SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

11101 said:
I don't think that's quite right. The figure was 10% of health workers getting it last time the government announced anything.

There are Gofund me type pages being set up all over the country for the hospitals and health workers, the page for my local ICU is up to 200k already.
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I really hope it’s fake news. Medics are as vulnerable as the rest of us to whatsapp rumours!
 
hungrywing said:
Wiped out of existence completely (in all vectors including animals), pretty much zero chance. It'd be possible in a sci-fi novel where you had nanobots released to find every organism with covid19 in it and tag them and then drones go out and kill and incinerate every marked creature.

Wiped out as a 'recurring' threat to humans, possible in 12-18 months. We just got all of Ebola in humans (FOR NOW), for example. This is also why it's important to find the animal host, which you may have heard. AKA if we can't get a vaccine, then all it takes is one mofo to eat/screw/rub lips over contaminated ______ again and it starts all over.



Unknown.

(On a related note, we have theories as to why we catch more colds/flu upper respiratory infections during the cold months.)



Mutation itself is happening all the time. Yes, largely random. No predictability of the type you're probably getting at (Gadzooks, Johnson! look where it's headed! another few mutations and it will be able to move through fiber optic cable!)

Viruses, like any organism, have energy expenditures and the resultant restrictions. AKA there might have already been individual units capable of airborne transmission/survive for weeks in air, but that particular mutation also meant they had to give up a protein that helped them survive above a certain temperature. Like Wile-E-Coyote getting a huge sledgehammer to klobber the roadrunner but that hammer gets stuck on a passing white blood cell. Or like a limited amount of total attribute points to spend setting up your character stats in a computer game.



Unknown. Technically yes it does depend on mutations but everything does.
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Thanks.

Looks like my normal method of ignoring a problem in the hope it goes away, might not work this time.
 
swooshboy said:
Have you tried phoning the school for your tickly throat?
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People are confused and don't know where to turn, parents are unsure and don't want to get fines (or worse) for keeping kids off school for weeks at a time, schools are scared but the Government has given no reassurances, so everyone is confused - there's absolutely zero leadership in this time of crisis.
 
Pexbo said:
Is there any evidence that the mutation of viruses causes diversity in culture to the point where being continually exposed to a wide variety of infected people over a period of time could see a single person be continually infected with strains which are resistant to the natural immunity developed against other strains?

Sorry a bit of a word salad but hopefully obvious enough what I am trying to ask.
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Afraid that was too much for my tiny brain to comprehend. Is there any evidence of what now?!
 
Redlambs said:
So my son was ill yesterday, fever shivers and dry cough. Phoned the NHS line and they were clueless, just said ask the school. So phoned the school and they said keep him and his brother off for 2 days.

Now I was worried about their attendance marks, so phoned again today and they said keep them off for 7 days but they'll phone me back. I've just had a phonecall say actually don't because there's no guarantee that they'll beable to justify it as authorised absence and the no one is advising them.

Basically they are clueless, the NHS line are clueless and everyone is being left to their own devices. Meanwhile my son is absolutely fine now, but I have a tickly throat :nervous:
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How old is your son and how much does "authorised" absense matter? I'd be gobsmacked if an abense during this period is left as a black against him. There was a government minister on the radio the other day saying no parent will be receiving any fines for virus related absense.
 
Rhyme Animal said:
Noucamp is just bummed that FF is off! *

* only joking pal, I know you do care about this
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Of course I do. It is a potentially scary epidemic but we don't know what will happen just yet. 10 deaths in 8 weeks is sad but it's a small number in relation to other issues. If it starts scaling up dramatically then I will concede I misjudged it.

Germany handling it very well though. 2000 cases and just 2 deaths so far. There is hope.

The virus is mutating so we don't know if it will cause same consequences in every country.
 
Simbo said:
How old is your son and how much does "authorised" absense matter? I'd be gobsmacked if an abense during this period is left as a black against him. There was a government minister on the radio the other day saying no parent will be receiving any fines for virus related absense.
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It matters a lot, it's sats year for a start. And I recently had an incident where they told me his therapist appointments were authorised, but turns out the government advice in that was wrong and I was a week away from a fine and possibly court without even knowing it.

But the point is more that there's absolutely no idea what they should be doing. First saying 2 days, then saying 7, now saying bring them back in Monday. I'm savvy enough and lucky enough to be in a position to decide for myself what to do and have cover for my boys, but what about everyone else who aren't quite so lucky?
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
Of course I do. It is a potentially scary epidemic but we don't know what will happen just yet. 10 deaths in 8 weeks is sad but it's a small number in relation to other issues. If it starts scaling up dramatically then I will concede I misjudged it.

