United Kingdom V: Son of a beach

[gunrock]

Funny how the government has plans to quarantine over 70s. Fears of NHS overload or suddenly realising that if a large swathe of the ageing plebs die, that's his voters gone.. ?.

[Cassius_Smoke]

If only there was some kind of European organisation we could join so in the event of a catastrophe we could ask for emergency funding.

[Blobcat]

Funny how the government has plans to quarantine over 70s. Fears of NHS overload or suddenly realising that if a large swathe of the ageing plebs die, that's his voters gone.. ?.

My mother is losing her mind about this. My stepdad falls under that category and it would drive her NUTS having him stuck in the house all day for 3 months.

[vanpeebles]

I must admit, not being able to leave the house for four months sounds like a dream come true for me lol

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/uk-coronavirus-crisis-to-last-until-spring-2021-and-could-see-79m-hospitalised

The UK outbreak is expected to last until Spring 2021 with a final death count of between 310,000 and 500,000
Total cases in the UK now stands at 1391 with 35 deaths - testing will now only be done on individuals who are seriously ill in hospital, care homes or prison

[Dogg Thang]

One thing this whole Coronavirus thing has done is really highlight the people who shrug their shoulders at the idea of large numbers of people dying. But one really important part of that report are the expected number of people needing hospitalisation. Firstly, if the hospitals are overwhelmed, many more people die but also people (myself included) fixate on the mortality rate and forget that there is a very wide scale between healthy and dead and there are plenty of points on that scale that we don’t want to be on.

And while I’m fixating on the mortality rate, over 300 deaths in the last 24 hours in Italy.

Edit: here in Ireland, our pubs are closing and people are being asked not to just have house parties instead.

[cutmymilk]

Pubs in Ireland closing is surely going to get alarm bells ringing.

I have been shocked by the apathy shown by most in the last week. I really hope the truth sinks in soon.

[monel]

One thing this whole Coronavirus thing has done is really highlight the people who shrug their shoulders at the idea of large numbers of people dying. But one really important part of that report are the expected number of people needing hospitalisation. Firstly, if the hospitals are overwhelmed, many more people die but also people (myself included) fixate on the mortality rate and forget that there is a very wide scale between healthy and dead and there are plenty of points on that scale that we don’t want to be on.

And while I’m fixating on the mortality rate, over 300 deaths in the last 24 hours in Italy.

Edit: here in Ireland, our pubs are closing and people are being asked not to just have house parties instead.

This is going to sound so cynical, but I wonder whether the government would mind the most vulnerable members of society dying off. As long as there isn't rioting or worse I don't think they care. Yes it is very cynical and I try not to believe it. Or they're plain incompetent.

[Neon Ignition]

They'll hat hate losing core voters... but like thinning the numbers to buy time on sorting out pensions

[MartyG]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...m-hospitalised
The UK outbreak is expected to last until Spring 2021 with a final death count of between 310,000 and 500,000
Total cases in the UK now stands at 1391 with 35 deaths - testing will now only be done on individuals who are seriously ill in hospital, care homes or prison

Those numbers seem very low. If they're based on 70% of the UK getting sick, the top estimate is a 1% mortality rate and the low end is 0.7% - this flies against the WHO estimates of 3% (so you're looking at 1.5 million there). If they're based on the entirety of the UK getting sick, then that's Brexit thinking.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-brits-face-£1000-fines-or-being-detained-if-they-refuse-self-isolation/ar-BB11dNYY?ocid=spartandhp

Over 70's look to be soon forced into self-isolation and will face a £1,000 fine for refusal and possibly imprisonment.

At which point the Government will also look to early release low risk and soon to complete sentence prisoners to reduce the virus spread in prisons. Presumably low risk would be... over 70's just imprisoned for not self-isolating.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/16/coronavirus-live-updates-us-cdc-events-europe-lockdown-uk-deaths-australia-france-italy-spain-update-latest-news

Russia has closed its border with Belarus and has confirmed just 63 cases of infection and no deaths. Absolutely trustworthy update that one.

The Virgin Atlantic boss has called for a government bail out for aviation companies. I'm genuinely curious on that one because we're barely into this situation and now even the big airlines are acting like they have no money in the coffers

[Dogg Thang]

Those numbers seem very low. If they're based on 70% of the UK getting sick, the top estimate is a 1% mortality rate and the low end is 0.7% - this flies against the WHO estimates of 3% (so you're looking at 1.5 million there). If they're based on the entirety of the UK getting sick, then that's Brexit thinking.

I think they are going on the lowest mortality figures rather than an average. The figures have varied significantly from place to place and managing the outbreak well is contributing to lower death rates. So these are based on best case scenario and assuming that the hospitals don’t get overwhelmed.

And again while we’re all looking at the death figures, it seems that if you pull through there is a chance you can be left with permanent lung damage - https://www.sciencealert.com/even-th...ath-afterwards

[Brad]

I think they are going on the lowest mortality figures rather than an average. The figures have varied significantly from place to place and managing the outbreak well is contributing to lower death rates. So these are based on best case scenario and assuming that the hospitals don’t get overwhelmed.

And again while we’re all looking at the death figures, it seems that if you pull through there is a chance you can be left with permanent lung damage - https://www.sciencealert.com/even-th...ath-afterwards

Wait. You're saying this can affect ME!?

[briareos_kerensky]

The Virgin Atlantic boss has called for a government bail out for aviation companies. I'm genuinely curious on that one because we're barely into this situation and now even the big airlines are acting like they have no money in the coffers

You probably underestimate how much money airlines make and how difficult is to keep them afloat. Surely all airlines have a treasury, but aircrafts need to be maintained even when not used, so do airport slots, and all personnel involved in both air and grpund operations. If there aren't passengers, airlines don't have revenue and any money reserves will dry quickly. Some companies are already cutting flights by 90% (Finnair) or 75% (IAG) trying to save as much money as possible, but it surely won't be easy to recover.