Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Nymzee]

It'll be interesting to see if the ol' British moral fibre still underpins our society when people are asked to isolate themselves or will they have to be told to do so.

How any curfew would be enforced is something I've considered because I don't think there's the right balance of manpower or respect to really impose one.

China know a thing or two about telling people what they have to do in times like this.

 

[Tipp blue]

Doubt anyone hates older people here, but really when this sort of disaster happens people should be free to point out that this looming disaster is the outcome of what other people voted for.

Look at gig work for example - some people warned for years that it would leave people in an unstable, financially precarious state. They were ignored. People (including a lot of experts and medical staff) said that reducing the capacity of the NHS whilst making it more expensive to run (thanks to PFI and the rest) was a daft idea. They were ignored, and threatened in some cases.

We've had an orthodoxy of economic and social policy over the past thirty years that has brought us to this point; people have to understand that it is wrong or things are going to get even worse. I don't hope Tories die as the result of this, but they are going to and so are a lot of others, with even more following them unless we as a country change course.

It's not even what you vote for, the cold hard reality of it is, if we want a health care system that allows people to live into their late 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond then we all will have to come to terms with the fact that every so often mother nature will thin the herd, be it a flu that vaccine is inefficient against or a bacterial infection immune to our antibiotics.. good health care is something we all want but every once in a while mother nature will let us know we are not in charge.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

China know a thing or two about telling people what they have to do in times like this.

Aye as we really want to follow an authoritarian regime that destroys lives everyday and did little to prevent the start of this thing in the first place with its backwards attitude to animals.

 

[Catfish Blues]

They also don't have a clue how many deaths from flu etc. recently could have incorrectly not been attributed to COVID-19.

Not really true in the UK that. Official flu related death figures are based on people having had a blood test to determine

a ) If they have flu and
b ) What variety they had

Those figures will then be extrapolated to cover deaths of people with flu like symptoms who weren't hospitalised, so didn't have a blood test

There's a tiny possibility that someone that tested positive for a flu virus who subsequently died, also had COVID-19, but it's highly unlikely to be statistically significant.

 

[Brennan]

Yup, lots in my office too. I understand the financial strain and pressure but to me it's reckless and endangering the lives of others. Criminal if you ask me.

To be fair I don’t think you do understand, if you’re calling it criminal behaviour.

 

[Nymzee]

To be fair I don’t think you do understand, if you’re calling it criminal behaviour.

Not criminal in the literal sense; it's an expression.

 

[Nymzee]

Aye as we really want to follow an authoritarian regime that destroys lives everyday and did little to prevent the start of this thing in the first place with its backwards attitude to animals.

Where did I say do what they're doing?

 

[PhilM]

China know a thing or two about telling people what they have to do in times like this.

However, rightly or wrongly their society is fundamentally designed in a way whereby the apparatus of the state can effectively manage its population.

Although a very wide-sweeping and generic comment, their political system and propaganda probably ensures that a fair percentage of the people toe the line.

For those who don't follow the decisions from above, well I'm sure the apparatus of the state will quite quickly and wilfully use force with little complaints after.

Can you imagine them trying to sue and bemoan the state for imposing sanctions through violence? Here, again rightly or wrongly, there would be repercussions.

 

[Nymzee]

Not really true in the UK that. Official flu related death figures are based on people having had a blood test to determine

a ) If they have flu and
b ) What variety they had

Those figures will then be extrapolated to cover deaths of people with flu like symptoms who weren't hospitalised, so didn't have a blood test

There's a tiny possibility that someone that tested positive for a flu virus who subsequently died, also had COVID-19, but it's highly unlikely to be statistically significant.

I'm not talking about just the UK; just the overall mortality rate.

 

[tsubaki]

It's not even what you vote for, the cold hard reality of it is, if we want a health care system that allows people to live into their late 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond then we all will have to come to terms with the fact that every so often mother nature will thin the herd, be it a flu that vaccine is inefficient against or a bacterial infection immune to our antibiotics.. good health care is something we all want but every once in a while mother nature will let us know we are not in charge.

It isn’t, though. That argument would only work if we had a glorious health system with lots of capacity, quick treatment for all, and an excess of medical staff.

What we have is a system that is run at near capacity levels normally, which means that when the worst of this hits it’s really difficult to see how it’s not going to affect an awful lot of people, and not just the elderly.

 

[Brennan]

Not criminal in the literal sense; it's an expression.

One third of families in the UK are a single pay check away from being homeless, and you’re throwing around terms like criminal to describe people.

Workers contribute to more deaths each winter by working and spreading the normal flu.

 

[Catfish Blues]

I'm not talking about just the UK; just the overall mortality rate.

Other countries affected have very similar procedures to ours. If it comes to choosing to between the views of the WHO or a Blue from Barrow, then I'll go with the WHO.

btw
There's a really good "Won't Get Fooled Again" pun in here somewhere ...

 

[Nymzee]

Other countries affected have very similar procedures to ours. If it comes to choosing to between the views of the WHO or a Blue from Barrow, then I'll go with the WHO.

I'm not arguing they're wrong I've just read reports where they're wondering if anyone has died from this without it being recognised as COVID-19.

Not sure why where I live matters but fair enough.

 

[Catfish Blues]

if anyone has died from this without it being recognised as COVID-19.

Bound to be some, especially in China, and, probably less so, in Italy, but it's unlikely to be a large number.

 

[Tubey]

To be fair I don’t think you do understand, if you’re calling it criminal behaviour.

Yep. If they carried on despite receiving full pay or equivalent compensation while off, then yeah, criticise.

But if staying off means they risk losing their house, then I for one find it hard to criticise.

Blame the way society works, not the individual living in it.