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

Jack-C20 said:
I’m a self employed electrician that sub contracts to a company and we’ve got a few sites like this. Luckily I’m working elsewhere but the building I’m in probably isn’t much better. Think everyone who I work with is just waiting for the order to stop now and hopefully a little help from the government.
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Good luck mate.

And yes, in addition to forcing the site closures, they need to do something for all self employed in general and IR35 workers in particular.

The easiest thing would be to just pay everyone a flat rate of national average wage, so £500 or so a week for the duration I should imagine. The fairest would be to go on past earnings, but I think that would be too complex and time consuming to get done quickly for everyone.
 
I think our disaster planners need to rethink what they've been doing. Aren't we supposed to have people who make plans every few years for horror stuff like this?
 
Grinner said:
I think our disaster planners need to rethink what they've been doing. Aren't we supposed to have people who make plans every few years for horror stuff like this?
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Yup.

They even did a complete scenario for a flu type pandemic in 2016.

The results said we are under-prepared, the NHS didn't have the equipment or manpower.

Nothing was done to solve it.
 
Nogbadthebad said:
Good luck mate.

And yes, in addition to forcing the site closures, they need to do something for all self employed in general and IR35 workers in particular.

The easiest thing would be to just pay everyone a flat rate of national average wage, so £500 or so a week for the duration I should imagine. The fairest would be to go on past earnings, but I think that would be too complex and time consuming to get done quickly for everyone.
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Yes exactly. I dread to think of the poor buggers that are doing all the work behind the scenes to get pay sorted out for people whilst they’re off work. There’s going to be millions of people soon who’ll need sorting out.

I’m lucky to be in a position where money has never been a huge concern of mine as long as I have enough to get me by. It’s the people with families to support who I feel for. Going to be an interesting week I think.
 
klayton88 said:
Is there an update on your colleague mate?
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They tested his blood and said he had a virus but it "wasn't too bad" so he should just go home. 3 weeks later they actually took it seriously when he still wasn't feeling too super (but no longer had breathing difficulties) and gave him the proper Covid-19 test for which he came up negative. They then contacted him again last week asking if they could test his blood for antibodies as they think he might have had it and then got a 2nd virus at which point he tested negative for it. Haven't heard the results yet but if he did have it I am probably a super spreader since I was with him in China and sit next to him in the office and I (until last week) took the train to work every day from London. So yeah, I might be living evidence of the government's abject failure at contact tracing.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Had to laugh doing my Asda shopping online, the only baked beans they have in stock are the Heinz 'no added sugar' variety. People don't seem to like the healthy option even in times of pandemic panic buying.
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You wouldn't be laughing if you tasted them.
 
MaxiPaxi said:
I'm just parroting this info by the way but to me it feels like people are less intelligent, certainly going by the way we're acting now. Anyway full article is in the link below.

"A defining trend in human intelligence tests that saw people steadily obtaining higher IQ scores through the 20th century has abruptly ended, a new study shows.



The Flynn effect – named after the work of Kiwi intelligence researcher James Flynn – observed rapid rises in intelligence quotient at a rate of about 3 IQ points per decade in the 20th century, but new research suggests these heady boom days are long gone."

https://www.sciencealert.com/iq-sco...telligence-boom-flynn-effect-intelligence/amp
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EFA_to_Eicosanoids.svg


It is important that the balance between Omega 3 and Omega 6 in our diet be maintained at a maximum ratio of 1:1.
Delta 5 enzyme should only be converting 20:4 into 20:5. The omega 6 pathway should end at 20:3.
An overload of Omega 6 leads to Delta 5 enzyme converting 20:3 to 20:4 in the Omega 6 pathway and no EPA and DPA is being formed in the Omega 3 pathway.
All processed foods are pumped full of Omega 6 vegetable oils. The end result is a population of unhealthy and stupid people.
If everyone was to change their diet and eat nothing but vegetables (green vegetables in particular) and fish (fish devoid of Omega 6 vegetable oils only) then the population would be far more healthy and far more intelligent.
So why is that not the case?
 
