Coronavirus - worldwide spread and control

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The nurse who did my coronavirus test this morning (it's a research project, I'm not ill) told me that they've had their training updated on how long the virus may survive on surfaces. She doesn't know the source of the information, only that it's been passed to them to assist with quarantining and cleaning. They've been told to assume it's possible for the virus to survive as follows:

Paper and tissues: 24 hours
Hair and animal fur: 24 hours
Cardboard and similar packaging: 48 hours
Leather and vinyl (e.g. shoes): 48 hours
Copper surfaces: 48 hours
Hard plastic and laminated surfaces: three days
Stainless steel: four days
Heavily contaminated surgical or filter masks: up to seven days

I asked if she knew whether they'd been tested for traces of viral DNA or viable virus, and she didn't know – and to be honest, I don't know whether it's even possible to distinguish between the two.

However, I thought I'd post it in case it's useful to people who're extremely vulnerable.
 
Deutsche Welle's Conflict Zone interviews Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde about Sweden's Corona strategy. With so many deaths, was it a miscalculation?

Ann Linde claims one reason for the high death toll among elderly in care homes is that many part time employees doesn't have proper education in hygienic skills, eg. don't know how to wash their hands! (a vast part of carers in elderly homes are immigrants)
She doesn't acknowledge that the government could have done anything different/better.

The interviewer is great and asks a lot of hard questions, the ones many wish Swedish journalists would ask as well...



https://m.dw.com/en/foreign-ministe...cy-we-managed-to-flatten-the-curve/a-53846704

I fear I might accidentally break the rules if I speak my mind on this subject, so I'll express my sentiment with emojis instead :
:nailbiting::facepalm::grumpy::facepalm::banghead::banghead::banghead::nailbiting::sick::facepalm::yuck::oops::confused::arghh::alien::cry::dead:

ETA:
Ann Linde has been heavily critized for this interview.
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/lindes-svar-efter-kritiserad-intervju-om-coronastrategin

ETA: more critism in this opinion piece in Expressen: https://www.expressen.se/ledare/linda-jerneck/ann-linde-later-som-en-obstinat-populist/

English Google translation :
https://translate.googleusercontent...ulist/&usg=ALkJrhinWVVWgEbj0RDTrMwNhoYk-G4LCg
 
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Far from relaxing, the government should be using this respite to make long-term plans on how to coexist with the virus until a vaccine can be found. Time is running out – when the cold and damp weather sets in, the virus will thrive. Test, trace and isolate schemes will be stretched as soon as flu symptoms rise and overlap with Covid-19 symptoms. Avoiding a second lockdown must be the imperative to ensure that the sacrifices made by the British public over the past 13 weeks do not go to waste.

Currently the government’s drive to open up as quickly as possible bears a risk of another increase in infections, similar to what is being experienced in several US states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas, and in Iran. Ian Diamond, the UK’s national statistician, warned that the UK currently faces 3,000-4,000 new infections per day and only a fraction of those are being picked up through the test and protect scheme. By allowing the virus to spread during the summer months the government is creating a ticking time bomb that will go off as autumn arrives.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/22/pandemic-zero-coronavirus-britain
 
It must be very worrying for extremely vulnerable people of working age, who will stop being eligible for UK statutory sick pay on 1 August (unless they have a fit note for the virus or another illness).

We don't yet know what's going to happen as the restrictions ease. If the virus starts spreading again, people in this group will forced to choose between taking a huge gamble with their health and having no income.

I wonder if it might be challenged in court, actually – it wouldn't surprise me if someone did, given the level of uncertainty.
 
TBH I am slightly shocked at how reckless HMG is being over 'pausing' sheltering.

Only slightly shocked, as my expectations, of the current officials, were/are quite shockingly low.

Still, it's come as a surprise.

Surely it would be wise to wait and see what happens to Joe Public in general after all the significant changes to social distancing and lockdown regulations before mucking around with sheltering?
 
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Wonko said:
Unbelievable.

