Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[Chilli.s]

they pretty much are in London, go as far as you like for £1.50, hey even jump on another bus and go further if you like for no extra. Rest of us paying £4 to go six miles.

I have to pay £4.20 for 3 miles.

 

[PD58]

An interesting read about post-pandemic state-society relationships

The Worry of Governance: Coronavirus and Emergency Politics - From Poverty to Power

 

[ska invita]

Reckon I'm low on vit D. I don' bother going out in the sun much at the best of times and CBA just walking around the streets during this. I take a multivit (when I remember.) OTOH I eat eggs, cheese and tuna quite often.

Vit D is rarely in a multivit, and if is in it, it'll be at a low amount. B12 and D are ones i get in special on top of a multi vit

 

[two sheds]

I just ordered some 5000 IU vit D for reasonable price for 120 gel type tablet things

 

[weltweit]

Vit D is rarely in a multivit, and if is in it, it'll be at a low amount. B12 and D are ones i get in special on top of a multi vit

My Boots multivitamin includes 5 ?g Vit D which is apparently 100% of my daily requirement.
I take it mainly because I want Vit A for which I get 50% my RDA but I get loads of others which I probably don't need.

 

[ska invita]

I just ordered some 5000 IU vit D for reasonable price for 120 gel type tablet things

my local polish shop does soluble ones you can drop in a pint of water for £2

 

[planetgeli]

Any coincidence that the reddest bit is the bit closest to Cheltenham?

Yes. Coincidence. There are many better explanations. People are a bit fixated on Cheltenham.

 

[two sheds]

My Boots multivitamin includes 5 ?g Vit D which is apparently 100% of my daily requirement.
I take it mainly because I want Vit A for which I get 50% my RDA but I get loads of others which I probably don't need.

That is presumably going to be 5 mcg which is 5 microgram which is 200 IU (International Units). They're now talking about up to 125 mcg or 5000 IU during winter months, which as I say is what I've ordered.

 

[ska invita]

wont derail this any further, but a colleague suffering with depression started taking 10,000 IU Vit D daily and it helped enormously, now off SRIs. Just an anecdote, of course nothing is simple

 

[two sheds]

my local polish shop does soluble ones you can drop in a pint of water for £2

These were £12 for 120 which looks good although they're coming from the US and they do say I may have to pay duties and they might be held up in customs in perpetuity even though they say 'easy uk delivery'.

We shall see.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Can we keep this thread for updates & news? Not where you get your multi vits from, even if it is from tax dodging fucking co’s like Boots,

 

[two sheds]

wont derail this any further, but a colleague suffering with depression started taking 10,000 IU Vit D daily and it helped enormously, now off SRIs. Just an anecdote, of course nothing is simple

Interesting - I have seen high doses recommended. I'm reluctant to try that even though they're not supposed to be harmful in excess. I'm still quite wheezy after coldy type thing am tempted to overdose to see whether that affects it.

 

[two sheds]

Can we keep this thread for updates & news? Not where you get your multi vits from, even if it is from tax dodging fucking co’s like Boots,

oops sorry will do

 

[ice-is-forming]

So in Australia the messaging is very clear.

Mandated on a federal level are..

Closure of the national borders to all non Aus residents, and strict quarantine for Australians arriving back here.

Closure of state borders and strict quarantine and rules for those who have to travel, for essential reasons, from one state to another.

The announcement of a (very likely to be) mandatory phone app for contact tracing.

The testing stations.

The closure of places, events meetings etc.. and the physical distancing and non essential travel ( even Anzac Day and the State of Origin Football, which shows how seriously it's being taken )

The economic stimulus and supports, and the change of rules around tenancy, work and welfare.

The exit plan... To start reducing restrictions we'd need to have in place...

*Tests to detect COVID-19 within the community would need to be expanded

*The Government's ability to trace the movements of infected people.

*Greater ability to respond to local outbreaks would also be needed

Until those three benchmarks are met, the restrictions will remain.

None of those are up for discussion.

But at a state, regional and local level things are more flexible and place based. For example..

Western Australia have much stricter travel rules.

The beaches in populated places are closed, but not in quieter places.

Schools are reopening in Qld, but not in other states.

Fines for breaking rules are decided by the state rather than at a federal level.

Different distances are considered essential travel in different regions.

The latest announcement was this one Coronavirus restrictions to last at least four more weeks, PM says

elbows I know it says that they'll look at reducing restrictions in four weeks, but currently the reality is that any reduction will happen at the end of July at the earliest. And we are actually prepared for it to be September. We need to get through Winter, and our flu season. The reason I feel confident in saying this is because I work for the federal government in a health related program, and our internal messaging is different to the external messaging.

I can imagine the government are saying four weeks, and then review, as psychologically it's easier for people to hear and stick with.

I hope it's shorter as I'm missing my family, but having said that I look at where Australia is in this whole thing, and for once I actually have some faith in government, they've adopted a very bipartisan approach so far and it's working.

Here's the current status,





I think that aprox 90% of cases have been traced back to contact with international travelers. Most of those arrived on a cruise ship at the start of all this, and were allowed to disembark untested. This is now a huge criminal investigation. I think that aprox 30% of deaths are passengers from that ship

Australia’s coronavirus victims: Covid-19 related deaths across the country

As the number of cases rises, so does the number of those who have died. Here is a state-by-state list of virus-related fatalities

www.theguardian.com

Looking at those images up-thread of the crowds, including the police, on Westminster Bridge is shocking! If that was happening here the police would be dispersing people giving on the spot fines of over $1000.

