A timeline of the UKs response to this pandemic leaves a lot to be desired...

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/11/...ts-woeful-response-to-the-coronavirus-crisis/

 

Another interesting article on the same site

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/09/...e-running-as-we-will-all-get-covid-19-anyway/

 

This is just against all logic. Which scientists were saying this just 11 days before lockdown? It's beyond comprehension.

 

Certainly an interesting read thst

 

It's as if we are being lead by a load of half wits. Oh hang on...

 

Kin hell, this government are something else, Dominic Commings "herd immunity, protect the economy, and if that means some pensioners die, too bad",
Johnson stated the country is very, very well prepared and the virus would not stop him greeting people with a handshake adding he had shaken hands of everyone at a hospital where infected patients were being treated, you can see why he gets called a Buffoon.

 

If you look at Russia and Australia, their relative successes in containing are put mainly down to closing the borders very early and not allowing people coming into the Country.
China also managed to control by effectively locking down Wuhan with no travel to or from it with no exceptions.

 

I've no doubt that the decision makes won't be made accountable for the thousands of deaths they'll have on the hands. They will just put it down as bad luck even though it was laid bare in China and then Italy for all to see. Come this Thursday this government will risk everything again and lift some social distancing rules to get people back to work. We should be keeping a close eye on Spain and Italy as they lift there own restrictions.

Take care and stay safe.

 

That was our key mistake. We're a bloody island nation, it would have been easy to do this & test people returning from hotspots.

 

I’m no expert, so challenge me if you think I’m wrong, but it seems to me like there are two main strategies which countries are currently pursuing: “Contain and quash” or “Flatten the curve”.

Although the UK government believes it to be currently impossible, several other countries are attempting to quash the virus by completely shutting everything down. I assume the idea is to try and completely stop transmission so there are no new cases and everyone who is infectious recovers. However, this will surely only work if there are 0 transmissions for a period of several weeks. Widespread testing and contact tracing will be key in order to stop any new transmissions. Even if there are only a small handful of transmissions every week the virus will linger, and as soon as you release the restrictions you’ll be back to square one. Whilst there seems to be some early signs that this strategy could be successful in some countries (eg China, South Korea, Australia), it’s unclear whether they’re going to be able to completely reduce transmission to 0 or whether they just have an extreme form of flattening the curve, which will bounce back as soon as any restrictions are lifted. Extreme flattening of the curve is not desirable due to the economic and social damage caused by the restrictions. Completely containing seems like a tough ask, particularly in the most densely populated areas and liberal societies, but hopefully they manage it.

Once you get beyond a certain point, all you can really do is try and flatten the curve, as the virus becomes too widespread to do anything else. Completely stopping transmission for several weeks is all but impossible when in many cases it’s asymptomatic and the population has to leave the home for supplies. As I understand it, this is the key difference with SARS and MERS, which were much more severe and therefore easier to identify and contain. If you assume it’s impossible to contain and quash, this means your only exit routes are 1) Herd immunity with the ultimate number of people that contract the virus depending on how good the population socially distances and how flat the curve is, or 2) a vaccine or the development of other drugs to treat the symptoms. I suspect the strategy we are going to go down is to wait for a vaccine (hopefully March next year), as it’s become clearer is recent weeks that the virus can severely affect all sections of society, and reaching the required level of herd immunity will either take too long or will place too much strain on the NHS / cost many lives. I suspect what the government is trying to determine is the level of restrictions placed on the population between now and March, balancing the cost of human life with the economic impact and mental wellbeing of the wider population. Not an enviable job.

I think time will only tell what the best strategy is. The UK made very little attempt to contain, and instead was more concerned with ensuring the curve was the correct shape (part of their “right time” mantra). The benefit of this is that the restrictions are less severe and will potentially last a shorter period of time. However, it’s clear that if possible, the better strategy is contain. However, no one currently knows if this is possible in a densely populated liberal country, and the economic impact of attempting this strategy and failing will be more severe.

 

I went to Australia at the end of February and left at the beginning of March with zero checks. They let a cruise ship dock in Sydney, full of the virus, and allowed people to just walk off it. Their cafes are still open. Australia has a lower number of cases because not many people go compared to the UK and once they're there the towns and cities are so far apart, with limited travel between them, it's very difficult for it spread. That and the population is much smaller.

 

If I was a managing director of a company where there was deaths caused through gross negligence. The police would be all over me charging me with corporate manslaughter. Some how these teflon coated idiots from west minster will some how come out of it unscathed, no doubt at all.

 

These Tory bar stewards have blood on their hands, and any time they bang on about protecting the NHS in press conferences turns my stomach.

Anyone who voted Tory is complicit in the whole thing.

 

You’re so right. We went from bussing UK nationals from Wuhan into a strict 14 day quarantine one week to allowing people to return from Northern Italy willynilly a couple of weeks later. Laughable really.
What really gets to me is that only when we are irreversibly into a “herd immunity” policy do we get people like Chris Witty dropping out statements like, ‘we don’t know for certain how immune people who have recovered will be’ or indeed ‘how long it will last for’.
In other words we could be back where we started by this time next year.

 

No chance. Thursday we will be right in the midst of the peak. We will probably extend to the same time as Ireland have.

 

It would appear we do not have the resources, facilities or capability to conduct CV19 tests on a large scale and may not for a long time. If you don't know who has had it, who has got it, other than the obvious ones gasping for breath in hospital I can't see how normal life can be resumed until a vaccine becomes available. Caught with our pants down good and proper. Why does it take so long for a vaccine to become ready if the need is so great, anybody know?

 

Because if the vaccine kills people it can't be used. They have to test to make sure it's safe for use

 

But Donald Trump says they’ll have one soon and it’ll be the best vaccine ever, made by the best vaccine builders the world. This virus will just disappear and they’ve got it fully under control. Everything is perfect.

 

I still don't know what we're doing. I don't know what the plan is.
We're certainly slowing down the spread of the virus amongst school children and those of working age. It won't stop the spread completely without tougher measures, but it will flatten the curve, to use the modern vernacular. This group of people aren't immune to serious complications from the infection, but their risk is dramatically lower than those of pensionable age or those with serious underlying health conditions.
Meanwhile, we're doing very little, if anything, to prevent the risk of infection to vulnerable people. Care workers and auxiliary staff in care and nursing homes are not tested or issued protective clothing that would reduce the risk of them infecting the vulnerable people they care for. Nor are NHS workers treating those with illnesses other than Covid-19.
It defies all logic to me. We've protected the fit and exposed the weak.
Testing should be limited to and concentrated on those who deal with vulnerable people: Doctors, nurses, care workers, hospital and nursing home staff. If we protect the vulnerable, it protects the NHS.
Most young, fit people contracting Covid-19 won't need hospital treatment. Some will, I'm not pretending we're all immune, but most won't.
Many older people, or ill people, will require hospital treatment. If we prevent the virus spreading to this cohort, put all our money and effort into achieving that, then society can function and far fewer people will die.

 

Because it's not easy to find one that works and clinical testing takes time. It pays to have many scientists trying as many ways as possible to find a solution rather than them using more closely related methods. It might just be blind luck that a group tries something and it works. Someone the other day said it might be 18 months away.