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This situation is horrific, both for the public and for the NHS staff. Does anyone know of any campaign to get this changed? It's sheer madness.

It's not so much that we say 'pem' as that in the UK, we don't generally use full stops for acronyms (as in 'UK'), though some organisations do use them. In the USA, full stops are more common (I think most Americans would write 'U.S.A.'). On MEAction.net, I got several hits for 'PEM' but none...

In the UK, it's 'PEM'.

Several reports on the evening news of parents taking their kids out of school, either because the kid has a health condition such as asthma, or the parent does.

So do you think that they're now aiming to terminate the virus? The BBC health correspondent was still talking about it being to reduce the infection rate so that the NHS could cope (suggesting the previous 'flatten the curve' strategy). They're still leaving the schools open to cross-infect...

I'd like to understand more about the possibility of terminating the epidemic at this stage - thousands infected in many countries, and many countries in the developing world without strong health systems. Is it still possible? Even if we terminate it in the UK, won't it start up again as soon...

Do you think they're banking on a vaccine coming in a lot faster than that? I'd rather they kept us all shut down to wait for a vaccine and more effective treatments...

Is there any dependable advice online about how exactly to clean things at home (i.e. with what products, how long to let things sit, etc.)?

Not necessarily. I phoned my solicitor about updating my will and we're doing it by mail. Of course, I'll have to get witnesses to my signature but will do that in the open air and with us all six feet apart at any one time (a bit like that puzzle where you have to get a fox, a rabbit and a...

I've been holding my breath as people approach and until well after they've passed so I hope I'll be OK... I wonder why people are being ordered off the streets in Spain and France? Would that be because the authorities just don't trust people to stay far enough apart?

I'm a bit confused about how much risk there is in just walking about outside and passing other pedestrians on the pavement. I've gone into social isolation but am attempting to stop myself going nuts by at least getting out of my flat. But am I putting myself at risk?

Just saw that open letter reported on BBC News 24.

But as long as it's in the population at all, won't it keep spreading and multiplying the number of cases, unless we take ongoing extreme measures? I thought it was very easy to transmit and that each case was infecting about four people on average.

@Jonathan Edwards, when you say 'sortable', what do you mean? I'm a bit confused by the situation. In China, for instance, the rate of new cases is now pretty low but if restrictions on people's movements are lifted, is there anything to stop the spread resuming? Our populations have no immunity...

I'm relieved you made that choice, Dave! I think this is no time to be away from home.

I was thinking of more of something that an individual could spit on and see the results for themselves, within minutes, rather than something where you need to collect loads of samples, ship them off to a lab and get a result eight hours later, though! A near-instant, individual test-kit would...

Given the sort of work that Ron Davis has been doing, I was wondering why we don't have the ability to rapidly mass-produce testing-chips for this virus that we can just spit on and get a positive or negative diagnosis for this virus in 20 minutes. Near-instant diagnosis would be a game-changer...

I was just watching the press conference with Boris Johnson and the chief medical & scientific officers. I came away with the impression that they don't think they can stop the virus eventually sweeping through most of the population whatever they do and that their main aim is to squash and...

Is it worth doing because you'll be handling things that have come in from the outside (such as grocery deliveries)?

Just started a thread on what PwME should do to prepare for a stay in hospital, given the coronavirus threat. In that thread, I recommend an excellent article on the psychology and potential usefulness of initially 'over-reacting' to a distant but growing threat.