Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Toast]

It's on us all,we had the warning with Avian Flu years ago and yet just ignored it. Was reading a Facebook page just before Xmas where loads of Brits were gloating about how they'd made it to Spain for a holiday without being stopped at any motorway checkpoints.

Well, having spent a few months in a Spanish hospital, I hope they have got good insurance for when they get sick.

I always knew some people are just thick as mince, but the last few months has really confirmed any doubts I had.

 

[BlueToff]

It's on us all,we had the warning with Avian Flu years ago and yet just ignored it. Was reading a Facebook page just before Xmas where loads of Brits were gloating about how they'd made it to Spain for a holiday without being stopped at any motorway checkpoints.

Was that the Bird Flu stuff, and Swine Flu too around then?

I don't think we 'just ignored it' at all. I was obviously quite young (was it about 9-12 years ago for the both of them?) and I remember there being loads of hysteria around, and schools risking closure etc.

Or do you mean since then, that we should have had some track and trace system in place?

 

[zzr45]

How are SAGE saying that schools are safe, its an absolute disgrace.

Get every school closed now.

Mainly because the data that @Billy Dean quoted above if you expand the tweet actually shows it as thus. For all the flapping by teachers about how they are being treated as canaries, there isn’t any more or less risk in them catching COVID compared to any other profession.

However, the data is a bit too positivist to draw many conclusions from - for example, are kids being picked up as COVID cases as they are actually under more surveillance than adults? How does this differ from other viruses?

 

[BlueToff]

Mainly because the data that @Billy Dean quoted above if you expand the tweet actually shows it as thus. For all the flapping by teachers about how they are being treated as canaries, there isn’t any more or less risk in them catching COVID compared to any other profession.

However, the data is a bit too positivist to draw many conclusions from - for example, are kids being picked up as COVID cases as they are actually under more surveillance than adults? How does this differ from other viruses?

On that data, just an aside I know someone in Canada, she lives near Toronto. Think they're in full lockdown again now.

Anyway, we'd wished each other Happy Christmas etc and just caught up over the last few days. She's a healthcare worker but had her in-laws round on Xmas Day. Turns out her father-in-law has given them covid. All asymptomatic bar a bad cough for her husband, thankfully - at least so far.

Obviously she's not going into work for a few days, but out of her, her husband and their three kids, they've all got it bar their youngest son, who's around 5.

She's completely baffled as he's been in exactly the same contact as all of them, yet has not returned one positive test from three so far and has shown no symptoms.

Not saying it's a rule of thumb, it's just crazy how it's totally random. Obviously the other conclusion to draw would be that her son has had it previously and is immune, but since he hasn't been at school or shown any symptoms previously she's completely baffled.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Mainly because the data that @Billy Dean quoted above if you expand the tweet actually shows it as thus. For all the flapping by teachers about how they are being treated as canaries, there isn’t any more or less risk in them catching COVID compared to any other profession.

However, the data is a bit too positivist to draw many conclusions from - for example, are kids being picked up as COVID cases as they are actually under more surveillance than adults? How does this differ from other viruses?

Having schools open creates bad behaviours. 7x more spread from teenagers. If you close all schools it starts to feel like a real lockdown and people are willing to comply. If you see 1500 socialising at the school over the road, why would you comply with the rules? Thats the way many people are probably looking at this.

Get all schools closed. I'm not a huge fan of curfews but an 8pm to 6am curfew which is policed heavily may now be required due to the super virus.

 

[zzr45]

On that data, just an aside I know someone in Canada, she lives near Toronto. Think they're in full lockdown again now.

Anyway, we'd wished each other Happy Christmas etc and just caught up over the last few days. She's a healthcare worker but had her in-laws round on Xmas Day. Turns out her father-in-law has given them covid. All asymptomatic bar a bad cough for her husband, thankfully - at least so far.

Obviously she's not going into work for a few days, but out of her, her husband and their three kids, they've all got it bar their youngest son, who's around 5.

She's completely baffled as he's been in exactly the same contact as all of them, yet has not returned one positive test from three so far and has shown no symptoms.

Not saying it's a rule of thumb, it's just crazy how it's totally random. Obviously the other conclusion to draw would be that her son has had it previously and is immune, but since he hasn't been at school or shown any symptoms previously she's completely baffled.

Yeah I think that’s been one of the myths that’s been propagated about this virus, in that it will infect everyone and anyone severely if it finds a way in to a closed environment. Obviously, it’s a helpful way of making people remain vigilant, and rightly so, but perhaps doesn’t fully reflect reality.

There’s been a few posts on here - see @COYBL25 ’s experience - that kind of mirror that where even though family members have been infected, it hasn’t lead to a full family going down with it. Same with schools - I know the local boys school had a form tutor catch it around mid November, but he didn’t actually pass it on to any of the kids he taught- despite being in the same room for 6 hours with them.

 

[Billy Dean]

Reports in Germany of crowding on ski slopes even though they're closed for skiing. People turning up with toboggans. Police turned up to manage the crowds and enforce corona protection rules (distancing, mask wearing etc) and were spat on.

I'm not a psychologist but that seems like genuinely sociopathic behaviour to me.

