Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Walken]

To an extent, but that's perhaps an oversimplification. Germany seems to have done well in part because they engaged a wide network of bodies from an early stage, both in terms of local institutions but also the private sector. The NHS/PHE are both highly centralised, and governance in the UK has been that way for a long time, and the phobia of involving the private sector in any form of public healthcare has been well documented.

France appears to have had similar problems, so it's not like it's solely reserved for the UK.

Highly centralized areas have also performed well, it isn't binary.

In my experience of time spent in Germany, the more relaxed attitude from the public in terms of the direction they take their healthcare is that they have far more trust in their politicians. Their is a large section of the population that have zero faith in this government, and that chasm that has widened in a crisis which would normally have a unifying effect as they continue to insist on using misinformation and acting like robots reading a vidiprinter of figures (false ones).

All the glib jokes about blaming Hancock for them going the park won't stop this level of self inflicted mistrust being a gigantic issue.

 

[orchard]

In fact frozen produce can actually be more nutritionally dense due to that.

Find this dismissal of frozen food bizarre. Frozen is just a food preservation technique.

-and like other preserving techniques, it isn't a perfect representation of the original. Definitions are required (and this is sooooo ot). For me, fresh is picked very recently, like under an hour. Deciding where supermarket 'fresh' vegetables sit compared with industrially frozen goods is another issue.

 

[bullybeef]

One last one from me.

The UK were exemplar in their preparation for this;

- Not enough PPE
- PM failed to attend Cobra Meetings
- Failed Covid Tests
- Nowhere near enough testing carried out
- Allowing mass gatherings before the virus took off when the common sense approach should have been to observe social distancing
- Failure to keep accurate death figures
- Allowing flights in from covid hotspots...15k people coming in every single day unchecked
- The PPE scandal... procurement and distribution
- Care home crisis
- NHS and Care worker death crisis

An exemplar preparation indeed.

 

[Billy Dean]

Germany dropping below 50,000 active cases, and that is with a prolific testing program. Very positive news as their high point was around 72,000 active cases

It's very encouraging to hear. I'm glad they're making more of a point now to publish the number of recoveries as well as infections and deaths. The R0 here has however crept back up from 0.7 to 0.9, so we'll see what kind of effect Merkel's new measures have on that. Most regions here will be enforce compulsory mask-wearing as of Monday.

 

[bullybeef]

Unfortunately he won the biggest election win since 2005, so to suggest he should be replaced and everyone thought he wasn't fit to govern, is completely ridiculous. Once this is over then people will decide on the government's performance and if they don't think it was good enough then he'll lose the next election - that's how it works.

I doubt many people are back in work less than 2 weeks from being in ICU. But sure why let that get in the way of conspiracy theories.

These people have proved to be incompetent and negligent and should be charged with manslaughter... losing the next election is completely irrelevant.

 

[bullybeef]

I agree. Constitutionally it is not something I believe is that easy to do though.



You didn't say someone should be in charge, you said he was hiding. It's not reliable as I can't remember where I heard it, but I vaguely recall a stat of around 50% of those who are discharged from ICU still dying, with those who survive often requiring considerable care. It's impossible to know just how ill he really was, but to expect him to jump from his bed into such a role seems unrealistic to me.

He’s a charlatan Bruce and you know it.

A proven liar.

 

[ToffeeTim]

One last one from me.

The UK were exemplar in their preparation for this;

- Not enough PPE
- PM failed to attend Cobra Meetings
- Failed Covid Tests
- Nowhere near enough testing carried out
- Allowing mass gatherings before the virus took off when the common sense approach should have been to observe social distancing
- Failure to keep accurate death figures
- Allowing flights in from covid hotspots...15k people coming in every single day unchecked
- The PPE scandal... procurement and distribution
- Care home crisis
- NHS and Care worker death crisis

An exemplar preparation indeed.

I agree on the mass gatherings (Cheltenham, concerts, Champions League etc) in the fortnight before we lock-downed. I agree on not at the very least having checks at our airports. I think those are both fair points, although hindsight is a brilliant thing. Even if they weren't deemed high risk, I'd rather have been cautious.

The rest of the points I'm not qualified to speak on. I have my opinions but I definitely don't know enough and I'd say that's the same for the vast majority of the population.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Highly centralized areas have also performed well, it isn't binary.

