To ask you to read this

[IsisCam]

This is a factual and easy to digest explanation of why there is so much fuss around coronavirus and why social distancing (work from home, schools closures etc) will save lives.
There is a lot of graphs and numbers. But especially if you are still unsure why is everyone so worried please take 10 minutes to read this.
The policy will be decided by the government but it’s implementation is everyone’s responsibility. And I believe people who understand why will do the right thing.

medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

So if they close the schools, nurseries and childcare facilities, but still want the emergency services to carry on working, whose looking after their children?

Why on earth would you think this article is more accurate and/or important than any other?
The policy will be decided by the government... and has nothing to do with this clearly American article.

This should be posted in the Coronavirus section.

Reported to have this transferred to the Coronavirus Topic Thread.

FGS.

YABVU

This is specific to the us where it's been ignored and labelled as fake news. Trump has only just realised it's not going away

The entire message of this article is somewhat undermined by the whole SK superspreader note. By all means of people can work from hone why not? But realistically the kinds of social distancing measures this article is pointing to are not achievable without draconian measures and a panicked population. A lot of statisticians overlook the value of social assets, countries that experienced SARS have a social asset (the fear arising from the memory or sars) in regards to social distancing which we don’t have here. It would be very difficult to implement successful social distancing policies for an extended period of time. A competent political strategist would take this into account and delay any such measures until they are most needed.

Guys, have you actually read it? It’s true it has been written by someone from the US but it’s absolutely relevant to anywhere. It just explains how the virus spreads and why containment is needed. When people in the UK take decisions about the topic this is exactly their line of thought. I haven’t seen such a through analysis from someone UK based but if you read the article you can see it is not US specific...
I mean it’s up to you to ignore it. And I hate to sound dramatic but yeah it’s literally matter of life and death for some people in a few weeks here in the UK. I believe it has to be as visible as possible which is why it is posted where it is posted.

A competent political strategist would take this into account and delay any such measures until they are most needed.

You do have a point here and this is exactly what is happening. But I believe there is a dire lack of information and that the government should have taken a brave step explaining to people what is about to happen (the unprecedented strain on the healthcare) and why the measures about to be taken a are necessary. This way it will be possible to actually implement the measures when they want to implement them. The way it stands now people will just disregard them, because they don’t understand them.

Thank you OP, it is a valuable collation of graphs and provides good explanations. The problems (generally in the history of humankind) is that people prefer to have their heads in the sand so you get snapped at for trying to help

Millions have their heads in the sand. Thanks for trying OP. People are just not going to listen though.

As long as the correct people don't have their heads in the sand it's not a problem

All relevant stats that were available to Europe a few days ago. The US are so up their own arse and believe they have the best healthcare in the world because they pay for it will only start to realise the enormity of Covid-19 when they have to queue to get a hospital bed. Like every other country in the world no amount of stats and analysis is going to predict what is going to happen.
My dad will be turning in his grave. He was a hazard analyst in the chemical industry and his job revolved around disaster prediction but he had a very healthy cynicism regarding reliance on stats to predict outcome. THEY ARE JUST NUMBERS AND ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.
Every situation has infinite variables and what works for one country may not work for others.
The government have been very clever in not censoring the press and social media in presenting the need for mass hysteria. We are all starting to self isolate and socially distancing ourselves because we are being told the truth. So when it becomes compulsory will will comply in an orderly British fashion. We are naturally compliant as a nation unlike some European countries.
We queue for everything for goodness sake and the clever experts are using our natural compliance to the countries advantage.
We are quietly shutting down as a nation without the need for draconian laws and we will continue to do so because they have not withheld the scary information from us.

Just to add I live outside of London and not in any of the other major cities. Two to three weeks ago our main county city was remarkably quiet. Partly because of floods in the area.
We have had one recorded case yesterday which, because they don’t live in the county has not been recorded.
There were numerous school skiing trips to Italy over half term from county schools but they followed advice and so far no cases have arisen.
Due to the flooding, widespread here, travel was restricted for a few weeks and many sporting and large events were cancelled. Local businesses have been hard hit and many will collapse in the next few months.
I am frontline primary care but we have been given no indication yet what will happen when social distancing starts. I suspect we will have to close to patients for non urgent treatment.
I am self employed so the next few months may be very tight financially. I am lucky because I have a buffer but many colleagues won’t have this. It is going to be a total nightmare. Fortunately we have hit our targets for this year so the NHS can’t penalise us, and they will do to others who haven’t hit target because until they acknowledge force majeure we are helpless. Staff have to be paid,bills have to be paid but from what if we are unable to work.
I don’t think the general employed public are fully aware of the implications of lockdown on their own future health and financial stability. It’s not a popular view and as my DH has COPD and is very much vulnerable I am not being flippant but many of us are going to have to realise that the outcome may not be good for some of our loved ones. Whatever happens it is going to be a life changing couple of years.

Whatever happens it is going to be a life changing couple of years.

How long do you imagine this Coronavirus will stay around for @willdoitinaminute?

My dad is in his early 80s. He won't stop going out. I've been reassuring him that he only needs to stay in for a month or two to be safe. I don't think he'll be able to manage that but might just.

If CV stays around any longer he'll catch it for sure and I don't imagine his chances of survival will be very high.

The longer your dad delays catching it the more likely it is that a treatment or a vaccine will be available.