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Covid

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Prime minister announcement at 12

839 replies

Hugglespuffed · 12/03/2020 06:41

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

OP posts:
Loppy10 · 12/03/2020 17:54

Disappointing to see Boris have a pop at Scotland by saying their measures are because they have weaker public services. Not the time to act out on his antipathy for Sturgeon. At least she is actually taking some protective measures as suggested by the WHO and every other country's medical experts, instead of just relying on a "behavioural science unit' that tells him people will get bored and lonely if we do social distancingHmm

TheElementsOfMedical · 12/03/2020 17:56

Did anyone in that press conference actually say that school trips abroad are to be stopped? I’ve only seen it mentioned in passing on this thread and nowhere else.

Jerseygaly · 12/03/2020 17:56

They said 10 days the other day.
They haven't done a single thing to stop or slow this.
Do not trust them!

Loppy10 · 12/03/2020 17:57

TheElementsOfMedical
Yes it was announced, one of the few concrete measures in the conference

yatapina · 12/03/2020 17:58

I think they said it at the start Elements.

None of it was very clearly laid out in my opinion.

I understand the strategy and as much as it pissed me off I do somewhat agree with it but the wording of the whole thing was an absolute mess.

Topseyt · 12/03/2020 17:59

I see a whole lot of fudging. Not a lot that is reassuring or even that new.

Slazengerbag · 12/03/2020 18:00

So will there be another meeting? Are things likely to change next week? Is this it for the next 10-12 weeks?

TheElementsOfMedical · 12/03/2020 18:00

Thanks for confirming! That’s a bit of a relief for me as I’ve been wondering what the heck would happen with DDs school trip.

AudacityOfHope · 12/03/2020 18:03

Am I wrong or was there anything concrete that came out of this?

Symptomatic people should apparently stay home for half the time that those who are asymptomatic and have so far been advised to self isolate for 14 days if they'd been in contact with someone infected??

And that's that?

But they 'sounded confident' so it must be fine.

YgritteSnow · 12/03/2020 18:05

There's nothing concrete to say though. There are no answers. It's going to hit in a month or two and we need to be ready. It's not here yet. What can they say? It's frustrating for sure. What is everyone wanting?

MarshaBradyo · 12/03/2020 18:07

We can’t jump the gun so yes that’s it. It made sense.

TheMarzipanDildo · 12/03/2020 18:20

Alsohuman

But if their actions have consequences that negatively affect other people it’s not great is it? What if they catch it, get ill (putting strain on NHS) or die (horrible for family) or pass it on to others?

Porcupineinwaiting · 12/03/2020 18:22

If you go onto the internet you can see images of the burial pits they are digging in Iran. Each is the length of a football field. Maybe when we get to that point we'll act.

doubleshotespresso · 12/03/2020 18:22

Is anyone feeling reassured by this news conference?

Not at all no. I thought it was poorly worded and badly delivered. Don't buy a shred of the so called expert either.

Grossly irresponsible and a clear demonstration of the level of complete disregard for the electorate.

Even for Boris this was a poor show. He looked I thought for the first time daunted, lacking any confidence and out of his depth.

I despair

cologne4711 · 12/03/2020 18:25

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

Disagree. What's the point of making an elderly person stir crazy because they are told to stay at home? It's like telling an elderly person to lose weight or stop drinking or worry about eating too much cake. FGS, they are old., let them have their fun and if it gets them it gets them. And my definition of elderly is over 80 by the way, not 55! Also people with dementia may not understand.

Skybluepink123 · 12/03/2020 18:26

I completely agree double that Boris seemed overwhelmed, advice poorly shared and just a shambles really. There's no hope.

cologne4711 · 12/03/2020 18:26

Even for Boris this was a poor show. He looked I thought for the first time daunted, lacking any confidence and out of his depth

He doesn't need to be in his depth. He has expert advisers to tell him what to say.

AudacityOfHope · 12/03/2020 18:28

That's not really good enough for a leader. He needs to deeply understand what he's dealing with in order to make the best decisions.

DoubleAction · 12/03/2020 18:29

I'm not a Boris fan, quite the opposite, but I thought it was good that he didn't pretend to have all the answers and deferred to the experts for anything remotely scientific or medical.

