I am still going to visit the local down the road. But we live out in the sticks and there are no known cases round here.

The trouble with a government imposing blanket restrictions, is that those businesses which have no good reason to shut down would be affected as well as those in corona hotspots.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

You would bankrupt the insurance industry at a stroke. I suspect parachute payments will be provided, as we would be in the realms of total economic collapse otherwise

Originally Posted by: warrenb 

Exactly.  No cases round here.   But I am not expecting many more customers and anticipating having to close completely before long.   Fortunately, I have a decent landlord and I should be able to weather this depending on how long it lasts (there is no point in him evicting me if I can't pay the rent as obviously no-one else would be able to pay rent either!).  But household bills are a different matter with zero income .... .  So worrying times.

Originally Posted by: Essan 

">https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1239627406215872522?s=19

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

Then the Govt compensates the insurance companies, which would be far less admin-heavy than compensating tens of thousands of SMEs. In effect, the admin is outsourced to the insurance companies. 

Originally Posted by: Saint Snow 

If true, this is absolutely appalling. We could be heading for a major catastrophe and many people still don't seem to realise it.

We are heading for a catastrophe. And still Johnson attempts to duck and dive

Originally Posted by: Justin W 

My mother in law who is 87 and pretty fit says she is still going for her regular walk up a quiet road because if she does not keep going her legs will give up through in activity. 

 I saw a Doctor on tv saying you could not even go for a country walk in case some one jumped out from behind a tree. What load of bollocks . Hardly going to get within 2 metres of some one on a quiet footpath.

Originally Posted by: bledur 

Most small business owners will not have insurance to cover this

Originally Posted by: Essan 

I’m quite liking the idea of camping out for a few weeks with a small gas stove and basic provisions - the weather is looking much dryer now and fresh water isn’t a problem.

I’m not in a city anymore but I’d imagine even in small communities things could start going downhill pretty quickly once bodybags start appearing.

Originally Posted by: nsrobins 

Switzerland declares a state of emergency:

• All shops, restaurants, bars, sports, ski resorts etc. closed


• 8,000 strong armed forces mobilised and deployed


• All gatherings of more than 5 people banned


• Measures apply from midnight tonight

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

 If we had wanted to avoid the worst effects, borders should have been closed months ago, holidays and cruises cancelled and full quarantine put in place for 14 days for those returning home. But when I suggested such measures over the intervening weeks, I was accused of "hysteria".

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

I was agnostic (and still am to large extent) on the need and the timing of border closures. But you keep banging about this ignoring how several Asian countries have contained their outbreaks without widespread border closures or lockdowns.

Italy had declared a state of emergency in late Jan and stopped all flights to/from China.

Originally Posted by: xioni2 

44,000 tested , that's a ridiculously low number 

the move is now to do 10,000 tests a day - Testing currently carried out by PHE in their laboratory network 8 in England and 4 others elsewhere doing approx. 1500 tests a day - so quite a big jump 

Expect a huge increase 

From Dr Chris Smith 

Originally Posted by: Gooner 

We are heading for a catastrophe whatever happens - the 1930s will be revisited as a consequence of global economic collapse in any event.

Policy makers are between a rock of economic armageddon and a hard place of many elderly and vulnerable people dying - the problem is that we are likely to end up with both Scylla and Charybdis.

If we had wanted to avoid the worst effects, borders should have been closed months ago, holidays and cruises cancelled and full quarantine put in place for 14 days for those returning home. But when I suggested such measures over the intervening weeks, I was accused of "hysteria".

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

The PM did say to go for walks for exercise but keep a distance from others.  

Originally Posted by: Caz 

 It is self evident that restricting travel would have reduced the numbers of infected people coming in and the consequent rate of spread. Taiwan introduced very restrictive border controls from the outset. South Korea did not have to introduce serious border controls, because all sane people were avoiding the country when it was an outlier in any case.

Singapore is a special case, but it is a small geographic area with a strong central government which is obeyed and which has firm control (people have not been allowed to access chewing gum for years for example).

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

It is self evident that restricting travel would have reduced the numbers of infected people coming in and the consequent rate of spread. Taiwan introduced very restrictive border controls from the outset. South Korea did not have to introduce serious border controls, because all sane people were avoiding the country when it was an outlier in any case.

Singapore is a special case, but it is a small geographic area with a strong central government which is obeyed and which has firm control (people have not been allowed to access chewing gum for years for example).

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

I’m quite liking the idea of camping out for a few weeks with a small gas stove and basic provisions - the weather is looking much dryer now and fresh water isn’t a problem.

I’m not in a city anymore but I’d imagine even in small communities things could start going downhill pretty quickly once bodybags start appearing.

Originally Posted by: nsrobins 

The government should have taken the steps you mention once it was apparent the virus was taking hold in Europe and certainly before it was known that it had reached British shores, Richard. That would have been basic common sense.

Had they done what you mention, then we may have stood a better chance of avoiding having to implelemt some of the more draconian measures that are about to come and especially the even more draconian possibility of a total lockdown a la Italy.

It was the failure to be proactive once this developing crisis became clear that has put this country in peril.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter