Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Richard Hakluyt]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/sep/09/uk-coronavirus-live-matt-hancock-covid-testing-shortage-boris-johnson?page=with:block-5f58f6178f087b90a2990c8d#block-5f58f6178f087b90a2990c8d

Q: For the last few weeks you have been telling people to go back to work. Now you are putting new restrictions in place. Why should people listen to you?

Johnson says the situation has been changing.

He still wants people to return to work, in a Covid-free way.

He now wants to get people to follow the rule of six, he says. This will be legally enforced.

Now we are on to the rule of six!

That is a very narrow oligarchy 

[Legbiter]

Here everybody who's been diagnosed for the last week or so has been in quarantine. Fingers crossed it'll be extinct in 10 days or so. We're seeing a noticeable increase in sick travelers at the border though. 

[merithyn]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/sep/09/uk-coronavirus-live-matt-hancock-covid-testing-shortage-boris-johnson?page=with:block-5f58f7fd8f087ba78e10c657#block-5f58f7fd8f087ba78e10c657

And it wants to give people passports through its moon shot. It is ambitious, but the government is backing it with all it's got.

What does this mean?

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/sep/09/uk-coronavirus-live-matt-hancock-covid-testing-shortage-boris-johnson?page=with:block-5f58f7fd8f087ba78e10c657#block-5f58f7fd8f087ba78e10c657

And it wants to give people passports through its moon shot. It is ambitious, but the government is backing it with all it's got.

What does this mean?

Apparently this which is ambitious...given current issues with testing.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/operation-moonshot-boris-johnson-coronavirus_uk_5f58e1b1c5b6b48507fa724d?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHhOtgDxpkzxHWEJTUIS1UgpHjYNLAwNQAxtcCjlCyT8Anpmk8KGKOyBfHuMLjpnFNiGZfC6gPsr3a960kXy1nLYPMnqYyXxKJc87sf7ge7Mvj7KPvfmo5hTH8e5lYdz_ytZAlyaYTk5m6djlyKwhtSpzkEC_FwnhRWZALcFFiAt

'Operation Moonshot' Promise Of National On-Demand Testing By Spring Shot Down By Scientists

Top government scientists have poured cold water on Boris Johnson's plan to rollout nationwide on-demand testing for Covid-19 in time for spring.

Dubbing the government plan "Operation Moonshot", the PM said "a new type of test" would be widely available to people next year and allow checks that have results in "90 or even 20 minutes".

It would mean people could get a negative result before entering a pub, theatre or workplace.

But both the chief scientific officer, Patrick Vallance, and the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, who were flanking the PM at a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, cast doubt over the claims.

Asked if he was confident, Vallance said the technology "had to be tested properly".

"There are as always with technologies unknowns and we would be completely wrong to assume this is a slam dunk that can definitely happen," he said. "I think this needs to be tested properly.

He added of the new tests: "We do not yet know if they work."

Whitty, meanwhile, said it was "likely" there would be fast new tests "in the not too distant future".  But he said "that covers quite a wide time range', adding: "I think it is important that we don't pin ourselves to a date and say by this time this will be achieved."

Johnson acknowledged their interventions as "a very important dose of realism" despite having trumpeted the ambitious plans minutes earlier.

He said Salford had been chosen for a pilot scheme for the new test, with NHS Test and Trace aiming to rollout widespread testing by spring.

Explaining the tests, Johnson had said: "Up to now, we have used testing primarily to identify people who are positive – so we can isolate them from the community and protect high risk groups.

...

[Tamas]

  They must have a quota to announce a new revolutionary miracle solution each month. This is really pathetic at this stage.

[garbon]

Judi Love raises some questions seeking clarity on the new rule of 6.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1303646150105468928

[Zoupa]

These rules are complex for no reason. People will disregard them.

[crazy canuck]

These rules are complex for no reason. People will disregard them.

Would have helped Mathus' vacation problem.

[garbon]

These rules are complex for no reason. People will disregard them.

Yep, people will continue to do whatever they want. And then the police, with the discretion of when to get people in trouble, will continue to disproportionately get in trouble.

[viper37]

How come the pristine, pure hearted and smart folks of the regions got affected???? Unpossible! You guys up there are smart and don't need masks!

Because it was someone from outside our region who brought the virus here and some idiot decided it was a good idea to hold 100 people in small, cramped area.

But do not worry.  Public health wants me to get tested because I was likely in contact with someone who met one of these dirty foreigners, and because I have had mild symptoms for the last two weeks.

Ave Languish, morituri te salutant, and all that.  Hopefully, if I had it, I haven't contaminated anyone else.  My dad seems ok, at least.

[viper37]

Viper, you really need to understand what "Anglo-Saxon" means.  It doesn't mean "people who speak English".

People who come from a country/area where english is the dominant language&culture.  This is how it's been used, at least since the British stop refering to themselves as "Saxons".
It has nothing pejorative, it doesn't mean anything more than a belonging to a cultural group.  I could have said "anglo-sphere" or "commonwealth+USA", but I thought people would understand the shortcut.  It seems was mistaken.  My bad.

[Eddie Teach]

Anglo-Saxon is an ethnicity. If you want to refer to all English speakers, the word is Anglophone.

[viper37]

Anglo-Saxon is an ethnicity. If you want to refer to all English speakers, the word is Anglophone.

I wanted to refer to people living in countries where the english culture is predominant.  You could be an english speaker living in France, my line wouldn't apply to you because their school system is not the same as Canada, US, UK and other similar countries.

[Eddie Teach]

I wanted to refer to people living in countries where the english culture is predominant. 

Ah. The word for that is English. 

[Razgovory]

It's like calling Haitians "Frenchmen".