Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

[JohnToo]

Bastards.

Is the "discretion of the local authority" a peculiarly Welsh thing?

[JohnToo]

Despite all the stories about medical staff in London hospitals being driven to collapse by the workload, it appears that London has ceased all uptake of recently-retired doctors who were asked to volunteer - they are now being politely told we don't want you.

Does anyone with an inside track know if that is a budgetary thing, or that they've realised that doctors who aren't existing ICU specialists are more trouble than they're worth, or is the pressure on doctors not actually as great as the media portray? (It is, after all, shortage of nurses not doctors that is said to be the reason for the London Nightingale turning patients away.)

[Sonic Budgie]

Bastards.

Is the "discretion of the local authority" a peculiarly Welsh thing?

I'm not sure to be honest JohnToo.
I'm a bit shaken by it at the moment, I suspect this will be the end of the business if I can't sort it, aside from the financial hit that I'd be looking at you start to question what the bloody point is.

[Sonic Budgie]

Despite all the stories about medical staff in London hospitals being driven to collapse by the workload, it appears that London has ceased all uptake of recently-retired doctors who were asked to volunteer - they are no being politely told we don't want you.

Does anyone with an inside track know if that is a budgetary thing, or that they've realised that doctors who aren't existing ICU specialists are more trouble than they're worth, or is the pressure on doctors not actually as great as the media portray? (It is, after all, shortage of nurses not doctors that is said to be the reason for the London Nightingale turning patients away.)

The word from our lot seemed to be more a concern for nursing staff than Drs. However, from what was said today there would appear to be the likelihood that we will not be used. The main hospital is currently running at around 25% capacity due to the cancellation of all minor surgeries etc and of course shoving as many as they could manage out into the community. The care home my wife works in has had three people die recently (not corona related), one of the new ladies they have taken in has come from a neighbouring county, and has been put straight in to isolation. They do not know if she has it or has been in contact whilist in hospital with someone that has, so she will have to be looked after with full PPE, or the best full PPE they can manage anyway.
The disconnect between the NHS and the care sector is extraordinary, and I fear the figures for deaths in care homes when they are eventually released will make for very sombre reading.

[LowlifeDes]

There are so many gaps in the safety nets. If only they were not so ideologically averse to the phrase universal basic income.

[Lullabelle]

At least America has the right idea

[Mister Paul]

Have you seen the Las Vegas mayor offering the city as a "control" but not to be part of it herself. She also said that we don't know whether ebola got to Las Vegas.

[Rutabaga]

When other sports have been shut down completely, why does motor racing think it's acceptable to stage events that are so wasteful of resources and polluting 'behind closed doors' as they so coyly put it? Is it just me that thinks this is wrong?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... otor-sport

[Mister Paul]

Because it's non-contact?

[LowlifeDes]

Because it's non-contact?

Out on the track on a good day it might be.

[Rutabaga]

I thought a good percentage of people only watched it for the crashes.

[JohnToo]

When other sports have been shut down completely, why does motor racing think it's acceptable to stage events that are so wasteful of resources and polluting 'behind closed doors' as they so coyly put it? Is it just me that thinks this is wrong?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/ ... otor-sport

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

[JohnToo]

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?

[Regulator]

Germany relaxed some of its restrictions last week...

...and it's infection rate is increasing. Get ready for a further lockdown.

[JohnToo]

...and it's infection rate is increasing. ....

Which data are you looking at?

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