Prime minister announcement at 12

[Hugglespuffed]

Is it going to be drastic changes? Or just 'work at home if you can'?

If Boris looked fit, healthy and happy i'd be concerned how serious he is taking this! Regardless of how much people do or don't like him, right now he and his team have to make bloody hard decisions and he knows he will be judged harshly on this.
He may look ill - but that could be stress

I think he looks tired but not ill. He's damned if he does damned if he doesn't. We are in the delay phase now and that means a holding pattern for a few weeks until things become clearer. There are no definitive answers to give at this time no matter how frustrating that is.

He's absolutely determined not to take any action till thousands are dying. Media reporting he is angry at Sturgeon for taking more aggressive action and showing him up.

Boris is not following international expert medical opinion. He is following the advice of his behavioural "nudge unit" that helped get him elected. His chief adviser is a psychologist, not a medic

I'm baffled by "don't use 111 service - look on the internet to find the facts for yourself"... Yes, because no one has ever panicked after Googling their symptoms 🤦

I'm no Boris Johnson fan but can you imagine Jeremy Corbyn dealing with this? Theresa May? Who would be any good at dealing with this?

I can't believe they are discouraging people from using 111. Speechless.

The NHS isn't prepared - at least the part of it that DH works in!

PS - I'm a psychologist and work in public health. Nudge theory isn't the sort of thing that will get you through a pandemic!

Why 7 days self isolation? What happened to the 14 day thing? Money saving exercise I think.

Being at the bottom of that huge peak on the chart makes my stomach flip

Also "use the internet" fgs not even mentioning trustworthy sites

Clearly 111 is completely overwhelmed. What's wrong with saying check out your symptoms on line first? Nothing really. He can't do right for wrong.

I don’t like the don’t call 111 advice, I worry about elderly people just trying to get on with it instead of calling for help.

Chief Scientific Officer saying the won't close the schools now as it would be hard to keep kids entertained at home for 16 weeks. Wow, very scientific

Well, the guy with the graph was very convincing.

Yatapina, I agree he stumbled over it but he meant use the 111 online service.

Apart from that little stumble I thought it was very sensible and the explanation from the chief scientific officer was very clear and helpful.

5 to 10,000 likely infected already they’re saying in the UK. That’s a lot of people who can potentially spread this around. I wonder if the press ask these experts why the UK are doing things differently to other countries?

I thought they meant use online 111, not phoneline 111

Only 7 days to minimise the economic disruption to businesses

They mean use the NHS 111 algorithm for corona, not the phone line.

I do have a question though. I have had a persistent dry cough with general low level cold symptoms (no fever) for 7-10 days. Up to now I have not met the criteria for self isolation so I have not done so. The new advice is that from tomorrow people with a ‘new’ dry cough or temp of 37.8+ should self isolate for 7 days so the ‘peak transmission’ phase can pass. How ‘new’ is new? I’ve had the cough for over a week, is it worth me SI or am I wasting my time doing so because I’ve passed ‘peak transmission’?

But too actively discourage people from using the 111 service is going to make people who don't have internet access or aren't tech savvy feel like they shouldn't phone because they're an inconvenience.

If kids are off for 2 weeks it doesn nothing to stop the spread would have to be 16 weeks

Not suggesting elderly people avoid public gatherings so that they don't get lonely

Not closing schools because the kids would get bored at home

How is any of this scientifically based?

Is anyone feeling reassured by this news conference?

Honestly, this announcement... They don't want to put measures in place to limit social interactions of the elderly as it may result in loneliness. Dear God. I think that would be the least of their worries for a few weeks.

My DH is dealing with CV planning and strategy for the large global company he works for and he looks like shit. He says it has been 2 weeks of utter chaos and utter madness. Imagine trying to sort it all out for an entire country! If BJ looked fresh I would wonder why.