Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[tsubaki]

If you mean the virus is already here, it's ONLY 53 people out of a population of 66million. It's hardly an outbreak at this point. It is very, very, very easily containable with the current numbers. The key to stop an outbreak is to stop more people entering the country with the virus.

no, it’s 53 people tested and confirmed to have it

Also what about the British people abroad who have it?

 

[-Rob-]

Also what about the British people abroad who have it?

Test them when they return to the UK, treat them accordingly and put them in quarantine if needs be.

Not rocket science is it?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Can you spot the flaw in your logic?

Maybe the new passport will protect us?

 

[tsubaki]

Test them when they return to the UK, treat them accordingly and put them in quarantine if needs be.

Not rocket science is it?

So the borders shouldn’t be closed, then?

 

[roydo]

Test them when they return to the UK, treat them accordingly and put them in quarantine if needs be.

Not rocket science is it?

Test everyone coming into the UK? You ever been to Heathrow?

 

[-Rob-]

So the borders shouldn’t be closed, then?

No, absolutely no need to close them. Just need the appropriate checks in place.

 

[-Rob-]

Test everyone coming into the UK? You ever been to Heathrow?

It doesn't have to be everyone. Just planes coming in from certain parts of the world. Yes it'll be chaos but it will be controlled chaos in a controlled area.
Testing certain people entering the country is going to cause delays at airports and sea ports but it's better than affecting the entire country.

 

[tsubaki]

No, absolutely no need to close them. Just need the appropriate checks in place.

to test, get results for and until the results are back keep out of general circulation everyone who enters the country?

that’s 350000 plus people a day, in terms of arrivals, normally

 

[Jebus_lives]

Test them when they return to the UK, treat them accordingly and put them in quarantine if needs be.

Not rocket science is it?

What would be the point in testing that many people? Practically it's unworkable.

You'd be better off saying 'close the border'

 

[-Rob-]

to test, get results for and until the results are back keep out of general circulation everyone who enters the country?

that’s 350000 plus people a day, in terms of arrivals, normally

As I've already said, it doesn't have to be everyone.

People travelling from countries with zero cases of covid-19 may not need testing. People showing absolutely no signs of illness may not need testing.

It needs a degree of common sense and it's not going to be 100% effective. So what if a few people slip through the net and are in the UK sneezing for a few days. This isn't the plague, it's a relatively minor illness for 99% of the people that catch it.

 

[-Rob-]

What would be the point in testing that many people? Practically it's unworkable.

You'd be better off saying 'close the border'

And how is closing the borders any more practical than testing a few people and putting in place a few checks?

Do you have any comprehension as to what closing the borders actually means?

 

[roydo]

And how is closing the borders any more practical than testing a few people and putting in place a few checks?

Do you have any comprehension as to what closing the borders actually means?

Well you have gone from testing anyone coming to the UK to a few who might look ill.

 

[-Rob-]

Well you have gone from testing anyone coming to the UK to a few who might look ill.

At no point have I ever said to test everyone. I've just said to do the appropriate checks at the borders. The borders is where it needs to be controlled. How that is best done is certainly debateable and will depend on where people/goods are coming from, how busy it is and what resources are available to physically do the checks. As I've said before, it won't be 100% successful but it's the place to start.

 

[tsubaki]

As I've already said, it doesn't have to be everyone.

People travelling from countries with zero cases of covid-19 may not need testing. People showing absolutely no signs of illness may not need testing.

It needs a degree of common sense and it's not going to be 100% effective. So what if a few people slip through the net and are in the UK sneezing for a few days. This isn't the plague, it's a relatively minor illness for 99% of the people that catch it.

It doesn’t work like that though - the information about where the virus has spread to is days / weeks out of date because of the lag required for symptoms to develop, tests to be done and so on.

Quarantine all flights from China but not (for example) Argentina won’t do much if there aren’t similar controls everywhere - if not then people will still move about passing it on in indirect ways, something already proven by the fact that it appears the majority of our infections have come from Italy.

Also it’s emphatically not the case that this will be minor for 99% of people who get it; depending on underlying health the death rate can be above 10% with severe illness being at least as likely.

 

[b-rad]

If you mean the virus is already here, it's ONLY 53 people out of a population of 66million. It's hardly an outbreak at this point. It is very, very, very easily containable with the current numbers. The key to stop an outbreak is to stop more people entering the country with the virus.

The key isn't just to stop more people entering the country with the virus, but to stop those 53 people (plus probably more than that again who have it but don't know it yet or aren't included in that figure for a number of reasons) from spreading it further.

It's identifying those unkown carriers that is now almost impossible until they have spread it further.

Better controls at the border would have been very good to prevent outbreak in the UK, but unfortunately that horse has bolted now and may not have been workable anyway.