The Coronavirus thread.

[Chippy_Tea]

Looks like London Bridge station to me.

I was joking, northern rail have an awful reputation and believe me they deserve it.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Chippy I know I was in train spotting mode.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Chippy I know I was in train spotting mode.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

We had the same in Australia. Mining Magnate goes to China and uses his contacts to buy 10 million covid 19 test kits.
Not sure why we need 10 million but hey ho.
OK so he sells a shitload of iron ore to China. But how does he have contacts that the government don't?
But then they tell us that although he bought them the Australian government is going to pay him back.

Another thing I find strange is the shortage of PPE. In Australia we seem to have enough.

Define "PPE" - the stuff that's being handed out on the streets will not be surgical gowns and full-spec FFP2 masks (or better). Government procurement tends to have certain procedures to go through in terms of qualifying both the vendor and the stuff they are selling and for good reason - you can imagine that right now every Del Boy in China is setting themselves up to sell the Covid equivalent of Peckham Spring Water to gullible Westerners with no experience of healthcare. Like mining magnates for instance.

It's a tough one to balance - the challenge for healthcare procurement at the moment is knowing where to relax the usual procedures and where to maintain standards in the face of this unique challenge, knowing that if you relax the procedures too much you will see people dying because the kit you bought was substandard.

Again it's another case where "helpful" interventions from outsiders are not always helpful. I'm reminded of cases where people were sending food that included pork to Islamic countries undergoing famine - people would literally rather starve than eat pork, but in the meantime it took space in the logistic chain that could have been used for stuff they would actually eat.

They are saying again they do not know why this virus is killing more men than women and also those from ethnic minorities.

There's nothing definite right now, and it's bound to be made up of a whole mess of smaller reasons rather than a nice Big Reason that is easily analysed. Obviously there's a whole raft of social factors, especially when it comes to race, but I suspect that the fact that the virus docks to the ACE2 protein which is encoded by a gene on the X chromosome and has different activity in the presence of oestrogens must play as big a part as any. There's different variants of ACE2, and it's plausible to imagine that the virus will attach better to some variants than others.

Men tend to be more overweight

In the UK, men are more likely to be overweight but not obese, women are more likely to be obese. In the US more women are obese. In any case the differences are way too small to explain the differences in mortality we've seen.

It'll be northern rail the train is on the wrong track.

It's a Southeastern Networker at London Bridge heading for Charing Cross.

 

[MyQul]

It's a good thing we didnt need it/them in the end

"London’s Nightingale Hospital is effectively being wound down after taking no new patients in the past week.

Staff were told today that a decision on its future would be made within days.

The field hospital, built in just 10 days at the start of April, had only 19 patients on Friday, down from a peak of around 35 earlier in the month."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...n-intensive-care-cases-covid-19-a9494861.html

 

[Chippy_Tea]

More than 6,500 people have signed up for a trial to see if blood plasma from Covid-19 survivors can treat hospital patients who are ill with the virus.

It is hoped transfusing seriously ill patients with so-called convalescent blood plasma will give their struggling immune systems a helping hand.

The plasma, the liquid portion of the blood, contains coronavirus antibodies.

Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system which can target the virus and neutralise it.

They build up over about a month after contracting Covid-19.

Last week, NHS Blood and Transplant began collecting blood from survivors. So far in England 148 people have donated their plasma.

Researchers are looking through NHS data to find other people who have tested positive for coronavirus, who will then be asked if they wish to be involved in the trial.

Donating takes about 45 minutes, as the blood is filtered through a machine to remove the plasma. The process is technically known as plasmapheresis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52510865

 

[kelper]

Boris Johnson names his son after the doctors who saved him - so it's Mohamed Ahmed!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds have named their baby boy Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson.

The names are a tribute to their grandfathers and two doctors who treated Mr Johnson while he was in hospital with coronavirus, Ms Symonds wrote in an Instagram post.

She posted a picture of herself with the baby, who was born on Wednesday.

And she thanked staff at University College London Hospital, adding: "I couldn't be happier. My heart is full."

The birth came just weeks after Mr Johnson was discharged from intensive care at another London hospital following treatment for coronavirus.

