Off Topic Corona virus

[Whitejock]

A Facebook friend of mine who is an independent and does quite a bit for the community contacted our local MP in regards to unchecked flights landing in the country. Below is a copy of his email and the reply, I can’t help feel the government has definitely got this wrong....


LONG BUT WORTH 5 MIN AND A DEBATE WHAT DO YOU THINK??
This email highlights why people may lose confidence in the system we seem to have two standards when it comes to our citizens and others.
This is the answer form Mr Ellis MP Northampton North which I received today in answer to my email I sent to him on Monday in respect to my question below. I’m not an expert and this is only my opinion, I also support 99% of the government’s actions and am aware many countries have their own experts, however, I’m only logical if the incubation period is 2 to 14 days and each person can infect 2 other people which will increase in direct proportion, our experts feel this is not a problem. I have to ask why then have the EU now proposed to ban all flights from outside the Schengen area which will include the UK and at least 2 countries we are encouraging people to come from to the UK from, the USA have now closed their borders. Is it because we need people to work our fields? wee need the food but have I missed something do we not have spare labour capacity in the UK? As normal Mr Ellis never answered the question. DO WE NOW HAVE DIFFERENT POLICIES?

EMAIL TO MR ELLIS
Dear Mr Ellis, please tell me this is fake news. If it makes no difference, why then did we place British nationals returning into 14 days quarantine? or migrants in quarantine on ships off Italy?
At least 15,000 people are still flying in to the UK each day with no screening for coronavirus, according to the health secretary. Matt Hancock said the equivalent of 105,000 travelers land per week, including from hotspots nations such as China, Italy and the United States. The government has not imposed any health checks or quarantine periods for people coming in to the country.

Dear Tom,
Thank you for your email and I appreciate your concerns.
I want to reassure you that the approach the Government is taking is based on the best possible medical advice.

With regard to entering the UK: The Government has not suspended flights at this point because there is limited proof that it would have a significant effect on stopping the spread of the virus. The virus is already in this country and almost every other country in the world. In any event it is worth noting that Italy suspended all flights to mainland China quite early on in its outbreak, and despite this it has the largest outbreak of Coronavirus outside of China. It is also worth noting, however, that official Foreign Office advice is against all international travel.

There is also no automatic temperature screening at airports because medical experts advising the government say that it would likely have little effect. This is partly because such measures are never 100% accurate, and also because the virus often takes several days for symptoms – such as fever - to start showing. In other words- a person arriving at the airport may have a temperature but it may not be coronavirus, or he may have coronavirus but not yet have developed a temperature, or he may have a temperature and coronavirus but the screening may not be accurate enough to detect it.

We are following the best medical advice, and although to those of us who have not spent years studying medicine and epidemiology some decisions may seem questionable, I am sure you will agree with me that it is best to follow the scientific approach.

Of course the situation is developing rapidly, and official guidance may change at any point.

Kind Regards,

Michael
The Rt. Hon. Michael Ellis QC MP
Member of Parliament for Northampton North
Solicitor General for England and

Throws up lots of questions, but if we're so keep on getting our economy going again, why are so many planes grounded & flights cancelled? Is it because the destination airports are shut, or is it this Foreign Office policy being enforced by the back door? So yes, effectively forbidden outward flights, and no rules for incoming. Wonder if it makes the fools who elected this mob in happy?

Monty Python had great foresight in lampooning this present tory government:

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[ristac]

Throws up lots of questions, but if we're so keep on getting our economy going again, why are so many planes grounded & flights cancelled? Is it because the destination airports are shut, or is it this Foreign Office policy being enforced by the back door? So yes, effectively forbidden outward flights, and no rules for incoming. Wonder if it makes the fools who elected this mob in happy?

