Coronavirus

[Dave2002]

Interesting that for a poster who has queried privacy is happy to post a link with an apple tracker embedded - for BBC links just remove all from the ? onwards

Thanks - I didn't realise that the apple thing would stick with the URL. I was aware last week of putting one up with an explicit Apple connection, as I couldn't find a link to the original, but I thought I'd cleared everything off the Silent Spreaders article.

What is tracked anyway? Is it a link to me - possibly identifying me, or a general tracking link which will "get" anyone who clicks on that link?

I'll try to avoid that in future.

[Dave2002]

This is an article about the economic and social impacts of Coronavirus. I note that alcohol sales in the UK went up 30% in March.
Were we all stockpiling the stuff, or drinking it?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-28/coronavirus-lockdown-crushed-economies-jobs-energy-and-shops

There are some other interesting observations from this article, including the one which shows that nurses get paid pretty much about the average (low) wage in the UK - though that was based on 2017 data.

{I removed everything after the ? in this link, and tested it, to make sure it would work.}

[Count Boso]

Were we all stockpiling the stuff, or drinking it?

I'm drinking it.

[Dave2002]

It's possible that coronavirus lingers a lot longer than claimed by UK experts and the NHS - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/w...-recovery.html

This is something I'm unsure about. I don't know whether I've had this disease or not, but at times it feels as though I might have done. On the other hand it could just be some other not so devastating, but uncomfortable, illness, such as a cold which refuses to go away completely.

[oddoneout]

This is an article about the economic and social impacts of Coronavirus. I note that alcohol sales in the UK went up 30% in March.
Were we all stockpiling the stuff, or drinking it?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-28/coronavirus-lockdown-crushed-economies-jobs-energy-and-shops

There are some other interesting observations from this article, including the one which shows that nurses get paid pretty much about the average (low) wage in the UK - though that was based on 2017 data.

{I removed everything after the ? in this link, and tested it, to make sure it would work.}

It says sales at alcohol stores went up - which would be expected as pubs etc closed? I have read several times that people are drinking more in lockdown, but I wonder how much of that is actually an overall increase in consumption(rather than perceived), given the way many behave with their 'social' drinking. When all your alcohol consumption is in the home and its source is down to the individual ensuring supplies perhaps part, at least, is due to being more obvious how much has been drunk. Going out with friends and drinking during the evening it's less easy(!) to keep track of how much has actually been consumed. Checking till receipts and credit card bills would make it clearer presumably.

[LeMartinPecheur]

It's possible that coronavirus lingers a lot longer than claimed by UK experts and the NHS - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/w...-recovery.html

This sounds like classic post-viral stuff (Post-Viral Syndrome, PV fatigue, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, myalgic encephalomyelitis and probably a good few other names). My daughter suffered from it badly a few years ago in the run-up to her A-levels and managed to get on top of it in time for the exams, though it can still nibble back at her.

My understanding of her own route out was that she got to understand that it's the body's 'stupid' invocation of fight-or-flight reflexes (cf. causes of death with COVID-19 apparently being due to 'stupid' reactions by the immune system). With 'post-viral' (not the best name as it's not always a virus that starts it), the body knows something bad is happening with the original condition, thinks fight-or-flight and puts certain body functions like normal eating and proper deep sleep on standby. This continues even after the original illness has been cured.

This seems to explain a classic pattern, that the sufferer may perk up when a new 'cure' (pills or whatever) is tried but nothing works long-term. What happens apparently is that at the first sign of trouble, even if the new cure is really doing some good, the body goes by habit into defensive shutdown again - back to Square One (better, Square Zero). The curing trick is not to let this happen and stay on the up-wave. This sounds simple but it isn't, it's really difficult. It also raises the danger of people saying 'It's all psychosomatic then' or 'Just hypochondria', but that is far too dismissive and simplistic. Sadly, some sufferers indeed remain 100% resistant to the suggestion that the answer is in the mind, because that makes it sound like a weakness and their fault.

