Corona Virus

[theessexfox]

1 hour ago, stripeyfox said:

This seems be a thing with my company. It is early days but in four days of working from home, I've got loads more done than I usually do. I've got a makeshift home office set up and I'm at my desk at 7am and working through all day. Still answering emails in the evening. But my boss is constantly checking up on me. I'm convinced he thinks I'm sat watching Netflix and polishing the lighthouse or something.

 

Even when I had a domestic emegency this afternoon (went to drop some supplies round to my dad at lunchtime - found him in a heap on the floor where he'd been since last night! - called ambulance and packed him off to hospital) was still back in the saddle 90 minutes later. 

 

I trust my team, so why does't he trust me? We are all desperate to keep things going so we still have jobs on the other side, but my boss thinks we're all sat tossing it off!

 

Best wishes to your dad mate.

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, Parafox said:

Me too regards the supermarket. My main anxiety now is, after speaking to a colleague, about going back to work tomorrow . It seems the 111 service is referring far to many calls around Covid to the 999 system. The reason why, I have no idea, but 85% of our calls at the moment are around this flu. Mostly from people that feel they may have a fever but have no means to take their temperature. Many report some difficulty in breathing, which as far as 111 is concerned requires a face to face assessment. Turns out, apparently that they respond "no" when asked the question "is the patient breathing normally"? because they perceive a cough as abnormal breathing. We then rock up, we have to do a full physical exam including a full ECG all of which involves close proximity and physical contact.

We have PPE consisting of fluid repellent face masks, gloves and goggles. We are currently allowed 6 masks per vehicle. That means 3 per job, one each for the crew and 1 for the patient, so after 2 jobs we have to return to base to get more masks, if they have any.

Seems to me everyone on FT is behaving sensibly, at least in what you are saying you are doing and I thank you for that. 

I'll "report from the frontline" after my shifts. 

Stay well.

my chap this morning didn’t have goggles.  Am I right is presuming that once he returned to his vehicle, the twenty minutes he spent in the back of the ambulance was cleaning himself and his clothes ?  His next call could be an old people’s home .......

[reynard]

21 minutes ago, rachhere said:

Yeah I really want to know if I have had it - will be gutted if I haven’t and it turns out to be something else! I am going to continuing life with the assumption that I haven’t until confirmed otherwise.

Absolutely the correct approach.

[Paninistickers]

43 minutes ago, brucey said:

Utter bollocks. For the past few days we have been testing about 5k people per day, all with symptoms, with only about a 15% positivity rate. If half of us have already got it with zero symptoms, you’d expect almost everyone with actual symptoms to test positive.
 

Publishing this stuff is really dangerous if it pushes the government back into that flawed ‘herd immunity’ plan. i.e. whatever Trump is doing at the moment.

 

Only the antibody testing of a yougov poll representative selection, will reveal how many of us have had it. 

 

[reynard]

7 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Well that's me all packed in for the foreseeable.  To update on my post from yesterday most of our extra food and milk is now in the local homeless shelter to be passed on to the people who need it, the rest will be taken to a local school tomorrow.

 

Yeah I can't help wondering if I already caught this around late January time.  My symptoms included a runny nose and a mild cough, but also incredibly painful joints (so much so that I really struggled with stairs for a few days) and the worst temperature regulation I can remember experiencing (we're talking shivering cold despite being sat in my tiny and uncomfortably warm office with my heavy winter coat zipped all the way up).  Had some violent shits the day it all passed too...  At the time we didn't know about joint pain or shits being a part of it and it was when there was only a few confirmed cases in the country all linked to that Steve Walsh bloke, so none of us really considered that it was actually Coronavirus at the time but now I'm not so sure...

Unless you've been specifically tested it is best to assume you've not had it. Good news on the food and milk.

[Carl the Llama]

2 minutes ago, reynard said:

Unless you've been specifically tested it is best to assume you've not had it. Good news on the food and milk.

Oh yeah obviously, for the next couple of months I'm not seeing the outside world for any more than the few minutes it takes to do a shopping run, just adding my experience to the pile of potential untested cases.  When this antibody test is developed I'll be among the first in line.