I've just watched a live broadcast of a 2 minute silence being held in Reading (UK) after a stabbing incident. (BBC 10.00am)

A closely packed crowd, with police as members of the crowd, standing packed shoulder to shoulder, with no masks - when people are supposed to be social distancing.
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On the same basis that drivers seem often to drive at or 10mph above the speed limit presumably some people are taking the social distancing as the max they have to do and approximately at that - especially with all the ‘if you can’ caveats in the messaging. Also since reduction to 1m has been touted for some time a substantial proportion will either genuinely or not quite genuinely believe it’s already changed so 1m less a bit = 75cm for many.

Then there are the 90 mph crew - what the hell ive seen all those crowds on TV why do I have to bother. Anyway I’m off to a rave later.
 
Wonko said:
TBH I am slightly shocked at how reckless HMG is being over 'pausing' sheltering.

Only slightly shocked, as my expectations, of the current officials, were/are quite shockingly low.

Still, it's come as a surprise.

Surely it would be wise to wait and see what happens to Joe Public in general after all the significant changes to social distancing and lockdown regulations before mucking around with sheltering?
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Even worse when you consider the following horrifying statistics:

Disabled women over 11 times more likely to die of Coronavirus
19 June 2020
Disabled women with limiting disabilities aged under 65 are 11.3 times more likely to die than non-disabled females, disabled men aged under 65 with limiting disabilities are 6.5 times more likely to die, and a third of all lives lost to Coronavirus in the UK have been those of disabled people according to new data released by the ONS.

The data records 10,430 disabled people’s deaths between 2 March and 15 May compared to 33,998 deaths of all people in the same period.

The analysis from 2 March to 15 May compares the deaths with disability statuses recorded in the last census (2011).

The rates of death per 100,000 are four times greater for disabled women of all ages with significant impairments than non-disabled women - 141.1 deaths per 100,000 compared to 35.6 deaths per 100,000.

The figures are nearly three times higher for disabled men with significant impairments - 199.7 deaths per 100,000 compared to 70.2 deaths per 100,000 of non-disabled men.

DR UK’s Head of Policy Fazilet Hadi said: “We said at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis that disabled people must not be allowed to become cannon fodder. A fifth of this country’s population is disabled. A third of all deaths have been disabled people’s. The spread of this virus has amounted to a cull upon our community.

“These statistics show that disabled people have understandably been living in fear since the outbreak began.

“Government failed to protect disabled people from the start of this outbreak.

“It knew where we were. It knew many of us received care in the community and in supported accommodation and care homes.

“It prioritised the NHS over social care when they should have had parity.

“It failed to procure PPE.

“It consciously reduced and removed our rights to care under the Coronavirus Act.

“It failed to develop a plan that would protect us, instead turning us into fish in a barrel. Our deaths, and those of those who work with us in care homes, have been way too high.

“The government called us vulnerable. The government made us vulnerable.”

The ONS says that these figures are likely to be an underestimate, given that those whose impairments did not limit their activity back in 2011 may have developed a long-term health condition over the past nine years or that existing health conditions may have worsened. While transitions out of activity limitation are also possible, this is a less likely effect bearing in mind that reported disability tends to increase with age.
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https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/...men-over-11-times-more-likely-die-coronavirus
 
[Caution - there may be a slight note of sarcasm in this post]

On the plus side it is reassuring to know that we (the UK) now has a vaccine and a treatment with better results than preventing death in 30% of the most critically ill (no mention of the amount of collateral viral damage that being treated when that close to death is tho i.e. that third may not die but their state of 'recovery' afterwards is unknown, at least to me)

Clearly HMG feels that given we have an effective vaccine, an effective treatment, and a 'world beating' track and trace system that the very same people who were considered to be at extreme risk of severe medical problems, and/or death, should they encounter covid-19 can now be successfully treated by the NHS, with no risk of death, or of significant 'complications' that go on to affect their QoL.

