Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Syt]

The big garden/DIY markets centers opened a few weeks ago. There were huge queues on opening day.

[Sheilbh]

The big garden/DIY markets centers opened a few weeks ago. There were huge queues on opening day.

They never closed. Though they had the weirdest bits of UK guidance - it was okay to do DIY if you were repairing something but you couldn't do a new DIY project

These are the standalone garden centres, but a lot of their popularity is that they often have really good cafes which will presumably still be closed.

The changes (except to the slogan) seem to be relatively minor. I think this is the fourth time the Telegraph has announced that lockdown has closed. I read a piece recently saying Number 10 were furious about this because they think it's cabinet ministers/advisors who want lockdown eased a lot (the Chancellor, obviously - why the Treasury shouldn't be near any decision making on this, Michael Gove etc) who were trying to force Number 10's hand - see also some of the very negative briefing against Matt Hancock this weeked. It's Tories cosplaying House of Cards again, this time during a health crisis

Alternately there's some thought that part of it is just papers acting self-interested because they're taking a beating with no-one buying them at the minute. It's striking that on social media and in the newspapers the lockdown debate has been smoothly integrated into existing divides - largely around Brexit - so generally it seems like the more Brexity you are the more you want to lift it, the more #FBPE you are the more you oppose that. But I'm not sure how much that bears out in the real world, last time I saw something the elderly and conservative voters (who are most at risk of covid-19, but also most likely to have secure work, their own home and access to outdoor space) were most pro-lockdown while the young, urban, Labour vote (least at risk, most likely to be in insecure work, in private rented accommodation with no outdoor space) were most keen to lift it. That may have shifted. And it's tough to re-form the Brexit divide lines when, apparently, Johnson is against lifting lockdown and Dom Cummings is apparently walking round talking about stats from the second wave of the Spanish Flu.

Edit: Also very good points made by Sam Freedman on the comms fuck ups that keep happening - it's striking because since lockdown started I think they've done the right things: decent economic measures in place, increase testing capacity and tracing capacity while keeping the lockdown going. As I say lockdown isn't a policy, but it buys you time.

But the comms are still a disaster. Tonight the PM is meant to announce new measures, but they've been briefed to the newspapers for several days etc - which is standard political comms, but in this situation they need to make the PM's announcement the core focus and it should be clear on the basic facts/reasoning and policy. I feel like it's a bit scorpion and frog, they're using using media people who cannot do otherwise and, for now they need to be furloughed

It's not a usual situation where you breif all the newspapers emphasising the bits of the message that's going to resonate with x papers readers to try and get coverage.

Also I'm not using the hawk/dove terminology the papers have been (Gove and Sunak are hawks because they want to lift lockdown, Johnson and Cummings are doves because they want to keep lockdown) because it seems weird and inappropriate to me

[Sheilbh]

Crazy conspiracy theorists have been around before, but I find it a bit frightening how many now join these protests.

It seems to have passed but I am really kind-of depressed at how much time broadcasters and the government had to spend rebutting 5G conspiracy theories.

[Josephus]

Yup...numbers going up again in Germany

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-coronavirus-spread-accelerates-again-in-germany/?

[Tamas]

I am curious about next week. I think the leaking of easing rules to the media was a big mistake and the genie is out of  the bottle.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/10/doctors-warn-of-second-coronavirus-wave-as-uk-lockdown-weakens

[Josquius]

Fbpe?

[mongers]

Johnson spoke, I missed it,; did he say anything meaningful?

[The Brain]

Johnson spoke, I missed it,; did he say anything meaningful?

Apparently the British prosecco market will make the EU see reason.

[Sheilbh]

Johnson spoke, I missed it,; did he say anything meaningful?

Slightly more than Wales but not significantly:


Like everyone else in Europe - and New Zealand etc - there's an alert system. Interesting detail was how it's calculated which is basically R plus the number of infections (so R plus prevalence as mentioned by the National Statistician in Parliament last week):


Although he keeps up the farce of speaking for the "UK" when the policy he's in charge of generally only applies to England.

Most interesting point I thought was future quarantine measures will not apply to France and vice-versa. It sounds like France and the UK may be working on some mutual recognition scheme, which I imagine is going to be part of our future for travel for a while.

Edit: And also widespread concern from employers groups, unions and the police (for different reasons). Again - an absolute lack of transparency/consultation.

[Grey Fox]

This morning, the UK government introduced a new slogan, "stay alert, save lives", to replace the "stay home, save lives" slogan used so far. It appears to be part today's change in lockdown conditions, with some relaxation of measures expected to be announced at the government's briefing tonight.

The slogan gained attention in the media this morning, with Sunday newspapers reporting on the new slogan and Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick discussing it on Sky News and the Andrew Marr show.

However, since the reveal, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Northern Ireland's first minister Arlene Foster, have both said that they will not be adopting the new slogan. Sturgeon said it was too early for Scotland to drop the "stay home" message.

The health ministers in Scotland and Wales, along with Sturgeon, have said that they were not consulted on the change of message.

Also, apparent big news is that garden centres, GARDEN CENTRES, might get opened from tomorrow.

This can be such a weird country. 

Here, it was the first thing to reopen 2 weeks ago.

[Zoupa]

For the DGullers of this world:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-10/nurse-death-n95-covid-19-patients-coronavirus-hollywood-presbyterian

[DGuller]

For the DGullers of this world:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-10/nurse-death-n95-covid-19-patients-coronavirus-hollywood-presbyterian

WTF does this have to do with anything I said on anything?

[Zoupa]

If you had at least read the first paragraph, maybe you would see the link?

[The Brain]

[DGuller]

If you had at least read the first paragraph, maybe you would see the link?

Evidently not, so here we are.  If your ass is not too full, would you care to explain what the link is supposed to be?