Germany handling it very well though. 2000 cases and just 2 deaths so far. There is hope.
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Indeed. Actually, I was wondering @Pogue Mahone if there's any way of knowing the number of Flu deaths so far in 2020 (in UK)?

Would really appreciate it if anyone has official numbers on this.
 
My company has told everyone to Wfh now where possible.

Between this, other large companies doing the same and football being cancelled... Doesn't show a great deal of faith in good old Boris aye.
 
Redlambs said:
So my son was ill yesterday, fever shivers and dry cough. Phoned the NHS line and they were clueless, just said ask the school. So phoned the school and they said keep him and his brother off for 2 days.

Now I was worried about their attendance marks, so phoned again today and they said keep them off for 7 days but they'll phone me back. I've just had a phonecall say actually don't because there's no guarantee that they'll beable to justify it as authorised absence and the no one is advising them.

Basically they are clueless, the NHS line are clueless and everyone is being left to their own devices. Meanwhile my son is absolutely fine now, but I have a tickly throat :nervous:
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:lol:This country.
 
Unis should be able to cancel lectures with ease. Theres no difficulty in either recording a lecture or streaming it. 90% of our lectures dont have 1 question.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Afraid that was too much for my tiny brain to comprehend. Is there any evidence of what now?!
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Sorry, I'll reword it.

So I am assuming that most people that become infected are infected at a single point in time or at least in a short period of time by a single person or handful of people :- They will likely be infected by the virus in a particular point in its evolutionary life cycle and hopefully overcome it.

Front line medics on the other hand are likely to come into contact with literally thousands of infected people over a much longer time frame :- They are likely to see greater variety in the virus as it mutates from person to person, in some cases it might be more harmless and in others it could have mutated in a particularly nasty way or in a way that has evolved to overcome the natural immunity the medic has developed.

Is this logical/biologically viable? Essentially does immunity generally protect from the virus when in place or can a virus mutate in such a way/rate that continual exposure over a length of time to a wide variety of carriers increase the risk of a critical infection?
 
100 said:
Unis should be able to cancel lectures with ease. Theres no difficulty in either recording a lecture or streaming it. 90% of our lectures dont have 1 question.
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Madness. Every Uni in Norway (and schools/kindergardens etc) has closed down.
 
Sarni said:
Realistically it's not going to go away for a good 2-3 months, right? I mean they've closed schools for 2 weeks here but we are probably going to see increase in cases during this time so they'll have to extend that. I'm supposed to travel to US on May 1, if they lift travel ban I'm still going ahead with that but I doubt it's going to happen.
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Yea more than likely this thing at the minimum will be 2 to 3 months long.

It could be longer though. I think six months or more would be realistic.
 
Redlambs said:
It matters a lot, it's sats year for a start. And I recently had an incident where they told me his therapist appointments were authorised, but turns out the government advice in that was wrong and I was a week away from a fine and possibly court without even knowing it.

But the point is more that there's absolutely no idea what they should be doing. First saying 2 days, then saying 7, now saying bring them back in Monday. I'm savvy enough and lucky enough to be in a position to decide for myself what to do and have cover for my boys, but what about everyone else who aren't quite so lucky?
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Yeh I think its a no brainer to just go with whatever you think is best for the health of your kids, unfortunately not everyone will know what is best. One of the problems schools etc are having is that the advice is changing every day because the situation is changing every day. It is only yesterday government policy became pretty much 'carry on as normal' whereas the day before they cared more about containment.
 
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JPRouve said:
You jest but it's not necessarily the case for people in Europe, there is sometimes a different culture when it comes to live close to family members. If you take West Africa or Asia as an example, it's not surprising to see 10 or 20 people from the same family living in the same neighborhood which makes some logistic easier.
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Heres the thing JPR, if we hadn't prior to 2020, we had ample time to prepare for this. We knew it was coming and that it would arrive with force. We even knew the extreme measures that needed to be taken to stop it yet here we are.

I said months ago that this had to be taken seriously and that the public needed to be prepared. Instead nothing happened and most of the stupid population kept going on about "fear mongering" and now we're in utter chaos. The first message we got from our government was to wash our fecking hands. Something that should have been pushed through months ago anyway!
 
Appreciate there isn’t much alternative but it’s really frustrating that analysis is largely being based on confirmed cases. It would be fine if we had an effective approach to confirming cases, but the level of testing doesn't appear to presently be sufficient.
 
