Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[BlueToff]

or less. There is no guarantee that the numbers who ultimately die because of the virus will prove to be much less than under the adopted uber restriction approach without a vaccine being found. The reasoning behind the measures being taken is principally to do with holding pressure off the NHS.

I know mate.

I'm on about the governments across Europe as a whole, including UK. The WHO warned Italy weeks ago that they hadn't done enough, for example.

Why wasn't there a collective effort to try and get as many tests done and readily available as possible, etc?

 

[BlueToff]

Does seem a bit confusing for everyone, employers, employees.

I do agree there.

Construction industry is the big one. A lot are working from home in terms of offices but people on sites still need to go to site, same with people working on streetworks etc.

But a lot of those are self employed and it becomes even more difficult.

However, if you are running the office side of a business there is no excuse not to have stuff set up to run from home within most industries.

I'm doing work for a construction company tomorrow – I'll be heading into the office to pick up what I need and then working from home for the rest of the day. That is unless they cancel on me.

It's essential for me that I have this work as it's covering my next 2-3 days and that's a decent amount of money for me to bring in. But in the grand scheme of things it's not essential in the travelling sense (albeit I'm driving 10 mins to an office, collecting a few files from the one person in the office who won't be wfh as they need to meet me, and then heading off). Obviously there's a risk there in meeting them but I'll just take all the precautions necessary.

 

[mrb85]

we still aren't expanding the testing regime, it seems

disgrace is not strong enough a word

we still aren't expanding the testing regime, it seems

disgrace is not strong enough a word

There should have been much more testing, agreed. But apart from leading to more people ending up separated from the rest of the population and hence reducing the rate of contagion the numbers in themselves have little use, particularly if the tests are not being conducted on a rigourous and consistent approach across the country. It is the number of deaths that is far more important. And if we want to know whether infection is on the decline we should anyway really be looking at changes in the proportion of tests carried out that turn out to be positive and not the actual number since the more tests carried out the more positive cases you're going to find.

 

[tsubaki]

It’s the speed of the escalation mate. The U.K.has gone from being very lax, herd immunity, social distancing to a diet lock down in a matter of days. Something has triggered this change in my personal opinion. I suspect there was a flaw in their modelling somewhere and thus the rapid and visible change in strategy in the last week and the quick changes are hoping to compensate. New cases are hitting just under 1k a day. While it has to be remembered todays figures are actually figures from 8-14 days ago, given lags in testing, delays in results and incubation of the virus.

It’s quite radical for democracy in the UK, hopefully it’s the right move and makes the difference.

Neiler it is because the leadership are panicking.

"No plan survives contact with the enemy" always has a little truth in it, but other countries spent the months since January preparing, making sure as many things were in place and people knew what they would have to do. Some sectors here have done that (NHS especially) but the leadership clearly haven't and are now forced to wing it.

 

[summerisle]

 

[mrb85]

I do agree there.

Construction industry is the big one. A lot are working from home in terms of offices but people on sites still need to go to site, same with people working on streetworks etc.

But a lot of those are self employed and it becomes even more difficult.

However, if you are running the office side of a business there is no excuse not to have stuff set up to run from home within most industries.

I'm doing work for a construction company tomorrow – I'll be heading into the office to pick up what I need and then working from home for the rest of the day. That is unless they cancel on me.

It's essential for me that I have this work as it's covering my next 2-3 days and that's a decent amount of money for me to bring in. But in the grand scheme of things it's not essential in the travelling sense (albeit I'm driving 10 mins to an office, collecting a few files from the one person in the office who won't be wfh as they need to meet me, and then heading off). Obviously there's a risk there in meeting them but I'll just take all the precautions necessary.

It could be argued that construction should be curtailed alongside other sectors. The need for the construction work to be progressed eventually will still be there even if delayed. Of course it is a sector the loss of which, however temporary, would create a logistical nightmare and would have a massive economic impact so was hardly likely to have been considered.

 

[mrb85]

I know mate, I am just pointing out that this is a pretty limpwristed lockdown. Ask any bobby who will be asked to enforce this, the answer will be the same, they cannot.

Can't see Mr Plod entering a debate on the whys and wherefores with a 10 strong tooled-up gang he's just encountered. I can though see him throwing his weight around on a 60 year old dog walker who has just come out of the local corner shop with just a bag of Everton Mints or shortbread biscuits in her carrier bag.

 

[BlueToff]

It could be argued that construction should be curtailed alongside other sectors. The need for the construction work to be progressed eventually will still be there even if delayed. Of course it is a sector the loss of which, however temporary, would create a logistical nightmare and would have a massive economic impact so was hardly likely to have been considered.

Construction is a wide-reaching term though. It's not just buildings going up.

The project the company I'm working for tomorrow, for example, is vital sewerage work. They're a pipeline contractor and it needs finishing.

