Remove ads from site

Northern Sky
03 May 2020 09:29:12

Maybe we need a scratching chin emoji?


https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan-lab-millions-us-dollars-risky-coronavirus-research-1500741?


 


 


"But just last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.


Many scientists have criticised gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in a lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release"

Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 09:35:57


Maybe we need a scratching chin emoji?


https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan-lab-millions-us-dollars-risky-coronavirus-research-1500741?


 


 


"But just last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.


Many scientists have criticised gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in a lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release"


Originally Posted by: Northern Sky 


🤔🤔


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 09:38:46


We see frequent reports of motorists being stopped for non-essential travel and then fined. Question - do they then continue with their journey or are they instructed to turn round and return to home ?


Originally Posted by: llamedos 


The reports of people being stopped from travelling to tourism spots all said they were sent home and I'm sure the same applies - but how could the police enforce it, short of escorting said car back home?


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


llamedos
03 May 2020 09:45:02


 


The reports of people being stopped from travelling to tourism spots all said they were sent home and I'm sure the same applies - but how could the police enforce it, short of escorting said car back home?


Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Pretty much my point, Peter.


"Life with the Lions"

TWO Moderator
Brian Gaze
03 May 2020 09:49:21

Johnson needs to be careful the strategy isn't dubbed "all work and no play" instead because that's what it sounds like. The ST also has a comment from a Cabinet Minister saying pressure to get people back to work is coming from big money and not the general public. I understand the need to get the economy moving again but things need handling with kid gloves.


In what is being dubbed a “whack-a-mole” strategy in Whitehall, Johnson’s team will announce plans to “very gradually” ease the lockdown across the whole country and then “hit hard” any Covid-19 hotspots that erupt after that, imposing even tougher lockdown rules on individual care homes, prisons or whole towns.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/our-future-after-coronavirus-lockdown-begins-to-take-shape-a-marathon-game-of-whack-a-mole-pw3vc8pmm


 


 


 


Brian Gaze
Berkhamsted
TWO Buzz - get the latest news and views 
"I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money." - Gary Numan
John p
03 May 2020 09:51:28
This is an excellent article and explains why the modelling next phases are not to be trusted.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/05/what-the-coronavirus-models-cant-see.html?__twitter_impression=true 
Camberley, Surrey
Brian Gaze
03 May 2020 09:52:53

A reborn Grant Shapps may be doing the most honest day of work in his life:


Shapps: 'Greater testing capacity would have led to fewer deaths'



Fewer people would have died from coronavirus in the UK if the country had greater testing capacity sooner, transport secretary Grant Shapps said.


Asked whether fewer people would have died if testing capacity had been greater sooner, he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “Yes. If we had had 100,000 test capacity before this thing started and the knowledge that we now have retrospectively I’m sure many things could be different.


“The fact of the matter is this is not a country that had - although we’re very big in pharmaceuticals as a country - we’re not a country that had very large test capacity.”



Shapps added the UK may have had a high death rate compared to some other countries because of “density of population”. He said Britain has “denser cities” compared to other countries and the number of deaths are high because the figures are a “product of excellent statisticians counting in a way that other countries don’t”. On the issue of infection rates in care homes, he said: “Infections in care homes are now falling, not rising.” He added that patients and residents of care homes can now be tested.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/03/uk-coronavirus-live-doctors-had-prepared-to-announce-boris-johnsons-death


 



Brian Gaze
Berkhamsted
TWO Buzz - get the latest news and views 
"I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money." - Gary Numan
Ulric
03 May 2020 10:27:37


Maybe we need a scratching chin emoji?


https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan-lab-millions-us-dollars-risky-coronavirus-research-1500741?


"But just last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.


Many scientists have criticised gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in a lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release"


Originally Posted by: Northern Sky 


Let me get this straight, the Trump Administration defunded the Pandemic Control Centres and then tipped cash into this? Or was it privately funded?


To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. - Henri Poincaré
ozone_aurora
03 May 2020 10:29:52


We see frequent reports of motorists being stopped for non-essential travel and then fined. Question - do they then continue with their journey or are they instructed to turn round and return to home ?


Originally Posted by: llamedos 


Don't quite fully understand why they need to do this. I thought the primary objective for the general public is to stay away from each other.


Unless drivers are travelling to meet other people there is little risk of spreading the virus on driving, unless they're concerned about increase in road accidents, which makes sense.

