Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[barneygumble]

My worry is that the lockdown is basically just a way of buying time so that we have everything in place to deal with the situation but we are no further forward than we were 3 weeks ago.
Make no mistake if the government was told that we could come out of this thing with 25000 deaths and it would all go away they would snatch your hands.
People have been telling us for years that the NHS is on its knees (many of us have seen it at first hand) but the government has chosen to ignore it, the chickens are coming home to roost.
If we come through this and I mean if not when I think that we should all be prepared to pay 5% of our earnings into the NHS because if there is one thing this has shown us that the most important thing we have is our health.

I think my concern is, it won’t just go away, the NHS staff are working close to capacity anyway, so realising people back out will only make it spread properly again, will it not?
So they’ve had an extra 3 weeks to be prepared, but I’d be shocked to see any lifting of this lockdown for another 6 weeks at best.

personally, I’m classed as a “key” worker, so I’m not affected, but people’s lives are at risk, and I’d rather not lose more lives.

 

[davek]

They have a plan in place and so far the NHS isn't swamped. Every person who's caught the virus has been able to get treated. The government can't do more than make sure the health service isn't overun during a pandemic.

Accepting the ill thought out rantings of a poster on a forum would be much more foolish than to listen to medical experts but hey this is the twitter generation where a ton of conspiracy theorists don't even believe there is a virus, so don't let me stop you going way over the top with your criticism.

That's right, it cant. And that's what they failed to do: no early shutdown and social distancing advocacy, no mass production of protective gear for NHS staff, no production or procurement of testing kits, no adequate supply of ventilators.

At this stage I'm wondering if you're obtuse or you're just a bit thick.

 

[BlueToff]

They aint ever gonna ban something that generates 12bn per year in taxes.

When it comes to smokers' burden on the NHS, they may well contribute more in tax than they take

The NHS has come under criticism after plans to ban patients from surgery unless they quit smoking were revealed.

www.telegraph.co.uk

I know mate.

Think I mentioned it on here at the time but in the first week of lockdown their was a woman in the shop in front of me wearing the full clobber – mask, scarf around the mask, gloves etc. She gets her shopping and as she's paying buys five packs of cigs.

Blagged my head, really did.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

People are just human beings mate surely you are not suggesting that the only people dying are people who have brought it on themselves?

The majority of those dying have underlying conditions, and many of those are brought on by unhealthy lifestyles. If we love the NHS we should stop abusing it. Obesity alone accounts for around 8% of NHS spending.

Put the doughnuts down and the NHS might stand a chance.

 

[Goat]

I know mate.

Think I mentioned it on here at the time but in the first week of lockdown their was a woman in the shop in front of me wearing the full clobber – mask, scarf around the mask, gloves etc. She gets her shopping and as she's paying buys five packs of cigs.

Blagged my head, really did.

Some woman in front of me in Asda the other day bought 3 packs of 100, I was shook!

 

[paultheblue]

The majority of those dying have underlying conditions, and many of those are brought on by unhealthy lifestyles. If we love the NHS we should stop abusing it. Obesity alone accounts for around 8% of NHS spending.

Put the doughnuts down and the NHS might stand a chance.

Jesus wept, good night lad

 

[whiteshadow]

That's right, it cant. And that's what they failed to do: no early shutdown and social distancing advocacy, no mass production of protective gear for NHS staff, no production or procurement of testing kits, no adequate supply of ventilators.

At this stage I;m wondering if you're really being obtuse or just a bit thick.

The health service isn't overun at present. May change this week but so far it's holding out.

Your other criticisms are valid but branding people mass murderers is childish. 90% of countries aren't prepared and are struggling to procure all the equipment just like we are.

It's right to ask why we weren't better prepared after the SARS and MERS ourbreaks but to brand people as mass murderers isn't right. Say they're incompetent yes but classing them as that is out of order imo.

 

[Goat]

The majority of those dying have underlying conditions, and many of those are brought on by unhealthy lifestyles. If we love the NHS we should stop abusing it. Obesity alone accounts for around 8% of NHS spending.

Put the doughnuts down and the NHS might stand a chance.