 

[Raheem]

Germany plans to produce 50 million face masks a week in the coming period.

Anyone know if there are any projects in the UK to do the same?

The UK is definitely producing masks. Who is buying them is the question.

 

[weltweit]

The UK is definitely producing masks. ..

Do you know any of the companies involved?

 

[zahir]

This looks like a reprisal for speaking out.

Professor critical of government receives formal complaints

Professor John Ashton has called out the government's handling of the crisis, he says he is now being investigated

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

 

[weltweit]

Apparently Captain Tom has now raised more than £20,000,000

I think he risks wearing a path in the tarmac of his garden

 

[Raheem]

Do you know any of the companies involved?

I know someone who works at the 3M factory in Co Durham making face masks. I could ask what he knows about where they are ending up.

 

[Mation]

I think they've got Vivienne Westwood working on a new design. Should be ready end of next year.

I laughed (as it was very funny) but now I'm terrified. They're just promoting British industry, aren't they? Whilst still pursuing herd immunity.

 

[Mation]

Apparently Captain Tom has now raised more than £20,000,000

I think he risks wearing a path in the tarmac of his garden

Good on him

Awful that he had to.

I am thankful that he didn't make Major

 

[andysays]

Good on him

Awful that he had to.

I am thankful that he didn't make Major

Yeah, because someone would have been bound to make a terrible joke about Ground Control

Thankfully we've avoided that now...

 

[peterkro]

wont derail this any further, but a colleague suffering with depression started taking 10,000 IU Vit D daily and it helped enormously, now off SRIs. Just an anecdote, of course nothing is simple

10,000 iu per day is recommended by the Vit D council as a safe dose which will help raise levels to the optimum level.

 

[Smangus]

Apparently Captain Tom has now raised more than £20,000,000

I think he risks wearing a path in the tarmac of his garden

 

[mwgdrwg]

So the BBC got it's story wrong and the "Boss of an NHS Trust" wasn't anything of the sort.

That is either the shoddiest journalism in the world, or someone's had a word about how a government mouthpiece should behave.

 

[zahir]

I’m speculating here but I wonder if the app is being seen as an alternative to actually having to set up teams of people at a local level to carry out contact tracing.

.
And yes it really does look like this is what they’re thinking:

EU Referendum

eureferendum.com

From the article:

By coincidence, one assumes, in yesterday's hearing of Jeremy Hunt's health committee, Clive Betts - chair of the communities and local government committee – was co-opted to question Hancock on precisely that issue. And the results were not encouraging.

Betts actually started off with the assumption that local authority environmental health departments were going to have "a major role to play" in contact tracing, "It isn't just going to be about apps", Betts said. "There's going to be a lot of physical hands-on work that local councils are going to be fully compensated for that".

But Hancock responded with some equivocation, leaving it open as to whether local authorities were to be used at all for contact tracing. Betts, however, asserted that "public health and environmental health officers are going to be absolutely key to getting that done". He thus asked: "It's going to be done at a local level isn't it, if we're going to get it right?"

It is there that the real Hancock emerged: "We haven't made that decision", he said, "not least because the interaction with the e-contact tracing". The app, he said, "is critical and whether it's done locally or whether it's done through phone banks that are national level, that decision is not yet made".

Betts was not at all happy with that. He asked Hancock to accept that, although apps were "clearly an important part of this as a way forward", many people, perhaps those who are most vulnerable – the elderly for example – are not always comfortable using new technology.

For them, Betts said, "physical contact tracking and tracing done at a local level may be in the end the only way you're going to get a comprehensive approach to it".

But, while Hancock conceded that "the role of people in contact tracing" was "very, very important", he thought that much of the work would be "done over the phone". Going round to somebody's house, he said, "isn't always necessary". He could "see the point about having a local angle to it" but given the scale of contact tracing that is likely to be needed, "doing this nationally over the phone has a lot of advantages".

And there we have it. Despite his claim not to have made up his mind, it is clear which way Hancock is moving. He believes that he can exploit mobile phone technology to track people's movements.

 

[Dogsauce]

How the fuck will contact tracing apps work with children for example? How will it protect me (in the shielded group) who works in a primary school? This thing needs to be heavily squashed before we all come out again.

 

[planetgeli]

So the BBC got it's story wrong and the "Boss of an NHS Trust" wasn't anything of the sort.

That is either the shoddiest journalism in the world, or someone's had a word about how a government mouthpiece should behave.

It's an interesting one. The "Boss" was unnamed in the original story, so its not like they were going to sue. The BBC appears, however, to have completely removed the original article, at least from search engines (I've tried - the story was referenced by many other news organisations, all of which appear in searches, but not the BBC story). And the apology was huge, the second biggest story this morning on the BBC website. Looks like government pressure to me.

 

[zahir]

 

[Mation]

Yeah, because someone would have been bound to make a terrible joke about Ground Control

Thankfully we've avoided that now...

Eh?

I was thinking that we'd have been hearing Space Oddity everywhere and that I wouldn't have liked it to be associated with this.