Off Topic Coronavirus

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Seems that we now have, or will soon have, two reliable antibody tests, one from Roche and one from Abbott. They both seem very accurate in identifying positive results ie very few ‘false positives’, saying you have antibodies when you don’t. Slightly less accurate but still very good on false negatives (saying you don’t have antibodies when you do).

Well good. The interesting thing is what will we do with these tests? Who are they for? How will their use be targetted? Will individuals be allowed to buy them?

There is no evidence that having antibodies gives you protection against reinfection, but I’m pretty sure it would give me a sense of possibly false security if I had a positive test. It might change peoples’ behaviour, when the safest thing for us to do with people outside our household is to assume that both we and they have the virus, people might think ‘hey, I can’t get this or give it, so social distancing no longer applies’. How do you prove you have had a positive test? An easily forged certificate, or some kind of electronic badge (smartphone users only, obviously).

We need a very clear strategy for these tests, and that needs to be shared very explicitly. These cannot be seen as a get out of jail free card for individuals, but must be part of a collective community based approach to managing social distancing restrictions. Fat ****ing chance with this mob in charge.
I'm pretty sure Michael Govids daughter is top of the list.
 
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Seems that we now have, or will soon have, two reliable antibody tests, one from Roche and one from Abbott. Both proper companies with a lot to lose if they sell faulty crap. They both seem very accurate in identifying positive results ie very few ‘false positives’, saying you have antibodies when you don’t. Slightly less accurate but still very good on false negatives (saying you don’t have antibodies when you do).

Well good. The interesting thing is what will we do with these tests? Who are they for? How will their use be targetted? Will individuals be allowed to buy them?

There is no evidence that having antibodies gives you protection against reinfection, but I’m pretty sure it would give me a sense of possibly false security if I had a positive test. It might change peoples’ behaviour, when the safest thing for us to do with people outside our household is to assume that both we and they have the virus, people might think ‘hey, I can’t get this or give it, so social distancing no longer applies’. How do you prove you have had a positive test? An easily forged certificate, or some kind of electronic badge (smartphone users only, obviously)?

We need a very clear strategy for these tests, and that needs to be shared very explicitly. These cannot be seen as a get out of jail free card for individuals, but must be part of a collective community based approach to managing social distancing restrictions. Fat ****ing chance with this mob in charge. They’ve only had three months to think it through, they must have started when they thought they were getting 3.5m in early April, the ones Johnson promised which didn’t work. Nah, they’ve put no thought into it at all, just like everything else.

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any known cases of re-infection are there?

I'm going to open an immune pub and call it the Safe House.
 
We have a holiday in Portugal booked for August. Currently, the situation is that Portugal is happy to have us, but our own government would really rather we didn't come back - or at least will force us to quarantine for two weeks on our return. Portugal, of course, has massively fewer Covid cases than the UK. What utter bollocks this is.
 
Here he is...

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We have a holiday in Portugal booked for August. Currently, the situation is that Portugal is happy to have us, but our own government would really rather we didn't come back - or at least will force us to quarantine for two weeks on our return. Portugal, of course, has massively fewer Covid cases than the UK. What utter bollocks this is.
**** it mate, do whatever you want. **** the government, we have to take everything Johnson says with a shovel full of salt.
 
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**** it mate, do whatever you want. **** the government, we have to take everything Johnson says with a shovel full of salt.

Well I will, but they're threatening to fine me £1,000 if I don't quarantine myself. It's a ****ing outrage.
 
I'm doing whatever I ****ing want. These lying ****s cant do anything!!!

I'd quite fancy taking them on if they tried to fine me. Having spent months allowing anyone to come into the country unchecked from China, Italy, or anywhere else in the world ravaged by the virus - almost certainly contributing to thousands of deaths - they threaten to fine UK citizens returning from a country hardly touched by it! Good luck with that.
 
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I'd quite fancy taking them on if they tried to fine me. Having spent months allowing anyone to come into the country from China, Italy, or anywhere else in the world ravaged by the virus - almost certainly contributing to thousands of deaths - they threaten to fine UK citizens returning from a country hardly touched by it! Good luck with that.
Seriously, do whatever you want mate. Everyone is anyway. The starting point with this government is, presume it's a lie!
 
I have no idea whether a Labour government would have managed this episode any better, but I have to say Johnson’s administration has been at best incompetent and at worst criminally arrogant these past few months.