I can see the need to stop people from travelling popular spots, but would police/public interaction risk spreading of the virus? Presumably the police will be wearing mask? 

speckledjim
03 May 2020 10:37:38


Johnson needs to be careful the strategy isn't dubbed "all work and no play" instead because that's what it sounds like. The ST also has a comment from a Cabinet Minister saying pressure to get people back to work is coming from big money and not the general public. I understand the need to get the economy moving again but things need handling with kid gloves.


In what is being dubbed a “whack-a-mole” strategy in Whitehall, Johnson’s team will announce plans to “very gradually” ease the lockdown across the whole country and then “hit hard” any Covid-19 hotspots that erupt after that, imposing even tougher lockdown rules on individual care homes, prisons or whole towns.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/our-future-after-coronavirus-lockdown-begins-to-take-shape-a-marathon-game-of-whack-a-mole-pw3vc8pmm


From the Guardian


The poll by Opinium, taken between Wednesday and Friday last week, found 17% of people think the conditions have been met to consider reopening schools, against 67% who say they have not been, and that they should stay closed.


Opposition to reopening restaurants and pubs – and allowing mass gatherings in sports and other stadiums to resume – is even higher. Just 11% of people think the time is right to consider reopening restaurants, while 78% are against. Only 9% believe it would be correct to consider reopening pubs, while 81% are against; 7% say it would be right to allow mass gatherings at sports events or concerts to resume, with 84% against.


 


 


Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 


Thorner, West Yorkshire


Journalism is organised gossip
Gooner
03 May 2020 10:37:51


Johnson needs to be careful the strategy isn't dubbed "all work and no play" instead because that's what it sounds like. The ST also has a comment from a Cabinet Minister saying pressure to get people back to work is coming from big money and not the general public. I understand the need to get the economy moving again but things need handling with kid gloves.


In what is being dubbed a “whack-a-mole” strategy in Whitehall, Johnson’s team will announce plans to “very gradually” ease the lockdown across the whole country and then “hit hard” any Covid-19 hotspots that erupt after that, imposing even tougher lockdown rules on individual care homes, prisons or whole towns.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/our-future-after-coronavirus-lockdown-begins-to-take-shape-a-marathon-game-of-whack-a-mole-pw3vc8pmm


 


 


 


Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze 


Similar to what Italy did but unfortunately it was too late 


Remember anything after T120 is really Just For Fun



Marcus
Banbury
North Oxfordshire
378 feet A S L


Gooner
03 May 2020 10:40:39

I saw Shapps on the AMS this morning and he was asked about people entering this country taking a 14 day isolation period 


But I haven't heard anything with regards European lorry drivers who enter the UK on a daily basis and aren't the most hygienic at the best of times - what controls are on these ?


Remember anything after T120 is really Just For Fun



Marcus
Banbury
North Oxfordshire
378 feet A S L


Phil G
03 May 2020 10:53:54


I saw Shapps on the AMS this morning and he was asked about people entering this country taking a 14 day isolation period 


But I haven't heard anything with regards European lorry drivers who enter the UK on a daily basis and aren't the most hygienic at the best of times - what controls are on these ?


Originally Posted by: Gooner 


Maybe because they are mostly self isolated perhaps Marcus. All the more perhaps as well if visiting service stations where these frequent you should be even more cautious by self cleaning. 

Sevendust
03 May 2020 10:55:54


I saw Shapps on the AMS this morning and he was asked about people entering this country taking a 14 day isolation period 


But I haven't heard anything with regards European lorry drivers who enter the UK on a daily basis and aren't the most hygienic at the best of times - what controls are on these ?


Originally Posted by: Gooner 


If you did that you disrupt supply chains and lorry drivers are travelling largely alone, not in the potentially disease ridden aircraft housing

Gooner
03 May 2020 10:58:39


 


Maybe because they are mostly self isolated perhaps Marcus. All the more perhaps as well if visiting service stations where these frequent you should be even more cautious by self cleaning. 


