SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

This is spot on.

The virus will spread to 60-80% of the population, no matter what we do.

Covid-19 is a highly infectious global pandemic. So even if we somehow manage to eradicate it from the UK, it's going to eventually come back from abroad just like it did the first time.

Indefinite lockdowns also aren't possible. We're only going to be able to shut down economic activity for so long. After a certain point, the country will no longer able to afford the basics such as paying for the NHS. Not to mention that huge swathes of population would end up jobless and penniless if the furlough scheme ends up consuming all its funds.

The best we can do is try and keep the peak of the disease below NHS capacity, whilst keeping the economic gears turning as much as possible. The final analysis of this will only come in 18 months time once herd immunity is actually achieved. You can't simply look at statistics within a narrow window and proclaim one strategy a success and another a failure. Even China and Singapore are seeing resurgences in cases.
How can you keep the peak below NHS capacity without total lockdown? You can't is the answer. There is no easy or quick way out if this.
 
Callous rancid Tory cnuts out in force. Even when there is a very possible chance that their leader and colleague/friend might well suffer as a result of a lack of PPE for frontline staff - not to mention the NHS staff themselves - they still have to protect the Tory political position at all cost.
 
This is spot on.

The virus will spread to 60-80% of the population, no matter what we do.

Covid-19 is a highly infectious global pandemic. So even if we somehow manage to eradicate it from the UK, it's going to eventually come back from abroad just like it did the first time.

Indefinite lockdowns also aren't possible. We're only going to be able to shut down economic activity for so long. After a certain point, the country will no longer able to afford the basics such as paying for the NHS. Not to mention that huge swathes of population would end up jobless and penniless if the furlough scheme ends up consuming all its funds.

The best we can do is try and keep the peak of the disease below NHS capacity, whilst keeping the economic gears turning as much as possible. The final analysis of this will only come in 18 months time once herd immunity is actually achieved. You can't simply look at statistics within a narrow window and proclaim one strategy a success and another a failure. Even China and Singapore are seeing resurgences in cases.

Of course this is a long-term problem. Equally, you can clearly seer that the Uk strategy in the opening weeks has been poor. Mixed messages galore in the opening weeks with huge gatherings of people taking place when the virus was already spreading like wildfire.

Now, the UK govt might look less inept in the longer term by being more decisive and communicating better than they have done so far. I genuinely hope this is what happens. It’s no reason to shut down criticism of their performance up until now.
 
I know this is not your intention but feck the poor and feck those who will be is what this translates to. Clearly businesses have to be allowed to re-open gradually. And soon.
Poor people care about their and their loved ones health as well?
My problem with this is the over exaggeration of the publics desire to get back to work. Its being confused with the frustration of self isolation imo.
 
Of course this is a long-term problem. Equally, you can clearly seer that the Uk strategy in the opening weeks has been poor. Mixed messages galore in the opening weeks with huge gatherings of people taking place when the virus was already spreading like wildfire.

The UK simply had no plan whatsoever after that Imperial study came out, blind leading the blind since then.
I still see no semblance of a plan weeks later.
 
Such a stupid point.

Why is New York much worse than Massachusetts?

Sweden’s second City Gothenburg is doing as well as their neighbors capitals (so far) which are of a similar size.
Right now Stockholm, an area of 2.3 million people, the most populous in the Nordics and where the virus has been circulating since late February has just 523 deaths and just 213 people in ICU.
Does that really tell that Sweden were “wrong”? Think again.
That is 10 times worse than Australia - more than 20 times adjusted for population - a country with a plan to lock down for up to 6 months if necessary.
 
That is 10 times worse than Australia - a country with over 20 million people and a plan to lock down for up to 6 months if necessary.

It’s also ahead of Australia in it’s timeline and Europe was the epicenter.
Try thinking a little more scientific with your comparisons Wibble.
At some point you’d hope people start to understand that unless you can say how many infected people were in a city/country when Italy kicked off, these comparisons are utterly pointless and as unscientific as claiming the Earth is flat.
 
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I came to post the above tweets against Starmer but it's not just them the Telegraph and Mail articles recently have quickly gone back to right wing propaganda. They're all desperate to spin the government and Boris as huge successes because this is their WW2 and they want to make political capital of it.

One telegraph article today claims the UK is leading the fight against covid in europe :rolleyes:

An interesting thread
 
I know this is not your intention but feck the poor and feck those who will be is what this translates to. Clearly businesses have to be allowed to re-open gradually. And soon.

Of course that wasn’t my intention, don’t pull that shit with me.

My Mrs has already lost her job, we have enough savings to carry us for 1 month exactly if I should lose mine.

I manage a lab that works in agricultural testing, my work has tried brainwashing us that we are key workers and I don’t fecking buy it. So I’m having to go into work along with my team. I would rather be at home with my family. Not because I’m lazy or hate my job it’s just that I want to be with them more than make money for my company.

Im happy to fecking isolate with my family because I believe it is currently the right thing to do and it has cleared my mind as to what is important in life and it certainly isn’t my job or my massive mortgage.
 
At what cost?

Feck work and feck the economy. I’m no kid either but I would happily lose my job and everything I own to keep my family safe.

