Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Neiler]

Ireland are in a different (better) position to the UK. I wouldn't use that comparison as a guide.

Christmas as a business proposition is all about consumer confidence. How can anyone feel confident about doing the High Street ritual (which also means restaurant, bar, cafe visits) in the teeth of a murderous pandemic?

Look at the trend in any case. From last year:

View attachment 106637

Expect the vast majority switching to online this year.

Traditionally up to Sep we had high numbers but generally in the Cities in Ireland mate. Our situation deteriorated to a country wide problem were every single county even rural ones had very high and deteriorating infection rates. In many ways the second wave here was more problematic then the first.

I think shopping is one thing, Christmas lets be honest is a communal affair, the lights, the trees, the food shop, the Xmas party the new gear, i know i get dragged into town for the "atmosphere". Cant see the UK government side stepping that for the economy in all good faith. Bad political collateral to, who want to be the politician to cancel Xmas.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

I'm sure the middle class areas doing actually quite well as far as Covid rates are concerned, might have a different view.

If it wasn't for them turnips having a half term sesh of skiing in Italy whilst people were dropping like flies over there we likely wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[Nymzee]

Just don't know how much hair to get cut off on Tuesday.

 

[Neiler]

*Awaits*

The Spanish again...

Remember the Spanish gave us the Spanish Flu last time and look how bad that was!!!

Ha ha poor old Spain. The get a bad press.

The Spanish flu actually didn't originate in Spain. Spain was one of only a few major European countries to remain neutral during World War I. Unlike in the Allied and Central Powers nations, where wartime censors suppressed news of the flu to avoid affecting morale, the Spanish media was free to report on it in gory detail. News of the sickness first made headlines in Madrid in late-May 1918, and coverage only increased after the Spanish King Alfonso XIII came down with a nasty case a week later. Since nations undergoing a media blackout could only read in depth accounts from Spanish news sources, they naturally assumed that the country was the pandemic’s ground zero. The Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus had spread to them from France, so they took to calling it the “French Flu.”

 

[Jebus_lives]

If it wasn't for them turnips having a half term sesh of skiing in Italy whilst people were dropping like flies over there we likely wouldn't be in this mess.

We still would, it would've just found a different route.

But to counter the point, I'm sure the message will come back 'if it weren't for all the poor people using public transport, mixing in households, going to crappy gyms, getting drunk at the weekend and spreading it round multi-generation households we would be free of it now.

I'm not sure trying to blame sections of society you are embittered against is a good way to go in a pandemic.

 

[davek]

Traditionally up to Sep we had high numbers but generally in the Cities in Ireland mate. Our situation deteriorated to a country wide problem were every single county even rural ones had very high and deteriorating infection rates. In many ways the second wave here was more problematic then the first.

I think shopping is one thing, Christmas lets be honest is a communal affair, the lights, the trees, the food shop, the Xmas party the new gear, i know i get dragged into town for the "atmosphere". Cant see the UK government side stepping that for the economy in all good faith. Bad political collateral to, who want to be the politician to cancel Xmas.

But what you're suggesting is like us getting to late April last year and then opening up again - with high hundreds per day death rate.

This just isn't going to happen.

 

[davek]

I think you're giving too much credit to the average person. I guarantee that if lockdown is lifted the week before christmas, the shops (and bars if allowed to reopen) will be packed.

Itl;s the average politician who is the problem.

 

[Neiler]

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

A room, a bad and a classroom: How Covid is spread through the air. This is actually a really good modeling of how Covid spread in each of the environments, worth a look and how key ventilation is in, in door environments:

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

The risk of contagion is highest in indoor spaces but can be reduced by applying all available measures to combat infection via aerosols. Here is an overview of the likelihood of infection in three everyday scenarios, based on the safety measures used and the length of exposure

english.elpais.com

 

[Jebus_lives]

Ha ha poor old Spain. The get a bad press.