Monty Python had great foresight in lampooning this present tory government:

You must log in or register to see media

Got to say I’ve no regrets in voting them in, they’re still the best option we had. I posted this as I don’t believe they are perfect, no party is. We got our business grant this week for the wife’s hair salon, it means our business will survive so I can’t knock them for that

 

[brisbane-lion]

I just fail to understand until it is zero cases and zero infected how any country can be confident a second wave won’t sweep through. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be back open myself but I’m failing to see how the virus isn’t going to start off again

The Mayor of New York said it best, I think, when he said "We may have the beast under control, but we haven't killed it. It's still out there".

 

[Eireleeds1]

A Facebook friend of mine who is an independent and does quite a bit for the community contacted our local MP in regards to unchecked flights landing in the country. Below is a copy of his email and the reply, I can’t help feel the government has definitely got this wrong....


LONG BUT WORTH 5 MIN AND A DEBATE WHAT DO YOU THINK??
This email highlights why people may lose confidence in the system we seem to have two standards when it comes to our citizens and others.
This is the answer form Mr Ellis MP Northampton North which I received today in answer to my email I sent to him on Monday in respect to my question below. I’m not an expert and this is only my opinion, I also support 99% of the government’s actions and am aware many countries have their own experts, however, I’m only logical if the incubation period is 2 to 14 days and each person can infect 2 other people which will increase in direct proportion, our experts feel this is not a problem. I have to ask why then have the EU now proposed to ban all flights from outside the Schengen area which will include the UK and at least 2 countries we are encouraging people to come from to the UK from, the USA have now closed their borders. Is it because we need people to work our fields? wee need the food but have I missed something do we not have spare labour capacity in the UK? As normal Mr Ellis never answered the question. DO WE NOW HAVE DIFFERENT POLICIES?

EMAIL TO MR ELLIS
Dear Mr Ellis, please tell me this is fake news. If it makes no difference, why then did we place British nationals returning into 14 days quarantine? or migrants in quarantine on ships off Italy?
At least 15,000 people are still flying in to the UK each day with no screening for coronavirus, according to the health secretary. Matt Hancock said the equivalent of 105,000 travelers land per week, including from hotspots nations such as China, Italy and the United States. The government has not imposed any health checks or quarantine periods for people coming in to the country.

Dear Tom,
Thank you for your email and I appreciate your concerns.
I want to reassure you that the approach the Government is taking is based on the best possible medical advice.

With regard to entering the UK: The Government has not suspended flights at this point because there is limited proof that it would have a significant effect on stopping the spread of the virus. The virus is already in this country and almost every other country in the world. In any event it is worth noting that Italy suspended all flights to mainland China quite early on in its outbreak, and despite this it has the largest outbreak of Coronavirus outside of China. It is also worth noting, however, that official Foreign Office advice is against all international travel.

There is also no automatic temperature screening at airports because medical experts advising the government say that it would likely have little effect. This is partly because such measures are never 100% accurate, and also because the virus often takes several days for symptoms – such as fever - to start showing. In other words- a person arriving at the airport may have a temperature but it may not be coronavirus, or he may have coronavirus but not yet have developed a temperature, or he may have a temperature and coronavirus but the screening may not be accurate enough to detect it.

We are following the best medical advice, and although to those of us who have not spent years studying medicine and epidemiology some decisions may seem questionable, I am sure you will agree with me that it is best to follow the scientific approach.

Of course the situation is developing rapidly, and official guidance may change at any point.

Kind Regards,

Michael
The Rt. Hon. Michael Ellis QC MP
Member of Parliament for Northampton North
Solicitor General for England and

We are following exact same policy and it’s wrong. Last week we had a tinkers funeral in Birr County Offaly. Only about 6 people allowed at a normal funeral. These ****ers had over 150 and a huge number of them came by ferry from the uk. It’s scandalous

 

[lufctommo]

I think it's obvious we could've done more at the start of the pandemic with regards people entering the country but I have to reluctantly agree with the government that checking flights now will have little effect now. The UK is one of the most infected countries in the world so there's a higher chance of your average man walking the streets spreading the virus than most international passengers. Of course you'd probably stop some cases coming in with more checks at the airport but then you'd probably catch more people by taking everyone's temperature in the queue for Asda and we're not doing that either. It will probably play a big part in the future but right now it seems the same amount of effort could make a bigger difference elsewhere.

