Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[Marilyn]

I live in a tourist hotspot and we are “open for business” once again, with caravan parks and accommodation re-opening ( but not the pubs or cafes etc yet) , but only for people within our state. We cannot cross state borders.

[Stanley]

Careful Ian! Sue will be after you.

[Marilyn]

What an incredible day! Took the car for a decent country drive because it has been sat in the garage for the past 9 weeks. So many people doing the same thing. ( Where did all these humans come from?)
Happy faces everywhere. We didn’t stop or get out of the car, but gosh it felt good just to feel part of life again.(got a bit tears at one point)
A wonderful day!
We must not get complacent though, or we will all be right back in the Sin Bin and have to start the process all over again. Let’s hope this is the end of it for us and not just a temporary reprieve.

[PanBiker]

It has to be said Stanley and it gets worse. Our PM is almost certainly going to announce that anyone coming into the country will have to provide an address and self isolate for two weeks. Good idea I reckon, but the measures will not be implemented until the end of the month! That's in three weeks time? If it's good for the country in three weeks why cant it be implemented now or indeed why wasn't it introduced eight weeks ago? At preset attrition rates of even 500 a day we could well have another 10,500 deaths by then.

[Marilyn]

I must agree. We had two or three days of warning before it became absolute.
It needs to happen.
It needed to happen a couple of months ago.
Remember my step son came back from a holiday in Thailand about 9 weeks ago now. He was Covid tested by men in suits on the tarmac as soon as he landed. Then he had two weeks of quarantine in a hotel room, at his own expense, with meals dropped in the lobby for him ( meals he ordered on the net, paid for on the net, at his own expense). He felt like a Leper.
He then had at least one more test, possibly two, before he could re-enter the community and travel to his final destination.
He was checked by authorities by phone twice a day to make sure he hadn’t broken quarantine rules.
And his tests were all NEGATIVE!

We have strict quarantine rules here. You cannot even take an Apple or Banana over internal state lines, let alone plants or Veg etc.
What they do is quickly seperate husband and wife ( our experience when travelling in the van). They ask each the same questions...are you carrying fruit, veg, fresh fish, guns? Then they check your onboard freezer and fridge. Then they check your gas bottles are compliant and tag them ( they can’t be over 10 years old).
All this sounds like a lot, but takes less than 5 mins...IF you are honest and doing the right thing. No bother at all to genuine tourists. You are then on your way again.
It is just part of life, and if you do the right thing, you are fine.

[PanBiker]

The vast majority of folk over here are adhering to the rules and being as conscientious as they can be in social distancing and the like. Of course we also have a quota of idiots and the ones that have decided that they are indestructible and don't give a toss. You do however have to have a reasonable amount of intelligence to decipher the mixed messages coming from our government. We are fed with suggestions rather than the hard and fast rules that are required. Meanwhile over 40,000 home producers continue to manufacture surgical scrubs, theatre hats, laundry bags and masks for personal use. We do what we can.

[Marilyn]

. Meanwhile over 40,000 home producers continue to manufacture surgical scrubs, theatre hats, laundry bags and masks for personal use. We do what we can.

I can’t imagine us having to do that. ( I say that with downcast eyes and a very humble voice). I admire your efforts.

[Tizer]

This is more serious than the earlier wave of scam videos and it makes you wonder about the motivation and objectives of the perpetrators. It has a lot in common with the misinformation articles and videos about climate change that pretend to come from scientists and can be carefully concealed among genuine information to make them look authentic.
`'Plandemic' virus conspiracy video spreads across social media' LINK

[Cathy]

It seems like 1/2 a lifetime ago now, but I remember being at work on the 18th March and the person I was sat next to was talking on the phone, saying ‘What, really, omg, really’. She was talking to friend of hers who works in a very high govt office. When she finished the call, she turned to us all and said ‘Sth Aust is closing down in 2 days time’. It was like hearing something alien, and totally out of the blue.
Then she advised us all to do as much grocery shopping as we could over the next few days. A little while later, the manager said that I was sat too close to the person next to me. I’ve sat in that position for 7 years, but now we would all have to be 1.5 metres apart. It all felt very unreal . I wasn’t due back in that office for another week, but within 2 days all of us volunteers were told that we were temporarily suspended.
That was about 7 weeks ago, and now I’m starting to wonder how I’m going to be , adjusting to being around a lot of people and activity, when things get back to ‘normal.
Hopefully things will just fall into place, but I think that just like some countries are taking baby steps to get back to normal, I think a lot of people will have to adjust slowly and take their own baby steps. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as some think .

[Whyperion]

I really can’t understand why UK is so far behind with all this.

That's easy Maz, our government is inept in it's handling of the pandemic. Wish I didn't have to say that but that is the truth of the matter. The pandemic broke here a number of weeks behind China and mainland Europe so we had track records to refer to which they chose to ignore. I can come to no other conclusion and that is not simply party politics driven.

