Coronavirus

[ardcarp]

Like many people, if I don't go to work I don't get paid
If I get sick (which has happened before) I get nothing regardless of how much tax/NI have paid

Same here. For some time I've been in receipt of what used to be called the State Retirement Pension. Now it's called a Retirement BENEFIT. For a start, that's an insult. But worse, those weaselly ******** in government do this sort of thing...

-We've brought up two of our g-kids as parents (as they have none).
-Mrs A. applied for a carers' allowance to supplement our income.
-We got a letter back saying 'We're pleased to inform you that you qualify for carers' allowance.'
-'You will receive £0.00'
-Reason: 'You are in receipt of State Retirement BENEFIT.'

We are both working, but in view of the above, I don't hold out much hope of statutory sick pay.

[Petrushka]

I was speaking to my brother this afternoon who lives in Hong Kong. They have all taken hygiene and avoidance measures very seriously, and there have been minimal incidents of the disease. He was very concerned - in fact frantically worried - about the lax UK government's attitude.

This was an excellent factual (and worrying) Channel 4 interview. Especially note the part on social distancing at 9:45 – 10:56:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcJD...ature=youtu.be

I suspect that if the UK government was honest and told the people exactly what the projections of the medical experts are then mass panic would break out.

When I had a truly awful bout of flu four years ago I started to research ways to avoid catching it again as I sure as hell didn't want a repeat. I came across the hand washing mantra then along with never touching door handles, toilet cistern handles, your face, nose and eyes etc., etc. Most of it became habit thereafter though not touching your face is really very, very difficult and practically impossible in normal circumstances so, with also now having the flu jab, I gave up trying. Now it's time to try harder.

[LMcD]

The media coverage - seriously OTT IMHO - has me yearning for the Good Old Days when Brexit was the main story.

[BBMmk2]

Two people in a village near us, have self quarantined, a doctor’s surgery in a town near us, is closed.

[Dave2002]

The media coverage - seriously OTT IMHO - has me yearning for the Good Old Days when Brexit was the main story.

I think it's still perhaps too early to tell whether this has been blown very much out of proportion. There was in interesting comment in the video mentioned by Flay above - that some people will probably not be affected very much - but should think about how they interact with other people. Just because some people survive or are not affected much, they should still be careful (responsible) about shaking hands etc. because they may make other people ill. Examples would be a younger person shaking hands with a much older one, or someone known to have medical issues. A few other suggestions: 1. if any clothes, towels etc. become contaminated, washing should be at 60 degrees C or more, and 2. vodka, gin etc. should be drunk, not used as hand-gel as they don't contain a high enough concentration of anti-bacterial liquid (alcohol) - use proper hand gel. Household disinfectant should be used (if at all) for surfaces, not as a hand gel substitute, because it is too harsh to be used regularly on the skin.

** Corollary to "advice" above - hand-gel should not be drunk!

Difficult to know how this is going to pan out. This may not be any worse than a flu outbreak but it's not fun for those who get seriously involved.

[antongould]

Surely there can be no dispute that what we need is accurate reporting of cases by member countries to the WHO. Yesterday’s situation report showed for the USA, which, as we know, leads the free world, had 472 cases 259 of which were new that day. But the two previous reports showed zero new cases each day ..... !!!! .... and the press is reporting that the US has well over 1,000 cases ........

[Cockney Sparrow]

2 experts on Newsnight (BBC2)(truly - academic in this very field and a medic at WHO) were both in agreement and very, very insistent that testing is absolutely a first requirement. On the basis if you don't know the distribution and density of those infected government is completely in the dark as to where to direct its efforts and the scale of the crisis we face. And they showed the USA were the worst placed in this respect with minimal no. of tests per head of population. And - (perhaps IIRC) S. Korea the best; with the UK having announced more testing yesterday.

[Serial_Apologist]

I suspect that if the UK government was honest and told the people exactly what the projections of the medical experts are then mass panic would break out.

When I had a truly awful bout of flu four years ago I started to research ways to avoid catching it again as I sure as hell didn't want a repeat. I came across the hand washing mantra then along with never touching door handles, toilet cistern handles, your face, nose and eyes etc., etc. Most of it became habit thereafter though not touching your face is really very, very difficult and practically impossible in normal circumstances so, with also now having the flu jab, I gave up trying. Now it's time to try harder.

