Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

The NHS can barely cope day to day, never mind with the Covid-19 cases. And this is before the government tries to deport half the EU workers who’re keeping it afloat.

@themcnoisy in China they've got "enforcers" dragging suspected infected people off the streets, god knows where they are ending up. The UK government just wouldn't be able to force people to isolate on a mass scale as a preventative measure. Maybe if the mortality rate was higher they could justify getting the military out and start shooting people who don't comply but that's not the reality of the scenario. The strategy of delaying to buy time and spread the outbreak over a wider period (while also developing a vaccine) does still seem reasonable to me...

(I do agree that the world doesn't appear to be prepared to handle a potentially more serious virus any better than it's done right now, and that's a concern. In this case we're lucky it seems quite mild.)

@nessisonett the NHS will cope - they'll just cancel none essential appointments, and as inconvenient as that might be, it'll free up tons of space should they need it.

@themcnoisy I think you are being a tad over dramatic and looking at the worst case scenario. Of course it could get that bad in the UK, but it is very doubtful.

I'm glad I'm not in your household, I bet you have stocked up on years worth of bum wipe lol.

@kyleforrester87 I'm not referring to the methods of China. Rather the principle of where they have been and what they are doing about future cases.

@JohnnyShoulder My sons school shut yesterday as one of the parents has it.

@themcnoisy Having kids and a spouse working in the NHS might increase your risk of contact with the virus, but it also means you're likely to be far more aware of your personal hygiene than others. Your pre-existing daily regimen is gonna be stronger than others.

It's great to be aware, and important, but effective and proportional awareness is a very fine line between complacency and panic. People are gonna get this balance wrong (and by "people" I mean corporations, governments and everything else in between; after all, they're all just people at the end of the day, whatever grand label they operate under). I agree with your points, and fully appreciate and support why you're concerned, but the hands of many will be tied by the mistakes of their superiors. Others will be riding it out in the hopes their optimism will be proven right; who knows, maybe it will. Mapping this stuff with any degree of accuracy is very difficult work.

Unfortunately, humanity is currently operating in a fractured and greedy state, in which you can't just stop the world from turning and pull together what's needed to do the right thing.

@themcnoisy I agree that if it was a more serious issue we might not be fairing so well, but whether it’s good luck that the virus itself isn’t so aggressive or that our response is just proportional as a result of reasonable planning and risk assessment, I think this time we’ll be okay.

@themcnoisy I work for an arm of the government, the emails we have been getting is that the risk to the public is moderate and low for individuals.

They also advise not to got to a GP surgery if your are suffering from the symptoms, but to call 111, stay indoors and avoid close contact with other people.

The also have continuity plans if things get considerably worse and are assessing things all the time. For instance everyone has been asked who had the ability to to work from home, if things get worse.

I expect what will really be the undoing for a lot of areas of the US over time is our complete lack of protections or provisions for low-income people who need to take time off of work. If you're part of the working poor and you get sick, you go to work anyway, as a lost paycheck can mean dire consequences if you need to scrounge for rent money or are working off debts. So there are going to be a lot of people who will get this virus and then decide to "muscle through it," and end up infecting the people around them.

Really not looking forward to the first time this person happens to be someone who works in the food industry, if this hasn't happened already.

@RogerRoger that in a nutshell!

@kyleforrester87 I hope so Kyle

@JohnnyShoulder That's fair enough. But really is anything changing? Costco had staff wiping the trolleys with alcohol, tesco had nothing. I would love if everyone right now was sent home for 2 weeks and the cases isolated. We've had cases on Wirral and its under reported. The same place the evacuees came. A nurse contracted covid and apparently she got it in Italy (load of BS that). They know they have messed up. But we should all be OK hopefully, young enough to fight it.

@Ralizah yup, the US has all the wrong social economic structures in place. Its really bad for health care the way its administrated, poor people are screwed.

@themcnoisy I think that would do more harm then good though and put the country into a state of panic. Such drastic measures are not needed for every workplace.

@JohnnyShoulder Yup, I don't think there would be any harm in enforced leave or keeping it as an option for the future. 2 weeks would weed out the carriers imo.

I'm just worried as we are so mobile and interlinked in the uk.

Just had a job cancelled because my electrician cant get into a flat because the occupier is isolating due to her tutor having the virus. I think this makes me the first on Push Square to be directly impacted by the virus wooooooooo what do I win?!

@kyleforrester87 We’ve bought this cool looking outfit to try on for your stay at Pushsquare. Here, put it on. [stands away in corner]

@Jaz007 Gunna send that to the electrician tbh.

The funny thing is he was going in to fix the smoke alarms, there is probably a higher risk of her dying in a fire than there is her actually having the virus and then dying from it.

@themcnoisy As far as I'm aware, I do not think that is an option that the government is even considering at the moment. Things would have to get considerably worse for to be even an option.

But they do have plans if that were to happen, I just do not think we are anywhere near that level yet.

@Ralizah Don’t you have some form of statutory sick pay. In the UK you get a £93 per week when you’re off sick. For most things it starts on the fourth day but the UK government have announced that coronavirus isolation is from the first day.

@Ryall You might be surprised by the number of things the working poor in the U.S. go without.

Anyway, there's no federal requirement for paid sick leave. A lot of upper-middle-class, full-time workers do enjoy it as an arrangement with their employer, but this usually leaves out unskilled and poor workers who are stuck in dead-end jobs.

A few states do require it. For reference:

That looks problematic @Ralizah

I wonder whether your government will be smart enough to realise that if it need to poor to isolate themselves they need to pay them enough whilst they’re doing it so that they don’t starve in a process.

Probably in the form of a one off payment for coronavirus self isolation rather than a wider reform of sick pay. Disease pandemics affect the rich to.

Normally the argument would be it’s cheaper to pay people to isolate the it would be to treat the additional cases in hospital if they didn’t but since you don’t have socialised medicine I guess that argument doesn’t stand up.