Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Catfish Blues]

Serious question.

Have any teachers actually died due to covid-19 this year?

Yes, but no more ( by an age standardised percentage ) than other similar professions. However, there's only been something like 2% of children in schools, so when the schools start to re-open, the staff are likely to be exposed more.

 

[Catfish Blues]

Why only 186 deaths here?

Deaths in hospitals mate

If you look at

UKHSA data dashboard

Showing public health data across England

www.gov.uk

234 out of the 384 were deaths in hospitals, so the others are from care homes or in the community. The other 48 ( 234 - 186 ) deaths will presumably be from Scotland etc.

 

[roydo]

Did I hear that right just now?

London is having 24 cases a day.

The North East is at 4000.

I mean that sounds odd to me.

 

[tsubaki]

what do you propose then? Like shut's down completely? for what 2 years?

We have to get real... we have a virus that won't disapear, we have to live with it. Keeping schools shut because a teacher may have a 0.5% chance of dying is not sustainable. People under 60 have more chance of drowning than dying from this.

Are swimming pools permanently closed?

No offence but this argument, which is being made by a lot of people, is really daft.

No one is saying we should lock down until a vaccine is found; that would be unsustainable. What people have been saying is that before we go back we have to make sure we can, as far as possible, deal with the virus / subsequent waves of it - meaning testing, tracing, having spare capacity in the NHS and making sure people are working in safe environments (which means PPE where necessary, social distancing if possible and importantly not feeling made to go to work when ill).

All that gives us the best chance to beat this next time. Shouting at people that they should go back to work because there’s only a one in two hundred chance of them dying does not.

 

[tsubaki]

Did I hear that right just now?

London is having 24 cases a day.

The North East is at 4000.

I mean that sounds odd to me.

That’s something that only this antibody test would help with; the obvious reason for that being enough of the London population is now immune to it for it to struggle finding new people to infect.

 

[Catfish Blues]

Did I hear that right just now?

London is having 24 cases a day.

The North East is at 4000.

I mean that sounds odd to me.

Not really, London got it early, so the virus had pretty much burnt itself out down there. As people go back to work in London and start meeting people, the virus will likely find new hosts and start to build up again.

The North-East started later and has the added problem of more general poverty and a higher percentage of frail folk than London, so people are more likely to get infected with something bad enough to need a test. Same goes for the North-West.

 

[Tubey]

No offence but this argument, which is being made by a lot of people, is really daft.

No one is saying we should lock down until a vaccine is found; that would be unsustainable. What people have been saying is that before we go back we have to make sure we can, as far as possible, deal with the virus / subsequent waves of it - meaning testing, tracing, having spare capacity in the NHS and making sure people are working in safe environments (which means PPE where necessary, social distancing if possible and importantly not feeling made to go to work when ill).

All that gives us the best chance to beat this next time. Shouting at people that they should go back to work because there’s only a one in two hundred chance of them dying does not.

It's the whole point of the term "suppression" - you get the virus to low levels in society so that you then have a better chance of managing it and extending the curve as long as possible.

It baffles me why people don't get it. Nobody is saying lockdown forever - the point of lockdown isn't to get rid of the virus, as that is impossible. All they're saying is that while you're still having thousands of infections per day then it's not manageable to suppress it without lockdown. We need to get it to within the parameters of track and trace and buy time for things like the app, firming up ICU capacity and so on.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

No offence but this argument, which is being made by a lot of people, is really daft.

No one is saying we should lock down until a vaccine is found; that would be unsustainable. What people have been saying is that before we go back we have to make sure we can, as far as possible, deal with the virus / subsequent waves of it - meaning testing, tracing, having spare capacity in the NHS and making sure people are working in safe environments (which means PPE where necessary, social distancing if possible and importantly not feeling made to go to work when ill).

All that gives us the best chance to beat this next time. Shouting at people that they should go back to work because there’s only a one in two hundred chance of them dying does not.

It doesn't seem like schools have done much to prepare for the return of pupils. Compare how fast the supermarkets adapted and its incomparable.

 

[PhilM]

That’s something that only this antibody test would help with; the obvious reason for that being enough of the London population is now immune to it for it to struggle finding new people to infect.

When the Spanish antibody tests suggested that 10% of the Madrid population had had COVID-19, I'd be surprised with a significantly larger % in London.

Like @Catfish Blues mentioned, the influx of people going back to work (even if it only a fraction of the total work force) may push it back up again.

 

[Tubey]

That’s something that only this antibody test would help with; the obvious reason for that being enough of the London population is now immune to it for it to struggle finding new people to infect.

I don't think that's the reason. That's basically what herd immunity would be and I just don't think enough people have caught it for that to be happening.

That said there's no easy alternative answer as to why either, except to point out that the virus works in hotspots and clusters, so it's possible that the "easy" targets in London have been burned out and the north east/north west are a few weeks behind and are therefore in a different stage in terms of the virus being able to grow exponentially.

 

[Tubey]

It doesn't seem like schools have done much to prepare for the return of pupils. Compare how fast the supermarkets adapted and its incomparable.

You're seriously comparing classrooms to a till checkout?

I mean you're right, they're incomparable, but I don't think it's for the reasons you seem to think!

 

[tsubaki]

It doesn't seem like schools have done much to prepare for the return of pupils. Compare how fast the supermarkets adapted and its incomparable.

What guidance have they had as to when that’s going to be though?

Supermarkets have been great but they knew what they had to do; schools appear to have been as in the dark as everyone else until this week.

 

[PhilM]

It doesn't seem like schools have done much to prepare for the return of pupils. Compare how fast the supermarkets adapted and its incomparable.

While the supermarkets have to be commended, the differences in their situations (clientèle for comparison etc.) and how to deal with them are pretty stark.

Most people have been happy to go to the supermarket once a week, queue up for say thirty-minutes at staggered times and work on a one in one out basis.

Their staff, say except check out staff who have screens, have less close interaction with their customers and are allowed PPE in store. There's still a risk!

Yet, the government are wanting more people in, for longer periods, with less ability to stager and PPE pretty much not allowed. Adaptation is more difficult here.

In reality, the adaptation has come from online learning, which from my experience has been pretty commendable although it's probably not consistent.

 

[Methuselah]

Had a similar experience a few years ago when, at about 2.30 Sunday afternoon, the front door bell rang. My daughter went and opened the door, came back in and said 'it's the Prime Minister'. It was Theresa May making a Constituency call. That morning she had been meeting with the EU in Munich and had just flown into Heathrow on her way home. Stayed about 20 minutes answering questions and discussing Brexit.

 

[Jebus_lives]

Did I hear that right just now?

London is having 24 cases a day.

The North East is at 4000.

I mean that sounds odd to me.

It's been like a slow March up the M6.