COVID-19 — Coronavirus

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I’m going to put a different slant on the situation. Picture this under lockdown conditions:
  • 100% of normal income for those fortunate enough to work from home or enjoy the protection of guaranteed salaries, secure jobs and/or generous sick pay.
  • For less fortunate ones, zero or vastly reduced income, mounting debts, maybe a bankrupt business. Increasing desperation, division, rancour, boredom and restlessness. Rinse and repeat for another two or three months.
Maybe it will become inevitable at some point; maybe not. Scientists looking down their test tubes don’t have to wrestle with that timeline. Nor do well-upholstered posters. Governments do. To rush into that situation would be very brave ...or very foolish.
 
The herd immunity is a rational argument but became an irrational argument once other models became viable:

  • Extreme social control - China
  • High tech testing and detective work - South Korea.

Vaccines appear to be advanced enough to put all priority into social distancing. The longer we leave this, the higher the number of the infected becomes and therefore the harder it will be to stop.

Trying to slow it down, and therefore build up some immunity makes no sense if the objective is to end the infection. If the objective is to build up immunity, then everything the govt has done makes good sense.

I hope Boris panics when he sees the criticism and shuts the country down. If we have 10,000 cases now, then in a week's time we will have 20,000 cases at least, and more people will die. There is no sense in waiting. The immunity argument only stands if you think a vaccine is impossible or not part of the equation.

I suspect China is going to get reinfected but I also suspect that they can control it this time with huge screening programs and high tech. The western medical practioners don't seem willing to learn from their peers but that is what science is all about. You don't always know best. When someone else produces the result they are right.
 
Have just asked an old couple who were struggling, if they wanted a hand with their shopping, their reply, 'Only if you wash you hands first'...in the middle of a car park I said 'that's pretty difficult to do right now' and so they refused my help, 'thanks but no thanks'.....my first interaction with those who I thought needed some help outside of my 'home' boundary. I respect that they refused, but I suppose I need to have some gloves and hand stuff before I ask again. Fear of others is out there, and it doesn't leave me with a good feeling.
I'm impressed by them to be fair.
That's the level of social disapproval that they will need to protect themselves.
No reflection on your best intentions by the way. But it's got you thinking all the same about how best to help in the future.
 
As a practical solution the rush hour needs to be staggered. Local chambers of commerce can surely sort that out. Ridiculous to have social distance for 6 hours out of 8 and then people all traveling together on the tubes,trains and buses.
 
Just focus on this simple fact - our government is following the best available scientific advice which states the virus will flow through the population until it is stopped by the immunity of those who have recovered. The aim is to protect vulnerable groups by limiting the spread through delaying and reducing the peak infection rate.

and the only country acting on this “ best available advice”.
You sure about that George?
 
Im guilty of having not taken this as seriously as I probably should have been doing at the minute but im at a loss what I personally can actually do. Im relatively young, fit and healthy (ish)

Me and Mrs Gaz already do the shopping for her 84 year old Gran, do I need to keep my kids away from her? Should I now be leaving her shopping on the doorstep? My mum and dad are 62, both still working, ex and current smoker respectively at what point do I need to start encouraging them to stay at home and self isolate?

Appreciate this information is 99% out there already but having read this full thread im more inclined to listen to some of the people on here than others.

serious answer - don’t handle the supplies you leave her.
You could be carrying it unknown to you.
Your mum and dad are in a much lower risk group.
 
Mate I think your posts on herd immunity are well intentioned and you clearly understand the logic behind the theory.

But the Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday that herd immunity was not the official government strategy.

The WHO and wider scientific community were alarmed at the noises that it was an official position.

Until someone from the UK government comes out and explicitly says it is, I don’t think it’s helpful to be spreading it (pun intended).

I’d encourage you to read this article from Matt Hanage who researches and teaches the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health.

He’s more qualified than any of us to pass comment. His initial reaction when he heard the UK government’s position was herd immunity is that he thought it was satire.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...st-britain-herd-immunity-coronavirus-covid-19
I think I heard it described on the BBC today, that herd immunity is a consequence of whatever other strategies or measures are taken. It is not a strategy in itself and shouldn't be.
It is the natural course of a virus.
 
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