The Spanish flu actually didn't originate in Spain. Spain was one of only a few major European countries to remain neutral during World War I. Unlike in the Allied and Central Powers nations, where wartime censors suppressed news of the flu to avoid affecting morale, the Spanish media was free to report on it in gory detail. News of the sickness first made headlines in Madrid in late-May 1918, and coverage only increased after the Spanish King Alfonso XIII came down with a nasty case a week later. Since nations undergoing a media blackout could only read in depth accounts from Spanish news sources, they naturally assumed that the country was the pandemic’s ground zero. The Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus had spread to them from France, so they took to calling it the “French Flu.”

What I'm seeing here is:

They couldn't be bothered to fight like the rest of us, spread a virus across the world, blamed the French, then took up with the Nazis the second time round...

 

[coollino]

Just don't know how much hair to get cut off on Tuesday.

Could be worth your own Carlos style thread? I'm interested.

 

[Neiler]

Which is why it doesn't matter whatever we do - so long as borders remain open and your middle class turnips can jet set here there and everywhere bringing God knows what back with them means we are snookered unless an all round vaccine is ready.

Its happened quietly enough, but the EU has taken over the managing of travel for EU governments.

 

[Nymzee]

Could be worth your own Carlos style thread? I'm interested.

If it's only shutting for a month I can get away with a normal cut.

If there's risk they'll be shut longer I may go skin head.

 

[Neiler]

But what you're suggesting is like us getting to late April last year and then opening up again - with high hundreds per day death rate.

This just isn't going to happen.

Ive been surprised by our figures, that is a big drop in a week and half lets ee if its sustainable i was staggered by our drop yesterday, its almost a 60% drop in a week and half. We did have high restrictions in some places like Dublin prior to this as early as mid Sept. We are further along then most EU countries to go into lock downs and to early to say whether the circuit breaker is a success.

I think some of the differences from March to Oct has been or knowledge of what protects us, masks, ventilation, etc, there is so much we didnt know then, i think of some of the things i was doing in work even with PPE and im amazed i dodged the virus back in the early days compared to what we are doing now. Perhaps this may make lockdowns more expedient. So perhaps that may help reduce the time line of a circuit breaker. The virus wont be eradicated as we know, but it might be manageable for the winter - that is the objective.

I think this lock down is more significant then one in the Spring to be honest, if we can bring what we know to bare and its bought into i think you have to look at giving people Xmas, i think in good faith people will be motivated to that and will assist the effort. Id agree for the UK four weeks is to short, i think minimum 6 weeks, the UK modeling looks scary. Remember the cases announced today were seeded 7- 14 days ago. 6 weeks minimum in my opinion.

Think if we get the winter lock down right, we might get through to March before the next, depending on what happens with a vaccine. I dont see a vaccine for the general public until this time next year and that is the earliest based on if one is made available this Dec/Jan will take a good 10-12 months for it to be available for the rank and file in Boots or wherever. Look at the flu vaccine this year, so many struggling to get it.

 

[BlueToff]

It takes quite a while to train doctors and nurses etc.

I know that

But one of the main issues stressed yesterday was a lack of ICU units/beds etc

I understand why we're going into lockdown (albeit round here it's not gonna be much different than it has been) but it's annoying that they tried to stave off the inevitable yet again, even if I understand their reasons for it.

That delay will have cost additional weeks of lockdown and, obviously worse, lives.

 

[Nymzee]

I know that

But one of the main issues stressed yesterday was a lack of ICU units/beds etc

I understand why we're going into lockdown (albeit round here it's not gonna be much different than it has been) but it's annoying that they tried to stave off the inevitable yet again, even if I understand their reasons for it.

That delay will have cost additional weeks of lockdown and, obviously worse, lives.

Yeh but even if we did have more beds we might not have the staff available to keep those people alive. Did he not say yesterday we've got X thousand more medical staff right now than this time last year as well.