Kaka Tim
Half Arsed and Slapdash till I Die
it probably is. the social and human costs to an extended lockdown are huge and will kill many thousands. As will a massive global recession.
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it probably is. the social and human costs to an extended lockdown are huge and will kill many thousands. As will a massive global recession.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
So Trump has banned travel from Europe, excluding the UK, but they don't seem to have thought of the Eurostar or people just taking short-haul to London, then going on as a separate flight. I'm wondering if this will result in a surge of Europeans (and UKians in Europe) coming through London, and potentially becoming a vector for the virus...
prunus
Tick tock.
At a top level the first line defence cells are called phagocytes, the specialist ones are called killer T cells; my knowledge is rusty so I thought I’d quickly read up on the system before replying to avoid giving out wrong information - I came across this Viral Attack | Ask A Biologist which covers the whole process very clearly in much more detail and without the mistakes I would likely add, so I’m going to use the better part of valour and retire in its favour, if that’s ok...
In answer to your other questions - it’s not more difficult per se to test for post-infection immunity, it’s just a different test from the one being used at the moment, and takes longer to develop: the current test involves looking for the RNA of the virus directly, whereas post infection there’s obviously no virus left, so one has to look instead for the existence of the antibodies to it that were produced in the course of the successful fight. This is relatively easy to do once one has identified the antibody in question, but that takes time. It is needed though and people are working on it the world over.
Absolutely there could be an army of immune individuals to help care for those that need it, that’s the goal really, whether than immunity comes through having survived the disease or by vaccination (which is still a way off). The problem is systematically identifying immune people (though the register of confirmed cases can be presumed to be a list of immune people for those that survive, it’s not certain without an antibody test, plus that list probably doesn’t cover everybody, given the patchiness of testing).
(Aside - the fact that we can sequence an entire viral genome, develop target sequences against it and make a functional RNA amplification test that returns results in hours within a few weeks of a new virus turning up seems like witchcraft to me, as someone who used to do this kind of thing 25+ years ago when it would have been months of labour. This would have been a different kettle of fish had it occurred at the end of the last century, so we can count one small blessing at least. )
tommers
Fuck it, it's fine.
Nice. Coronavirus and Brexit all in one. Well done.
bimble
floofy
Simplest explanation I can think of is racism? We speak English so aren’t as foreign as the foreigners with their Foreign Virus. It’s mad whatever the reason. If people do start using UK to fly to America i expect people here will start complaining about the ‘special relationship’.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Money, ideology and yes to counter Brexit negativity about US/UK trade deals.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
Yup. Last week.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
I am assuming because we have so few confirmed cases compared with the mainland, we are currently on 6.7 per one million people, most of the rest are on 25-100, with Italy on a whopping 206.1.
bimble
floofy
Should’ve had Slovakia (or similar) as the exception if it was based on those numbers. Doesn’t hold up.I am assuming because we have so few confirmed cases compared with the mainland, we are currently on 6.7 per one million people, most of the rest are on 25-100, with Italy on a whopping 206.1.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Ireland is exempt too.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
bimble
floofy
No you are !You are expecting Trump to make sense?
maomao
普費斯
It's in Schengen. It would make no sense to ban travel from countries but allow it from countries that don't have borders with them.
Scary stuff.
Cid
Proper break this time
The huge factor here is strain on health services... even with only a 1% infection rate, and 1% of that critical care... that’s 7,000 odd additional icu patients in the UK.
ruffneck23
front left
I'm struggling to get my head round trumps europe flight ban , I'm not an intellectual giant ( as im sure a lot of you will agree 
) , I'd like to think it's a good idea , but I'm not sure its that good an idea.
Someone please help me understand...
) , I'd like to think it's a good idea , but I'm not sure its that good an idea.Someone please help me understand...
MrCurry
right after this urgent rest
And of course concentrating all the European travellers on UK-US flights (by forcing them to fly via UK) guarantees the fewer planes flying into the US will be much fuller. 8 hours on a transatlantic plane trip packed full will ensure maximum chance of someone onboard passing it onto many others. Genius.
elbows
Well-Known Member
I'm struggling to get my head round trumps europe flight ban , I'm not an intellectual giant ( as im sure a lot of you will agree
Someone please help me understand...
Its a distraction from the locally transmitted cases that are already spreading throughout the USA, and distracts from the complete disaster that the US testing regime has been.
Its a way to look tough, look like you are taking a decisive step, something to brag about later. And its a way to underline the foreign origins of the virus, and play to your isolationist base.
Its main redeeming feature is that it tells people very loudly that this is not business as usual, this is not just an extra flu season, this is not a media lie or democrat hoax. So despite the dubious substance to what he is saying, it will probably also have behavioural effects that are in tune with reducing the spread of the virus.
ruffneck23
front left
thanks
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Good points, but I'm unsure about this last part. By distracting from the local spread of the virus and, in essence, 'locking the disease outside', you're making the disease something 'foreign' and 'outside the border'.
I have my doubts as to whether this will lead to significant internal behavioural changes.
elbows
Well-Known Member
I know what you mean, and if this measure was happening at a different stage of the USAs own outbreak I would be more worried about that aspect. But since its happening at the same time as so much else is going on, I dont think we will ever really get to test my theory, it wont be possible for me to separate the effects of his european ban from other US domestic news such as the NBA suspending their season.
Yossarian
⏭️
When Trump said he wanted to take America back to how it was in the "good old days," I definitely wasn't expecting a revival of anti-Italian riots.
not-bono-ever
meh
Brits in Cambodia Phnom Penh now confirmed as infected
Buddy Bradley
Pantheistic solipsist
America is the place I'm worried about the most. Lots of religious idiocy, terrible healthcare system based on insurance, terrible employment rights system so nobody wants to call in sick, and a moron in charge. They're going to be so fucked by this ... and then fucked again by the fallout, with people going bankrupt from medical bills.
ska invita
back on the other side
Someone posted today a link to a WHO spokesperson saying distancing and lockdowns might have to last a year to 18 months. Could someone link me to it please, I cant find it again now. Thanks so much.
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