Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

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Marcus Aurelius
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by Marcus Aurelius »

Things are about to get extremely grim for those of us in the U.K. To cut a long story short, up to 18 months of full lockdown, for everyone, enforced by the police, backed up by the military. That’s pretty much everything locked down, except medical facilities, and food shops. The government are taking a ‘softly softly’ approach, and nudging us into it, rather than going balls out straight away, partly to prevent any mass social disorder problems, partially to allow a ‘drip feed’ onto health services, rather than a flood, but it’s not going to be pretty. If the government think their 330 billion quid is going to cut it, I think they’re having a laugh. They are banking on the Virus burning out, before we are at ‘full throttle’ and thus hoping that the time at ‘full throttle’ and what that ‘full throttle’ entails is reduced, but it isn’t going to be much fun, no matter what.
pwa
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by pwa »

A large number of professions cannot shut down, and cannot be run from home. We all know that hospitals and other health facilities have to keep going, and also food shops, food deliveries, vehicle maintenance for food deliveries, fuel deliveries, supermarkets, pharmacies, power station workers, police, emergency plumbers, farmers. And we will still have to leave the house to get food supplies. Online deliveries currently only account for a small percentage of food sold and will not be able to ramp up all that much. So total lock down with hardly anyone moving about is not possible for long.

Isolation in towns and cities will look different to isolation in villages. I can walk around my village without getting close to anyone I meet along the way. Keeping a distance is easy because of low numbers. In cities high population density makes that less feasible.
Syd
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by Syd »

Marcus Aurelius wrote:And here’s a conundrum. Someone gets a bit of a cough / high temperature / whatev’s. They are told to behave as though it is the COVID. But it’s not tested, and it turns out they had a common cold. They then assume they had the COVID virus, that it’s gone, and return to normal life. However they cop for an actual dose of the COVID, and are spreading it willy nilly, whilst in the non symptomatic stage, upon their return to ( wherever they work) because they assume ( wrongly) that they’ve just had it, and recovered. This is why the current state of affairs is a nonsense, and without testing, it’s really not doing much good.

This is very much a major topic at work especially since I am currently self isolating after my core temperature exceeded 37.8 degrees C on Tuesday morning. Other than feeling tired and a little weak I’m fine. I strongly suspect it is a common cold, or at least the start of one, but will not know without testing.

Thankfully I can perform 99.9% of my work from home so am effectively carrying on work as normally as I can.

It would be a very different story for my staff who need to be onsite for work thus we would lose productivity from them.

As I am unable to confirm if I have the virus or a common cold the logical decision is that I will carry on assuming the latter and continue taking the necessary precautions.
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Paulatic
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by Paulatic »

Syd wrote:As I am unable to confirm if I have the virus or a common cold the logical decision is that I will carry on assuming the latter and continue taking the necessary precautions.


If you have CV then I assume your previous precautions have failed.
If you have a common cold does it mean 'the cold' is an entirely different beast and no amount of hand washing is going to avoid catching it? Or previous precautions have failed?
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windmiller
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by windmiller »

Full Lockdown for months is a farce and will kill far more people than the virus alone ever will. This is not Ebola which really is an end of days horror.

China really has done a mind f### on the rest of world with this one and is likely to be the only country apart from the ever cynical Russia to come out of this mess intact.
mercalia
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by mercalia »

Coronavirus: 40 London Underground stations to be closed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51946409

moderator note: this information is also posted at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=136132
David9694
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by David9694 »

This is from my mother’s town - not hearing about initiatives like this up and down the land I.. comprehensive and co-ordinated.

The Council are establishing a COMMUNITY HUB where residents can ask for help and be matched with a volunteer from an appropriate voluntary organisations. (Letters to all residents over 70 are going out as from this evening, giving details. And we'd like other identified vulnerable groups to receive it too).
24 HOUR HOTLINE for vulnerable people in need: 01234 718101. Email address for those SEEKING HELP: covid19help@bedford.gov.uk
Anyone able to OFFER HELP can do so by emailing covid19@bedford.gov.uk THANK YOU!
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roubaixtuesday
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by roubaixtuesday »

For the posters on here still claiming this is "normal" or " insignificant" last night.