 

[Whitejock]

I think it's obvious we could've done more at the start of the pandemic with regards people entering the country but I have to reluctantly agree with the government that checking flights now will have little effect now. The UK is one of the most infected countries in the world so there's a higher chance of your average man walking the streets spreading the virus than most international passengers. Of course you'd probably stop some cases coming in with more checks at the airport but then you'd probably catch more people by taking everyone's temperature in the queue for Asda and we're not doing that either. It will probably play a big part in the future but right now it seems the same amount of effort could make a bigger difference elsewhere.

As I understood it, flights into the UK were only permitted to repatriate stranded citizens or to carry cargo. The 6 flights bringing in Romanian fruit pickers had to have special permission from the government. I can't believe we are repatriating 100k people a week, far less have a deadline for them to get home. They've had over a month, FFS! I'd guess the most of the economy seats were empty for these flights, which gives a clue as to who was flying - and I'll guess they were repatriating on a regular basis!

 

[JonnyLosAngeles]

A Facebook friend of mine who is an independent and does quite a bit for the community contacted our local MP in regards to unchecked flights landing in the country. Below is a copy of his email and the reply, I can’t help feel the government has definitely got this wrong....


LONG BUT WORTH 5 MIN AND A DEBATE WHAT DO YOU THINK??
This email highlights why people may lose confidence in the system we seem to have two standards when it comes to our citizens and others.
This is the answer form Mr Ellis MP Northampton North which I received today in answer to my email I sent to him on Monday in respect to my question below. I’m not an expert and this is only my opinion, I also support 99% of the government’s actions and am aware many countries have their own experts, however, I’m only logical if the incubation period is 2 to 14 days and each person can infect 2 other people which will increase in direct proportion, our experts feel this is not a problem. I have to ask why then have the EU now proposed to ban all flights from outside the Schengen area which will include the UK and at least 2 countries we are encouraging people to come from to the UK from, the USA have now closed their borders. Is it because we need people to work our fields? wee need the food but have I missed something do we not have spare labour capacity in the UK? As normal Mr Ellis never answered the question. DO WE NOW HAVE DIFFERENT POLICIES?

EMAIL TO MR ELLIS
Dear Mr Ellis, please tell me this is fake news. If it makes no difference, why then did we place British nationals returning into 14 days quarantine? or migrants in quarantine on ships off Italy?
At least 15,000 people are still flying in to the UK each day with no screening for coronavirus, according to the health secretary. Matt Hancock said the equivalent of 105,000 travelers land per week, including from hotspots nations such as China, Italy and the United States. The government has not imposed any health checks or quarantine periods for people coming in to the country.

Dear Tom,
Thank you for your email and I appreciate your concerns.
I want to reassure you that the approach the Government is taking is based on the best possible medical advice.

With regard to entering the UK: The Government has not suspended flights at this point because there is limited proof that it would have a significant effect on stopping the spread of the virus. The virus is already in this country and almost every other country in the world. In any event it is worth noting that Italy suspended all flights to mainland China quite early on in its outbreak, and despite this it has the largest outbreak of Coronavirus outside of China. It is also worth noting, however, that official Foreign Office advice is against all international travel.

There is also no automatic temperature screening at airports because medical experts advising the government say that it would likely have little effect. This is partly because such measures are never 100% accurate, and also because the virus often takes several days for symptoms – such as fever - to start showing. In other words- a person arriving at the airport may have a temperature but it may not be coronavirus, or he may have coronavirus but not yet have developed a temperature, or he may have a temperature and coronavirus but the screening may not be accurate enough to detect it.

We are following the best medical advice, and although to those of us who have not spent years studying medicine and epidemiology some decisions may seem questionable, I am sure you will agree with me that it is best to follow the scientific approach.

Of course the situation is developing rapidly, and official guidance may change at any point.

