Reply to post: Masks are working

Masks are working

Yeh, but look at the current numbers.... last few days UK 'New Cases' trend is down.

3923, 3403, 3242, 3446.... sure its early days yet, but if that's FINALLY the new cases trend is going down, UK is only about 4 weeks behind Austria. It's a pity the masks requirement came in late and people still need to be pushed hard to wear them. That time can be reduced more simply by tighter implementation of quarantine. Each new case is a failed quarantine event, a mask not worn, a surface not cleaned.

The app isn't relevant, I hope they don't try to substitute the app for *actual* contact tracing.

Look at Thailand, 2 cases today, only 54 deaths overall. 17th (this Sunday) is open day for a lot of markets, restaurants and malls, today is pre-open trials. A quarantine success after a shaky start.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/thailand/

The cases are contact traced, e.g. a Policeman in Phuket, got Covid19, 24 policemen at the station are quarantined, the families are put into quarantine, and the island was notified, so that anyone who came into significant contact could report for tests.

You could trace his phone and get a shit load of random data to swim in for months, lots of false-positives to make people distrust the contact tracing app. Lots of false-negatives you miss because you're swimming in irrelevant surveillance data to infect other people

Or you could stop re-inventing the wheel in the middle of a pandemic and get on with the infectious disease process.

In Thailand, they're opening again. I went to floating market last week they had a Covid 19 disinfect tent (surfactant in water sprayed as a mist), at the entrance they check your temp with a handheld camera. Masks are compulsory and a lot of different styles are on sale. Food stalls are sectioned off to add some distance between seating.

The stuff the trolls keep pretending DOESN'T work, actually works very very well.

In the malls, Thailand open up on Sunday. Restaurants will be open, but spaced tables and servers with masks.

Restaurants were open for takeaway all through quarantine, but the mall set up tables (see Mega Bangna). You need a mask to get into the mall, and a temperature check. There are rows of tables outside the supermarket entrance, one per restaurant, a menu, choose the food pay for it, use the provided alcohol rub, go do your shopping, come back and collect your takeaway. Steaks, pizzas, chicken, burgers, TonKatsu, even sushi is trusted here, because we trust that the Covid rules are enforced.

That shit you get in the USA, with Republicans intentionally trying to infect people, that doesn't happen. Nobody suggests killing people vs GDP, its a false dichotomy.

Because its been well handled, there is confidence, and confidence leads to a restored economy. If people were still dying, even if the government tried to open up anyway, the economy would still tank because the confidence in the government isn't there.

Phuket had an outbreak, so they split the districts up. In there you couldn't leave or enter the island unnecessarily, and people in each district could move to another district. The stricter lock-down was done so that all the provinces would be ready together.

If you want it over quicker, lock down harder.

In Seacon Square mall, they had humidifiers at the door and soap smell in the air. Same routine, masks, temperature check, hand sanitiser. Then it went into closedown mode, and only the supermarket was open, with limited access and careful checks at the mall. They're expected to open up on Sunday too.

Food is plentiful, everything is plentiful. 70% Alcohol v/v is now available at my local 7/11 again, only now its in giant 1 litre bottles and dirt cheap. Masks are cheap and prominent.

Even the little shops have the routine down, temperarture check at the door, mask compulsary, hand sanitiser. Shop!

They're figuring out how to allow tourists in from clean countries, as more and more of them are also clear of Covid19, so they want to allow those in.

Mainland Europe is also trying to figure out the same, they're also nearly clear of it. Quarantine, masks, separating people, it works well and fast.

You just need to do it. UK needs to look to Asia and mainland Europe, not USA. What's happening in the USA, that is a tragic slow motion train wreck.