Yeah, still do. 

The challenge for the government is getting the timing right. If they introduce measures too early then how long will the general public accept them for. Look at Q, at the end of Jan he stopped socialising, started working from home, raised his thermostat to 25c and stopped eating raw food. 6 weeks on and he is not remotely close to being able to return to normality.

On the other hand leave it too late and we go exponential. I'm glad I'm not making those decisions.

Get your facts right, it was 27C.

I suggest he is talking about "driving".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO0sjsMALZg

R.

A few posters here have spent the last 6 weeks telling us to panic; one or two for longer than that.  Repeated demands for disproportionate and excessive interventions that completely ignore both the practical challenges and the social and economic impacts.

There will always be people with a reasonable knowledge of the subject offering a different opinion; that’s neither a new phenomenon nor unexpected. It doesn’t mean the government’s actions to date have been wrong.

The head of the WHO stressed yesterday the need to strike the right balance.  Based on where we are now it’s difficult to argue the measures haven’t been about right.

It was always clear that the ‘delay’ phase was in the plan and that the strategy was to manage the epidemic because preventing one has never been an option if you understand epidemiology.

Precisely!

Two words:

Timing

Proportionality

I do apologise to Q for suggesting he was sniffing coke. He has been proved right. The only countries to have this under control are the ones that took extreme measures. Taiwan is probably the best, closing borders immediately. We not only kept ours open but are still not even checking arriving passengers. So much for "taking control"

I give you one word - BORDERS

Inaccurate. 

Currently the UK has this under control.

Singapore, cited as an example of successful actions, saw an increase yesterday equivalent to 100+ per day when you scale up for population size.

I’ll give you one word: Trump

Look at the reaction of the markets to his decision to suspend flights with mainland Europe.  Such actions have huge impacts.

The change in your attitude to this epidemic has been subtle, I’ll give you that!

Perhaps you could try to be a bit more patronising...

How do politicians like Trump and Boris always get away with such contradictions. Only cult like loyalty and slavish media support enables you to ignore the glaring hypocrisy 

So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020

What time is today's Cobra meeting?

He knows the economy will go into recession anyway before the election so he is going down the full blooded nationalist hysteria route - blaming it on a "foreign virus" and the EU. This is a political response, not a rational health policy

But he will win because he is up against the dementing old man Biden who has no actual policies

After King Boris has shaken off his hangover and finished his brunch.

The apple never falls far from the tree. Cant tear yourself away from your Tory roots can you?

It could be to do with climate? Although having said that it seems to be spreading ok in the Southern Hemisphere summer. 

I

Did you read the report in the Times earlier in the week about the state of the flat at No10? Dirty clothes strewn all over, filthy plates and cups left unwashed, piles of dog sh1t on the floor? King Boris is a total slob and his latest paramour is barely any better.

I've actually taken this seriously right from the start (Jan), I made a personal plan (for work and supplies) and tried to wash my hands better and more often and touch my face less (the last one is impossible!). I mocked Q at the time for the silly stuff, but he was right to emphasise the danger. I've also been saying for weeks now that Italy and the European govts have probably mishandled the Italian epidemic. I also don't understand why the UK govt has not taken more low economic impact measures (encouraging work from home, testing everyone with symptoms etc.)

Two can play this silly game though, you made a post in mid-Feb criticising those who were advocating extreme measures.

Anyone remember "Nosher Powell"?

the editor of the Lancet

The UK government—Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson—claim they are following the science. But that is not true. The evidence is clear. We need urgent implementation of social distancing and closure policies. The government is playing roulette with the public. This is a major error.

— richard horton (@richardhorton1) March 10, 2020

If a major hotspot develops around Liverpool - there will be serious questions to ask after allowing last nights game to go ahead. 

Will the US going big last night, Boris right now looks to really behind the curve

I wrote 10 days ago - "Close borders with Italy" - I wrote at that time that France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia should close their borders with Italy with immediate effect. I was told I was being hysterical by some, but I was right.

The best way to protect your population is to reduce the spread and when another region is a virus hotspot, you quarantine it - in the first case that should have meant telling people not to travel to Italy and ensuring all those returning from Italy on special charters for the purpose were quarantined automatically for 14 days.

If the government had acted that way ten days ago (and I did write to my MP urging that course of action), we would be in a better place now.

And as for letting the Atletico Madrid supporters in yesterday - utter insanity!