WHO declares Pandemic

He refused to be tested?!

I do think Boris Johnson should have been tested for the virus after the reception with Nadine Dorries. I know he was apparently six feet from her but he should lead by example. What does his refusal say to others in the same position?

I believe in common sense, not so-called experts who are often wrong about loads of things. As we are an island we could have stopped people coming in ages ago. It’s crazy that everyone getting off a plane, boat or Eurostar haven’t been tested as soon as they come in. My view is that if only young people were dying, real action would have been taken ages ago, the majority of young people don’t care about old people. I think it’s all been mismanaged by the government , until they close down things that actually effect young people’s lives, the latter just wont take it seriously, or if some celebrity dies!

Oh i dont know,maybe a public information film would help- i STILL remember the ones we had when i was a kid(im 56) they scared you half to death & then you NEVER dared do what they warned you against!(remember stranger danger?& the one with the grim reaper warning of dangers of playing near water?) Yes?-exactly!

As usual for our gov't sallyB.and in meantime our kids& grandkids are at risk in our schools/colleges/uni's & its got closer to home as schools/colleges brought it back from italian ski trips! As for bringing them over just for footy match,well its just insane!

Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, sees ageism at work in responses to Corona -

thirdforcenews.org.uk/blogs/virus-challenge-shows-creeping-ageism-in-society?fbclid=IwAR3j0T7FYlo18hrff5KE74HDVTzzJ7YM43q8bRivZfnk_uxNuU39h5TzJpI

I'm afraid money comes first before lives in this country . All the government is worried about is how it will effect the economy .

I don't think anyone really knows .....not even death rate cos only calculated by those tested and if it is mild mostly and not tested then may be much lower. I find the current attitude of 'only' the old .....defined as over 65 I believe.... Astonishing....given most of us that age are caregivers, still working due to pension changes, and beloved parents/grandparents......

Tom Hanks and his wife are in Australia and have tested positive.

I have just watched an interview on GMB with a lady from WHO and she said that Covid-19 has the characteristicts of a pandemic but as of yet they have not declared it as a pandemic because to do so what have far reaching legal implications.

Italian hospitals are better staffed and resourced than the NHS ( more gdp spent) yet they are being overwhelmed with cases of viral pneumonia and can’t treat everyone. It’s a scary scenario, we are only a couple of weeks behind. After having just having one nasty bout of flu I’m now definitely self isolating. Lots of gardening to be done.

MissAdventure I'm not sure how that would be helpful - it would be out of date as soon as it was made. There is plenty of good information available if people choose to access it. The approach to the pandemic has to change in response to how the virus spreads.

I think people who have the range of symptoms that are typical of this virus should be tested, not just told to "self-isolate". Before they have self-isolated they have probably been in contact with many people, who presumably will be unaware that there is a risk they have been in contact with someone who may have the virus. Testing would establish if the person actually has the virus - and any known contacts could be tested also.

I suspect that we just don't have the resources to test on this sort of scale but it's my belief that this is what is needed, along with banning large indoor gatherings.

twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1237760976482598913?s=20

We need a public information film.

I understand that pandemic does not refer to the severity but the geographical reach of the virus. I am aLabour supporter and am not a fan of this government, but I think they are handling this well. They are putting Prof Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance forward as spokesmen and I think their responses are based on sound scientific analysis and modelling. As GrannyLaine says, the government has a delicate balancing act. Closing schools, for instance, would have far reaching implications and would be very difficult to manage. At the moment, the number of people in the UK diagnosed is 0.00069 of the population. ( based on a population of 66,400,000) So the chances of catching it have been low. There will be a rise, but at the moment it seems to be fairly well contained. The danger in shutting schools, theatres etc too early is that people will begin to ignore the containment. It will also lead to social isolation and concomitant mental health problems. I’m going to listen to the experts, and ignore the sensationalist, catastrophising newspapers.

twitter.com/richardhorton1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

This is Richard Horton's tweet calling for social distancing. Not very informative and as Editor of the Lancet, his perspective is a medical view, whereas the government have a much more complex balancing act.

Daisymae Do you have a link to the Lancet editor's comments? I googled but found a more general comment in The Lancet 7 March:

'High-income countries, now facing their own outbreaks, must take reasoned risks and act more decisively. They must abandon their fears of the negative short-term public and economic consequences that may follow from restricting public freedoms as part of more assertive infection control measures.'

The editor of the Lancet has accused the government of playing roulette with people's lives. I would imagine that this is someone who is aware of what action needs to be taken to manage the current crisis. Flights from Italy, mass gather at Cheltenham it's just inexplicable. Poland closed schools when they had 10 cases.

The declaration of a pandemic could be significant for insurance policies as some policies exclude elements of cover if a pandemic is declared.

It seems to me the government has been following the advice of health experts. You can read what is being done and may follow soon on the BBC website. There has been no shortage of information for individuals from BBC, NHS and, in my case, my doctor's surgery. My wife and I (both over 70) have decided to avoid contact with large groups as a result.

Personally, I would have stopped crowds attending the Cheltenham races and football matches; but one has to ask whether avid race-goers with accommodation booked and paid for would not have travelled anyway and watched the races in pubs which were less well equipped than the racecourse. You can bar the punter from the racecourse but you wouldn't keep him from the bar.

We have been in a pandemic for weeks. Tell me something I don't know. If what I have seen is the correct information, they have to wait till it gets to a certain stage or peak, before the next action from the government takes place. If they start to shut down places/ stop public gatherings too soon, the Coronavirus can peak twice and they don't want this to happen. I hasten to add I have no medical expertise or background. This was information from the television the other night. We just have to trust they know what they are doing.....

I am also..my new baby grandson in Dubai hasn't got his passport yet..I'm waiting for s.i.l.passport and birth certificate so that I can send for it..I'm supposed to be going out to help with the children in April..but don't know if that will happen...for various reasons..flights may be stopped..I would be scared of picking up the virus while travelling and I dont want to pass it on to my daughter and family...son and family in Australia dont seem concerned about the virus at all ...I wasn't initially but am becoming more so....

I'm scared now.

In answer to what could have been done, this is interesting

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/research-finds-huge-impact-of-interventions-on-spread-of-covid-19

*The rapid spread of coronavirus around the world could have been substantially curtailed if the broad swath of measures China brought in to control the outbreak were introduced just weeks earlier, researchers say.

Sophisticated modelling of the outbreak suggests that China had 114,325 cases by the end of February 2020, a figure that would have been 67 times higher without interventions such as early detection, isolation of the infected, and travel restrictions.

But if the interventions could have been brought in a week earlier, 66% fewer people would have been infected, the analysis found. The same measures brought in three weeks earlier could have reduced cases by 95%.

“From a purely scientific standpoint, putting in place a combination of interventions as early as possible is the best way to slow spread and reduce outbreak size,” said Prof Andrew Tatem at the University of Southampton.*

Its only a football game for goodness sake! Lives will be lost because of this but football is obviously more important!