Coronavirus, advice from ME

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 01/07/2020 10:15:51:

I have few issues from the Second World War and none from the first.

Well, that's good to hear

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Magazine arrived today and the editorial is controversial, possibly by accident, because the conclusion is sensible enough – 'get back to normal as soon as we're allowed to'. Apart from being counter to government health advice, it's apparently based on a belief that the Prime Minister irrelevantly refers to 'morbid funk' in private. I guess 'Surveys suggest that, even after our freedom is restored, many people will be reluctant to get out and about' was written before packed beaches, raves and football celebrations hit the news!

This issue got even worse when I read 'Confessions of a Model Maker' by John Moorhouse. John rubs a hundredweight of salt straight into the open wound of my guilty conscience. I am Mr Untidiness and Task Avoidance incarnate. Someone has grassed me up – I'm so obviously the Jackass John is writing about.

I was devastated long before getting to the cruel truth of 'Starting a Project is much easier than finishing.' After delivering this comprehensive thrashing John finishes off with the brutal promise: 'To be continued'. I may have to cancel my subscription for health reasons.

Dave

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Grindstone Cowboy on 01/07/2020 16:50:29:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 01/07/2020 10:15:51:

I have few issues from the Second World War and none from the first.

Well, that's good to hear

Well I do – That Mr Hitler was not a nice guy and Kaiser Bill was not much better!

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

I have looked in my bound volumes of ME for 1918 and not found any mention of the 1918-20 flu pandemic. There is no entry in the indexes and I can't see anything in the editorials or club news and nothing is apparent in the adverts. (I can't claim to have read every word, ME came out once a week in those days) There is a mention of the end of the war in an editorial at the end of November, but no mention of flu.

There may have been a special reason for this. The pandemic was often called "Spanish Flu" despite it having first become a known issue in the US at an army camp in Kansas, and then becoming a huge problem almost everywhere around the world. This was because Spain was neutral and it's press was relatively free to report the problems caused by the pandemic. The warring nations had powerful wartime censorship which prevented mention of anything which may have caused morale issues and this censorship may have prevented Percival Marshall saying anything.

Rod

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Here's some advice from me: Read this government web page.

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by blowlamp on 04/07/2020 18:03:37:

Here's some advice from me: Read this government web page.

Look at the last update date. Fake news.

JA

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Posted by JA on 04/07/2020 18:38:26:

Posted by blowlamp on 04/07/2020 18:03:37:

Here's some advice from me: Read this government web page.

Look at the last update date. Fake news.

JA

Do you have a link I could look at?

Martin.

[JAParticipant @ja]

Martin

Using your link I opened the document which says as of 19 March COVID19 is not considered to be a high consequence infectious disease. This document was last updated on 17 June. I don’t think the government could claim COVID19 was not a high consequence infectious disease two weeks ago.. No government would have updated such a document.

I leave others to judge its providence.

JA

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It was decided not to keep it as a 'high consequence infectious disease' as that status is intended for rare diseases and places an onerous reporting burden on doctors.

If they had enforced it on Covid-19 a huge burden of pointless extra administration would have been placed on the NHS as the 'purpose' is to alert the authorities to the presence of such a disease, but we already knew Covid-19 was here.

It's aim is to make sure things like ebola or west nile fever don't go unreported.

Unfortunately the bare headline makes wonderful conspiracy theory fodder.

Neil

[JAParticipant @ja]

OK.

Thanks Neil.

JA

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Am I missing something here?

How can a gov decide to reduce the fundamental threat status of Covid-19 (months ago!) while it's still claiming and acting as if we're in deep danger from it?

That link is to a government website and amongst other things states that: "As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK."… and …"They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall)".

They're the gov's own words, so where's the conspiracy theory there?

Keeping the country on lockdown for months despite this hugely downgraded 'threat' makes no sense to me unless something else is going on.

If I'm misunderstanding something then I think they need to make their message clearer for people like me.

Martin.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by blowlamp on 04/07/2020 22:40:35:

Am I missing something here?

Well yeah. You are missing the clearly stated definition of HCID. It hinges on the fatality rate. For Covid19 that is somewhere about 1 to 3 per cent. HCID diseases are those such as Ebola that is clearly listed and has a fatality rate of 25 to 90 per cent. Huge, huge difference.

So Covid19 is not in the same league as Ebola. But that does not mean you can just do away with lockdowns and carry on. As they are currently finding out in places like Texas and Florida where lockdowns were lifted and deaths went through the roof in the past week or two.

The website you linked to is clearly too complex for you to understand the finer points of, not being a medical professional. So you should listen to what the nation's chief medical officers are telling you in simple language daily on the news. They know more about medical science than you do.

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Posted by Hopper on 05/07/2020 02:47:56:

Posted by blowlamp on 04/07/2020 22:40:35:

Am I missing something here?

Well yeah. You are missing the clearly stated definition of HCID. It hinges on the fatality rate. For Covid19 that is somewhere about 1 to 3 per cent. HCID diseases are those such as Ebola that is clearly listed and has a fatality rate of 25 to 90 per cent. Huge, huge difference.

So Covid19 is not in the same league as Ebola. But that does not mean you can just do away with lockdowns and carry on. As they are currently finding out in places like Texas and Florida where lockdowns were lifted and deaths went through the roof in the past week or two.

The website you linked to is clearly too complex for you to understand the finer points of, not being a medical professional. So you should listen to what the nation's chief medical officers are telling you in simple language daily on the news. They know more about medical science than you do.

Oh sorry.

Only when I saw on their web page: "They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall)". I thought they were saying overall mortality rates were low.

You can rest assured that, like you, I'll stop trying to understand what words mean and instead trust the word of polititians and the likes of Neil Ferguson and base my future on it.

Sorry if I interrupted the simple language you must be listening to on the daily news.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Edited By V8Eng on 05/07/2020 13:35:38

Edited By V8Eng on 05/07/2020 13:36:01

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