Grinner said:
Are the Spain numbers for today? Doesn't that seem early for reporting?
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I don't think it's the number of new cases today specifically but rather the number of new cases/deaths since they last reported yesterday, so basically over the last 24 hours. Seems each country does it at a different time. Italy is around 5pm I think?
 
RobinLFC said:
Apparently lots of people are reporting a loss of sense of smell and taste.

Permanent damage is scary, really don't want that happening. Might just be a temporary thing while you're infected though, don't know.
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It was published about a week ago in German media, that in one closer watched group about 2/3 of the patients with mild symptoms experienced a loss of sense of smell and taste a few days after the first symptoms show up. I've never read anything about it being permanent, but it might actually be helpful to differentiate between people having a cold and the ones actually infected with the coronavirus.
 
ManchesterYoda said:
EFA_to_Eicosanoids.svg


It is important that the balance between Omega 3 and Omega 6 in our diet be maintained at a maximum ratio of 1:1.
Delta 5 enzyme should only be converting 20:4 into 20:5. The omega 6 pathway should end at 20:3.
An overload of Omega 6 leads to Delta 5 enzyme converting 20:3 to 20:4 in the Omega 6 pathway and no EPA and DPA is being formed in the Omega 3 pathway.
All processed foods are pumped full of Omega 6 vegetable oils. The end result is a population of unhealthy and stupid people.
If everyone was to change their diet and eat nothing but vegetables (green vegetables in particular) and fish (fish devoid of Omega 6 vegetable oils only) then the population would be far more healthy and far more intelligent.
So why is that not the case?
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Take this discussion to another thread, so this one doesn't get derailed by off topics.
 
On medic facebook groups, warning about quite a few muggings in London for NHS staff's ID badges

Also interesting about a whole "truck-load" of PPE equipment on its way to doctors (presumably most in secondary care but maybe primary care too)
But incidentally there has been some reports out of Italy in talking to intensivists there that non-invasive techniques like CPAP (instead of ventilators) might also improve outcomes in patients but due to aersol generation would need a more higher form of PPE but a private manufacturer has been contacted to release CPAP-like machine specifically for the NHS (currently a prototype has been made)

A lot of us are frightened due to ENT colleagues and a nurse now in intensive care who were looking after COVID 19 patients
We're encouraging each other to fill out nomination forms with regards to who gets part of our pension and a lump sum in case we die
 
Grinner said:
I think our disaster planners need to rethink what they've been doing. Aren't we supposed to have people who make plans every few years for horror stuff like this?
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As Trump put it, he's a businessman and doesn't like paying thousands of people to sit around doing nothing. He thinks you can just hire back the best whenever you need them..
 
Tarrou said:
Is there any hope the UK's numbers won't escalate to be as bad as Italy and Spain?
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There's always hope chief. I'd keep an eye on today's figures. I'm expecting a big jump but if there's a more modest increase as there was yesterday then perhaps you might be able to start considering that there may be a slight possibility of hope.
 
Tarrou said:
Is there any hope the UK's numbers won't escalate to be as bad as Italy and Spain?
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Honestly have no way of knowing but no encouraging because we haven't had people carry out the type of social distancing/isolation needed

The one hope is how quickly we manage logistics of getting them intubated, hopefully not overwhelmed at once with the peak with regards to demand for ITU services but this thing is spreading in clusters (e.g. in London, west midlands) and thats not a good sign.

What hopefully may make a difference is the effort in primary care to treat aggressively with primary prevention, to get people on meds that prevent cardiac remodelling, statins for cholesterol, that kind of thing and the campaign to reduce smoking rates, may make a dent in mortality rate
 
Wolverine said:
On medic facebook groups, warning about quite a few muggings in London for NHS staff's ID badges

Also interesting about a whole "truck-load" of PPE equipment on its way to doctors (presumably most in secondary care but maybe primary care too)
But incidentally there has been some reports out of Italy in talking to intensivists there that non-invasive techniques like CPAP (instead of ventilators) might also improve outcomes in patients but due to aersol generation would need a more higher form of PPE but a private manufacturer has been contacted to release CPAP-like machine specifically for the NHS (currently a prototype has been made)

A lot of us are frightened due to ENT colleagues and a nurse now in intensive care who were looking after COVID 19 patients
We're encouraging each other to fill out nomination forms with regards to who gets part of our pension and a lump sum in case we die
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Been said a number of times, but it's admirable what you do, and very sad to hear that the harsh realities of worse case scenario are in the collective mind of frontline personnel.