A generation has died': Italian province struggles to bury its coronavirus dead

Coffins pile up and corpses are sealed off in homes as Bergamo’s funeral firms are overwhelmed


All quite normal.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... virus-dead
djnotts
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by djnotts »

Marcus Aurelius wrote:And here’s a conundrum. Someone gets a bit of a cough / high temperature / whatev’s. They are told to behave as though it is the COVID. But it’s not tested, and it turns out they had a common cold. They then assume they had the COVID virus, that it’s gone, and return to normal life. However they cop for an actual dose of the COVID, and are spreading it willy nilly, whilst in the non symptomatic stage, upon their return to ( wherever they work) because they assume ( wrongly) that they’ve just had it, and recovered. This is why the current state of affairs is a nonsense, and without testing, it’s really not doing much good.
(My emphasis)

A key point I think. Surely impacting on availability of essential staff. Just one example: a friend of my daughter's is a nurse who works with those moving down one step from ICU, HER young daughter has symptoms so she is self-isolating. The child probably has common ailment but NO WAY OF KNOWING so a vital NHS resource is lost for maybe no reason.
pete75
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by pete75 »

The Police were well prepared for this. Apparently they will have a graduated withdrawal of service if the outbreak worsens, something they've been practicing for over the last ten years or so.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 09901.html
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reohn2
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by reohn2 »

djnotts wrote:...... Just one example: a friend of my daughter's is a nurse who works with those moving down one step from ICU, HER young daughter has symptoms so she is self-isolating. The child probably has common ailment but NO WAY OF KNOWING so a vital NHS resource is lost for maybe no reason.

If both mother and daughter were tested PDQ it prove one way or the other and thus either release the mother from isolation or not.One would think that to be a prudent measure by the NHS given the mother's job,and similarly so for other key workers
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chesterpete
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Re: Corona virus - impact on European tours in next 3 months?

Post by chesterpete »

nsew wrote:
JakobW wrote:Apropos the cycling ban chat, the Guardian's Coronavirus live blog just posted the following:
Laura Laker, the Graun wrote:The cycling industry will join forces to call on government to exempt cycling from any ban, due to its strategic role in the nation’s resilience - not only as transport but a form of exercise, the Bicycle Association has said.

Italy and Spain banned leisure cycling in the last week. The industry wants the UK to avoid cycling bans, and it wants bike shops exempted from shop opening restrictions as it believes cycling has a strategic role to play in mitigating some of the impact on peoples’ lives of restrictions on transport and access to the outdoors.

This follows 30 prominent health and transport experts’ calls to protect cycling and walking plus keeping parks open, and warns of the risks of confining otherwise healthy people to their homes.

Getting outside for fresh air and green spaces could be crucial in maintaining physical and mental health in the population during these times, they say.


Wishful thinking as potentially huge numbers will take to farting around on bikes to avoid the lockdown. I had the virus 3 weeks ago. Got it from a co-worker who got it from his in school 16 yr old son. First signs were a dry irritant cough that was a clearing of the throat type. That night (Thursday) through Sunday afternoon was total wipe out. Zero appetite, in and out of deep sleep, possibly for 60 out of 72 hours. Certainly not awake for more than 2 hours at any given time. Steady raised temperature for the duration ending with minor chills. Totally fatigued, zero energy. Joint aches and pain made getting out of bed and movement difficult. Took huge mental and physical effort to visit the bathroom. Consumed nothing but black tea and honey. Late Sunday afternoon appetite started to return. Summoned every last bit of energy I could, showered, dressed and made it to local corner shop for 4 pints of milk, honey and 2 packets of weetabix. Warned the shopkeeper I was very sick and asked them not to touch anything. Even speaking was difficult. Spent the next 2.5 days consuming weetabix, listening to radio 4 and sleeping. 12 hour night sleeps were the norm for the 2nd week. Barring the corner shop trip, total isolation for 12 days. All good now.


A good first hand accounts. I'm glad you eventually got through it. Did it affect your breathing at all, as often reported?
djnotts
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by djnotts »

And this is what the UK is NOT doing:

""But to suppress and control epidemics, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace," the WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday."

Headline measures are one thing, proper routines another.
djnotts
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by djnotts »

pete75 wrote:The Police were well prepared for this. Apparently they will have a graduated withdrawal of service if the outbreak worsens, something they've been practicing for over the last ten years or so.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 09901.html


The article appears to point to a disconnect! Abandon patrols and neighbourhood policing yet seek and remove the ill from the streets. Will it all be done by CCTV? (on reflection, yes, I suppose it will - sick facial recognition?).
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Re: Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) - just how serious?

Post by Vorpal »

djnotts wrote:
pete75 wrote:The Police were well prepared for this. Apparently they will have a graduated withdrawal of service if the outbreak worsens, something they've been practicing for over the last ten years or so.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 09901.html


The article appears to point to a disconnect! Abandon patrols and neighbourhood policing yet seek and remove the ill from the streets. Will it all be done by CCTV? (on reflection, yes, I suppose it will - sick facial recognition?).

Thermal cameras :p Have a fever? Under (remote) arrest!
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