Well said, Joe.

With regards to NHS workers standing & clapping next to each other, their work frequently requires them to be working shoulder to shoulder with each other.

Some people (always seems the same people...) loving to have a dig.

Sounds like there was quite a good session this morning with Hancock answering questions from Hunt and Cooper. One outcome is that Vallance will publish the scientific advice on why we don't have checks on people coming into the country (has been much queried on here so may be of interest).

I'm sorry but stop trying to excuse this. Yes there may be occasions when NHS workers come in close proximity out of necessity. There is no excuse for a deliberate display of stupidity by bringing together an entire platoon of them.

The best thing you can do to help NHS workers is by being socially responsible. Those rules apply to everyone. They apply to the police, they apply to scottish CMOs, and yes they also apply to NHS workers themselves.

If people cannot be trusted to do this in a safe and responsible way it should be banned or done virtually. A positive gesture is not a positive gesture if it has the exact opposite result to the intention. No one needs to be sacrificed to the god of irony.

Well stop running into people that are out walking their dogs then. 

I don't. I'm further away from those dog walkers on my 5am runs than I am now from the neighbors. I can see them from more than half a mile away and stay at least 50m away at all times.

I said it with a grin of ironic self-awareness.

(But I do note the return of a sporadically prolific poster always signals an uptick in argument on the forum)

I have been out on my balcony every week for the last four weeks celebrating all of our key workers and will continue to do the same until this is all over.

I was merely pointing out that images of people in close proximity whether it’s NHS workers, the police or the general public dilute the important message of social distancing. 

It certainly wasn’t a dig on my part.

And me 

I wasn't meaning you, matey 

As I say the scientific evidence suggests 8m in a completely open space is fine. To my knowledge no one has ever been infected in the open air at more than 8m away. I stay at least 50m away. That's how wide open this space is that I use. And as I said before, I am literally closer to the neighbors now than I am on those 5am runs where I can see people approaching from half a mile away.

If you are trying to portray me as a hypocrite you are doing a pitiful job.

Since apparantely a visual representation is needed for you lot.

This is what it looks like. The red dots are 8m radii around me and the dogwalker. On average there might be 1 or 2 separate dogwalkers in the entire grey square which is an open space.

Here is the full image as you will probably need to zoom in to even see the red circles they are that small. Yes this diagram is approximately to scale.

https://i.ibb.co/7SZWh8r/diagramrun.png

Good news on scrubs (Barbour):

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/first-batch-barbour-scrubs-gowns-18084417

Bad news for the BBC misleading viewers yet again:

https://order-order.com/2020/04/17/bbcs-nurse-worried-ppe-left-wing-activist/

That will be interesting to see. Especially when one considers the evidence from Taiwan, the country which has been most successful at keeping the virus out, despite its proximity to China.

Don't know if anyone has linked this

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-military-sympt/coronavirus-clue-most-cases-aboard-u-s-aircraft-carrier-are-symptom-free-idUSKCN21Y2GB

Seems very inconsistent with the French ship CDG infection, hospitalization and asymptomatic figures. I'm not sure what to make of this - maybe the sample sizes are too small. But it does seem very different. It suggests 60% of carriers were asymptomatic.

Like you, I always find it odd that some members are quite happy to dish it, but can't take it

Expect that will blow Q's model today unless NHS staff (pillar 2) is the issue.