Fucking 1st June

[EarlLeighIndamornin]

I have to admit, I cried.

I'm not being UR.

I wonder if the UK will follow the US and not even think about lifting the lockdown until next month. And then I think it will only be a partial lifting - maybe open some larger stores that can accommodate social distancing.

This I can cope with. Financially though.... my anxiety is going through the roof. Lots of us did not get any gov support.

I'm in Portugal, our lock-down has been downgraded, instead of a state or emergency we're now in a state of calamity, I'm going back to work on Monday

Until we have a vaccine we will have to live with some kind of lockdown and anyone who doesn't get that yet hasn't been concentrating.

Social distancing is only possible if large numbers of people don't do what they normally do - which is go to work/school, congregate together in parks and on beaches, crowd onto buses, trains and planes, sit in restaurants, visit gyms, bars, pubs and clubs, festivals and sporting fixtures. Modern life, particularly in cities, is all about packing in the maximum number of people to maximise profit. It's not about spacing people out, leaving empty seats and tables.

And those conditions are the ideal situation for a virus to spread. So until either a huge proportion of us have had it and are immune (whether people who have had it are actually immune is another question), or the vast majority have been vaccinated, this version of life will have to continue. So try to get your heads around that.

If countries had been able to properly trace all cases (almost impossible with global travel and a slow incubation period), then you would obviously try and quarantine the sick people so the healthy ones could carry on relative normality.

But they couldn't, so they have to quarantine eveyrone for everyone's safety

And Trump didn't say drink bleach. Did anyone actually read what he said or did they just listen to the media's trumped-up (pun intended) headlines?

No, it is true that he did not directly tell people to drink bleach, but what he did say was still very stupid.

Having failed to grasp what he had been told in a hurried briefing just before the press conference, he told the American public (and the rest of the world) that his scientists were going to investigate whether the virus could be treated by injecting disinfectant into people.

@3746xvy734

People cannot see this for what it really is and can be very easily manipulated and don't get it till it's too late.

Come on then, what is it? What don't we 'get'? Please put me right on my thinking that we are in the middle of a global pandemic where over 200000 people have died?

And Trump didn't say drink bleach. Did anyone actually read what he said or did they just listen to the media's trumped-up (pun intended) headlines?

He was talking about injecting disinfectant, and never mind reading, you can hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Did you watch the video? It doesn’t sound like you did. "I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute...in one minute and is there a way we can do something like that...by injection inside or almost a cleaning? 'cause you see it gets in the lungs..." You have to hear through his usual oratory "style" (or lack thereof) but it's a very clear suggestion from a very stupid man. At least he does acknowledge in the next couple of sentences that he is "not a medical doctor" but rather "like, a person with a good...you-know-what".

I’d happily stay in lockdown until January if it meant all those I loved and cared for could stay alive.

Well, good for you that you can happily do that. Personally I'm struggling with home educating, getting screeched at and whinged at and moaned at by my boys all day long, never getting to go to the toilet without a disaster happening... and having no money,

My mum and dad are my only family. My dad has lost his job, and his dog (of 16 years) has just died. His son (my estranged brother) is stuck abroad and he hasn't seen him since before Christmas. He can't see his grandchildren. I'm worried about him catching CV, but also about his mental state.

@Hunnybears I think what will be interesting is that countries with properly funded and run healthcare systems had choices that other countries didn't have. Our healthcare system couldn't cope with a Swedish approach and I hope we learn from that.

In 11 days French are partially unlocking, the youngest children return to school,1/2 classes every other day, most businesses open with safeguarding, 1m. apart, & masks. you can travel up to 100km, but will have to stay within your own department/zone, (which is colour coded depending on number of cases/medical capacity. Map not available yet.)
the Metro/Bus system is supposed to move people to their places of work keeping everyone 1m. apart, wearing masks.
If you can work from home they want this to continue. & they are asking companies to stagger their opening hours.to diminue rush hour.
people who are not working are asked to not use public transport at rush hour.
Museums, bars, restaurants, hotels, clubs etc remain closed.
This whole plan is to be reviewed weekly & can be back tracked.
There are not enough masks available.
There is no obligation by law to wear masks outside.
It is an accident waiting to happen, we still have 300 declared deaths a day

@puffinandkoala

And Trump didn't say drink bleach. Did anyone actually read what he said or did they just listen to the media's trumped-up (pun intended) headlines?

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/24/trump-disinfectant-bleach-coronavirus-claims-reaction

Here's a video link to his statement. He actually said that 'strong light' in the body, which his scientists can apparently do, or injecting disinfectant, again which he says scientists have shown knocks the virus out in 1 minute will work, and they're looking into both of those things.

The man is absolutely deranged!

he obviously wanted to go out with a bang.

If Trump has internal LED treatment, then he definitely will.

On a serious note, I see there are many Americans in this thread. Can I ask for some advice please?

My DD is at university and has an American boyfriend. He has been staying with us for the last 6 weeks, however, I think he wants to go back home (to a southern US state). We live in a very rural place and I’m the only one in the house who actually leaves it, either to go to the supermarket or to walk the dog.