[st albans fox]

6 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Oh yeah obviously, for the next couple of months I'm not seeing the outside world for any more than the few minutes it takes to do a shopping run, just adding my experience to the pile of potential untested cases.  When this antibody test is developed I'll be among the first in line.

They’ve only ordered 3.5 mill.  The first in line will NHS frontline staff.  Then presumably those who are considered at high risk.  There were 1.5 m of those so I wouldn’t hold your breath about getting a test done .....(unless you’re one of the two groups above) 

[stripeyfox]

15 minutes ago, theessexfox said:

Best wishes to your dad mate.

 

55 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Fear.

 

Fear that if he actually trusts you to do the job your paid to do, he won't be able to justify his existence anymore.

 

In order for him to feel like he's 'adding value' he'll keep meddling in your work and operating at a level below where he should be. 

 

And he also might see you as a threat. Deep down he probably knows that you're better than him, therefore he'll try and 'keep you in your box' by constantly checking on you.

 

Basically he's just behaving like a glorified 'box ticker' and on your case in order to make himself feel better about his own insecurities.

 

It's usually something like that 

 

P.S. Hope your old man is O.K. mate 

 

Thanks. Truth be told I don't know how he is. I can't go and see him (visiting restrictions) so he's on his own and the information I can get over the phone is sketchy. They've tested him for Covid-19 (although he wasn't showing any symptoms, he is running a temperature). So really just got to wait until the morning to hear something. 

 

He looked in a pretty bad way though. Ambulance staff were great - they were there within 10 minutes and were brilliant.

[Parafox]

19 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

my chap this morning didn’t have goggles.  Am I right is presuming that once he returned to his vehicle, the twenty minutes he spent in the back of the ambulance was cleaning himself and his clothes ?  His next call could be an old people’s home .......

Yes he would have been cleaning equipment and hands and disposing of consumables. I don't know what you were presenting with but if anyone has an active cough then goggles should be worn to prevent contact from airborne particles with the eyes. We clean down after every job we attend, regardless of the nature of the call.

[bovril]

20 minutes ago, Carl the Llama said:

Well that's me all packed in for the foreseeable.  To update on my post from yesterday most of our extra food and milk is now in the local homeless shelter to be passed on to the people who need it, the rest will be taken to a local school tomorrow.

 

Yeah I can't help wondering if I already caught this around late January time.  My symptoms included a runny nose and a mild cough, but also incredibly painful joints (so much so that I really struggled with stairs for a few days) and the worst temperature regulation I can remember experiencing (we're talking shivering cold despite being sat in my tiny and uncomfortably warm office with my heavy winter coat zipped all the way up).  Had some violent shits the day it all passed too...  At the time we didn't know about joint pain or shits being a part of it and it was when there was only a few confirmed cases in the country all linked to that Steve Walsh bloke, so none of us really considered that it was actually Coronavirus at the time but now I'm not so sure...

You're still in Cambridge right? Must've spread there relatively early considering how many students and tourists there are, especially from N. Italy. 

[stix]

41 minutes ago, WigstonWanderer said:

I don’t think it exists yet. Scientists are still working to develop one afaik.

Hancock said today that 3.5m antibody tests have been purchased. 

[brucey]

15 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Regarding the testing ............ I believe all persons admitted into hospital each day (whatever their problem) are tested.  As are NHS frontline staff who show symptoms.  The test doesn’t show if you had it so the fact these numbers aren’t  hugely  higher than 15/20% reflects the fact that some people tested my have already had this some weeks ago - that’s what the oxford prof would say but I’m not in agreement with her. 

We are not testing everyone in hospital. Just 'suspected patients'. And symptomatic frontline staff aren't allowed any tests for now (this should change very soon). The test is 70% sensitive and stays positive for 2 weeks or so. We were very widely testing in the community (mostly contacts) when that Brighton superspreader thing was going on. That was early Feb and after testing a few thousand, all positives had travel history or known contacts. If there was anything going around in communities, the few thousand community tests would have picked up at least one. 

