The Coronavirus thread.

[MyQul]

A close one there M that young one probably doesn't realise how lucky she was.

They said earlier on 5 live that vehicle movement yesterday were the highest since lockdown if this carries on much longer i can see it getting a lot worse.

I havent had such a close one like that for a very long time. I went for a walk yesterday afternoon through the park. I was more or less empty because it was cold and pi$$ing it down all day. I thought it was going to be like that again today because it's been raining all arvo. But by the time it was time to cycle home it had stopped and the sun had started to come out prompting the lockdown breakers to emerge

I've noticed motorcycles around london are going a LOT faster because the roads are less full

 

[MyQul]

Fron the Guardian Coronavirus Blog;

Why we seem to be dreaming much more – and often of insects
From going to bed too late thanks to endless scrolling through theories about the pandemic, to waking up in the night worrying, it is safe to say that Covid-19 is wreaking havoc with our sleep. A major survey conducted by King’s College London with Ipsos Mori showed that two in five people in the UK have reported sleep disturbance. Prof Bobby Duffy, the research lead and director of the Policy Institute at King’s, says: “There is a clear relationship between increased stress and impact on sleep; 53% of those who said they found the crisis stressful reported sleep difficulties.” But many people around the world are also experiencing a new phenomenon: pandemic dreams:

Several researchers are collecting dream data during the pandemic, including Dr Deirdre Barrett, a clinical and evolutionary psychologist at Harvard Medical School.

Some dreams she has collected during the current pandemic are literal – “people are having trouble breathing or spiking a fever” – but many are abstract. After all, we know coronavirus is there, but we can’t see it. “There are earthquakes, tidal waves and tornadoes; every kind of uncontrollable disaster. But the biggest dream cluster is bugs; flying bugs attacking the dreamer, cockroaches swarming, masses of squirming worms.”

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will set out a "comprehensive" plan next week on reopening schools and restarting the economy.

In his first briefing since his return to work, the PM said the UK was "past the peak" of the coronavirus outbreak and "on the downward slope".

But he stressed the country must not "risk a second spike" of the virus.

There have been 26,711 deaths in UK hospitals and the wider community, Mr Johnson said.

The prime minister said that "we can now see the sunlight", but he insisted that to avoid the "disaster" of a second peak the UK must meet the fifth of five tests before the lockdown can be lifted.

"Nothing we do should lift the R or reproduction rate - back above one," he said.

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg asked what level the reproduction rate should be before the government would be "comfortable easing restrictions".

The government's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, replied: "We are absolutely confident that the wrong answer is anything over one."

He explained that as soon as the R rises above one you "restart exponential growth" and "sooner or later" the NHS would be at the risk of being overwhelmed.

Mr Johnson said that keeping the reproduction rate down "is going to be absolutely vital to our recovery".

Our correspondent also asked whether the economy "just has to wait" as the government continues with the lockdown in the UK.

The prime minister said it was "vital" to avoid a second peak "because that would really do economic damage".

He added: "That's why we've got to calibrate our measures so carefully and make sure that we not only unlock the economy gradually, but also find ways of continuing to suppress the disease."

Mr Johnson also said face coverings will be "useful" as part of the strategy for coming out of lockdown "both for epidemiological reasons but also giving people confidence they can go back to work".

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Remdesivir: Drug has 'clear-cut' power to fight coronavirus

There is "clear-cut" evidence that a drug can help people recover from the coronavirus, say US officials.

Remdesivir cut the duration of symptoms from 15 days down to 11 in clinical trial at hospitals around the world.

The full details have not been published, but experts said it would be a "fantastic result" if confirmed, but not a "magic bullet" for the disease.

A drug would have the potential to save lives, ease pressure on hospitals and allow parts of lockdown to be lifted.

Remdesivir was originally developed as an Ebola treatment. It is an antiviral and works by attacking an enzyme that a virus needs in order to replicate inside our cells.

Full article - Drug has 'clear-cut' power to fight coronavirus

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Were any members going?


A beer festival that welcomes between 8,000 and 10,000 people has been called off.
The Peterborough Beer Festival, due to take place from 28 and 31 August on the city's Embankment, will now move to 24 to 28 August 2021.
Mike Lane, from the Campaign for Real Ale, said: "Local landlords and local brewers are suffering beyond belief, so if we are not able to do the festival then we would like to do something to help out."
He said organisers were looking to see if they could put on an ale trail, when the festival would have been on, to help local businesses, but only if lockdown restrictions were lifted.

 

[MyQul]

Looks like we've overtaken both Spain and France for total deaths and I'm sure we will soon overhaul Italy

 

[Rodcx500z]

Maybe all the f--kwits will now start playing with the rest of us

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Looks like we've overtaken both Spain and France for total deaths and I'm sure we will soon overhaul Italy

To be honest I don't believe these figures we hid the care home deaths for long enough we have no way of knowing if other countries have massaged the figures, what percent of those that have died would have died anyway even if they hadn't caught the virus.

