Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[davek]

You’ve provided some fine entertainment today.

Let’s hope another cabinet member gets sick, so you can start on them

I dont give a toss what happens to them. I dont wish it on them, that's for sure.

I just wont be naive enough to believe that, even in all this, political capital wont be being made.

Try it.

 

[BlueToff]

Exactly mate. Be safe about it. The rule is, if you have to go out once or numerous times, then maintain the social distance required and keep yourself and others safe.

Which, and this is the thing, even the vast majority of those people who were getting slammed as 'idiots' for going to parks in big cities last week were doing.

Obviously, the ones who were sunbathing or having BBQs - that's a different story.

But most of those pictures of parks, while they showed a lot of people, showed groups of max 2 (unless they were clearly families) all spread apart and following the social distancing rules.

Going to a park isn't and shouldn't be a crime, especially if it's their only option for a bit of greenery and exercise.

I've left the house once today (well, I came back, but stayed out as I went straight from a run onto a bike ride - just trying to push myself as best I could, though i know I'm only supposed to do one form of exercise). But I kept my distance, as everybody else does and I'm lucky I have rural areas within five minutes of where I live in three directions.

Think my mum has left to go care for my gran and my dad left to go on a bike ride and then to the supermarket.

It's just about being sensible. The most dangerous thing any of us three did today would have been my dad going to the shop, but obviously the store is following the measures and everybody who goes is, too.

 

[tsubaki]

So many of the pro-Government commentariat are banging on about this lockdown being worse than the disease that we can only be a week or so from the next colossal piece of idiocy.

 

[summerisle]

But hold on, he's on a ventilator and has pneumonia.

The facts were there on his situation. Too many just took the spin and ran with it.

He'll arise on Sunday.

 

[BrendanGOT]

Which, and this is the thing, even the vast majority of those people who were getting slammed as 'idiots' for going to parks in big cities last week were doing.

Obviously, the ones who were sunbathing or having BBQs - that's a different story.

But most of those pictures of parks, while they showed a lot of people, showed groups of max 2 (unless they were clearly families) all spread apart and following the social distancing rules.

Going to a park isn't and shouldn't be a crime, especially if it's their only option for a bit of greenery and exercise.

I've left the house once today (well, I came back, but stayed out as I went straight from a run onto a bike ride - just trying to push myself as best I could, though i know I'm only supposed to do one form of exercise). But I kept my distance, as everybody else does and I'm lucky I have rural areas within five minutes of where I live in three directions.

Think my mum has left to go care for my gran and my dad left to go on a bike ride and then to the supermarket.

It's just about being sensible. The most dangerous thing any of us three did today would have been my dad going to the shop, but obviously the store is following the measures and everybody who goes is, too.

This is it mate. Some people are being maniacs about it all, but it's because of media/ social media thats getting them so pent up with fear and irrationality. People even on here are calling for harsher lockdowns based on very little other than media fear mongering, I've seen people elsewhere even calling for martial law basically saying army on the streets to imprison people in their homes and or imprison them for leaving their homes. But I will concede that people taking the piss when the rest of us are knuckling down need fined etc.

 

[Joey66]

There was a fella the other day on here who said he had watched his neighbour leave the house 4 times in 1 day.

I mean I know we are all pretty bored but thats taking things a bit far.

That's nothing LBC today some guy grassed his older brother for visiting his mates on his rounds of delivering food parcels ........

 

[Brisan123]

Its a good point mate. I’ve been thinking for a while about what measures I’d implement for a second lockdown and lessons learned.

I think many countries have been reluctant to put specific areas into lockdown and keep others open.

With the virus it tends to outbreak and spread quickly in large dense areas that see an awful lot of proxmity and are international transfer hub.

For the next lockdown I think countries need look at specific region lockdown, and dealing with any marginal spread. Federalise the country into health regions, that can be locked down if necessary while others kept open if possible. This could help with the spread of the virus, or maybe slow it. But also enable perhaps parts of the economy to keep working.

It would be one of the options I think on the table to manage a second wave or lock down.

Would need to be really well planned though and really well managed as their would be risks too.

Problem is the areas where the virus is likely to be prevalent are the major cities where most of the employment is and where the economy is heavily dependant on

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Report out from UN University (which is apparently a thing) on the economic costs of the pandemic (and the shut down of economies). They predict 10 million people globally will be pushed back into extreme poverty, which is the first time in 30 years poverty stats have not improved.

