Coronavirus: Please use this thread for all COVID19 talk!

Japan, or Singapore, or South Korea certainly demonstrate what can be done in extremely dense population centres. I mention Australia because people have come up with the idea that there's something unique to Asian populations that prevented it from going nuclear, when it's really just that they reacted much more swiftly.

 

So as usual Schd, you focus on 1 area, and ignore the rest of posts.

You are like a guy I work with, that no matter what, has to be seen as the most intelligent guy in the room

 

And you’re like a guy I used to work with who had to have the last word, ignored most of the facts and talked over everyone without taking any of their rationale into account
Japan and South Korea are very good examples of a government doing what ours didn’t.

 

Could also be that none of the rest of them make a whit of sense. Australia is a heavily import-dependent nation, like the UK, and as both are islands there really aren't that many more points of entry into the UK than there are into Australia. There might actually be more points of entry into Australia.

Further, the two countries are demographically quite similar, both are in the same bracket in economic development, and the age-based population pyramids of the two countries are functionally indistinguishable:

https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-kingdom/2020/
https://www.populationpyramid.net/australia/2019/

 

He says, having the last word. What facts Dave - you reading Schads posts like you keep telling every non labour supporter does the UK press?

There are different views and aspect at play here, Scah absolutely has a point, but constantly misses lots of others as they make his point less impactful.

Keep up the comedy, @comedydave

 

Ok Schad, you have your view , i have mine. The difference between us is you seem to be always wanting to be proved right, when i cant be arsed to look up my points. Maybe that makes me lazy - probably, but there are loads of points in my previous posts tonight about possible reasons.

 

...but what use are those loads of points if they're easily disproven and you admit yourself that you have made no effort to check to see whether they have any validity?

 

Rally Schad, they’re easily disproven? I never said i hadnt checked them, just i wasnt going back to look them up. Perhaps you made an assumption...


So the number of entry points for both nations at the start of the pandemic is disproven? How about the general health of the nations? How about how easy it was to lock people down? How about how the financial impact of existing debt being serviced with the numbers that work in sectors that had to be furloughed and supported by the tax payer? How about the impending unknown impacts of Brexit? How about the balance of other health issues that exist for each nation? How about the numbers of people waiting for routine and complex treatments? How about the impact of mental health fo each nation.

I’m gonna leave it there Schad - have a lovely evening

EDIT - or how many disabled people dying. This has surprised me I have to say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56033813

 

Wasn’t dismissing their achievement...just pointing out that they are in a different situation. Important to learn from any country’s success, but also recognise that some things are not directly comparable. Our government underestimated the disease and acted too slowly...no argument.

 

Succinct and spot on. I cannot see how anyone could argue otherwise, whatever the variables that make international comparisons difficult.

 

I think I understand the nuance of your argument. However my point goes back to previous discussion ... what in reality is the difference between a gamble and calculated risk or even a educated guess?.. Phrases that mean the same thing. O.K. the singular word gamble carries less credence because it has no qualititve adjective, but essentially guess, risk and gamble have the same meaning in the context of the discussion.. I am happy that I have had my first AZ jab and will wait 12 weeks for the second. I have no choice but to accept that the science suggests, from 'the experts', that this is both educated and calculated... But I see no proof.

 

Bit bored with this thread . Fats let's make it more interesting, how many miles have you done this week, do I need to get out and try and surpass. I went out Sunday and it was bloomin cold. Puddles not thawed all week. Not sure about this weekend

 

It’s Covid related because it’s about physical abs mental health during lockdown.

Last 7 days
Friday - 20 miles
Saturday - 40
Sunday - 25
Monday - zero
Tuesday - 40 minutes on bike trainer (distance not recording)
Wednesday - 15 miles
Thursday - 16 miles.

my balls have been much smaller than normal this week ... Each day was either 1 or 2 degrees C

 

Geography mate. Population density, land mass, distance from nearest neighbours, climate...

 

And those urban centres are hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from each other.

 

And if individual Australian cities got overwhelmed without it spreading to others, that might be meaningful. Also, definitely not a feature shared by South Korea, Japan, or Norway (where about a third of the population of the whole country is in the greater Oslo area).

People keep coming up with reasons why it was possible in some places and not others, but weirdly the reasons differ significantly depending on which country is discussed, to the point of being totally contradictory at times. It's so strange that all of the countries that had massive, innate advantages are also the places that moved aggressively at the start of outbreaks and didn't lift restrictions until the disease was all but eradicated within their borders. Really coincidental, that.

 

I hope the government assert even more control over our lives, right down to bodily autonomy (a racist, homophobic vestige of a bygone age).

 

Yeah, I get all that. But I was just making the general point that it is daft to ignore factors that don't fit your argument, especially when they are as glaringly obvious as the ones I cited.

32 million members of the public pass through my workplace in any normal, pre-covid year. That's just one of over a dozen transport hubs in London, excluding airports. Britain's second city is less than an hour away by train. Aberdeen, at the far end of the country, is only 5 hours away. Several other major population centres lie in between. In Australia you can travel for days between population centres; even Sydney to Melbourne is about a 10 hour drive, with very little in between. Sydney to Adelaide is 14 hours. Adelaide to Darwin is a journey of 1884 miles, I don't think many people ever drive it.

 

I think there seems to be a real disconnect in what is being written, then read, then commented on.

Probably including me, but by many on here.

I dont think anyone is saying the Gov got things anywhere near spot on. Literally no one is saying this.

I think we are all agreeing they could have done more, just at times disagree how much more.

I also think some countries did control this exceptionally well.

I also think some of those countries had advantages over others.

I think a mixture of inexperience in governments dealing with past issues of disease, pandemics etc has showed, and lots of what has been written and cant be arsed to put here again. They also were slow to respond and didnt go far enough on some things.

I also think the Gov have got stuff right. You cant knock the Gov for loads of stuff and not in that case acknowledge stuff they have done in the UK.

So, the Oxford vaccine, the purchase of all the vaccines, the support for furlough for businesses and people. Sure that may not be perfect for all, but I was pretty surprised they went as far as they did. How about the vaccine roll out. I'm sure there are more on both sides, but I'm tired and need to get my morning drink.

I wonder what people would be saying just now if we were still in the EU and had only vaccinated 1/3 of what we have currently achieved. This isn't a pro EU piece btw, but is a pertinent point that it looks fortunate on this aspect and leaving when we did.

Finally, for me I think my vocal-ness has come from my own desperation to start seeing all is not as bad as some make out, that there is a light from the darkness in my head, that we are getting through this. It cant always be bad, all of the time. Maybe I'm more of an optimist than I thought.

Have lovely days today, everyone.

 

Well said, Billy. We are all desperately seeking some light at the end of this **** tunnel and just hoping it isn't a train coming the other way. I'm a life-time Labour voting hard line Remainer, but I'm delighted whenever the Government get things right. We cite the vaccines, rightly. But the furlough scheme needs a mention too, you're right. They've screwed up the implementation at times, but I can still applaud the idea. I'm very lucky. I'm on a decent pension, and all of my kids & partners have stayed in work, but I know a lot of their friends and others who are keeping a roof over their heads thanks to furlough.

Have a good one yourself, Billy. Thanks