Any medics here?

Fennel - no-one said god sent this.

No - but the article highlighted by momb said god "allowed" it and knew that it would happen; and also that god is in control.

Not far off "sending" I feel.

About washing hands.... I heard on the radio this evening and I hope I've got this correct.... that it's the soap that gets rid of the virus.

The soap cuts through the outer coating of the virus. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart and becomes inactive.

Thanks Fennel, I got a bit carried away there.

No-one said that God sent this, Greymar.

What sort of God sends this? Honestly, I try to comprehend.

Why isn't he/she in the refugee camps in Lesbos?

@ mumofmadboys-
We are religious Jews, and have also been advised to see this as something only God can understand.
All we can do is to say Psalm 121 every day - "Lift your eyes to the mountains, from where God's help comes."
Specially worried today when my friend and I visited, as regularly in the past, a 93 yr old in an old age home and she was quite poorly. They had said she was OK before we went, but I won't go into details. She obviously wasn't well.
We've told her relatives, poor old soul.
The staff were obviously worried, gave us facilities to wash our hands before we left.
It's a mystery.

Thanks for your reply mumofmadboys. I respect your beliefs and I guess the truth is that none of us can know for certain if there is a god or his motivations.

Free will?? This has been a source of debate amongst Philosophers and Neuroscientists for years. The jury's still out!

geekesse It was precisely because I didn't wish to appear a "self-appointed expert" that I prefaced the bits of information in my recent post with "I think . . ." and "I suspect that . . ." (they were that soap has long molecules which attach at one end to the dirt and at the other to the water, so they can then be rinsed away, and that the most likely temperature to kill viruses is 60C or 140 F)

In spite of the risk of seeming a knowall, I had better add here that I had found both these facts earlier in respectable authoritative articles, by searching Google and then being selective. I looked at sites I could trust, of course, and double checked at more than one source.

Hi Greeneyedgirl. I don't see that God is entertaining himself at our expense. Rather that he loves us but has given humans freewill and let's us do things our way. God doesn't intervene in natural disasters but I believe he could if he wished to.Human suffering is very hard to understand and I don't pretend to have any answers. I just believe God is here in this messy world with us and wants us to trust the future to him.

I am just out of hospital after an op and am avoiding a family party tomorrow. The reason is that the dad of a guest is in intensive care with pneumonia after returning from Thailand.

Apologies, I just meant on gransnet in general, not particularly on this thread.

There is a understandably a great deal of anxiety and fear about the situation we are in and I do wonder how much misinformation is adding to the problem .

Mumofmadboys whenever I see your posts I know that your advice will be sensible, compassionate and measured.

I think this link that you have posted to the doctor's article has some very honest, thoughtful and helpful observations, particularly about the care and support we should offer in the community.

As a humanist however the idea that God allowed this, foreknew this, and loves us, does not encourage me to believe in a supernatural being, who appears to be entertaining himself at the expense of us mere mortals.

No -one has claimed to be an expert on this particular thread. People are sharing their experiences. I totally agree with Greymar. Comments like these will put people off posting altogether. We all accept people are giving their opinions.

I don't see any self appointed experts. People have kindly shared their thoughts and experiences. We are intelligent adults who can make informed choices.

Well said geekesse. Far too many self appointed ‘experts’ on this site at the moment.

Please folks, may I just remind you that you should never rely on medical advice from an online forum. For general information look to official sources like WHO, NHS or U.K. government websites. For specific information, ring 111. However lovely and respected some GNetters may be, there’s way too much misinformation circulating, and anecdotes and personal recollections, responses and opinions are not helpful.

Well, obviously God is in control, and he knew this was going to happen. ...............I don’t know God’s plan and his purposes, but I do know that he has allowed this and foreknew this. And he loves us.

Now - what is that about? Makes no sense at all to me.

I understand the rest of her article which is about doing our utmost to support people through this crisis. As a respectful agnostic, I absolutely endorse that.

I think the cleaning part is the soap, which has long molecules that attach at one end to the dirt/debris/virus and at the other end to the water. They are then washed away by rinsing well.

I suspect that for heat to kill the virus, it would have to be so hot that your hands would be pretty well killed off too. 6o degrees C is said to be the minimum temperature for getting rid of it on clothes, so for hands it must be the same. That is 140 Fahrenheit.

Actually you can just download it!!

I have just read a very good article from an American doctor who is also a Catholic and who has a lot of experience in Infectious Diseases. The link is livingchurch.org/2020/03/04/covid-19-facing-facts-working-to-prepare-trusting-in-god
I'm sorry not to put the link so you can automatically get it.

Thanks Elegran. I had thought of taking a flask of hot water into the bathroom. (Not sure DH will go for that but I will). I was hoping someone would tell me if the anti virus element is the soap or the heat of the water.

Doramarr I wasn’t complaining to Sadaf hence the ?

I do follow all news throughout the UK.

Kalu Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their own websites, but since the response is being co-ordinated across the UK there will be the same information. ( In Welsh on the Welsh site.)

Not much use to those of us in other parts of the uk Sadaf?

We had a text message yesterday from our health centre saying anyone with signs CV should stay home and call the number they have shown.

My GP called to say my appointment in 3 weeks will be a telephone appointment thus avoiding me having to come into the surgery.

Schools preparing to close with two weeks tagged on to the Easter break.