Corona Virus

[davieG]

Wristband helps workers maintain social distancing

A wristband which notifies the wearer with a vibration if they get too close to maintain safe social distancing has been introduced at the port of Antwerp.

[yorkie1999]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

Wristband helps workers maintain social distancing

A wristband which notifies the wearer with a vibration if they get too close to maintain safe social distancing has been introduced at the port of Antwerp.

A vibrating rubber device, mmm, wonder what else that could be used for.

[yorkie1999]

11 minutes ago, davieG said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52656808

 

Coronavirus antibody test a 'positive development'

38 minutes ago

 

Coronavirus pandemic

 

A test to find out whether people have been infected with coronavirus in the past has been approved by health officials in England.

Public Health England said the antibody test, developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, was a "very positive development".

The blood test looks for antibodies to see if a person has already had the virus and might now have some immunity.

Until now, officials have said such tests are not reliable enough.

The government previously spent a reported £16m buying antibody tests which later proved to be ineffective.

Sources told the BBC the Roche test was the first one to offer serious potential.

But BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh said it was still unclear how much protection the presence of antibodies would give against future coronavirus infection or how long any immunity might last.

Experts at the government's Porton Down facility evaluated the Roche test last week, Public Health England said, and found it to be "highly specific".

 

Health minister Edward Argar said the tests would primarily be used on those in the NHS and social care settings to begin with.

But he said he could not give an exact date for when the testing could start.

Prof John Newton, national coordinator of the UK coronavirus testing programme, said: "This is a very positive development because such a highly specific antibody test is a very reliable marker of past infection.

"This in turn may indicate some immunity to future infection, although the extent to which the presence of antibodies indicates immunity remains unclear."

Roche is understood to be in talks with the Department of Health and Social Care about possible use by the NHS in England, though other testing products are also being assessed.

Health officials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make their own decisions, but are likely to follow suit if England does adopt it.

The test already has approval from medical regulators in the EU and the United States.

But it is still not yet clear what amount of immunity from coronavirus a patient might gain from having previously been infected.

The swab tests currently being carried out in the UK determine whether someone has the virus at the time of the test.

i think it should be used on all those people who are on furlough for a start, simply for the sake of the economy.

[Leicester_Loyal]

I hope the police smash the protesters all around Abbey & Braunstone Park.

[foxile5]

38 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

I hope the police smash the protesters all around Abbey & Braunstone Park.

There are protesters? 

 

Why are we determined to ape America. Isn't their global morons tag right now enough to deter us? 

[nnickn]

simple really, anyone turning up, take name and address,and ban them from the nhs for 12 months

[Sampson]

3 hours ago, brucey said:

 

That's disappointing. That 0.7% death rate is much higher than the 0.3% in that previous German study, but I guess that's just the high end of what was previously predicted.

It will be a lot higher than 5% in places like Paris and Madris though I imagine. I get the impression that's the same here, there's some parts of the country it just hasn't reached yet,

[Kopfkino]

7 minutes ago, Sampson said:

That's disappointing. That 0.7% death rate is much higher than the 0.3% in that previous German study, but I guess that's just the high end of what was previously predicted.

It will be a lot higher than 5% in places like Paris and Madris though I imagine. I get the impression that's the same here, there's some parts of the country it just hasn't reached yet,

 

Really to understand these things you have to contextualise the epidemic in that country. There are quite significant areas of France that have barely been touched by the virus as you suggest. But also it depends if you managed to keep the epidemic out of care homes or if it was an epidemic of care homes, or on similar lines, if you have an epidemic in hospitals where people already in hospitals acquire the virus and there's fewer coming from the community into hospitals to be treated. In both those case, death rates would appear high, because the weakest are exposed to the virus and it doesn't go through so much of the population. Still bad news from a herd immunity perspective, but possibly not on death rates. 

 

 

[Pliskin]

Surely it’s difficult to compare Britain to the likes of France, Germany Etc. With them being mainland Europe wouldn’t it be harder for the virus to diminish like it would here. If we became more insular for the foreseeable wouldn’t we be able to manage the situation better? I feel Europe will struggle for a while, as for each country presents different ideas of when lockdowns should be lifted, could present the opportunity for another spike of movement between nations isn’t slowed or halted? 

[Sampson]

4 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

 

Really to understand these things you have to contextualise the epidemic in that country. There are quite significant areas of France that have barely been touched by the virus as you suggest. But also it depends if you managed to keep the epidemic out of care homes or if it was an epidemic of care homes, or on similar lines, if you have an epidemic in hospitals where people already in hospitals acquire the virus and there's fewer coming from the community into hospitals to be treated. In both those case, death rates would appear high, because the weakest are exposed to the virus and it doesn't go through so much of the population. Still bad news from a herd immunity perspective, but possibly not on death rates. 

 

 

Yeah that's fair enough.

 

I guess once it gets into a care home or hospital it's naturally going to inflate the death rate somewhat in comparison to stopping going through the general population.

 

I guess you also have to consider whether a peoprtion of that 100% of the population (like children) even get infected.

[stix]

5 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

i think it should be used on all those people who are on furlough for a start, simply for the sake of the economy.

People haven’t been put on furlough to slow the spread of Coronavirus. They’re on furlough because their employer may have had to make them redundant otherwise. 

[Costock_Fox]

No post in 2 hours so it’s over? Sound lads, just off on holiday.

[Costock_Fox]

Just now, stix said:

People haven’t been put on furlough to slow the spread of Coronavirus. They’re on furlough because their employer may have had to make them redundant otherwise. 

Well that spoiled my joke didn’t it.

[fox_up_north]

Word is slowly going around of what primary school teaching might look like. I absolutely feel for my friends in the sector. Some options I've heard (anecdotally) are..

