COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[PannickAtTheDisco]

God news & bad news.
Non ICU staff have been sent back to normal duties in my daughters hospital. (Down to 25 COVID-19 patients).
The bad news is that wards in other parts of the hospital are empty. Where are the people who should be in hospital? From the excess non COVID-19 death statistics, dying at home without going to hospital would seem to be the answer. I think there needs to be an advertising campaign to snap the public out of the protect the NHS mantra.

Don't want this to come across wrong, of course anyone who needs NHS help should get it, but if we can create a culture where far fewer people waste everyone's time clogging up A&E with things a GP or Out of Hours can sort, the better. We need to re-establish walk-ins during this time and try and correct what in the past 2 decades has been a needless crushing of our A&E departments.

Shame we don't have a government that can spot opportunities like this in the "downtime", before everyone goes back out partying again and cramming our essential services up.

 

[Coatigan]

Council's had a c40% decrease in funding from central government plus they had to take on extra liabilities. For example, council tax support, which was previously paid for by central government, is now paid for by councils. In respect of my local council, that is a £32m pa liability. There are many other ways in which local government finances have been adversely impacted since then.

Most sectors have suffered, undoubtedly. I just happen to know more about local government, so I thought I would give an indication of how councils have felt the impact of austerity. Ultimately, this has a disproportionate impact on the old and the vulnerable.

That might be the case in some places. My experience is very different. And therefore my opinion on that stance. Probably a broader discussion, for another time.

 

[AlgarveBlu]

This is considerably worse because until there is immunity anyone traveling internationally is going to have to isolate on arrival both ways. So no one is going on a 1 or 2 week international holiday any time soon. As I said the other day the CEO of Lufthansa group believes it will be 2023 before airlines will be able to operate profitably and that will be at much smaller scales.

Spot on...a lot of people just looking at this through the eyes of the UK’s policy and not that of the host country they wish to visit. Another issue may be travel insurance for CV19 being an issue, can’t see governments running with more airlifts for stranded passengers if the host country has a serious outbreak and runs an immediate lockdown. Suspect the aviation stocks are in for a further hammering on Monday after Warren Buffets comments this weekend and he’s dumping his entire sizable stock holdings of the 4 major US carriers, doesn’t bode well as you say for the sector, but hope you can hang in some capacity in the industry.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Thanks for the reference but i was asking his opinion and perhaps anyone else on the matter.
Not sure the video is his opinion on the question I asked.

Apologies. Thought you were more talking about the science behind the thoughts which seemed to fit with the video that Gelson had previously posted.

 

[George Hannah]

Are you sure you don’t want to just live under authoritarian regime, where we must not deviate from what they tell us?
By the way, the pathetic left wing hatchet job was mostly taken from that communist rag, The Spectator.

Unlike many supporters of repressive regimes on here I am committed to an open society. Its enemies btw include several Spectactor contributors - who occupy the right/left point of totalitarian intersection in classic (if currently unfashionable) horseshoe fashion. If you find succour in the absurd and unfalsifiable theories churned out by Momentum etc I suppose that explains why you keep recycling their ordure .

 

[mcfc1632]

I'm not putting the buck at anyones feet. I just want to know factually who does what. Whilst the individual governments may well be responsible for oversight and government, they are almost certainly not for the detailed production of plans.

The only real difference in Scotland is that the daily press sessions have been better handled and Sturgeon is more believable in terms of empathy and compassion. Other than that I agree with you. Its worth noting though that when you break the UK curve down into areas of England and the three other countries, there are very different experiences.

That makes sense - if people were minded to they could place every piece of bad news at the feet of the PM or appropriate SoS - because eventually they are 'accountable' for everything delivered through public services.

The reality is that there are departments/agencies/delivery bodies - like in this case the DHSC, PHE and NHS who have the clear responsibility between them for the entire scope of strategies, planning and preparation, implementation and delivery of all the aspects that have been the focus of criticism on these threads.

We should all simply recognise that - it is a simple fact - no matter which party or coalition had won the December election

 

[BlueAnorak]

Don't want this to come across wrong, of course anyone who needs NHS help should get it, but if we can create a culture where far fewer people waste everyone's time clogging up A&E with things a GP or Out of Hours can sort, the better. We need to re-establish walk-ins during this time and try and correct what in the past 2 decades has been a needless crushing of our A&E departments.

Shame we don't have a government that can spot opportunities like this in the "downtime", before everyone goes back out partying again and cramming our essential services up.

I know what you mean. A good point.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Unlike many supporters of repressive regimes on here I am committed to an open society. Its enemies btw include several Spectactor contributors - who occupy the right/left point of totalitarian intersection in classic (if currently unfashionable) horseshoe fashion. If you find succour in the absurd and unfalsifiable theories churned out by Momentum etc I suppose that explains why you keep recycling their ordure .

Agree with a lot of what you say George but that is unmitigated bollocks. I read the Spectator specifically because it gives a platform to alternative viewpoints without the vitriol which would accompany dissenting views in social media. It helps to keep an open mind.

 

[twosips]

God news & bad news.
Non ICU staff have been sent back to normal duties in my daughters hospital. (Down to 25 COVID-19 patients).
The bad news is that wards in other parts of the hospital are empty. Where are the people who should be in hospital? From the excess non COVID-19 death statistics, dying at home without going to hospital would seem to be the answer. I think there needs to be an advertising campaign to snap the public out of the protect the NHS mantra.

I'm increasingly of the opinion that all covid patients should be moved to the Nightingale hospitals where possible. Not sure if they're going to do that or not, but it makes perfect sense to get hospitals free of it, reducing the risk of very ill non-covid patients being infected, plus increasing public confidence in actually going to hospitals again.

Ideally too, antibody tests could show which members of NHS staff have had it and have recovered already, with sufficient antibodies to presume a good level of immunity - presuming that many probably already have. If so they could work at the Nightingale hospitals too, with good confidence that they'll be fine, while protecting other members of staff who haven't had it yet.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Track, test and trace being tested in the Isle of Wight this week prior to national roll out next week.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...-cases-tests-lockdown-latest-covid-19-deaths/