Health Minister has Coronavirus - will the Cabinet self isolate

[chomalungma]

Nadine Dorres has Coronavirus. Just confirmed,

What does this mean for Government

It's made the BBC now www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51827356

Wrong forum. You need the CORONAVIRUS one.

Reporting it now so it can be moved to the CORRECT forum.

FFS calm down, someone made a mistake and cluttered up AIBU, they didn't insert a fanfic chapter into the actual Domesday Book. Quietly report and get back to AIBU.

Who did she catch it from?
If she hasn’t been to Italy then why was she even tested? Are certain people getting tested when others aren’t??

At least she won't have to worry about surviving on statutory sick pay

We do not need yet more threads on this

Then don't read it. I am capable of ignoring threads on MM.

Yes - it's in the news. Personally I think that a Government Minister catching the virus is something that is important.

Lots of things in the news get discussed on social media.

How ironic the health secretary...

I'd have thought that a senior government minister having a highly contagious virus is pretty relevant to all of us. Stand down with the blues and twos thread police.

Let’s see if the thread is moved to coronavirus section, indeed. Least it triggers someone to buy another package of toilet paper.
On a serious note, it’s an embarrassment and an upside is that the government will hopefully start taking it more seriously as a result.
There are numerous obvious downsides.

According to NHS111, anyone who has been in close contact with someone with the virus needs to self isolate for 14 days.

I wonder how she got it and why she was tested then?

Yes, it is serious, which is why it should be in the subject topic, which is also the busiest topic. Much better than staying in AIBU when it isn't actually an AIBU and where isn't will soon be lost under all a heap of threads about other stuff. Much better to be where people know to go to find COVID threads.

Presumably she will be able to work from home, unless she is very ill with it.

Looking at how to minimise being in the same room as people,is going to be important. COBRAs might be better someone other than COBR. Does the Cabinet need set piece meetings, if so, how often?

It's a message for all businesses really - inviting them to look at working patterns. Face to face contacts certainly have their place, but the nature and frequency might just be old habit. It's an opportunity for a bit of fresh thinking.

Which, in the narrower parliamentary case, could be useful in bearing down in costs whilst the Houses are refurbished. Less space and better tech needed for the duration?

There's another thread about a school in Carlisle where one of the teachers has tested positive after teaching kids for several days, and the school is just running business as usual. So who knows what they will do 🤷‍♀️

I'd have thought that a senior government minister having a highly contagious virus is pretty relevant to all of us

You’d think that wouldn’t you

And yeah...the irony!

The nastiness is because you are threatening their safe bubble with facts and uncertainty. Normalcy bias too.

Surely it is now out there so people are catching it from other people in this country, not just contracting it when they are on holiday.

She fell ill whilst signing a Government edict making Covid-19 a notifiable disease

Steven Swinford
✔
@Steven_Swinford
Replying to @Steven_Swinford

Nadine Dorries first felt ill last Friday as she was signing a statutory instrument which made coronavirus a 'notifiable' disease

The full symptoms did not kick in until Saturday as she held a constituency surgery in Mid Bedfordshire

Mid Beds? Oh no :( that's not a million miles from me :(

She's my MP.

* Surely it is now out there so people are catching it from other people in this country, not just contracting it when they are on holiday*

Indeed - so why is nhs only still testing people who have travelled from specific regions? The huge amount of people I have heard who have the correct symptoms but won’t be tested because they haven’t travelled to the right places is a disgrace

*It's about the fact that Government ministers will have been exposed - and should in theory self isolate.

Which is serious.*

Doesn't mean they can't still do their job. They don't all have to be in the same room. There is Skype, conference calls etc., so surely not that hard to ensure they both self isolate and continue to run the country. Chances are most of them won't actually be that ill with it. They could turn it in to a good example of how to "Keep Calm and Carry On". It's not as if any of them are in zero hours jobs where they don't get paid if they don't turn up.

Whereabout - exactly - was her surgery in Mid Beds on Saturday?

Mid beds is only one step away from Hertfordshire which currently holds the highest cases outside of London? Or it did the other day.
I guess it’s branching out

Great so shes given it to her contiuents

It is definitely ironic. Where the hell did she contract it from.