Coronavirus

[G STAR RAM]

Interesting comments from Jeremy Hunt:-

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says he takes some responsibility for the UK government not being sufficiently prepared for a coronavirus pandemic.

The Conservative MP told the BBC: "We were preparing hard for a pandemic of flu – I have to hold my hands up as I was health secretary for six years when those pandemic preparations were done – and we weren’t thinking hard enough about pandemic coronaviruses like Sars."

He says coronaviruses have a long “incubation period” when people can spread the virus without showing any symptoms, adding that this means testing becomes "much more important".

He says it's for that reason that European countries and America, who were focusing on flu, have had "a less effective response" compared to countries in Asia which “really had their fingers burnt with Sars”.

So maybe we have been preparing for a pandemic but the wrong sort.

[Bob The Badger]

2 hours ago, ramit said:

Countries use different methods of counting Covid19 deaths, still if one compares how Sweden stands in comparison to other Nordic countries, their approach of herd immunity has been disastrous so far.

 

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but isn't the Swedish approach more based on the long-term?

For example, if the second wave comes in autumn and they have a lot more people immune and therefore a lot less deaths, wouldn't that mean it was a success?

I have no clue how this will play out (obviously), but from what I understand Sweden are more like 2-0 down 20-minutes after kick off than having lost the game.

[ramit]

9 minutes ago, Bob The Badger said:

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but isn't the Swedish approach more based on the long-term?

For example, if the second wave comes in autumn and they have a lot more people immune and therefore a lot less deaths, wouldn't that mean it was a success?

I have no clue how this will play out (obviously), but from what I understand Sweden are more like 2-0 down 20-minutes after kick off than having lost the game.

Sure, it has yet to be seen how the long term comparison will be and that's why i ended my post with the words so far.

i am now optimistically leaning towards the magically fizzling out theory, over the second wave conjecture.

Trump would be so pleased with me, i reckon

[1of4]

1 hour ago, G STAR RAM said:

Interesting comments from Jeremy Hunt:-

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says he takes some responsibility for the UK government not being sufficiently prepared for a coronavirus pandemic.

The Conservative MP told the BBC: "We were preparing hard for a pandemic of flu – I have to hold my hands up as I was health secretary for six years when those pandemic preparations were done – and we weren’t thinking hard enough about pandemic coronaviruses like Sars."

He says coronaviruses have a long “incubation period” when people can spread the virus without showing any symptoms, adding that this means testing becomes "much more important".

He says it's for that reason that European countries and America, who were focusing on flu, have had "a less effective response" compared to countries in Asia which “really had their fingers burnt with Sars”.

So maybe we have been preparing for a pandemic but the wrong sort.

[Rev]

 

If you think our lockdown is strict, look where Cyprus will allow catering companies to open!

 

 

[TramRam]

44 minutes ago, reverendo de duivel said:

 

If you think our lockdown is strict, look where Cyprus will allow catering companies to open!

 

 

Anyone with a crumb of sense can see Cyprus hasn't made a mistake...The Moon is made of Cheese.

[richinspain]

2 hours ago, reverendo de duivel said:

 

If you think our lockdown is strict, look where Cyprus will allow catering companies to open!

 

 

  Sorry, but I don't see what you're getting at? It's probably because I now think in Spanish so it doesn't sound strange to me, but what I read it as is that bars/restaurants can open their terraces.
  That's the case here, 50% of the usually permitted tables, with groups of a maximum of 10 people. It's proving difficult to implement at the moment, with everyone wanting to resume something like normality after so long locked down and groups of people waiting for tables to empty. Some bars closed voluntarily because they couldn't cope with the number of people, and some have put stopwatches on the tables giving a maximum of one hour before having to vacate.

[rammieib]

4 hours ago, Bob The Badger said:

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but isn't the Swedish approach more based on the long-term?

For example, if the second wave comes in autumn and they have a lot more people immune and therefore a lot less deaths, wouldn't that mean it was a success?

I have no clue how this will play out (obviously), but from what I understand Sweden are more like 2-0 down 20-minutes after kick off than having lost the game.

We tried that in our play-off final line up last year. Didn’t work out that well.

[Archied]

9 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

You seem to have very obedient kids.

Not sure how teachers are going to be able to stop 5 years touching, washing and sanitising hands after coughing or sneezing, stopping them putting their fingers in mouth or nose etc.

When a kid is ill at school, they all seem to get it. They have to be off for 2 days if they vomit so stop them all catching it. Colds and coughs go round the kids and parents regularly.

