Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Sheilbh]

The police should be given a mile.

It would be ridiculous to post an officer next to the group and have him wait for one of the bird watchers to come within 10 feet of another.  He has much more important things to worry about.

Leave the bird watchers alone - if that's as serious a potential breach of social distancing as you're seeing in Wiltshire, we're doing fine and the police can back off.

This seems to me as with the Derbyshire Police drone, a bit of over-officious police theatre. You're seeing it in other places to, with the police pulling people over to check if their trip is essential - as long as that person's in their car it's not their business and they should fuck off

[viper37]

Chloroquine has never been proven effective against any coronavirii. I don't see how Covid-19 would be any different.

it's not like anyone not working in the medicine field would know about that.

[Admiral Yi]

Leave the bird watchers alone - if that's as serious a potential breach of social distancing as you're seeing in Wiltshire, we're doing fine and the police can back off.

This seems to me as with the Derbyshire Police drone, a bit of over-officious police theatre. You're seeing it in other places to, with the police pulling people over to check if their trip is essential - as long as that person's in their car it's not their business and they should fuck off

What is the Wiltshire quota for breaking social distancing, and did the bird watchers win the drawing to see who was eligible?

[Tamas]

Sheilbh, if we started 2-4 weeks later than Italy and have been following the exact same trajectory, then how has this been handled well?

[Sheilbh]

Had a Skype chat with my friend who's been moved into the NHS planning team. She was able to talk for like 10 minutes between delivering one thing and getting another task/ask. Apparently she's getting this weekend off after basically three solid weeks of work.

[Eddie Teach]

Leave the bird watchers alone - if that's as serious a potential breach of social distancing as you're seeing in Wiltshire, we're doing fine and the police can back off.

This seems to me as with the Derbyshire Police drone, a bit of over-officious police theatre. You're seeing it in other places to, with the police pulling people over to check if their trip is essential - as long as that person's in their car it's not their business and they should fuck off

What is the Wiltshire quota for breaking social distancing, and did the bird watchers win the drawing to see who was eligible?

I'm confused now, because your earlier post suggests they were not spotted within ten feet of each other.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm confused now, because your earlier post suggests they were not spotted within ten feet of each other.

I don't know how far apart they were.  Shelf is arguing in the alternative and I'm responding in the alternative.

[OttoVonBismarck]

People did gain long term antibody protection to the 1918-20 influenza strain after first infection. The second wave was generally not previously sickened people getting sick again, but the effects of the flu slowly saturating society while still following some of the normal rules of influenza seasonality, in this context the "flu season" hitting resulted in a "second wave" because of the increased transmission rates of what had by then become a widespread virus.

FWIW it's also strongly suspected that people over the age of 45 during the 1918-20 influenza probably had been exposed to a much milder form of the same strain in their youth during a seasonal flu outbreak, as the primary reason for the great pandemic not hitting the old nearly as hard as one would expect.

[Sheilbh]

Sheilbh, if we started 2-4 weeks later than Italy and have been following the exact same trajectory, then how has this been handled well?

I don't think Italy has responded badly, I think there's been some issues on response (so don't let details of a lockdown leak before it's announced, for example). The reason Italy is suffering worse than other countries is that it got a local outbreak, early - so it didn't have the time to prepare it's health service. So I think the biggest thing the government could do being, 2-4 weeks behind Italy is prep the health service to increase capacity so even if you're on the same track in terms of infections you're able to deal with hospitalisations and (hopefully) have fewer deaths.

Otherwsise, based on the advice that's been published I genuinely think they've followed the scientific advice they've received, which is what I'd want a government to do in a pandemic and they've not downplayed it - from an early stage they've said this is going to kill people.

I agree with the expert a while who said we should have as strong control measures as the British public are willing to accept, because I think you could have very strict control measure but if, for whatever reason, people don't take it seriously then you're just going to waste police time and have a routinely flouted law. I think the government's always had the right message in terms of getting people to take it seriously, but that has taken longer than I'd hoped/expected.

[fromtia]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52048919

Well, that's a crap development. Hopefully this isn't going to be whack-a-mole.

[Sheilbh]

What is the Wiltshire quota for breaking social distancing, and did the bird watchers win the drawing to see who was eligible?

I think they should just think - does this really help.

I think most people are following the rules and that's great. We want people to buy into this and keep the rules voluntarily which works better if they feel authorities are focusing on actions that are clearly breaking the rules. Stuff like this and the Derbyshire Police drone feels to me like police dick-swinging about the new powers they've got, which undermines public support. Not least because it looks disproportionate.

[Sheilbh]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52048919

Well, that's a crap development. Hopefully this isn't going to be whack-a-mole.

I mentioned earlier that I worry about what happens if there's multiple crises - a flood, or a wildfire. But the biggest concern I have is people being in lockdown plus a heatwave like a few years ago, especially in areas that don't have common AC. This is probably because it's been unusually sunny in the UK but, if this lasts into summer I think there's a risk for multiple crises in areas that can get very hot like the south of Italy.

[Admiral Yi]

I think they should just think - does this really help.

I think most people are following the rules and that's great. We want people to buy into this and keep the rules voluntarily which works better if they feel authorities are focusing on actions that are clearly breaking the rules. Stuff like this and the Derbyshire Police drone feels to me like police dick-swinging about the new powers they've got, which undermines public support. Not least because it looks disproportionate.

I.e. people should be allowed to break the rules a little bit, so they feel happier about obeying the rules the rest of the time.

Which gets us back to the question you responded to: what is the quota and how is it distributed?  Does each individual get to cheat 10% of the time?  Or does the Wiltshire quota go to birdwatchers because they're so loveable and quirky?

Will all the other residents of Wiltshire now have a steely resolve to obey restrictions because 15 birdwatchers were allowed to gather in a field?

[mongers]

I think they should just think - does this really help.

I think most people are following the rules and that's great. We want people to buy into this and keep the rules voluntarily which works better if they feel authorities are focusing on actions that are clearly breaking the rules. Stuff like this and the Derbyshire Police drone feels to me like police dick-swinging about the new powers they've got, which undermines public support. Not least because it looks disproportionate.

I.e. people should be allowed to break the rules a little bit, so they feel happier about obeying the rules the rest of the time.

Which gets us back to the question you responded to: what is the quota and how is it distributed?  Does each individual get to cheat 10% of the time?  Or does the Wiltshire quota go to birdwatchers because they're so loveable and quirky?

Will all the other residents of Wiltshire now have a steely resolve to obey restrictions because 15 birdwatchers were allowed to gather in a field?

Yi, they're tits, great tits.

But because they're nice people, mainly middle class they get a break; if they were a bunch of youths gathering for some stunts/races, they'd be labelled as chavs and criticised/pilloried.

This virus is the great leveller, we're all responsible for our actions and the consequences for others that flow from what we do or don't do.

[katmai]

Trump wants to send troops to the Canadian border.

Forget the fact there's no reason for troops there, you shouldn't be ordering anyone to move anywhere!  Shelter in place!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-border-coronavirus-1.5510853

Yeah, I guess he read his map inverted.  I seem to recall people illegally crossing the border from the US to Canada, not the opposite.  But hey, got to keep those pesky Canadians were they belong!

If it keeps Americans from entering Canada during the next four months or so, I am all for it.

too late!