Posts by Dan 55

Re: "One form of exercise a day"

Here is the list of business exemptions and it looks nothing like Johnson's speech or the guidance to people given elsewhere in this thread (link if it becomes too separated from this post). Or maybe they're supposed to stay open but customers can't leave their house to go to them.

Also, what about the other businesses not mentioned? Can they stay open if they don't serve the public or not?

No, they really can't write specs.

Really? China is the textbook example of a command economy and when they finally realised what they faced they did stuff like built entire hospitals in a week to tackle it.

I put it down to certain countries' governments' dogmatic predilection for cutting back so whatever it is is always running at 100% capacity... and then the black swan comes along.

Proof of this is that every winter we have the 'winter flu crisis'... if we have one every year for years then it's not a crisis, it's the NHS' inability to cope because it's been cut back on purpose.

Re: Joined-Up Government

Indeed. Cummings is behind the UK's 'science-based' approach and the two talking dummies either side of Johnson are so you might actually believe he isn't.

Matthew Garrahan

"herd immunity, protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad"

Even now, they're still dragging their feet, there's still no proper lockdown.

Then again, you can only have The One True Notification sound on Teams. You can't disable it without losing the call ringtone, and you might not want to miss calls. Finally, MS have spent months working out the most irritating sound in the world before pushing it out in the latest update last week.

We've been promised offline and more than one window for years in Teams, so let's not get our hopes up too early.

Let's not kid ourselves, Teams is only making headway because it's free, installed automatically everywhere with Office 365 despite what the user wants, and MS are knocking SfB on the head.

Re: Pitch forks unnecessary, Karma is good enough

Yes, people criticise lockdowns because they think it's not obvious how to stop the lockdown but once you have got the numbers under control with a lockdown you move to the South Korean model of constant testing and monitoring.

The question is how is the UK's unique laissez faire solution any better? It basically amounts to letting people die and not having to do much as if that were something commendable because then you don't have to think about what to do next.

Re: Pitch forks unnecessary, Karma is good enough

It was not necessary for the UK to wait for this report which was released yesterday before taking action. Action could have been taken before following the Asian countries' lead (and it's hardly unknown ground given the previous pandemics) and refined with the release of this report.

But it's nice to see that the UK has finally decided that more testing is worthwhile. Shame they're still not testing NHS workers as a pretty basic requirement for fighting this virus is that staff are disease free and do not spread it amongst themselves, patients who are in hospital for other reasons, or visitors.

The UK's 'business friendly' approach is cod-science bullshit. Nobody still really knows if the virus mutates or not, this year's immunity might mean nothing next year. People need to be cured and the spread of the virus needs to be stopped, now.

Re: Pitch forks unnecessary, Karma is good enough

Especially testing and isolating, but the UK still has its head in a bucket or has decided that it can write off people's lives because it's cheaper.

Re: CoVID 19 Witch hunts

Patent override, job done... if it weren't for the fact that governments aren't in hock to lobbyists.

Re: Well

Only one country's experts are saying the British government's approach is right. And they're from the UK and usually found either side of Boris Johnson.

I don't think viruses recognise English exceptionalism.

Re: Well

Coupled with this 'plan', it means that the most oldest and most vulnerable in society who can't fight off this disease will get infected and die. And also the not so old and vulnerable... an Italian patient who went to hospital just over three weeks ago is under 40 only just got out the ICU.

So, yeah, I've got a chip on my shoulder about that. Is that a problem for you?

Re: reasons not to close schools...

Getting people to just act sensibly over a long period is much easier than a lockdown, and although the overall number of people who catch it will be about the same the peak will be spread out, to levels where the NHS can cope.

If you want to stop a virus spreading, you have to stop people spreading it. Doing absolutely nothing apart from suggesting people wash their hands a bit more (or for some people, suggesting that they wash their hands) doesn't really cut it.

Remember, it's a virus. You can't "cure" it. Sooner or later we all need to catch it, or be vaccinated against it, those are the only ways to stop the spread. It takes 6-9 months minimum to develop a vaccine, so it needs to be managed at a low level until then. Lockdown won't work, as France and Italy will discover.

How come Asian countries which locked down are now getting on top of it then?

'Do not let this fire burn': WHO warns Europe over coronavirus

Tedros stressed that countries should take a comprehensive approach. “Not testing alone,” he said. “Not contact tracing alone. Not quarantine alone. Not social distancing alone. Do it all. Find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission … Do not just let this fire burn.”

The British government's response - actively choosing to stop community testing, deciding not to even bother trying to trace people who might have come into someone diagnosed with Covid-19, allowing people to behave as usual, is wrong-headed, irresponsible, and a complete contradiction of WHO guidelines and the opposite of what Asian countries have done.

Re: Well

Well be a sport and post a link to an article which a favourable comparison, then, in either English or French, because I can't find one in the English-speaking press.

By the way: "The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.” - WHO.

Re: Well

Sorry, are you actually comparing the UK's lack of action favourably against France's?

The Tories might be more prepared to prop businesses up (I don't know, I haven't found an article comparing the two), but actual steps taken to stop people becoming infected look particularly weak compared to other countries.

Re: Well

I think it goes like this:

- Experts say what's needed.

- Johnson says "no, you've got no money and no lockdown and we're barely prepared to lift a finger, what can you do with that?"

- Experts say what they can do with that on TV.

- Johnson says "say goodbye to your loved ones".

"Herd immunity" sounds very Dominic Cummings, don't you think?