Coronavirus General Discussion

I don't see the point of rushing out to go to the shops. It's been three months. Another couple of days won't make much of a difference and it'll avoid the problems caused by everyone trying to shop at once.

It is - but if the government had made wearing masks on public transport and in enclosed spaces like supermarkets mandatory earlier, as governments elsewhere in Europe have done, they'd have had to assume some of the responsibility for ensuring masks are widely available, and that would have been too much like hard work.

The policy and the messaging, I'm afraid, are designed to give the government plausible deniability, rather than to protect lives.

Govt Minister getting Marcus Rashford’s name wrong on Breakfast TV this morning caused great hilarity but also a sign of an administration totally out of touch....he called him Daniel Rashford...perhaps he plays for Hogwarts United?? lol...Piers nearly wet himself when reporting it...another home goal,Mitt Badcock lol 😂
What’s worse than a govt being despised is a govt being laughed at around the world and ridiculed and embarrassed day after day...sad!

He knew what he was doing, Marcus Rashford and his school dinners summer holiday campaign, 'no we have never heard of him until today'

Something the government should have done before allowing shops to reopen:

Sadiq Khan urges PM to make face masks compulsory in shops

At this point, I'm afraid anybody in an enclosed public space who chooses NOT to wear a mask is simply too selfish and stupid and childish to participate in adult society. We're dealing with a virus whose carriers are contagious while asymptomatic. It's not just about protecting yourself, it's about potentially protecting other people from you. Anybody who can't get on board with that has no right to be out among grown-ups.

Am I out of patience with people this week? Yes I am.

Yep looks like I'm observing lockdown measures for a long, long time yet

I've just realized that this is now 2 weeks on the big demonstrations and the UK hasn't experienced a major spike in cases.

I think this is great news but I don't know how to explain it. Does it mean big gatherings don't make a difference any longer?

We've had multiple second wave causes and all the data is showing plateaus or drops. I suspect it is a multitude of things. A few thousand VE day conga-ing, or protest marching, or on the beaches is really a very, very small percentage of the population. But those things are also occurring outside with airflow dispersing the virus instead of it building up enough in one spot to infect someone. And on all those occasions physical contact was still cut back to almost nothing, and the vast majority not sharing spaces like public transport to get there to allow for the virus to build up on surfaces. Proximity to people is certainly still an issue, the meat plants that keep closing due to outbreaks are a sign but those places are enclosed, where cold air is recirculated and people are not moving about a great deal. Cramming people into a lump and not moving is probably still not a good idea, but moving about as a crowd where you are mixing about and never too close to someone for too long may well be fine. We are all learning a lot about how infectious diseases spread. 

In the good news category, where I am we've had no new deaths for 3½ weeks and no new cases for almost a fortnight.

So different from Cheltenham and the Liverpool football match? I don't think so. So something different going on then? Or maybe we haven't spiked yet because we were a bit behind most of Europe. Or different age of the people congregating? Too many factors to consider. If Israel and S Korea are spiking again, I would be worried as both had a good handle on this. And what is happening in Germany? 

The R rate was three times higher in March though