Indeed.

Beast also seems to have crossed the line between satire, political commentary etc and common decency. Personally I find it very unpalatable.

Nick, I think the risk from clothing will be very very small but I can understand how everything is worrying. 

Sorry? Kiss his feet like a proper conscientious objector. Shame on you.

Agreed; one or two people are really not helping with their insane one-liners and daft comments.

I can understand you getting stressed, Nick; I’m getting stressed and having to focus on trying to calm down. We’re also in a higher risk group just because of our age so I can absolutely empathise with you.

The only safe way of touching a door handle or door or petrol pump nozzle is with a paper towel or something disposable - or use hand gel and/or wash your hands ASAP.

Take care.

Indeed. 

Eustice fails to rule out state controlled food rationing

— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) March 21, 2020

Be quite a turn-up if the UK is the only country that has to undergo rationing. (i realise though that someone refusing to rule something out is nowhere near the same as that something happening

There are some figures published Nick (and apologies if this has been covered- I'm running a school and it has been very time consuming this week so haven't read all posts) that suggest longevity of Sars CoV-2 on different surfaces. Surface contamination seems to be a broader vector than droplet transmission. Not sure about clothing but survival on cardboard was a lot less than stainless steel and plastic/ laminate work surfaces. I'll try to find the link. I'm thinking textiles might be more like cardboard?

Very much the picture we have from our relations in Umbria and Ostia, Brian. They seem sanguine, but say they hope we don't make the same mistakes. Roger

You wouldn’t know anything had changed in St Albans. Market open, loads of stalls, loads of people out shopping in close confinement. Can hear live music from my place, had a quick run to the end of my road to look. Unreal. Really worry how bad this had to get before ppl listen.

— Daniel Hewitt (@DanielHewittITV) March 21, 2020

And sobriety?

The exasperating thing, Caz, is they could probably have done it in the time they spent talking about it! It's a very successful well tried procedure now. Not quite so basic as when my Dad had it 30+ years ago - and it went well then.

R

I agree and it is insane that the economy is being laid to waste trying to `push water uphill`

Yes sensible measures have to be implemented and enforced.A sensible prcaution for example would be for supermarkets to have wall mounted hand sanitisers,like you see in hospitals,at the point of entry and customers told they must use them before entering the store,has this even been thought about??

All this bollocks about flattening the curve etc is pure bunkem! The fact is the nhs is ******* and many Dr`s on the frontline are saying it is already at FULL capacity and woefully short of the necessary equipment.

Each of us has a responsibility to ourselves and others which can be done without turning this country into the Soviet Union

Without being funny, food rationing is a subject we've touched on in here recently even before covid19. There has been suspiciously little said about the effect of all this on flows of goods through places like Calais and Dover but can it be right that borders are being closed and goods still flow freely?

Even Hannan finally realised what effect this sort of thing could have.

This country is a disaster waiting to happen. These people will find someone to blame other than themselves.

All retail outlets need to be closed from Monday. This cannot continue. 

I wonder how food rationing would possibly be managed.

Post-war, most food services were local in scale. Supermarkets were fewer (if they really existed) and smaller, with smaller catchment areas. Local shops were more widespread.

The size of food retail catchment now means that thousands and thousands use some supermarkets. To check & secure ration allowances from these outlets couldn't be managed, could it?

Caz please stop being so unreasonably reasonable, even handed and sensible.

The chaps are on here to have a really good rant, and you are spoiling it

​Some better news we may and a stress the word may have a limited use vaccine out before next winter.

Vaccine trials start at Porton Down in race to find a cure

Quote

A British vaccine is set to undergo human and animal trials simultaneously, beginning next week at Porton Down, as scientists attempt to have it ready for limited use before next winter.

The drug, made by a team at Oxford University, is expected to begin testing on animals at the scientific base in Wiltshire, and then human safety trials next month, before the results of the animal trials are known. If the safety trials are successful, it will enter larger scale human trials, known as phase II trials.

Normally, even larger phase III trials are needed before a drug is approved for clinical use. However, in emergencies these can be part of a limited early release of the vaccine, often for frontline workers.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/vaccine-trials-start-at-porton-down-in-race-to-find-a-cure-3xx6s3fnh

​

"Doctor in North East says they are running low on oxygen cylinders and ran out of FFP3 masks (those are the good ones) on Tuesday for all wards other than intensive care units."

And yet there are only about 30 confirmed cases in the whole of the North East combined - Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Darlington etc.

Something doesn't add up?

I heard this said in the media, Beast, and it would be good news if it were true, as chloroquine is cheap as chips, used as an antimalarial for years. However, my natural caution makes me doubt that a once-popular anti-parasite medication should just by chance manage to tackle a Coronavirus like CO-19. But it must be true. Trump says so. I hope he is right and it proves to work.

I recall on the datasheets of the chloroquine I use to take in the 70s that "psychotic episodes" were amongst the possible side effects. Nigerians seem to be opting to self medicate with it - which may prove to be a bad idea.

However, read the story and see what you make of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51980731

Stay healthy.

Roger

I read in The Times there are increasing concerns about the UK's balance of payments (or current account as called these days) becoming a problem. 

Yes, you're right. I think it's in the same league as Trump's anti-malarial drug prescriptions.

Photos in the Torygraph yesterday showed nurses hopeless equipped to face the virus. I hope the pics were stock and not recent. It they are as poorly kitted out as suggested then many of them will die.

Which would have nothing whatever to do with the fact that we deliberately devalued the £.

This country is a shambles. GNU now. I vote for Nicola Sturgeon as PM. At least when she speaks, it has the ring of truth about it.

Covert coronavirus infections could be seeding new outbreaks

As coronavirus outbreaks surge worldwide, research teams are racing to understand a crucial epidemiological puzzle — what proportion of infected people have mild or no symptoms and might be passing the virus on to others. Some of the first detailed estimates of these covert cases suggest that they could represent some 60% of all infections.

Many scientists have suspected that there is an undetected pool of covert cases showing limited to no symptoms, because an increasing number of infected people cannot be linked to known COVID-19 cases or travel to epidemic hotspots. Most people with mild infections would not be ill enough to seek medical help, and would probably slip past screening methods such as temperature checks, so the extent of the phenomenon and its role in virus transmission has remained elusive.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00822-x