COVID19 (sigh:sorry)

[lightnesspixie]

Today's Telegraph is reporting that should the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the UK exceed 100 then 'everyone with any cough or cold or flu symptoms will have to self-isolate for 14 days'. How would this be possible in reality?! Surely that would be madness? You'd likely have ppl pretending to have colds and not going to work and the economy would be crippled? If you imagine the numbers this would involve even the genuine cases? What are your thoughts? Media hysteria? Good safety measures?

Very difficult. I have had a virus since Christmas and have a raging temperature and headache every day at the moment. Time off work is largely unpaid. Of course if I actually thought I had corona virus I would stay off but isolating with common winter symptoms is a bit of a non starter i imagine.

But don't they mean 100 cases at the same time?

Of the nine cases in the UK, eight were released from the hospital and presumably recovered ,so surely they won't count anymore.

Otherwise it would just be a matter of time, as even if the number of cases progressed really slowly, one here and one there, with everyone recovering in between, it would eventually reach 100!

@RaininSummer if you’ve had a high temperature every day since Christmas you really need to go and see a doctor. That has gone on too long and needs investigating.

no they wouldnt mean 100 at the same time,
they would mean the total confirmed to reach 100

RaininSummer you sound actually rather ill. Not corona but something's up, yes? Are you having any medical attention at all?

Hi all. Thanks for concern. No medical attention as pretty sure its a virus, sinuses all bunged up and loads of people I know have the same. Near impossible to see a doctor anyway round here. Headache is being caused by sinuses.

This is what is quite unclear isnt it? At this time of year lots of people have a cold or flu virus that gives them a temperature, runny nose and a cough. How do you know if you need to be tested/self isolate?.

We had a work night out last week, one guy kindly came along even though he had exactly that. He was off ill the whole rest of last week. Someone else in the group has also now got the same symptoms. We are all due to fly to a conference in the US on Monday. It surprises me that no-one is concerned about that.

I don’t live in the UK. Glad about that, too, because judging by the responses on this thread you’ll be all shut down because no-one knows what to do or follows guidelines as they’re too much of a hassle.

RaininSummer that sounds really shit, hope you're better soon.

its the cough and the difficulty breathing that would worry me, that and the temperature. These are the guidelines.

Does anyone else wish we could get it all over with? I feel like it's coming and we wont be able to stop it so I wish we could just get it over and done with.

I know it's good that PHE/NHS have thought this thru, really.
imho: if it gets that bad (100 cumulative cases in near future), it will be horse-bolted-from-stable stiuation. If it gets that bad in UK, it's going to be that bad everywhere in world and true containment will be impossible. Strategy will have to move to reducing transmission by non-quarantine means and accelerating vaccine development.

I had a mild cold 3 weeks ago. I am one of the people working on covid19 response! I know my contributions are from important, but how many like me if forced to quarantine, who would say FFS, fine, I'll just do gardening for 2 weeks on paid leave when I feel pretty much fine other than a snotty nose and the few rest of you can just keep scrambling...

I was reading they still haven’t developed a vaccine for SARS which was years ago. Now whether that’s because they stopped bothering when it seemed to die out wasn’t clear at all. But if they’ve still been working on it and made no progress that’s a big worry as the chances of them getting a vaccine for this one in the near future are minimal.

NHS have the capacity to test 1000 a day. They are already at 763 a day. There is no capacity in the system to deal with it if we hit sustained transmission. People will simply be asked to stay home in order to slow it down and give the researchers time to test treatments.

I doubt people will do it anyway, some will but not all. Some will find it practically impossible, others won't be considerate enough of others to care and lots more won't even be aware of the recommendation.

I read another article with the NHS advice for people who may currently need to self-isolate and it said it was ok for friends or a delivery driver to drop off food/supplies to you, it's more about avoiding prolonged close contact.

If I felt well enough to work and had no reason to suspect Coronavirus (contact with a diagnosed person) I would not quarantine. 100 people in a minuscule amount. I wouldn't even if it was 100 people in my city let alone the whole uk

* Apart from the money, it will mean DD basically will no longer go to school this year*

Are you actually serious?

I’m serious, yes , Claws. Did you actually READ my post - as in actually take in and comprehend what I said?

I didn’t think I was that opaque, but i’ll try again.

A) suggestion is 2 week self-isolation if symptomatic (note: NOT tested and confirmed case of Covid, so expected to do this for every similar bug too, just in case.)
B) loads of other bugs have similar symptoms and are circulating lots at this time of year.
C) my DD (and others of similar age) picks up a bug about every 10 days this time of year.
D) infectious disease specialists expect covid to circulate until at least the summer.
D) ergo, if we are expected to quarantine for two weeks per similar bug, and this is for a period of months, and a child picks up bugs very often, with little respite in between, then yes, it is very possible that they will have very little attendance at school for the next few months.

This would be a nightmare. DS has a weak chest and literally coughs recurrently with no cause. Would he just be in permanent isolation, and if so I may as well quit my job...

For those interested, here’s a presentation (to professionals) from the Chief Medical Officer about the current official planning for Covid-19.

(His section starts at exactly 2.00 hours into the video).

And how's that going to work with the gig economy we've created.

better start prepping then! won't take long for the basics to start to become unavailable

China have now isolated 60 million people. 60 million! A few weeks ago they had only a handful of cases. So if it gets to the stage where we have enough cases that it is a local epidemic then people will be off work. Its just the way it is.

One of the problems we have in this country is that people are not compliant and do not follow rules. The WHO today thanked the Chinese for taking the drastic measures they've taken and buying the rest of the world a bit of extra time to prepare. This isn't just a cold. This is really really serious.

In China the govt is paying everyones wages who are self isolating.......can’t see that happening here?

@VivaLeBeaver, that and fear of the economic fallout will be our undoing should we end up with a UK epidemic. We'd better keep our fingers crossed (and practice good hygiene and modify our social behaviour) in the hope that we've dodged it.

In the meantime, can I just repeat what I've been saying repeatedly to the amusement of my siblings? Get a few OTC meds and some extra tis in so that if you do end up with a mild case you don't have to go out and pass it on to others.

*tins