Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[PanBiker]

You may be overthinking things Plaques. Hubby has the app on his phone, and we are never more than 10 feet from each other. He has never had a notification. Mind you, he doesn’t stand still for more than 3 mins unless he is sat at his computer ( then he can sit for 10 hours)

Why would he get a notification if neither of you have had the virus?

[Big Kev]

You may be overthinking things Plaques. Hubby has the app on his phone, and we are never more than 10 feet from each other. He has never had a notification. Mind you, he doesn’t stand still for more than 3 mins unless he is sat at his computer ( then he can sit for 10 hours)

Why would he get a notification if neither of you have had the virus?

Not sure on how the app works in Australia but you'd need to register a positive test in the app for anyone nearby to get an alert over here. Currently the app doesn't accept NHS results in England (not sure if they've fixed it yet).

[plaques]

My understanding is that there are two ways to get an alert. First is to understand that the phone registers three fields of distance to adjacent phones, near, medium and far. It is possible to move within these fields for short periods of time where the App will add up your total exposure over a given period and send a risk warning. The more common way is to be in the near field for 15 minutes and consequently get an alert. My concern was where the phone could be left in a locker (sports centre or similar type of venue) and someone use an adjacent locker but use some other sports area in a different location making personal contact impossible. This would trigger an alert for 14 days isolation.

[Big Kev]

My understanding is that there are two ways to get an alert. First is to understand that the phone registers three fields of distance to adjacent phones, near, medium and far. It is possible to move within these fields for short periods of time where the App will add up your total exposure over a given period and send a risk warning. The more common way is to be in the near field for 15 minutes and consequently get an alert. My concern was where the phone could be left in a locker (sports centre or similar type of venue) and someone use an adjacent locker but use some other sports area in a different location making personal contact impossible. This would trigger an alert for 14 days isolation.

If the other phone's owner registered a positive result, in their app, and your phone had been in close proximity for longer than 15 minutes then yes, I would presume you would receive an alert to isolate.
If leaving your phone, where there is the potential for it to get 'unqualified' exposure, it's probably wise to switch off the bluetooth until it's back in your pocket.

[plaques]

If leaving your phone, where there is the potential for it to get 'unqualified' exposure, it's probably wise to switch off the bluetooth until it's back in your pocket.

Exactly what I am going to do. It was seeing a workman's bag and coat placed in a locker normally reserved for members that made me think about it.

[Stanley]

Ken, I share your misgivings about the app. I think we have seen enough evidence of late that even the politicians who are putting these and other measures in place don't have complete understanding. My understanding is that since my phone never leaves my kitchen and I don't have house visitors it could never be activated and so there is no point downloading the app. On my walks I am very careful about proximity and my personal space is over ten feet 99% of the time. I am not going into a decline!
I watched Matt Hancock reading his very carefully worded statement in the House yesterday about consulting with MPs on any further measures. Did you notice that this was qualified by the word 'national'? In other words, nothing will change from what they are doing now. There were other legal qualifications but I have forgotten what they were. Bottom line is that it sounds to me as if nothing has changed.

[plaques]

Russian Vaccine From Aljazeera news. Russia progressing with the trials on their vaccine potentially leading the world. Although the initial trials look promising the overall performance is not as good as people have come to expect from influenza vaccines. Quote...

“The choice was between giving people the opportunity to protect themselves, or letting them play roulette with this deadly infection.”
He also said Russia was aiming for the vaccine to be about 75 percent more effective than a placebo, which is above the 50-percent threshold for COVID-19 vaccines set by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Being more 75% more effective than a placebo doesn't sound very efficient to me but 50% (USA) gives the impression of being totally useless.

I suppose it all boils down to which one Trump will tell us to use.

