Re: We're all doomed! Doomed I say- the Corona virus thread for panicking in!

[Lancebloke]

Yeah... let's carry on with the assumption there will not be a vaccine, at least in the medium term. There is a lot that can transpire over the course of clinical trials... that is why they normally take years.

I am more hopeful that there is more found to combat infection, therapeutics or drugs or whatever.

I also imagine that the scale of this outbreak will help a lot of existing and future issues (SARS, Ebola etc) as it has been big enough to have the majority of the world look to find an answer.

Finding something that is actually effective in treating viruses would be akin to the discovery of penicillin for bacterial infection.... a game changer.

Fingers crossed for all of it.

[David H]

That would be wonderful and I'm very hopeful considering all the resources that are going into various efforts, but then the question becomes how the new vaccine is distributed, whatever it is. Realistically it will probably mostly go to protecting large cities with major international airports and train connections, and that makes total sense.

But fall is also harvest time for most of the rural northern hemisphere, a time when millions of seasonal agricultural workers move from state to state, country to country, crop to crop. And I can pretty much guarantee the vaccines won't get out into the country until probably winter or spring, so it's probably going to get kind of scary out here....

At the same time, you can't just let your crop lay in the field if there's any way to salvage it, and that usually requires help. Hard choices.....

[halfwise]

It may be a lot of people and movement, but it's also rather dispersed labor, right? I'm thinking the transmission rates will be lower than people in grocery stores and busses, but I suppose they have to get there first, and packed together on transportation will spread it.

[David H]

It varies from fruit to fruit, but the cleaning and sorting is often done standing side by side. Then there's shared housing, common lunches (my Mom still loves feeding the crew) and so on. Right now all our major local outbreaks are related to seafood cannery workers, just like what you're seeing about meat and poultry on the news, but in the fall they're predicting it will be fruit packing houses and harvesting.

[Mrs Figg]

When I look at images of people in UK factories/industry on the TV hardly anyone is wearing masks, maybe it would help if people wore them if they have to stand close to others? Here it is mandatory to wear them everywhere, it is common sense.

[halfwise]

I think what may be happening is all the meat packing plants are out in the boondocks, and people away from the cities have a far more lax attitude about wearing masks. For most of time, rightfully so I should add. But they need to wrap their heads around the idea that for this disease the ONLY difference between country and city is density, and they are working in high density jobs so should think like city folks.

[David H]

In the packing plants there are some pretty strict rules about minimizing foreign materials that might fall into the product (such as jewelry, watches, pens etc.) Also strict cleanliness rules, so a new disposable mask would probably be required for each employee at every shift, just like gloves. I'm afraid that would be a huge burden on the already short supply of PPE's for healthcare workers (and also an extra expense for the company.) Requiring surgical masks would be the right thing to do, but I don't know if it would be practically possible without some changes to the rules.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ The govt are calling on Brits to go harvesting as they estimate only about 20% of the usual immigrant labour will be here this year. So being without a job I went to the government website to see if was anything in travel distance- Ive no idea as the website has been broken since launch! Brilliant stuff!  

Meanwhile Lord Faulkes, ex-Labour minister and now sitting in the House of Lords as been going after Sturgeon, in fact the unionists have been a lot in last week  or so.
You see Sturgeon is coming over as a lot more compassionate and hard working at this time than Boris and co, and its making them look bad. On top of that, as Scotland has different rate of cases and different curve on the charts Sturgeon says she wont ease up the lockdown till the science and the numbers say its time to. In short, she is doing her job.
This has led to a Unionist frenzy in which Tories and Labour are accusing her of deliberetly setting out to be different from England for purely political reasons, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. There is good evidence however the R number is still a little higher in Scotland than England among other reasons to maintain things for a little longer than in England.
Faulkes is the latest buffon to wade in on this, but his views of the SNP are best summed up in his famous quote during an interview -

Foulkes- The SNP on a very dangerous tack. What they are doing is trying to build up a situation in Scotland where the services are manifestly better than south of the border in a number of areas.

Presenter- Is that a bad thing?

Foukes- No, but they are doing it delibretly.

No joke he actually said this!

The latest attack on Strugeon comes from the BBC, where there so called Scottish political editor, an idiot by the name of Sarah Smith on last nights main news, at 6 then agan at 10pm bulletin said -

'it has been obvious that Nicola Sturgeon has enjoyed the opportunity to set her own lockdown rules and not have to follow what is happening in England and other parts of the UK.”

Now theres a lot oorng here. One its not obvious, this wasnt an opinion piece it was supposed to be reporting, journalism, in which case what is her evidence that Sturgeon is doing this becuase she enjoys it? And not because she is acting on the scientific advice and her best judgement? There is no evidence of course, and none offered.
Secondly the statement is factually incorrect, its not Scotland thats acting different from the rest of Uk, its England- the lockdown in Wales, Scotland and N Ireland, and the messaging has not changed - only in England has it changed and has Boris said folk should go back to work.

So on the two points she made in her so called report she was wrong about both.

Stugeon responded by saying -

“Never in my entire political career have I ‘enjoyed’ anything less than this.
My heart breaks every day for all those who have lost loved ones to this virus.”

And so far in attempt to save her career I assume Smith has apoligised 4 times today in different ways, but to little too late- her excuse that she misspoke and used the wrong word, that she didnt mean enjoyed is pathetic given she did it twice in two seperate news bulletins.

Expect to see more of this as Westminister attempt to turn the virus into politics and to try to paint Sturgeon as devisive and harming Scotlands economy just to be different from England. Its a stupid game to be playing at the moment, harmful and pointless as its just making unionists look like even bigger twats than normal. }}

[halfwise]

Huh. Over here we have a data scientist in Republican Georgia being fired for actually putting out true statistics rather than numbers that support the party line that it's time to open up for work. It wasn't always true that conservatives were anti-facts, but it started happening sometime in the last 10-20 years. Not just ignoring facts, hostile to them!

