Coronavirus (Covid-19) Discussion
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Australia closed the border to people who aren't citizens or permanent residents early on, and subsequently banned people from travelling overseas without a very good reason.
Over the weekend, the chief medical officer and minister for tourism said that international travel will be the last thing to resume as the lockdown is lifted. The advice is don't plan on it happening this year, and it might well continue until a vaccine is developed, which is at least a year away.
We'd considered heading to the UK at Christmas last year. Shame that didn't happen, as we're not going to be able to visit family for a long time.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52275823
Its a fucking controversy. I have highlighted the risk in care homes since day one. The DH&SC knew this would happen and described it as a necessary risk in teleconferences.
Knowingly letting covid 19 spread and kill residents in care homes is a fucking genocide. Disgusting.
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It’s the same all over the world with homes for the elderly, sadly. Unless the countries response was very quick, they become death traps quickly. Even here where we have been mercifully spared a wildfire epidemic (for a number of reasons), homes for the elderly have been hit.
My county and town currently has a very low level of infection and administrative workers for the council are being used as pickets or limited power security outside this kind of institution.
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@neph93 absolutely, risk was heightened in care homes. Initially most deaths occurred in care home for adults with learning disabilities as it is common for people to have comorbitities. Nationally local authorities were notifying the DH&SC about the risk in care homes. There are 89 homes in the 11x3 Borough that I work in, most for older people.
My day job is working with the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (assessing an adults mental capacity to make specific decisions, and where domestic legislation permits, authorisation of deprivation of liberty, or taking cases to court when required). At present it also involves national level discussions regarding what we can do to prevent people coming into contact with infected residents. The Public Health Act can only be used to contain certain diseases, and covid 19 isn't one. Other legislation has limitations to powers. It's a concern, balancing hard won human rights and safeguards.
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I wonder what are best-of-class (but realistic) precautions for senior facilities. In France, it seems that the confinement has helped but at a high cost. In the retirement home where my grand-father was, the guests were confined in their bedroom with only a few visits a day from the care staff. It's unbelievably depressing. My grand-father found that it wasn't worth it and passed away last week (not of COVID-19; he was 96…)
Places that seem to be doing the best of this shitty situations are the facilities where the care staff chose, en masse, to segregate themselves with the people they were caring for, choosing not to go home to their families. Talk about commitment. Not all heroes wear capes, indeed...
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@JDelage I am so very sorry to hear about your grandfather, but thank you for sharing such personal information. I hope you and your family are coping.
I've been on leave since Friday, but I have no doubt my work email will be full of emergency responses that are required from care homes. We discussed the practicalities of locking mobile, agile, adults with dementia, in their rooms. There are both legal and practical connotations to that approach. Ultimately the relevant Court can determine in this matter in England and Wales, and we are taking as pragmatic response in the interim as is possible.
I truly hope that the care giver workforce are recognised for their tireless work, as well as all the other health and emergency staff all over the world.
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For those of us in the UK, who pretty much depend on what the press tells us/needs us to know. The facts are out there if you look (and Government don't generally expect the public to look - I've been in the room when a former health Secretary actually said as much!).
The following report was published today and contained the following restrictions timeframe
'Public health measures result in a large share of economic activity ceasing for three months, with the restrictions on people’s movement and activity assumed to be lifted progressively over the subsequent three months'
@Giles this may be of interest to you, as a business owner… It helps inform Government policy...and could be helpful to UK based businesses...
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if you'd all like to know what else of significance is happening in the world, this is a good starting point. Please don't dismiss it, it has been a measure of global crisis since 1947. The new alerts tab has current updates from around the world. Not everything has stopped because of Covid 19!
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@neph93 given that Powerslave was released in 1984, so the song was probably written in 1983…does that mean that the clock has only counted down by 20 seconds?
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What is strange is that when it was activated in 1947 the starting point was 7 minutes to midnite (or 11.53 as most people in Europe would refer to it). I'd be interest to know why? I wonder if anyone changed it to account for daylight saving here in the UK… Fall back, spring forward... It could play havoc with some tyrant's plans for global destruction.
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Still waiting for my mask to show up. I think the mask requirement is kinda silly if you’re going to the park or are outside. At the grocery store or any place with lots of people? Absolutely.
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As Raab is about to announce the next 3 week restrictions (of the currently planned 6 month l9ckdown), a report is circulating in Government recommending that phase one of loosening of restrictions includes the opening of coffee shops and restaurants to help boost moral and support farming.
Shit-food chains McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King announce that they are reopening some of their chains for takeaway and home delivery… Ever the philanthropists, they will open stores close to NHS sites for our beloved nurses and doctors. Nationally there is an obesity epidemic among nursing staff (doctors, because they understand the facts, and generally have higher incomes, are not included in those stats).
It's nice to see the neoliberal economic agenda kicking in. I hope the small independent shops in local communities are extended the same opportunities to open when the time is right. If they haven't all had to foreclose and be bought up by large chains. Blurghhh.
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I agree with the principles, but the report is co-authored by the CEO of Glaxosmithcline, suggesting that there may just be more than a little subjectivity contained within.
As Chomsky has recently observed, there is more profit in face cream than there are in developing and manufacturing vaccines. If the combined resources of global pharmas put their energy into creating a vaccine, then we might get somewhere faster. Instead it is being left predominantly to Gov and University research labs. Undoubtedly the knowledge and skills are available there, but we'd quicken the pace if the pharmas got involved more… Not that it would be without its own concerns... Patenting etc
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Pharma is a business. Make it worth their while to work on a product and they'll work on a product. Governments could do plenty to help there. For example, they could (1) set a $15b fund for the first 3 vaccines (or treatments) developed. That way pharmaceuticals would know that they would make a profit even if they have to distribute the vaccine at cost. Even if the US gvt were on their own, it would be a small amount compared to the rest of the COVID-19 costs. Governments could also (2) help lower the costs of pharma firms around some aspects of testing & documentation, which are extremely onerous.
(On the other hand, I think governments should tighten the rules on patenting, but that's a separate story.)
Also, as a side note there are some non-profit initiatives that could be very powerful, e.g., what Gates is doing.