Would it be even feasible to think about driving him to LHR to put him on a plane home for the summer? Planes are still crossing the Atlantic so there must be some passengers still flying. Everything is so confusing.

What would anyone else here do?

he obviously wanted to go out with a bang

If Trump has internal LED treatment, then he definitely will.

If we had just tried to carry on as normal, this virus would have spread like wildfire through all the populations of the world. If I understand correctly, that leads to various possible outcomes for each person.

1. Some would not become infected. Nobody can predict who those people are.

1. Some people would have been infected, but got no symptoms, which of course would mean they infected lots and lots of other people without knowing it.

1. Some people would have got relatively mild symptos and had to take time off to recover at home. Because they were infectious before they were ill they would have infected people at work etc before they knew they were ill and they'd have infected their families too.

1. Some people would have got it very badly and without medical assistance would have died.

1. Some get it so badly that recovery was impossible, even with medical assistance.

The people in the last two groups and some in group 3 would all have sought medical help. There wouldn't have been enough capacity in the system to give all of them help. There wouldn't even have been capacity to triage cases properly. It would have been chaos. Lots of HCPs would have been ill. Other emergency and essential services would have been decimated. Working from home would scarcely have been possible because of power and phone line outages.

Etc etc etc.

Why is this so hard to understand?

People are being very harsh on the OP. It's hard. Yes it's the best thing to protect life, keep everyone safe etc. I'm sure OP knows that. It doesn't stop it being tough though and it doesn't mean she can't have a moan about it. We're all having good and bad days right now and I think being cooped up in an inner city apartment is going to be hard work for anyone.

I very much doubt that global lockdown is a state conspiracy to remove our civil liberties, though that seems to be what is implied by the tinfoil hat brigade on here.

As a lapsed nursing registrant, I do have major worries about the supposedly routine, ‘elective’ patients who have been cancelled though. Just because you don’t have an immediately life threateningly dangerous condition it doesn’t mean your life isn’t impacted significantly. The loss of services for chronically ill and elective patients is problematic and catching up on the time lost (things like elective surgery lists) is going to be hellish for patients and staff alike. Not to mention the pressure the adult mental health sector is going to be under after all this. It was already cracking under the strain pre-Covid, with NHS services unfit for purpose and charities picking up the pieces. Covid is certainly a pressing problem in the healthcare world but it is not the only problem.

@LilacTree1 you do know being in quarantine is what's keeping you healthy.

I’m wondering what people think is the alternative to lockdown. How would you tackle it otherwise? In the early stages when the discussion was around “ herd immunity” people went absolutely nuts about it - thought that the old & ill would be sacrificed for the rest of the population etc. Sweden is in the minority with its tactics and someone upthread has highlighted the differences between there and the U.K. ( although I would add that they have a high number of single occupant homes too). So what would the alternatives be? What do the protestors in the US want? Just for everything to open up immediately and to hell with it? It makes no logical sense to me but perhaps someone can explain it to me. ( I understand the issue around poverty and lack of healthcare being a propelling force )

There do appear to be some people so credulous, cynical, obstinate and stupid that they believe the virus is not real, or they genuinely can't believe God would let a true believer like them get it, or they think they can beat it with the power of positive thinking, or injecting disinfectant, or whatever other claptrap they've come across on social media. Others believe it was deliberately manufactured by China and released to destroy all other world economies (Trump amongst them? I saw something on Twitter today that suggested he said this ).

Oddly, all of these people place implicit trust in modern science and engineering every time they get into their cars or make a plane journey. I'd put money on most of them expecting to get medical treatment if they fall ill.

Yes, I'm afraid some of the reactions to this really illustrate that often religion and science (or even just common sense) can't easily co-exist. Some people are able to pull off that combination, but certain groups can't. There was a man in the US I saw interviewed who seemed very indignant about the suggestion that he not go to large Easter gatherings, he said in righteous tones 'there's man's law and there's God's law, and in our house we follow God's law first!'. Given that he lives in the rural South I presume he's planning to use one of God's ventilators.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g what you said at Fri 01-May-20 09:55:20

Exactly this. It sums it up perfectly. Everyone in the world should read it.

You’re being asked to stay at home for a few weeks ffs. You’re not being asked to fight a war. You’re not being asked to live in a mud hut. You’re not being asked to travel hundreds of miles to safety. You’re being asked to stay at home. Get a fucking grip and stop complaining.

This is my favourite on the Trump bleach catastrophe - from Sarah Cooper on Tik Tok
twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1253474772702429189?s=20

I don't know about the OP, but staying at home means very different things to different people. Some people are in substandard crowded accommodation, some are being forced to live with violent family members, others are having to provide round the clock care with no respite.

I think there was a saying going around the internet last week "We are all in the same storm, but we aren't all in the same boat".

@myrtleWilson

That is brilliant

@Gettingveryfat he needs to call the US embassy in London. They will be able to advise on flights and getting your DD's boyfriend back to the US. Also it depends on where in the US he is from, honestly the health service is the South can be terrible. If he's going back to Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, he should think about waiting it out in the U.K. Texas has a growing hotpot as are many other cities.

But the embassy will have the most up to date information. I'm not sure that showing up at LHR on a whim is a good idea.