COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[Marvin]

Marvin, I wish you would stop bigging up China, aside from N.Korea it's probably the most tightly controlled society on the planet. Only the Chinese leaders know how the actions against the virus are progressing and they'll tell the rest of the world what suits them and no more.

That's your opinion. In my opinion the Chinese are very keen that the WHO sees what they have done. They couldn't hide the first infection, and if it happened again we'd know about it.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Maybe the republic/N.Ireland situation will be the first acid test of the respective policies as it has the making of a scientific/political lab test to me - either way no winners who ever shows the better numbers

Problem is, you can't employ one strategy up north and another down south.
The virus doesn't recognise the border. There are cross border communities and trade.
There should be one strategy on the island. No different to England and Wales and Scotland all deciding to do things differently.

 

[mcfc1632]

Again, it’s always this Ashton bloke. Every single source about last nights presser that’s negative is from this one guy.

Even appearing in the Guardian of all places.

Think he is seeking the job of Police and Crime commissioner in Merseyside - so probably just part of his drive to be visible etc.

 

[Marvin]

The conflicting advice from experts and strategy of herd immunity in the UK, is causing problems in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Schools, Universities etc have closed down south and the GAA suspended all games north and south.
Whoever is right or wrong in their approach I would say the actual Collective Action has to be bought into by the community.
It has been generally accepted down south that this is the correct action and we don't even have a government. There is cross party approval of the measures being taken.
The problem with Britain as with Brexit, is that although Boris has his 80 seat majority, it still seems evident that practically half the country don't trust him and that goes for the reasons behind the strategy he is taking now.
For it to collectively work their has to be acceptance that it's right, compliance and acceptance of the outcome.

Regarding the Island of Ireland, it is not helpful to have one set of actions in one jurisdiction up north and another down south.

But the UK is not out on its own on this. The whole of the Western world are following broadly the same strategy. The only country that went into lockdown was Italy and that was because it was forced to do so. They must all share the underlying conviction that it can't be beat until the population acquires immunity but if you look across the world and at the WHO data you can find alternative strategies.

 

[lancs blue]

That's your opinion. In my opinion the Chinese are very keen that the WHO sees what they have done. They couldn't hide the first infection, and if it happened again we'd know about it.

I'm sure they're being cooperative with WHO but the figures they provide will still be what China wants them to see. They may well be accurate but there's also every likelihood that they aren't, as with most of the "official" figures provided by other countries.The acid test for China is what happens when they release all the lockdowns.

 

[purplenose]

In Italy the percentage dying is near 7%. It's higher than China, because they couldn't create the makeshift hospitals like China did, so their hospital system became overloaded.
The NHS is already overloaded, so I would guess the fatality rate would be nearer the Italian figure. So Boris in his wisdom is willing to sacrifice 4.2 mil elderly people.

He is only following the advice of his scientists.

Whom I am beginning to wonder are reincarnations of Dr Mengele.

 

[hello]

In Italy the percentage dying is near 7%. It's higher than China, because they couldn't create the makeshift hospitals like China did, so their hospital system became overloaded.
The NHS is already overloaded, so I would guess the fatality rate would be nearer the Italian figure. So Boris in his wisdom is willing to sacrifice 4.2 mil elderly people.

Although I think your 4.2 estimate is way too high Mr Cummings would point out that 4.2m foc's off the book sis a national insurance saving of £28bn a year in state pension costs alone. HS2 could be paid for in 3 years just on state pension savings.

 

[Blue Hefner]

 

[AlgarveBlu]

Problem is, you can't employ one strategy up north and another down south.
The virus doesn't recognise the border. There are cross border communities and trade.
There should be one strategy on the island. No different to England and Wales and Scotland all deciding to do things differently.

Yes I am aware of that but I assumed the level of cross border movement at this stage would have dropped significantly enough to at least get some comparative readings in a few weeks time. I assume the political noise which has already started will drown out any meaningful data that can be extrapolated.

 

[Marvin]

Maybe I have missed something but I haven;t come across a single biological scientist who has challenged the view we heard yesterday. But that doesn't make it right.

The data says they are wrong...at the moment. I would love them to explain the Chinese data. Some doubt it. But I have been watching the daily presentations from the WHO and I saw them walking around china with cameras and the access they had. I am pretty confident that the data was at the time correct.

