Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

The Grayling story is going to get quite neatly buried by the Nadine Dorries story.

His first job will be to cover up the stuff in Russia report.

Why would you trust Failing to do your cover up?!

That’s the only positive point Red. If anyone is going to fuck it up it’ll be grayling.

It’s not flu. FFS.

Anyone who says "it's just flu" is stupid and irresponsible at this point.

The "just flu" people will all have a share of personal responsibility for death of elderly and vulnerable people.

When it comes to coronavirus, stupidity kills.

COVID-19 will be a perfect storm when it really takes off in the US.

People can't take time off work. Millions and millions live paycheck to paycheck and there is no safety net. It will be like New Orleans when Katrina hit in many ways - real life for millions of Americans who do not have the financial resources to access medical care will be laid bare, just as the hurricane blew the cover off the reality of poverty for huge numbers of New Orleans inhabitants.
Even those who are used to good health and not having to try to get appointments will be affected when this starts to mushroom.
Most people can't get quick appointments with their personal doctors at the best of times.
Many people have such sketchy medical insurance with high deductibles that they won't go near a doctor or hospital anyway.
Hospitals will be overwhelmed.
Testing is currently being rationed - screening only for very likely cases as decided by medical personnel.

“At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” [45]
A lot of people are thinking that that is a suspiciously low number of declared cases.

I haven't read this closely or looked at the maths but here is a blog that suggests ways of getting to actual infection numbers.

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

First case in my area yesterday 8 miles from me. DD who works in a care home for severe autistic young adults has been told that if a resident get Covid 19 she will be expected to isolate herself in the care home too! I'm not sure that's legal to force staff to isolate themselves in the workplace and not be allowed to isolate themselves in their own home?!

Flu doesn't come in brands.
Nor does it wreak the kind of havoc currently underway in Italy.

Suggesting that the economic hardship that millions of people are going to suffer in the coming months when businesses begin to fold will be worth it because some heads of state might be voted out afterwards and they are all a pile of shite. That is straight out of the Cummings playbook, with an extra chapter on "it couldn't ever happen to me" thrown in for good measure.

That sounds like a threat of false imprisonment sostenuto, and dangerous for all concerned.

Is your daughter in a union?

No Mistigirl. She's minimum wage, zero contract hours. I think it's ridiculous! Even the idea of volunteers coming to look after residents suggested on BBC news thread. But I suppose if your job is at stake it's then a catch 22 situation.

It's a brand of flu

FFS 🙄 Dunning, meet Kruger.

Nadine Dorries is a government minister?!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhh!!!!!!

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-uk-access-coronavirus-vaccine/amp/#click=t.co/BoACp9PX8k" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.politico.eu/article/brexit-uk-access-coronavirus-vaccine/amp/#click=t.co/BoACp9PX8k
Brexit could delay UK access to a coronavirus vaccine
Outside EU drug approval and procurement schemes, the UK could pay more for a vaccine and receive it later.

Current best estimates put the delivery date for a vaccine over a year away. That’s beyond the Brexit transition period, meaning that the U.K. could by then be outside the authority of the EU’s medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency.

If the ongoing negotiations don’t result in some form of alignment with the EMA’s approvals, the U.K. could come off as second best, with drugmakers prioritizing the EU market rather than submitting their drug to the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency first.

“The European Medicines Agency is representing a patient pool of 500 million-odd patients,” said Olivier Wouters, assistant professor of health policy at the London School of Economics. “That seems like a more lucrative market for a drug company or a vaccine maker to prioritize.”

That point has been made on here relentlessly for the last 4 years... so tired of this useless crap...

"The US has now confirmed more than 1,000 cases of the virus across 38 states. Some states, including most recently Michigan, have declared a state of emergency."

Going to get harder to deny the numbers now.

Really interesting article @Mistigri

Its looking very Darwinish on CNN, with the frail elderly Trump-voters in Florida saying its all fake news.

Is it mean of me to think that if that is what they think , then hell mend them ?

Hey
Feel a bit overwhelmed, bit calm-before-the-storm in hospital. It's busy, but not unmanageable
Spent years begging people not to vote tory NHS is cracking
But they didn't listen
Here we are
Awaiting the long predicted pandemic with very very little space or stretch or staff or beds
My DP is worried for me personally, but I think I'll be ok. I had some time off for burnout over the winter so I'm probably better rested / in a better
position than most doctors. I have no health problems I'm yougn enough. He can work from home if schools shut so I can keep working
I'm keen to help. The quiet before the storm is a bit scary. I feel a bit helpless. Gave blood, been buying food for foodbanks. Waiting.
Reading the coronavirus thread sometimes but I think my views on it will make people panicky so I don't post
Feel like the gaslighting of recent years is about to hit actual reality in a really terrible way . Hopefully I'm wrong.
Thanks for all your continued insights

prettybird the mean spirited part of me agrees with you. I feel for front line NHS staff like squid4. Tory/Brexit/Trump voters - not so much, they wanted this.

I'm looking at the feasibility of volunteering for my NHS organisation in terms of driving testing teams around, but the logistics are difficult in terms of where I live and where the test vans are - I wouldn't get any sleep before having to be back at work. My line manager is off sick (not corona) but I'm thinking of asking if I can 'swap' a day a week so I can do my bit.

"Nadine Dorries first felt ill last Friday as she was signing a statutory instrument which made coronavirus a 'notifiable' disease"

Well, at least she's done something right!

Many Early Years settings had been told that their insurance for loss of earnings didn't cover for Coronavirus because it wasn't a notifiable disease.

I'm not sure if they now will change the insurance cover, but I'm seeing advice for settings to continue charging parents if they are forced to close. I'm not sure what the reaction of parents will be when they find out, but the Early Years sector is already on its knees and can't afford to lose the money.

Of course, that's the problem all round, isn't it? Austerity ground everything into the ground and now there is little resource to cope with a crisis like this.

I wonder how votes in the HoC will go with self isolating MPs ?

As we know (because a pregnant MP had to be dragged through the division hours before surgery) it's "not possible" to arrange for proxies or remote voting.

Its looking very Darwinish on CNN, with the frail elderly Trump-voters in Florida saying its all fake news.

Prob is that they are going to drag underinsured African American and Hispanic communities w/ high rates of comorbidities down with them.

@squid4 Do feel free to post on the CV thread - we're at #20 now
You can say you're an A&E doctor or whatever your speciality is, to give a perspective from the sharp end

• we do need that there