So surely now is the moment for the UK to shut down?

[littleblackdress04]

All the info I have read online indicates that the UK is probably 2 weeks behind Italy in terms of infection. So rather than wait until the horse has proverbially bolted, wouldn’t it make more sense to shut down now and stop a massive spread of coronavirus?

@purpledaisy2114, if i told you that its fine most people wont get sick, its only babies, kids and vulnerable people who die would you still feel the same way?

Would you be happy with people saying oh its an overreaction and carrying on their daily business spreading germs all over the show?

All very worrying.

Quick count this morning there are over 30 flights from Rome, Milan and Pisa arriving into London airports today, never mind all the rest!

Understand the economic impact of cancelling flights etc but surely it's better than spreading it into the UK then all the knock on's.

I noticed Italy is ahead of Iran in terms of deaths, I wonder what Iran is doing better?

It’s going to get harder and putting it in too early would decimate business

As Boris Johnson would say “fuck business”.

Honestly though if making sure that business owners maintain profits is the reason for not taking the necessary action then we have a problem.

Donald Trump’s response, I.e. do nothing and lie about facts, is an extreme example of protecting business over the general population.

Is that the society we’ve become?

Businesses can recover with the help of the government. Dead people cannot.

There may not be any critically ill people here yet but we have 5 dead so that sounds pretty sick to me. It also takes about 2 weeks for people to get very ill with this so it’s a false sense of security at the moment. It is estimated that 10% will become seriously ill with that so 40 people out of the current 400 odd. I just hope the government are timing these measures right and we don’t end up like Italy. Closing everywhere too soon will just mean that the virus will spread when everywhere is opened back up again.

Sick people die, it happens

@middleager

Flights from seriously infected countries stopped and passengers checked.

In that case you need to stop the flights from the countries all together.

There is absolutely no point in checking the temperatures of people from the likes of Italy, China as we now know the incubation period is several days.

The whole flight could be found to have a normal temp yet still be infected....

Also the Spanish Flu started off mild then a more virulent strain came along. I’m sure that’s why there’s a need to try and contain Covid-19 early before enough people get it and it becomes virulent.

But I’m not a virologist so I’m speculating.

I think now is the time to follow official advice and trust the experts who are managing the UK and will do what is best for the UK at the right time for the UK.

It's a completely different situation in the UK. It is a lot better controlled at the moment.

That may change. But to lockdown the whole of the UK in the way that Italy has been done would be stupid and of you listened to the experts you would understand why.

Hysteria does not help.

Young people are getting sick. If someone is over 55 or is younger but has co-morbidities they will not get an intensive care bed and no effort will be made to resuscitate them. I admit this was from a report from someone claiming to be a doctor on Twitter but it fits in with every other report from Italy I have read

Unless you cite reliable sources for this, it IS scaremongering.

They have identified two varieties (differences are slight, barely enough to call them separate strains) and no significant differences between the disease produced have been evidenced to date.

But the virus will always be that bit ahead (impossibkle to spot further mutations until they have happened, whether they make a difference to the disease will not be known until people have caught it)

@EricaNernie

Sick people die, it happens

With Coronavirus that’s 1 in every 30 or 50 people.
Or likely more if everyone gets it at the same time, as there won’t be enough hospital beds and staff.

Yes, sick people can die sometimes, but we can also try to give as many as possible a fighting chance.

I think the pp who said it was about trading and the economy is right.

People need to make decisions for themselves now about whether they attend events, use public transport etc.

Britain isn't a nation of stoic pragmatists. It's a country where people voted in Boris and will continue to act selfishly by putting everyone's health at risk whilst they prioritise money.

In difficult times, you see people, governments and countries for who they are. The problem with voting in self-proclaimed disrupters is they don't have the experience or stability to manage a decisive emergency response.

I honestly have no faith here anymore. I dont think they will close down at all. More typical british denial.

I noticed Italy is ahead of Iran in terms of deaths, I wonder what Iran is doing better?

Iran is lying about the number of dead - massively. They have a policy of not testing people for coronavirus so they don't have to count them. And that's info from someone inside Iran who estimated millions of infections and thousands of deaths - most of them un-counted and thus unreported.

There is a timing to closing down, we have to follow the epidemiologists advice

themagician

Oh please shut up with all that crap.

And most certainly did not vote Boris.

If you want to use that argument, then it was primarily the older generation who voted for Brexit and Boris so let's leave them to it.........and I don't think that.

Do you honestly think people are selfish because they voted Boris? Some are, yes. But most just want a better life and believed the lies he told. And were (understandably) terrified of Corbyn

"I admit this was from a report from someone claiming to be a doctor on Twitter ...."

Says it all about this thread & many others like it ...you can't argue with stupid.

One minute on here someone wants ex pats who have lived and worked in China for many years brought back, baring in mind, you can carry a virus and have no symptoms yourself, it can live for days on hard surfaces. Now lock down the country, wont work, stop flights,euro tunnel shipping, quite a few people manage to cross the channel in rubber dingies, where theres a will, theres a way. It couldnt be contained in a cruise ship for Gods sake. Seasonal flu kill up to 700.00 people each year world wide. There will always be new viruses. Spanish flu killed 50 millions. We have to be sensible and take our own precautions. Said in the paper yesterday all over 60 should stay indoors, we I look after a gentleman in his 80s, and am considered one of the high risk catalgory because of my own health.

I live in Scotland. As of last night, there was only 25 confirmed cases in Scotland. I don't think it's time to shut everything down no.

I agree that Iran are not testing or reporting. Does anyone know why Italy has had this spike? I am trying to convince myself that Italy is the exception because they didn't test until too late, but notice that Germany, France and Spain are steadily increasing, although not at the sudden rate that Italy did.

The problem is that closing schools means that healthcare workers with children won’t be able to get to work. Closing universities means the students will travel home, taking any virus with them.

Businesses where people could work from home are probably a drop in the ocean. But maybe a good idea if they can do that. I’m surprised they haven’t decided to play the big football matches behind closed doors - 40 thousand odd people crowded into a stadium & stuffed into trains etc to get there....

All of you clamouring for the country to shut down, no one is stopping you from barricading yourselves in your homes with a stock of tins. Just sayin'

I think we should follow the advice from the experts. Putting a country into lockdown is a big decision and impacts hugely on daily life. There is a risk of civil unrest. There may be a time when it has to happen but I hope that others can be a better judge of that than me.

The reason the whole of Italy has been put on lockdown is because people were travelling in their hundreds to other areas once the northern Italy area was locked down. My friends who live in the centre of Italy are furious with them.

If, for example, London were to be locked down, do you see all the Mumsnetters on here saying to their student children 'stay where you are'? I'm pretty sure a lot would be saying 'get on the first train home'. And that's one of the reasons why lockdown isn't as simple as it sounds.

It would be interesting to see the knock on effect of lockdown on the NHS. No nurseries, preschool or school, how exactly are all the doctors and nurses with children under 16 supposed to get to work? Partners could leave work to care for the children but a lot of nurses I know are married to people in the military, police officers or fire fighters or indeed other nurses and doctors.

I am surprised that given we are an island that we dont stop tourist flights but I am not an economical expert and I have no idea the effect this would have, 10000's of people would be out of work and would the industry be able to pay them all or would it completely collapse?

Its times like this when you realise we elect a government to lead this country through this sort of thing and you have to trust that they are taking appropriate advice from experts and are being held accountable for the decisions they make.