Boris in hospital

[Cary2012]

Breaking news.

The trouble is, since they have consistently changed their stories since this outbreak happened, we don't know what to believe

The tories and their liar in chief cannot be believed about anything, at all, at any time.
No wonder people don't believe them at present.
They are liars. And people don't believe liars.

Google caches copies of threads here. Google Mumsnet plus search term and then look for the little inverted 'pryamid' icon at the end which pulls down as "cached". Lo and behold deleted threads magically re-appear.

I've felt quite sorry for him alone in the house after Carrie moved out

Jesus fucking wept.
I feel sorry for everyone who has borne the brunt of tory ideological austerity. Especially those that have died with no food in their bellies.
I do not feel sorry for two lying adulterers.

Lady Eloise, whilst schools in Ireland did indeed close before the UK, lockdown was introduced first in the UK and then the next day, Ireland announced the same measures. So your post is completely inaccurate.

I am confused by a lot of posts on here. Do people not realise that most countries are going for herd immunity/ awaiting a vaccine? The point of lockdown is to slow things down so that hospitals can cope, no one thinks a lockdown like the UK and Ireland have imposed will actually contain the virus permanently. Only a Chinese style lockdown could do that, but I am not aware of any European country attempting that.

As regards the under-funding... I think to claim that there has not been is simply wrong (in so far as making the NHS "fit for purpose", anyway).

There was a simulation of a pandemic run in 2016 with the major players being Government ministers etc. which revealed (amongst other things) that the NHS was lacking significantly in "surge" capacity to handle a large outbreak, lacked PPE capacity etc.

The Health Secretary of the time was less than impressed with the recommendation of increasing spending and increasing the capacity of the NHS at a time when he was trying to reduce spend and capacity... Not surprisingly, nothing was done.

Hindsight is of course 20/20, but the purpose of running these scenarios is to allow you to identify weak-points, and address them BEFORE they become reality - that is why you do them. Sadly, this was not done.

Of course, this came from a well know left-wing rag of a paper the Telegraph, so take it with a pinch of salt.

PrivateD00r
The thing is the uk had an opportunity to follow the strategy of S Korea, ie test and contact trace on seeing what was happening and the devastation elsewhere but chose not to.

Lots of people on this thread using the retrospectoscope. As a former Chief Scientific Adviser said, it is the most powerful instrument known to man. We may now think that previous scientific advice was wrong but that does not mean the scientists or politicians should have known it was wrong at the time.

Ireland closed its schools and took measures on March 12 along with many other countries across the work. The WHO had declared the corona virus a pandemic on March 11 and countries took action.

Boris Johnson, like Donald Trump, dismissed concerns. The UK waited until March 20 to close schools and implement measures.

Ireland now has had 158 deaths, i.e. 30 deaths per million.

The UK now has a significantly higher number of death from corona. It is has 5,000 deaths in hospital, i.e. 90 deaths per million, and this is not even counting a significant number of people who have died at home in the UK.

Yes, the UK should have taken action a week earlier. Neither Boris Johnson (or Donald Trump) needed a retrospectoscope to take action.

I think it would be fairer to compare Ireland with Scotland. England has too many densely populated regions where contagion has more opportunity. I'm from an area on the west coast of Ireland where social distancing is easy as hardly anyone lives there, no public transport, seven children in a class etc. You can't compare that to an average town in England.

I was looking for that Duffy thread @Tonyaster do you know why it was pulled?

Because people were speculating over how people could be smuggled out of the country against their will, speculating about the country. Some people didn't believe her. This post will probably get deleted, but this thread is just as bad.

As someone also in Ireland (but with loved ones in the UK) it was disconcerting in the extreme to watch crufts, cheltenham etc proceed when the st Patrick’s parade was cancelled and the pubs closed. Even Sweden has banned big gatherings. It was British exceptionalism in action. However I wouldn’t go around comparing death rates per million as it seems like some kind of tasteless league tables. Also it’s far too early in this to know how any country will do in the long term. Ireland is making mistakes too (eg nursing homes, testing).

However I wouldn’t go around comparing death rates per million as it seems like some kind of tasteless league tables

No. It's an indicator of how the disease is progressing in a country, and it gives an indication of the real number of infected.
It should be taken into account with the number of confirmed infected.

The numbers per million population can be misleading due to country heterogeneity, particularly in large countries. But looking at how numbers rise, it gives an indication of how the spread is being controlled or not.

The Irish media is obsessed with how much 'better' Ireland is doing than the UK as if it were some kind of competetion. I'm irish and I find this really tasteless. They have signifcantly different population densities, and borders.

www.irishtimes.com/news/health/tuberculosis-vaccine-potential-game-changer-in-covid-19-fight-1.4220383

This could be another reason Ireland is doing better.

Carriemac i think it's because Ireland and UK had two different strategies from the beginning to fight Covid19. The UK initially decided on the herd immunity approach
With schools, colleges and bars, clubs etc open when they had been closed in Ireland.They then changed strategy and went into a lockdown.m similar to Ireland
People are interested in which strategy was correct.
Also the UK policy impacts Ireland because of Northern Ireland.

I had the BGC when I was at school (I am 40) so anyone above that age should have it over here.

I agree though Ireland is far more a comparison to Scotland (they have less people than Scotland) I mean the population is 1/13 of England

I can see that, but we are months and maybe years from seeing what strategy was 'correct' , and comparisons need to be made about similar populations - Ireland and UK very different so will never be truly comparable I think. My region of the UK has similar deaths per million to Ireland for instance - but is that significant? Maybe not
London will always be an outlier

The WHO had declared the corona virus a pandemic on March 11 and countries took action.

There is no reason to link WHO declaring a disease a pandemic and the need for countries to ‘take action’. Being pandemic does not say anything about the mortality of a disease or its spread in particular countries.

Ladyeloise, once again, as I already said, the UK introduced a lockdown before Ireland did. They closed their schools first, however the actual lockdown came after the UK...... Ireland does not have a different strategy to the UK!

Also, it is well known that Ireland is simply behind the UK, that doesn't mean the eventual outcomes won't be the same.

Also, it is well known that Ireland is simply behind the UK, that doesn't mean the eventual outcomes won't be the same.

So it is 'well known that Ireland is simply behind the UK'. Well known by whom?

Even though Ireland had taken measures more than a week earlier to close schools, prevent mass gathering and close pubs.

He is updating Facebook from hospital so that's a good sign.

He is updating Facebook from hospital so that's a good sign

Someone is updating it. It might not be him

How many of those seriously ill patients struggling with the virus are updating Facebook? If he's updating Facebook, he doesn't need a hospital bed.

He's tweeted (or someone has for him):

Last night, on the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I’m still experiencing coronavirus symptoms. I’m in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.

I’d like to say thank you to all the brilliant NHS staff taking care of me and others in this difficult time. You are the best of Britain.

Stay safe everyone, and please remember to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.

If he's updating Facebook, he doesn't need a hospital bed.

I doubt he's the one updating facebook.

If he's in hospital it's also certain that he needs to be there, they're unlikely to keep him in if it wasn't warranted.