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Coronavirus - the new strain IX

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gavreid said:
Here's an interesting perspective

"Spain squashed coronavirus. Will British tourists undo all that hard work?"

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...coronavirus-british-tourists-tourism-covid-19
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Spain’s going to need more hospital beds,

yOXT49B.jpg
 
wylton said:
There was an interesting viewpoint, by Stephen Bush (political editor of the New Statesman) in Fridays i newspaper(19th June). He points out, that the overemphasis on the prospects of a vaccine is taking attention away from developments in palliative treatments that may make the disease less acute. He points out that the development of new vaccines is beset with false dawns and blind alleys, whereas other treatments have been successful, for example with HIV-AIDS, which is no longer a death sentence. A promising avenue, is being led from the University of Oxford, he says, where they are trialling existing medicines for their effectiveness. However, as Stephen points out, the return to some kind of normality, will depend, to a large extent, on the level of risk that each of us is willing to take. A measure of this could be the statistics for excess deaths in the UK. What level would be acceptable to us; 20%, 15%, Zero? I, for one, wouldn't be happy to put this decision in Boris Johnson's lap, but one thing is for sure and that is that we'll all have to make this decision for ourselves in the long run. It's a difficult one; I got an email from the Roundhouse, with a questionnaire asking about what would make me go back to attending concerts there. In my case, because I only go to 2 or three gigs per year, I can probably go without for a while. What about going to a restaurant or a drink at the pub? It was pointed out by one of my Daughters, that having realised how much less they spend by having a drink at home, compared to going to the pub, that their future habits might change in any case. We takes risks every day, driving in our car, crossing the road etc, without thinking much about it, but now, with COVID, this should probably be at the forefront of our minds.
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Stephen Bush is one of the most measured and insightful political journalists Britain has at the moment- a counterweight to the florid sycophants dancing around the Conservative government and I include the BBC political team who should know better.
 
re: the 3rd para, we have advanced greatly, but seem not to have learned much in 100 years

BRITAIN’s Ministry of Health was created in response to the influenza pandemic of 1918/19 and it commissioned a comprehensive report on the development of the epidemic, rates of mortality, and the effectiveness of various types of control measures, both in the United Kingdom and around the world.

“Pandemic of Influenza 1918-19”, published in 1920, provides a compendium about what contemporaries thought about the epidemic and the lessons they tried to learn in its immediate aftermath.

If you’re not in the United Kingdom, there is probably a section on your country in Part II covering Europe and the Western Hemisphere (p 199 onward) and Australasia and Parts of Africa and Asia (p 349 onward).

Viruses were unknown so they attributed influenza to a bacterium or other unknown pathogen. But they had some understanding about infection transmission and how to reduce it, as well as the concept of immunity, including from previous outbreaks of influenza.

The extract below is taken from the chief medical officer’s introduction (pp xxi-xxii) and summarises the outlook immediately after the epidemic when policymakers and the public were worried about it returning in another deadly wave. The parallels and read-across to contemporary debates about how to control the coronavirus epidemic are clear, since public health officials in 1920 and 2020 were grappling with essentially similar problems:

“The problem of influenza is still unsolved,” write the compilers of this report; “its solution will be one of the great events in the history of medicine.” And they go on to ask the inevitable question which arises in men’s minds, What is the world’s outlook upon future pestilences or dangers of pestilence? The answer is that it is gloomy. The conclusion to which we are led is that the generation of a great pestilence such as influenza or pneumonic plague is dependent upon disturbance of social order involving for absolutely large numbers of human beings the endurance of conditions of insalubrity which afford for invading parasites a suitable field of modification. So soon as the new properties have been stabilised no barrier against the pandemic or epidemic extension will avail, nor will those individuals or nations who have not suffered the primary evils be more resistant to the disease than their fellows. No impartial spectator can doubt that at the present time, and almost certainly for a generation to come, there will exist in many nations and over wide tracts of country precisely the type of misery which we suspect to be the appropriate forcing house of a virulent and dispersive germ.

The prospect is not cheerful, but we must face it with equanimity and all the resourcefulness of the spirit of adventure and quest. One thing is certain, that the fundamental requirement to make us masters of our fate is a universal improvement in the standard of health and the conditions of life. No technical device, no narrow or specific remedy for pestilence, can ultimately triumph apart from a sanitary environment for the community and the sound nutrition of the individual. They are the bed-rock. Out of them spring the sources of national vitality. Hardly less certain is it that we require, and must seek till we find, more- knowledge. We have in substantial degree the means of controlling tuberculosis and syphilis, malaria and plague; we fail to control these four pestilences largely because we do not use the means; and education is perhaps the answer to that. But in the case of influenza and its allies we are not yet in possession of the means, and whilst we press forward with the improvement of sanitation, of nutrition, and of the conditions of life, we must apply ourselves anew to search and research into the causes of primary and secondary infections, into epidemic catarrh and the common cold, into carriers, and into immunity. That is perhaps the principal lesson which is taught us by our experience of the great pandemic.