 

[MyQul]

To be honest I don't believe these figures we hid the care home deaths for long enough we have no way of knowing if other countries have massaged the figures, what percent of those that have died would have died anyway even if they hadn't caught the virus.

The thing is I dont think our figures include previous care home deaths, just ones from a couple of days ago. So our (well massaged) figure of 26,771 is just the tip of the iceberg. If they did we'd have to add on at least another 20,000 deaths (according to a piece I read in the FT). So I think we're on for the most C-19 deaths in Europe and second in the world behind the US. We're currently third

 

[Rodcx500z]

I will be honest here i have got to the point were i dont watch the news anymore, take Germany they said they got the r number down to 0.7 relaxed a bit and then it jumped back to 1 in a couple of days, conclusion they are feeding us what they like, i am on the verge of going out take today never seen as many people out walking past the house and much more traffic whizzing past its been like a normal day, makes you wonder why your doing it

 

[MyQul]

I will be honest here i have got to the point were i dont watch the news anymore, take Germany they said they got the r number down to 0.7 relaxed a bit and then it jumped back to 1 in a couple of days, conclusion they are feeding us what they like, i am on the verge of going out take today never seen as many people out walking past the house and much more traffic whizzing past its been like a normal day, makes you wonder why your doing it

Our government have lots of 'previous' for massaging figure (e.g. Very low unemployment but that figures inculdes zero hour contracts whereby you only have had to work for one hour a month to be classed as employed) but your German example suggest most if not all are up to it to some extent or other. So I would take those worldometer figures as an average 'fudged figure' to give a good indication on how countries compare to one another rather than exact figures of what the death and infection rates are

 

[Bevvied]

I don't watch the news either anymore. If anything important is announced, I'll be sent text after text anyway.
It's crazy around my way as well, people out in groups everywhere. Obviously not families as it's groups of teenage lads and lasses.
It's annoying because I love to go fishing/camping and where I go, NOBODY goes. It'd be the ultimate social isolation,
But, I'll do my bit and stay in.

 

[Drunkula]

Dr. John Campbell's still making good sense looking at the data. He can't believe that vitamin D isn't being mentioned enough.

Figures from the corona app might mean there are more like 2.5 million people infected rather than the 166,000 in the figures - a good thing becaues it pushes the death rate back down to around the 1 percent mark. With the sample size I wouldn't worry too much about people that might be dicking about on it. Anyone can help by using the app because even feeling well helps with the data.

Data map here : COVID Symptom Tracker

And he thinks, as do I, that masks should be mandatory on public transport and in shops. Anything you can slap together so you're not blasting breath and snot 8 metres away. Keeping doors open on supermarkets would also help by causing diluting of airborne particles.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I'm just having a rant cos i am pissed off with this lockdown most as my family are are complying its the **** heads who dont think it applys to them that piss me off, fine them big time lock them up just get them of the streets out of the parks it cant be that hard

 

[Bevvied]

I'm with you Rod, it's the lack of acknowledgement from some people, that they may be spreading it, or a lack of their care thereof, that drives me mental. They are only thinking selfishly, or ignorantly, or rashly. It still does my nut in LOL :)
I've still got a faint glimmer of hope that eventually we'll be a better country after this.
I went out to corner shop today for some milk and tea and I spotted an elder lass stood outside her front door taking in the air. We got chatting across the street and I ended up buying her some essentials and a couple of niceties. When it's over, she's gonna come over for cake n tea. I've got her number now, I'll make sure she's OK.

ps. I like cake n tea, and she's making the cake :)

 

[Rodcx500z]

Nice one Bevvied, a better country i could get on board with that not for me but for my kids and all younger people

 

[Bevvied]

I feel just the way Rod, I have two baby grand kids. They're my inspiration and wish to stay alive lol Beyond that, nationally, we need to be nice to each other. All of us.

 

[Drunkula]

To anyone still being a prick about masks, and there will be :

 

[Drunkula]

They are only thinking selfishly, or ignorantly, or rashly. It still does my nut in

It will be ignorance. Loads of people won't know that the way they behave could save people and they're not doing it deliberately, it is genuine ignorance.

It would be a piece of piss to write a sympathetic advert that explained how the R number works without needing a graph, and then show how you could be the real hero by protecting the vulnerable - throw in a few images of doddery old codgers close to death or "Snugglers" as I like to call them - boom, writes itself. Then fitting into it how masks protect others, maybe do a riff on "Not all heroes wear masks." and invert that.

And you've got to make it appeal to community spirit and subtly instil pride for doing your part rather than giving orders and showing figures people won't undertand next to a nurse. You don't do it in a crap rousing way - that won't work, you show normal people thinking about their actions, possibly showing that happens when they don't think. Then you can cleverly weave in shame by showing people not doing their part by showing what will happen if everyone was a bellend. Shame and spirit - hearts and minds, works better than graphs and grumbling.

It's simple stuff like you got shown in school when they wheeled in a telly on a stand with a video recorder underneath that weighed more than the home economics teacher.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Masks are the way forward if we are to try to get back to something like normality, we will need to be sure there is enough to go round we don't want the front line staffs supply to be put in jeopardy.