Ms Symonds wrote on Saturday that their son shares his first name with the prime minister's grandfather, and the first of his middle names, Lawrie, with her own.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52513103

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

 

[MyQul]

View attachment 25276

We're now only 579 behind Italy. I reckon we'll overtake them tomorrow and then we'll have the highest death toll in Europe. We're also approaching half of America's deaths with only a fifth of the population. Doesnt look good for old Blighty

 

[MyQul]

Once lock down ends I wonder how people are going to social disctance on packed London trains and tubes

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Once lock down ends I wonder how people are going to social disctance on packed London trains and tubes

They'll all wear gloves and face masks thinking they are protected, it will not be long until there is a second lock down.

 

[MyQul]

They'll all wear gloves and face masks thinking they are protected, it will not be long until there is a second lock down.

I think your right. Went out for supplies a little earlier and there's as many people about as before the lockdown. When you hear journo's and politicians say that most people are observing the lockdown, they obviously haven't visited SE London

 

[Chippy_Tea]

When you hear journo's and politicians say that most people are observing the lockdown, they obviously haven't visited SE London

Judging from the police twitter accounts i would say a lot of people are now ignoring lockdown and i fear as it drags on this will get worse until we have a more strict version of lockdown forced on us, we don't have enough police to stop everyone who is outside of their town/county this will leave the government no option but to clamp down especially if the figures don't reduce as expected.

 

[marshbrewer]

We don't need a stricter version of lockdown. We need proper enforcement and prosecution of our current one.

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Define "PPE" - the stuff that's being handed out on the streets will not be surgical gowns and full-spec FFP2 masks (or better). Government procurement tends to have certain procedures to go through in terms of qualifying both the vendor and the stuff they are selling and for good reason - you can imagine that right now every Del Boy in China is setting themselves up to sell the Covid equivalent of Peckham Spring Water to gullible Westerners with no experience of healthcare. Like mining magnates for instance.

It's a tough one to balance - the challenge for healthcare procurement at the moment is knowing where to relax the usual procedures and where to maintain standards in the face of this unique challenge, knowing that if you relax the procedures too much you will see people dying because the kit you bought was substandard.

Again it's another case where "helpful" interventions from outsiders are not always helpful. I'm reminded of cases where people were sending food that included pork to Islamic countries undergoing famine - people would literally rather starve than eat pork, but in the meantime it took space in the logistic chain that could have been used for stuff they would actually eat.



There's nothing definite right now, and it's bound to be made up of a whole mess of smaller reasons rather than a nice Big Reason that is easily analysed. Obviously there's a whole raft of social factors, especially when it comes to race, but I suspect that the fact that the virus docks to the ACE2 protein which is encoded by a gene on the X chromosome and has different activity in the presence of oestrogens must play as big a part as any. There's different variants of ACE2, and it's plausible to imagine that the virus will attach better to some variants than others.



In the UK, men are more likely to be overweight but not obese, women are more likely to be obese. In the US more women are obese. In any case the differences are way too small to explain the differences in mortality we've seen.




It's a Southeastern Networker at London Bridge heading for Charing Cross.

Define "PPE"
I was referring to the PPE that is worn in hospitals when dealing with Covid 19 patients or when doing elective surgery.
My partner works for a surgeon. Operations will start again this week. So therefore we must have enough PPE.
One of the reasons elective surgery was stopped was to make sure there was enough PPE for staff dealing with Covid 19.

I was not referring to the crappy masks. We have decent masks in work, along with gloves if we wish to wear them.
I wear neither. My concern at the moment is work not being able to get a supply of alcohol hand cleaner.
I've had to buy myself some in case we run out.

 

[foxy]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05...propaganda-video-mock-us-coronavirus/12204836

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Define "PPE" - the stuff that's being handed out on the streets will not be surgical gowns and full-spec FFP2 masks (or better).

You don't need surgical grade masks to go to the shops, these lower grade masks are to stop you spreading the virus when you cough or sneeze and when breathing out or talking when close to someone else you are not wearing one to stop you breathing it in.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Cumbria Roads Police
@CumbriaRoadsPol


We are seeing an increasing amount of traffic on Cumbria's roads, especially around DIY outlets. Travelling to such outlets should be for tools and supplies for essential home and garden repairs, not for compost, plants, soft furnishings etc. #StayHome