Coronavirus - worldwide spread and control

Yes, thanks for the advice!

 

Don't think Vallance is doing this without clearance from the Government (Borris and Dominic Cummings). The "strategy" is cleared in advance i.e. briefing questions/answers will have been rehearsed. If Vallance is dodging the questions then that was the strategy decided in advance.

 

Check out the announcements by the Irish prime minister tonight.

If you feel unwell stay at home and phone for a test. Drive through testing centres operating.

Civil servants are being re-deployed to do contact tracing.

Seems to align with the WHO strategy i.e. test and trace contacts.

Begs the question why the UK Government hasn't started to put the same system in place!

If you're in the UK then ask your elected representative, quoting the approach in the Republic of Ireland!

@Jonathan Edwards - they (mostly/overwhelmingly) speak English at breakfast --- attempt at humour!

 

Being treated beats no capacity in the hospital ventilators. OK your coffee shop may be closed but it will presumably cut a deal and re-open --- unlike the patient who didn't get a slot in the ventilator!

 

This is a personal story but relevant to spread of covid-19.

I went into hospital today and the anaesthetist has recommended I don’t do the surgery now. Because coronavirus is circulating so much in my community. I already knew it’s bad in London but didn’t realise how bad. He was 1 hour late to see me due to the coronavirus situation. He said right now the problem is he could be infected, the surgeon could be infected, anyone could be and they don’t know. (I think was giving examples, of what the risk was like, because he said due to the asymptomatic nature of the virus at the beginning, and without testing, you don’t know). And the risk to me; of having had a surgery, which in itself will be risky, even though it’s a routine surgery for most, for me I’ll have to be in intensive care afterwards just in case due to my risk of complications and heart rate blood pressure issues.

On top of that my asthma means I’ll have breathing issues again complicated by surgery. If at that time, I catch the coronavirus or it develops into viral pneumonia, he said for me it could very well be fatal. he explained a lot of other things too but I’ve forgotten them.

He said it’s pretty much circulating rapidly now where I live, is going up exponentially. I said, I thought it would be safe now as it’s only just starting. He said, it’s too late now. You should have come a month ago or to be safe 3 months ago. He said I’m also very frail because of my condition and would like me to somehow build up some strength if I can over the next few months, to try to reduce risk of complications too, if I can become more mobile, as he’s worried about me going into surgery in my condition.

So even though I’m in a lot of pain and to me it seemed urgent, he is not sure the risk outweighs the benefits right now. He said all elective surgeries had been cancelled. He said to double check with the surgeon tomorrow but is not recommending surgery to me.

But yeah, it’s pretty scary. I can’t imagine how scary it must be for doctors. They can’t even test and don’t know they have it. They have no PPE.

Thanks @Mithriel @Trish and others for support but I guess my surgery will be delayed. Although I do need to check with my surgeon if it’s safe to delay.

 

Has anyone mentioned the possibility of requisitioning the services of private hospitals as emergency NHS facilities? The government keeps talking about the impending acute shortage of NHS facilities for emergency treatment of Covid-19 victims. But there must presumably be a significant pool of life-saving facilities and staff in private hospitals; in times of extreme national emergency such as this then it would surely be possible to legislate to temporarily requisition those facilities and staff. Ready made emergency NHS over-spill services basically. Probably still not enough, but could make a big difference for severe cases.

If this could be done then there would be quite a lot of infrastructure needing to be put in place, to ensure ambulances got routed to the right locations, and not chasing around all over the place.

Could there be any mileage in this @Jonathan Edwards? If so then who best to make the suggestion to? I'd like to think such notions are already being actioned, but not confident about anything much at the moment.

 

Talk of one in the EU too i.e. a potential vaccine; president of the EU Commission says they will support the company.

Word of someone identifying the antibodies produced by those who recovered. @Jonathan Edwards highlighted that we need a test to identify these people - presumably they are immune (not clear how long that lasts).

 

I appreciate that. My youngest boarded for a while (the boarding didn't really work out so she became a day pupil to keep her scholarship) at an independent school with an international school attached. There were (still are) a lot of Chinese students. When their English is good enough they transfer to the main school. Her boarding master told me she liked to sit at breakfast with the male Chinese students. When I asked her why, her reply was, 'They don't speak English'!

She would have met the criteria for autism as a child, but she did so well that I never got her assessed (she would be offended if I were to say she actually is autistic, but her way of thinking is just like mine).

 

Renting at a cost of £2.4million a day!

I would’ve thought requisitioning them, like other countries are doing, would have been the far better option. Coronavirus isn’t going to go away in 3 months.

 

So hard for you @lunarainbows I'm sorry you have to now also likely remain in pain & wait for your surgery because of all this too.

 

Another classic line from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51915302

On the German news tonight they said that although the European borders are closing to non-EU citizens, there's an exception for the UK.

Schools are closed here, so on Monday the shopping centres, playgrounds, parks and swimming pools were packed with happy kids all meeting up for a good time. So on Monday night they passed a new law closing all the playgrounds, swimming pools, fitness studios, restaurants, bars, libraries, bookshops and non-essential shops etc. See if people get the message this time.

 

It's bizarre behaviour from kids, isn't it? When I worked in secondary schools, if you asked kids what they had been doing over the weekend, the answer was always video gaming or social media! I am glad that in the UK, Mcdonalds has decided to close all their tables and only offer takeaway service, because when the government finally decides to close our schools, the fast food places are where the kids will congregate.

 

@lunarainbows I'm going to cancel my operation as well. We now have 20 confirmed cases and there must many out in the community with it by now. I have my elderly mother living with me and with lung problems myself I can't take the risk.

 

I'm very sorry for you, but your consultant gave you the best advice.

After reading the following article, I wouldn't even attend an outpatient appointment now, and would only go to hospital if it was an emergency:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-of-surrender-doctor-on-uks-covid-19-failures

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1240031436004118541

 

Looking at the numbers, do we think countries like India and Brazil are simply not testing for covid and wildly underestimating the numbers, or are escaping the pandemic for other reasons.

 

Saw this posted as a response to the Imperial report. Sorry it's just a screenshot but the title should be searchable.

In fact I found it to make it easier

https://necsi.edu/review-of-ferguson-et-al-impact-of-non-pharmaceutical-interventions

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1239695659038650374

 

I actually read that (I found it on the guardian site) after I had attended the appointment, last night, and am now terrified I got it. Since he’s anesthestics and was 1 hour late and cited the coronavirus, he would’ve dealt with coronavirus patients. I sat less than 1 m distance from him; for about 45mins to an housr; while he talked. But my mum says if I’ve got it, I’ve got it, and I should not worry about it now. I will know in 14 days or less I guess. It’s still a very slim chance so I’m going to try to take my mind off it. I have bad anxiety even at the best of times.

Edit: actually am now upset at the anesthesist as well. Because I wanted to stay a bit further away. But he insisted and made me park my wheelchair right next to the table and I was less than 1m away from him. Very scared.