Coronavirus

[Bogus Dave]

Curious as to how Swindon managed to go from the government watchlist to having one of the lowest rates of positive cases in the country with no political intervention. Can’t all have been down to the second testing site, surely?

[Batch]

a mix of getting on top of specific trouble sites like xpo and it being a PITA to get a test

[jayohaitchenn]

Swindon numbers were highly boosted by 3 large, contained breakouts.

[Valid Pint]

This week had a day where positive tests in Swindon was FOUR.
The day after had FIVE.
Headline was probably 25% increase in Swindon pos tests.

Time to stop this COVID cop-out.

Back to normal please.

[theakston2k]

So despite varying lockdowns and approaches across Europe it’s pretty much increasing everywhere. So surely the question starts to shift to at what point do we just live with the risk and accept that mortality rate doesn’t justify the sacrifices being made.  We can’t just wait and assume a vaccine will happen and similarly can’t just keep going through a destructive cycle of a lockdowns every few months to bring the numbers back down. There must be a significant bow wave of other health issues brewing up whilst everywhere’s sole focus seems to remain on COVID.

[Abrahammer]

So surely the question starts to shift to at what point do we just live with the risk and accept that mortality rate doesn’t justify the sacrifices being made. 

I’m afraid it should be now, not a nice situation but simply cannot afford another major lockdown.

Too many livelihoods are highly at risk

[Samdy Gray]

Chris Witty mentioned way back in March/April that we have to consider the all-cause mortality as a major factor when considering how long a lockdown should last. No one seemed to pay any attention to him.

[tans]

Chris Witty mentioned way back in March/April that we have to consider the all-cause mortality as a major factor when considering how long a lockdown should last. No one seemed to pay any attention to him.

I get the feeling the govt dont pay any attention to him anyway, just do their own thing. You only have to look at the poor fucker in some of those briefings when that twat Boris is bumbling away

[Batch]

. So surely the question starts to shift to at what point do we just live with the risk and accept that mortality rate doesn’t justify the sacrifices being made.  .

surely the point is that without keeping a lid on it to some degree the risk increases massively in a relatively short space of time.

morality rate is a tricky one to calculate. we know the deaths attributed, and the number of cases detected, but that puts it at 10%!!

unchecked, if 70% got it and the mortality rate is 3% ... it's a big number..

yes other diseases are being less effectively treated during this crisis, that's a massive concern

[theakston2k]

surely the point is that without keeping a lid on it to some degree the risk increases massively in a relatively short space of time.

morality rate is a tricky one to calculate. we know the deaths attributed, and the number of cases detected, but that puts it at 10%!!

unchecked, if 70% got it and the mortality rate is 3% ... it's a big number..

yes other diseases are being less effectively treated during this crisis, that's a massive concern

Problem is though how long do you wait and go through repeated cycles of lockdowns? Say a vaccine takes 2 or 3 years to get to the market, are we meant to live with restrictions and repeated lockdowns for that period of time or do we just live with it like we do other viruses. If this carries on well into next year some kind of referendum will be needed IMO to let the people choose whether they are happy to continue to live under restrictions or whether it’s time to just live with it.  Expecting people to put their lives on hold indefinitely is probably more destructive than than the virus itself in the UK.
We’ve tried a lockdown to stop it, it hasn’t worked and that’s the same with other countries as well as all of Europe is on the increase again.

[RobertT]

The mortality rate is too high to just let it go on without any type of restriction in place, even if that's just a case of get used to wearing a mask all the time.

It's likely not 3%, because most cases go undetected.  Sampling suggests it is more likely around the 0.3% rate, which is still many times greater than flu.  If you let it loose without any checks or balances, it is very likely it would be the number one killer ahead of Heart Disease and Cancer - it's already number two I think.  If you could catch cancer from someone, would you want to just carry on as normal?

The most recent examples we have in history suggest we will indeed continue to grapple with it for a year or two in some form, without a vaccine.  The 1918 Flu lasted several waves, and despite everyone blathering on about how we are over reacting today, much of what we are doing we did then.

Fortunately though, it seems several vaccine's look likely to have a positive impact.  It will take months to build up the right immunity to stop spread, but early on you will get the best positive impact by vaccinating the most at risk of death.  Then you can start to treat it a bit more like a bad flu season, keep cautious but open up.

[tans]

Hancock basically saying that if there is a national lockdown the public will only have themselves to blame.

Getting the blame in ready i see

[4D]

But people have been told, not like there hasn't been much in the news about it. Yet, the idiotic few still have house parties, bbqs etc

He's wrong that the public alone are to blame mind.

[Saxondale]

What Dom did is fine.  Go to pubs.  Go to the shops.  Go and eat out.  Go back to work.  Get the economy functioning again.

AHHHHH Not like that - don't do what we told you.

Do you know what, in times of relative calm without massive crises, an inept government may get away with it, but unfortunately we are governed by these fucking idiots at this time and people are paying with mental health and lives.  I cannot express my hatred of them in words.  I may have to do it in dance instead.

[Costanza]

Four senior staff at my daughters school are self-isolating as all their children have started showing symptoms over the weekend. Has anyone else experienced similar and if so how did the school manage it?

The school my daughter goes to have been absolutely incredible throughout 2020. They'll be gutted if they have to shut it down.