 

[Phil1]

He’s only saying what we all know. It has always been down to the finances.
The premier league have been forced to postpone due to the players and staff of its clubs testing positive - had they not I’ve no doubts at all they would have tried to drag it out as long as possible,

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Do have to wonder what practical measures have already been planned for now so that they are in place in the coming days, let alone three/four weeks.

hotels made over to help hospital overflow
cruise ships returned to ports to provide further beds
military helicopters back to help ferry people
schooling/home care provision for children of health workers
emergency mortuary provision
catering companies supplying into hospitals

These all sounded radical a few weeks ago. Not sure anything sounds radical enough now.

Agree with this. What concerns me is what plans do the government have in place? What are they preparing? All the communications so far have been on general health advice. They should be reassuring people by providing the facts. How many beds have we got, how many staff, etc etc. All we have been told so far is about the illness. The communications have been appalling. They need to be transparent about our resources even if they are poor. What the Government have done is leave an information vacuum which is rapidly being filled by ill-informed comments. They are treating us all as if we are idiots. It's a sort of "does he take sugar" approach.

 

[lancs blue]

I'm surprised he got through a tweet without slagging off City.

 

[richardtheref]

Presuming you’ve got no chance to work from home?

Your work sound like cunts.

Work for a national bus company as a driver so no chance of working from home. Yes your assessment f my employers is correct.

However, I previously worked for a solicitors and they have been told to use holidays for any time off.

 

[mcfc1632]

I thought we were all annoyed Johnson wasn’t being honest?

It seems some find it hard to leave their political views in the sub-forum and leave them out of this thread

 

[hilts]

Problem is, you can't employ one strategy up north and another down south.
The virus doesn't recognise the border. There are cross border communities and trade.
There should be one strategy on the island. No different to England and Wales and Scotland all deciding to do things differently.

I knew we should have built a wall, a big wall, a beautiful wall which would have been the greatest wall ever:-)

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

But the UK is not out on its own on this. The whole of the Western world are following broadly the same strategy. The only country that went into lockdown was Italy and that was because it was forced to do so. They must all share the underlying conviction that it can't be beat until the population acquires immunity but if you look across the world and at the WHO data you can find alternative strategies.

Not saying which strategy is right or wrong Marvin.
My point is that for any strategy to work then the community needs to trust and accept it. You won't get compliance otherwise.
Having two strategies on the island of Ireland i.e.school closures etc is not a great.
The problem for Boris is half the country don't seem to be buying into his strategy.
Here in the Ireland (south) even without a government, there is cross party agreement and a general acceptance of the measures taken.

 

[Chippy_boy]

It is what he said.

The journalist said Angela Merkel said worst case scenario 70% of Germany’s population could get it.

He said their worst-case model was actually higher, at 80%.

When pressed on the mortality rate he said it was roughly just under 1% but impossible to say accurately.

As other posters have said, the WHO estimate it’s higher than 1%.

What is clear is that the hope of 1% or lower, goes out of the window if we can't treat those in a critical condition.

I don't want to scaremonger any more than I already have, so take this on face value and make up your own minds. But I cannot see any possibility of us bring able to handle the likely numbers of cases coming down the track

 

[squirtyflower]

Genuine question, I know this quite a fast moving thread and a fast moving situation but thought I'd get some opinions:

I'm supposed to be playing football tonight at 7, would you bother? Also been offered tickets tonight for Stereophonics at the Arena, I'm not that arsed about them at all but I don't have much else on, would you bother?

My mates birthday tomorrow so we were planning a big day on the piss around the Burnley game, still going to go out for it but is it worth trying to stick in a particular area in town instead of walking round to loads of places?

I have only just got to this so had a look to see if anyone else had answered, and someone had.
My take on things at the moment, from someone at a slightly higher risk due to age, I’m not going to do anything unnecessary.
We had been looking for a cheap ski holiday to Austria or France for this week but knocked it on the head when Italy flared up.
I didn’t go to the Derby as my wife felt it was a shithole and you could catch anything there.
We put our tickets up for sale for Arsenal, surprisingly they sold.
We’ve chosen not to go to the pub, out for a meal or any other form of entertainment.

However we have both gone to work when needed, seen our family, babysat our grandson and continue to go out for food and essentials.

For me it was not about staying in and riding it out, but if everyone reduced their non essential contacts the virus will spread more slowly, giving the NHS and the Government to act in less haste.

 

[Phil1]

It seems some find it hard to leave their political views in the sub-forum and leave them out of this thread

I’m sure you’ll be about to put people right.
Not that I disagree with your sentiment but your post seems a bit like baiting to me.