Gobsmacked by UK response

[Aspoonfullofjam]

Stay at home for one week if you’ve a cold (even though all evidence is that incubation is two weeks)

People over 70 don’t go on cruises.

WHAT!!!

134 new cases in a day and no action. 13 EU countries have closed all schools, another 11 partial closures but apparently no action needed in Uk.

Jesus.

Whats to say what all the other countries are doing is right?

What if they all come out of lockdown and it gets 100x worse immediately?

Surely we wont know if what they did was right until things are back to normal?

Won't it hamper research into CV if tests are not done and stats are not collected?

They will implement aggressive measures when we are maybe 1/2 way to the peak

Do we have any idea how they will predict being 1/2 way to the peak if they're only testing those in hospitals? How will they know the extent of the spread?

South Korea , Singapore, Hong Kong are all doing well in flattening their curve by quite a lot. This is because they have the experience off recent past epidemics ( bird.flu.and SARS etc.) They haven't yet used aggressive social distancing because they ( particularly s. Korea) started very early aggressive and fast testing, isolation and containment measures. They were set up for this. China had to put in the aggressive social distancing because they acted too late for containment to work. Same for Italy. Italy will.need to wait at least 2 weeks to see if what they are doing has an effect We can't say if it will work in Italy but it has worked very well in China.

It seems like a measured, sensible response. People are going to get the virus, it's not now possible to prevent it indefinitely. We actually need less vulnerable people to get it in order to establish herd immunity.

There is a clear plan to try to manage the profile of the virus, spreading demand on the NHS and trying to avoid a huge peak.

Some other countries are panicking. Extreme measures might control the spread for now, but it will likely come back. A prolonged, severe lock down will increase frustration and hardship. People will start to ignore measures, making them less effective.

I've laughed this whole thing off for a while but tonight I'm sitting here thinking what we do we actually do..... If it comes to kids being of school. Can we still go out? Can we go shops for food etc, I'm a single mum I have no budget for going out getting a big shop and waiting it out, my cardboards are bare not full so what I am suppose to do when I have no food electric etc, 🤔🤔🤔genuine question.

If we don’t have a vaccine next winter and the virus comes back worse, Boris will look great. If we have a vaccine by then, it will look like 1 million deaths on Boris’s hands. It is a hell of a gamble

That is what Johnson is, a gambler, he has done it all his political & personal life,
I guess we need to ask ourselves what does this country know that the RoW doesn't?
Modeling, epidemiologists etc etc has only the UK got access to these people?
The chief med officer is a political appointee, if he went against what he was told to say, what do you think would happen to his career?

However, Johnsons rational seems to be we will all get it, so might as well crack on, you can bet Stanley J will get that ICU bed ahead of a fit 50yo with 3 teenage kids.

I’m in Ireland and as of 6pm today all schools colleges and public buildings are closed. All the major sporting groups have closed down and anyone who can work from home is being told to do so. It’s for 2 weeks initially, we’re under no illusions and assume it will be until after Easter.

It’s being stressed that there should be no play dates with kids and everyone should try their best to keep a social distance. Fingers crossed it will have some impact on slowing the numbers. I’m amazed the UK still have schools open.

How long do you think communities can keep that up for Carrie? The Chief Scientist here seemed to think that if we went now, we'd have to stay isolated for up to 16 weeks.

Ireland has a much smaller population than the UK. Ireland shut down schools when they found out that 27 people tested positive in one day. At 70 cases we have more cases percentage wise than the UK.

We have less than 250 ICU beds in the entire country, unless we want to be in the position Italy is where we are choosing who to treat and who to let die then I really don't see what choice we have but to try and slow it down.

Maybe this won't work but I don't think as a country we are callous enough to purposely leave people to die without treatment, that might happen anyway but at least we can say we tried to stop it.

I actually agree with the approach and am feeling very relieved after a tense few days, but was reminded of this gem reading some of the comments about Boris.

Wish people would stop banging on about country X has more/less positives than country Y...
There is no uniform testing protocol, so comparisons are meaningless.

