Well, well, we now have an expert who thinks this virus that is spreading throughout the world could be nothing more than a common cold.
Telling the over 70s to isolate is just causing wide spread panic. Why would they advise this if were more likely to be just a common cold.
You say no government ponce is going to stop you going out if you want to. No government ponce is stopping anyone from going out if they want to. They are just giving out cautionary advise.
No government is forcing the elderly to isolate. They are just advising. I am one of those who is taking this as seriously and not just dismissing it as probably ‘just a common cold’. I am not panicking but am determined to be better safe than sorry later on.
They are doing it in other countries with shop staff, the police etc enforcing it. They should put it into official advice that unless it’s absolutely impossible people should stand a metre apart in public spaces. The more this is applied where possible the more the risk is reduced. Complete idiots in the supermarket seem to feel a need to queue breathing down the neck of the person in front. How is anyone supposed to know that someone standing near them is unwell until it’s too late?!
The GP surgery sent out a message saying appointments can only be booked 2 weeks in advance and that staff will screen people for coronavirus by phoning and asking questions.
There are plenty delirious and breathless in ITUs around the world who are under fifty. They wouldn’t be taking all these drastic steps around the world if it were like a cold.
I think it is the other way round. I had an elderly man yesterday, too close for comfort, telling me how ill he felt. I told him to go home. Also people still not covering their faces when coughing all over the place.
We should all be taking measures to ensure we are at as little personal risk as possible. That is just being sensible about what is being advised. Personally I have to cater for myself so will have to find ways of doing this.
Also to anyone who can drive but doesn’t want to risk doing their shopping in crowded shops / supermarkets, there is as far as I know, a service called ‘click and collect’ operated by Tesco anyway. Shop online, I guess also pay online. The collection point at my local Tesco is in a very large car park so only one person to deal with, it’s in the open air too.
Not wishing to put a ‘downer’ on that Baz but people should be aware that however or wherever you collect your shopping, several people have already handled the packaging.
They are not sure entirely how long it lives on surfaces (hours to a couple of days have been mentioned) but if you avoid touching your face and then wash your hands after handling packaging etc. this removes the risk. I wear gloves where possible too and also wash my hands.
We simply do not have the Infrastructure in place to deal with this.
Today for example, here in Shrewsbury, there are not enough police officers to put two in every Supermarket and arrest people for none compliance.
There are no Local Courts and a huge shortage of Cells.
They have to travel to Kidderminster, over an hour away to remand people.
This takes two officers out for a complete shift.
Welcome to Austerity.
People are all slashing Taxes and Public Servants, lazy gits supping tea all day.
The reality is somewhat different at the pointy end.
In 2011 I had a fully equipped Lab and 3 staff in the basement at work.
Dealing primarily with Food Poisoning and Chemical Accidents.
The whole lot went in 2011 and stuff has to be collected by other staff and then delivered to a Lab 60 Miles away and a weeks wait for results.
We could have done Coronovirus Test collection and results in hours, the equipment and staff were in place.
The Fire Service had Decontamination Teams in every Town.
Now all scrapped, plenty of information on the Internet about that.
Defended by Cameron and May as a non essential cost.
All that was needed was one Officer per shift.
Absolute rubbish.
The Decontamination Units which will respond as far away as Manchester and Birmingham are parked up in Prees, a small village in North Shropshire where I lived until 20 months ago.
A very different scenario to China, South Korea and Taiwan where they did not scrap their stuff and which have been very successful in controlling it.
Yes, I realise that but where does one stop with all this? If a relative gets your shopping then those packages have also been handled by staff who stock the shelves, plus those who deliver to the shop / supermarket. What I do when shopping myself is to ensure I don’t touch my face, eyes or nose after shopping. On arriving home wash my hands, unpack shopping and put it away, then wash my hands again. Also I wash my hands again before preparing food.
There is no way of being 100% sure about anything. Let’s face it living life itself is ‘dodgy’, all we can do is take sensible steps to reduce risks accordingly. That is how I see it anyway.
Swim I’m not talking about putting a big effort into policing. If the public health message is put out there strongly enough the public will police it themselves by telling others off. At the moment the message is stay away from people who appear ill. Well that’s pretty useless until they start spluttering and coughing behind you. This happened to me at the post office the other day and I just walked well away from him. The idiot had plenty of room as it was just the two of us queuing in a massive space. But he moves closer as queuing idiots these days do. Yesterday I was in a supermarket and another idiot kept moving closer. I told him to stop and keep some space between us. He said he just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. What a twit. At least if there were an official message out there and signs up in supermarkets etc then such individuals would perhaps understand. We don’t need the army just some simple messages about personal space.
And if they did I’d lie about my age…