[azriel]

You can have all the best schooling in some snobby upper crust Halls of residence, Eton, Harrow, Cambridge, et al, Your family can mix with upper class socialites, rub shoulders with cousins of the Queen & still be thick as shit. Majority of the pin stripe, & tweed wearing parasitic social climbers have never had to lower themselves down to common ground ( us )  Oh God forbid !!  the closest most get to is their cook or Chauffer. The world has sat comfortably for them for so long & then suddenly a bolt of lightning appears & now these so called 'politicians for the country' have to sit upright & start thinking. Thinking for these people was never mastered at Eton, one simply had others to do that tedious role for them. Ive seen Boris waffling & squirming, many of his ilk are. Media picks up on this faster than a cat gets fleas & sees it as its moral duty to defend said politicians ( poor things, have pity, they are working so hard...for us ) MP's will let media run with their tongues & with their thoughts because in all this Common sense was & is missing. I like Nicola Sturgeon, I think she's doing a good job. How absolutely fucked up, low & shallow can people get to make this virus a point of politics & think ( oh dear there's that word again ) she enjoys this ? who the fuck enjoys it eh ? hands up ? This isn't Medieval times where we did smote thy enemy. I do see a divide between England & Scotland & its England organising & arranging it. Next England will be throwing a temper tantrum if Scotland not only recovers quickly but in a better state & IF they receive a vaccine I bet England will be jumping out the pram & throwing the nappy down. I don't understand enough why England like to kick sand in the face of Scotland. If its not Scotland struck off the Christmas list its back to hating Frogs er France.
{{{ little tongue in cheek there, some of my friends are amphibian }}}

[Mrs Figg]

Petty, they are trying the same smear tactics with Starmer. It is pathetic.

[Lancebloke]

That is politics isn't it...

Keir needs to do well over the next couple of years. I can see there being a BIG divide still in place once this is over and many of those that voted Tory because of Brexit quite easily being in a position to flip next time around.

The same can be said of those that couldn't be having Corbyn as PM. Starmer needs to show he is willing to nail his colours to a post and stand by them. What colours he nails might not be too different to Corbyn actually... he just needs to be less of a personality vacuum and show that he could stand in front of the likes of Trump, Putin and Xi, be heard and be taken seriously.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ What a genius! }}

[Lancebloke]

But Petty.... there are many types of per capita.

Per rich white capita...
Per Republican capita....
Per Twitter follower capita...
Per country club member capita...
Per campaign donor capita...

Which capita do you want?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ One of the only good things to come out of this is the sense of community.
Tonight everyone was once again applauding cheering at doors, windows for the health workers. But I found this particualry touching.
This is my local supermarket, and the health workers turned up to applaud the supermarket staff for keeping us all fed and watered through this.

https://www.facebook.com/ian.orr.31/videos/2916084371762664/

And this was the local bus depot tonight (warning you might want to turn the volume down a bit!) }}

https://www.facebook.com/johna72/videos/10213827213272880/

[Mrs Figg]

It must be lovely for the individuals putting themselves in harms way to feel appreciated, and as a gesture of solidarity with others it is a nice thing to do, but on the other hand it is letting the government off the hook. People should be out booing Johnson. Where is the white-hot rage? Where is the fight? maybe I remember the poll tax and the miners strikes too vividly, but people were fighting for their lives, where is the anger at 55,000 dead people?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I think its the nebulous nature of where to point the finger Figg. Poll tax, miners, that was Thatcher making choices and enacting them. The target of anger was obvious. But an invisible virus? Hard to blame even Boris for that.
I think the blame for the response however will come, once this more intense period is over where folk are just more worried for their own health and loved ones, their finacnes, jobs, and are just trying to get through it. }}

[halfwise]

Can't see those videos, but it's a nice touch for the health workers to applaud those in the grocery stores. They've earned it.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Thats possibly as they were posted to a group. I feared might be case. Are you on Facebook Halfy?- I think Ive already invited half of Forumshire into it, but dont have you on my facebook. }}

[halfwise]

Ah hell. I hate facebook, but I do have an account. It dredges up bile anytime I do anything official on it like doing the "friend" thing :shudder:

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Well if you decide to send me a friend invite can join you up to the group- its basically amatuer to professional local photographers, so lot of very good pictures of this bit of the world. }}

[halfwise]

I'll work on overcoming my aversion.

[Mrs Figg]

{{ I think its the nebulous nature of where to point the finger Figg. Poll tax, miners, that was Thatcher making choices and enacting them. The target of anger was obvious. But an invisible virus? Hard to blame even Boris for that.
I think the blame for the response however will come, once this more intense period is over where folk are just more worried for their own health and loved ones, their finacnes, jobs, and are just trying to get through it. }}

I know that nobody blames Johnson for the virus, or even some deaths, but as Starmer has pointed out, you can blame the government for care home deaths, they failed the vulnerable in their time of need. You can blame them for their cack-handed incompetence, for Cummings herd immunity euthanasia, for the nurses begging for PPE, for the degradation of the NHS, for stopping nursing bursaries, for contracting out to their mates without scrutiny, for selling bits off to US companies, for the moronic and insidious slogans, for Priti Patel selling immigrants down the river, the fact they have hidden the deaths of 55,000 people and kept it out of sight because they were afraid of people seeing the mind-blowing loss of life. The happy-clappy 'care badges, wasting money which should have been spent of saving NHS lives.
The list is endless. and it makes me fucking enraged.

[Mrs Figg]

[Mrs Figg]