A skeleton staff can look after key workers children at the schools. The only way to slow the virus is complete and utter lockdown . Otherwise we are completely fu##ked.

For weeks you've been saying that HMG should throw everything towards containment and you kept emphasising how well South Korea has been doing with its testing etc. Now you fully believe that govt policy is being informed by scientific advisers, how do you know that HMG policy isn't partly political too? How do you know that they are not choosing to prioritise the economy?

European governments are throwing everything at it and they take extreme social distancing measures, but suddenly you don't seem very keen on this.

​

Tentative signs that the Lombardy region may be starting to see a slowdown following the lockdown last week they need to wait another 3 or 4 days to be sure

Quote

 

Coronavirus, Fontana: "There is no more exponential progression"

 

According to the Lombard governor "it will be necessary to wait another 3-4 days to understand if the numbers can begin to prove us right. The only way to arrive at the solution is to prevent the virus from continuing to circulate" "We can begin to say that perhaps there is no longer that violent progression that was in recent days - explained the governor -, it is still progressing but no longer exponentially which we are moderately pleased with". 

In the late afternoon, Fontana went to the pavilions of the Fiera di Milano where he plans to open a hospital with 500 intensive care units for Coronavirus patients. "I had a meeting with Dr. Bertolaso ​​and his technicians, there is the maximum availability to build this structure, on the horizon there are the conditions to arrive at a positive solution and a quick solution".

"In 3-4 days we will understand if the numbers prove us right"

According to Fontana, "it will be necessary to wait another 3-4 days to understand if the numbers can begin to prove us right. The only way to arrive at the solution is to prevent the virus from continuing to circulate". For the Lombard governor, "it is clear that the more restrictive measures there are, the sooner we reach the conclusion" and "if it closes with even greater vigor, there are more possibilities that the times of circulation of the virus will slow down. 

 

https://tg24.sky.it/milano/2020/03/16/coronavirus-fontana.html?social=twitter_skytg24_link_null

​

My point is that whilst this crisis was developing in China, and experts were warning of the need for other countries to build up their ventilator capacity, Bozo, Rasputin and their cabal of spivs and privileged toffs were obsessing about Brexit and giving each other reach-rounds for pulling off the biggest con job in history.

Schools will obviously have to close sooner rather than later if some of the (official?) reports about the virus spreading much more quickly than expected are true. The NHS is already close to collapse it seems. I expect a majority of parents will be keeping their kids at home within a couple of days if the government doesn't  close the schools.

Just for persp drive, globally the over 65s and at risk groups total between 750 million and 1 billion. That's the scale of the challenge. A few million doses hardly covers the UK demand.

Three. Germany as well. And not guinea pigs, just those that accept what is going on and have said as such. Not policy, just practicality.

Your quote earlier was salient - the numbers of silent infections. We can't test on antibodies yet.

Only 1 confirmed case in Co. Durham... but I know there is a kid 2 miles away who has it. He's not the confirmed case.

How well do you think the EU itself is dealing with this, say in comparison to China, the US and other big entities? 

Not forgetting that 10 years of Tory running down of the NHS has resulted in barely any spare capacity for when the crap hits the fan.

The boy who wanted to become King all his life and used Brexit to achieve it. The boy who got away with everything all his life. Let's see if life has the last word. 

I think Saint said something similar earlier today about where he lives. It really does not inspire confidence at all.

It's just dawning on the western world that the only way to slow the virus significantly is too do a Wuhan. Everybody has to stay at home apart from key workers. No one goes out not even to work. This will happen here probably with in two weeks.

I think you are wrong on Germany? Merkel announced extreme social distancing measures tonight, the most severe in the 70-year history of the federal Republic. All stores will close except from the following: supermarkets, delivery services, pharmacies, medical supply stores, petrol stations, banks, post offices and wholesalers.

I'm not sure it will , be huge u turn 

Only 2 confirmed cases in Darlington as well and both of those are not actually residents of the town they were admitted to the memorial as it's the closest hospital.

The sheer bloody ignorance of Hancock and Johnson shines through again. It illustrates that they think manufacturing is easy and less skilled:

How Dyson and Rolls Royce could make VENTILATORS: Experts say converting production lines to build life-saving equipment for coronavirus pandemic will take 'many months'

British manufacturing giants such as Dyson and JCB face months of arduous preparation before they are able to convert their factories to build ventilators.

Experts warn the appeal of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for businesses to turn their production lines into ventilator conveyor belts may not be realistic.

The firms may need to overhaul their entire supply chain and have to hastily train their staff to make and check the critical life-support devices.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8117847/Dyson-JCB-Rolls-Royce-face-problems-making-ventilators-experts-warn.html

If by the 'EU' you mean Europe, then I think they have been complacent and disorganised. I don't know if the extreme measures they are taking now will work better compared to our more cautious approach. I am surprised though that countries like Switzerland are taking so extreme measures, they are are usually very cautious and quite adverse of the federal govt imposing restrictions on the cantons.

No one should go bankrupt due to medical bills.

No one should avoid a doctor because they can't afford it.

No one should watch a loved one die because they were uninsured.

We must end this injustice and pass Medicare for All.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 16, 2020

And people will keep using them 

Jesus wept. It appears the NHS is already down to the "useless" masks because FFP3s are running out. At least it took the Italians several weeks to reach this state.

'Not fit for purpose': UK medics condemn Covid-19 protection

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/16/not-fit-for-purpose-uk-medics-condemn-covid-19-protection

Doctors and nurses warn shortages of appropriate equipment may put NHS staff’s lives at risk

Germany has all along accepted majority infection - up to 70%. 

The evidence on models and now being somewhat backed up by Chinese evidence is that there's a potentially massive cohort of relatively asmyptomatic cases that were not tested but still capable of transmission. There is not a test currently that can identify that antibody positive population (those that had it without symptoms), so there's no way of knowing how many people in any country are negative testers on current protocol.

Which implies it was never feasible in the first place no matter how early in the piece. They'd have been better off selling the brief up front to innovation companies who may have devised a way to make these things in a more straightforward/quick way.

Russia’s highest court approved constitutional changes that opened the way for President Vladimir Putin to crash through term limits and stay in power through 2036 https://t.co/JKeyxeSfQp

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 16, 2020