Does anyone think Boris is right?

[Emcont]

I'm not saying I do. But I'm curious to see if anyone agrees with the strategy they're going for as most of what I'm reading is against.

Lweji it is cotrolled I'm the UK.

Not enough people are infected yet. That is changing daily.

So more and more draconian measure will be brought in at specific times to slow down the taps.

I think the people of the UK are being treated as Guinea pigs. I think he is trying this herd immunity to see if it works but at the expense of your lives.

It certainly looks like that, Lipz. I don’t understand why they didn’t introduce quarantine for all arrivals weeks ago. We’re on an island, ffs. That would have delayed the spread, giving time for better planning, including research into treatment.

Not enough people are infected yet.

Not enough tests are being done.

Yes, I do believe this is the best method. I wasn't sure at first, until I heard the plan for isolating the most vulnerable groups. There is still the option for mass lockdowns, but they need to be timed for the maximum effect.
Some people are going to die, no matter what happens, and life is going to be shit for a while. That's just the way it is. If you think this is hard just be thankful you didn't live through the Black death, or the Spanish flu epidemic. Absolutely horrendous, and they had virtually no tools to counter it.

Yes

The UK government is following the scientific advice available to them. They are adapting their response to reflect the capacity of the NHS, the structure of the population and the time when the virus will start to proliferate here.

The nature of the NHS means that data sets available in the UK are more complete and more accurate than anywhere else in Europe so UK modelling is better that that in other EU countries.

This is not a party political issue and I do not think it is helpful to suggest that it is.

People are doing their best in a very difficult and fast moving situation. There are no easy right / wrong answers.

Random18,

That solves nothing though, it doesn't curb the spread from children.

Who comes in to cover the vulnerable teachers who go off? There already is a massive understaffing of sub teachers.

What happens if they can't get subs? Will clases merge together with 50, 60+ in the class? How are they going to be taught properly then?

What about the guidelines we are given to follow, maintain social distancing of 1.5-2 metres. That'll be impossible with small classrooms and large classes.

What about when the virus starts to spread around the healthy teaching and non teaching staff? Who fill their places when they go off sick?

Closing the schools is imperative to stop the spread. All local GP surgeries are closing, why aren't schools?

Did anyone catch the interview with Rachael Maskell - the Labour MP who was self-isolating for 14 days after her meeting with Nadine Dorries? She let slip that her sister was living in the same (small?) London flat with her...

Well, I'm normally a Boris fan but in this instance I believe he is entirely wrong, we should be following other countries and closing schools etc. And we should have banned travel well before now, to keep our island clear.
Countries which seem to be "winning" are ones who acted immediately, regardless of numbers and who have been doing greater amounts of testing than the UK. I think it's Taiwan (?) which is doing so well because they learned through the SARS episode how to go about things....

@tegucigalpa13

Thank you for being the voice of reason.

I'm afraid people wont listen though. From just reading MN its very clear people prefer to listen to conspiracy theories and hysteria. I'm guessing it gives them a shot of adrenaline as a reward.

The only way to control mass infections would be to close borders
Well that was China's responsibility. Unfortunately they allowed some of their infected citizens out to wander the globe.

Boris isn't making these decisions alone, he has a team of experts and scientists behind him. There are other people present at the Cobra meeting who give input too.

Yes I agree, we need to stagger people getting sick so more people get the chance to be treated. If the hospitals get rammed with all the sick at once people will get turned away.

The nature of the NHS means that data sets available in the UK are more complete and more accurate than anywhere else in Europe so UK modelling is better that that in other EU countries

The models aren't going to be accurate for long if everyone with 'maybe' covid is told not to ring 111 and get tested!

Personally I think we should be following the advice the rest of Europe is, but obviously I don't have access to the models or the expertise to interpret them.

No. I despise this government of smug patronising gits. But IMO, it's not really Boris taking these decisions. He may, in fact, have thought they should have been taking earlier, more interventionist, steps. The question is whether anyone things Cummings is right. He'll be the one working with the CMO and CSO....

and try to protect the most vulnerable from catching it

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't a plan to cover all vulnerable people, is there? Only those age 70+.

People with pre-existing conditions predisposing them to more serious complications of the disease who are under 70 have zero protection, other than that which they can fund themselves, unless they are fortunate enough to be able to work from home.

It's a lottery for that cohort - the financially well-off can stay home, everyone else in that cohort takes their chances.

Please be accurate. Some of the most vulnerable will (possibly) be protected, not all.

Everything should have shut immediately. We are all being treated like rats in an experiment.

His words about us losing loved ones before their time is true but because of his policy. I voted for him but this is beyond a fuck up and I am furiously angry about it.

What happens if they can't get subs? Will classes merge together with 50, 60+ in the class? How are they going to be taught properly then?

China has classes of 50, 60+ !!

I wont be RTFT for my own wellbeing curtailing non-essential reading on this. Boris has nothing to do with the question at hand - do I trust the decisions being made by Whitty/Vallance at the moment? Well - yes, but with an awareness of the risks involved in their/any approach. As far as the dichotomy being trotted out of caring about humans versus caring about the economy - that is a false dichotomy and works as a stirry-uppy red herring.

"There is no clear indication that the UK's response is being informed by the experiences of other countries in containing the spread of Covid-19,” the letter, which was signed by six infectious disease experts including Richard Horton, editor of prestigious medical journal The Lancet, stated."

See where that curve is going? It will go up very fast in the next few days.
Half measures will allow it to keep growing at almost the same pace.

I do hope the NHS can cope.

Clavinova,

Please tell me the relevance?

I'm in several minds about whether it's the right course of action or not.

But, I think they are being very unwise not testing milder cases (i think i might have it atm) because healthy people who have recovered will be more help to the older community in the coming weeks. But if we don't know for sure that we've had it and recovered, we can't help.

No and I don't trust the 2 specialist either. WHO and proven methods from the East have my trust. We have gone into semi-isolation. I am the only one that leaves the house on a need basis, armed with rubbing alcohol and straight into shower when home.

Pilot13,

Why are the British experts coming up with completely solutions to every other counties in Europe?

Staggering the spread would surely come about via partial lockdown rather than expose everyone to the virus.

It's easy to make it look like you're flattening the curve when people aren't being tested. The results are being completely skewed which is very worrying.

No I don’t they are going against the advice of the WHO. Many scientists disagree with the governments position.

I don't think there is a 'right' answer at the moment. We can't all stay in quarantine forever. If we enforce quarantine for several months then the virus will just take off once those measures are reduced. We do need to buy time to understand it better though.