By which time it will be too late and iam sure the government are in talks on the economy and the removal of the lockdown.

It's really not relevant comparing Birmingham and Hampshire with London Boroughs because they are so much bigger. Hampshire has 1.4m people, even without Southampton and Portsmouth, whereas most of the London Boroughs are nearer 100k.

Here are the Top 30 areas in England, but sorted by cases per 100,000 population. Courtesy of https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-uk-tracker-how-many-cases-are-in-your-area-updated-daily-11956258

1. Southwark 110.7
2. Lambeth 104.9
3. Brent 94.8
4. Harrow 94.1
5. Westminster 93.9
6. Wandsworth 86.3
7. Kensington & Chelsea 77.5
8. Croydon 71.8
9. Ealing 71.2
10. Merton 70.6
11. Bromley 70.1
12. Lewisham 68.1
13. Hammersmith & Fulham 67.9
14. Sheffield 65.3
15. Islington 63.6
16. Newham 63.3
17. Tower Hamlets 63.0
18. Waltham Forest 59.6
19. Hackney & City of London 59.5
20. Greenwich 58.1
21. Wolverhampton 56.5
22. Hounslow 54.7
23. Camden 52.2
24. Hillingdon 51.1
25. Barking & Dagenham 50.0
26. Haringey 49.8
27. Slough 49.2
28. Newcastle upon Tyne 48.2
29. Cumbria 47.6
30. Enfield 46.1

 London boroughs make up the entire Top 13, and 24 of the top 26 in that list. Meanwhile Birmingham is 39th (39.9) and Hampshire is 47th (29.1)

🤢

Cool, thanks for that. As i mentioned, i knew that they were very different sizes but hadn't found anywhere which had them sorted by population - its a more relevant parameter than just the number. Bookmarked. I live on the border between number 2 and number 6

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/28/as-the-rest-of-europe-lives-under-lockdown-sweden-keeps-calm-and-carries-on

It will be "interesting" to see how the Swedish approach plays out. There are so many factors that it's going to be hard to extract the causal relationships, even after all this is over. For example, there appears to be a correlation between obesity level and ICU admissions. My experience is that there are fewer overweight Swedes than Brits or Americans. Could this combined with Scandinavian social and cultural habits give them an advantage, or are they just behind the curve on the rest of us?

Obviously I am just speculating and policy now has to be determined by the current science but there is going to be much to be learnt in the coming months and years.

Stories circulating that the PL will restart behind closed doors in July , how they can ever be accurate is beyond me 

There is a question to be asked as to how long we can go on with these restrictions. Supposing we are 18 months away from a vaccine? Can we stay in lockdown until then? What effect will this have on our counties? Nobody wants to sacrifice anybody's life but there may be a genuine debate to be had about the sustainability of the lockdown strategy if it goes on for months. Not to mention if we don't find a viable vaccine at all.

Personally, I support the current measures. I am optimistic that we will get the situation under control in the coming weeks. If I am wrong, however, I suspect that many will question how long we can bear these restrictions. 

Part of what makes life worth living for the elderly is getting out and about and talking with people. Now that this basic freedom has been taken from them, I would not underestimate the damaging psychological effects this will have on many of them. Stuck indoors with nothing but a hysterical media for company, talking of death and catastrophe, because it is profitable to do so.  

My 88 year old grandmother was in tears today. She lost her husband of 67 years at the end of February. This could not have come at a worse time, she is both devastated and terrified at the same time. Not a good combination.

My partner and I are completely self isolating for the next two to three weeks, after which we will become her carers and visit her (with extreme caution and care) every couple of days.

What an absolutely terrible time to be grieving. 

To be fair, you had a completely different tone on this during the Brexit debate and I think that included your parents if I remember correctly.

Just driven to Aylesbury and back to do a food drop. It's a 25 miles round trip. All I can say is there is a lot of "essential" traffic on the roads. Didn't see any sign of the police  either - unless of course they were all undercover. 

Sweden also has the lowest percentage of smokers in Europe too and that will certainly be a factor too

One aspect of this is that the longer the lockdown goes on, the progressively more people will need to go back to work to do jobs and and production roles that will become increasingly essential to prevent frontline services crumbling in such an intertwined modern economy. 

I've got the fear that there is a genuine risk that we could reach the point where we suddenly realise the lockdown has gone on too long to sustain basic services but we only realise that after the point is past and complete carnage ensues. 

Think of this - The UK went back years when the Romans left - Hundreds of years later this country forgot how to bath and wash and crap was thrown out of upstairs windows literally.

The present day crisis is dreadful in as much as we could lose a lot of what we have if we are not careful. Yesterday the PM of Singapore said we need to be prepared for the next virus as this won't be lthe last time this happens.

Good point if you ask me.

102 people have died in Sweden. See https://www.thelocal.se/20200328/more-than-100-dead-in-sweden-from-coronavirus 

The population is about 6.6x smaller than the UK's. Therefore, the death count scaled up is ~673. I'm not too sure where on the curve they are.

I can see the lockdown carrying on for vulnerable groups but for others it will be slowly relaxed. I just don't think it is a viable option for longer than a few weeks. 

Updated trajectory

I'm very sorry to hear that Joe Bloggs. Tough on your nan and no doubt on yourself.

It sickens me to hear the way some people are talking of the elderly as if they were totally disposable. They seem to forget that those who we see as being 'old' today were once young, vibrant people who paved the way, though their blood and sweat, for us younger pups, who, by all measure, are far more privileged than they themselves ever were. And less we forget, we'll be all old ourselves some day (if we make it that far, that is). 

So we're tracking Italy again and are ahead of France.

PS: Sweden is on the graph and appears to be doing better than a lot of European countries.

Haven't been tracking the stats all that much lately, but did hear in passing the Ukraine is becoming a European hot spot for contagion. How true this is, however, I honestly don't know. 

My sister’s 87 YO Mum-in-law seems to be worrying herself sick. We speak to her on the phone about anything we can think of to take her mind off this virus.  But she always brings it back at every opportunity.  She’s intelligent and of sound mind, which I suppose makes isolation very difficult for her.  All she has to do all day is to watch or listen to the news.  That can’t be good for anyone! 

She has no more family, only my sister, her husband and their son and they’re all being kept from her.  My sister is convinced this will kill her, not the virus but the loneliness and stress.  What do you do in this situation?  It’s really difficult, especially when you know that at that age, they don’t have much time left!  Do you see them and hug them while you can, or do you avoid the risk of sending them to their death?

Either way, it seems you’re killing them with kindness!  I think it’s about quality of life, if only you could live with your conscience!

Yep, snus is more common over there. Good stuff for a nice nicotine hit actually 

I think that Chunky's 100% right particularly as regards mental health. I am getting between 15 and 20 calls a day from my 84 year old mother, generally the same worries being recycled constantly. I fear how she will be when this ends because she was slipping before ever the virus struck.