Coronavirus

[Sippo]

So the video of people clapping on westminster bridge shows that people cannot do social distancing in the country. Yes it's a nice idea, but seriously. Even the police were there.

In my opinion, we need to get harder and tougher on the lockdown.

[Bob's Orange]

To pick up on that I'm quite and avid lurker on flight radar. There is a constant stream of planes (admittedly far less than normal) coming from the US

The flight radar app is superb. We live under the Heathrow flight line and that app is useful for a game of 'guess where this plane came from'. Almost nothing coming in now currently.

Interestingly there were quite a lot of flights overhead on Saturday. These are seemingly ghost planes with no passengers and lots of PPE type equipment.

[suttonred]

I noticed that there were a fair few taking off Saturday morning that didn't subsequently show up, so I'd assume you are right as general cargo ones do show up

[Bob's Orange]

I noticed that there were a fair few taking off Saturday morning that didn't subsequently show up, so I'd assume you are right as general cargo ones do show up

Wife's sister and brother in law work at Dublin airport and we asked them what these planes were likely to be and they confirmed they were 'ghost flights' that are being sent around the world to countries that require equipment etc. I presume that ours are full of tins of spam. 

[pauld]

Hancock refuses to give assurance that hospitals won't run out of PPE gowns this weekend. Some hospitals are already having to decontaminate single use PPE in an attempt to reuse it. Fucking shambles.

[mystical_goat]

The flight radar app is superb. We live under the Heathrow flight line and that app is useful for a game of 'guess where this plane came from'. Almost nothing coming in now currently.

Interestingly there were quite a lot of flights overhead on Saturday. These are seemingly ghost planes with no passengers and lots of PPE type equipment.

Love that app.

I've also got ones for trains and cruise ships.

[Arriba]

So the video of people clapping on westminster bridge shows that people cannot do social distancing in the country. Yes it's a nice idea, but seriously. Even the police were there.

In my opinion, we need to get harder and tougher on the lockdown.

Except they've done the opposite. Car drivers will now be out abusing the laxed rule that allows people to drive to locations to exercise. At the very least the same rules should have stood. I agree with you, I'd have liked to have seen it tougher.

[Peter Venkman]

Except they've done the opposite. Car drivers will now be out abusing the laxed rule that allows people to drive to locations to exercise. At the very least the same rules should have stood. I agree with you, I'd have liked to have seen it tougher.

I agree, harder not laxer rules for the near future at least.

[Bogus Dave]

847 deaths today, again fairly flat. Government think the rate of infection is now below 1 also, which is also good news and suggest a slow trend in the right direction. I’m not sure what a harsher or more strict lockdown would do other than piss people off - the measures are working slowly, as they always would. Toughening the measures would have a negligible impact on the trend and only serve to piss more people off

Less good, early reports from Wuhan suggest the number of people with antibodies is around 2-3%, although some scepticism of Chinese reporting might be healthy

[pauld]

I agree, harder not laxer rules for the near future at least.

That is more likely to achieve the opposite of what you want. By and large, bar the occasional exception, the current rules have been pretty well observed and people seem to have adapted quite well. Making the rules themselves more stringent only makes violations more likely. There's a large amount of buy-in for things as they stand, make it much tougher and that will evaporate. FWIW, I think the current lockdown rules are one of the few things the govt has got about right in it's generally abysmal handling of the crisis

[pauld]

Government think the rate of infection is now below 1 also, which is also good news and suggest a slow trend in the right direction.

Given they're not doing any testing outside of hospitals, or next to none, there is absolutely no way anyone can know what the rate of infection is. It's just hopeful pissing in the wind.

On a more encouraging note, apparently Hancock is talking about mass community testing as a way of reopening things and was open to the idea of local councils being involved instead of trying to do everything via PHE in his comments to the select committee this morning. If and when that starts, then we might have some idea of the scale of infection, deaths and possible immunity, at least in the short term

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

I see 3 coppers were injured when called to people drinking in The Deer’s Leap yesterday.

[pauld]

As if things couldnt get much worse, the Darwin Award goes to these citizens in Michigan.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2020/apr/16/armed-protesters-demand-an-end-to-michigans-coronavirus-lockdown-orders-video

Not just Michigan, been taken up in several states, backed by the usual suspects of militias, far-right "Anti-Antifa" street gangs and Trump supporters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/far-right-coronavirus-protests-restrictions


What's the definition of bordering on stupidity? Mexico and Canada

[Peter Venkman]

Not just Michigan, been taken up in several states, backed by the usual suspects of militias, far-right "Anti-Antifa" street gangs and Trump supporters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/far-right-coronavirus-protests-restrictions

What's the definition of bordering on stupidity? Mexico and Canada

It is unbelievable TBH, and yes bordering on madness is correct!

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Holy hell.

Today, Florida set a record of new coronavirus cases: 1,413 in the last 24 hours.

Florida’s total cases is now 24,753.

Today, @GovRonDeSantis allowed beaches back open.