I was not certain if to reply to this, or Stanleys slightly earlier note, indeed my thoughts on the Science - and Scientific and Medical Understanding of this and other Viruses is still milling in my mind before I make some definitive observations and suggestions.

Politically the response of Nation Governments (and for the USA we have to take States for action, as invidiual countries ) has been varied in the level of ignoring some basics, to implementing fast most necessary requirements of its population and emergency responders. I suspect that Australia, despite its trading links to Asia, has a slightly lower population, a slightly younger population and an overall, even in its cities, lower population in density and even 'ethnic minority to poverty and housing density ratios' - in short for given , timely steps to restrict movement and hence the likelyhood of transmission, was more able to be effective in a swifter closedown on the virus. Other responses I could have made about the UK govt (i have given up trying to understand trumps words and america's thoughts or actions ), have been rendered meaningless by further information and events within hours if not a day of news. To me the actions of government as so similar to those of local and national government on Grenfell Tower situation and the response, or lack of, to risky buildings accross england and wales. As though I think of the questions that need answers, on the NHS response, operationally and culturally, on advice and on the resonable steps to take for economic mitigation, I sometimes think would a different political administration (tory or labour lets say) have done anything different or at a different speed?

[Sue]

Still political discussions then, rather than in the politics thread.

[PanBiker]

It is directly related though Sue and relative to this topic.

[Sue]

I understood this topic to be more aboit the disease treatment etc. There is enough politics on this site, it is taking it over.

[plaques]

To some degree I find I can't separate covid and politics. The result is I'm tending to hold back from commenting specifically where numbers of sufferers are concerned. Other features like self isolation, = solitary confinement = torture. = no pubic meetings,= no demonstrations,= breakdown of democracy. Where does it all end? So if someone goes off piste and slides from one to the other its perhaps understandable. Of late Sue and Tizer have helped to explain some of the technical details for which I'm thankful and I hope this will remain the main theme of these posts but at the same time we have to be more forgiving where politics and covid overlap.

[Sue]

I am very sorry but I don’t do online politics, never have, never will. I even exclude people from my facebook page who bring politics to it. If I want politics I will seek it out. I do not want it thrown at me. I joined this site for local and family history. It no longer offers this to me. I occasionally delved into topical science forums but if this is going to lead me into controversial politics I will do my science research elsewhere.

[PanBiker]

Comments on this seem to be spread around various topics. Owing to the precedence of the current situation, I thought that it deserved its own topic for all things related. Post your observations and experiences here.

My opening post when I started this thread. It hasn't been running for much more than seven weeks but is already at 24 pages the vast majority of comments have been about the virus and related medical facts. You cannot detach it from the fact that our response to it is being led by political decisions for better or worse, just like every other country has done before us.

[Marilyn]

Has there been any evidence that the money Captain Tom raised is flowing into the health system yet?

[Stanley]

P, I agree, I can't separate them at times so I have avoided posting in the topic. Quieter life....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report.
"The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs."
Is this too political?

[Gloria]

Has there been any evidence that the money Captain Tom raised is flowing into the health system yet?

I've not heard of anything happening to it yet. You've got to wonder who is going to deal with it.

[plaques]

I've not seen anything positive only the controversy with 'JustGiving' over the size of their fee.

But now he raised more than £32 million, with the JustGiving page closing on his birthday on April 30. According to The Sun, the website took a £308,000 fee for hosting the fundraising efforts for NHS Charities Together of Captain Tom, who has since been made an honorary colonel.

If this is true it is shameful that they should profit from peoples generosity. Perhaps a fuller explanation is required.

Later a news item. Capt Tom.

[Marilyn]

I would think so P.
Any money raised should have been fee free and fast tracked. We are talking donations here. He did his bit, and in such a crisis the money should be main lined to the front.

[Marilyn]

Shame on those ripping off a man his age!

[Tizer]

According to The Sun, the website took a £308,000 fee for hosting the fundraising efforts for NHS Charities Together of Captain Tom..

Note the word `fee', not `profit'. The website provider is faced with costs for hosting and for credit card payment processing charges (banks). Think about how many donations it's had to process. There have been a lot of false claims about the money being syphoned off. See this Full Facts article: `The Maytrix Group receives no money from Captain Tom’s fundraiser' LINK

[Tizer]

See THIS BBC report.
"The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs."
Is this too political?

No, and it's quite useful for pointing out that, if we read the article fully, a Labour government can have the same problems as a Tory one in a virus crisis. It ordered 25 million pairs of protective goggles during the MERS virus pandemic and they've just been brought out but found to be not a suitable type. I'm not criticising Labour, as I'm not criticising the Tories. Things go wrong in pandemics, that's life.