Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

[BrianM]

statistically you probably have the flu. get well soon

It’s not the flu, Coronavirus has been confirmed at my work place with 4 people now, I’ve been working directly with someone who has been confirmed positive.
I did have the flu last year and that was bloody awful as well ?

 

[hovis]

I’ll give you an example of what this country is up against.

A colleague of mine stopped and spoke to a group of three men from a different household playing football in a local park. Their explanation?

They’d left their individual homes to go for essential food supplies, so their “leaving” was legitimate. They argued that there was nothing specific in the guidance that said, having completed the essential task, they then had to return home again.

Difficult to know whether they were being serious or taking the urine, but either way it illustrates perfectly why this country will remain locked down for months to come.

i really wouldn't bat an eyelid if the police shot them dead. harsh I know but they clearly don't value other people's life so......

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I’ll give you an example of what this country is up against.

A colleague of mine stopped and spoke to a group of three men from a different household playing football in a local park. Their explanation?

They’d left their individual homes to go for essential food supplies, so their “leaving” was legitimate. They argued that there was nothing specific in the guidance that said, having completed the essential task, they then had to return home again.

Difficult to know whether they were being serious or taking the urine, but either way it illustrates perfectly why this country will remain locked down for months to come.

Is it really any surprise when we keep seeing Politicians and others in positions of influence say one thing and do another?

Maybe those in them positions need to take responsibility for their actions rather than justify their behaviour.

Really do feel for the Emergency Services at this time!

 

[Slab]

But that’s where retailers need to take responsibility for their operation. Should I decide to order a non-essential item online then the onus is on the retailer to manage my order safely. Not on me to not submit my order to begin with.

If retailers act responsibly I get my order, they don’t go out of business and nobody is put at risk. Some common sense has to prevail, surely?

The retailer cant control the public transport their staff had to use to get to work

I just don’t see where the kind of half-arsed lockdown in the UK is the way out, people are able to

• go out and food shop as often as they like, even if that’s every single day (as long as you pick up essentials)
• they can online shop for anything until the retailer stops them (it won’t be their fault if a packer gets the virus taking public transport to work, it’ll be the employer surely)
• they can pop out for a specified but uncontrolled amount of time every day for exercise (even though most of them didn’t do that before lockdown)

And the above is just the stuff you’re allowed to do, not forgetting the rule breakers out sunbathing, playing footie etc

It wont work until all interactions/excursions are minimised, the balancing act wont cut it

 

[Billysboots]

The retailer cant control the public transport their staff had to use to get to work

I just don’t see where the kind of half-arsed lockdown in the UK is the way out, people are able to

• go out and food shop as often as they like, even if that’s every single day (as long as you pick up essentials)
• they can online shop for anything until the retailer stops them (it won’t be their fault if a packer gets the virus taking public transport to work, it’ll be the employer surely)
• they can pop out for a specified but uncontrolled amount of time every day for exercise (even though most of them didn’t do that before lockdown)

And the above is just the stuff you’re allowed to do, not forgetting the rule breakers out sunbathing, playing footie etc

It wont work until all interactions/excursions are minimised, the balancing act wont cut it

I don’t disagree, but catering for every scenario is clearly proving beyond impossible. I, too, cannot see a way out of this.

The only real option is for everyone to have enough provisions to allow us all to stay at home for a month. Everyone. The virus then dies out.

But because that is clearly never going to be feasible there is always going to be some sort of half way house approach.

And therein lies the problem. It’s one I don’t see a solution to, and I genuinely feel for the decision makers tasked with sorting this whole mess out.

 

[Billysboots]

Is it really any surprise when we keep seeing Politicians and others in positions of influence say one thing and do another?

Maybe those in them positions need to take responsibility for their actions rather than justify their behaviour.

Really do feel for the Emergency Services at this time!

I do think the media and press have a huge part to play, though.

I think it may have been the housing minister who made a 40 mile trip to see his parents. It turns out they are self-isolating and he was delivering medicine.

So whilst I absolutely agree those trying to influence us should set the example for us to follow, that also requires responsible, truthful reporting.

There’s more chance of me plaiting fog.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I do think the media and press have a huge part to play, though.

I think it may have been the housing minister who made a 40 mile trip to see his parents. It turns out they are self-isolating and he was delivering medicine.

So whilst I absolutely agree those trying to influence us should set the example for us to follow, that also requires responsible, truthful reporting.

There’s more chance of me plaiting fog.

