Off Topic SARS-CoV-2 Covid-19

You are ****ing wind up merchant aren’t you? My wife had a cardiac arrest, she was in an induced coma, and packed with ice to stop her organs failing, she had the CPAP device to keep her breathing, so get ****ed arsehole and LEARN TO ****ING READ

 

Herd immunity? Telling people to "take it on the chin"? Continued funding cuts to public health? Ignoring offers to create PPE from manufacturers? Ignoring the outcomes of a pandemic drill which indicated an alarming unreadiness in our public health system? Telling people to wash their hands while other countries were locking down in advance of the virus hitting them instead of waiting for deaths?

I'm not looking for somebody to blame. What I want to know is why these things were allowed to happen and how in future they will be prevented from happening again. We don't need to stockpile anything, but we need to have resources in place which can manufacture them at short notice should this occur again. Its about readiness. This virus was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern at the end of January, when people across China started dying from it. At the time, the WHO said " "all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoVinfection, and to share full data with WHO".

We didn't lock down until the 23rd March. Neither did some other countries. But they are of no concern to me, because I don't live in other countries. I want to know why my country was so ill prepared, even with the fluid nature of virology and the pandemics it can create, despite there being noticeable steps taken by other countries while we were still living our lives normally. And perhaps, why we were still accepting international flights into the country until a matter of weeks ago.

 

My wife had severe pneumonia and was in isolation, she wasn't sedated.

 

I wonder if Alan Lavender is back at Chequers?

If you know, you know.

 

Was that with COVID 19?

 

No, it was about three years ago, shortly after we got back from our honeymoon in Italy. She very nearly died. I don't know if the regulations were changed since then or if they're different for Covid, but as it's a similar disease, I figured the treatment wouldn't be that different.

 

Understood

 

The total fear when a loved one is near death is nearly indescribable, I’m glad your wife is ok now, I hope I never have to go through that again

 

There will never, ever be facilities for mass manufacturing of PPE gear in the U.K.

Our minimum wage is far too high, rent and rates are too high, tax is too high, costs will be far too high.

Low value items are impossible to mass produce here cost effectively.

 

Is the UK heading to the top of the Euro pops? Most deaths. I thought I heard one of those medical boffins pontificating that at this rate we'll surpass Italy and the rest in a few weeks.
Not great if true!

 

You may be right, as may I, but Johnson is the Prime Minister, the person wholly responsible for everything that happens in this country, he ignored the scientists and decided that shaking hands with victims in hospital was his way of denying there was a problem. He is basically a murderer, guilty of manslaughter

 

They’re not low value items
They’re low cost items...that’s very different

 

active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoVinfection,

That only took eighteen words. Yep, easy, no worries. The only missing bit of information in that statement is, how? If they knew exactly what they where looking for, testing kits would be made available, what is the incubation time from contact to displaying the symptons, producing a vaccine. The best estimates for a specific vaccine seem to be about eight months.

From day one hang out the closed sign? There would have been anarchy. Drip feeding the measures was probably to avoid breakdown in society. A plan must have been in place, some sort of risk assessment, that included a number of deaths. Future planning may go the stop it now route. Declare martial law. A UK company, companies, could be tasked with the supply of ppe. But at what cost, as has been pointed out above?

The cost today is human lives. For a generation brought up in an age of nobody is allowed to die, that is difficult to come to terms with. Whatever the future financial cost is will be borne for generations to come> Austerity? I reckon the years to come are going to make that look like the country was run by baron scattercash.

 

Much of the PPE we use is relatively cheaper than it was in the 1970s. I think the majority of the world's disposable medical gloves are made in Malaysia, due to the availability of rubber trees.
I know a lot of European countries are complaining about lack of PPE (not sure about Germany), but is this not the job of procurement managers rather than the current government.

 

I think none of us should forget that this situation is unprecedented, and in my lifetime which is now into its 70th year no one has been faced with such a situation.

In hindsight, it is always easy to say we should have done this and we should have done that, but the measures taken at the time were very much on experts advice, and in some cases, it could well have, and in the future will be done differently.

Basically, the situation was learning as we go along, countries/areas with denser population have faired worse as you would expect, and I am sure in the future, when this happens again we will be much better prepared.

 

I think some people are viewing the situation through their own very selective political filter.

I look around at the news from other countries, and everyone is having to wing it, and for obvious reasons. Nobody will have a full picture for years, if ever.

Can posters not use this as an opportunity for a political soapbox. Ta.

 

I suspect you are right, twitter, in particular, is awash with it, I really wish people would not do it, and just try to see the situation through neutral eyes.

 

Excellent post John

Two in a row