Originally Posted by: Phil G 


Very true Phil but when there is a language barrier they jump out of their cabs and  try and explain visually rather than verbally , you also have to go and completely disinfect the toilets if they have used them . Yes , I said NO WAY Pedro the week before last and got into a right row , not that I could understand a word he said 


Remember anything after T120 is really Just For Fun



Marcus
Banbury
North Oxfordshire
378 feet A S L


Gooner
03 May 2020 11:04:54


 


If you did that you disrupt supply chains and lorry drivers are travelling largely alone, not in the potentially disease ridden aircraft housing


Originally Posted by: Sevendust 


Yes Dave , agreed but the euro drivers are a law unto themselves they can leave Denmark Friday and be in Oxfordshire on Monday , plenty of time to pass anything on .


Appreciate its a logistical nightmare but they are more than capable of passing something on to a warehouse full of hundreds  


Remember anything after T120 is really Just For Fun



Marcus
Banbury
North Oxfordshire
378 feet A S L


Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 11:14:43


Pretty much my point, Peter.


Originally Posted by: llamedos 


Ah, OK.


But, a few idiots aside, you'd think that most people would get the message.


It occurs to me that there could be an interesting conversation or two if they were stopped by the police again on the way home...


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


fairweather
03 May 2020 11:20:32


 


I think it's a mistake to view 'China' as a monolithic state, however much it may want to be so.


My reading of this is that the authorities in Wuhan were scared stiff of losing face in the eye of the CCP in Beijing, and tried to mount a cover-up. When this no loner worked , and the situation became all to clear the central power of the state took over and put appropriate measures very quickly.


So criticism of China should be directed at the political system at its weakest point, the reluctance of regional authorities to admit anything is wrong in their region for fear of offending the central party organisation. Maybe you see this as a distinction without a difference?


 


Originally Posted by: DEW 


It has become difficult to say anything on here about China without being accused of "having a go at someone" or defending China, when in fact I am not. But there is another midway viewpoint. It seems that they looked after themselves, in a way that Russia and the USA would have if it had started there. There is a refusal when accusing China of being slow to act  to accept that many democratic Western Countries were slower and with more information. I accept that this virus started in China and they had the responsibility first for trying to contain it. We know they failed but we also know it had spread to Europe before they were aware of it.  But do you honestly think the USA  or Russia would have been more open and acted more quickly if it had originated there? Their track record on it so far doesn't imply they would have. The overall consensus seems to be that China should have done more in the first couple of weeks, and i think they should with their international borders. They tried to play it down because they didn't want to get the publicity they are now getting. But there is also a mainstream opinion that what they did after that was very strong and very effective and they shared a lot of useful information quickly. So whilst I agree that it is a repressive regime and as we know critics are likely to be silenced it hasn't been totally irresponsible. 


It is difficult to know the truth at the moment and I am trying to keep an open mind. It is very difficult when you read this, somebody who has lived through a lockdown here and in China to not see both sides:-


https://uk.yahoo.com/news/wuhan-evacuee-wishes-had-never-014558330.html


 


S.Essex, 42m ASL
Quantum
03 May 2020 11:20:46

Very odd. Morning run was, again, very quiet. And can't blame it on a bad weather forecast this time.


Usual 5am 'hardcores' (two groups, 3 people, not including me).


No one at 6am.


Again the period from 5:40 to 6:00 I was the only person there.


 


6am used to be much busier than 5am and now its the other way round. How strange.


I'm assuming the 6amers are 'lightweights' who have now decided to revert to more sociable hours.


 


2023/2024 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):
29/11 (-6), 30/11 (-6), 02/12 (-5), 03/12 (-5), 04/12 (-3), 16/01 (-3), 18/01 (-8), 08/02 (-5)

Total: 8 days with snow/sleet falling.

2022/2023 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):

18/12 (-1), 06/03 (-6), 08/03 (-8), 09/03 (-6), 10/03 (-8), 11/03 (-5), 14/03 (-6)

Total: 7 days with snow/sleet falling.

2021/2022 Snow days (approx 850hpa temp):

26/11 (-5), 27/11 (-7), 28/11 (-6), 02/12 (-6), 06/01 (-5), 07/01 (-6), 06/02 (-5), 19/02 (-5), 24/02 (-7), 30/03 (-7), 31/03 (-8), 01/04 (-8)
Total: 12 days with snow/sleet falling.
Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 11:21:59

This is an excellent article and explains why the modelling next phases are not to be trusted.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/05/what-the-coronavirus-models-cant-see.html?__twitter_impression=true


Originally Posted by: John p 

">


That article focuses exclusively on the experience of the US and particularly on one specific model used in the US that is performing poorly.