Jeremy Hunt (for what its worth) says UK has 10,000 cases.

We're having to gamble with thousands of lives because the NHS can't cope otherwise.

The same NHS that might have been in better, more robust shape had it not been subjected to 10 years of Tory rule.

I’m all for being level headed and pragmatic but I do think BoJo is completely underestimating how bad this could be for a lot of people.
I can reel off the top of my head about 15 people I know who have weakened immunity, they are all under 55. It’s all very well and good saying stay at home if you have a cough, doesn’t most people (especially parents of little ones) have coughs/sore throats at this time of year?
I think they are dishing out this meagre advice knowing full well that people will carry on, because they can’t afford not to, resulting in more deaths, but thats preferable to closing down schools and colleges.

The lack of Tory compassion is hardly surprising, just disappointing.

The chief med officer is a political appointee, if he went against what he was told to say, what do you think would happen to his career?
A highly esteemed and very visible doctor would cynically put his career above millions of people’s health?

Yeah, Boris is really good at accurate figures.....,

You can see the logic though and he is right - at the moment people are making decisions that they can for themselves (and I do hope no one gets in trouble re school) for starting the process themselves so that when we do lockdown (and I have no doubt we will) it wont come as so much of a shock.

But you do need to lockdown completely. Ireland are allowing cafes/pubs/restaurants to remain open so what is the point.

Its all or nothing and they dont think we can cope with 16 weeks of all

I'm getting so fed up of the "tories don't care if everyone dies" comments on these threads.

For the record, I did not vote Tory so it's not that I take personal offence. It's the fact that posters seem to forget that tories are still people - who will have elderly/vulnerable friends and families, same as everyone else. This blanket assumption that all tories are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of corona deaths while kicking puppies for shits and giggles is ridiculous.

I listened to the press conference. The approach seems sensible to me at this time and they were very clear about why they've made the decisions they have. If our peak could still be 14 weeks away, there is no way we could survive a lock down period that long.

@bumblingbovine49 yes I agree, if we had done what South Korea had done aggressive social distancing might have been able to take a back seat as the case tracking and contact tracing would have been aggressive and good enough to make a huge difference. However I can’t see that we are.

@Quartz2208 there is evidence that partial ‘lockdowns’ are effective. Ireland has substantial restrictions of movement, it will make a difference.

Over Brexit Johnson told us NOT to trust the experts!

The government doesnt know their arse from their elbow , so what hope do the rest of us have .

@Donkeytail I 100% agree and think Ireland is totally right. They could not cope with a peak of critical patients that the UK May be letting build up. Everything else, all decisions on economics and social, pale into comparison with what might happen if demand for ICU exceeds demand. That should lead all decisions.

A highly esteemed and very visible doctor would cynically put his career above millions of people’s health?

If he knew it's unlikely he'd ever be held accountable or be scrutinised?

Some thought the consecutive Popes would not hide child abuse because it was morally wrong and they were the moral leaders if the entire Catholic church, wise, experienced, trusted and admired by many...oh, wait...

...others thought local councils have a duty of care and that they choose private sector contractors carefully, therefore cutting corners on a huge scale wouldn't go unnoticed... and then we had Grenfell Tower.

I'm not saying he's definitely that kind of person. The reality is, we may hope he's an honest man, but we simply don't know.

I'm getting so fed up of the "tories don't care if everyone dies" comments on these threads

It's not quite that though, is it? The Tories have worked long and hard to create a layer of the population that is poor, vulnerable and voiceless. The policies that they have put in place while in power have lead to immense suffering for so many people.

They know that. Voters know that when they vote.

No one is saying they are rubbing their hands at the thought of people dying. But they have demonstrated their contempt for the poor and vulnerable again and again and again.

Is it any wonder that people might think that anyone who is a willing, paid-up participant in all that might just have a bit of a swinging rock for a heart when it comes to the poor and vulnerable?

Yep, this time it might affect them. Which is the difference. They can usually distance themselves - insulate themselves - quite well from the sharp end.