Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Quite appreciate your input in this thread and the others. Thanks.

Just saw the video, not the usual vlog I watch tbh, but the tweet from the doctor in Italy was very hard hitting.

Definitely the wake up call I needed. I’m glad I’m self isolating as of today as I don’t want to put the people around me at risk. Once this is over mate, let’s go for some dim sum.

Nursery been flip flopping since yesterday’s briefing as to whether they can close and still pay staff. The insurance company deciding whether or not they are liable by interpreting and reinterpreting the government position until in their favour, outcome being that, after all, it will be open next week and beyond. Can’t be much longer until they have committed to some language that will trigger a liability - in, you know, the interests of public safety (wtaf) - but is the insurance / reinsurance industry capable of sustaining an event like this?

Very few businesses would benefit from such trigger language, most Public Authorities extensions on a business interruption insurance policy have a disease exclusion, and most disease extensions specify the diseases that will trigger cover (Covid19 isn’t one of them).

So the insurance policy is dud?

I don’t really care about continuing to pay the fees (until such point we can’t), but there remains an awkward situation where the government is saying don’t, the nursery is saying do, and ultimately our child is going to be better off getting an education and either of us will be able to work.

I just want to be allowed to safely and guiltily hibernate for a few months with the family now.

The insurance policy is fine, it just wasn’t designed to cover a Covid19 type scenario. The Government know this but continue to push out misinformation.

Loss of revenue triggered by the spread of new viruses are generally excluded because they cannot be properly quantified at point of sale. This is because such an event would cause solvency issues for insurers.

I can’t answer your conundrum I’m afraid other than to say it’s unlikely the vast majority of business interruption insurance policies will respond.

Loss of revenue triggered by the spread of new viruses are generally excluded because they cannot be properly quantified at point of sale. This is because such an event would cause solvency issues for insurers.

This point was made a few days ago by the guy who set up London Union, when the hospitality industry was claiming that the government's failure to mandate closure meant they couldn't claim. And he was right, most policies would cover the loss of revenue from closure, just not for Covid-19.

I did the figures yesterday and can keep paying 20 staff for up to 3 months, or 5 if I run the cash right down, but that would give me no breathing space to build things back up if/when we reopen. I may have the agreement of my landlord (the council) to skip the rent for a quarter, which would stretch things a bit further, but I'm really worried for people who will struggle to find work even in the long run. As a social enterprise, we employ and train people who are not going to be successful in a competitive job market.

So my pension plan is a flat in Acton that I rent out to a lovely couple who work in the now almost totally defunct service industry. I spoke to them a couple of days ago and dropped the rent substantially, the fact is given the base rate news, I may be able to do more now. This isn't great for me but I am in a good place compared to a lot of people on this board. So what's my point?

My point is that the government should be asking all landlords who can to do the same to do exactly that. Not just that but the really big landlords should be leading the charge and making a gesture that others can follow, Prince Charles, The Duke of Westminster, Robbie Fowler whoever. Why is there silence on this issue. We need a high profile landlord to step up and show a lead on this!

Argent at Kings Cross

We need a high profile landlord to step up and show a lead on this!

👏

My partner was handed her notice at the beginning of the week 😪. No certainty that the business will survive this outbreak.

Yeah, they gave everyone 3 months rent free, starting immediately

I moved from Leeds to London for a new job at the beginning of this week, my girlfriend is still in Leeds (was supposed to just be for a couple of months whilst her work got it's shit together but who knows now?). I'm heading back up after work today, I'm hoping that if there's any announcement about a nationwide lock down it'll be before I come back down to London. As nice as the lady I'm staying with for the next couple of weeks is, I'd rather be with my girlfriend and her daft cat.

Also, there is literally nothing to do in my new job, everything they had lined up has been cancelled and there's millions of pounds of equipment sitting idle and loads of people sat around twiddling their thumbs. The owner has sent out an email saying that there's no plans to make anyone redundant or send anyone home without pay but having only been their for 5 days, and being on my probation period I feel like I'm in a more precarious position than the people that have been there for 10+ years.
Either way, I recognise that as a healthy(ish), young(ish) person with very few major expenses, no kids and no elderly relatives I'm in a very privileged position.

Blitz Spirit is what will get us through this crisis. Fuck me.

My wife is a trainee primary teacher in Hackney and word has come through that the plan in her school is to split all staff into two teams who work alternate weeks to teach children of key workers.

It feels like a guarantee that we will all get the virus in our family, and scuppers my plan of going to quite a remote spot in Scotland where we could have cut ourselves off from the world. Feeling quite gloomy this morning. C'est la vie.

Blitz Spirit is what will get us through this crisis. Fuck me.

Never understood the obsession of WWII.

People were still working and getting paid during wartime.

Probs best that people don’t escape the hotspot of London and spread it to the remotest parts of the country.

I wasn't planning on leaving the house or garden where we were going and there is no one there to interact and we would have done all precautions (21 day quarantine on arrival) so don't think we would have spread it. It would have been a straight nine hour drive with no interactions door to door other than stopping for fuel, where I had thought through precautions to stop any viral spread.

Anyway, thanks for setting me straight.

The difference being that ww2 saw an enormous expansion of the manufacturing industry and a boom time for jobs in the army.

I'm aware my moan sounds prissy, but people implying this is worse than ww2 have managed to put things in perspective for me. Read Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder and get back to me on that comparison.

Heading to their cabins (a very Norweigian thing) has been banned across all of Norway for the same reasons - it puts an unnecessary additional load on the least equipped medical services which are those in rural areas.

Regardless of your quarantine procedure upon arrival, there's travel and then you'd still have to go out at some point when you're there, to get supplies etc. This could be the point you contract c19 and end up overburdening the local health authority...

Not saying this is likely but it's possible.

While I think we would have done it safely in our instance, I recognise that if done at scale it can't work so it is an extremely selfish approach.

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that we can't do it and will instead stay here with my wife doing her part (damn her social conscience!)

If it's like most other schools, it's not just key workers kids, it's the most vunerable ones too. Your wife will be doing a really good thing.

And couldn't 'get' a bomb just by being in close contact with someone who'd been bombed the week before.