It shouldn't be this way. The handling of this thing, especially in terms of PPE and personal supply to you guys (food, essentials etc.) has been shambolic.
 
RobinLFC said:
Apparently lots of people are reporting a loss of sense of smell and taste.

Permanent damage is scary, really don't want that happening. Might just be a temporary thing while you're infected though, don't know.
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I haven't read anything about that, but it doesn't strike me as too worrying per se. My sense of taste and smell is always fecked when I'm sick. By the way, first time the number of new infections in a day have decreased over here. Too early to draw any conclusions but let's keep our fingers crossed it's the measures taking effect. It seems early for that but I'll take any sort of good news right now.
 
RobinLFC said:
Apparently lots of people are reporting a loss of sense of smell and taste.

Permanent damage is scary, really don't want that happening. Might just be a temporary thing while you're infected though, don't know.
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Seems a bit scaremongery. Nobody has reported permanent loss and those sypmtoms are pretty standard for flu like viruses. Happened to me a couple of years back and lasted for a good week or so after I was over the worst of it. I remember it well because I wasted a damn good IPA. :(
 
Grinner said:
So I've been wondering about what happens after a lockdown. Let's say, in an ideal world, that a lockdown is implemented in a perfect way and the health services manage to get casualties under control. How exactly do you then go about restarting society and allowing people to get infected in a manageable way?

I assume there are plans for this. Anyone know what they are?
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sullydnl said:
I'd imagine it would have to be done in a fairly bespoke way that suits the requirements of each country.
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I believe this. My guess is that there is an order of priority:
- ensure that the number of new cases are low enough for the health services to recover from this mess
- slowly ease up restrictions to small groups, and wait (a few weeks) to confirm the health services can still cope

- rinse and repeat


Just a guess on how things make sense to me. Have no idea if someone is actually "planning" this
 
Arruda said:
I believe this. My guess is that there is an order of priority:
- ensure that the number of new cases are low enough for the health services to recover from this mess
- slowly ease up restrictions to small groups, and wait (a few weeks) to confirm the health services can still cope

- rinse and repeat


Just a guess on how things make sense to me. Have no idea if someone is actually "planning" this
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You also have to factor in the incubation period for the virus too. It's a logistical nightmare.
 
Working in a school. Most students havent shown up however we have some in. Of all the the children who are in today not one of their parents/carers are key workers. So basically they're using us as a glorified day care centre because they don't want their kids at home all day.
 
Arruda said:
I believe this. My guess is that there is an order of priority:
- ensure that the number of new cases are low enough for the health services to recover from this mess
- slowly ease up restrictions to small groups, and wait (a few weeks) to confirm the health services can still cope

- rinse and repeat


Just a guess on how things make sense to me. Have no idea if someone is actually "planning" this
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Surely aggressive testing is the key to returning to any kind of normality?

Healthcare workers who've already tested positive / have had it - running home visit tests - those who test positive / have it had it can return to work outside the home etc.
 
b82REZ said:
Working in a school. Most students havent shown up however we have some in. Of all the the children who are in today not one of their parents/carers are key workers. So basically they're using us as a glorified day care centre because they don't want their kids at home all day.
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Nice parents. Good luck.
 
Matt Hancock doesn't do a lot right but he's at least out there essentially calling people selfish pricks who are spreading the virus. Should have been done weeks ago though.
 
Arruda said:
I believe this. My guess is that there is an order of priority:
- ensure that the number of new cases are low enough for the health services to recover from this mess
- slowly ease up restrictions to small groups, and wait (a few weeks) to confirm the health services can still cope

- rinse and repeat


Just a guess on how things make sense to me. Have no idea if someone is actually "planning" this
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I'm sure countries will have a plan when the time comes but in fairness it's probably pointless to map it all out extensively now when they don't really know yet how things will look at that point. Once they've seen the peak play out a bit they can model an exit strategy, you'd imagine.
 
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