I've said before but I don't envy the people in gov having to make these calls and people shouting on Twitter from their chairs does annoy me.

 

[BlueToff]

Anyway, it may or may not be true but seen reports that the package for self-employed/freelancers expected to be announced by the government as part of their coronavirus bill of March 23 is:

The gov have to pay out of public funds the following:

80% of a self-employed / freelancer's monthly earnings (averaged out over the last three years – for me I'm unsure how this works as I've actually only been full-time freelance for the last year now)

OR

£2,917

Whichever figure is lowest.

IF that proves the case, then it is surely cause for some relief for self-employed/freelancers.

 

[mrb85]

Doesn't look like we are doing that BUT then again this lockdown wasn't needed until people went for a day at the beach everywhere here......

From his previous message to the people I suspected that the extension to a wider curtailment on freedom of movement was inevitable, and that he was always going to announce that the public response had not been sufficient to prevent further actions. My own observations over the weekend were that there was a considerable reduction in the numbers on the streets and in the shops (and on the roads); and I don't think that was because they were all on New Brighton beach.

 

[Neiler]

Neiler it is because the leadership are panicking.

"No plan survives contact with the enemy" always has a little truth in it, but other countries spent the months since January preparing, making sure as many things were in place and people knew what they would have to do. Some sectors here have done that (NHS especially) but the leadership clearly haven't and are now forced to wing it.

Good post mate. Hopefully whatever measures taken will have a positive impact for the UK but I can’t help but think the government have dropped the ball in their early approach to this. It’s only two days since pubs closed, now it’s lockdown.

The practical result of both ends of the spectrum of that approach for the public has been 1. panic - hoarding etc. 2. Ignoring - scenes in pubs on Friday and over the weekend with mass gatherings or just carrying on as normal etc.The Goverment approach and message has been so inconsistent it’s just created mass confusion.

Even the restrictions tonight left people with questions - that should not be the case - the governments message is very ambiguous and a few seem out of their depth.

The situation is getting more fluid and the virus seems to be taking hold in Western Europe. I think we are going to see a surge in the next two weeks in Western Europe, it took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases of Covid-19, it took only 11 days for the second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases. Tomorrow there will be 400k cases.

I think we might just be ending the beginning of this, in the week ahead new cases of 1000-5000k and north are going to become the norm in Western Europe. Think the states particularly New York and other US big cities will see a huge surge to, hopefully I’m wrong mind.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[BlueToff]

The reports also saying that Labour pushed hard to get the bill through and that's great from them. Excellent - especially if it proves to be the case (honestly, I'd be happy with 50% because I don't want to be taking money from people who need it more but at the same time I've lost my earnings due to this like loads of others have, a lot who have families to pay for and I'm lucky that I don't.)

if we can just have the government and opposition working in tandem for a few weeks, it'd be great.

Let's get through this and then worry about party politics.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[BlueToff]

Good post mate. Hopefully whatever measures taken will have a positive impact for the UK but I can’t help but think the government have dropped the ball in their early approach to this. It’s only two days since pubs closed, now it’s lockdown.

The practical result of both ends of the spectrum of that approach for the public has been 1. panic - hoarding etc. 2. Ignoring - scenes in pubs on Friday and over the weekend with mass gatherings or just carrying on as normal etc.The Goverment approach and message has been so inconsistent it’s just created mass confusion.

Even the restrictions tonight left people with questions - that should not be the case - the governments message is very ambiguous and a few seem out of their depth.

The situation is getting more fluid and the virus seems to be takin hold in Western Europe. I think we going to see a surge in the next two weeks Western Europe, it took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases of Covid-19, it took only 11 days for the second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases. Tomorrow there will be 400k cases.

I think we might just be ending the beginning of this, in the week ahead new cases of 1000-5000k and north are going to become the norm in Western Europe, think the states particularly New York and other US big cities will see a huge surge too, hopefully I’m wrong mind.

It's gonna be a tough few weeks, no doubt.

If everybody who doesn't need to leave home to go to work/ to care, stays at home, though, but obviously gets out when they can for exercise and if they desperately need to, to go to the shops, then that is following what the government asked.

There are still a lot of variables in different industries which is why they can't just have the blanket approach of 'stop people travelling to work'.

Most companies should now be allowing staff to work from home in every scenario where it is possible. that doesn't include the obvious but the only other legitimate reason I can think of for staff not currently working from home is within the construction industry on-site. that will need dealing with very quickly soon.

Hopefully, if the self-employed bill amendment is right, then that will speed up that process. Loads of people in construction are self-employed and so they need assurances that they'll be able to provide for their families if they can't work. Otherwise, they have to work. It's as simple as that.

People who work in offices should not be having to go in. It's 2020. It doesn't take a lot to set up a skype group chat or slack and have people work remotely.