COVID-19 Pandemic

[feb1991blizzard]

4 minutes ago, Boro Snow said:

We wont because the government want 60% of us to get it 

Judging by the Cheltenham decision they want 100% to get it and very quickly.

[feb1991blizzard]

Just now, lottiekent said:

Has anyone read what powers the governments new emergency laws are?

1. Forcing schools to stay open
2. Detaining people suspected of carrying the virus
3. Reducing standards in care homes
4. Stopping any vehicle for no reason

And these are planned to be in place for two years.

If you consider point 3 especially, no thoughts for the elderly at all. 

 

And point 1 - kids gonna have contact with nans and grandads and even older parents don't forget.

[Snipper]

7 minutes ago, Boro Snow said:

We wont because the government want 60% of us to get it 

Or a realisation that is going to happen anyway.

[kold weather]

4 minutes ago, lottiekent said:

Has anyone read what powers the governments new emergency laws are?

1. Forcing schools to stay open
2. Detaining people suspected of carrying the virus
3. Reducing standards in care homes
4. Stopping any vehicle for no reason

And these are planned to be in place for two years.

If you consider point 3 especially, no thoughts for the elderly at all. 

I think with point 3 its horrible, but unfortunately inevitable. Schools will be babysitting facilities as well in this. I have heard though that its not so much just to keep them open, the power forces all schools to close as well, so I think its a two way thing.

Many care settings only just about have enough staff and often that is through agencies as well, take 20-30% of the staff away at any time and there is no way standards won't drop significantly.

Edited March 14, 2020 by kold weather

[Methuselah]

2 minutes ago, Snipper said:

Or a realisation that is going to happen anyway.

But there is one way to prevent it: the latest beachwear?

[kold weather]

Dr  Tedros from WHO had this line yesterday, I wonder who it could be talking about, pretty obvious I think:

""Do not just let this fire burn,"

I wonder if this also has kind of forced the government into doing things behind the scenes, especially as he is urging countries to take drastic action.

[Snipper]

6 minutes ago, lottiekent said:

Has anyone read what powers the governments new emergency laws are?

1. Forcing schools to stay open
2. Detaining people suspected of carrying the virus
3. Reducing standards in care homes
4. Stopping any vehicle for no reason

And these are planned to be in place for two years.

If you consider point 3 especially, no thoughts for the elderly at all. 

If you are passing laws why make it piecemeal and have to go back and make some more?

[Zak M]

Wow, this thread is amazing - 56 pages and it only opened a few days ago!

Thanks for everyone who is keeping us up to date. There certainly is so much to talk about.

[snefnug]

No sport on TV?  Perfectly good time to relax, take time to read  a book, take a walk, listen to music, tidy the potting shed, sort through seed packets, really clean the house, listen to radio 4, shout at radio 4.  Retune to Radio 3, stay off this thread for at least 4 hours on the trot. That’s my weekend sorted.  

[Yarmy]

As per the WHO recommendations, a little positive story. I don’t know who this guy is, but he went on Twitter and offered to pay bills for people struggling. In the comments, it’s prompted lots of other folk to do the same.

 

[Ravelin]

6 minutes ago, kold weather said:

I think with point 3 its horrible, but unfortunately inevitable. Schools will be babysitting facilities as well in this. I have heard though that its not so much just to keep them open, the power forces all schools to close as well, so I think its a two way thing.

Many care settings only just about have enough staff and often that is through agencies as well, take 20-30% of the staff away at any time and there is no way standards won't drop significantly.

Schools run with just enough staff too, if they are lucky. Add in anything above normal sickness absence rates and even if they do "relax" class size restrictions it's going to be extremely difficult for many to remain open. In this case how do you "force" them to stay open? Ultimately a school and teachers primary responsibility is to the safety and wellbeing of the pupils above everything else. If they can't guarantee this then they shouldn't be staying open.! 

 

[Zak M]

 

[kold weather]

Just now, Ravelin said:

Schools run with just enough staff too, if they are lucky. Add in anything above normal sickness absence rates and even if they do "relax" class size restrictions it's going to be extremely difficult for many to remain open. In this case how do you "force" them to stay open? Ultimately a school and teachers primary responsibility is to the safety and wellbeing of the pupils above everything else. If they can't guarantee this then they shouldn't be staying open.! 

 

I suppose the modelling would suggest that as staff decrease in the school, so will the numbers of children as they will also have to self isolate, therefore the ratio of staff-children won't increase as much as you'd think. I'm a teacher and I've already been told to prepare for a collapse of classes in the event of staff shortages and prepare work from home in the case of a shutdown.

I definitely understand your point though, and I think that position in the long term is probably untennable, a bit like this mass gathering policy that is having to be implemented, as I think its actually negatively impacting peoples confidence.

[Zak M]

Also, something that I forgot to mention yesterday... my school now has soap in the toilets!