A series of ministers and other officials breaking rules of their own creation, then spewing out the arrogant tripe about excusing themselves yet insisting the great unwashed fall into line is beyond ****.

That little passive aggressive twat, Matt Hancock, is way out of his depth. Sunak’s financial measures shouldn’t be lauded given the ease with which one can spend other people’s money or cash they don’t even have - ask the former Mrs Uber (grrr, grrr!). Sharma is about as convincing a business leader as Gerald Ratner is at marketing his jewellery. Johnson just hides most of the time.

To boycott GMB because Morgan asks too many difficult questions tells you everything there is no know about these incompetent pricks.

Yes, I’m a conservative (with a small ‘c’ - I’m a number of things beginning with a small ‘c’), but I’m separating my political leanings from the current bunch of flaccid penises purporting to represent my ideals.

Overreaction from the start, crippled the economy for years to come increasing the misery for thousands, ignoring their own protocols, sending the elderly back to their care homes to wipe out hundreds, unable to buy the basic equipment for NHS staff on time, letting thousands through our airports unchecked during this time, allowing illegal immigrants to come ashore aided and abetted by both French and British coastguards, hiding from proper scrutiny.

For ****s sake, even Baldrick had a plan.
 
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I have no idea whether a Labour government would have managed this episode any better, but I have to say Johnson’s administration has been at best incompetent and at worst criminally arrogant these past few months.

A series of ministers and other officials breaking rules of their own creation, then spewing out the arrogant tripe about excusing themselves yet insisting the great unwashed fall into line is beyond ****.

That little passive aggressive twat, Matt Hancock, is way out of his depth. Sunak’s financial measures shouldn’t be lauded given the ease with which one can spend other people’s money or cash they don’t even have - ask the former Mrs Uber (grrr, grrr!). Sharma is about as convincing a business leader as Gerald Ratner is at marketing his jewellery. Johnson just hides most of the time.

To boycott GMB because Morgan asks to many difficult questions tells you everything there is no know about these incompetent pricks.

Yes, I’m a conservative (with a small ‘c’ - I’m a number of things beginning with a small ‘c’), but I’m separating my political leanings from the current bunch of flaccid penises purporting to represent my ideals.

Overreaction from the start, crippled the economy for years to come increasing the misery for thousands, ignoring their own protocols, sending the elderly back to their care homes to wipe out hundreds, unable to buy the basic equipment for NHS staff on time, letting thousands through our airports unchecked during this time, allowing illegal immigrants to come ashore aided and abetted by both French and British coastguards, hiding from proper scrutiny.

For ****s sake, even Baldrick had a plan.
Uber, I've missed you!
 
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I have no idea whether a Labour government would have managed this episode any better, but I have to say Johnson’s administration has been at best incompetent and at worst criminally arrogant these past few months.

A series of ministers and other officials breaking rules of their own creation, then spewing out the arrogant tripe about excusing themselves yet insisting the great unwashed fall into line is beyond ****.

That little passive aggressive twat, Matt Hancock, is way out of his depth. Sunak’s financial measures shouldn’t be lauded given the ease with which one can spend other people’s money or cash they don’t even have - ask the former Mrs Uber (grrr, grrr!). Sharma is about as convincing a business leader as Gerald Ratner is at marketing his jewellery. Johnson just hides most of the time.

To boycott GMB because Morgan asks too many difficult questions tells you everything there is no know about these incompetent pricks.

Yes, I’m a conservative (with a small ‘c’ - I’m a number of things beginning with a small ‘c’), but I’m separating my political leanings from the current bunch of flaccid penises purporting to represent my ideals.

Overreaction from the start, crippled the economy for years to come increasing the misery for thousands, ignoring their own protocols, sending the elderly back to their care homes to wipe out hundreds, unable to buy the basic equipment for NHS staff on time, letting thousands through our airports unchecked during this time, allowing illegal immigrants to come ashore aided and abetted by both French and British coastguards, hiding from proper scrutiny.

For ****s sake, even Baldrick had a plan.
it will all be fine once they start the proper lockdown
 
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Probably the same people that wanted Ferguson hanged from the nearest bridge for visiting his mistress,

I believe the story was that she (Ferguson's mistress) visited him at his home. He did not travel she did
He thought it was OK because he had already had the virus mildly and had recovered.

