This is an interesting point and I agree. The problem is that the message they keep saying is "stay indoors and stay at home". I think this is to keep it simple for the people who have no concept of what this is all about - and frankly a lot don't. My best friend turned up today as he was "passing". I asked him what the hell he was doing and he thought I was joking. He was moaning about the hoarders and telling us which shops were ok. He's only three weeks off 70. I sat on the other side of the room and when he'd gone asked my wife why she let him in!

I digress but I think it should be clear to most of us that if nobody else has been in your car it is perfectly ok to go for a drive in the Countryside (might even pass one of those tables selling free range eggs to take the strain off the supermarkets) or a stroll round a nature reserve. I'm concerned that I might get stigmatised for going out in my car which is of course superior isolation to indoors as I've illustrated above.

I think it something of a conundrum for a lot of people right now, Peter. Most of us want to follow the government's guidelines about social distancing etc and avoidng unnecessary trips to shops and other public places. That said we all still need to put food on the table otherwise we definitely will all snuff it.

In the last week I have spoken to my parents about getting our normal twice-weekly shopping from our local Sainsbury and Tesco stores delivered to our house instead by using online shopping. My dad was quite happy to go for this, until he found out that for both shops, there is typically a 2-3 week gap between when a customer submits and order and when the order is actually delivered. We do have a helpful neighbour a couple of doors along from us whose husband was instructed a week ago to work from home, and she very kindly offered to help out my mum and dad with their shopping, which is greatly appreciated.

It's a nightmare situation for sure for everyone.

I somewhat disagree with you on trajectory, but I do agree that for our sanity the time for emotive one liners is over.

We should restrict ourselves to calm statement and objective analysis of the available data.

Out of 3770 deaths in Italy, only 11 of them have been people in their 30s. https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/bollettino/Infografica_21marzo%20ITA.pdf 

Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a terrifying situation, but age (and general health) does still seem to be a significant factor in all of this. 

Stood at my Mum’s door this afternoon. Sun shining, had a nice conversation. Almost without a care in the world she confessed she’d been out earlier for milk and a loaf. I pointed out this wasn’t wise but she promised me she hadn’t ‘bumped’ into anyone and washed her hands.
Mum’s 85 with COPD that needs medication. She’s also strong-willed and typically dismissive of all the ‘fuss’ at the moment.
As we notch things up again this evening, I have to wonder if I’ll ever hold her hand again.
Those of us who were, maybe, a little dismissive of this disease a few weeks ago might want to think again and decide what’s most important to them because the world as we knew it has changed big time and many things that we took for granted will likely be taken from us and before their time.
To all the people I saw walking with the crowds along the seafront today, or queueing in Homebase for fence posts and compost or moaning that the cafe was shut, you need to take stock of your own lives and your own actions and think about what you might miss.

I'm not surprised. I've perked up a now but had a bit of a meltdown a couple of days ago for only the second time in my life really. Only sad for a very short time and normal again now. I'm no control freak but feel a bit of a patriarch to the family and last time it was about when I felt a bit helpless. The difference is this time a lot of people that way I guess.

On another note, although it isn't due to take place until November, there must now be doubts as to whether the Climate Summit scheduled to take place in Glasgow will go ahead. Especially if, as some have predicted, there is a resurgence of the coronavirus as we approach next winter.

It sounds like I'm one of the few glass half full people here at the moment.

If that's the case …………… what a shocker 

It seems Boris is desperate to keep the public spending 

Yeah, difficult to know how true it is - Macron me want to look like he is the man in charge etc, at some point that were going to have to close the pubs. Likely to be some truth in it though IMO.

I'd like to see a link to substantiate that.

Macron having more influence than Martin seems unlikely.

Probably not suited to the fast pace commentary on events as they happen aspect of this thread but I thought this was a very interesting article from Frank Furedi today - https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/20/a-disaster-without-precedent/

If you are as smart and wily a person as you think you are then I am sure you can find a link yourself.

France's Macron threatened UK entry ban without more stringent measures - report

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-macron/frances-macron-threatened-uk-entry-ban-without-more-stringent-measures-report-idUKKBN218131

Johnson now sh1tting himself:

In a message to the country on Saturday evening, Mr Johnson said: "The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating.

"The Italians have a superb health care system. And yet their doctors and nurses have been completely overwhelmed by the demand," he said.

"The Italian death toll is already in the thousands and climbing. Unless we act together, unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread - then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed."

He added he recognised the government was imposing measures "never seen before either in peace or war" - but said they were essential.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51991887

Good for Macron.

Maybe it depends on how many glasses you've got through before getting the last one down to half full?

😉

Less than 2 weeks ago he was happy to continue shaking hands.

Less than a week ago he was happy to let concerts and gigs go ahead.

He will increasingly now try to become a modern day Churchill, but he won't even be a cheap imitation.

Hi all - haven't posted here for a long time but have been following this thread. Thought I'd give a short report from Canada.

We cut short our (domestic) holiday early last week and came home. It was clear that this was serious when Tim Horton's announced the closure of its dining areas and the NHL was suspended(!)

Both my older kids have come back from University early and will complete this year's study online. All schools completely shut for at least the next 2 weeks, and I suspect for much longer. We are now all staying at home. No visitors to the house. Effectively we are in lock-down apart from going to get food and solitary walks/runs.

Today a state of emergency was declared in Burlington and so all non-essential businesses will close. I'd been expecting this for several days as a small minority are ignoring the requests to stay at home and avoid social contact. I've seen a number of local houses with multiple visitors over the last 48 hours who clearly don't want their social life interrupted by this .

Grocery stores are reasonably stocked, with the standard exception of bog roll. One of the local store owners commented to us that the problem wasn't stock levels - it was getting the stuff on the shelves fast enough as a number of his workers were refusing to come in. Petrol prices have crashed - from 1.10 CAD to around 0.73 CAD per liter.

Last afternoon we had a power cut which went on until 11pm (unrelated reasons - high winds bringing down power lines). I went for a short walk around dusk - really rather unsettling - all the houses in the dark, very little traffic and lots of sirens.

I hope I am wrong but at the moment I see no quick end game for this. My worry is that a combination of vaccine and herd immunity is where we will have to get to, and in the meantime the only hope is to try and minimize the death toll by slowing the spread.

Stay safe all

Sir Winston would be turning in his grave IMO if he had any idea of how badly Johnson has handled this crisis.

The people like him though, overwhelming support for how the government has handled the crisis. 59:31 support, and that was before yesterday when he had a big giveaway and allowed the people one more big night before finally shutting the pubs.

hes a nonce but correct on this occasion.