 

Like I've said before, the Diamond Princess is our best estimate, as pretty much everyone got tested, quarantined, retested etc, with the best medical care and full ICU availability. 700 tested positive (not all of whom were symptomatic), 7 died (1%). If you allow for false negative tests then let's say 1000 people on the ship actually had it. If 30 million people in the UK had got it, I reckon we'd have about 300k dead by now. 

 

 

Some guy has been doing these graphs on Twitter. The little bump in the red line and subsequent bending away from the grey predicted line happened when we switched from testing the community (travel/contacts) to testing hospital inpatients. I suspect the grey line approximates the genuine total number of cases, i.e about 13k.

[Dahnsouff]

44 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

End of January, both my other half and my daughter came down with something really bad, so much so my wife ended up being given an inhaler, they’re both pretty resilient to colds etc. Last month I woke up 3 or 4 times in the middle of the night dripping in sweat that I put down to us buying a 12 tog quilt at Christmas, but it hasn’t happened since . Makes you wonder if something has already gone round. Imagine Boris addressing the nation and saying something like Gotcha! Bit like your granny dying and leaving you a million quid in the will.

This is curious coincidence for me too. I have multiple sclerosis but I am usually fine, and when it does hit me, it’s usually tiredness and eye pain. However, come start of February it fell to pieces and I could not drive, could not walk without a cane. This came off the back of a strong “cold”, which my wife had too. Seemed odd at the time.

[st albans fox]

2 minutes ago, brucey said:

We are not testing everyone in hospital. Just 'suspected patients'. And symptomatic frontline staff aren't allowed any tests for now (this should change very soon). The test is 70% sensitive and stays positive for 2 weeks or so. We were very widely testing in the community (mostly contacts) when that Brighton superspreader thing was going on. That was early Feb and after testing a few thousand, all positives had travel history or known contacts. If there was anything going around in communities, the few thousand community tests would have picked up at least one. 

 

Like I've said before, the Diamond Princess is our best estimate, as pretty much everyone got tested, quarantined, retested etc, with the best medical care and full ICU availability. 700 tested positive (not all of whom were symptomatic), 7 died (1%). If you allow for false negative tests then let's say 1000 people on the ship actually had it. If 30 million people in the UK had got it, I reckon we'd have about 300k dead by now. 

 

 

Some guy has been doing these graphs on Twitter. The little bump in the red line and subsequent bending away from the grey predicted line happened when we switched from testing the community (travel/contacts) to testing hospital inpatients. I suspect the grey line approximates the genuine total number of cases, i.e about 13k.

It must be way higher than that. The CMO said last week that he thought each death may relate to 1000 positive cases out there. Let’s say he’s out by a factor of 2. That still means 250k real cases in the U.K.   if your number is right then all of us who’ve been told we have it or think we’ve had it must have a dose of a v strange flu ........

[jammie82uk]

Just now, stix said:

Hancock said today that 3.5m antibody tests have been purchased. 

They was purchased at the weekend but they are not in this country yet, it’s not known whether they are actually ready to ship or they are still in the manufacturing stage  

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

1 hour ago, String fellow said:

If lots of folk have the symptoms but test negative, what's going on? Is there a 'flu bug going round as well?

 

Trouble is fever and coughing fits are very common cold symptoms, and there are usually dozens of strains of harmless colds in circulation at any time

[Strokes]

1 hour ago, AoWW said:

These should help to begin with...

 

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/parents/extra-subjects-parents/school-closures-category-free-resources-parents (loads of stuff on here and free to sign up at the mo for parents)

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/coronavirus-making-the-most-of-home-learning/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

 

Has your school sent home any learning packs, or similar? If not, PM me your email address and I'll see what I can come up with  

 

What year groups are your kids in? 

 

If you need help with anything specific, feel free to PM me.

Thanks, when my wife got back she has given me some of the packs that were given to her on Friday. I wasn’t aware of their existence until now.

I feel a bit better now going forwards but thanks for the links I’ll look into them now. I’ve just got to be disciplined and create a structure otherwise it’ll be chaos and I didn’t know where to start earlier.

As long as we are learning new things (and yes I mean me too ) having a bit of fun and staying away from phones, iPads and TVs, I think I’ve done well.

[MattFox]

Know quite a few people that had an awful strain of flu December/ early January Time.