Di Maria's angel said:
Heres the thing JPR, if we hadn't prior to 2020, we had ample time to prepare for this. We knew it was coming and that it would arrive with force. We even knew the extreme measures that needed to be taken to stop it yet here we are.

I said months ago that this had to be taken seriously and that the public needed to be prepared. Instead nothing happened and most of the stupid population kept going on about "fear mongering" and now we're in utter chaos. The first message we got from our government was to wash our fecking hands. Something that should have been pushed through months ago anyway!
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I get that you may feel the need to have a rant but I'm not sure about what it has to do with my answer to @Rhyme Animal question.
 
Wolverine said:
Nope, new guidelines as of a yesterday part of the "delay" phase
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms
Stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
  • a high temperature
  • a new, continuous cough
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home.

Call 111 if
  • you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home
  • your condition gets worse
  • your symptoms do not get better after 7 days
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I don't get the not testing healthcare workers part.

JPRouve said:
Based on what was just said by Montpellier's CHU, at this point the answer is no. During the previous phase people with symptoms would be tested but now if you have symptoms, you are isolated at home.
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Thanks both
 
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Rhyme Animal said:
So... you know all the countries that have closed their schools? China, S.Korea etc - how have they managed this conundrum of childcare for Doctors / Nurses that this Tory Government and their obedient followers are telling us is a seemingly impossible conundrum to solve?

How have China got things under control and improved Healthcare while schools are closed?

How is this possible if the great minds within the current U.K Government can't solve it?

Could we approach these other countries and ask them for the elusive secret of childcare for Doctors / Nurses if that's the main reason why schools are being kept open?
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Part of the answer is found in the fact that you wouldn't be able to post what you're posting about the Chinese government in China, and if you did, you'd either pretty quickly recant it or find yourself disappeared.
 
Our work has employed a 50/50 split between those working at home and those staying in the office.

Personally I don’t understand this as, barring some inexperienced staff who need supervision, nobody else technically has to work in the office. We can all work remotely.
 
Redlambs said:
So my son was ill yesterday, fever shivers and dry cough. Phoned the NHS line and they were clueless, just said ask the school. So phoned the school and they said keep him and his brother off for 2 days.

Now I was worried about their attendance marks, so phoned again today and they said keep them off for 7 days but they'll phone me back. I've just had a phonecall say actually don't because there's no guarantee that they'll beable to justify it as authorised absence and the no one is advising them.

Basically they are clueless, the NHS line are clueless and everyone is being left to their own devices. Meanwhile my son is absolutely fine now, but I have a tickly throat :nervous:
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What do you want them to do on the phone? The guidance is pretty clear.
Stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
  • a high temperature
  • a new, continuous cough
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home.
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I'm struggling to work out you could possibly care about attendance marks currently and that would be a factor in your decision making?!
 
rpitroda said:
Appreciate there isn’t much alternative but it’s really frustrating that analysis is largely being based on confirmed cases. It would be fine if we had an effective approach to confirming cases, but the level of testing doesn't appear to presently be sufficient.
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The outsourcing of the production of test kits to overseas looks like a bad idea, as yeah saved money, but no one kinda got they’d keep the kits for their own people and feck everyone else during a pandemic!
 
Jericholyte2 said:
Our work has employed a 50/50 split between those working at home and those staying in the office.

Personally I don’t understand this as, barring some inexperienced staff who need supervision, nobody else technically has to work in the office. We can all work remotely.
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I do. My company did something similar early on. The two groups are not allowed to come into contact, therefore if one group gets the virus the other can keep the company running. Incredibly selfish and greedy.
 
Di Maria's angel said:
Heres the thing JPR, if we hadn't prior to 2020, we had ample time to prepare for this. We knew it was coming and that it would arrive with force. We even knew the extreme measures that needed to be taken to stop it yet here we are.

I said months ago that this had to be taken seriously and that the public needed to be prepared. Instead nothing happened and most of the stupid population kept going on about "fear mongering" and now we're in utter chaos. The first message we got from our government was to wash our fecking hands. Something that should have been pushed through months ago anyway!
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Are we though?
 
Simbo said:
There's a study which shows the US as #1 in capable to deal with a global outbreak, UK is #2 or #3. It seems the researchers failed to factor in how much our governments give a shit :lol:
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I've read the Lombardy region in Italy is up there with the best as well.

Not hard to see that any so called top country or region can be overwhelmed very quickly.
 
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