BT CEO tests positive for coronavirus, goes into self-isolation after meeting fellow bosses from Vodafone UK, Three, O2 plus govt officials BT Group has confirmed its CEO has been diagnosed with COVID-19 just days after meeting fellow telco top brass at a gathering organised by the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). In a statement, Philip Jansen said: "Having felt slightly unwell I decided as a precaution to be tested. As soon …
"Given the number of people they talk to shall we just self isolate all staff at all telecoms and mobile companies now?"
From my experience of BT management any of the senior management could be carrying the Black Death without any impact on the rest of the staff. Let me correct that: without any adverse impact.
To the reports that are saying that the most rich are far from being infected, saying that this coronavirus pandemic is a bio-weapon against the working people only, is disingenuous at best. I saw somebody managed to engineer AI tracking bots that are actively managing the count of people, based on official data administering. The thing is that covid-19 (novel coronavirus), has infected the poor and rich, both - the former are left to fend for themselves most of the time.
~Vibhor Tyagi (Techie at Engineer.AI)
We are hearing of celebrity / sports people / politicians being infected because
*THEY ARE ABLE TO GET TESTED*
For you or I (UK based) we won't be tested until it gets bad enough to hospitalise us. People are waiting 7-9 days for a test.
Our numbers will spike like Italy's did, as soon as we test more people. That's what happened there. Less that there was a huge spike in infections, more that there was a huge upturn in actually testing.
We are hearing of celebrity / sports people / politicians being infected because
*THEY ARE ABLE TO GET TESTED*
True, I'm not arguing with that.
However, I'd like to expand on that statement....We are hearing so much about people being infected because the media are having an absolute feeding frenzy over it, instilling a sense of panic so bad that the only reason every single member of the population isn't $h1ting themselves is that there's no toilet paper left.
because the media are having an absolute feeding frenzy over it, instilling a sense of panic so bad that the only reason every single member of the population isn't $h1ting themselves is that there's no toilet paper left.
In the post-industrial, new-technology phase of the 20th and 21st centuries (in the now defunct 'nailing-someone-to-a-tree' timeline), the population of Earth were so pleased with themselves and their fancy global data distribution networks that they completely failed to realize that said networks had absolutely nothing to do with distributing useful, informative data, but were rather more to do with advertising all the useless tat that said population had decided, for some incomprehensible reason, that it really, really needed...
We are hearing of celebrity / sports people / politicians being infected because
*THEY ARE ABLE TO GET TESTED*
In the states, if you feel unwell, you are supposed to call(not come in) to your Doctor, who decides if they need to call the local health department (state or county) who then ask a bunch of questions, the gist of which you can get a number for a test ONLY if they determine that you were traveling, or in "close contact" with a traveler. So, no tests, basically. And half the US thinks this is a hoax, anyway.
mason,
There is no point testing people anymore. Except for clinical reasons.
This is a global pandemic - which means that it's able to spread on every continent on the its own. I'm presuming the WHO don't count Antarctica - because the British Antarctic Survey have done a truly amazing job of self-isolating!
The symptoms of this disease that most people will get will be very mild. And so there's no need to waste time on testing them. Seeing as the plan always assumed that trying to isolate people after they became symptomatic wouldn't work in the long term - it's no surprise that they targetted it.
In this country (as of yesterday) we'd done 28,000 odd tests and found 4,000 odd cases. And we've had 6 deaths. If there were loads more cases working away hidden, then we'd know because we'd have had more deaths.
But now testing has moved to the clinical stage of making sure people in hospital get tested and get the right treatment and also don't infect the people who don't have it.
There is an odd reason for large scale testing.
Mortality rates by the fake news pushers will be cited as a percentage of confirmed cases. Fewer tested and confirmed = a higher mortality rate.
That said, it's a waste of money given we don't test for normal flu on any scale.
"I'm presuming the WHO don't count Antarctica - because the British Antarctic Survey have done a truly amazing job of self-isolating!"
The US presence is far more significant and there are more or less daily flights in and out during the summer months, which it is there right now, so it's entirely possible it's there too.
Not strictly true. If you are tested positive then once you are no longer infectious and have recovered, you can be a useful member of society and just possibly, a desperately needed carer (or even just helper) to somebody else.
If not you will remain forced to stay ahead from people who actually need you
COVID-19 doesn't discriminate based on wealth, gender or race. If there is one discriminatory characteristic, it is age. Wealth is not a shield, living in a rich country far from the epicentre is not a shield, and older people have a disproportionately higher risk. It also has huge potential for economic disruption.
Is it any surprise that the powers that be (mostly rich and mostly old) are taking it very seriously?
In a statement, Philip Jansen said: "Having felt slightly unwell I decided as a precaution to be tested. As soon as the test results were known I isolated myself at home."
I thought the advice was to self-isolate when you got the symptoms, even before taking the test, not wait however long it took to get test results whilst infecting as many other people as possible?
Still, BT giving something away for free?
So he, and presumably you, are entitled to ignore advice because "you know better"?
Plus if that's the case then he knew he should self isolate at the first indication, and indeed minimise contact with people before showing any symptoms, so I expect you'll do that do.
Viral infections and the most recent research suggests this is true for corvid-19 (first 5 days) are most infectious before symptons are displayed, this is why they spread so quickly.
I get a flu jab every year and do try and avoid contact if I think I'm infectious. Without vaccination the seasonal flu would have a much higher mortality rate than corvid-19 but flu is boring so we don't see it on the news.
"I thought the advice was to self-isolate when you got the symptoms"
As of Thursday that's the updated advice. Prior to that (when this guy felt unwell) it was only if you'd come into contact with a confirmed case. From what I can tell, he did more than government advice by virtue of being rich and getting access to a private test.
It is obvious 'parts' imply servers and PC's - I had to read it a couple of times as I had misread it on the first scan to imply:
BT revealed it is working closely with Public Health England to initiate a "full deep clean of relevant parts" of the group's PHE's HQ in central London....
This post has been deleted by its author
Jansen added today: "Given my symptoms seem relatively mild, I will continue to lead BT but work with my team remotely over the coming week." He said will be "no disruption to business".
He makes it sound like he'll take his share of first-line support, and do the odd remote-shell to a borked telecoms switch.
Actually, if he was to disappear for a month without trace, I doubt anyone would be the wiser...
Being semi-serious, my one time boss said the higher you rise in the organisation, the longer it should be before your departure is noticed (if it's an organisation that really does something productive.)
If a CEO's disappearance had noticeable effects on the running of the company in a short timeframe, it would imply that he (or she) was a micromanager. And if you are paying someone millions a year to micromanage, you're doing it wrong.
I didn't take much notice of the couple of transport police manning a stall/display at my local station this morning. Only later did I think how stupid their bosses must be to have them standing round answering passenger's questions, after all I'm being told not to attend unnecessary face-to-face meetings. They are surely going to get enough chances to infect/be infected while on patrol and attending incidents without tethering them to one spot for hours, when all it needed was a few posters and leaflets
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