Don’t forget the Black Death had it’s origins in China and spread west through the 13th century.

Originally Posted by: roadrunnerajn 

Yuck!

I echo Whether Idle's comment above about closing these places once and for all.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

Ahh, that explains things. 

These places need to be SHUT permanently.

Originally Posted by: Whether Idle 

Pray tell MM, what exactly is a "wet market?" this has been bugging me today.

Originally Posted by: Whether Idle 

I'm a big fan of Neutrogena. I find it works like magic. (And no - I have no connection with the company.)

Originally Posted by: RobN 

The question about lockdown which is being studiously avoided is what is it expected to achieve.

If it were near total you could stop transmission and after several weeks those infected would be clear and it might largely 'go away'.
But it will still be widespread in other parts of the world so all but impossible to stop it flaring up again.
We are still in the position where 60-80% need to have it and become immune, delaying that by a few weeks doesn't seem to help a great deal even if it's possible.
Meanwhile the ever extending shutdown of most economic activity will cause many problems down the line with vital spare parts becoming unavailable for example. Things will simply breakdown totally if we're not careful.
The next big worry is how long the banks can survive with a basket case economy.
If all the helpful online payments and such suddenly stop working the results don't bear thinking about.

IMO we must start to relax restrictions after a month at most - hopefully this will be helped by widely available antibody tests but like a lot more things that doesn't quite seem to be happening as planned.
We will all be used to distancing rules and that can carry on without total shutdown

Originally Posted by: four 

Boris looks and sounds fine as he continues to self-isolate with mild symptoms

Thanks to everyone who has been staying at home.

By delaying the spread of the disease we can reduce the pressure on our NHS, and that's how we hope to save many thousands of lives.#StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/kxdqItMYSE

— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) March 29, 2020

Originally Posted by: Gavin D 

Strangely mine has fallen! I don't like drinking at home alone!

And since I have been walking a lot, and getting shopping for the old fart next door,  I have lost weight in the last week. Silver linings I suppose

Originally Posted by: The Beast from the East 

Ahh, that explains things. 

These places need to be SHUT permanently.

Originally Posted by: Whether Idle 

Lockdown is to slow the spread so the NHS isn’t swamped with critical cases all at once.  It has been generally acknowledged that nothing will stop the spread.  It’s about flattening the peak to  manageable level.

Today’s briefing was mainly about the length of this lockdown and they have said they will review the situation after three weeks, when they can gauge the results.  Then they’ll decide what the next course of action will be.  They didn’t rule out a prolonged lockdown or relaxing the current measures.  They said it could be six months or more before we return to normal but it is dependant on how effective these measures are.

I personally think we’ll see periods of lockdown in between relaxation breaks.  That would make sense if we’re to control the number of cases needing NHS care!

Originally Posted by: Caz 

There is no way people will accept or tolerate being under `house arrest` for 6 months especially over the whole summer period.

Originally Posted by: springsunshine 

These kind of markets are held all over the world!  Even French markets!  Who are we to tell another country to change their ways?  What is to say our way is best?   That is purely arrogant.  

Originally Posted by: Caz 

After 6 months of this many of the population will be obese alcoholics and type 2 diabetics with mental illness caused by cabin fever.  They will collapse the NHS in a different way

Originally Posted by: The Beast from the East 

There is no way people will accept or tolerate being under `house arrest` for 6 months especially over the whole summer period.

Originally Posted by: springsunshine 

Don’t shoot the messenger!  They didn’t say we’d be in lockdown for six months.  They said they need to continuously review the situation and take measures accordingly.  I took that to mean there will be periods of lockdown and periods of relaxation, as they see fit.  I think they would have to take public response into great consideration and that’s what they are currently doing.  They did say the current response was good. 

Originally Posted by: Caz 

Hi Caz,

I was pondering whether there's some psychology involved in that announcement. Assuming things go well perhaps the restrictions will start to be eased in the summer, when some sensible 'social distancing' should be a little easier to achieve and well inside the six months.

I'm still more concerned about what we face come the back end of the year; the traditional virus season.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

To be fair, Caz, their markets seem to be the origin of the virus, so I don't think that it's arrogant to call for them so be closed. I've never been in French markets, but I've been in plenty of Spanish and Italian ones. I've never seen live bats or pangolins for sale in any of those markets. In this case, our way is best. Remember that Covid 19 could have been far worse. We need to be thinking about avoiding another pandemic because the next one could be far worse. 

Originally Posted by: Lionel Hutz 

Absolutely right.

We pussyfoot around condemning some of the cultures and practices within certain countries that are downright the actions of 'savages'. Just to avoid accusations of imperialism. 

Buy we should never shy away from speaking out against practices that are just plain wrong, especially when they create a game of Russian roulette that gambles with the lives of hundreds of thousands (or even millions) and lays waste to economies around the world. 

Originally Posted by: Saint Snow 

To be fair, Caz, their markets seem to be the origin of the virus, so I don't think that it's arrogant to call for them so be closed. I've never been in French markets, but I've been in plenty of Spanish and Italian ones. I've never seen live bats or pangolins for sale in any of those markets. In this case, our way is best. Remember that Covid 19 could have been far worse. We need to be thinking about avoiding another pandemic because the next one could be far worse. 

Originally Posted by: Lionel Hutz 

Bloody barbarous and  dangerous to the whole world community to boot.   People stop being entitled to their own cultures when  those cultures  start impinging on Billions of other people and causing the death of Millions - enough already 

Originally Posted by: Bugglesgate 

Hi Caz,

I was pondering whether there's some psychology involved in that announcement. Assuming things go well perhaps the restrictions will start to be eased in the summer, when some sensible 'social distancing' should be a little easier to achieve and well inside the six months.

I'm still more concerned about what we face come the back end of the year; the traditional virus season.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Lionel, I don’t dispute anything you say.  But it’s that people think that our way has to be enforced on others of different cultures that I object to!   The Chinese have already said they are clamping down on illegal trading.  They know the eyes of the world are upon them and it’s up to them to do something about it!  I’m quite sure they’ve got the message, if not, they will when the rest of the world starts restricting trade with them.  

It’s odd that we’ve been happy to take cheap Chinese labour for granted and we’ve been happy to pay peanuts for goods made in Chinese sweatshops.  The reason we pay peanuts, is because they’re paid peanuts!  So can we really complain that they try to make a living through a dangerous black market?  We can’t keep getting away with double standards!  In fact, it seems we are currently NOT getting away with it!

Originally Posted by: Caz