In my experience of time spent in Germany, the more relaxed attitude from the public in terms of the direction they take their healthcare is that they have far more trust in their politicians. Their is a large section of the population that have zero faith in this government, and that chasm that has widened in a crisis which would normally have a unifying effect as they continue to insist on using misinformation and acting like robots reading a vidiprinter of figures (false ones).

All the glib jokes about blaming Hancock for them going the park won't stop this level of self inflicted mistrust being a gigantic issue.

I don't doubt that trust in government is low, but speaking of our local area, this can't be laid solely at the door of the Tories (although they certainly haven't helped). For instance, a Ukrainian friend explained her opposition to vaccines as a result of growing up in the USSR and not trusting what any government says. We also have a very strong Afro-Caribbean community in my part of London, and similar 'baggage' exists within this community (based upon my wives exposure as a community nurse). I'm not convinced that the lads playing football in my park would have been tuning into the daily press briefing.

Changing the government to one less dishonest probably would help, but it wouldn't be a panacea.

 

[bullybeef]

I agree on the mass gatherings (Cheltenham, concerts, Champions League etc) in the fortnight before we lock-downed. I agree on not at the very least having checks at our airports. I think those are both fair points, although hindsight is a brilliant thing. Even if they weren't deemed high risk, I'd rather have been cautious.

The rest of the points I'm not qualified to speak on. I have my opinions but I definitely don't know enough and I'd say that's the same for the vast majority of the population.

And herein lies the problem. The wider public don’t know any better.

However, the strong indications are this government is ‘cooking’ the books to hide their own incompetence.

If it’s proven that over 40k (and still rising) people have died due to this then there needs to be a full independent public enquiry.

Certain government officials have a lot of questions to answer!

 

[davmaher]

Not a fan personally, but sardines are also good for protein. A tin costs like 40p.

They did a sardine bolognese on Saturday Kitchen the other week which I made and found surprisingly tasty. I hadn't had sardines in years.

 

[Harryflashman]

Pretty much my attitude... somebody has to be in charge, though.

I've no idea quite how seriously his condition was, but my understanding was that even those fortunate enough to make it out of ICU after this virus had a very uncertain future, so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he wasn't up for what you and I would class as a normal existence, much less the pressure cooker of running a government during a crisis such as this.

The bloke is a work shy chancer, but we really should be respecting what this virus is doing to people more.

Pretty much my attitude... somebody has to be in charge, though.

I agree. Constitutionally it is not something I believe is that easy to do

we were told how it wasn’t an issue when he was unwell but I understand it’s at least feasible they weren’t truthful . My concerns are raised when we’re told he’s speaking to say trump and then we have messages leaked to the press that he’s wanting this or that but we then see minister’s say they’ve not spoken to him for days . If he’s unwell then despite my dislike then obviously that’s not good but he has to formally relinquish control and let someone run things or otherwise we’re effectively caught between two stools and that can’t be good at any time but specifically at times of a national crisis .

 

[Bruce Wayne]

He’s a charlatan Bruce and you know it.

A proven liar.

Ah, so the virus only affects those who tell the truth?

 

[Harryflashman]

I agree on the mass gatherings (Cheltenham, concerts, Champions League etc) in the fortnight before we lock-downed. I agree on not at the very least having checks at our airports. I think those are both fair points, although hindsight is a brilliant thing. Even if they weren't deemed high risk, I'd rather have been cautious.

The rest of the points I'm not qualified to speak on. I have my opinions but I definitely don't know enough and I'd say that's the same for the vast majority of the population.

the answer last night to airport screening was effectively “well were screwed anyway so it’s not worth worrying about really “ . I mean clearly I’m paraphrasing but it wasn’t far off that .

 

[Harryflashman]

Ah, so the virus only affects those who tell the truth?

happy days, finally some good news

 

[Amw79]

I agree on the mass gatherings (Cheltenham, concerts, Champions League etc) in the fortnight before we lock-downed. I agree on not at the very least having checks at our airports. I think those are both fair points, although hindsight is a brilliant thing. Even if they weren't deemed high risk, I'd rather have been cautious.

The rest of the points I'm not qualified to speak on. I have my opinions but I definitely don't know enough and I'd say that's the same for the vast majority of the population.

Don’t need hindsight for the mass gatherings point though. I was on a course in the Holiday Inn hotel by Lime Street on the day of the CL game, and the hotel was chock full of Spanish Madrid fans and Chinese LFC fans.

Even at the time me and my colleagues were saying to each other that this feels extremely dangerous and shouldn’t be going ahead.