That was the excuse he came up with, I’m sure thousands could use that as an excuse to see their family.

The media are beyond a joke imo, one look at the press outside St Thomas’s proves that.

 

[Slab]

I don’t disagree, but catering for every scenario is clearly proving beyond impossible. I, too, cannot see a way out of this.

The only real option is for everyone to have enough provisions to allow us all to stay at home for a month. Everyone. The virus then dies out.

But because that is clearly never going to be feasible there is always going to be some sort of half way house approach.

And therein lies the problem. It’s one I don’t see a solution to, and I genuinely feel for the decision makers tasked with sorting this whole mess out.

This is what we're going for here (or as close as they think they can get, i'm not sure if even that will work but here's hoping)
Day 22 now of a minimum 28 with every non-essential business being mandated to shut down, no going out for exercise, travel permit required for essential workers to leave the home, food shopping on allocated days only for a max of 30 mins in-store with temp test before you get in (& carted off to isolation if its too high) the only country in the world that invoked an 8 day no-notice shutdown of every food shop. We are under curfew here not lock-down

I really hope it works, 7 deaths so far and I'd like to think it stops there

 

[Billysboots]

That was the excuse he came up with, I’m sure thousands could use that as an excuse to see their family.

The media are beyond a joke imo, one look at the press outside St Thomas’s proves that.

I’m trying to limit my exposure to the TV news and online articles. There’s no positivity whatsoever.

There is so much that we can learn from this crisis, tighter regulation of the press being just one. I don’t need to see pictures of patients lying in ITU, or lines of coffins, to know what a serious situation this is.

 

[Billysboots]

This is what we're going for here (or as close as they think they can get, i'm not sure if even that will work but here's hoping)
Day 22 now of a minimum 28 with every non-essential business being mandated to shut down, no going out for exercise, travel permit required for essential workers to leave the home, food shopping on allocated days only for a max of 30 mins in-store with temp test before you get in (& carted off to isolation if its too high) the only country in the world that invoked an 8 day no-notice shutdown of every food shop. We are under curfew here not lock-down

I really hope it works, 7 deaths so far and I'd like to think it stops there

I look at the figures, and there are half a dozen or so countries being hammered. Everywhere else it doesn’t seem a particularly big deal.

I get why the UK have an issue - we’re a multicultural society with Heathrow being one of the busiest, if not the busiest, airport in the world. The cat was well and truly out of the bag long before we even realised.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen far stricter border controls far sooner. I cannot, for example, understand why, as soon as the crisis in Northern Italy became evident, EVERYONE returning to the UK from there wasn’t placed into mandatory and monitored quarantine for 14 days. Instead, we gave them “advice” and allowed them to exercise choice whilst many of them spread the virus unknowingly.

As an island nation, and I accept I’m perhaps being hugely naive here, we could have got on top of this far more quickly.

 

[Slab]

I look at the figures, and there are half a dozen or so countries being hammered. Everywhere else it doesn’t seem a particularly big deal.

I get why the UK have an issue - we’re a multicultural society with Heathrow being one of the busiest, if not the busiest, airport in the world. The cat was well and truly out of the bag long before we even realised.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen far stricter border controls far sooner. I cannot, for example, understand why, as soon as the crisis in Northern Italy became evident, EVERYONE returning to the UK from there wasn’t placed into mandatory and monitored quarantine for 14 days. Instead, we gave them “advice” and allowed them to exercise choice whilst many of them spread the virus unknowingly.

As an island nation, and I accept I’m perhaps being hugely naive here, we could have got on top of this far more quickly.

I agree, I was in the UK exactly one month ago and with one exception (gloved shop asst) no individuals I saw cared a jot about taking any preventative steps to limit the spread

 

[harpo_72]

I look at the figures, and there are half a dozen or so countries being hammered. Everywhere else it doesn’t seem a particularly big deal.

I get why the UK have an issue - we’re a multicultural society with Heathrow being one of the busiest, if not the busiest, airport in the world. The cat was well and truly out of the bag long before we even realised.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen far stricter border controls far sooner. I cannot, for example, understand why, as soon as the crisis in Northern Italy became evident, EVERYONE returning to the UK from there wasn’t placed into mandatory and monitored quarantine for 14 days. Instead, we gave them “advice” and allowed them to exercise choice whilst many of them spread the virus unknowingly.

As an island nation, and I accept I’m perhaps being hugely naive here, we could have got on top of this far more quickly.

