Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

[Rutabaga]

Sport, live music, theatre, and the like are all clearly non-essential and are things that should be cancelled at the moment (as they have been). But they are all also part of what makes up the richness of human life - the added value of being a society over just a collection of Darwinian individuals - and I would set a reasonably high priority on restoring them when we start restoring other aspects of normal life. (Put the other way round, there could be an argument that they should be at the bottom of the list because they are frivolous or non-economically-productive, but I wouldn't agree with that argument.)

When we start thinking about restoring some sport but still with some level of social distancing in place, I guess one question is which sports would work without fans being present. I've a hunch that F1 drivers would ply their craft almost as effectively without fans present (can they even hear the cheers?) whereas a Premier League football match would be a shadow of itself without the fans creating the atmosphere for the players to perform. But then, I've been to several Grands Prix and never to a football match, so I could be talking bollox

Yes I understand all that, but I was thinking of the "wasteful of resources and polluting" aspects of F1 in particular. If there were a sport that involved private jet owners taking advantage of empty airspace to race against each other while people got enjoyment from watching film/tracking, would that be acceptable as well? Stuff like F1 doesn't strike me as an "aspect of normal life" that should just be accepted without question, especially now when we have an opportunity to look again at how we behave with respect to the environment and climate change.

[Greg]

Yes I understand all that, but I was thinking of the "wasteful of resources and polluting" aspects of F1 in particular. If there were a sport that involved private jet owners taking advantage of empty airspace to race against each other while people got enjoyment from watching film/tracking, would that be acceptable as well? Stuff like F1 doesn't strike me as an "aspect of normal life" that should just be accepted without question, especially now when we have an opportunity to look again at how we behave with respect to the environment and climate change.

F1's about the only sport I watch. It also gives pleasure to millions of people across the world, is leading the way in hybrid technologies, has valued engineered ventilators and CPAP's in record time and can be pretty much be carried off without hoards of marauding fans in tightly packed stadiums. It also in itself has a bigger economy than some small countries.

But then Greta Thurnburg has a massive carbon footprint too.....

[Regulator]

Which data are you looking at?

(edit: sorry, that sounds a bit hostile, not meant to be, I'm interested in seeing the data...)

It's the R rate (as explained on the BBC running update)

Last week, Germany was optimistic it was on the path out of lockdown. And a handful of measures were lifted, with small shops allowed to reopen and some students returning to class.

But on Tuesday, officials warned the infection rate was increasing - and was now at 1 again.

This means 10 infected people will infect another 10 people. Last week, the rate had dropped to 0.7, meaning ten infected would pass the virus to only seven people.

In order to beat the pandemic, the infection rate has to be below 1.

In the past day, Germany recorded 1,144 new infections and 163 new deaths.

[The Real Ravenhurst]

Speaking of which, how is Volcano faring in these circumstances, TRR? I can see you're doing quite a bit online, but are you going to survive?

Pretty well for now, thanks, John - the little-appreciated upside of never making a profit even when things are good. We're part of what these days is called Arts Portfolio Wales - the 70-odd organisations in Wales in receipt of regular funding for core salaries, production costs and overheads. Of those we are at the smaller end and our USP, so to speak, has always been how much we do for not a lot of money, so for now with no-one holding anyone to strict output or activity targets we just do less and try to keep everything else ticking over. We've furloughed our events manager on full pay (her post is normally funded by income from the venue) and there are four of us working from home, plus five actors, a choreographer/kids' group leader and a couple of project staff employed doing stuff during the lockdown. We were fortunate in that we weren't in production or on tour when it all kicked off - we had planned for a period of desk work precisely because ACW were due to review their Portfolio as I write - I would have been spending the past couple of months making a case for a funding increase! The review has been put on hold for a year. We could find ourselves in a tricky position this time next year because it coincides with the end of the lease on our building, and it's difficult to negotiate anything - new or continuing - right now. Of course Welsh Government could drastically reduce the Arts Council settlement as part of some emergency measures but that's not happened yet. In the event of all plugs being pulled we'd last about six months.

[JohnToo]

It's the R rate (as explained on the BBC running update)

Thanks. But maybe it's then the Beeb I would need to ask for their data source. A media report of someone saying that R has increased is not the same as the actual data showing that.

[JohnToo]

Yes I understand all that, but I was thinking of the "wasteful of resources and polluting" aspects of F1 in particular. If there were a sport that involved private jet owners taking advantage of empty airspace to race against each other while people got enjoyment from watching film/tracking, would that be acceptable as well? Stuff like F1 doesn't strike me as an "aspect of normal life" that should just be accepted without question, especially now when we have an opportunity to look again at how we behave with respect to the environment and climate change.

It was my understanding that the environmental impact of F1 comes overwhelmingly from (a) the spectators driving to the circuit and (b) transporting all the teams to successive countries, not the 20 actual race cars. The former is no different to any other mass-spectator event. The latter probably is worse because there's more kit involved in putting F1 on in multiple countries compared to say the tennis. But, by happenstance, putting on the British GP may involve the least air miles of any given how many of the teams are based in the UK?

A random thought: is more fuel consumed in a stage of the TdF than in a Grand Prix?

[Regulator]

Thanks. But maybe it's then the Beeb I would need to ask for their data source. A media report of someone saying that R has increased is not the same as the actual data showing that.

I presume they've taken it from the reports from the Robert Koch Institute, which uses a published process for calculating the R rate.


Edit: The Grauniad are also reporting it and quoting the RKI.

[JohnToo]

I presume they've taken it from the reports from the Robert Koch Institute, which uses a published process for calculating the R rate.


Edit: The Grauniad are also reporting it and quoting the RKI.

Lots of R values here for the nerds among us:
https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.au ... FINAL2.pdf

[Mister Paul]

A friend and retired virology biomedical scientist has just shared this:

https://www.ibms.org/resources/news/cov ... -strategy/

[Rutabaga]

Did I misunderstand Boris tonight, when he seemed to say he was really lucky to receive excellent treatment when he was in hospital?

[Mister Paul]

I've noticed he's one of the few not saying that it was touch and go with him.

[Regulator]

Did I misunderstand Boris tonight, when he seemed to say he was really lucky to receive excellent treatment when he was in hospital?

He was very lucky... he managed to snag an ICU bed when he didn't actually need sedation and intubation but was able to sit up playing games and governing the country. Nobody else has managed to do that.

[Iris]

If he did say he was lucky (I want to slap him, so I don't watch the press conferences and rely on the Grauniad's live blog) it's more likely he meant it's lucky that he lived somewhere he could get that treatment.

He's a complete twat, but his regard for the NHS does seem to be a genuine and consistent part of his political makeup. Even if it's expressed in a way that most of us think is horrific.

[Regulator]

If he did say he was lucky (I want to slap him, so I don't watch the press conferences and rely on the Grauniad's live blog) it's more likely he meant it's lucky that he lived somewhere he could get that treatment.

He's a complete twat, but his regard for the NHS does seem to be a genuine and consistent part of his political makeup. Even if it's expressed in a way that most of us think is horrific.

Johnson is an advocate for introducing insurance based healthcare.

He has consistently voted for measures that undermine the NHS.

He has consistently voted against measures to improve NHS pay.

[JohnToo]

I thought he meant that he was lucky in having recovered.

Regrettably, I thought his press conference was fairly impressive. It projected an air of authority, in contrast to Raab, Hancock etc. I detest the shallowness of his beliefs and I hope against hope he will be held to account for the unnecessary deaths he has caused. But he is good at performing the role he has set for himself.