Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

"They are being very solicitous."

Yeah, about their tin-opener

It's good cats never developed opposable thumbs, or they would never hang around us

Breathlessness is one of the symptoms. I have it mildly. The advice is if it worsens to call back. In fact if any symptoms worsen you call back of course.

Which may have been what was heard rather than what was actually said perhaps?

I can fully believe the wait times though. Maybe I was exceptionally lucky and hit the time of gearing up before the tsunami hits. I am sure that won't be most people's experience.

I've waited hours and days to get resolution through 111 for my aged mother in the past.

Hats off to all of them. They are amazing. I made sure to tell them that too.

Oh yes cupboard love is definitely a thing.
I choose to believe mine love me too though, just for who I am.
They do mind control too

No more smilies now. Feeling v ill. Rapid onset. Thread in cv section in health. Scared

Grinchy- i didn't want to read and not comment- I am not on the thread a lot these days for MH reasons.

Please try not to panic, it's not your friend..... I know that's hard. I have been using headspace to help calm me (it's a meditation app on your phone)

If however you are starting to have difficulty breathing phone them back. Try and get into hospital- or to see a doctor to be assessed.Someone from my husbands work (he doesn't really know him) has been in hospital with it and is now back out. The doctor said to him the important thing with it is delivering oxygen when people start to experience breathing difficulties. Stay strong.

Grinchley

Grinchy - so sorry you are frightened. I hope you have got help

So I spoke to my brother yesterday in NZ - he normally is and has been v gung ho.....he's not anymore. Dnephew has flown home from college in the states (Alabama) it sounds quite scary and apocalyptic. I am pleased to say my Bro has rented a little apartment in the city where he will do his 2 weeks isolation. They aren't trying to self isolate at home.
The clincher was with dnephew last college switching to online learning and campus dr shutting down they could get a clear answer as to what the health cover he then had was (his was insured through college).
Somehow they discovered that to just get tested for coronavirus- the charge was $3000us. I had thought it was free , but as my brother and I discussed healthcare in the states is never straightforward.
Dnephew has been in isolation but drove past several hospitals on way to airport - queues of people outside waiting outside , trying to get in for treatment/testing. Absolutely heartbreaking.

@mrslaughan

The Americans are just profiteers

Health insurance tied to employment will be a catastrophe in the US with job losses soaring. And I hope people remember how different countries' health care systems were able to respond or not once this is over and that UK voters learn to fear a predominately insurance-led system and to defend the NHS and the people within it.

.

Grinchly I hope you have managed to contact 111 and that your breathing eases v soon 💐💐

Ah, found your other thread and thank goodness your breathing has settled down again
👍

YouGov Poll: Extending Brexit Transition

https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/vyl6u6avrm/InternalCoronaBrexitt_200319.pdf

Tim Balee@ProfTimBale*

Brand new @YouGov results:

Should the UK extend the transition so we can cope with #COVID19?

Majority support, but looks like the ‪#coronavirus‬ hasn't completely eroded those Brexit identities...

Brexit identities Remain / Leave and Labour / Tory very similar numbers wrt extending transition / not

Amongst my friends, colleagues, I've def noticed this split between remainers = CV-19 as a crisis/Tories decimated the NHS / Johnson is killing us with his inaction vs brexiteers (whether soft or hard) = It's just the flu / we die more from regular flu etc / nothing to panic about / isn't Johnson handling the pandemic perfectly.

It's more than political and ideological, isn't it? More than identity... there's some deep seated anxieties at work and this seems to apply to the pandemic as much as to everything else in the wider world.

Though granted from what people are saying, the young (remainers?) aren't panicking enough...

Though granted from what people are saying, the young (remainers?) aren't panicking enough...

Government messaging on this has been very poor.

The message of the elderly and vulnerable need to be protected has the side effect of making the young think they are immune.

This has fed into Brexit divisions and the culture war more generally which has been very young v old.

Also in terms of ignoring the advice, the young have been widely told off for not taking it seriously yet there are a hell of a lot of older people who are being blasé saying they don't care if they die cos they've had a good innings - not realising that the process of their death will cause problems for others as they are cared for, meaning less care for those who want to live plus the physical / psychological impact of this on others.

Dh has been a complete nightmare saying oh well I'm young and it doesn't kill the young, only those with underlying conditions. It's taken a huge row and a lot of nagging this week for me to get him to take it seriously. He's 37.

But this has definitely been led by the governments strategy and there has been an internal admission that they have a problem with messaging to younger audiences.

The schools staying open certainly hasn't helped with this psychology either.

I had a very depressing conversation with a real life Brexit voter yesterday. He can't see why there is any need to extend transition, we'll just have to go no deal. Apparently that won't be a problem as companies have plenty of time to prepare. This was despite me having just told him that I have spent the last 2 weeks working on contingency planning for Covid 19 and it is going to be grim and that every project at the very large company I work for has been put on indefinite hold.

Youngsters on zero hours contracts or forced self employment have ZERO sympathy for old folks on fixed pensions on cruise ships
sad but true

So far it looks like

• pensioners will still get their pensions- paid by the government
• employees will still get their salaries - paid by the government
• self employed people will have to burn through their savings down to £16000 and then claim Universal Credit

That is 6m people being told to cash in their ISAs in a falling market or get rid of all their business reserves
while the Government bales out multimillionaire bosses and businesses

grinchly are you feeling better??
Xxxx

Maybe the messages are getting through...

Did my food shopping today and shops were calm and quiet, people being sensible and sticking to buying limits, shelves pretty well stocked except for a few things. I've put together a bag of stuff for DD2's gf's family who are having to self isolate and will be dropping it outside their door in a bit.

"there are a hell of a lot of older people who are being blasé saying they don't care if they die cos they've had a good innings"

While they are going out on their jollies, they would also be spreading around any infection that they don't yet realise they have

"No man is an island" is maybe the most important motto for a pandemic

China's data indicates that when households were isolated, it was the older people - not the kids - giving it to the rest of the family

Of course, the elderly then suffered much worse serious illness and death rates, but the casualty rate certainly wasn't zero for young adults

Kids & teens, so quite possibly younger people generally, are not only better able to fight it off once they have it,
but are reportedly more resistant to getting it in the first place

while the Government bales out multimillionaire bosses and businesses

Torys gona tory [shrug]

Once this thing hits the elderly then I think it might take them back to the reality of the blitz spirit, the rationing and daily struggles. Having had something with most of the symptoms of Covid my mother is now ordering her neighbours across the fence to stay home and self distance, telling off the ones that were still going to the pub and reminiscing about her Dad’s weekly chore of cutting up newspaper squares for the outside loo.