Cummings was alledgedly quite ill when he was alledgedly travelling.
If a person is well enough to drive, they are also well enough to look after their child. But Cummings was not as described by his wife.
SOMEONE IS LYING SOMEWHERE

Dominic Cummings collapsed and was confined to bed for 10 days with severe breathlessness after contracting the coronavirus, his wife has revealed.
Boris Johnson's chief adviser contracted the deadly illness at around the same time as the Prime Minister, but little was known about how badly affected he had been. Writing in The Spectator, Mary Wakefield said her husband should have been hospitalised when his symptoms worsened.


She said Mr Cummings had "rushed home" when she first showed signs of having contracted the bug."He’s an extremely kind man, whatever people assume to the contrary,” she wrote. "But 24 hours later, he said ‘I feel weird’ and collapsed.



"I felt breathless, sometimes achy, but Dom couldn’t get out of bed. Day in, day out for 10 days he lay doggo with a high fever and spasms that made the muscles lump and twitch in his legs. He could breathe, but only in a limited, shallow way." After a week, Ms Wakefield said the stricken paid had reached "peak corona uncertainty".
She added: "I was told: that’s when you either get better or head for ICU. But was Dom fighting off the bug or was he heading for a ventilator? Who knew? "I sat on his bed staring at his chest, trying to count his breaths per minute.


"The little oxygen reader we’d bought on Amazon indicated that he should be in hospital, but his lips weren’t blue and he could talk in full sentences, such as: 'Please stop staring at my chest, sweetheart'."

Many people have coped with this illness, by taking the government advice to the best of their ability. A family/friend comes in to look after you and isolates with you. I have heard of a number of wives/hubbies who have left their spouses to go and look after their aged parents, leaving the partner to look after the children.
 
I have no idea whether a Labour government would have managed this episode any better, but I have to say Johnson’s administration has been at best incompetent and at worst criminally arrogant these past few months.

A series of ministers and other officials breaking rules of their own creation, then spewing out the arrogant tripe about excusing themselves yet insisting the great unwashed fall into line is beyond ****.

That little passive aggressive twat, Matt Hancock, is way out of his depth. Sunak’s financial measures shouldn’t be lauded given the ease with which one can spend other people’s money or cash they don’t even have - ask the former Mrs Uber (grrr, grrr!). Sharma is about as convincing a business leader as Gerald Ratner is at marketing his jewellery. Johnson just hides most of the time.

To boycott GMB because Morgan asks too many difficult questions tells you everything there is no know about these incompetent pricks.

Yes, I’m a conservative (with a small ‘c’ - I’m a number of things beginning with a small ‘c’), but I’m separating my political leanings from the current bunch of flaccid penises purporting to represent my ideals.

Overreaction from the start, crippled the economy for years to come increasing the misery for thousands, ignoring their own protocols, sending the elderly back to their care homes to wipe out hundreds, unable to buy the basic equipment for NHS staff on time, letting thousands through our airports unchecked during this time, allowing illegal immigrants to come ashore aided and abetted by both French and British coastguards, hiding from proper scrutiny.

For ****s sake, even Baldrick had a plan.

Top post - why other people can't look past the party politics and see the disastrous management of this situation by the government amazes me
 
As far as I'm aware, there aren't any known cases of re-infection are there?

I'm going to open an immune pub and call it the Safe House.
You can get flu year after year can’t you? It’s the same thing, some short term immunity would be expected but not long lasting, like you get with measles. They don’t know whether there is any immunity, immunity for some for a few months, or immunity for all who have had it.

How do you think an antibody test should be deployed?
 
You can get flu year after year can’t you? It’s the same thing, some short term immunity would be expected but not long lasting, like you get with measles. They don’t know whether there is any immunity, immunity for some for a few months, or immunity for all who have had it.

How do you think an antibody test should be deployed?
If we don't know much about this still then I would do the following:
1) Test a moderate size town. Say 50-80 thousand people. Test them all because you might as well get prevalence stats.
2) Test them again 4 weeks later and see if the antibodies are still present in those affected and get stats on new cases of antibodies been present.
3) Ask for volunteers from those that showed antibodies in both test but had mild to no symptoms to volunteer to be exposed to the virus. Pay them handsomely for it.
4) Analyse the crap out of the results.