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[cupid_stunt]

What do we reckon then? Shove them all on the Isle of Wight??

The suggestion is that they will probably use some military base, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.

Hundreds of British citizens being flown back to the UK from Wuhan on Thursday will be put in quarantine for two weeks on their arrival.

It is believed passengers will be required to sign a contract agreeing to commit to the quarantine period.

They will be put in "supported isolation" for 14 days with "all necessary medical attention", a Downing Street spokesman said.

He said the government would confirm their location in due course, but offered no comment on reports it would be a military base.

Coronavirus: Britons on Wuhan flights to be quarantined

Those returning from the centre of the coronavirus outbreak could be taken to a UK military facility.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[BristolEcho]

Ah yes, sorry for my reading comprehension error.

Anyway, personally I dont believe in jail for that sort of thing, fear leads to all sorts of inappropriate decisions, including by those who are making the rules, not just those breaking them. I empathise with anyone caught up in this, including those who do something stupid to evade certain checks.

Whilst I agree with the essence of what you say I am not sure I agree that she seemed scared or in fear. She didn't really care if she had it or not, or if she gave it to anyone else and that is reflected in her behaviour on social media.

 

[maomao]

Gutted for the bloke who's being separated from his permanent resident wife so he can get his kid out. There should be no difference between permanent residence and citizenship. China doesn't allow dual nationality and it's not easy to abandon a fundamental part of your identity when it's not necessary 99% of the time.

 

[8ball]

Mmmm hepatitis E

Gotta catch ‘em all.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Interesting read here about how the new 'hospitals' are being built in record time, to deal with the crisis.

Broadcast by Chinese state media, drone footage of the construction site shows a ballet of bulldozers digging the foundation and a parade of trucks hauling in steel cable, cement, pre-fab parts and power generators. Workers are toiling around the clock to meet the frantic timeline: Huoshenshan Hospital, which broke ground on Jan. 24, is scheduled to be operational on Feb. 3, will have 1,000 beds and occupy a 269,000 sq. ft. lot in the edge of the city. With an equally ambitious timeline is Leishenshan Hospital, a 323,000-sq. ft, 1,300-bed facility slated to open two days later.

How China can build a hospital for coronavirus patients in a week

Two hospitals will open in Wuhan next week and millions are watching daily videos of the architectural feat.

qz.com

 

[nyxx]

One of my friends lives in Shanghai, I can’t work out if she should be trying to leave or not. She has little ones in school, & has a job there... at the end of the day it’s not me who needs to work this out of course, I’m just wondering...

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Did get sent to a posh hospital once by my workplace as annual STI checks for all staff were mandatory

I hesitate to ask, but wtf is that all about?

 

[cupid_stunt]

I hesitate to ask, but wtf is that all about?

Standard thing for brothel workers.

 

[maomao]

I hesitate to ask, but wtf is that all about?

I worked in a state school for three to six year olds twenty years ago. Staff had to be tested for STIs by genital swab annually. Almost all the teachers were women and I believe were seen in private rooms at least. Most of the male staff, cooks, cleaners, gardeners etc. were migrant workers and it was considered good enough for them to line up with their knobs out while a doctor took urethra samples with q tips. I took part in this once but someone at either the school or the clinic had decided this wasn't suitable for foreigners and sent me to a posh clinic instead. I've always suspected that samples weren't properly examined and it was more of a fear exercise than anything else.

I know that's a bit of a diversion but I think it's a bit of an insight into the public health system in China.

My in-laws seem to be having a grand time. There's lots to gossip about and they've been reassured that all medical treatment (and funerals!) connected to the virus wil be covered by the state.

 

[weltweit]

I wonder at what time in the transmission of the virus tests will pick it up?

As I understand it these temperature scans just pick up if you have a fever, but can blood tests pick up that you are carrying the virus in the initial 5-14 day incubation period?

 

[elbows]

As I understand it these temperature scans just pick up if you have a fever, but can blood tests pick up that you are carrying the virus in the initial 5-14 day incubation period?

I cannot properly answer that question at the moment due to some large holes in my knowledge about tests. A strong maybe in place of a real answer for now, but also taking into account that there is a limit to test capacity.

Sometimes I find it useful to read some advice/information which was prepared for another coronavirus, to get some background picture about things, and tests are no exception. So here is one for MERS. I believe the same type of test (rRT-PCR) is being used for the new coronavirus (but this test tailored to check for this new coronavirus in particular) but I will check this. And when it comes to the section on serology tests, thats the stuff I was going on about in recent days about how you eventually discover/realistically estimate the overall infection level in the public (because mild/invisible cases wont be missed in the same way they are during a scary outbreak).

Laboratory Testing for MERS-CoV

MERS-CoV lab tests include molecular and serology tests.

www.cdc.gov

And I have an additional motive for posting that particular page. The subject of whether this new coronavirus can be spread by people who have no symptoms. Which to my eyes has been treated with not just dismay but also with surprise by some, including some experts. Well, what do we have here on the MERS page, in the Serology Tests section.....

