The major problem with letting Covid-19 run amuck is that eventually the hospitals collapse. You have to start cancelling urgent operations and if you have a serious car accident, the beds are full and people die. I've seen people lamenting that every year fly carries off a lot of people and we don't lock down. All true, but we don't see the ICU' beds all full, and anyway, the presence of Covid-19 doesn't mean the annual seasonal flu won't take it's toll too. The WHO were warning we'd meet a second wave in the autumn, and the daily UK deaths now being seen were predicted for mid november, (and laughed at by the conspiracy theorists). China bit the bullet in march, most of Europe opted for a lite version. Lets hope the vaccine arrives sooner rather than later.
The people who put forward the 'Flu' argument (trying to diminish the seriousness of Coronavirus) are at best badly misguided, at worst willfully stupid. As you've pointed out Ken - and others have also pointed out in the past - Coronavirus is nothing like Flu, in that we have no medical defence against Corona unlike the vaccines we produce against Flu viruses. Doctors and nurses treating seriously ill Flu & Pneumonia patients do not have to wear full PPE all the time. The population at large is not in the same danger from Flu as they are from Coronavirus. Once we have Coronavirus vaccines, then COVID19 becomes effectively just another strain of Flu, albeit a nasty one. It will continue to claim some unlucky people. But it will no longer have the power to distort our society, break our social bonds and ravage our economic systems. Until there is a vaccine available to all, we must do all we can to protect the vulnerable members of our society. Because it is the right thing to do. We look after each other. We don't write people off and leave them behind.
Boris has said the Government will be extending the 80% pay Furlough scheme until the end of the 4 week national Lockdown (the end of November). This will have a MASSIVE effect of many businesses (including the one I work for). I approve, but I wish this had been said before the end of last week. They've left it to the very last minute - with many firms about to bring employees back in that they simply don't have enough work for. How many have already been made redundant in the last few days, who could have been helped by the extended furlough?
Good to see the Government showing some backbone at last. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54767118 Gove says that Lockdown 2 may run beyond 2nd December if necessary. It isn't about timescales, it's about getting R below 1 again. Absolutely right. My only additional thought would be Close the Universities. Break up these infection nests of teenagers and send them all home. Keep the younger kids in schools for as long as possible if you really must. Meanwhile Police are attacked trying to break up an illegal rave with 700 brainless idiots attending... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-54769055 Enough wrist-slapping and finger wagging. Numbskulls who are caught at these events should be interned. Build some detention camps on the moors and put the army in charge of looking after them. A couple of months of basic training in the freezing cold will knock the bravado out of these spotty tossers. Make grown-ups out of them.
The Prime Minister warns that COVID19 fatalities could be twice as high as the first wave... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54773196 Bearing in mind that the Economy is already virtually ruined, if things go badly his winter - and if looks unlikely that there will be a vaccine available for mass use by the Spring of 2021, I think the PM should consider forming a Government of National Unity, and Emergency Powers. I think the records show in WW2 there were approximately 70,000 civilian casualties in the UK, as well as a far greater number of injured and homeless people. Once the death toll from COVID19 passes 70,000 - and bearing in mind that the wrecked economy will leave millions jobless, and possibly hundreds of thousands homeless, including vulnerable folk and children, the State must intervene to protect our basic civilisation. People will need to be sheltered, clothed and fed. Sufferers of 'Long Covid' will need years of care - as will those who struggle with other long term illnesses that the NHS is now unable to treat. And those who will suffer with mental illnesses - including a gradually building but potentially huge wave of post traumatic stress. These challenges will be beyond the ability of a one-party Government to solve. We will require huge public works projects and a high degree of direct State control for several years. That's why a National Unity Government will be needed. Party politics MUST be left to one side - as it was during WW2. The fight against Coronavirus is becoming a World War. In my view the only way of avoiding these drastic measures is the availability of a Coronavirus vaccine to ALL by around March-April 2021. From the perspective of our Economy and the foundations of our society we cannot go on the way we are for longer than that.
The problem in recent months is that it’s been all but impossible to keep the young people in. They have had enough. I know from experience - I’ve got a couple, and I hear what their peer groups are saying. I partially sympathise - but they have in turn spread it to their families and age groups that are more at risk.
F**k lockdown, I'm going to party like it's 1999. Nigel no Masks will be the people's hero, and Lardi will post his umpteenth post that says anyone that doesn't agree with him doesn't care. C'mon, one life!
Spot on. You carry on living in your fantasy world where actions have no consequences. The rest of us will have a grown up discussion about a very grave subject.
I would still have Boris as PM - he was elected to the position. But I would have a cabinet and a Government assembled with politicians from all the major parties. Men and women willing to work together to save this Nation.
Something along the line of what Ardern has done in NZ. I love this Woman. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...to-focus-on-covid-19-containment-and-recovery
Female leaders generally have done better in the pandemic. I'm not sure why, it may be because they don't see it as a fight. The most macho types have done the worst as a general rule.
42,000 experts say lockdown doesn't work, and your qualifications are what? Screwing in light bulbs. As I said, it's party time...just do it man!
I suspect @The Penguin may have read this. MD in Private Eye does an interesting comparison between SARS and Covid. SARS is more virulent but easier to contain as victims display symptoms. Covid is harder to control because a majority of those infected show no symptoms but can easily transmit to the vulnerable. If an effective vaccine is developed it's this last point that's the clincher in favour of taking it. Without inoculation we can never associate freely again
She had the advantage of being a trained chemist, same as Angela Merkel, who has done rather well, at least compared to most of Europe.