That aside, it's not a very good article. I lost count of how often I questioned what was written.


 


 


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


Gavin D
03 May 2020 11:24:12

​


 Passenger plane brings 10m pairs of gloves for NHS




Quote

 


A passenger plane has landed in the UK with 10 million pairs of surgical gloves for the NHS. The Airbus A340 9H-EAL, with “Thank You NHS” written on its fuselage, arrived at Bournemouth Airport after picking up the supplies from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The aircraft, owned by Bournemouth-based European Aviation Group, touched down at around 8.15am on Sunday, with the boxes of gloves then passed to NHS supplier Crest Medical, based in Warrington, which commissioned the delivery.


The flight is the second to land at the airport with NHS supplies, after 120,000 surgical gowns were brought from Tianjin, China, on Tuesday. Several more flights are scheduled to depart from Bournemouth over the next few weeks to bring back PPE.


 





https://www.the-gazette.co.uk/news/national-news/18423417.passenger-plane-brings-10m-pairs-gloves-nhs/


​

John p
03 May 2020 11:24:35


That article focuses exclusively on the experience of the US and particularly on one specific model used in the US that is performing poorly.


That aside, it's not a very good article. I lost count of how often I questioned what was written.


 


 


Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 


OK that's your view and as ever recently it seems to be opposite to mine. How odd.  I thought it was interesting. 


Please don't bother replying to any more of my posts as I won't be able to see them. I let your sly digs yesterday go, but it's not good for my stress levels to be frank, how you have to conjure up arguments out of nowhere. 


Edit: it’s also clear from your comments that you didn’t read beyond the first two paragraphs 


Camberley, Surrey
Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 11:27:07


 


It has become difficult to say anything on here about China without being accused of "having a go at someone" or defending China, when in fact I am not. But there is another midway viewpoint. It seems that they looked after themselves, in a way that Russia and the USA would have if it had started there. There is a refusal when accusing China of being slow to act  to accept that many democratic Western Countries were slower and with more information. I accept that this virus started in China and they had the responsibility first for trying to contain it. We know they failed but we also know it had spread to Europe before they were aware of it.  But do you honestly think the USA  or Russia would have been more open and acted more quickly if it had originated there? Their track record on it so far doesn't imply they would have. The overall consensus seems to be that China should have done more in the first couple of weeks, and i think they should with their international borders. They tried to play it down because they didn't want to get the publicity they are now getting. But there is also a mainstream opinion that what they did after that was very strong and very effective and they shared a lot of useful information quickly. So whilst I agree that it is a repressive regime and as we know critics are likely to be silenced it hasn't been totally irresponsible. 


It is difficult to know the truth at the moment and I am trying to keep an open mind. It is very difficult when you read this, somebody who has lived through a lockdown here and in China to not see both sides:-


https://uk.yahoo.com/news/wuhan-evacuee-wishes-had-never-014558330.html


 


Originally Posted by: fairweather 


For me this isn't about being slow to react; on that measure you're absolutely right.  But the issue is the initial suppression of the news about the new virus: that you most certainly would not have seen in any Western country. Then, as I said earlier, you have China's blocking of Taiwan from the WHO and the deliberate and systematic propaganda campaign to try to deflect responsibility.


I could add to the list Chinese manufacturers profiting from producing sub-standard products such as testing kits and PPE.


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


Gandalf The White
03 May 2020 11:28:13


 


OK that's your view and as ever recently it seems to be opposite to mine. How odd.  Please don't bother replying to any more of my posts as I won't be able to see them. It's not good for my stress levels to be frank, how you have to conjure up arguments out of nowhere. 


Originally Posted by: John p 


It's not my view; the article is quite obviously US-centric.


Location: South Cambridgeshire
130 metres ASL
52.0N 0.1E


Chichesterweatherfan2
03 May 2020 11:31:56
of course in the UK we would be totally open, honest and transparent..that is the way we do things unlike all these other corrupt, totalitarian regimes...and pesky foreigners....Anyone remember the Mad Cow disease outbreak...Forgive me if my memory is faulty ...but I seem to recall certainly at the outset...a huge degree of secrecy about the causes...and that Mr Gummer stuffing a beef burger in the face of his daughter telling us all was well and that British beef was perfectly safe to eat....

Remove ads from site

Ads