensible strategy somehow?

What is actually happening is a royal 24K f*ckup by the CMO/CSA/Government - we should not sugarcoat it - it does not deserve to be sugarcoated, and as if we didn't know already, there are serious consequences when untruths and lies are given a pass, whether because they are consistent with our prejudice, or because we simply can't be bothered to condemn them.

The government has been reacting to events on a daily basis instead of looking at the experience of other countries and planning ahead. Putting the country on lockdown after the virus has spread has a limited effect. The government claimed it was going to flatten the curve but took no effective action to achieve this.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I expect Johnson will do a Trump and blame the ministers he appointed only a few weeks ago.

He does have a track record of lying with impunity and refusing to take responsibility. But the Tory press turning on the (lack of) government will be new for them.

 

[Wobblers]

CV tracking app' - good idea or too Big Brother? I'm for it if it helps the fight:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52095331

It's likely to make things worse.

There are a number of problems. Not everyone has a smartphone - and not every smartphone will able to run the app (most likely including mine, as mine doesn't run standard Android). While the app itself might "respect privacy" (whatever that means) it will require Bluetooth. Google, for reasons known only to themselves, require location tracking to be turned on before you can use Bluetooth, so this means a large US company will be tracking your every movement whether you like it or not.

But the worst thing is down to our woefully inadequate testing regime. And yes, I'm afraid that it is woefully inadequate. We're only testing those who become sick enough to be admitted to hospital. 80% of those known to get CV-19 remain asymptomatic or have milder illness.This app will miss those people. Worse, it's believed that in China, only one in seven infections were detected by the authorities. If this is also the case for the UK, we're missing 97% of all infections. An app will therefore be hopelessly inaccurate in these circumstances and will only serve to produce a false sense of security. Accurate testing is needed before this sort of solution can make a difference.

 

[Blue Hills]

So only 2,000 nhs staff have been tested. Pathetic as the government testing figures are they claim don't they to have been doing way over this many a day? Who have they been testing?

 

[IaninSheffield]

Listening to BBC R4 earlier, science correspondent made the point that the decision was taken to do all the testing in-house by PHE, in an attempt to maintain quality control. This meant the additional capacity that the microbiological testing facilities available through university and commercial sectors was not brought to bear. Perhaps, with hindsight, this was a mis-step?

 

[winjim]

I have to say I disagree with your comments.

We were told to wash our hands and carry on our business as usual on 12th March. At that point, over 1000 had already perished in Italy, anybody with eyes would have seen their death toll was doubling every 3 days, even assuming one pays no attention at all to what happened in China weeks previously.

What was/is so exceptional about Britain?

Imposing lockdown at the last possible minute is so stupid that it is criminal - as we all know, the scale of the problem (ICU beds requirement e.g.) grows exponentially with time, that means for every 3 days we delayed firm action to curtail transmission initially, the total infected doubles in scale, quadrupling for 6 days, 8 folds for 9 days, 16 folds for 12 days delay etc.

While that may be news to the layman, should that be news to the advisors who are allegedly world experts on epidemics/pandemics?

Put it another way, if the CMO/CSA/Government were on the ball by merely 3 days earlier, the scale of our eventual COVID-19 challenges in the NHS would have been halved, or a quarter if 6 days.

If the problem had been addressed earlier, it could have been nipped in the bud - in Hongkong because of early actions, resources were never stretched, and they never needed a lockdown as comprehensive as the one here currently. Have delays exacted a low price, or a high price?

And have we forgotten that we were told the curve will be flattened, the objective was to sneak it under the NHS surge capacity, if we were to do what is necessary when the time comes, even delaying the peak to the Summer? How could that have possibly been achieved by waiting? Given the sh*tstorm for all to see in China and Italy, is it really just 20-20 hindsight, or they had a completely indefensible strategy somehow?

What is actually happening is a royal 24K f*ckup by the CMO/CSA/Government - we should not sugarcoat it - it does not deserve to be sugarcoated, and as if we didn't know already, there are serious consequences when untruths and lies are given a pass, whether because they are consistent with our prejudice, or because we simply can't be bothered to condemn them.

Just quote replying because it bears repeating.

Here's a view from the Graun

'Absolutely wrong': how UK's coronavirus test strategy unravelled

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...velled?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

 

[flake99please]

Some people just don't know what nobs they appear.

A female colleague told me of a customer who asked wether they would ‘mind if I breathe over you’.

We also had large families getting irate at being refused entrance. It beggars belief the stupidity of some folks.

 

[numbnuts]

I expect Johnson will do a Trump and blame the ministers he appointed only a few weeks ago.

Well why don't you get off your arse and do something as you seem to have all the answers

 

[mjr]

Swiss news: smartphone tracking app discussed - they say it'd need 60% of population to use it so we could surrender our privacy for nought, changes to refugee process, steep increase in USA unemployment, far right politicians exploiting the crisis to restart anti-EU campaigns, perfomances moving online, UEFA competitions suspended.

 

[winjim]

Well why don't you get off your arse and do something as you seem to have all the answers

A fair few of us tried to do something back in December.

 

[PK99]

A female colleague told me of a customer who asked wether they would ‘mind if I breathe over you’.

We also had large families getting irate at being refused entrance. It beggars belief the stupidity of some folks.

Sadly it is no surprise at all.

 

[Eziemnaik]

Swiss news: smartphone tracking app discussed - they say it'd need 60% of population to use it so we could surrender our privacy for nought, changes to refugee process, steep increase in USA unemployment, far right politicians exploiting the crisis to restart anti-EU campaigns, perfomances moving online, UEFA competitions suspended.

Fat right politicians like Varoufakis, Renzi or Sanchez??? It is the EC and eurogroup politics and policies that are making people open their eyes on plenty of things