"Tis better to die on our feet than live on our knees

[Mr Dee]

Slightly off topic but does anyone else get the feeling Boris won't serve his full term as PM ?

[pompeygunner]

Slightly off topic but does anyone else get the feeling Boris won't serve his full term as PM ?

Why??

[Pompey Penguin]

According to the BBC, "UK airlines say they have been told the government will bring in a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving in the UK from any country apart from the Republic of Ireland in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The new restriction is expected to take effect at the end of this month."

So, 7 weeks after the lockdown started, they decide to introduce quarantine for new arrivals into the country, but not for another 3 weeks! FFS, this is precisely the kind of dithering I was alluding to earlier.

The reason given by the government for not quarantining people at airports in March was that the virus was probably already well into the UK, and so it would be pointless at that stage.

Now in May, the virus is definitely well into the UK, so now is the time to stop people bringing it into the country from abroad.

Must make sense to someone.

[GreenBlue]

The reason given by the government for not quarantining people at airports in March was that the virus was probably already well into the UK, and so it would be pointless at that stage.

Now in May, the virus is definitely well into the UK, so now is the time to stop people bringing it into the country from abroad.

Must make sense to someone.

It sounds truly bizarre but perhaps it will all become clear after the PM's Press Conference this evening.

[Berkshire Blue]

My wife and I were tested (positive) on pretty well the last day of general testing of people with symptoms on 12th March. I was under the impression that it was stopped because the small testing capacity at that time was being overwhelmed by demand, and at that time at least, there was nowhere near the capacity to test the many thousands of people flying into the UK each day.

[No Shot Sherlock]

My wife and I were tested (positive) on pretty well the last day of general testing of people with symptoms on 12th March. I was under the impression that it was stopped because the small testing capacity at that time was being overwhelmed by demand, and at that time at least, there was nowhere near the capacity to test the many thousands of people flying into the UK each day.

But they don't appear to be saying that they'll test anyone on arrival now (or at least from the end of this month), simply that they will have to quarantine, so why couldn't that have been the case from the outset?

[No Shot Sherlock]

Oh, and the good news is that the App they're testing on the IoW appears to be a joke. Loads of false notifications, even to people who haven't left their homes, and doesn't appear to work on older phones. FFS, even the Germans are adopting the Google/Apple platform but we have to try to be different, and by the time they get it working we'll have wasted another four weeks.

[Berkshire Blue]

My wife and I were tested (positive) on pretty well the last day of general testing of people with symptoms on 12th March. I was under the impression that it was stopped because the small testing capacity at that time was being overwhelmed by demand, and at that time at least, there was nowhere near the capacity to test the many thousands of people flying into the UK each day.

But they don't appear to be saying that they'll test anyone on arrival now (or at least from the end of this month), simply that they will have to quarantine, so why couldn't that have been the case from the outset?

Fair point.

[GreenBlue]

Oh, and the good news is that the App they're testing on the IoW appears to be a joke. Loads of false notifications, even to people who haven't left their homes, and doesn't appear to work on older phones. FFS, even the Germans are adopting the Google/Apple platform but we have to try to be different, and by the time they get it working we'll have wasted another four weeks.

This is starting to be a familiar issue...

WHO said very early on that test and trace was essential. We did things our own way.

EU offered us the opportunity to acquire PPE with them. We did things our own way buying items that were not fit-for-purpose from Turkey. Turkey!!! I think even the most ardent Brexiter would have preferred to have gone in with the EU on this one.

Google/Apple (like them or loathe them, it is hard to argue that they are not good at what they do) develop a Covid-19 app. We go it alone creating an app that doesn't work and test it on the IoW where half of the Caulkheads barely fit into the category of homo sapiens.

[Sam_Brown]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -19-advice

Apparently scientists are resigning from sage due to the government not taking their advice and redacting reports.

Also going back to Kid... deaths now 80k.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... quarantine

[GreenBlue]

By the end of the coming week the Covid-19 death toll in the USA is likely to pass 100,000 people. I wonder how many of them would agree with teh topic of this post. "Tis better...."

[Sam_Brown]

By the end of the coming week the Covid-19 death toll in the USA is likely to pass 100,000 people. I wonder how many of them would agree with teh topic of this post. "Tis better...."

In keeping with the “keeping things interesting” theme of the topic and tongue firmly in cheek I’m sure the sacrifices of those who have died and those who they have left behind is one the people who have not been affected are happy for them to have made.

It does make you wonder how crap the US economy is really though that they’ve not been able to provide for their citizens and keep them furloughed like in the majority of the rest of the world. Or maybe it’s not an economic issue and one that has been made for other reasons... I’m not sure what would be worse for an American.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

By the end of the coming week the Covid-19 death toll in the USA is likely to pass 100,000 people. I wonder how many of them would agree with teh topic of this post. "Tis better...."

In keeping with the “keeping things interesting” theme of the topic and tongue firmly in cheek I’m sure the sacrifices of those who have died and those who they have left behind is one the people who have not been affected are happy for them to have made.

It does make you wonder how crap the US economy is really though that they’ve not been able to provide for their citizens and keep them furloughed like in the majority of the rest of the world. Or maybe it’s not an economic issue and one that has been made for other reasons... I’m not sure what would be worse for an American.

not sure what you mean by not provided for citizens there SB. Everyone that filed a tax return and makes under 65k got $1200 plus $500 for any kids. (Me and Mrs Kid, $2400) Everyone that filed for unemployment gets unemployment (usually around 65% of wages depending on the state) plus $600 a week from the feds through end of July, ( got 2 peeps at my small company that wont come back ...making more money not working) Anyone with a mortgage has a 3 month grace period. Everyone that previously wasn't entitled to unemployment ie gig workers that never paid into the system, can now get it. Of course its not perfect and the ones that fall through the cracks make the news but its hardly "not providing"

As for Mr GB at the top of the quote, I think I explained the title of the thread earlier, but to your point, although its a socialist quote, for anyone that's ever spent any time here, it actually explains America quite well. For better or worse, we just don't like to be told what to do by Government.
Give us the information and we'll decide thanks very much.

The worst hit countries, cases per 1 million population are, in order:
source: https://www.statista.com/chart/21176/co ... tal-cases/
Spain
Ireland
Belgium
Singapore
USA
Italy
Switzerland
UK
Sweden
Portugal

So, given that info, I'm not sure of any reason why these would be worse hit than others. I suspect these being mostly fairly honest Western democracies, they are just better at testing, counting and honest reporting of the facts.
If you believe Chinas numbers, they did exceedingly well given their 85000 cases, 4600 deaths and 1.4 billion population. Of course they really have the power to lock y'all down good for as long as they like.....now we're back to the thread title again.

[Sam_Brown]

You do realise the pandemic isn’t over right? Let’s see where those numbers end up when this is all done and dusted. I agree with what you’ve previously said about how in the sticks the rate is lower but those figures shouldn’t be used to hide how high the rate is and has been in places like New York. What is the death per million if you look at the big cities? In New York it was something around 500 last time I checked.

[Sam_Brown]

Just to add on to my previous post.

I appreciate you mentioned multiple times how death per million is a more accurate figure that gross deaths. I agree but consider the following data. Does the fact the US deaths per million is increasing change your opinion on how well the US has dealt with the outbreak and does the below make you less likely or more likely to consider a lock down being important?

US Deaths Per Million:

20th April: 122 deaths per million
1st May: 190 deaths per million
20th May: 277 deaths per million

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tota ... ID_WRL+USA