[Tizer]

Plaques, this is from the US CDC web site: `How effective is the flu vaccine? CDC conducts studies each year to determine how well the influenza (flu) vaccine protects against flu illness. While vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary, recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to the flu vaccine' [and further down the page..] `In numerous studies since 2010, flu vaccines have helped protect adults 65 years of age and older against influenza A(H1N1) viruses and both lineages of influenza B viruses. Specifically, flu vaccines have reduced the risk of medically attended illness caused by H1N1 or B by more than 60% on average among people age65 and older. Flu vaccines also have reduced the risk of flu hospitalization among adults age 65 and older by 54% against A(H1N1) viruses and by 31% against influenza B viruses on average.' LINK
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Yesterday we visited a craft shop, part of the Hobbeycraft chain, that opened here a couple of weeks ago. Not a good experience, the aisles were narrow and there was no control over which way you went. On entering the shop we were faced with a row of arrows on the floor all pointing to aisles. Also there's a cross aisle which confuses even further. It was difficult to avoid people and the behaviour of some made it impossible. In one case I was looking on a shelf for an item and then had a man and his wife come and stand one either side of me, clsoe up. No escape! We'll probably revert to buying Hobbycraft stuff online!
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I see this BBC report today...
`Coronavirus: Delirium 'key symptom' in frail older people' LINK
I'm sure this will be because in old people the protective brain/blood barrier becomes more permeable and microorganisms and toxins can more easily enter the brain. Unfortunately those people will probably suffer chronic effects even if they survive the immediate virus infection.

[PanBiker]

Just got a text from IPSOS MORI regarding my swab test for the Imperial College survey. Swab test showed me Covid-19 negative, or so it was a week last Monday when I completed the test.

[Stanley]

That's why eating the pears without washing them in bleach didn't kill me Ian.
I regard myself as well-informed in general but listening to the plans to 'standardise' restrictions made my head spin. I can't say exactly what they are here now. Surely such a standard central approach is all wrong and it should be left to Local Health Authorities to set standards. One size never did fit all!

[Marilyn]

Trump has tested positive to coronavirus.
Awwwww...what a SHAME!

[Marilyn]

Son says the stock market is “a sea of Red” ( and he is standing by with his small bag of cash)...

[Tizer]

I hope they give Trump his favourite drug - bleach! (I wonder if that's why his hair is so blonde, he drinks bleach?)

[Marilyn]

One wonders if he has released fake news just to see how it goes...
But...he deserves intravenous bleach and I do hope it stings.

[PanBiker]

Forwarded to me this morning:

[Stanley]

Love it......

[PanBiker]

I got written confirmation of my Covid test result from Imperial College this morning.

[Stanley]

I don't wish ill health on anyone but I have to admit I have noted the irony in Trump getting Covid19, his cavalier treatment of the threat has been noted for over six months. Johnson found out the hard way, it appears Trump may be going through the same experience. Will it change his attitude?
Meanwhile in our neck of the woods the figures are inexorably rising. A big problem. Don't let your guard down!

[Tizer]

I notice that yesterday they'd been saying Trump had gone to hospital but he hadn't been needing oxygen. Today they're saying he was given oxygen before going in.

[Stanley]

They tell us anything to keep us quiet. It's today's political version of 'open and transparent'.
See THIS and ask yourself if the man knows what quarantine and isolation means. One doctor at Walter Reed speaking anonymously says it is madness.

[PanBiker]

So, Trump is feeling a lot better, right. I reckon the meme I posted further up is probably nearer the truth.

[Tizer]

The report of Trump in a cavalcade and photos of him in an office at the hospital...am I right in thinking that each US President has at least one `double' for times like this? Are we seeing Trump's double, perhaps?

[Big Kev]

Not a very clever move by the Orange Knob. Everyone who was in that car with him will now have to isolate, potentially get ill or potentially die. All for a bit of publicity, a 24 carat, gold plated orange knob..

[PanBiker]

He is benefiting from the same miracle that Boris had. Bit rich also of BJ to be railing on the SNP MP that flouted the rules. "No exceptions to the rules" he says, so, when is that Cummings bloke going to get the push? Do as I say not as I do, bloody disgraceful or is it honour amongst thieves? We should have topped the lot of them when we had the chance.

[Stanley]

Jeremy Hunt has stated the bleeding obvious this morning. The centralised nature of the 'Nightingale System' is a mistake and should be changed to a more locally based system. Centralisation is fine in principle but in practice is prone to failure. Exactly what council health officials have been saying for six months. This is reinforced by the news that the reason for the failure to upload the data about the 16,000 was that the data file was so large the system couldn't handle it.
Oh and what he didn't say was that this proves that the large security firms like Serco to whom the contract has been given are not competent. God knows they have proved this in other areas. Think probation, assessment of disability, interpreters and security anklets just for starters.