I'm still far convinced that opening schools for 2 years of kids for 6 weeks or so is going to provide any benefit vs the risk of infections spiking again. Wouldn't it be good to have a proper tracking and tracing system in place before re-opening? Plus a testing process that we know is efficient and works?

If we want to help get the economy going again, why not let the kids of parents who need to return to work again go to school?

After the disaster we have seen with care homes, plus our terrible death count over the last 2 months, I think many of the public are going to be rightly wary in believing official advice.

 

You seem to have very obedient parents

[bimmerman]

22 minutes ago, richinspain said:

  Sorry, but I don't see what you're getting at? It's probably because I now think in Spanish so it doesn't sound strange to me, but what I read it as is that bars/restaurants can open their terraces.
  That's the case here, 50% of the usually permitted tables, with groups of a maximum of 10 people. It's proving difficult to implement at the moment, with everyone wanting to resume something like normality after so long locked down and groups of people waiting for tables to empty. Some bars closed voluntarily because they couldn't cope with the number of people, and some have put stopwatches on the tables giving a maximum of one hour before having to vacate.

Outer space

With the rockets and Martians ?

[richinspain]

4 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

Outer space

With the rockets and Martians ?

???

As I said, I think in Spanish. That's my excuse and I'm bloomin' well sticking to it!

[Rev]

8 minutes ago, richinspain said:

???

As I said, I think in Spanish. That's my excuse and I'm bloomin' well sticking to it!

Booked to go there in September.

I don't mind a walk to the buffet for lunch, but that's a bit far.

[A Ram for All Seasons]

Cafes in Germany have just opened again too. Before you sit down, you have to enter your name, address and phone number in a list which is sent to the local health authority. If anybody sat at the same table comes down with Coronavirus you will be sent into quarantine for 14 days. Best not bother, too much hassle.

[Eddie]

10 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Just goes to support the point made by the government etc that it's not easy to compare countries. 

I think that you need to look at average number of deaths per week over a number of years, then compare the current time against (say) the same period over the last 10 or 20 years. It's probably the closest we are ever going to get to being able to make any serious comparisons.

Whether other countries have anything like the ONS, I just don't know. I should imagine that most countries have registers of births and deaths, and that death certificates are collated centrally. Getting hold of those figures though - that's another matter.

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, reverendo de duivel said:

 

If you think our lockdown is strict, look where Cyprus will allow catering companies to open!

 

 

How the hell do you drink with a space helmet on? Or perhaps you take it off momentarily, hand it to the barman, say "Fill it up" and put it back on?

[i-Ram]

1 hour ago, A Ram for All Seasons said:

Cafes in Germany have just opened again too. Before you sit down, you have to enter your name, address and phone number in a list which is sent to the local health authority. If anybody sat at the same table comes down with Coronavirus you will be sent into quarantine for 14 days. Best not bother, too much hassle.

I ruled it out based on the cost of travel.

[Andicis]

Absolutely crazy that Cambridge is making a decision this early, I'm going to be so annoyed if my Uni makes the same decision, guarantee they won't lower tuition fees...

[Stagtime]

5 hours ago, A Ram for All Seasons said:

Cafes in Germany have just opened again too. Before you sit down, you have to enter your name, address and phone number in a list which is sent to the local health authority. If anybody sat at the same table comes down with Coronavirus you will be sent into quarantine for 14 days. Best not bother, too much hassle.

Our cafes, restaurant's and pubs opened to the same thing on the weekend. As well, there is a max of 10 people per sitting. Qld and NSW schools open to all students this Monday. The last fortnight it has been only preps, year 1&2 as well as year 11&12. Australia's deaths unfortunately now stand at 100. The Rugby League season kicks off again next Thursday.

[richinspain]

6 hours ago, i-Ram said:

I ruled it out based on the cost of travel.

I don't know, plenty seemed to travel to Europe regularly on a Saturday just for a football match until recently.

[Tamworthram]

8 hours ago, Eddie said:

I think that you need to look at average number of deaths per week over a number of years, then compare the current time against (say) the same period over the last 10 or 20 years. It's probably the closest we are ever going to get to being able to make any serious comparisons.

Whether other countries have anything like the ONS, I just don't know. I should imagine that most countries have registers of births and deaths, and that death certificates are collated centrally. Getting hold of those figures though - that's another matter.

I agree. My gut feeling is that our government hasn’t dealt with the situation as well as some others but, until we have more data along the lines that you have suggested (if we ever do), the government is right when they say you can’t necessarily make a comparison just yet. Who knows, maybe some of the countries that appear to have escaped the worst of it may be hit by a more severe second spike.