Kind Regards,

Michael
The Rt. Hon. Michael Ellis QC MP
Member of Parliament for Northampton North
Solicitor General for England and

I recently travelled by air internationally as follows:

LA to London - Feb 7-8
London to Johannesburg - Feb 12-13
Johannesburg to London - Feb 21-22
London to LA - Feb 27.

Entering London both times - scanned my passport at Heathrow and walked in without any delay or conversation with immigration officer.
Entering Johannesburg - had my temperature taken with infra-red thermometer.
Leaving Heathrow - at American Airlines check in I was asked if I had been to China during the preceding two weeks.
Entering LA - scanned my passport, handed a printout to an immigration officer with no conversation.

So, in summary, the African country which is not exactly an example of good governance by its government had some CV detection for arriving passengers measure in place, the two world leader countries effectively had zero procedures. I recognize this was early in the life cycle of this pandemic, but what a contrast eh?

There are many reasons, other than this, why the current CV numbers are significantly lower in South Africa, on a per capita basis, than both the U.K. and USA but what impact do you think that simple procedure had?

 

[lifecheshirewhite]

I recently travelled by air internationally as follows:

LA to London - Feb 7-8
London to Johannesburg - Feb 12-13
Johannesburg to London - Feb 21-22
London to LA - Feb 27.

Entering London both times - scanned my passport at Heathrow and walked in without any delay or conversation with immigration officer.
Entering Johannesburg - had my temperature taken with infra-red thermometer.
Leaving Heathrow - at American Airlines check in I was asked if I had been to China during the preceding two weeks.
Entering LA - scanned my passport, handed a printout to an immigration officer with no conversation.

So, in summary, the African country which is not exactly an example of good governance by its government had some CV detection for arriving passengers measure in place, the two world leader countries effectively had zero procedures. I recognize this was early in the life cycle of this pandemic, but what a contrast eh?

There are many reasons, other than this, why the current CV numbers are significantly lower in South Africa, on a per capita basis, than both the U.K. and USA but what impact do you think that simple procedure had?

You're the fooker who's spread the virus world wide

 

[Eric Le Merde]

I just fail to understand until it is zero cases and zero infected how any country can be confident a second wave won’t sweep through. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be back open myself but I’m failing to see how the virus isn’t going to start off again

I agree you have to get to zero or quarantined cases with known contacts and then you have to keep testing as well. In 3-4 weeks we could well be at zero new cases, probably no daily increases in deaths caused by this and a very low number of people still being treated. The NT for example has very few cases and has had no new cases for days. Borders between states are closed and if you want to go to any state you have to go into quarantine for 14 days, travel from any country is banned unless you are a citizen or permanent resident, and then you have to go into 14 days quarantine. Queensland had zero new cases on Monday, but 6 today and NSW has been reducing the new cases significantly, only 6 new cases in the last couple of days.

That's why I said in 3-4 weeks we could start easing restrictions because we could well be at zero.

 

[wakeybreakyheart]

I agree you have to get to zero or quarantined cases with known contacts and then you have to keep testing as well. In 3-4 weeks we could well be at zero new cases, probably no daily increases in deaths caused by this and a very low number of people still being treated. The NT for example has very few cases and has had no new cases for days. Borders between states are closed and if you want to go to any state you have to go into quarantine for 14 days, travel from any country is banned unless you are a citizen or permanent resident, and then you have to go into 14 days quarantine. Queensland had zero new cases on Monday, but 6 today and NSW has been reducing the new cases significantly, only 6 new cases in the last couple of days.

That's why I said in 3-4 weeks we could start easing restrictions because we could well be at zero.

The only way you will ever be at zero is never open your borders again cease all travel and isolate forever. Zero cases are not possible with any virus be it cough cold or flu.

 

[brisbane-lion]

We are following exact same policy and it’s wrong. Last week we had a tinkers funeral in Birr County Offaly. Only about 6 people allowed at a normal funeral. These ****ers had over 150 and a huge number of them came by ferry from the uk. It’s scandalous

WE had an aboriginal's funeral a week or so back. Three hundred attended because it was 'cultural'. Bull sh*t.

