Coronavirus

[crb11]

I've managed never to sing 'Happy Birthday' even once in my life and they're not going to make me now!

I've been using the two tenor recits from the Bach Coffee Cantata, which are about 30 and 50 seconds respectively. Not only are my hands extra clean, but it means I'll still have them memorised if the repeat performance we'd planned gets to go ahead eventually.

[teamsaint]

Email from work late afternoon to say the site is closed, so I am now on (currently) indefinite unpaid leave. Working from home is not applicable. New council tax bill came this morning - very large chunk of my income even with single occupancy discount - and two insurance bills to be paid. Dispiriting shopping trip where locusts had stripped the gluten free shelves in their search for bread and pasta, finishing at the Coop where the 'two of anything' even applied to beer so I had to decide which of the 3 price reduced bottles of locally brewed happiness to give up. I suppose I would fare better if I drank the stuff that comes in multipacks - but I don't like any of them.
On the plus side I have some savings and a roof over my head, the woodstove is fired up, a bottle beer is cooling down, and there is a concert coming up on the radio. Blessings duly counted.

Sorry to hear about the job Odders. Tough and very uncertain times. We must hope that this gives rise to a society and systems based more on cooperation than competition.
We are all WFH indefinitely at our place. We are fortunate in that most of what we do can be accomplished in some form by remote working. But the business outlook is tough, and margins already tight. I think we should come through it, but sacrifices will have to be made, and hard decisions taken.
Good luck to any of you who are working, hope things work out ok.

[MrGongGong]

Email from work late afternoon to say the site is closed, so I am now on (currently) indefinite unpaid leave. Working from home is not applicable. New council tax bill came this morning - very large chunk of my income even with single occupancy discount - and two insurance bills to be paid. Dispiriting shopping trip where locusts had stripped the gluten free shelves in their search for bread and pasta, finishing at the Coop where the 'two of anything' even applied to beer so I had to decide which of the 3 price reduced bottles of locally brewed happiness to give up. I suppose I would fare better if I drank the stuff that comes in multipacks - but I don't like any of them.
On the plus side I have some savings and a roof over my head, the woodstove is fired up, a bottle beer is cooling down, and there is a concert coming up on the radio. Blessings duly counted.

Got the council tax bill also
I'm not going to pay it until I can earn again

Beer and music ?
What more do you need? ........( a bit of cheese maybe)

[Serial_Apologist]

Sorry to hear about the job Odders. Tough and very uncertain times. We must hope that this gives rise to a society and systems based more on cooperation than competition.
We are all WFH indefinitely at our place. We are fortunate in that most of what we do can be accomplished in some form by remote working. But the business outlook is tough, and margins already tight. I think we should come through it, but sacrifices will have to be made, and hard decisions taken.
Good luck to any of you who are working, hope things work out ok.

Yes, good luck to all - if I were a believer I'd be praying.

Interesting innit thjough that the government is now preparing to carry out economic policies Labour was intending to replace Austerity. What's the difference then? Well the main one that immediately comes to mind is that whereas playing the weak against the sttrong is the norm that keeps the wheels turning and everyone on their toes to survive, in the case of an historically threatening viral disease everyone is equally affected, rich or poor: the international monetary system has to be rejigged step-by-step, so that what in other circumstances would be seen as worthless money has to be accepted throughout the chain by all players as legitimate tender otherwise trade stops.

[zola]

Aprils's BBC Music magazine landed on the doormat today with a rather melancholy '57 page Summer Festival Guide', together with copious ads for concerts and holidays that ain't gonna happen.

[Anastasius]

I'm missing something here. Listening to the radio today they said that one of the reasons why schools were closing was that many of them no longer had the number of teachers...no reason given but presumably because of self-isolation. But due to what ? It's not (or highly unlikely) because of being over-70. Surely they are all not that unhealthy that they fall into the 'vulnerable' category being recommended to self-isolate. OK.- self-isolation because someone in the household has Covid-19. So we have 2600 infected. Even if every one of them was a teacher and that there were three teachers in that household that's still only around 10,000. We have around 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Clearly I am missing something.

