Corona-virus - Impact of the Health Situation worldwide

[Pacific231G]

17 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

I am getting somewhat angry with the media. I have just watched a local news article filmed *inside* a hospice. The reporter even had the nerve to mention that he was not allowed into the wards with the most serious cases (i.e. those just days from death). 

 

I am shocked that they allowed him and his cameraman in the building at all. If the general public are told to stay at home, why should the media think they can just wander anywhere they like - under the rather weak and ironic excuse they are providing a public service. 

 

Couldn't they contact people via Skype or Face-Time?

 

Sorry. Rant over. 

Hi Jonny

Having worked on both local news and on medical programmes I can reassure you that the reporter and camera person certainly wouldn't have just marched into the hospice; they'd have been invited by the medical staff responsible who wanted it reported and following a proper risk assessment.  I've filmed in operating theatres on several occasions (in one case we filmed a complex operation and were in the sterile environment for about eight hours)  No way were the sterile conditions in any way compromised and we were probably worrying about that more than the surgeons. What you see on the screen is often just the tip of a well managed iceberg.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Pacific231G

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

Is smurfing together allowed during socail distancing?

Ironically, about a week into March, (before the lockdown in France), a convention of 3,500 smurfs convened in Landerneau.

 

With customary Gallic assertiveness, Mayor Leclerc was quoted as saying "We must not stop living ... it was the chance to say that we are alive,"

 

Commenting on the intentional mass foolishness, one of the US late night comics suggested that COVID-19 was Gargamel's devious plan.

[chris p bacon]

40 minutes ago, Neil said:

This decision is troubling;I would have hoped in these times that pragmatism would trump dogma.

 

Now while there is a political dimension to this I've posted purely because I think we need to be as well informed as possible. 

 

Purchasing power is all very well if there is the capacity and ability to make stuff.  I can't see that a block of countries could move any quicker than we already are.

[Ryde-on-time]

Amongst all the terrible news, there is the odd story which brings a smile

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52044452?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5e7cea1444c1f90671a42f90%26Malaysian men in shopping muddle amid lockdown%262020-03-26T18%3A00%3A31.568Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:1ae33ff3-89eb-4378-a8ed-8ece1314b49e&pinned_post_asset_id=5e7cea1444c1f90671a42f90&pinned_post_type=share

[Mike Storey]

5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

Am I the only one who spotted the double-entendre in that? 

 

 

Plastic Bertrand, born Roger François Jouret, musician; responsible for a single British hit "Ça Plane Pour Moi" to which yours truly will still pogo if persuaded with enough alcohol   Still with us and now in television, apparently.  

 

You have just made me waste about an hour of my precious time, googling/playing all the possible versions of Ca Plane Pour Moi,  including an absolutely ghastly one by Metallica, and an unfortunate one by Kim Wilde.

 

I was going to learn the lyrics (one day), so that I could play it with the three chords I know on the guitar, but have now decided that would not end in the result I was expecting. Vive le Plastic!!

[Rugd1022]

2 hours ago, Baby Deltic said:

I can't get no-o Covid 19

 

Apparently Keef died in 1972 but nobody had the heart to tell him.... 

 

I mentioned elsewhere the other day that it's heartwarming to see the majority of people abiding by the the good advice about staying in where possible and social distancing etc, but today I witnessed the exact opposite - coming home from  a job at Landor Street the pre-booked taxi I was in took a diversion through Alum Rock and I was astonished at how many people were gathering together on the streets, mostly outside takeaways and some were spitting food put onto the pavement.... the mind boggles sometimes  it really does.

[robert17649]

helluva time to get hay fever!

[Gwiwer]

7 minutes ago, robert17649 said:

helluva time to get hay fever!

 

Me too.  But those symptoms do not resemble those of the nasty lurgy doing the rounds.

 

In other news there may only be one walk outside per day but I can still find myself in the right place at the right time with the camera.  Venus and crescent moon .....

 

 

[tractionman]

Nice picture, looks a bit spooky with those trees silhouetted.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[sharris]

Had a bit of a close call this week.

