Coronavirus General Discussion

www.statnews.com/2020/07/27/covid19-concerns-about-lasting-heart-damage/
I sincerely hope this is not true as it is pretty terrifying. 

It is possible if government has the will. They do not have the will, they’re going to spend it on other things. If they really cared about children’s education they would be pulling out all the stops.

The tech is to link home and schoolwork, this is the way education will go in the coming decade anyway, so it just shifts it forwards. I really don’t think that we should allow the most difficult students/parents (in the end there are not that many) to hold back the vast majority. As it is going to be transforming the workplace it is on schools to lead that. As for money, how about getting tech firms to invest in schools by giving the tech to each student?

Reinventing school buildings to ensure better environments will need money though and already tne government is far too late, I can't recall them even talking about the necessity of it. Not only for this virus but for much more. Flu deaths have plummeted because of measures taken and we could save both health and therefore wealth by investing in healthier work environments. Now, more than any other time, is the time to make these changes, our successors will condemn us if just go ‘back to normal’.

IMO, it's not so much the kids in schools that made the difference in Sweden, but what else happens during school holidays.

Less kids in schools also means less parents gossiping at the school gates, or in work. Whole families will be off camping, and people leaving cities in general.

The researcher involved in the work announced today about excess deaths was explaining the variation within different countries, and that cities like Paris had much higher excess deaths than any individual part of the UK, or that in the UK it's the biggest cities that took the biggest hit. The worse affected parts of Italy and Spain were worse hit than the worst hit parts of the UK, while those countries had parts that weren't so badly impacted, while ours was spread out more. Unfortunately, he was cut off because the interviewer didn't think it as interesting as I did, but it ties in with other stuff we already know.

Rural parts of England have had much lower incidence of disease than the high density areas, while in Scotland, the central belt has had much higher incidence of disease than the lower population areas. If you chart the parts of the UK with highest population densities, they've generally been impacted worse than those with lower population densities. It's not the only factor, and cultural things like multi-generational living, and poverty are also key.

As a Scot, I wish to issue a bit of a warning to those who might be looking from afar and thinking we've done marvellously. We haven't, although Sturgeon is a superior communicator to Johnson, and with less scrutiny, so the messaging sounds better than reality. But our excess deaths aren't that far behind England, and with much lower population density overall, and a lower proportion of people from a BAME background etc. If you look at the full data (and not just the stuff announced in political briefings) there is still a steady flow of deaths up here attributed to COVID, and it's not fair to indulge in blaming incoming English people for the upticks in cases as we unlock.

In particular, I wonder if those who encourage the closing of the border would extend this to all of the delivery drivers who are bringing us food and other goods that we're ordering online, sometimes from the very factories and warehouses where people are most at risk?

But the reason I came here to see if people were talking about this theatre fund. It'll be interesting to see how this works out.

www.eveningexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/entertainment/phoebe-waller-bridge-and-olivia-colman-launch-fund-for-uk-theatre-professionals/

You mean someone who’s had their livelihood taken away from them for 4 months and all the stress that brings, who finally thinks she gets to take a bit of a breather and have some fun and then has to forego money for two additional weeks? I’d be a ‘whinger’ in her shoes too.

I’ve been avoiding this thread because of these sorts of callous posts but I only have to read this final page to see comments like this one and the one suggesting that we should leave struggling children behind, of which there are an extremely large number in this county and thinking there’s not is either huge naivety or wilful ignorance, and rush forward with those who have technology and privilege at their fingertips. It’s seems very sad to me that even at times like this people can’t be kind.

Anyone else have the feeling that the re-imposition of quarentine upon travellers from Luxembourg won't cause even a fraction of the furore that it did for Spain?!

Matt Hancock is not going to be popular proposing permanent video gp appointments - for a lot of people it's a loss of independence if they need family to run the zoom account for them - my parents are technophobe and will always need someone to do complex technical stuff for them.
And a lot of the old who use technology do still miss the old days.

Won't banning people meeting in their homes just lead to much fuller pubs, thus defeating the entire point?

It is for someone who finds sending a text hard.

Suspect the government has panicked that it might get attacked on the right for not cracking down before EID.

Yes - discussions about digital exclusion are nothing new if you work in the online world, but coronavirus has certainly given it new impetus. Age, disability, poverty levels all play a role in cutting people’s access to tech. (And even if they have the tech, poor web design can make for a below-par experience.)

I’d also query the security of a video call where you’d be discussing potentially confidential medical issues.