 

[Walken]

Iran and Germany showing a downward curve in active cases and a few others too, Italy and Spain starting to flatten

 

[Jebus_lives]

Report out from UN University (which is apparently a thing) on the economic costs of the pandemic (and the shut down of economies). They predict 10 million people globally will be pushed back into extreme poverty, which is the first time in 30 years poverty stats have not improved.

While it's not always possible for every organisation, I've heard of quite a few instances of companies shutting down because they haven't given any thought to organisational resilience or because they have so little trust in their employees they are completely tied to office based activity. This might be a big driver behind organisations actually thinking sensibly about their vulnerability to disruption and forcing them to think more about agile working.

 

[Harryflashman]

“Cabinet minister Robert jenrick repeatedly appealed to members of the public to avoid unnecessary travel during the lockdown but he left London on March 29th to head to his mansion in Herefordshire where his life and children live . Jenrick then drove 40 miles to travel to his mother and father at their home in Shropshire on April 4th or 5th “

don’t do as I do ,do as I say .

 

[Bruce Wayne]

While it's not always possible for every organisation, I've heard of quite a few instances of companies shutting down because they haven't given any thought to organisational resilience or because they have so little trust in their employees they are completely tied to office based activity. This might be a big driver behind organisations actually thinking sensibly about their vulnerability to disruption and forcing them to think more about agile working.

It promises to have a number of positive implications I think, but when the same report estimates up to 600 million people around the world are going to enter poverty as a result of the contraction in economic activity, the economic fallout from this is likely to be significantly more severe than the health impact. All of which makes those people almost taking a "serves you right" attitude when people expressed concern about the stock market crashing seem even more incredulous. Every evidence suggests that this is a situation that is overwhelmingly going to affect the poorer elements of society more than the richer elements, in both economic and health terms.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

“Cabinet minister Robert jenrick repeatedly appealed to members of the public to avoid unnecessary travel during the lockdown but he left London on March 29th to head to his mansion in Herefordshire where his life and children live . Jenrick then drove 40 miles to travel to his mother and father at their home in Shropshire on April 4th or 5th “

don’t do as I do ,do as I say .

Sure he'll resign like the Scottish Chief Medical Officer. Or the fact that Johnson's dad was on Radio 4 this morning from his second home without batting an eyelid (after advocating people continue going to the pub at the start of the lockdown). Utter tits, but the fact that whereas the Scottish lady resigned and these two chumps will carry on as normal is perhaps more damning.

 

[Nymzee]

This is it mate. Some people are being maniacs about it all, but it's because of media/ social media thats getting them so pent up with fear and irrationality. People even on here are calling for harsher lockdowns based on very little other than media fear mongering, I've seen people elsewhere even calling for martial law basically saying army on the streets to imprison people in their homes and or imprison them for leaving their homes. But I will concede that people taking the piss when the rest of us are knuckling down need fined etc.

I guess 1,000 deaths per day in a country might just lead to some people becoming “maniacs”.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

So many of the pro-Government commentariat are banging on about this lockdown being worse than the disease that we can only be a week or so from the next colossal piece of idiocy.

This is not at all exclusive to pro-government commentators and shouldn't be portrayed as such, these fears of an economic catastrophe, not just in this country but worldwide, are all too real and can't be ignored. This could result in massive unemployment and potentially ruin a whole generations chances of a future career.

If it goes on too long the world could conceivably even see a depression to equal the 1930's with untold misery in both poverty and lack of any hope for a worthwhile future. This will also potentially cost lives and lead others to all the social risks that derive from hopelessness and severe depression.

There will come a time when the difficult balance of permanent and irreversible damage to the economy really will have to be seriously thought of as a price that would maybe cause more damage in both lives lived and lives lost and a prolonged cure worse than the alternative, especially after the peak of the curve is past and the rate of new admissions begins to fall.

Every day this goes by will be causing serious damage to long term health due to the damage it will cause to the economy. 1.2m people have already lost their jobs and reauters published a study showing up to 25% will be whipped off Q2 GDP.

Austerity cost 130k preventable deaths last time round. https://www.theguardian.com/politic...austerity-behind-130000-deaths-uk-ippr-report Thats small potatoes compared to this and compounds every day we are stuck in this inertia.

Keir Starmer, quite rightly, has started to push the Government for their exit plan. Getting the testing regime up and running has to be a non negotiable priority