[Snipper]

5 minutes ago, snefnug said:

No sport on TV?  Perfectly good time to relax, take time to read  a book, take a walk, listen to music, tidy the potting shed, sort through seed packets, really clean the house, listen to radio 4, shout at radio 4.  Retune to Radio 3, stay off this thread for at least 4 hours on the trot. That’s my weekend sorted.  

Perhaps we should all be panic buying paint and bits and pieces to complete all those jobs indoors that are on the other half’s to do list.

[Snipper]

12 minutes ago, Yarmy said:

As per the WHO recommendations, a little positive story. I don’t know who this guy is, but he went on Twitter and offered to pay bills for people struggling. In the comments, it’s prompted lots of other folk to do the same.

 

And all your passwords?

[snefnug]

3 minutes ago, Snipper said:

Perhaps we should all be panic buying paint and bits and pieces to complete all those jobs indoors that are on the other half’s to do list.

I have a little list....lol

[kold weather]

Amazing thread here on twitter that explains the government policy, I agree with all of it, but this is put far better than I ever could:

Where I disagree is the sustainablity of the lockdown model. You'll find fear is a very powerful weapon in getting people to accept a new norm for a while.

Plus, there is an end goal to this, its not like the lockdowns will continue for ever more, its at most 2 years if a vaccine proves hard, could be less than 12 months if they rush it throughl

Edited March 14, 2020 by kold weather

[Weather-history]

Has horse racing events been stopped/postponed?

[Man With Beard]

44 minutes ago, kold weather said:

 

China has almost got rid of it today, South Korea still ticking over with new cases (they have been averaging 100-200 for a little while now), though their fatality rate is starting to climb, getting closer to 1% of the cases now

An interesting sub plot will be what China does next. Do they try to go back to normal? If the virus picks up again, do they go back to lock down? My bet is once they get zero cases, they shut their border indefinitely. 

[Ravelin]

5 minutes ago, kold weather said:

I suppose the modelling would suggest that as staff decrease in the school, so will the numbers of children as they will also have to self isolate, therefore the ratio of staff-children won't increase as much as you'd think. I'm a teacher and I've already been told to prepare for a collapse of classes in the event of staff shortages and prepare work from home in the case of a shutdown.

I definitely understand your point though, and I think that position in the long term is probably untennable, a bit like this mass gathering policy that is having to be implemented, as I think its actually negatively impacting peoples confidence.

Out of 4 people in our household 3 are teachers and the other is still in Secondary school. I suspect class numbers will possibly decline first, as parents withdraw kids but teachers 'soldier on'. In my case I work in a school with a lot of extremely vulnerable children (due to disabilities and health conditions) and I know a lot of parents are already very concerned. 

What baffles me, for a health standpoint, is that schools can be a real focal point for outbreaks of illness. You have lots of people crowded into a confined space 5 days a week, then all heading back out into the community mid afternoon. Even if kids are less likely to be badly affected by this virus I've seen nothing to suggest that they can't get it and can't spread it.

If keeping schools open is primarily an economic argument then the government need to be clear on this. I don't buy the argument that kids will just congregate elsewhere, 90% of the will 'congregate' in thier bedrooms on thier phone/tablet/xbox/ps4. 

[Sky Full]

32 minutes ago, Boro Snow said:

We wont because the government want 60% of us to get it 

Sorry mate but I just don't get this.  As soon as this virus evolved to infect humans all the events which have occurred since were totally set in stone.  

The government most certainly do not WANT anyone to get it but there's nothing any government can do about it except try to manage the spread so that each individual country's health system can cope.  There is no vaccine.  Therefore there is no prevention.  

We will all have to catch it sometime unless and until a vaccine is available.   Only when sufficient people have caught it and are immune (60% ??) will the virus struggle to spread as the pool of uninfected people dwindles.  This is not government policy.  It's nature doing what nature does.  

[kold weather]

4 minutes ago, Ravelin said:

 

If keeping schools open is primarily an economic argument then the government need to be clear on this. I don't buy the argument that kids will just congregate elsewhere, 90% of the will 'congregate' in thier bedrooms on thier phone/tablet/xbox/ps4. 

Not only that but we have the easter holidays coming up, so even if the strategy does work for the next few weeks, they are all going to be out of school...

Though I have a sneaky feeling this law they are putting in is going to erase the Easter Holiday and force schools to stay open during it. 

[ciel]

Initially, I was broadly supportive of the government policy regarding this virus, but over the days such confidence has been undermined. For example, why is 10 Downing Street so out on a limb in their strategy (exceptional) compared with the rest of the world and their experts, who no doubt have as admirable CVs as our CMO and CSA. The simple messaging for the masses and reliance on modelling brings to mind the possibility that it is not the scientists pulling the strings.

[Yarmy]

10 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Has horse racing events been stopped/postponed?

Not as yet, as far as I can tell. What will the bookies do when all sport stops?