 

- groups of children round one table behind a line they can't cross
- children having to play alone or in groups spread out in the playground
- no interaction with teacher regarding feedback. Work just collected, marked and given back at the end of the day
 

It's going to be such a shock for them and I dread to think how some will cope

[yorkie1999]

34 minutes ago, stix said:

People haven’t been put on furlough to slow the spread of Coronavirus. They’re on furlough because their employer may have had to make them redundant otherwise. 

That's my point, people need to go back to work and in order to do so they need to be made to feel safe.

[Sir Shep]

5 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

i think it should be used on all those people who are on furlough for a start, simply for the sake of the economy.

I’m on furlough Yorkie, doesn’t make any difference as I won’t be back at my company for a while whether I’m well or not. 

[Izzy]

3 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

Word is slowly going around of what primary school teaching might look like. I absolutely feel for my friends in the sector. Some options I've heard (anecdotally) are..

 

- groups of children round one table behind a line they can't cross
- children having to play alone or in groups spread out in the playground
- no interaction with teacher regarding feedback. Work just collected, marked and given back at the end of the day
 

It's going to be such a shock for them and I dread to think how some will cope

We got an e-mail from my boys primary school yesterday asking us to choose:

 

1. We want him to go back when it re-opens, regardless

2. We'll only let him go back dependent on government guidelines

3. We don't want him to go back regardless

 

Of course we voted 1 because he's driving us round the fvckin bend

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52656959

 

Yeah, this is really surprising.

 

NB. As an aside, on the topic of children it's a bit distressing but also darkly hilarious to to see how some parents (ones that like sticking the boot into educators, for instance) are coping (or not) with education with their "little angels" at home for a while.

[foxile5]

18 minutes ago, Izzy said:

We got an e-mail from my boys primary school yesterday asking us to choose:

 

1. We want him to go back when it re-opens, regardless

2. We'll only let him go back dependent on government guidelines

3. We don't want him to go back regardless

 

Of course we voted 1 because he's driving us round the fvckin bend

Sensibly it should just be closure until September. Like it or not kids are germ factories who absolutely will not respect boundaries like adults. 

 

It's 'keep two meters and wash your hands only when the adults are looking' 

[Izzy]

18 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

Sensibly it should just be closure until September. Like it or not kids are germ factories who absolutely will not respect boundaries like adults. 

 

It's 'keep two meters and wash your hands only when the adults are looking' 

Must admit that the wording on the e-mail suggested to me that the school weren't keen on re-opening anytime soon.

[Nalis]

33 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52656959

 

Yeah, this is really surprising.

 

NB. As an aside, on the topic of children it's a bit distressing but also darkly hilarious to to see how some parents (ones that like sticking the boot into educators, for instance) are coping (or not) with education with their "little angels" at home for a while.

My sister is the worst, 3 kids are all lovely but she slates teachers all the time, picking on shorter working days and long holidays but forgetting long hours in marking / prep. Also blames teachers when the kids arent doing so well at school rather than looking at how she can help.

[Charl91]

45 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

Word is slowly going around of what primary school teaching might look like. I absolutely feel for my friends in the sector. Some options I've heard (anecdotally) are..

 

- groups of children round one table behind a line they can't cross
- children having to play alone or in groups spread out in the playground
- no interaction with teacher regarding feedback. Work just collected, marked and given back at the end of the day
 

It's going to be such a shock for them and I dread to think how some will cope

Been in school today, with 14 kids. Try as you might, just cannot get them to socially distance at all. 

 

It's a huge gamble. If children do spread the virus, then a few weeks back in school and cases will absolutely skyrocket. 

[Charl91]

2 minutes ago, Nalis said:

My sister is the worst, 3 kids are all lovely but she slates teachers all the time, picking on shorter working days and long holidays but forgetting long hours in marking / prep. Also blames teachers when the kids arent doing so well at school rather than looking at how she can help.

FFS, that's always guaranteed to trigger me

 

[Izzy]

1 minute ago, Charl91 said:

Been in school today, with 14 kids. Try as you might, just cannot get them to socially distance at all. 

 

It's a huge gamble. If children do spread the virus, then a few weeks back in school and cases will absolutely skyrocket. 

When I read the e-mail last night my first thought was "Oh yeah, these teachers don't fancy going back to work and are quite happy having an extended holiday"

 

Then I thought actually if I was a teacher, I wouldn't fancy being surrounded by those germ infested little rug rats until all this has passed.

[Charl91]

13 minutes ago, Izzy said:

When I read the e-mail last night my first thought was "Oh yeah, these teachers don't fancy going back to work and are quite happy having an extended holiday"

 

Then I thought actually if I was a teacher, I wouldn't fancy being surrounded by those germ infested little rug rats until all this has passed.

You know what, that actually doesn't bother me so much personally. I'm young and fairly healthy, so not much at risk - and I'm already working with 10 - 15 kids currently at school, so it won't be much different (we will be in half classes, so 15 max per class). I can see why other teachers are terrified though.

 

I'm not going to lie, I am also enjoying the 'holiday' - I still work my contracted hours, but that's more like 32 hours a week instead of 60, so huge plus. Selfish, but I'm going to make the most of it while I can.

 

However, I think my biggest worry is about this getting all out of control, because I know that there is no way the children will socially distance. If it turns out that young children can't spread it, then it's not a problem, but if they can, then we're fvcked. The idea of social distancing in schools is a farce, because it won't happen, other than token efforts and procedures.

 

Even the year 6's don't socially distance, there's no chance anyone will manage to get the younger kids to distance. No chance at all. I think this is known by the govenment and the DFE, but they're banking on them not being spreaders. But that's what it is, a gamble. Maybe it pays off, but if they're wrong then we could be looking at a longer lockdown than before.

Edited 14 May 2020 by Charl91