[jayne lee wilson]

Excellent Economic etc analysis here....ruthless as it has to be....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/04/angela-merkel-has-become-the-spend-spend-spend-chancellor

[Dave2002]

Excellent Economic etc analysis here....ruthless as it has to be....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...end-chancellor

I didn't notice much analysis there at all. There is a comparison between the UK and Germany, with a suggestion that Germany has put in place a much larger recovery package than the UK. There is also comment that the UK funds have been lent to firms, but with no constraints to restrict them from laying off staff. Note also that some money has been lent to foreign owned firms, because they employ a lot of British workers.

[jayne lee wilson]

I didn't notice much analysis there at all. There is a comparison between the UK and Germany, with a suggestion that Germany has put in place a much larger recovery package than the UK. There is also comment that the UK funds have been lent to firms, but with no constraints to restrict them from laying off staff. Note also that some money has been lent to foreign owned firms, because they employ a lot of British workers.

Larry Elliot ...

"Germany showed the rest of Europe what was needed to limit the spread of the virus: a decentralised testing programme; a manufacturing sector capable of producing medical equipment quickly; and a political system that prizes results over grandstanding. Now it is showing other countries how to do the recovery."

"Clearly, it would be foolish to deny a company help because it is foreign-owned, since all the evidence is that German, French, Japanese and US run companies are more productive than indigenous businesses.

A much more serious criticism is that the money has been provided with no strings attached. BA has announced 12,000 job losses despite securing £300m from the scheme. EasyJet tapped the CCFF for £600m but said it will axe 4,500 jobs – 30% of its workforce. The government appears not to have received or even asked for any job guarantees from companies, nor to demand that a quid pro quo for state support should be a reduction in the airlines’ carbon footprint.

All crises represent an opportunity as well as a threat. The opportunity here was for the government to use its financial leverage to change corporate behaviour for the better. That opportunity has been blown".

So which further analysis are you seeking...?

[MrGongGong]

[zola]

Leading the world....guided by the science, right thing at the right time, wash your hands. Responsible for 10% of all global deaths.

[Dave2002]

So which further analysis are you seeking...?

Perhaps I would have called it commentary, rather than analysis. Analysis to me implies something more grounded.

[jayne lee wilson]

Perhaps I would have called it commentary, rather than analysis. Analysis to me implies something more grounded.

Larry Elliott is very good at the clearly stated overview, which can be very powerful politically in dealing with such persistent governmental deceit...
Statistics can be devastating but they won't change minds or win votes on their own...

[jayne lee wilson]

NW R rate now.......1.01......

gosh, who would've seen that coming....

we're all so so careless!

[Dave2002]

NW R rate now.......1.01......

gosh, who would've seen that coming....

we're all so so careless!

I wouldn't worry too much about 1.01, but it will creep up if left unchecked. Either those track and trace teams have got to get on the case, or the people in your area need to revert to being more careful. Also, that 1.01 rate might refer to some closed communities, or some average. The people who went out to protest in Manchester (did they do Liverpool as well?) yesterday won't have helped. I've been saying and writing for a long time now that ideally R needs to be stamped well down, if it's not going to lead to a lot of illness and more deaths. I'm not in charge - perhaps lucky for you lot, but I would be aiming at 0.5 or less as soon as possible, rather than this 0.7-0.9 range. Yes, I misunderstood the economic implications, and I see that a balance is required, but unless the R is brought down to a much lower level the ongoing damage is going to have much greater effects, both on health and people's lives, but also on their economic welfare. Most of us really don't need a lot of the stuff which we "have" regularly, though some people will be in a desperate situation - because we don't really have a proper social system which makes sure that people have basic needs. I don't really need the extra box set of Beethoven CDs which I expect to arrive today, though the people who produced it and made the whole package, and deliver it, may appreciate that I've ordered it.

People who are living in lousy housing, with not enough money to buy good food, have got much greater problems than the richer people whose movements are currently restricted, and who can't even drive 300 miles, or go to a hotel to stay away for a weekend, or go to a concert, film, theatre or opera, or go to buy new clothes.

Of course it's possible to go out now to look at cars in a car showroom, and even order and take delivery of one
Priorities!

In our location we are still not supposed to go more than 5 miles on a drive, unless it's really necessary - which it perhaps might be as the nearest small shops are 3-4 miles away and the bigger supermarkets are about 8 miles off.