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

RS is a total moron. Nothing he says is worth listening too.

OK, he is very intelligent, however he is on the campaign trail for a soundbite and has adopted the populist approach of spouting shit.

The thing is, I know senior public health specialists working on covid-19 who disagree with your wife. It's a controversial approach.

They must be pretty fucking sure they are right to be pushing it.

Yeah, she acknowledges that there are differing approaches. She's also not aware of what's going on on the front lines of treatment and is worried about the local governments' abilities to implement proper procedures. Nevertheless, her point is that this isn't being swept under the rug and there isn't some dark Tory agenda.

There are a lot of businesses, in my sector and others, that will simply disappear if this goes on much longer.

Most of those businesses are essentially sound in all but exceptional circumstances.

One option would be to lay staff off until things get back to normal. This is not something we are considering at the moment, but at some point it may be forced upon us.

If we could lay our staff off without penalty, and if they could get their rent and subsistence supported by the state while this shit goes down, we could mothball the business 'till say September, then get back down on it.

If we had to pay out redundancy packages to everyone - that would be game over.

The point I was making is that for many many businesses, the interests of the owners, and the interests of the employees are one and the same.

Yes!

They must be pretty fucking sure they are right to be pushing it

No one is sure
Just learning from China and S Korea

I bet they are but there will certainly be lots of business owners and managers who will protect their own pay packet over that of the workers. The government should bail out the businesses similar to the banks but ensure the money goes to the workers.

Isn’t that exactly why people are skeptical of the U.K. governments response? Because they aren’t following what China and South Korea have done?

No one is sure

Just learning from China and S Korea

As well as hundreds of thousands of other viruses which and models of containment that are studied every day in this country.

The UK has the largest pool of public health experts in the world.

Source?

We're not China or South Korea. We're 4 weeks away from this peaking in the UK, hence the differing strategy.

I bet they are but there will certainly be lots of business owners and managers who will protect their own pay packet over that of the workers.

I think you'd be surprised just how incorrect that view is.

Differing strategy based on behavioral psychology

People will get bored of isolation and go partying, ahead of the winter

We'll see if the Chinese go partying. The Italian nationalist balcony singing is a good compromise

The UK has the largest pool of public health experts in the world.

That seems particularly unlikely, so would also like to see the source for such a bold claim.

Also, how many of this pool are directly involved with the government’s policy?

We're not China or South Korea. We're 4 weeks away from this peaking in the UK, hence the differing strategy.

Thing is, countries surrounding the UK have decided to shut down schools now.

This
And why aren't all the countries pooling expertise

'The UK has the largest pool of public health experts in the world. The decision to delay the closure of schools for example is to balance the benefits of containment whilst the reducing the risk of public complacency because of prolonged or premature containment policies. The disruptions to social and economic normalcy also have significant consequences which are too numerous to list. There is no Tory agenda with our method, the government is deferring to experts who have a well thought out plan. It's up to the government to convey the messages properly, their credibility issues notwithstanding. Finally, herd immunity is real and there are too many people who know don't know anything speculating and spouting off on a subject of which they have no real understanding. And they don't need to understand it anyway. Just follow the fucking advice of experts, we have plenty of them and their only agenda is public well-being. We're (the UK) are not being complacent.'

This !
How come the Internet knows better, the FA knows better, etc...
Listen to advice. We really are a county full of knobs. The real problem is, I think we know we are, we have got so used to listening to shite being spouted to us by all and sundry on the TV that when someone forthright and honest talks to us, we classs him the same.

And breathe.....

No offence to your Mrs but that statement doesn’t fill me with confidence. UK has biggest pool of public health experts in the world- so what? Do they all agree? No
Is the UK approach in stark contrast to the rest of the world? Yes
Is it in stark contrast to what has proven to work in combating this particular virus ? Yes, completely

That seems particularly unlikely, so would also like to see the source for such a bold claim.

Also, how many of this pool are directly involved with the government’s policy?

Let´s say the bestest and greatest public health experts are in the UK. Why didn´t DK, FR, BE officials, chief medical officers etc ask them what to do? It´s not like people at this level are all gammons is it?

Phe and the field epidemiology teams within it are well respected internationally.

The lshtm is well respected.

The data scientists in the health sciences are well respected.

I hope so, we will find out!

Source

She works in global public health with multinational agencies. Whether she means largest number of individuals or largest breadth of knowledge amongst a collective of individuals, I don't know (I can ask later).

China might very well have more public health experts in number, but they're expertise might be more limited. My wife would point out that the UK has historically done a lot more international containment/eradication field work than China.

Phe and the field epidemiology teams within it are well respected internationally.

The lshtm is well respected.

The data scientists in the health sciences are well respected.

Of course they are, which precisely raises the question why their counterparts in the other countries got it so wrong.

Yeah, but I disagree with your wife, and so do these other people I found on the internet, so clearly she doesn't know anything.

Again, her basic point is that this problem is being taken very seriously by public health officials.