 

SWMBO had breathing difficulties as a result of her asthma earlier in the week which she couldn't control with her usual medication or nebuliser. No fever or coughing, but couldn't be sure it wasn't aggravated by the coronavirus. Called the GP who said to call an ambulance. Good news is having spent the night and most of the next day in hospital in a room of her own and with steroids and antibiotics she is home again and much improved now, and her coronavirus test came back negative today.

 

Bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me not being able to be with her through it, although luckily I could keep in contact by text message. Just 24 hours for us, and a happy ending, but how much more unimaginably awful for those separated for weeks from loved ones not knowing if they'll come out.

[durham light infantry]

4 hours ago, Baby Deltic said:

I can't get no-o Covid 19

 

Covid-19 is scared of  getting anywhere near Keith Richards...

[Nearholmer]

4 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

They must have as I just saw about ten of them doing football practice on the playing fields behind my house.

 

It would be interesting to know whether it was 'formal', an FA registered team practising, or informal, some blokes who get together to play, because I think the FA has not messaged very clearly at all on this topic .......... go to their website even now and the banner about Covid-19 takes you not to health-protection advice/instructions, but:

 

We have been working collaboratively with the National League System (NLS), the women’s football pyramid and the wider grassroots game since the outbreak of COVID-19 on how to conclude the 2019-20 season in the most appropriate way possible.

 

Which gives the impression that their primary concern has been how to sort out a mess of half-finished league tables (which was always going to be a problem after the proportion of games postponed due to waterlogged pitches anyway), rather than to protect participants from their own excessive enthusiasm.

 

It was left to local guys, amateurs way down the chain, to make the call as to when to suspend leagues (=stop playing matches), and from what I can work out from my son's team's experience it was left to individual team coaches to decide when to suspend practices.

 

Does seem blooming odd to be practising now, even if it is their "one exercise a day" and they've somehow devised a way of keeping a long way from each other, though, because most teams draw from a wide compass, so attending practice often involves "unnecessary travel".

 

If anyone knows better than I about how the FA have dealt with their responsibility to 'grassroots' players over this topic, feel free to correct me and I will amend this post.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Pacific231G]

3 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

It would be interesting to know whether it was 'formal', an FA registered team practising, or informal, some blokes who get together to play, because I think the FA has not messaged very clearly at all on this topic .......... go to their website even now and the banner about Covid-19 takes you not to health-protection advice/instructions, but:

 

We have been working collaboratively with the National League System (NLS), the women’s football pyramid and the wider grassroots game since the outbreak of COVID-19 on how to conclude the 2019-20 season in the most appropriate way possible.

 

Which gives the impression that their primary concern has been how to sort out a mess of half-finished league tables (which was always going to be a problem after the proportion of games postponed due to waterlogged pitches anyway), rather than to protect participants from their own excessive enthusiasm.

 

It was left to local guys, amateurs way down the chain, to make the call as to when to suspend leagues, and from what I can work out from my son's team's experience it was left to individual team coaches to decide when to suspend practices.

 

Does seem blooming odd to be practising now, even if it is their "one exercise a day" and they've somehow devised a way of keeping a long way from each other, though, because most teams draw from a wide compass, so attending practice often involves "unnecessary travel".

 

If anyone knows better than I about how the FA have dealt with their responsibility to 'grassroots' players over this topic, feel free to correct me and I will amend this post.

They seemed to be very informal and were making no attempt to maintain separation whereas I saw a couple of blokes at the other end of the fields who were practising in  a more strucutred way but clearly were maintaining two metre separation (and not using the same ball)  as were all the golfers I saw on the local public  course earlier.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, robert17649 said:

helluva time to get hay fever!

You can get Rhinitis any time, not just from grass etc.

I get it in the winter months, possibly from fungal spores.*

Currently I have intermittent runny nose and dry cough but I have had both on and off since late autumn.

I used to get hay fever bad in the summer from pollen but it has dimished much as I have got older.

 

*GPs suggestion, not tested.