Evidence to date suggests there may be a broader range of MERS disease than was initially thought. For example, public health investigators have identified individuals who are PCR-positive but have no MERS symptoms; we do not know if MERS-CoV can be spread by these people. For this reason, public health scientists are working to learn more about how the virus is transmitted. One way to do this is through voluntary testing of blood samples from people who had close contact with people known to have MERS.

I wasnt really surprised to see this, its not the first time I've ended up with a dodgy sort of deja vu when reviewing historical literature in the context of a current outbreak. And not the first time I wish that we had actually ended up answering more of those questions via a previous outbreak, rather than now be facing them afresh without the advantage of that knowledge!

 

[elbows]

Following on from that first report some days ago into the clinical characteristics of the first cases, it looks like there is a subsequent report that includes more cases, 99 cases apparently. I havent had time to read it yet. Probably the cases covered in the earlier report are part of the 99, but like I said, I havent read it yet.

https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/pb-assets/Lancet/pdfs/S0140673620302117.pdf

 

[elbows]

 

[elbows]

Interesting read here about how the new 'hospitals' are being built in record time, to deal with the crisis.

One of the roles of this hospital construction mission, and the continual broadcast of it, is psychological support.

It is painful to feel helpless, to not see the picture clearly, to not see progress, to not be able to see all of the heroics and human endeavours unfold before our very eyes. With a project like this, there is a visible proxy for these struggles, in a neat and controlled package with very low uncertainty and much lower risk of failure than, for example, the containment mission.

And so live and timelapsed footage of the construction, and various other news reports about it, can help on the mental health front. And I do not dismiss this as a gimmick, such things, whether spontaneous or forced, are an important aspect of struggle and of coping.

 

[elbows]

I should have mentioned the other political considerations that lurk in such areas. Such as deflecting from failures. But I dont tend to go on about that sort of thing too much at this stage of an outbreak because my attention is mostly drawn to the disease itself, and people in general coping.

 

[elbows]

Oh dear:

Coronavirus: Flight taking Britons out of Wuhan is delayed

Downing Street says it is working with China to get UK citizens out of the coronavirus-hit city.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Yossarian]

Hong Kong is getting desperate for masks - I've seen lots of photos of people gathered outside stores waiting for masks, which seems unwise - I'd have thought whatever limited protection the masks provide would be outweighed by the risks of spending a long time in a crowd of people. People have also been seen gathering used masks, washing them, and reselling, so people have been warned to rip their masks in half before discarding them.

 

[Cid]

Yeah, I think this is one of the major problems of masks... They make people feel immune. And if they also make people gather in groups like that, using their phones, probably scratching under the mask, any benefit is gone.

 

[Part-timah]

India has it’s first case: Kerala reports first confirmed coronavirus case in India

 

[SpookyFrank]

One of my friends lives in Shanghai, I can’t work out if she should be trying to leave or not. She has little ones in school, & has a job there... at the end of the day it’s not me who needs to work this out of course, I’m just wondering...

Realistically this thing is going to break out and go global sooner or later. If it's a question of uprooting an entire family with a settled existence, for what could be an only marginally improved chance of avoiding the even more marginal chance of getting this thing and becoming seriously ill, I'd say stay put tbh. I'd be more concerned about social conditions on the ground than the virus itself, and I have no idea what that might be like in Shanghai or how it might change.

 

[elbows]

This depressed me yesterday, although I am glad about the attempts to respond to this shameful racism.

Coronavirus: French Asians hit back at racism with 'I'm not a virus'

The coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan prompts French Asians to complain of a backlash against them.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[not-bono-ever]

In terms of pure risk management, mixing with other Escapees as part of the wuhan airlift would seem to be riskier ?

 

[Yossarian]

I think I'd be inclined to take my chances on a flight out - if this outbreak gets much worse, food shortages, social unrest, etc. could be next, which is not a situation I'd want to try to navigate as a foreigner living in a dictatorship.

 

[elbows]

 

[Teaboy]

I think I'd be inclined to take my chances on a flight out - if this outbreak gets much worse, food shortages, social unrest, etc. could be next, which is not a situation I'd want to try to navigate as a foreigner living in a dictatorship.

I think this is a fair point and more of a concern than the virus itself. Unless you're in one of the high risk groups it really doesn't seem that big a deal.

 

[elbows]

I havent verified this info yet but am posting it anyway, to be filed under 'Doh!'

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

I think this is a fair point and more of a concern than the virus itself. Unless you're in one of the high risk groups it really doesn't seem that big a deal.

Unfortunately, it's time to get out, I'd say. Getting out at all could get much harder.

 

[2hats]

 

[ruffneck23]

so we have had the official email, all international travel to China has been cancelled indefinitely, if you have been there in the last 30 days, you are require to work from home for the next 21 days , we have to set up a screening area for visitors to the LHR offices ( I'm not going to be back there for a while so wont affect me ) , its all becoming a bit real..

 

[elbows]