Coronavirus (Non-Politics)

[Benfleet A1]

Always found this difficult at school and although quite good when I was young could never really understand.
Someone has to decide if Male or female?
I asked a French colleague once and not sure if He really knew either! He explained that a truck and a car are not both Male!
Didn't help to be fair?

I used to work with a Frenchman, had a wonderful way of explaining something that made it twice as difficult to find a solution to. Great laugh in the pub though, give him beer and he would want to fight the world, give him wine and he was subdued for the night. I was quite sad when he went back to France.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Got an email from my kids school and it says if you choose not to send your kids back on the 1st of June you won’t be fined.

It’s a tough decision to make, I have one in year one and two in year six so I would only be left with one at home. I think the year six two need to go back due to getting prepared for secondary school. It’s a tough decision to make and I’ll wait to see what countermeasures the school puts in place.

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it. This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion. We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state, kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from. We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

 

[MK Shrimper]

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it. This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion. We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state, kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from. We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

I tell you what, when Parliament fully reopens [edit], then perhaps we can talk about reopening schools eh?

Two dearly loved children is two too many. If the schools fully reopen, at what number of dead children do you deem acceptable to shut the schools again. 5? 10? 100?

 

[dannypav]

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it. This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion. We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state, kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from. We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

At the risk of being accused of not explaining my response , or how I know etc

IT IS NOT BEING BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION at all - IMO the opposite.

The economy needs to restart ( a better economy will also save some lives ) but those seemingly healthy people now using the trains and underground are ‘rolling the dice’.

This is an awful virus that attacks quickly and does not just affect the ‘vulnerable’.

 

[GNH]

At the risk of being accused of not explaining my response , or how I know etc

IT IS NOT BEING BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION at all - IMO the opposite.

The economy needs to restart ( a better economy will also save some lives ) but those seemingly healthy people now using the trains and underground are ‘rolling the dice’.

This is an awful virus that attacks quickly and does not just affect the ‘vulnerable’.

If a vaccine is found or an effective treatment for cases, then that of course will allow things to start to return to normal.

However, what happens if there is no vaccine found or effective treatment developed? Does this mean that the world comes to an end and nothing can ever be the same again? No it doesn't, it will mean that people will have to live with the risks of catching it and then a small percentage of those will suffer tragic consequences.

Hopefully we can keep on top of it while a vaccine is developed but there has to come a time where we need to start getting back to normal, especially for children. Keeping the entire population of children out of education is disproportionate to the minimal risks to them. Of course every child death is one too many but I can guarantee you the deaths of children at home during lockdown whether that be through neglect of deliberate harm will be more than the two deaths from COVID19.

There must be balance in decisions.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it. This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion. We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state, kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from. We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

My wife works in a school and I just can't understand for the life of me why the government think it's ok to send children back to school, especially the early years children.

They have no understanding of social distancing, they have laces that need doing up, coats that need doing up etc etc. My wife is back this week on a rota, she has 4 children in her year group but still in unable to social distance from those 4 children,

Every other walk of life has been told to social distance and can manage it but it is impossible to in a school. The staff aren't being supplied any PPE but are expected to interact with the children.

Absolute disgrace

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Our 25 year old daughter, who works for the AFD in Paris, was told yesterday that she won't be expected back in the office until September.

 

[Benfleet A1]

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it. This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion. We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state, kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from. We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

Sorry but that's a load of bollocks. My wife had call today from the school about my son returning. He has certain needs which the local council contribute to and it's them dropping hints. The wife has underlying health issues and doesn't drive so its public transport or nothing. The council wont help with getting him in and buggered if I'm paying £150 a week for cabs.

Their plan is to have classes of 15 pupils and (wait for it) shutting out kids to other schools when, not if, when they run out of room. That piece of genius was going into a risk assessment report being compiled by the head teacher until it was asked where the kids from other schools are going to go.

Think about that, a tipper driver humping muck in and out of London had to point that out. The head teachers guidelines are coming from government, this is very far from being thought through.

 

[Special Blue]

Listening to the radio they say 82% of those who have died are over 70.
I knew the statistic would be high but not that high!

 

[GBJ]

The risk to children is minuscule - there have only been two deaths among under-15s from COVID in the UK. There's also little evidence yet that they spread it.

What about the Kawasaki-like disease that is currently sweeping through Europe and North America, that is being intrinsically linked to Covid?

Coronavirus: City sees '30-fold increase' in rare childhood disease since COVID-19

An Italian hospital had 30 times the number of cases than usual in a month, with children aged seven-and-a-half most affected.

www.google.co.uk

This is unions sensing a political opportunity, some teachers wanting to stay at home on full pay and parents being paranoid, but getting schools reopened is vital to getting the economy going again so parents can go back to work.