For rich countries this may be an option for its citizens. But for developing and poor countries, this is not an option. Damage will be far higher than Coronavirus can ever do. Its a difficult choice for these countries.
 
I can’t afford as I’ve just stated in my post it but nothing is worth the risk of any of us catching this unnecessarily.

You talk like it's certain death catching it.

I'd rather be on this semi lock down and still working, keeping economy moving and keeping my own finances and stuff in check.
 
Follow the science is the new ‘Get Brexit Done’. Just like ardent Brexiteers would fight sensibility and reason on the front line, the same people are doing so now armed with a new 3 word slogan. Particularly painful for me as a man of science. The government is protected from scrutiny...again.
 
For rich countries this may be an option for its citizens. But for developing and poor countries, this is not an option. Damage will be far higher than Coronavirus can ever do. Its a difficult choice for these countries.

I know that. I was just stating my own personal views on what I am willing to do and lose.

If we let this virus rip through society we would see absolute carnage.

The world has virtually shut down. That in itself should illustrate the damage this thing can do. Incredible measures never seen in our lifetimes.

It just grates my balls that after only a few weeks people are moaning about the relatively small sacrifices we are having to make.
 
You talk like it's certain death catching it.

I'd rather be on this semi lock down and still working, keeping economy moving and keeping my own finances and stuff in check.

Dude, I don’t view it as certain death, but I do view it as a roll of the dice. I wouldn’t roll a dice for anyone’s life, let alone my family.
 
Wouldnt the same logic apply if you lost a close family member with others at risk?
I have 2 family members at risk who aren't supposed to leave the house. I haven't exactly said we need everybody to work on the front line to keep the economy afloat. But saying "feck the economy" is just daft nonsense and doesn't really mean anything. How many people do you think will die if the economy goes completely tits up? It's been bad enough for people with 10+ years of shite government
 
I repeat. Feck my job. We would manage somehow.
How would you manage without a job and where the work you're qualified for involves leaving the house? With rent or a mortgage, debt repayments and bills to pay? Let alone food or anything else
 
I'm amazed at how anyone thinks any government isn't winging it. Of course they're winging it, there's zero information. There was zero information in January. Nobody had a clue. Because why would they know? Revisionist nonsense.
Bollocks.
 


This is exactly it. Lockdown is not about waiting for a vaccine, which is not going to found. Herd immunity is the only way provided it’s controlled. But to even suggest that strategy seems to make you evil as it’s an acceptance people will die. It doesn’t matter which way round we do this people are going to die. You protect the most vulnerable as best you can and ensure the NHS can cope with everyone else.

I’ve been working from home for 4 weeks and already starting to lose my mind. I might not have a job in two months time. Many more are already out of work and worrying about paying their bills next or cash flow issues for the self employed who won’t get government assistance until June. The financial mess that people will begin to be in will cause people to have to do something to earn cash simply to eat.
 
I'm sure they are hoping current levels of restriction won't be neccesary but we are considering the possibility. Victoria has extended the current arrangements for another month already. And remenber this is the neccesary response when we only have a few thousand infections, 58 deaths and only 35ish in ICU. Countries like the UK and US, who are in deep trouble and farcfrom under control, talking about relaxing things is madness.

From the quotes I’ve seen their PM said that they’ll have to completely change the way they live for 6 months. That doesn’t equate to a full lockdown of the type we‘re going through now. The same has been said in the UK but many are talking about those change lasting even longer. I think the UK will start to relax in the next couple of months in some aspects, the economy will start to open up but we‘ll have a very different way of working. That’s what we’re planning where I work anyway.

I think the big issue will be pubs, clubs, concerts and sporting events etc because social distancing is pretty much impossible in those places.
 
I repeat. Feck my job. We would manage somehow.

As someone said above, if you feel that way then that's fine, give up your job and stay at home. That's always an option you have regardless of what anyone else does.

For a lot of people returning to work will be essential though as they're in circumstances that won't allow them to feck their job and still manage somehow. For them it isn't the dichotomy you're presenting it as. Not going back to work also rolls the dice with their family's safety, in many cases with worse odds than going back to work does. Which makes "at what cost?" a rather moot response when people point out that reality. If you're in a position to "manage somehow" after giving up your job then you're luckier than a lot of other people.
 
I have 2 family members at risk who aren't supposed to leave the house. I haven't exactly said we need everybody to work on the front line to keep the economy afloat. But saying "feck the economy" is just daft nonsense and doesn't really mean anything. How many people do you think will die if the economy goes completely tits up? It's been bad enough for people with 10+ years of shite government
The econony is going tits up anyway? Just before the lockdown my girlfriends work slashed hours due to the public staying in along with a desperate attempt at trying home delivery to make up for it. It didnt work.
Now when we see the effects of not social distancing etc and we reopen, what happens when cases rise again? A large percentage of people will stay at home because they know thats how to slow the virus
With this disease around there isnt an economy to save. A lot of people will have hours slashed or simply just let go when foot traffic is a third of what it was, if that. Regardless of what we do, this is a recession that will cripple most of us.
Theres many 'poor' people out there who have had their income saved by this lockdown who just dont know it yet.
Pubs, clubs etc are fecked no matter what we do.
 
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