Edited March 26, 2020 by melmerby
Somehow hay was replaced by "kat" and I don't use a spell checker

[midlands]

2 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Currently I have intermittent runny nose and dry cough

 

Same herebut for different reasons. It makes for some embarassing moments when shopping in supermarkets! l feel like I should wear a sign informing onlookers that I am not infected!

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

 the pre-booked taxi I was in took a diversion through Alum Rock and I was astonished at how many people were gathering together on the streets, mostly outside takeaways and some were spitting food put onto the pavement.... the mind boggles sometimes  it really does.

Knowing Alum Rock Road quite well and the people that live there it may be due to their beliefs as it was reported from Bangladesh about a week ago when the Government were trying to stop people gathering in large numbers an Imam organised a mass "pray-in" at which around 25000 attended to ask Allah for deliverance! Religion was obvious much more powerful than medical science.

[Nearholmer]

13 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Religion was obvious much more powerful than medical science.

 

There can be a strange faithful fatalism about deeply religious people. "God willing" can be rendered in many languages and it often seems to be said with a sense of resignation.

[LBRJ]

1 minute ago, Nearholmer said:

 

There can be a strange faithful fatalism about deeply religious people. "God willing" can be rendered in many languages and it often seems to be said with a sense of resignation.

 

That is kind of the whole point of the way such people behave.

 

[Oldddudders]

A tragically good quote emerged yesterday. The news that a healthy 21-y-o girl had died of Covid-19 in High Wycombe was accompanied by inevitably heart-rending quotes from mother, and an aunt. It was the latter that struck me as encapsulating just what is going on : 

 

"The virus isn't spreading - people are spreading the virus."

[robert17649]

No guarantee that it is correct but a reliable source at my local club tells me that the FA has expunged results at lower levels. I think that means no  change to league status for next season.

[Neil]

12 hours ago, Neil said:

This decision is troubling;I would have hoped in these times that pragmatism would trump dogma.

 

Now while there is a political dimension to this I've posted purely because I think we need to be as well informed as possible. I'd be disappointed if we spiral off into our tribal camps and take chunks out of each other. With the threats we face health and economic we need to do all we can to look after each other and this includes not ratcheting up Andy's workload.

 

11 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

 

Purchasing power is all very well if there is the capacity and ability to make stuff.  I can't see that a block of countries could move any quicker than we already are.

 

There is no way that we can know this one way or the other. What the decision does is  expose a division in approach, cooperation vs an almost wilful independence. From my layman's position it seems as though cooperation is required to beat the virus. We have been asked to act cooperatively, reduce contact to the minimum, buy only what we need, stay at home. At an international level there are a couple of 'oven ready' organisations in a position to facilitate cooperation between countries, globally the World Health Organisation and regionally the European Union.  Our government appear to have problems working with both. It puts me in mind of the Western Region's attitude to being part of British Railways, an almost contrary desire to do things differently and a sense of exceptionalism.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Neil

[gordon s]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

Me too.  But those symptoms do not resemble those of the nasty lurgy doing the rounds.

 

In other news there may only be one walk outside per day but I can still find myself in the right place at the right time with the camera.  Venus and crescent moon .....

 

 

Great picture, Rick, but it reminds me of this. It will be in your head all day........

 

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

42 minutes ago, robert17649 said:

No guarantee that it is correct but a reliable source at my local club tells me that the FA has expunged results at lower levels. I think that means no  change to league status for next season.

 

Just confirmed on TV sports news. Chairman of South Shields extremely unhappy.

[black and decker boy]

56 minutes ago, robert17649 said:

No guarantee that it is correct but a reliable source at my local club tells me that the FA has expunged results at lower levels. I think that means no  change to league status for next season.

Yes, was on BBC Late last night, all leagues lower than 7th tier expunged. No promotions or relegations.

[jjb1970]

I thought the whole point was to be isolationist just now....

 

Is the thread going political now? Personally I don't mind political argument but we either allow politics or we don't.  What seems to be happening is people are laying into the government,  Trump and the US and taking political points at the same time as saying let's keep politics out of it.