 

[Eric Le Merde]

The only way you will ever be at zero is never open your borders again cease all travel and isolate forever. Zero cases are not possible with any virus be it cough cold or flu.

Once again I agree we won't open the borders to any country that has the virus, NZ will probably be the first country that we resume international travel with. It's probably not possible to eradicate the virus completely but as in the case of the variola virus, that causes smallpox, it can largely be controlled.

 

[Eric Le Merde]

WE had an aboriginal's funeral a week or so back. Three hundred attended because it was 'cultural'. Bull sh*t.

To be fair there was a biker funeral with a lot of people as well and you can't get a permit to go into aboriginal lands right now as they have very few cases and want to keep it that way. I think there will be more pressure to ease restrictions the lower the recorded figures go. For instance Bondi beach and several others around Sydney are opening up again.

 

[wakeybreakyheart]

Once again I agree we won't open the borders to any country that has the virus, NZ will probably be the first country that we resume international travel with. It's probably not possible to eradicate the virus completely but as in the case of the variola virus, that causes smallpox, it can largely be controlled.

Yeah but this is not like smallpox. This is a Sars COVID a severe acute respiratory syndrome. All flus are corona types because they resemble a crown when viewed in a lab. Immunity is built up over a few years but this has spread very fast. So the deaths are magnified as it is an acute strain.
Your country had banned travel between states. The very shape of my country makes that impossible to achieve. The Chinese could lockdown their provinces easily. Meanwhile in Italy people fled the North and placed the South with less medical facilities under strain. A football game was played in Milan between two teams who's stadium was not big enough. Thousands travelled and took it back with them. Horse racing went ahead and a hundred thousand attended Cheltenham. I'm expecting a flare up near me as its ramadam this week. I will be staying well clear. Muslin are still attending funerals in large numbers here they do not care.
This virus will claim many more lives yet.

 

[brisbane-lion]

To be fair there was a biker funeral with a lot of people as well and you can't get a permit to go into aboriginal lands right now as they have very few cases and want to keep it that way. I think there will be more pressure to ease restrictions the lower the recorded figures go. For instance Bondi beach and several others around Sydney are opening up again.

Thing is, Eric, the aboriginal funeral was officially sanctioned, the biker's probably not. As for Bondi being closed down, it's a big beach and the people on it were not cheek by jowel with their neighbours. When talking beaches I like to post piccies of Marcoola Beach. No-on e within cooee of each other.

 

[Eric Le Merde]

Marcoola on a busy day

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[Eric Le Merde]

Yeah but this is not like smallpox. This is a Sars COVID a severe acute respiratory syndrome. All flus are corona types because they resemble a crown when viewed in a lab. Immunity is built up over a few years but this has spread very fast. So the deaths are magnified as it is an acute strain.
Your country had banned travel between states. The very shape of my country makes that impossible to achieve. The Chinese could lockdown their provinces easily. Meanwhile in Italy people fled the North and placed the South with less medical facilities under strain. A football game was played in Milan between two teams who's stadium was not big enough. Thousands travelled and took it back with them. Horse racing went ahead and a hundred thousand attended Cheltenham. I'm expecting a flare up near me as its ramadam this week. I will be staying well clear. Muslin are still attending funerals in large numbers here they do not care.
This virus will claim many more lives yet.

Ah, so now you are being specific and not general. Indeed there are no known treatments for coronaviruses but the symptoms can be treated.

 

[brisbane-lion]

Marcoola on a busy day

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I see the life guards are out in force.

 

[Eireleeds1]

I see the life guards are out in force.

If they’re looking for life guards, let me know. I’m only too willing to relocate. I can’t swim by the way but looking at that, I doubt that would be important

 

[lifecheshirewhite]

We are following exact same policy and it’s wrong. Last week we had a tinkers funeral in Birr County Offaly. Only about 6 people allowed at a normal funeral. These ****ers had over 150 and a huge number of them came by ferry from the uk. It’s scandalous

So now would be a good time to cancel the return ferry you can keep them.