Two other practical steps remain. First, we must fortify our administrative methods for dealing with such scourges as influenza, and secondly, we must instruct the whole population, child and adult, in the laws of preventive medicine. The administrative arrangements introduced in 1919 by the Ministry require to be consolidated and perfected, particularly in relation to (a) the development of a system of " intelligence," (b) the effective co-ordination of central and local agencies for the synthetic study and prevention of the disease, and (c) the provision of further means of adequate treatment and nursing. Lastly, there is public instruction in the practice of preventive methods. The infection of influenza and its allies appears to be conveyed by the secretions of the respiratory surfaces. In coughing, sneezing, and even in loud talking these are transmitted through the air for considerable distances in the form of fine spray. The channels of reception are also normally the respiratory surfaces of mouth, nose, and throat—though dust, unclean hands, and infected materials may be the means of conveying infection. It is manifest, therefore, that the closer the bodily contact the more readily will transmissions occur ; hence the paramount importance of persons abstaining thus directly to infect each other, and also of avoiding overcrowding and thronging of every sort, whether in places of public resort, public conveyances, or factories. Well-ventilated rooms, nourishing food, and an open-air life afford some defence ; and in times of prevalence of respiratory catarrh or sore throat the frequent use of an appropriate gargle (for example, 20 drops of liquor sodae chlorinataein a tumbler of warm water) and nasal wash may be recommended. In regard to individual prophylaxis, both the clinical experience of Dr. French and the epidemiological inferences drawn by the staff of the Ministry concur in supporting the belief that a simple hygiene of the mouth and nose is of more value than any specific medication. At the first feeling of illness, or rise of temperature, it is the private and public duty of the patient to go to bed at once, to remain at rest and in warmth, and to place himself under medical supervision, for it cannot be too clearly understood that it is the complications of influenza which disable or destroy life. Thus it seems probable that, though our knowledge of influenza is strictly limited, we are not wholly without means of reducing its incidence and mitigating its consequences.
 
If Spain are concerned then they can close their borders to UK citizens; I am supposed to be going in August but I really don’t want to. Nothing against Spain, lovely country, but I am not keen on flying currently.

Ultimately Europe is very confident it can survive without UK membership so they may as well start now;)

There are plenty of German tourists who can take our places
 
You know that feel when you stayed in your home observeing shielding since 21 Feb, had a surgery cancelled, had conventions and conferences cancelled, had flights cancelled but not refunded & you kept away from people, wore your facial recognition countermeasures & washed your hands diligently, like you should.

...then the English get some sunshine & we're all Bournemouth pink beached whale party time...

Plus we have a world beating Tracing App that doesn't strictly exist!
Time is losing its meaning, just like the death stats.
 
I’ve been isolating since mid-February! I didn’t need to wait for some Tory blow-hard to tell me what was coming, it was all too obvious!

The next phase will likely be the most dangerous for all of us as it is now the NHS will become overwhelmed as, spurred-on by the government, people ignore science in the interests of keeping Wetherspoons, JD Sports etc etc afloat.
 
Meanwhile:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world...to-throw-god-s-wonderful-breathing-system-out

'Before holding a vote to mandate the wearing of masks in public places to stop the spread of coronavirus, Palm Beach County commissioners were harangued by residents who accused them of obeying the devil, imposing a communist dictatorship and dishonouring the American flag.

Florida has just reported a daily record of 5,508 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total number of confirmed infections to 109,014, with 3,281 deaths.'
 
claire.foxx said:
You know that feel when you stayed in your home observeing shielding since 21 Feb, had a surgery cancelled, had conventions and conferences cancelled, had flights cancelled but not refunded & you kept away from people, wore your facial recognition countermeasures & washed your hands diligently, like you should.
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Its because some are selfish, and have no comprehension of the implications and consequences of their actions.

Very similar is the street party in London, splashed all over the News.

Quality. Sheer quality.
 
Joe Hutch said:
Meanwhile:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world...to-throw-god-s-wonderful-breathing-system-out

'Before holding a vote to mandate the wearing of masks in public places to stop the spread of coronavirus, Palm Beach County commissioners were harangued by residents who accused them of obeying the devil, imposing a communist dictatorship and dishonouring the American flag.

Florida has just reported a daily record of 5,508 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total number of confirmed infections to 109,014, with 3,281 deaths.'
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Saw that on CNN last night. They are either mad or paid for by the local Republican PAC.
 
I went to Brixton once, though thinking back, maybe it was Stockwell. Checking in my Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, I see that the name 'Brixton' is of Anglo-Saxon origin, referring to someone called 'Beorhstige'. It is first recorded in 1062.
 
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