When it comes to children’s safety, I think parents can be excused for being somewhat paranoid. If a parent is wrong for being over-cautious, what’s the worst that can happen? However, on the other hand, if the powers-that-be are wrong...

Also, you realise that teachers are still working, right?

As for getting the economy going, I’ve not seen anybody saying we shouldn’t focus on that, but instead that it needs to be done at the right pace. If history has taught us one thing, it’s that a second wave of a global pandemic is often worse than the first. Spanish Flu went from 3m dead, to 50m dead during its second wave.

Going by that logic, if people think this has been bad so far, they should realise that it could get catastrophically worse yet, so timing is everything.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm starting to think this whole thing is being massively blown out of proportion

If so, that would make the worlds leading doctors, epidemiologists & virologists wrong. What evidence is there to counteract their knowledge?

We're wrecking our economy, we've got half the country being paid by the state,

Not quite. Up until Monday, we had 25% of the UK’s workforce on furlough.

The truth is, world economies are about to tank, hard. America for example, has 30 million unemployed people right now. Their economy is about to fall through the floor.

kids out of school, people not able to see family or friends, for the sake of a virus which healthy people under-65 have a fractional chance of dying from.

Sorry mate, but that’s just patently wrong & selfish.

Healthy under 65’s have still wound up in hospital.

Healthy under-65’s still contract and pass the virus on.

Why should my parents lives’ be put on the line, because some people can’t stay away from their friends for a couple of weeks?

I know this has been tough for everyone, but at the end of the day, this isn’t a society where we sacrifice the old & the weak (aswell as a few healthy ones), just to keep the rest of us going.

And seeing as a lot of over 65’s still make up part of the taxpaying workforce, it wouldn’t be wise to cut them adrift, as we’ll need them to help get the economy going again.

We're going to have to live with this virus until a vaccine is found, so continue protecting the vulnerable while allowing the rest of us to live our lives.

Again, it’s not just the vulnerable we have to protect, because healthy people have died too. The idea is to protect everyone.... or at least as many lives as possible.

It doesn’t matter if you’re as fit as a fiddle, or as old as a fossil, and neither does it matter if you’ve got a potential death rate of 0.0001%, you still get the same rights & protections as everyone else.

I play the lottery, which has insurmountable odds against me. But I play because I know someone has to win. It probably won’t be me, but I’ve got as good a chance as anybody else in my demographic. And it’s the same with this virus. You probably won’t get it, but there’s a chance you will.

I’ll always be in favour of what saves & protects the most lives, and frankly, seeing as how this country has already made mistake after mistake during the last 5 months, I’d be inclined to question this next step, too.

 

[camden shrimper]

People need to look beyond the fact it's MOSTLY the elderly that die from it, that's spin to make it look less catastrophic than it is, in everything but words the government are saying the elderly die anyway, as if they are in some way disposable..... I know half a dozen people, all under 65 who have passed from it anyway.

I don't think anyone is saying they have the answer, but rushing back into things definitely is not it. The whole world's economies are going to recalibrate, we won't be the only nation to suffer. Ironically now is the time to be buddying up with other nations to work on a more united front, politically, financially and infra-structurally, ho-hum.

The future is going to be tough financially economically now whatever happens, we have started down that road - surely it's better to see things through than to have financial insecurity and a further huge death toll.

Profits over people is why we are worse off than a lot of other countries now anyway, fail to prepare, prepare to fail - it's a false economy of getting back working when that is likely to result in a bigger spike in deaths anyway.

I literally can't get my head around people's short-sighted logic unless it's purely thinking about personal wealth and circumstance. It's a democracy, people can put personal agendas first should they wish, I can't help but think they don't see the resultant fall out affects everyone still though.

Personally I won't earn for nine months of this year, scraping by, no government aid, so I am not preaching from above, it only takes one wave of selfishness to potentially take us back to square one again though.

 

[pottster]

It would help if we knew how many people have actually had it. Its good news there is now an antibody test, but when that's going to be rolled out who knows. That should give us a clearer picture. I believe immunity is the way forward because a vaccine is a long way off.

 

[Blue Yonder]

What about the Kawasaki-like disease that is currently sweeping through Europe and North America, that is being intrinsically linked to Covid?

