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Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

Started by TordelBack, 05 March, 2020, 08:57:13 PM

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Tjm86

Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 June, 2020, 01:50:13 PM
If not now, when?

If we don't re-open schools ...



One thing that needs to be remembered, aside from the fact that SCHOOLS NEVER SHUT!!!!!!! (sorry), is that whilst pupils might be fairly resilient when it comes to the virus:

1) many families rely on relatives who are in vulnerable groups to manage the school run;
2) teachers are not so resilient;
3) if families cannot get kids to / from school they have a problem;
4) if schools cannot get enough staff to school (as was happening in quite a few cases just before lockdown) then they have a problem.
5) it is entirely possible to be asymptomatic but also infected.

All this debate about how safe it is or is not to reopen schools needs to take (4) into account in particular.  Without sufficient staff schools cannot reopen safely.  In this day and age schools cannot afford to take that risk.  It's the main reason why the nation's schools shut down at the first sign of a snowflake (real, not millennial).

CalHab

In positive news, Scotland has now recorded zero Covid deaths for the fourth day in a row. Oddly, some commentators are using this to criticise the Scottish Government- "Why haven't you opened up as fast as England, then?". A transparently daft stance.

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: CalHab on 29 June, 2020, 12:52:31 PM
In positive news, Scotland has now recorded zero Covid deaths for the fourth day in a row. Oddly, some commentators are using this to criticise the Scottish Government- "Why haven't you opened up as fast as England, then?". A transparently daft stance.

Great to hear the first part; not so much the second, to which the answer is obviously 'so that we could have four days of no deaths in a row'.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

IndigoPrime

Meanwhile, the rumour in England is full schooling will be mandatory from September, and so parents who are still at risk are basically fucked. Thanks, Johnson and co!

Rately

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 29 June, 2020, 02:03:17 PM
Meanwhile, the rumour in England is full schooling will be mandatory from September, and so parents who are still at risk are basically fucked. Thanks, Johnson and co!

Apparently the Government is prepared to start handing out fines to parents who refuse to allow their children to attend school.

I just really don't know how you expect parents to make such a decision. It is horrendous. So, totally expected that a Tory Government would put people in just such a situation.

IndigoPrime

It's slightly more nuanced: at present, the existing fine system has been suspended. Under normal circumstances , LAs have the authority to fine parents. Are might fine if your child has more than five days of unauthorised absences within a ten-week period. Although the numbers are such that this is again another class-based thing. (Some families could eat a 60-quid fine without blinking. Others... not so much.)

That the Tories are planning to bring back the standard rules in September is, frankly, very Tory.

JayzusB.Christ

#876
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 June, 2020, 05:42:20 PM
Well that went well.  I greatly upset the former boarder in question by referring to his tweets here. That wasn't my intention.

I have a fair idea who you're talking about, although i haven't followed him since he left the board.  I always forget that many ex-members often scan this forum more thoroughly than some of us current members, and it always reminds me of Lucy and Alan's justified paranoia regarding Griffin in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

(Looks over shoulder) Not that I'm suggesting that ex-boarders are anything like Griffin, mind you.

Edit - with the exception of S***o, of course, who was exactly like Griffin, apart from the visibility factor.  Unfortunately.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

shaolin_monkey


von Boom


CalHab

Up here in Scotland, the news seems to be dominated by loaded questions about whether the Scottish Government is going to close the border, despite getting the same reply every time the question is asked (no plans, can't rule it out). For context, here are the death rates per million in the UK over the last 7 days:
England: 10.3
Wales: 3.2
N.Ireland: 0.5
Scotland: 0.4

I don't think the Scottish Government's position is unreasonable given that. The UK government has already used local lockdowns.

Figures are from here:
https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/

IAMTHESYSTEM

#880
I still tend to walk around people, despite the newish One-meter rule, and I always use a mask in a shop. The 'Store Marshall' is no more, and the shop staff have removed the arrows placed on the local Tesco Superstores floor. We can wander hither we want now inside. Animals, particularly Birds, seem less inclined to run away from me. I wonder if a sudden depletion of human encounters due to the Lockdown has made creatures less afraid of us. That said, I saw a giant rat in the Garden. That's one critter than can keep its distance. I've noticed a lot more cyclists on the roads and more roadworks as Companies use the Lockdown as an excuse to dig them up.
"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

http://artriad.deviantart.com/
― Nikola Tesla

IndigoPrime

Local stores here have all removed the one-way systems. It's insane how cavalier everyone is being now. This thing has not gone away.

Tjm86

Scientists are now talking up the risks of a second wave whilst Johnson and the Tories are trying to talk everyone into behaving normally.  The real question has to be whether they are using this lull to prepare properly for a possible resurgence considering the dogs breakfast they made of the first one.

For me though the bigger question is what will the response be next time?  It feels like we now face several problems:
- ambiguous scientific evidence and guidance that has been cherry-picked to serve a narrative;
- blowing residual trust in government and a suspicion that information is presented in support of the interests of narrow, selective groups;
- a lack of a coherent position on pretty much anything.

The thought that this might turn out to be a dry run for something far worse absolutely terrifies me.

IndigoPrime

I saw a piece earlier about how this lot are more or less running govt like people writing op-eds for a newspaper. It's perhaps not surprising, given their backgrounds, but it's all about the bubble. They genuinely don't try to see what's outside it. Combine that with a genuine talent for campaigning but not for governance and you get government by sloganeering.

That's all this is, I think. There's no grand plan. Previously, they have succeeded by saying a clever line, and dismissing those who don't agree with them, and so they repeat the pattern. Only, a virus doesn't care about Johnson's stupid hair and Latin bullshit. A virus doesn't care about cherry picked 'science', chosen for ideological reasons.

A lot of countries made a mess of this, to varying degrees. The US and England, though, take the prize in the west. Others nearly messed up badly, too, but at least the likes of Sweden recognised the failures and did something about them.

CalHab

The BBC and print media all seems to report that Scotland is similar to England, except in remote communities where the virus is not present. During one of the daily briefings last week, the First Minister gave a frustrated-sounding response to a question and said that the virus was five times less prevalent in Scotland.

This was news to me, so I've started looking at the data here every day. This guy produces daily updates based on the data from Scotland, the UK and elsewhere in the world:
https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/

It's fascinating.

BTW, if anything, the disparity between the nations of the UK was understated by the FM. Whatever you think of Alastair Campbell, the truth of his comment about the importance of clear, consistent and honest messaging has been demonstrated by this. That's something the Johnson/Cummings government doesn't seem to be able to do.