Another thing to consider is the hypothetical scenario of what would happen if a smoker who died earlier actually didn't smoke, lived until they were 90, and racked up huge medical costs through an assortment of minor illnesses.

People who die prematurely might actually have a smaller net burden on the health service in the longer term, reducing the state's spending on social care and pensions.



You got it twisted Bruce, us fatties are doing YOU a favour.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Ok, everyone who has been admitted to hospital. Assuming that's what you mean.

My main point is, the NHS hasn't run out of beds yet. That's all you can really hope for duing a crisis like this imo.

The decision was taken not to admit those in care or nursing home into hospital who may be suffering from COVID19. Number of deaths in these places are frighteningly high now, and of course not in included on official COVID19 deaths. Got to keep it under 20000, politics politics politics.

 

[davek]

The health service isn't overun at present. May change this week but so far it's holding out.

Your other criticisms are valid but branding people mass murderers is childish. 90% of countries aren't prepared and are struggling to procure all the equipment just like we are.

It's right to ask why we weren't better prepared after the SARS and MERS ourbreaks but to brand people as mass murderers isn't right. Say they're incompetent yes but classing them as that is out of order imo.

If the cap fits, wear it.

A mass of people have died. Many of those were avoidable if a health service funded to handle the crisis were in place and decisive action had been taken early enough on social distancing.

Those things (the running down of a health care system and atrocious modelling) dont occur by magic, they are the result of human beings making decisions on what's an acceptable level of preparedness.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Jesus wept, good night lad

That's it. Live an unhealthy lifestyle, then complain that the NHS can't cope with all the unhealthy people. 79,000 smoking related deaths per year in England. Nearly 25% of adults classed as obese (not overweight - obese). Easy to blame the tories rather than fatty in the mirror.

 

[ParisToffee]

Seems like a fair strategy, I suppose they will be building up the supplies and infrastructure to get what they will need after May 11th to be able to test everyone who is ill and with the lockdown of bars and cafes it should be easier to track who else they might hand made contact with.

At least that would give a fair indication of how future viruses can be tracked and traced in a similar way the South Koreans did.

Problem is we've already been on lockdown 1 month and I was in isolation 3 weeks before that as I hd transplant last year so on anti rejection medicines ;-( Therefore I'm already 8 weeks out of work, now, they say creches and schools may open on 11th May, no plans for testing general populayion unless signs of virus, huge shortage of masks and PPE but does'nt seem any effort being made to get them ;-( Just a subtle mention of getting an application that can track those who have had virus and then pretty much said any risk category has to stay in isolation ;-( More talks again next week but french are too "safe" to try and do stuff, they have a meeting that takes 2 weeks, then discuss it for 4 weeks and then finally meet again and decide over another 3 weeks ;-(

 

[Blues Harp]

looks like our lockdown is going to be extended by another 3 weeks

You will be lucky if this ends then, but no matter.. I have at least until the end of June (or maybe later than that) before I know whether I can step outside my front door... there are many in the same position...probably be told to wait until a vaccine is available....maybe next year??

 

[Dixieslaces]

We have 10,000 of our people killed by this virus, and you seem to think that holding the government of the day responsible for it is 'unfair'?

Now is not the time, are Italy, France, China, America etc gonna hold theirs to account NOW?

 

[Catfish Blues]

My worry is that the lockdown is basically just a way of buying time so that we have everything in place to deal with the situation but we are no further forward than we were 3 weeks ago.
Make no mistake if the government was told that we could come out of this thing with 25000 deaths and it would all go away they would snatch your hands.
People have been telling us for years that the NHS is on its knees (many of us have seen it at first hand) but the government has chosen to ignore it, the chickens are coming home to roost.
If we come through this and I mean if not when I think that we should all be prepared to pay 5% of our earnings into the NHS because if there is one thing this has shown us that the most important thing we have is our health.

There's a lot of sense in that post, but I think roughly 20% of the country's tax revenue currently goes into the NHS pot ? If we want a better health system, then we undoubtebly will have to pay for it, but, in the longer term, for all sorts of reasons, we need to find a way to persuade people to live healthier lives.