[Jazzrook]

Article on coronavirus by Rupert Beale in London Review of Books:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n06/rupert-beale/short-cuts?referrer

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm missing something here. Listening to the radio today they said that one of the reasons why schools were closing was that many of them no longer had the number of teachers...no reason given but presumably because of self-isolation. But due to what ? It's not (or highly unlikely) because of being over-70. Surely they are all not that unhealthy that they fall into the 'vulnerable' category being recommended to self-isolate. OK.- self-isolation because someone in the household has Covid-19. So we have 2600 infected. Even if every one of them was a teacher and that there were three teachers in that household that's still only around 10,000. We have around 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Clearly I am missing something.

I think the thought behind closing them is that schools are likely primary sources of infection - children not necessarily suffering symptoms but carrying the bug the way children are notorious for. Johnson made rather a hash of explaining the policy, that only children of key workers will continue attending school after the closure.

[zola]

I'm missing something here. Listening to the radio today they said that one of the reasons why schools were closing was that many of them no longer had the number of teachers...no reason given but presumably because of self-isolation. But due to what ? It's not (or highly unlikely) because of being over-70. Surely they are all not that unhealthy that they fall into the 'vulnerable' category being recommended to self-isolate. OK.- self-isolation because someone in the household has Covid-19. So we have 2600 infected. Even if every one of them was a teacher and that there were three teachers in that household that's still only around 10,000. We have around 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Clearly I am missing something.

2,600 are confirmed positive tests, the number with the virus will be in the tens of thousands. And Monday's advice told anyone with a new persistent cough and any family members living with them to self isolate, though such people would only be tested if eventually hospitalised.

[kernelbogey]

I think the thought behind closing them is that schools are likely primary sources of infection - children not necessarily suffering symptoms but carrying the bug the way children are notorious for. Johnson made rather a hash of explaining the policy, that only children of key workers will continue attending school after the closure.

It's arguable that the Government were bounced into this policy by the prior decisions of the Welsh and Scottish assemblies. As with the questions at the presser about shortages of venitlators, testing kits and protective gear for NHS workers, Johnson bumbled through his replies. I have a strong feeling that 'policy' is being shaped by expediency and the desire to put on a good face.

[duncan]

I'm missing something here. Listening to the radio today they said that one of the reasons why schools were closing was that many of them no longer had the number of teachers...no reason given but presumably because of self-isolation. But due to what ? It's not (or highly unlikely) because of being over-70. Surely they are all not that unhealthy that they fall into the 'vulnerable' category being recommended to self-isolate. OK.- self-isolation because someone in the household has Covid-19. So we have 2600 infected. Even if every one of them was a teacher and that there were three teachers in that household that's still only around 10,000. We have around 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Clearly I am missing something.

Official advice is to...

Stay at home if you have either:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

For 7 days if it's you or 14 days from time the first person in a household started showing the symptoms.


That covers a lot of people who will not have Covid-19.

[kernelbogey]

Andrew Bridgen MP. interviewed on Channel Four News tonight, who says he has had Covid-19, proposed the interesting idea that the virus has been around far longer than anyone has been recognising; he believes there are many who have had the resultant illness and may therefore now be immune. He is urging the application of the immunity test (i.e. test for antibodies) as he believes many people may be able safely to get out and go back to work. (I don't know the status of this test.)

[eighthobstruction]

It's arguable that the Government were bounced into this policy by the prior decisions of the Welsh and Scottish assemblies. As with the questions at the presser about shortages of venitlators, testing kits and protective gear for NHS workers, Johnson bumbled through his replies. I have a strong feeling that 'policy' is being shaped by expediency and the desire to put on a good face.

....of course....

[johnb]

I'm missing something here. Listening to the radio today they said that one of the reasons why schools were closing was that many of them no longer had the number of teachers...no reason given but presumably because of self-isolation. But due to what ? It's not (or highly unlikely) because of being over-70. Surely they are all not that unhealthy that they fall into the 'vulnerable' category being recommended to self-isolate. OK.- self-isolation because someone in the household has Covid-19. So we have 2600 infected. Even if every one of them was a teacher and that there were three teachers in that household that's still only around 10,000. We have around 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Clearly I am missing something.

The current likely total number of infections is probably of the order of 100,000, i.e. 1000 x the current number of deaths. This was mentioned the other day on the PM programme.

This can be guestimated by backwards calculation from the number of deaths, the likely time from infection to death, the probable death rate and the rate of spread of infection.

[jarvis]

Hi all, I'm new here.

I'm having great difficulty finding out any information about The Proms and whether or not it will be going ahead.

Do you people know anything?

With thanks

jarvis