Good question. For all the talk I don't think widespread antibody testing is being done anywhere in the world yet. Clearly it is not as easy as it sounds. Test accuracy and scaling up are probably the key issues. 

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 Pretty good article.

Absolutely- this is why the government should have started to take action to mitigate against the arrival of COVID-19 in this country at least two months ago, as MM and myself have been saying in previous threads.

There was no excuse IMO for not being prepared. The BBC and other broadcasters at that time were reporting daily on the spread of the virus through China and then other countries in Asia, and this continued when it began to affect Europe. Had they taken the steps that MM has spoken about many weeks ago wrt restriction of travel in and out of the UK, we may not be facing the same perilous situation we are now facing.

To borrow a line that Boris Johnson himself often used in the months leading up to our departure from the EU, too much dithering and delaying has led to where we are now.

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I'm expecting construction to be closed down in the next 48 hours.

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Here is a professor of public health agreeing with you David https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/23/britain-covid-19-head-start-squandered

On the issue of border closures, we should remember that Italy was one of the few European countries that stopped flights from China very early on, but it then got its infections from Germany etc. In other words, border closure can only be effective if you close all your borders, something quite difficult early on.

I think the failure to screen (test) travellers from N.Italy since early Feb has been the biggest failure for the UK and Europe.

Thanks Rob, hope you are keeping well.

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Totally disagree. You have builders all over twitter saying the conditions on a building site do not allow for adequate social distancing.

 

Equally, they are currently being forced into packed trains and spreading the virus.

Lets just carry on with construction because their lives are less important 

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I would think at the moment antibody testing isn’t priority. Laboratories will be working flat out to complete virus testing on suspected cases. 

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Hi xioni

Wrt Italy, I think the biggest handicap they had wrt border closures was that it was pretty well impossible for them to do this themselves because, as I understand it, they are part of the EU's Schengen zone. Had the Italians been in a position where they could have closed all land borders with the immediate neighbours early on, things might not have deteriorated in that country to the extent that they have done.

For all I have been so critical of HMG here, I don't think the response by many across Europe in terms of getting to grips with this thing early on was much if any better. We are where we all are now though, and god knows how we go from here.

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I'm on my 2nd day at home as well.

I went in yesterday to do some odds  and sods in preparation  for  run up - told my contract tech to go home (effectively sacked him on no pay  for no fault of his ), then sent  the consultant home. 

Had a conversation  with the g'vnor who was  already working from home, and he pulled me out as well.  He's going in today to do   some checking on a new installation then we are all out of there unless a technical fault  crops up and then it's a quick in and out.   Machine starts up later this   week for Coronavirus    research only.   

The management and technical teams are doing prep work for a large upgrade in about 8 years time God knows whether that will happen now given the vast Govt spending underway and the massive falloff of revenue into the exchequer as a result of all the bankruptcies.  One strongly suspects the funds will be used for other purposes.  I have some documentation   to do and  some derelict  user and engineering  manuals to update  - work that has  previously   got "shunted"  because  of other priorities.  Can't see that taking me x months - even if I "work manage" it .  I generally have a fairly strong work ethic so this is going against the grain for me -  In the current situation  I also appreciated the distraction of work.  There is a risk that I'll now  spend more time on dodgy forums (like this one) .   In other times I would have taken off and walked across the downs but although the risk of that is minimal (given the isolation)  it would be against  Govt. policy so I am restricting myself to a 1 hour  evening walk.

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Coronavirus: Trump wants US open for business amid pandemic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52009108

 

A quite fascinating struggle going on over the fate of the world's largest economy 

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Actually Schengen countries can close their borders during emergencies with no notice (and several of them have done so, albeit rather belatedly).

Anyway, Iran keeps getting worse 24,811 confirmed infection (+1,762) and 1,934 deaths (+122).

 

The news from Spain is grim, but this is particularly disgraceful and awful beyond words:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/23/spanish-army-finds-abandoned-dead-bodies-old-peoples-homes/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget

 

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I accept that in some situations, social distancing wouldn’t be possible, but the transport situation could be sorted out.  Regardless, I think this is academic now as the scenes from this morning are likely to force stricter measures!

I was thinking along the lines of my daughter’s situation, where workers stick within teams and avoid outside contact.  Her partner works away from Monday to Friday and shares digs with the small team he works with, but he lives with my daughter at weekends.  He’s a cabinet fitter working on a hospital, so he’s classed as a key worker.  

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Imo London should have been locked down last Friday,ie everywhere in side the m25,no one in no one out.This would have reduce the madness seen at the weekend and maybe the rest of the country would not have to have been locked down,yet. The tube network MUST be closed today!!! and as MM says nhs workers could use taxi`s paid for by the govt.

Iam not impressed by the handling of this we are doing everything too late,not only that its also time for passenger airtravel to be halted in and out of the uk from everywhere.

Of course there is a theory that this virus is the inevitable response of Gaia, the quasi-sentient totality of the Earth’s biosphere, to the imminent threat of catastrophic disruption to the natural order of things, i.e. Liverpool winning the Premier League.

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Maybe because it's still four months away and another day or two is really not critical.

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Khan has just said he was overruled by Boris about stopping construction. 

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I've heard even worse, that this is karma for old aged brexiters.

It is nature responding to the anathema of the European Union.

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None of the above. It is just a natural consequence of Homo sapiens' (Latin: "wise man" ) greed, foolishness and lack of moral compass.

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Meanwhile, in the real world, this article gives a good overview of the situation Stateside:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Coronavirus-live-updates-Surgeon-General-warns-15151165.php

 

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I have a question. Sorry if it's a little off topic, but it's still about virus transmission.

How did Spanish Flu of 1918-19 spread so widely & quickly, given that there was no public flights (or at least not like those today) & that there was no Schengen. I know that WW1 soldiers helped spread that virus, but were they really that good in spreading the virus so quickly?

Jeremy Hunt

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Britain has lost track of the coronavirus crisis because of its controversial testing scheme.

Mr Hunt warned one million Britons will have caught the life-threatening infection by the end of next week, as the outbreak continues to spiral out of control.

But he questioned the UK's policy to only test patients in hospital, asking: 'How can we possibly suppress the virus if we don't where it is?'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8146061/Former-Health-Secretary-Jeremy-Hunt-slams-Britains-lacklustre-coronavirus-testing-policy.html

 

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Yes - put simply, yes.

Look back to the 15th century when the Spanish arrived in the New World - local populations were quickly ravaged by the common cold, against which they had no immunity.

In WWI, mass troop movements, both to the theatres of war and back home afterwards, helped to spread Spanish flu very efficiently.

We know people spread the virus - it is not only national borders which are going up to counter it - internal borders are being  established too as in this example from today:

"With the epidemic in New York exploding, other states rushed to protect themselves.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said he was planning to sign an executive order requiring anyone flying to the state from New York or New Jersey to enter quarantine for 14 days.

Many cases in places like Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach have been tied to New York, and a recent uptick in travel from the region suggested New Yorkers were flying to Florida to flee shelter-in-place orders."

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