Yes but we have a greater proportion of idiots and slow decision makers. If the decision came earlier then the big investors would not have been able to dump their shares quick enough....

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I look at the figures, and there are half a dozen or so countries being hammered. Everywhere else it doesn’t seem a particularly big deal.

I get why the UK have an issue - we’re a multicultural society with Heathrow being one of the busiest, if not the busiest, airport in the world. The cat was well and truly out of the bag long before we even realised.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen far stricter border controls far sooner. I cannot, for example, understand why, as soon as the crisis in Northern Italy became evident, EVERYONE returning to the UK from there wasn’t placed into mandatory and monitored quarantine for 14 days. Instead, we gave them “advice” and allowed them to exercise choice whilst many of them spread the virus unknowingly.

As an island nation, and I accept I’m perhaps being hugely naive here, we could have got on top of this far more quickly.

This is exactly why we need to wait until we come out the other side of this to see if what we did (if anything) was wrong.

The Government needs to be flexible and responsive as the situation develops.

Let’s be fair, once boris is back to good health do you not think people are going to hound him about his statement in early March about continuing to shake hands? That may well of been on the advice of his “experts” at the time.

I’ve no doubt hindsight will be a wonderful tool for those in ivory towers once it’s over.

 

[pendodave]

This is what we're going for here (or as close as they think they can get, i'm not sure if even that will work but here's hoping)
Day 22 now of a minimum 28 with every non-essential business being mandated to shut down, no going out for exercise, travel permit required for essential workers to leave the home, food shopping on allocated days only for a max of 30 mins in-store with temp test before you get in (& carted off to isolation if its too high) the only country in the world that invoked an 8 day no-notice shutdown of every food shop. We are under curfew here not lock-down

I really hope it works, 7 deaths so far and I'd like to think it stops there

I'm not entirely familiar with your location Mr slab, but if it's a small place I don't think it's really a fair comp to the UK.

 

[Slab]

I'm not entirely familiar with your location Mr slab, but if it's a small place I don't think it's really a fair comp to the UK.

Compared to UK it is small, 1.25 million population (about 2/3 of NI) but with a minuscule fraction of the resources also. I wouldn't try to compare numbers only measures

 

[Hobbit]

I'm not entirely familiar with your location Mr slab, but if it's a small place I don't think it's really a fair comp to the UK.

Not looking for an argument on it but is your statement not a cop out? Small place = 2 policemen, 1 ambulance, 1 fire engine. Large place - 20 policemen, 10 ambulances, 10 fire engines. Is it not just a question of economies of scale?

Yes its far more complex. Spain 54+ million. UK 64+million. Spain's lockdown is far more stringent, and far harsher if someone breaks the lockdown. Why can't the UK do the same?

And if you want something frightening to consider, maybe a good reason for far harsher regulations, have a look at the numbers for Bergamo and London. Maybe it won't finally spin out like Bergamo but will London be Bergamo in 2 weeks time?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I agree, I was in the UK exactly one month ago and with one exception (gloved shop asst) no individuals I saw cared a jot about taking any preventative steps to limit the spread

If that person isn't changing those gloves regularly, I'm guessing they are not, then they may as well be bare handed. Wearing gloves gives a sense of security, largely false, but washing hands, don't touch your face etc is still key.

 

[bobmac]

 

[pendodave]

Not looking for an argument on it but is your statement not a cop out? Small place = 2 policemen, 1 ambulance, 1 fire engine. Large place - 20 policemen, 10 ambulances, 10 fire engines. Is it not just a question of economies of scale?

Yes its far more complex. Spain 54+ million. UK 64+million. Spain's lockdown is far more stringent, and far harsher if someone breaks the lockdown. Why can't the UK do the same?

And if you want something frightening to consider, maybe a good reason for far harsher regulations, have a look at the numbers for Bergamo and London. Maybe it won't finally spin out like Bergamo but will London be Bergamo in 2 weeks time?

No offence taken, but when putting a strategy in place, it needs to reflect the environment in which it is placed. A small population and a relatively simple economy is not the same as a big one, and will have vastly different options
Spain and Italy have far worse results (so far) than many European countries which have implemented far less rigorous lockdowns. Why then should we assume that their approach is the one to be followed, and not the others?

 

[Jacko_G]

There must be an admin error there, surely?!

Most Forces are limiting such requests to those who retired in the last five years.

It's for non essential back role jobs to free up current office hiders I believe.

?