HaHaVeryBunny · 12/03/2020 18:38

No one is feeling reassured
His speech was a lesson in how to spaff up a bit of concern for the average person he couldn't give a fuck about, cause he's OK chaps
To quote him directly

"More people are going to lose their loved ones before time"

He could do something about this now. That's what WHO has recommended and the only thing has worked to contain this is lockdown.

But he won't. And people will die.

doubleshotespresso · 12/03/2020 18:39

*Even for Boris this was a poor show. He looked I thought for the first time daunted, lacking any confidence and out of his depth

He doesn't need to be in his depth. He has expert advisers to tell him what to say.*
@cologne4711 well then perhaps he could make the effort to look like he actually believes what these expert advisers had to say.

Of course he needs to be in his depth, as with any crisis, he is in role to use expert advice and act appropriately, in the best interests of everybody residing in the UK.

MintyMabel · 12/03/2020 19:00

as children are not effected that much.

And yet this same government spends millions on vaccinating school kids against flu to protect the older generations.

Graphista · 12/03/2020 19:22

I keep reading “if the schools close what about the ones in exam years”

Italy are doing online education/virtual classrooms - I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t do the same and therefore certainly academic subjects at least can be covered.

Younger children and those with special needs it’s more problematic as they may well need to be supervised obviously, Italy has gone down the route of grandparents caring for them mostly, most grandparents to small children are unlikely to be over 60 which seems to be considered the age at which the risk of complications increases.

Regarding here in Scotland. I’ve been wondering for some days if perhaps part of the reason we seem to have a relatively higher number of cases for size of population if that’s:

A inaccurate and our nhs has just been testing and therefore confirming cases more

and/or

B because there’s a significant number of Families of Italian heritage here and with the recent school holiday many may have been visiting relatives in Italy or having them over to visit.

EYprovider I think you’re spot on, he wants to limit govt responsibility all round but especially economically. I think that may blow up in his face though.

Also - I wonder if NS will be looking into if Scotland can act differently to England, in fact I’m surprised that’s not been mentioned/considered already. After all health, education and even law and order are devolved areas.

“They don't give a shit, are people really that naive to believe gov act in our best interests.” Did you miss all the election threads?!

“If A levels don't take place, then a whole university year will be lost, that's a year longer to wait for nurses etc” not necessarily. For starters exams could be sat remotely, postponed only to the end of summer with suitable planning for marking out in place, at worst courses could be delayed by no more than a term with start dates in January rather than sep which used to happen. When I trained I started in January and we didn’t get the long holidays other students did - not ideal but there’s ways around things.

@purplewhitelie - very similar to yourself I had bilateral pleural pneumonia as a child. As well as almost dying at the time (and I was a previously fit, healthy kid aside from mild and manageable asthma) and I’ve never been the same since. My asthma has been a nightmare to manage since, I have scarred lungs and EVERY chest infection I get is very worrying and takes me ages to recover from even with my gp prescribing antibiotics instantly as prophylaxis and even if it was/turns bacterial. I think an awful lot of those going “it’s a lot of fuss over nothing” have VERY little experience of serious illness, especially lung issues.

ignoring the fact that the extra deaths won't just be amongst those with the virus. The pressure on beds will mean deaths will also occur amongst cancer patients, road accident victims, people who've had strokes and heart attacks, etc exactly!

The nhs has been underfunded for so long there isn’t the staff, buildings or equipment to cope well with this. They’ll do their bloody best but it’s going to be dreadful
and not just for those infected by cv.

“It would suit this government to let the virus run rampant and kill off a good chunk of the elderly population.” Not just elderly, they’ve shown very clearly their complete disdain for anyone “unproductive” due to ill health for 10 years! They don’t give a shit about lives!

“I think he needs to tell us he won't be getting private care when he gets it.” Ha!! As if!!!

Flyingpurplepeopleeater · 12/03/2020 19:32

A lot of private hospitals rely on nhs equipment and resources. When my mum had surgery she looked into having it done privately and it would be done at the same hospital in same theatre (possibly by same surgeon) but a nicer room afterwards.

lyralalala · 12/03/2020 19:41

@Graphista Going by the experiences of people around us (we live near the border and our family are pretty much equally split between Scotland and England) there is much more testing in Scotland

Though there is equally confusing self-isolation advice in both sides

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