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Coronavirus

Still impressed by BJ?

(239 Posts)
Greymar Thu 12-Mar-20 15:23:09

There were no strategies for protecting the vulnerable and there had been a failure to engage the public. “We have a superficial prime minister who has got no grasp of public health,” Ashton said. “Our lot are behaving like 19th-century colonialists playing a five-day game of cricket.

From John Ashton.

POGS Mon 16-Mar-20 20:34:04

Labaik Mon 16-Mar-20 19:52:10

'Yes; herd immunity etc. Nice little soundbites. Wonder who thinks them up....hmm'
--

Another gift that keeps on coming.

You may state you are watching Laibak but you are not taking anything in.

Who do you think came up with the term ' Herd Immunity' which is not a soundbite by the way?

No doubt you think it was Dominic Cummings who came up with the ' soundbite ' Herd Immunity! If that were the case he is almost a century too late.

Labaik Mon 16-Mar-20 19:52:10

Yes; herd immunity etc. Nice little soundbites. Wonder who thinks them up....hmm.

Labaik Mon 16-Mar-20 19:50:51

I still haven't forgotten that it took Johnson several days to have his 'emergency' COBRA meeting; probably because he didn't want it to interfere with his 'baby' news that weekend. The WHO were brilliant today. They did mention donations but I missed the details.

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:43:55

Thank you for summarising exactly what I and others have been saying for many days now lemon. Herd immunity requires 60% or above of the population to get a disease however, so it’s not recommended as an approach and certainly not in this case with no vaccine and while so little is known about the long term impact of the disease. It’s all moot though because the Govt has now taken an approach that’s more aligned to the rest of the world - although obviously not going far enough.

The UK is now 3 weeks behind Italy according to the earlier report and while all countries have their experts the WHO is a pretty good place to start from.

Parsley3 Mon 16-Mar-20 19:41:05

We don’t yet know if herd immunity is appropriate for this virus. It may be like the flu and have a different strain every year or indeed like the common cold which we all get regardless.
Anyway, I am self isolating from today and hoping for the best. We don’t get the lovely hot weather here which helps to deal with viruses. I have faith in the devolved government approach but time will tell.

Greymar Mon 16-Mar-20 19:38:32

Do watch it, it is easy to understand

How rude

Greymar Mon 16-Mar-20 19:37:42

I detest the language around this. Herd/cull, these are people's families and loved ones. Well, some people.

lemongrove Mon 16-Mar-20 19:31:19

SirC did you watch today? It was all explained.
Social distancing will delay the spread of the virus, but enough people will still get it, many with no real symptoms,
Others with slight symptoms etc etc.(resulting in herd immunity eventually.)
The measures are all to smooth out ( no really huge peak) so that the NHS can cope with the numbers who need hospital
treatment and ICU treatment.
If you want ‘chapter and verse’ on this, just keep abreast of all
The televised briefings on it.
The UK is not in Italy’s position yet, and maybe never will be.
All countries have their experts after all.

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:27:06

No, that’s not what I asked you Joel

Joelsnan Mon 16-Mar-20 19:25:52

SirChenjin
It would demonstrate to you firstly herd immunity and secondly the exponential curve.
Do watch it, it is easy to understand

vegansrock Mon 16-Mar-20 19:23:19

So the youngsters can all get it first, then all the oldies can get it later, when maybe they might have managed to put more dosh into the nhs and recruited some more staff. Why don’t they admit theNHS and social care has been starved of funds for years and compared with other countries lags far behind.?

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:20:56

How are you squaring that link with the questions I’ve just put to lemon there Joel?

Joelsnan Mon 16-Mar-20 19:17:47

SirChenjin
Watch this re exponential growth

youtu.be/Kas0tIxDvrg

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:17:39

Oh, and of course how it works in an unvaccinated population. If you read the latest advice from the Govt ministers it’s now social distancing that they’re promoting in line with the wider recommended advice.

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:12:07

Distancing

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:11:50

No misunderstanding here lemon. Explain to me what you know about the numbers required for herd immunity, what that means in terms of supporting social distance, the impact it’s likely to have on healthcare capacity and why so many experts and the WHO have specifically advised against this approach.

lemongrove Mon 16-Mar-20 19:04:15

They haven’t moved on, as you put it SirC from talking of herd immunity.
There seems to be a lack of understanding from a few on here about this.
When quite a lot of the younger and healthy people have had the virus and have some immunity, it makes it harder for the virus to be passed on to others ( especially us older ones.)

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 19:00:15

Although it would also be correct that what we saw was an advisory approach and the Govt is not actually implementing any changes at this stage. That of course may change.

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 18:56:58

It would be correct if you looked at the timing of my (very obviously facetious) post and what it would also be correct if you quoted the whole of my post.

It is correct that the UK Govt is finally swinging into action as there have been calls for them to do and it is correct that they now appear to have moved on from their earlier herd immunity approach. It is also correct that they have now accepted that daily official briefings are the most appropriate way of communicating.

POGS Mon 16-Mar-20 18:08:01

Sir Chenjin

' Dominic's currently telling Bozza what to say and he's practising the words.'
--

Do you believe Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance are currently practising the words of Dominic Cummings also.

I take it you have a poor impression of Professor Whitty England's chief medical officer and the department of health's top scientific adviser.

I take it you have a poor impression of Sir Patrick Vallance the UK government's chief scientific adviser.

Would that be correct?

varian Mon 16-Mar-20 17:50:53

The dozey folk just have to wake up.

Greeneyedgirl Mon 16-Mar-20 15:14:21

I think I'm a bit confused. Has the Government changed its stance on 'herd immunity' and decided that it can't cope with too many oldies needing specialist care all at the same time, so they have decided to heed WHO advice?
We seem to be having mixed messages.

I do realise of course that it's a difficult time for anyone responsibile for making decisions, but it doesn't seem to have been handled well as there appears to be inconsistent, and patronising public information and advice.

SirChenjin Mon 16-Mar-20 13:27:31

Apparently we can expect to hear from Johnson this afternoon at the daily press conference, now that it's been pointed out to him that having a regular official update might actually be quite a good thing.

Dominic's currently telling Bozza what to say and he's practising the words.

Daisymae Mon 16-Mar-20 13:20:57

Johnson has not been seen since Thursday. Any sign of him today?

Grany Mon 16-Mar-20 13:10:03

Is it? Some people thought Johnson would be good as leader ha ha smile