 

With the amount of travel between the Uk and Italy, China etc it’s likely it’s been here a while but on the other hand loads of people get bad flu every year.

 

The massive increase over the last few weeks does seem to coincide with the Half Term Holidays, people going Skiing in Italy etc.  Expecially given it seems to be most prominent in London and the Home counties in particular 

[brucey]

4 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

It must be way higher than that. The CMO said last week that he thought each death may relate to 1000 positive cases out there. Let’s say he’s out by a factor of 2. That still means 250k real cases in the U.K.   if your number is right then all of us who’ve been told we have it or think we’ve had it must have a dose of a v strange flu ........

We’ll see when the antibody things come out... 

 

For what it’s worth, I think your symptoms have sounded the most typical of coronavirus out of everyone on here  Less so for others, particularly Stringer, and everyone on Twitter that thinks they got it in November...

[Carl the Llama]

16 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

They’ve only ordered 3.5 mill.  The first in line will NHS frontline staff.  Then presumably those who are considered at high risk.  There were 1.5 m of those so I wouldn’t hold your breath about getting a test done .....(unless you’re one of the two groups above) 

It's a turn of phrase.  Nobody likes a pedant. 

 

15 minutes ago, bovril said:

You're still in Cambridge right? Must've spread there relatively early considering how many students and tourists there are, especially from N. Italy. 

Still live there but I'm spending my working days in Bishops Stortford now so I reckon that's the most likely place for me to catch anything (plus iirc one of the earliest confirmed cases was in Hertfordshire so that tallies up), unless I got it off a housemate but they're going through their own potential cases as I type in which case that wouldn't be possible.  All assuming it was covid-19 of course, I don't know that it was, I just have some suspicions now that we know a bit more about the symptoms.

[kingfox]

When you nip Co-Op and the woman who serves you starts coughing 

[stix]

37 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

They’ve only ordered 3.5 mill.  The first in line will NHS frontline staff.  Then presumably those who are considered at high risk.  There were 1.5 m of those so I wouldn’t hold your breath about getting a test done .....(unless you’re one of the two groups above) 

Surely it’s about testing 3.5m people, and gaining information from those who have had it and been asymptomatic/immune to the virus so they can create a vaccine??

Edited 24 March 2020 by stix

[RobHawk]

Anyone volunteering for the NHS? I'd be all over that if I wasn't still working

[AoWW]

26 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Thanks, when my wife got back she has given me some of the packs that were given to her on Friday. I wasn’t aware of their existence until now.

I feel a bit better now going forwards but thanks for the links I’ll look into them now. I’ve just got to be disciplined and create a structure otherwise it’ll be chaos and I didn’t know where to start earlier.

As long as we are learning new things (and yes I mean me too ) having a bit of fun and staying away from phones, iPads and TVs, I think I’ve done well.

 

The packs should help to give you things to work through, too. 

 

Seriously, though, if I can be of any help (I'm a KS2 teacher) do post on here or message me - I'm happy to try and help, and I realise how daunting it is for many parents. Imagine you were doing this with a class of 30 and the chances are you'll appreciate their teachers more in future!

 

As for daily structure, involve your kids in drawing up a timetable that works for all of you. It doesn't all have to be 'proper' teaching - take the opportunity to teach them some useful life skills too and just enjoy spending time with them. Tech is fine - and there's loads of useful online learning out there - just use it in moderation. 

[stripeyfox]

4 minutes ago, AoWW said:

 

The packs should help to give you things to work through, too. 

 

Seriously, though, if I can be of any help (I'm a KS2 teacher) do post on here or message me - I'm happy to try and help, and I realise how daunting it is for many parents. Imagine you were doing this with a class of 30 and the chances are you'll appreciate their teachers more in future!

 

As for daily structure, involve your kids in drawing up a timetable that works for all of you. It doesn't all have to be 'proper' teaching - take the opportunity to teach them some useful life skills too and just enjoy spending time with them. Tech is fine - and there's loads of useful online learning out there - just use it in moderation. 

Thanks for the links. I'll do my best. With my wife being front line NHS, it falls on my to both work from home and attempt to do some school work with the kids. Not easy, but will find it a go!