Coronavirus: City sees '30-fold increase' in rare childhood disease since COVID-19

An Italian hospital had 30 times the number of cases than usual in a month, with children aged seven-and-a-half most affected.

www.google.co.uk

When it comes to children’s safety, I think parents can be excused for being somewhat paranoid. If a parent is wrong for being over-cautious, what’s the worst that can happen? However, on the other hand, if the powers-that-be are wrong...

Also, you realise that teachers are still working, right?

As for getting the economy going, I’ve not seen anybody saying we shouldn’t focus on that, but instead that it needs to be done at the right pace. If history has taught us one thing, it’s that a second wave of a global pandemic is often worse than the first. Spanish Flu went from 3m dead, to 50m dead during its second wave.

Going by that logic, if people think this has been bad so far, they should realise that it could get catastrophically worse yet, so timing is everything.



If so, that would make the worlds leading doctors, epidemiologists & virologists wrong. What evidence is there to counteract their knowledge?



Not quite. Up until Monday, we had 25% of the UK’s workforce on furlough.

The truth is, world economies are about to tank, hard. America for example, has 30 million unemployed people right now. Their economy is about to fall through the floor.



Sorry mate, but that’s just patently wrong & selfish.

Healthy under 65’s have still wound up in hospital.

Healthy under-65’s still contract and pass the virus on.

Why should my parents lives’ be put on the line, because some people can’t stay away from their friends for a couple of weeks?

I know this has been tough for everyone, but at the end of the day, this isn’t a society where we sacrifice the old, the weak (aswell as a few healthy ones), just to keep the rest of us going.

And seeing as a lot of over 65’s still make up part of the taxpaying workforce, it wouldn’t be wise to cut them adrift, as we’ll need them to help get the economy going again.



Again, it’s not just the vulnerable we have to protect, because healthy people have died too. The idea is to protect everyone.... or at least as many lives as possible.

It doesn’t matter if you’re as fit as a fiddle, or as old as a fossil, and neither does it matter if you’ve got a potential death rate of 0.0001%, you still get the same rights & protections as everyone else.

I play the lottery, which has insurmountable odds against me. But I play because I know someone has to win. It probably won’t be me, but I’ve got as good a chance as anybody else in my demographic. And it’s the same with this virus. You probably won’t get it, but there’s a chance you will.

I’ll always be in favour of what saves & protects the most lives, and frankly, seeing as how this country has already made mistake after mistake during the last 5 months, I’d be inclined to question this next step, too.

I think the over half the population figure being paid by the state shrimpboy quoted and being quoted in the press counts furloughed, state sector workers, unemployed and pensioners.

 

[Blue Yonder]

The Sun (I know...) is reporting that gargling with mouthwash slashes risk of being infected with this virus ! Sounds laughable but expect to see trolley loads of Listerene at checkout next time.

 

[MK Shrimper]

The Sun (I know...) is reporting that gargling with mouthwash slashes risk of being infected with this virus ! Sounds laughable but expect to see trolley loads of Listerene at checkout next time.

Did that come from Chantelle, 22, who'd forgotten to put on a blouse?

 

[Special Blue]

Did that come from Chantelle, 22, who'd forgotten to put on a blouse?

Who? Asking for a friend?

 

[KevinJH]

However, what happens if there is no vaccine found or effective treatment developed? Does this mean that the world comes to an end and nothing can ever be the same again? No it doesn't, it will mean that people will have to live with the risks of catching it and then a small percentage of those will suffer tragic consequences.

Not unlike Sars and Mers for which I understand there's been no vaccine/cure found in what, 17 years or so ? Hopefully the boffins will develop something but one suspects this latest one is another we may just have to learn to live with.....

 

[Mad Cyril]

I play the lottery, which has insurmountable odds against me. But I play because I know someone has to win. It probably won’t be me, but I’ve got as good a chance as anybody else in my demographic. And it’s the same with this virus. You probably won’t get it, but there’s a chance you will.

The more tickets you buy the greater your chance of winning the jackpot.

The more people you mix with the more chance you have of catching the virus.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

The more tickets you buy the greater your chance of winning the jackpot.

The more people you mix with the more chance you have of catching the virus.

Or passing it on to the poor sod next to you at the supermarket who’s followed all the advice and been careful.

 

[Chrisb]

Or passing it on to the poor sod next to you at the supermarket who’s followed all the advice and been careful.

Yes, got in the queue to shop at Iceland in Rayleigh today and there was a bloke a few people ahead in the queue who kept coughing. Made no attempt to put his hand up or use the scarf he was wearing to cover his face. May have been a smokers cough who knows but after the third bout I didn't take any chances and went home without my shopping ! I was far enough back in the queue not to be too worried but didn't want to be in the shop at the same time as him.