On the basis of this, I am doing my level best only to touch my face after hand washing in the prescribed way. There are a lot of probably commonsense practices we could do well to do which are not being mentioned in the media, such as hand washing after storing foodstuffs etc obtained while shopping, not carrying loose change in the same pocket as a handkerchief. Government official advice films relayed in cinemas during WW2 seem to be generally regarded as condescending from today's "sophisticated" perspective, but were probably not seen as such at the time, but ways of coping in previously unexperienced situations.

[johnb]

One thing that strikes me is the talk of hand sanitizers. As I understand it they are only effective against the virus if they contain between 60% and 80% alcohol and many of the hand sanitizers in the shops (including those labelled as anti-bacterial) don't seem to be alcohol based so they are likely to be ineffective.

(I ordered a couple of commercial 1 Ltr 75% alcohol rub refils which I am decanting into empty standard hand wash pump action bottles.)

There is talk of how the elderly are more vulnerable to the virus but little information about the likely mortality, presumably so as not to alarm people but also because reliable data for the UK isn't available.

What we do have are the figures from China. These might not be applicable to the UK but (as published on the BBC website) they show a circa 8% mortality for people in their 70s with confirmed coronavirus and circa 15% for the over 80s. The later WHO report on China gives the mortality for the over 80s as 21%.

The figures in the UK might well be significantly lower, let's hope so.

[teamsaint]

Been in London for a couple of days having a few meetings that should have been at the cancelled London Book Fair.

London is really quiet, I ‘d say trains and buses are running at about 60% of usual passenger numbers, at a guess.
Pubs are very quiet, well at least they don’t have many customers.

[Old Grumpy]

One thing that strikes me is the talk of hand sanitizers. As I understand it they are only effective against the virus if they contain between 60% and 80% alcohol and many of the hand sanitizers in the shops (including those labelled as anti-bacterial) don't seem to be alcohol based so they are likely to be ineffective.

(I ordered a couple of commercial 1 Ltr 75% alcohol rub refils which I am decanting into empty standard hand wash pump action bottles.)

There is talk of how the elderly are more vulnerable to the virus but little information about the likely mortality, presumably so as not to alarm people but also because reliable data for the UK isn't available.

What we do have are the figures from China. These might not be applicable to the UK but (as published on the BBC website) they show a circa 8% mortality for people in their 70s with confirmed coronavirus and circa 15% for the over 80s. The later WHO report on China gives the mortality for the over 80s as 21%.

The figures in the UK might well be significantly lower, let's hope so.

What hand sanitizers in what shops? As far as I can see they've all been panic bought by stockpilists!

OG

[subcontrabass]

2. vodka, gin etc. should be drunk,

Are people now panic-buying gin? This evening my local Sainsbury's had very little left on its shelves.

[ardcarp]

What hand sanitizers in what shops? As far as I can see they've all been panic bought by stockpilists!

As we are a small and sensible (?) bunch here on the Forum, I hope I won't be accused of starting another wave of panic buying by saying that isopropyl alcohol is the main ingredient of hand-sanitizer, and that it can be bought online easily. It is not in a gel form, just a thin clear liquid, but it should o the trick. Use at your own risk. Don't resort to drinking the stuff in a fit of gloom!

Afterthought: The news media are so full of C19, one wonders how many of the world's affairs are going unreported. And will sneaky governments slip things past us as a result? We could all be going to hell in a handcart by other means.

[BBMmk2]

I went for an appointment yesterday, not very busy at all!

[oddoneout]

As we are a small and sensible (?) bunch here on the Forum, I hope I won't be accused of starting another wave of panic buying by saying that isopropyl alcohol is the main ingredient of hand-sanitizer, and that it can be bought online easily. It is not in a gel form, just a thin clear liquid, but it should o the trick. Use at your own risk. Don't resort to drinking the stuff in a fit of gloom!

Afterthought: The news media are so full of C19, one wonders how many of the world's affairs are going unreported. And will sneaky governments slip things past us as a result? We could all be going to hell in a handcart by other means.

My thought as well. And there is a point of view that we're going to hell in a climate change handcart regardless of what else might be occupying politicians and the media...