Wait....we don't actually have a vaccine, or treatment, or a working track and trace system?

We don't have anything that would help ensure a better outcome for those 'shielding' should they aquire covid-19?

At all?

So, clearly it's right and proper that we should remove 'shielding' as an option and send people back to the very same environments that were deemed as too dangerous/risky for those told to 'shield', whose 'shielding' status will shortly be revoked, when nothing has, in effect, changed as far as the risk to them is concerned should they encounter the virus.

As I said above, a 'surprising' decision by HMG and PHE.

This may get 'interesting'.

(I've just received my letter from Matt Hancock as mentioned on the media)
 
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MeSci said:
Can anyone clarify this about social distancing?
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I assume it's the distance between people's heads, since it's about reducing transmission from the breath of one to the face of the other. Though I guess if you reached your hand towards someone when they sneezed, you could get virus on your hand and transfer it to your eyes or nose. And it can depend on facing towards or away, and whether the infected person wears a face covering etc.

It's about reducing danger, not an absolute distance, so the further apart the better, as far as I'm concerned.
 
Package just been on the BBC about how pubs will alter, an ideal way of doing things, with an app for ordering and everything.

Woman, without gloves, or mask, poured pint (whilst holding the glass 2-3" below rim, put it on a tray, then added a bag of crisps.

The tray was then given to someone else, wearing a mask, but no gloves, who carried the tray outside to the customer.

Is it just me or.......do these people not understand the point of social distancing is to prevent/reduce transmission?
 
My local health food store insist on pouring the coffee beans(into a bag) and grinding them for us. We have to stand 6 metres away while he's grinding. This is only the second time I've gone there in the last 3+months and they're still doing this, yet all their self-serve bins and spice jar are open to the public. We are obligated to sanitize our hands and wear gloves upon entrance, but masks are not required.

This is confusing people.
 
Whitty saying he “expects” coronavirus to continue to be circulating at a significant level here, even into next Spring... and we can think about it and “regroup” at that time apparently.

It’s not just something that happens though is it? It only happens if the govt doesn’t do something about it. We are definitely in herd immunity now. So thousands of people will keep getting infected a day, from now, through the winter, until next Spring? Hundreds will die every day? Not just the 60,000 that have already died, but thousands more? That’s acceptable?

 
A new 'tool' is being developed to help clinicians access individual patient risk to Covid-19:

Development of a COVID-19 risk prediction model


We are developing a data-driven risk prediction model for COVID-19, supported by NHS Digital.

In the UK, government guidance on COVID-19 identifies individuals based on three broad categories of risk, with those who are ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ to the disease previously being advised to shield themselves from the virus.

This new model could be applied in a variety of health and care settings, including supporting GPs and specialists in consultations with their patients to provide more targeted advice based on individual levels of risk.
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Full details here:

https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/research/primary-care-epidemiology/covid-19-risk-tool

It is notable that they don't appear to be considering a person's risk of suffering long term problems arising from even a 'mild' case of Covid-19 (currently being called 'Post Covid-19 Syndrome' and discussed on other threads on this forum).
 
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And on (and on?) we go ...

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...gist-warns/ar-BB15VwtN?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=ASUDHP

Professor Gabriel Scally, a member of the Independent Sage group of experts, said that the country was in a “difficult and dangerous situation” after Boris Johnson’s decision to ease restrictions while daily infections are still running well into four figures, the NHS Test and Trace system has yet to prove its effectiveness and the promised smartphone app has been shown to be a “dead duck”.
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It really is quite unbelievable :(
 
While in the USA

Coronavirus resurgence sends cases to new highs in south and west of the US

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...-of-the-us/ar-BB15VUkm?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=ASUDHP

A coronavirus resurgence is wiping out two months of progress in the US and sending infections to new levels across the country’s south and west.
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And consequently

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announce mandatory 14-day quarantine for people coming from states with high coronavirus numbers

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...us-numbers/ar-BB15Vdyv?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=ASUDHP
 
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