 

[grandjoeblue]

Reports in Germany of crowding on ski slopes even though they're closed for skiing. People turning up with toboggans. Police turned up to manage the crowds and enforce corona protection rules (distancing, mask wearing etc) and were spat on.

I'm not a psychologist but that seems like genuinely sociopathic behaviour to me.

The police should have thrown them off the cliff.

 

[COYBL25]

Yeah I think that’s been one of the myths that’s been propagated about this virus, in that it will infect everyone and anyone severely if it finds a way in to a closed environment. Obviously, it’s a helpful way of making people remain vigilant, and rightly so, but perhaps doesn’t fully reflect reality.

There’s been a few posts on here - see @COYBL25 ’s experience - that kind of mirror that where even though family members have been infected, it hasn’t lead to a full family going down with it. Same with schools - I know the local boys school had a form tutor catch it around mid November, but he didn’t actually pass it on to any of the kids he taught- despite being in the same room for 6 hours with them.

Yep, me and my youngest lad, who has a suppressed immune system never got it ( or if we did we were asymptomatic ) despite spending an hour in the car with my missus and then a couple of hours in a pub during lunch with her.

Also my elldest lad was in school with it for a couple of days too, before he showed any symptoms and non of his classmates or teachers caught it.

Plus when the army tested his whole school ( a thousand plus kids ) late last year, they found one asymptomatic kid out of the whole school.

Only my opinion, but it`s about being sensible and mitigating risk as much as possible, rather than retreating into a bunker and closing the hatch.

 

[COYBL25]

Reports in Germany of crowding on ski slopes even though they're closed for skiing. People turning up with toboggans. Police turned up to manage the crowds and enforce corona protection rules (distancing, mask wearing etc) and were spat on.

I'm not a psychologist but that seems like genuinely sociopathic behaviour to me.

BANANA REICH.

 

[tsubaki]

a depressing read and watch, this:

 

[Seanjd]

There’s been a few posts on here - see @COYBL25 ’s experience - that kind of mirror that where even though family members have been infected, it hasn’t lead to a full family going down with it. Same with schools - I know the local boys school had a form tutor catch it around mid November, but he didn’t actually pass it on to any of the kids he taught- despite being in the same room for 6 hours with them.

But many of the children in that class surely wouldn’t have known if they had it or not because you’re only tested if you’re symptomatic, you’re just told to self isolate if you’re in contact with somebody who has had it. What we know is that children are generally asymptomatic which is part of the danger.

 

[Seanjd]

On that data, just an aside I know someone in Canada, she lives near Toronto. Think they're in full lockdown again now.

Anyway, we'd wished each other Happy Christmas etc and just caught up over the last few days. She's a healthcare worker but had her in-laws round on Xmas Day. Turns out her father-in-law has given them covid. All asymptomatic bar a bad cough for her husband, thankfully - at least so far.

Obviously she's not going into work for a few days, but out of her, her husband and their three kids, they've all got it bar their youngest son, who's around 5.

She's completely baffled as he's been in exactly the same contact as all of them, yet has not returned one positive test from three so far and has shown no symptoms.

Not saying it's a rule of thumb, it's just crazy how it's totally random. Obviously the other conclusion to draw would be that her son has had it previously and is immune, but since he hasn't been at school or shown any symptoms previously she's completely baffled.

It’s not that baffling. Incubation period and children being asymptomatic suggests that the child wouldn’t show any symptoms or may not test positive within 7-10 days of the other family members contracting. This is why schools are currently not safe. With adults, it’s somewhat easier to tell who has it because you would probably show some symptoms. Children can contract and pass this on to others who then do the same without anybody knowing about it, then bring the virus into the family home, or the supermarket, or the restaurant.

 

[luuk_deventer]

If asymptomatic transmission amongst children is rare, and if Teachers ensure they isolate when displaying symptoms, then why must Schools shut? If Schools shut then parents do not go to work, which is a big problem, particularly for my family in the UK (one of which is a teacher).

Professor Mark Woolhouse, part of the SAGE team advising the UK government has stated this before:

"One thing we have learnt is that children are certainly, in the five to 15 brackets from school to early years, are minimally involved in the epidemiology of this virus. They are probably less susceptible and vanishingly unlikely to end up in hospital or to die from it.

“There is increasing evidence that they rarely transmit. For example, it is extremely difficult to find any instance anywhere in the world a single example of a child transmitting to a teacher in school. There may have been one in Australia but it is incredibly rare.

“There are certain environments where this virus transmits very well, and children are not present in these environments. Most governments in Europe now recognise that stopping children playing outside was not needed, and most governments will probably now say that going to school as normal is safe. We can use that information in the future."

 

[COYBL25]

But many of the children in that class surely wouldn’t have known if they had it or not because you’re only tested if you’re symptomatic, you’re just told to self isolate if you’re in contact with somebody who has had it. What we know is that children are generally asymptomatic which is part of the danger.

Just before Chrimbo, the army tested my whole lads school mate and found one kid out of a thousand plus.

Prior to that in Oct and Nov, it had ripped through the school like many others.

Obs things weren`t as bad as they are now and that situation may well have changed, but I think factoring in that a lot of the kids may now be immune due to having had it and are carrying the antibodies ( my eldest lad ) comes into play too.

Plus a lot of schools have the windows open during lessons now, despite the weather, which mitigates risk further too.